In His Presence: The Kingdom of God and Healing Prayer in Brazil
David Tripp, Pastor of One Living Church in Houston, and I traveled to three churches in Brazil to teach emotional and physical healing, and spiritual deliverance earlier this month. We saw about 36 people get amazing, transformational emotional healing; what Jesus called healing broken hearts. We saw spiritual deliverance for many as Jesus cast out demons, broke curses, and set people free from occultic oppression. And we saw about 40 to 50 people healed physically.
It was an amazing trip – filled with God’s presence and power; releasing people to fulfill their purposes in Christ.
We met in the Sao Paulo airport on September 3; we left Brazil on September 19 – David flying to Houston (by way of Toronto, Canada!) and me flying to Asheville by way of Atlanta.
As I wrote in the last post, the Scripture God gave me on the morning of the day I left was Isaiah 50: 2, 3 and 10, 11.
“Was my arm too short to ransom you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? . . . Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on His God. But now, all you who light fires and provide for yourselves flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment.”
God was telling me not to be anxious, He will rescue and provide. “It will be an amazing trip”, He told me. “You will see my power manifested in signs, wonders, and miracles. You will experience incredible fellowship wherever you go, and you and David will be a wonderful team – if you trust me; if you do not walk by the light of your own fires”.
The Scripture God gave me as we wrapped up the trip was Psalm 20: 6 – 8.
“Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He answers him from His holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.”
That is exactly what we saw on this trip – God saved and answered us from His holy heaven with the power of His right hand. Instead of walking in the light of our own fires or trusting in our own power, like chariots and horses, we surrendered to the power and presence of God – and the results were amazing. He is faithful; He made us rise up and stand firm.
Over 100 people in America were praying for David and me while we were in Brazil. We felt their prayers lifting us up; protecting, strengthening, and encouraging us; and releasing the Holy Spirit in, through, and around us. God used these prayers to push back the darkness wherever we went. On each leg of our trip the prayers went ahead of us like a battering ram, knocking down all spiritual obstacles. We were healthy and never lacked energy.
Those praying for us were an integral part of the ministry in Brazil. I believe that God shared the blessings we received in Brazil with each member of our prayer team as they lifted us up.
Two other verses describe this trip:
“The Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14: 17).
In other words (at least to me), life in the Kingdom of God is not just the daily stuff that we all do, like eating and drinking, but it is more – it is supposed to be a daily life of righteousness, peace, and joy as we walk in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
And the other verse:
“The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power” (1 Corinthians 4: 20).
God’s presence and power were on display in Brazil.
We taught in 3 churches, and ministered/preached in a 4th, in Brazil: 2 in the first city we visited, Curitiba (pronounced Kurichiba), including the New Jerusalem Pentecostal Baptist Church; one in the next city we visited, Pastor Clori’s church in Campinas; and finally the Primeira Igreja Batista (First Baptist Church) in Sao Jose de Uba.
In each church we taught and led exercises on emotional healing and spiritual deliverance for 3 days. The training also included live demonstrations for the class. On the fourth day we taught about discipleship and how to pray for physical healing and then instructed the class pray for each other.
In two of the churches, teaching began in the mid-afternoon. In those churches we each prayed for 2 or 3 people each morning. Prayer sessions lasted about 2 hours.
I prayed for 19 people; all but two were women. All of them got some freedom, most got a lot of freedom. Some were so completely transformed that they were a ‘new creation’. Almost all of the women I prayed with, with the interpreter, Pastor Clori from Campinas, saw visions. In our prayer sessions, they would repent of anger, fear, sin, or participation in the occult (there is a lot of spiritism and witchcraft in Brazil) by renouncing whatever we were praying for. If it was a negative emotion like anger, they would say, “I renounce the anger I had for _____; I was angry with ____ because . . . ; “I forgive and bless ____”; and then say, “Lord, I choose today to give that anger to you”. As they bowed their heads and closed their eyes, I instructed them to give the anger to Jesus in their minds. I would say, “Some put it in a bag or a box. However you want to do it, give it to Jesus in your mind.”
Most of the time, within a minute or so, Jesus would show up and take away the negative emotion. Many saw Jesus. If they didn’t have a vision, they felt free. “I feel lighter” or “I feel relief” coupled with a big smile was typical. Some of the women had carried shame or guilt for years. In a few minutes they were set free from these crippling emotions.
Here is one example of a woman that typified what I experienced:
She was in her late 30s or early 40s. She struggled in her marriage for 20 years. Her husband was a good man. But when she was 18, she experienced traumatic sexual/emotional abuse. The abuse cursed her life. When we broke the curse and renounced the abuse and its effects in the name of Jesus, she began to get free. Toward the end of our session, she had a vision. In her vision she saw herself on an operating table in a hospital. She was both the patient on the table and the surgeon standing next to the table performing the operation. The surgeon (herself) was holding the patient’s (also herself) heart. She cried out, “Put that heart back into my body. I cannot live without a heart.” And that was the end of her vision. I knew Jesus had more for her, so I asked her, “Would you like Jesus to show you the rest of the vision?” She said, “Yes”. So, I prayed, “Jesus, show her.”
We repeated the words, “Lord, I choose today to give ____ to you”. And then Jesus showed up in another vision. This time the doctor handed the heart to Jesus. He took it from the doctor’s hand and walked out of the room. A few seconds later, Jesus returned and put a new heart into the patient’s body.
It was powerful. Clori was weeping.
She opened her eyes. There was no need to tell her that the vision was real; it was not simply her imagination. She was totally transformed. That night she recorded a testimony to share with the church telling them what you just read. During the worship service before we left that town the next day, she and her husband were sitting in the church, smiling and obviously very much in love with each other. That night her husband came to me and thanked me for giving his wife back to him.
I saw Jesus work many miracles of emotional healing like this one. Real, profound transformations that could only be the work of the Holy Spirit. We also saw physical manifestations as people were delivered from demonic powers. But God is good – all were healed.
I encountered two things in almost every prayer session. One was the importance of identifying and breaking curses. Almost everyone had one or more curses spoken over them, had put curses on themselves, or had cursed someone else. Little or no healing could occur until these curses were identified, renounced, and broken. David and I also saw that abuse can release a curse into a person’s life. And two, in some cases generational sins needed to be addressed. That required asking about parents, grandparents, or even great-grandparents. One woman recalled that her grandmother was a witch and had cursed this woman’s mother. The mother was repeating the curse in her daughter’s life, even though the mother was a Christian. Once the curse was broken, the woman began to get tremendous healing.
It is difficult to determine how many were healed physically. Several of our physical healing sessions had 100 to 200 people in attendance. We estimated that 40 to 50 people experienced real healing. Most were healed from pain. One person in the New Jerusalem Pentecostal Church had pain in her ankle. She had surgery 80 days ago, the ankle had not healed properly, and she was in constant pain. I knelt down, put my hand on her ankle and prayed simply, “Pain, go!” Then I asked her how the ankle felt. “A little better”, she said. So, I prayed the same prayer again. This time the pain completely left. She was amazed.
At another church, members of the congregation prayed for an elderly couple. He had diabetes. His legs were in pain and he was almost completely blind. First, they prayed for his pain – and it left. Then, as they were praying for his wife, he cried out, “I can see”. Later, he walked unaided to the front of the church, climbed a few steps, and testified that the pain in his legs had left and his sight was restored. Hallelujah!
I love to see God heal and set people free. His power was evident throughout the trip. We really did release and advance the Kingdom of God in Brazil, thanks to His presence and power. We didn’t just leave healed and whole people behind, but we trained over 100 people to heal others in the weeks and months to come. The pastors of all the churches we visited attended the training full-time and were very excited to implement this healing method in their churches. One pastor, pastor Clori in Campinas, already has a group training and praying.
Another major part of the trip for both David and me was the friendships and relationships we made in all of the churches. We were loved and blessed in many wonderful ways. We could not have had warmer welcomes. It always amazes me how the Body of Christ transcends language and culture – whether in Brazil or some other place like Japan. Jesus is not only the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; He is the same everywhere.
But as great as the miracles, signs, and wonders were, the greatest part of the trip was being in the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit the entire time. His presence and His power accompanied us everywhere. This alone would have made the trip worthwhile. We didn’t have to see His presence and power manifested – we just knew they were there.
I flew back home, landing on September 20. I was glad to be back. I missed my family. The trip to Brazil was a great blessing to me, but it was time to return to ‘the real world’. At least that is what I told myself as I got off the plane. And then God spoke directly into my mind. “The real world? Brazil was the real world”, He said. God was telling me something profound.
When we come back from mission or ministry trips, the world tells us that we are coming down from a mountaintop experience. “Good”, the world says, “everyone needs an experience like that every once in a while. Now get back to your work in the real world.” But what we experienced in Brazil was exactly what Jesus’ disciples lived every day after Pentecost. The life we saw in Brazil – His presence and power, His healing miracles, spiritual deliverance, love, and beautiful fellowship – is the real world for followers of Jesus. It is the life Jesus intends for us to live. It is the life He died on the cross to give us! Why do we settle for less? It is available every day to every believer who trusts in Jesus and stays connected to Him. Sure, the world will hammer us. But Jesus has overcome the world. A life of fear, anxiety, depression, anger, hurt and pain is not the life Jesus planned for us. That is not the normal life for a Christian – that is the subnormal life.
But why do many of us accept this subnormal life? I am not sure, but I think it is because we carry so much unrepented hurt, pain, shame, anger, sin (including abuse done to us), and curses that we cannot receive all the power, joy, peace, and hope that Jesus offers us every day. When we are healed emotionally, when the spiritual darkness that satan continually tries to put in our hearts is replaced with light, we can walk in the Kingdom life of righteousness, peace, and joy daily, in spite of the trials and tragedies the world puts in our paths.
I spent over two weeks in 4 churches that understand how essential healing prayer and deliverance are for a believer’s life in Christ. I saw over and over again how these prayers transformed people from weak, defeated, sad, and overwhelmed Christians essentially indistinguishable from the world – worn out and without hope – into Christians filled with life and the fire of God. For many of them, their circumstances did not change. But their hearts were filled with the love of the Father in a way they had not experienced before. They were made new!
Imagine what a church could become if all of the members experienced this type of transformation? Or the world? We cannot transform ourselves. “You can make yourself better” or “You can heal yourself” is one of the great lies of the enemy – and many people make a lot of money off of this lie. Only Jesus can do this work, and the Church, the real Church, is the only place where people can find this restoration and redemption. But is the Church this place today? Sadly, even scandalously, the answer mostly is, “No”. Shame on us.
“Jesus wept!”
We must stop walking in the light of our own fires. We must step back and ask God, “Am I trusting in ‘chariots and horses’ instead of you?” In the power of the Father’s love, the Holy Spirit can redeem, restore, and even resurrect us if we will receive what He is offering. And the place to start? Let Him heal you.
Thankful for Brazil,
John