Healing Line

Healing Line

Q & A with Francis & Judith

by Francis & Judith MacNutt
Winter 2014/15

Q: In a prayer appointment setting, considering CHM has taught prayer ministers the Listen, Love and Pray model (and to not give advice), what do you do when you feel you have a word from the Lord that is directional?

A: It takes such courage to operate in any of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You really have to step out in faith that God wants to use you and is using you. In our schools, we encourage our students to find out what their natural gifts are so they can see how God is building on them supernaturally. When we are in community, it is so important to be mentored in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. A lot of pitfalls can be avoided when you have someone who is mature in the faith, is mentoring you and has been operating in the gifts for a long time. At Christian Healing Ministries we yoke more experienced prayer ministers with the newer ones so that they can see modeled the gifts in action. We believe that when the Lord gives us any kind of prophetic word or discernment, it is incredibly important to ask the Holy Spirit what He wants us to do with it. Just because you know something does not mean you are supposed to speak it. A lot of the time, it is given for intercessory prayer — the Holy Spirit shows you something for the sole purpose of interceding for that person. Then, if the timing is right, and the Lord wants you to share it, He will make it clear. He will have created the right atmosphere for you to share what He has given you. What is most important is that we remember that all of the gifts are undergirded in love. If we speak a word and it is not in love, it can bring condemnation and can do so much damage — which misses the point of the gifts in the first place: to build up and encourage. Always remember to speak in love and in God’s perfect timing. And when you are being mentored, you can always privately ask the person in charge.

Q:When praying for the release of the gifts, do they just hit like a wave crashing on the shore and you instantly know you’ve got them or is it more gradual? How and when do you know that you have the gifts?

A: We are all ministers of healing. Spiritual gifts are inside all of us and God releases and activates them in His perfect timing. We have experienced numerous occasions where we have prayed and prayed for a person’s healing and nothing has visibly happened; and then someone inexperienced, with very little faith for anything to happen, lays hands on that same person and they are instantly healed. It’s a mystery. But, with the gifts, it’s not about pedigree or degree or depth of knowledge. It is about knowing that God wants to use you. So the answer to the question is both/and, because sometimes you absolutely know that you are operating in the gifts and other times you don’t even realize it.

Q: How do you navigate through a situation where a prayer recipient needs inner healing but also needs a lot of deliverance?

A: We always advocate doing as much inner healing prayer as possible, while binding up the spirits. If you can do inner healing, a mother/father blessing, generational healing, etc. for someone who needs deliverance, what you are doing is taking away the source for the demon to occupy. We believe that doing inner healing work often eliminates the need for deliverance, because the demon no longer has permission to stay if its legal right to stay is taken away. Deliverance, no matter how it is done, can often be a little traumatic for a person. It doesn’t matter who you are — it is always a little disturbing to discover that there is darkness in your life and/or your family. If you can bind up anything demonic first and then do inner healing and minister on all the deeper levels of love to the person, you are taking away all the avenues for the enemy. It is a loving, gentle and compassionate way to approach healing and deliverance — and it works!

Q: As well known leaders in the ministry, how do you set boundaries? Specifically, how do you learn to simply say “no” when you know you need to?

A: It is the most difficult part of being in the ministry because almost everyone needs healing in some way. It is hard to not feel guilty when you have to say no. You have to find ways of protecting yourself. It is not bad to figure out ways to just get away from people sometimes. Jesus did that. We like to joke that Jesus walked on water just to get away from the crowds. Even Jesus needed to rest and be alone. There are so many people and sometimes we just have to say no. The way we like to put it is: are you in a marathon or a sprint? We have decided that our lives are a marathon and we might be able to do this much but THAT much I just have to let go. That is very difficult, but very necessary.

Q: If we can communicate with God and the Holy Spirit, then we can also communicate with demons. Is it ever beneficial to talk to demons in order to get information that might be helpful in a ministry setting?

A: The only time we ever advocate talking to a demon is if we really don’t have clear discernment and are stuck in some way. For some of the demons, you need to know their name and how/where they entered into a person in order to deal with them. We have to remember, though, that demons will lie to you. You could ask for their name and they might give you some sort of nonsense name to try and throw you off track. When addressing them, it is important to bind them to the truth of Jesus Christ and command them to tell you their name. It is not always easy. Often, there is a stronghold demon and the lesser demons will give their names and sacrifice themselves to protect the stronger ones. It can be helpful to interact with them in that way so that you can identify them and find out their purpose. The ideal goal is for the Holy Spirit to reveal all of these things to you and to not interact with the demon. Unfortunately, it isn’t always that clear cut and ideal. We want to make it clear, though, that engaging with a demon just for fun or to try to find out information about them should never be done.

Q: In a prayer ministry setting, how do you promote diet, exercise, etc. while adhering to the Listen, Love and Pray model?

A: We sometimes have nutritionists, physical therapists, etc. come in and help us understand more about the mind, body and spirit connection. All of these things are so important in the healing process, but we tend to focus only on medicine, don’t we? We first focus on God’s healing, and then after that, medicine — but there is so much in between. If we are not taking care of our physical bodies, our emotional health can be affected, which, without proper nutrition and exercise, can lead to burnout.

Q: What is a good approach to praying for someone who has just been diagnosed with cancer?

A: You have to see cancer as it is: a real enemy. It is important, however, to be clear that you are addressing the cancer as the enemy and not the person. Pray in a way that addresses the cancer but also does not bring any guilt on the person. The gift of tongues is an excellent gift to use when praying for cancer because you are turning it over to God, who knows what is wrong. Pray and let God take care of it. Praying in tongues can also take worry out of the equation because we don’t have to figure it out — we just pray. Soaking prayer is also excellent for cancer patients because it is a calm and relaxing environment where they can simply rest in the healing presence and love of God.

Q: When you pray for someone over a long period of time with little results, what do you do?

A: In a situation like that, fresh sight is often necessary. It could be that you are praying a certain way over and over and you are missing that key that will unlock the healing. We also believe in soliciting and getting more people to pray. Sometimes there just isn’t the right team assembled. It is so important to always go before the Lord and ask Him how He wants you involved in the prayer. That is one of the main reasons we have our Schools of Healing Prayer® — to pass on to you wisdom, the tools to learn what your gifts are, and what your limitations are. Sometimes we just need to call on someone more experienced or someone with different gifts — and that is ok. We are often taught to pray, “Your will be done,” but what does that really mean? We have learned that it means God wants people well. That is His will. So we have to learn to say to God, “If your will is for this person to be well, show me what needs to be done.” We are in a battle for people’s souls when praying for them and cannot grow weary in that — but sometimes we need fresh troops and fresh wisdom to join us and help us in the battle.

Q: How many times does the Masonic renunciation prayer need to be prayed for that stronghold to be broken? Does it need to be sealed?

A: Sometimes you only have to pray it once. Sometimes you pray it, experience some freedom, and then learn more about either the organization or your family’s involvement, and you feel the need to go through the renunciation again. It will never hurt to pray something multiple times. Keep in mind, if you pray through the renunciation and the prayers, but do not do it seriously or whole–heartedly, it does not have the same effect. Just as in inner healing, where there are layers to healing, the same can be true in Masonic renunciation.

As far as sealing the prayer, we always ask the Holy Spirit to come and seal what has been done. Whatever healing has taken place, we ask that it would be sealed by the Holy Spirit and that every place that has been vacated by things that should not have been there would be filled up with the Holy Spirit and sealed so nothing can return.

Q: Do your prayer ministers at Christian Healing Ministries take time to pray for each other?

A: Anyone doing healing prayer can get depleted, so we advocate ongoing prayer ministry for all of our prayer ministers. Finding regular times for ministry and fellowship among our prayer ministers is a priority and a crucial part of CHM’s culture. We also offer continuing education, because we are always learning.


Francis & Judith MacNutt Francis MacNutt is a Founding Director and Executive Committee member of CHM.
Judith MacNutt is author, teacher, conference speaker and co–founder of CHM.
Winter 2014/15 Issue