When I was a student at Birmingham University, there was a great crusade by a healing evangelist. Thousands of us went along, ready to see miracles of healing. I was sitting near the back, behind a guy in a wheelchair who had lost both of his legs. As the healing evangelist spoke, he raised the expectation and faith levels in the auditorium and then he said: ‘Those of you in need of healing: take a step of faith. If you’re in a wheelchair stand by faith.’ So the people around the guy in the wheelchair in front of me took his arms and stood him up. The evangelist proclaimed, ‘Walk into your healing now – do it!’ So I sat and watched as the guy frantically moved his stumps, desperately trying to walk into his healing. He was sweating, but he kept going, encouraged by his friends to have faith for a miracle. After a while, no healing had come and he was clearly exhausted; he couldn’t keep going. His friends helped him back into his wheelchair and, as the meeting closed, gradually everyone left, until he was alone in his chair still catching his breath. After a while he nodded and slowly wheeled himself away. I remember watching him and thinking: ‘I never, ever, in my life want anything to do with a healing ministry that looks like that. I never ever want to go there.’
It took me a long time to realise that there was a way to move in the ministry of the Spirit and to pray for healing and release, without leaving anyone feeling like that guy in the wheelchair did. Now one of my strongest convictions is that praying for healing and miracles is not the job of the few who stand on a platform, but the role of the whole Church. Everyone gets to play and I think that all God asks of us is that we play nicely and share the toys. I believe with all my heart that the whole ministry of Jesus is for the whole Church of Jesus. God calls all of us ordinary, broken people to pray for one another and to see his power at work.
The emphasis always has to be on meeting with God and not on what we can get from him
That’s one of the reasons why we’re so passionate about putting ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit right at the heart of everything we do at Soul Survivor. In fact, I can’t think of a time we’ve had a meeting and not asked God to increase his power. It’s not because we’re seriously lacking in creativity and can’t think of anything else to do with a big group of teenagers. We want to be a people who live in God’s power and that means we need to be a people of his presence. We can’t put the things we learn about in the Bible into practice without the help of the Holy Spirit. We might know the truth from the Bible that we are loved, but it’s often when we stand in God’s presence that the knowledge goes from our head to our hearts. Everything else in our lives flows from the understanding of that love. We want to be filled with God’s presence so that we might know him more, love him more, be convicted of our sin, be healed physically and emotionally, and ultimately be changed to be more like Jesus. We want to leave our gatherings empowered, like the early believers in Acts 1:8 - to go and be God’s witnesses.
We’re not seeking an experience or a crazy story to tell, we’re looking for an encounter with the living God
We also want to follow Paul’s urging to eagerly desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit - but the emphasis always has to be on meeting with God and not what we can get from him. We don’t want to speak in tongues for the sake of it, or prophesy so we have good stories to tell; each of the gifts draws us into deeper relationship with God, builds up the body of Christ, and encourages and equips us to live for him. Likewise, we’re not seeking physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s presence – they’re not the important bit. We can get a bit distracted by the way people respond, especially when things look a little strange with things like tears, laughter and shaking, but they aren’t the key thing. Often the outward manifestation is a sign of what God is doing in someone’s heart (perhaps they’re crying because Jesus is releasing them from pain or giving them his compassion; or they might be shaking as they’re letting go of things that have hurt them in the past). Sometimes people make all sorts of crazy movements and noises that don’t seem to make any sense at all, but that doesn’t matter! We miss the point if we focus on that stuff. Especially considering we can even get distracted when we’re praying for someone and they don’t show any signs of responding. I’ve been there countless times, praying for someone and wondering if anything is going on at all as they’re as still as stone. But when I hear peoples’ stories, it reminds me again that someone might never even flutter an eyelid in ministry, but that doesn’t mean they’re not meeting with God.
Sometimes though, especially for young people, it can feel particularly vulnerable to see other people receiving the gifts of the Spirit or manifesting in different ways if things don’t seem to be happening in the same way for them. So while we make lots of space for the Holy Spirit we don’t want to focus on the physical and emotional reactions people may or may not have. We want to focus on God himself – being present and available to him. The important thing isn’t what happens in the meeting, it’s how we live after the meeting. If we’ve met with God, we will be changed. The more time we spend waiting on the Holy Spirit, the more the fruits of the Spirit will be evident in our lives. The more time we spend in God’s presence the more we’ll grasp his great love for us and the more we’ll love him. It always comes back to relationship with God, and the key to our relationship with God is obedience and trust.
That’s one thing that I’ve learned about ministry times over the years – they don’t work if we don’t obey and trust. We must be obedient, wait on God and pray for people if we want to see stuff happen. We’ve got to be willing to take risks and to potentially get things wrong, rather than play it safe.
I’ve had to come to a place where I say I’ll step out in faith even if I fail. And I’ve realised that even when I do get it wrong no one dies! Every single one of us is praying from a place of weakness and we’re supposed to, because we’re supposed to rely on God. And that’s where the trust comes in. We have to trust that God wants to meet with us as he cares about us. We trust that no matter what we think or feel as we wait on him, he is working in us. We trust that he loves us and is always working for our good and for his glory. We trust that even when we don’t see things change immediately as, or after, we’ve prayed - that he is still good. We’re not seeking an experience or a crazy story to tell, we’re looking for an encounter with the living God.
For young people, encountering the Holy Spirit for the first time can be daunting. In the run up to the summer festivals, here are some pointers for preparing them:
Study the Biblical basis.
If your young people aren’t used to seeing the Holy Spirit move, take a look together at some of these passages and way we see people responding to the Holy Spirit:
2 Chronicles 5:12-14 - falling
Isaiah 6:1-5 - awareness of sin
Genesis 17:1 and 15-17 - laughter
Acts 4:31 - boldness
Luke 10:21 - joy and praise
Daniel 10:4-11 - visions and trembling
Ezekiel 3:23-24 - falling face down and being raised to standing
Acts 2:4 - speaking in other languages
Joel 2:28-29 - prophecy, dreams, and visions
Deal with disappointment.
Not every ministry time will be hugely significant for everyone and sometimes that can be hard when people see God meeting with others and feel like nothing’s happening for them. Likewise, if someone receives prayer for physical healing and they don’t feel like anything has changed they can wonder why, and be left with some pain and confusion. Let’s be honest about these things and talk about them. Keep bringing your young people back to the fact that we’re not engaging with God as a vending machine, demanding to get what we want - this is about on-going relationship. Encourage your group to be open about what they’ve experienced and consequently what they’ve felt or thought. Open up the conversation – create a culture where it’s ok to talk about why people responded the way they did in ministry, what they were feeling and what God was doing. We don’t need to cloak these things in secrecy! That said, of course it’s absolutely vital to respect people’s privacy to and to be aware that someone may have been dealing with something personal that they don’t want to share. The important thing is not what happens in the meeting, but how we live after the meeting
Encourage your young people to receive.
Some of them might not feel comfortable at first but encourage them to go with it if they sense God’s presence, or if they have a real need that they would like prayer for. Encourage them to wait – not to give up if there are no obvious signs of God’s presence – and to stay engaged so they don’t miss out! Sometimes it can take us a while to focus, relax, and to allow ourselves to be open to God. Sometimes God might want to meet with some people in one way, and then later with another group in another way. Waiting can sometimes feel vulnerable and raise questions like ‘does God really want to meet with me?’ Encourage them to pray for others and to be a part of what’s going on. You don’t need any special skills – just a love for Jesus and a willingness to have a go. Years ago we used to have a ministry team praying for people but then we realised it should be open to everyone. It’s not a special few who get to pray and prophesy, to partner with God and see him at work. We all get to play! So now we give a brief run through of how to pray for someone and then invite anyone who wants to, to bless what God is doing in other people. Sometimes people are longing to sense God’s presence and it’s when they pray for others that they really start to know him close themselves. It’s a great place to learn.
Keep praying for one another when you get home.
God wants to meet with us each and every day, wherever we are and whatever we’re doing. The more we practice praying for one another, the easier we find it. Try and make it a regular part of your youth group meetings to invite God’s presence and minister to one another. We’re passionate about encouraging and equipping the Church to move in the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit, both during church services and in everyday life, so take a look at some of our online teaching and upcoming events if you’d like to find out more, or get in touch with our youth work director via SoulNet to see how we can support you.
