Friday, August 28, 2015

Pray for the Hook to Be Released

“Pray for the Hook to Be Released”

Rev. John Rice

In the fall of 2008, I was invited to bring a healing ministry team to the Diocese of Durgapur, located in the northeast area of India, to help train and equip their clergy in the area of Jesus’ healing ministry. After several months of intense preparations, our team arrived on a Saturday in early February 2009. We were tired from the thirty-two hours of travel, yet we were excited and uplifted through the prayers of family and friends. Little did we imagine what God had been preparing.

Our one week course, “Equipping the Saints for Jesus’ Healing Ministry,” began the following Monday. After initial introductions, worship, and joyful singing, the teaching began. Dr. Mike, a retired surgeon from Charleston, South Carolina, taught about praying for physical healing. At the end of his talk, he asked if anyone needed prayer for a physical ailment. All the clergy turned to one of their own, a pastor whose face was very swollen on one side. We invited him to come up so that we could demonstrate praying for physical healing.

He told us he was either stung or bitten by an insect nearly a week ago. As a result, half of his face swelled immediately and grew much worse as the area became infected. He took antibiotics with no relief, and he was still experiencing considerable pain.

Our team laid hands on him and prayed for healing. After about six minutes, we paused and asked him, “Is the pain any less?” He said, “No.” So we began praying again, with still no noticeable results. About that time, one of our team members, Kay, came over to me and whispered, “You need to pray for the hook to be released.” I looked at her and said, “What?” She said, “I keep hearing the Spirit say, 'You need to pray for the hook to be released.' I don’t know what it means, but that is what we need to pray.”

I had known Kay for several years and had come to trust personal messages that she often received from the Holy Spirit during times of healing ministry. So, more from my sense of trusting rather than my understanding, I asked the team to lay hands on the pastor once again. I prayed, “Jesus, in your name, I command the hook to be released in this swollen, infected area.” The pastor immediately turned to me and said, “Something just popped and the pain is already less.” (It turned out that the stinger from the insect had a barb that was embedded in the tissue of his face. The “pop” he felt was the release of the barb!)

At once we offered prayers of thanksgiving and praise to God for the healing that was happening before our very eyes. We prayed for the Holy Spirit to continue to minister to this pastor and to bring complete healing. By the end of the week the swelling was gone, and the wound was totally healed. This was the first of many miraculous healings we witnessed during our trip to India. Thanks be to God for his love, his guidance and his healing presence!

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