Step 5

And finally, Step 5 of the 5-Step Prayer Model - JRW on Post-prayer Direction.

This was the shortest segment of the 5 (Other steps 1, 2, 3, & 4)

The following are some simple notes from each:

One may move through these steps fast or slow, may even skip some. This is not a set of rules but is designed to help you help the person you are ministering to meet God. Your role is to bless what the Father is doing and help the person being prayed for aware of what God is doing. God's intent is not to minister to the symptoms, but rather the heart issues. He wants each of us to have a concept of the Cross of Christ not in our heads, but through revelation, in our hearts.

Interview - Where does it hurt? or What would you like me to pray for?

In Mark 10, when Jesus prayed for Blind Bartimaeus he asked what seemed like an obvious question, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Mark 9, a boy possessed is thrown to the ground by an evil spirit. After seeing his condition Jesus asks how long the boy was like this. Then with the answer to that question, Jesus builds and confirms the faith of the father before addressing the evil spirit.

• listen on two planes (horizontal and vertical)
• this is NOT a medical interview - we are not physicians, we don’t need all of the gory details
• use active listening skills - we are not problem solving at this point
• it’s more important to know what kind of person has the bug than what kind of bug has the person, i.e., focus on the person more than the technical medical details
• let the person talk but not ramble or reinforce sin!
• this step is often skipped in situations like alter ministry

Diagnostic Decision - Why does it hurt?

In John 9 Jesus is questioned by the disciples regarding the blind man. Who sinned, him or his parents?

There are no formulas. We need to train ourselves in the Word so that we understand sin and it's effect but in every situation, we need to respond with what the Father is showing us. We need to listen in the:

• natural – disease, accident, organic (psychiatric/chemical)
• sin – committed by them or to them
• emotional hurts
• relational problems – lack of forgiveness
• spiritual realm – demonic, curse, family ties (note about generational curse)

Prayer Selection - What kind of prayer is needed?

In Luke 5 Jesus heals the paralytic that was lowered through the roof of the home he was speaking in. When he saw the man and his friends he proclaimed, "friend, your sins are forgiven" and "take up your mat an go home".

• prayer toward God (petition, intercession, etc.)
• prayer from God (command – Acts 3.6 ‘rise up and walk’, pronouncement – John 4.50 ‘go, your son will live’, forgiveness – speak to the person’s heart, etc.)
• logistics (sit or stand, touch or not touch, knock down or prop up, group or 1:1, tongues, loud or soft, mints, blowing, tissues, music, being quite, etc.)
• do not preach or gossip
• Bible prayers v. prophecy

Engagement - How are we doing?

In Mark 8, Jesus, after put spittle on the blind man's eye's, asked him, "do you see anything?" When the man responded that he saw people that looked like trees, Jesus put His hands on the man's eyes again.

In Mark 5, after commanding the evil spirit to come out of the demoniac, He asked, "what is your name." The reply was "my name is Legion," and begged Jesus to send them into some nearby pigs rather than out of the area.

• watch for effects of the Holy Spirit (warmth, tingling, heat, muscle spasms, shaking, breathing, laughing, crying, etc.)
• make the person aware of what you see/sense - some are not tuned into their own bodies
• when in doubt, ask. Some expect failure - in Mt 9:28, Jesus asked the two blind men if they believed before he prayed.
• stop when the person says to stop, when the Holy Spirit says to stop, or when you cannot think of anything else

Post Prayer Direction - How to keep your healing

In John 8 Jesus gives some good advice to the woman caught in adultry, “go and sin no more.”

• spiritual leading for a specific situation, e.g., prophecy
• general counsel such as read scripture, pray, listen to scripture music, get in a small group, etc.