Faithful to His Call

by Joy Lamb
Jan/Feb 2002

Throughout the years, there have been many praise reports as a result of the ministry of Francis and Judith MacNutt. I would like to share a personal praise report with you.

The year was 1980. I was a single mother struggling with many mental, physical, and spiritual issues. My life was wrecked from my sins of adultery, dishonesty, rebellion, alcoholism and pride — to name only a few. I was on the brink of suicide, when God lifted me up and out of a very black hole. My personal healing began when I attended a conference Francis and Judith gave on Forgiveness and Repentance. It was there that I made a list of all the people I needed to forgive and all the sin in my life.

At the top of the "Forgiveness" list was "myself and God." At the top of the "Sin" list was the sin of pride and rebellion: pride of always wanting to be noticed, praised, to be number one, no matter what. And I always wanted to do things my way, not God's way — rebellion at its best! Those attributes will quickly turn you into a person who seeks to please people (to get your way, of course), not into a person who seeks to please God.

As I began to forgive and repent, I felt the Lord begin to do amazing things within me. The "Forgiveness" list took me as far back as the second grade to forgive a much disliked teacher — and still further back to forgive my mother and father for birthing an unwanted, unplanned child (me), which I found out later was the root cause for the suicide attempts throughout most of my life.

At the closing of the conference, Francis asked that we sit quietly in our seats and request something of God, then come forward so that he and Judith would pray for us. The thought entered my head, "I am entirely too sophisticated to walk down the isle with all these people — and what on earth would I ask of God?" Then it came to me: "God, if you're really real, I want to know it, and I want to love people the way You love them." That was my simple prayer to God.

So I walked up and stood before Francis and Judith. They reached out to pray for me, and at that moment, a flame was ignited in my spirit — a flame that has given me a passion for God and a passion for praying for others that is so deep that I will not stop praying until all men, everywhere, come to know Him as their healer, their comforter, their Redeemer.

In 1988, after Francis and Judith relocated their ministry to Jacksonville, I immediately volunteered to help out at Christian Healing Ministries (CHM). Little did I know where that would lead me. My first job at CHM was filing. Then one day I was in the lunchroom and saw a basket filled with letters, notes and cards. I was told that these were just a few of the many prayer requests that Francis and Judith received from all over the world, and because of their limited time, sometimes the basket with its contents was just lifted to the Lord.

I'll never forget my words, "May I take them and pray for them?" As I read the requests, I began to categorize them according to the requested need: physical healing; inner healing (such as spiritual woundedness, mental abuse, depression); deliverance (from such conditions as drug addiction, mental problems, incest, immoral, criminal, or violent activities); special needs (buy and sell homes, desire for mate to conceive, legal cases — just to name a few); salvation; relationships; wisdom and guidance; joy and peace; protection. After I categorized the requests, I went before the Lord and asked, "Lord, how do I pray for so many?" I heard this clearly,

"Just roll call them to Me and pray My Word. My Word has the answer to everything."

At the time I thought, "That's too simple." But experience has now taught me that that simple, precious plan has . proven to be unbelievably powerful. You can pray for a multitude in a very short time and never have to worry about how to pray. Shortly after this divine message, I went to my church's chapel and began to "shotgun" the Bible for the appropriate Scriptures to fit the various categories. That again was an amazing experience. It was as if the Lord had highlighted the ones I was to put on the pages.

Now I had the people's names, their requests and a handful of Scriptures on sheets of paper. But I needed intercessors! I was the first one, and then I gathered about six more devoted ladies. We decided that if we had a return address on the prayer request letters, we could write to the "requestees," tell them we were praying, and ask them to let us know if there had been a change in their circumstances — and we could also ask if they would like to join us as an intercessor.

Within a few months we had built up an intercessory team of about 500 people. In 1993, those prayer sheets that had been going out to the dedicated prayer warriors became a prayer book, The Sword of the Spirit — the Word of God (the Sword). Today there are about twenty thousand prayer groups that are praying God's Word in one accord, and that number is growing daily. We just completed our Eighth Edition of the Sword, which is quite expanded from what it was in the beginning. The book now contains prayers for the nation, your individual city, prayers for repentance, prayers for breaking free from the occult, prayers to free you from guilt, forgiveness prayers, prayers for the unity of the church (God's heart), and prayers for the peace of Israel.

We have never advertised other than through CHM's newsletter. CHM's bookstore and Lamb's Books warehouse are our major outlets. The books have gone out simply by "word of mouth." The book is now being used throughout the world by all denominations. Many churches use the Sword as their prayer book.

Following are just a few examples of answered prayer:

• We prayed that prayer groups would spring up every where. They have.
• We prayed for the crime situation in America. There has been a dramatic decrease in crime.
• We prayed that the medical field would recognize prayer as a healing source. It has.
• We prayed that there would be more programs on TV that would promote God. There are, and more to come.
• We prayed that Dream Works' first movie would depict God. Their first movie was The Prince of EGYPT — the story of Moses.
• We prayed that abortion would decrease. It has dramatically decreased.
• We prayed that mothers would return home to be mothers. There has been an incredible movement in this area.
• The past two years we have prayed that no severe hurricane ( even though many were predicted each year) would touch us. There was no severe hurricane destruction.
• We prayed for a cool summer. It was the coolest summer on record.
• We prayed God's will for the RU 486 abortion pill. It was reported that sales were not nearly what drug companies had anticipated.
• We prayed for unity in our America. It has happened.
• We prayed that Bush would find favor with the Nation. He has.
• We prayed that the Democrats and Republican would come together. They have.
• We prayed that Congress would come together to pray together for reconciliation and repentance. The rotunda of the Capitol was authorized to be used at any time by both Houses of congress on November 27 or December 4, 2001, for a National Day of Reconciliation (still need more repentance).
• We have prayed that our Nation would tum back to God. It is happening.
• We have prayed that prayer will return to the schools. It is happening.
• We have prayed for the unity of the church, and this is happening in an unbelievable way.

These are but a few things for which we have prayed. But we have specifically prayed for them and they have been answered. We know that eventually all our petitions will be answered because God is His Word and His Word does not return void to the earth. Thanks be to God!

These are trying days for all of us since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Many think this is but the beginning of terror, but I do believe that God will definitely keep His Promise: that if we humble ourselves ( through forgiveness and repentance), pray and seek His face, and tum from our wicked ways, then He will hear our prayers, He will forgive our sin ( of which this land is saturated) and heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Please join us as we pray for our Nation in one accord. Some of you who have ordered my book since September 11 may have found that in your shipment are prayer sheets with pictures of the most wanted terrorists, a list of the terrorists groups, national leaders, countries that have biological warfare, major government buildings in Washington, gangs, Mafias throughout the world, etc., along with specific Scriptures to pray. If those of you who already use the Sword will send a self–addressed stamped envelope, I will send you these sheets. If you don't own a copy of the Sword, I encourage you to order one and start a prayer group. You'll be amazed how rewarding it is!

One final note: two weeks ago I was watching a program on Islam and Mohammed. The narrator said that the Muslims credit their strength and unity to unity in prayer. This unity is simply accomplished by their kneeling five times a day at the same time and putting their heads to the ground. Can you imagine if all or, at least, most Christians prayed God's Word in one accord just twice a week, what that discipline would accomplish? A wonderful thought to leave with you — God Bless You!