The Healing Touch: A Guide to Healing Prayer for Yourself and Those You Love

By Norma Dearing and Francis MacNutt

Our society is brimming with people suffering the effects of past abuse, rejection, physical illness, bad choices, and unhealthy relationships. Author and radio personality Norma Dearing has spent thousands of hours listening to and praying with those in need of emotional, physical, or spiritual healing. In The Healing Touch, she shares stories from countless people who have been set free from unhealthy relationships, unholy unions, addictions, generational influences, and physical illnesses associated with these.
The Healing Touch is divided into three sections: Healing our Relationship with God, How to Have a Right Relationship with God, and Living within a Right Relationship with God. Packed with wise counsel, the book includes specific prayers for healing in the reader's own life and prayer for others in need. Dearing also covers rarely addressed problems such as healing from occult experience and pre-birth traumas, and explores the issue of why some people are not healed.
This handbook is for counselors, lay leaders, pastors, and individuals who want to see people delivered from the unnatural ravages of hurt and sin. It is a powerful reminder that God longs for his people to be healthy and whole.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Release date: Mar 1, 2002
• ISBN: 9781585586189

Norma Dearing

Norma Dearing is the executive director of Impact Communication Ministries and host of the radio program The Healing Touch. She spent fourteen years as director of prayer ministry for Christian Healing Ministries in Jacksonville, Florida, where she developed the Schools of Healing Prayer and Foundation of Healing Prayer courses. Dearing and her husband have five grown children and live in Jacksonville.

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Florida

ONE

GOD’S PERFECT PLAN FOR

WHOLENESS

From the very beginning of time, God desired for us to be healthy physically, emotionally and spiritually. As an integral part of this perfect plan, God also established the idea of relationship with His created children. He wanted intimate and unbroken communion with each one of us individually that we might walk in the peace and protection of His will. And, of course, He wanted us to live in healthy relationships with one another.

He showed His inexpressible joy in our arrival by creating a beautiful world for us, one warmed by the sun in the day and guided by stars at night. He spoke into being plentiful waters to refresh us, land with vegetation for food, and animals that He allowed Adam to name. All of this He gave to us, and He gave us dominion over this world as well.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

Genesis 1:27–29

God gave Adam everything he could possibly need to live an abundant life—beauty around him, food, trust to care for His creation and even a helpmate to enjoy it with him. All of these were wonderful, yes, but most importantly Adam had a loving, open, direct and personal relationship with God, our Creator. He was able to communicate with God, fully secure in the knowledge that he belonged to Him.

There was only one prohibition: And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die’ (Genesis 2:16–17).

During this time, Adam had no knowledge of good versus evil. He saw everything in his life as good and holy and pure. Adam experienced only love, joy, peace, goodness and kindness. Can you imagine what this would have been like?

I get a tiny glimpse into the Garden of Eden by watching my grandson, Andrew. He has total trust that his parents will care for his every need. At five years old, he has no idea that he lives in an evil and perverse world. He enjoys a safe home environment, with good things to eat and toys with which to play. Thanks to the Lord’s blessing, his parents even produced a little sister for a playmate.

This feeling of love and security is what Adam and Eve enjoyed in the Garden before they chose to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit.

The Bible makes it clear that Satan is our enemy. He is always crafty in the ways he works to separate us from God. For instance, he never tells us directly to disobey or disrespect God; rather he fills his lies with just enough of the truth to ensnare and confuse us. Look at how he tempted Eve:

You will not surely die, the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

Genesis 3:4–5

Eve fell into the trap. Suddenly she desired the wisdom and knowledge that she believed the tree could give her.

It certainly gave her knowledge. After sharing the wealth with Adam, they both had knowledge. They had the knowledge of good and evil, something from which God, in His infinite wisdom, wanted to protect them.

By disobeying God in this simple act, Adam and Eve separated themselves—and thus all of mankind—from Him. The intimate relationship they had enjoyed with God was now severed. They could no longer commune with Him as they had done previously. This separation, known as sin, has affected every generation that followed.

The entry of sin into God’s beautiful world not only brought sickness, pain and torment to His people but grieved Him greatly. God continued to long for a close and personal relationship with all of His people.

This seemingly hopeless situation was one that only God could fix, and He did it in a very special way. Only one Person could restore the relationship between God and man: His Son, Jesus Christ.

Why Did Jesus Come?

Why did Jesus come? First and foremost, Jesus came because God sent Him. God’s people were having a difficult time connecting with Him and knowing His love for them. Only a few special people, Old Testament luminaries such as Abraham and Moses, could communicate with God. Thus, God sent His Son, Jesus, to the earth—God-incarnate, fully divine and fully human—to exhibit divine love and to enable all of God’s people to have a direct and personal relationship with Him. Even Jesus’ name, which means God with us, bears testimony to the fact that the heavenly Father reached out to us through His Son in order to reestablish that relationship. At God’s bidding Jesus became the bridge across the river of sin that separated man from God.

God made two specific things about Jesus’ coming and going quite extraordinary. First, He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. Second, after His death He was resurrected bodily and Satan’s hold over death was broken. Definitely not your usual entrance or exit!

Until Jesus’ victory over sin and death, the world could not relate to God on a human level. The average person had no chance of communication with God, nor any hope that God could understand human suffering. The incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus changed all of that. Mankind could now express his concerns to God directly and expect God to empathize with his pain. Through the sacrifice of His Son, God redeemed His creation and entered once again into relationship with us.

The concept of God as Father can be difficult for some who see this role in a negative light. For example, a person who has a difficult relationship with his earthly father may experience fear when trying to know God as heavenly Father. One of the main missions of the Son was to reveal the true nature of the Father.

In the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, God is referred to as Father more than fifty times. In John’s gospel, a book that speaks so much of relationships, God is referred to as Father 87 times.

Jesus Himself said, All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him (Matthew 11:27). Thanks to God’s amazing grace, we are all able to receive the revelation of God’s love and through Jesus be reconciled to Him. Knowing Jesus allows us to know God’s love.

Another reason that Jesus came was to express that love in tangible ways. He did this by healing the sick and proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

In other words, empowering Jesus to heal was an expression of God’s loving desire to relate with His people at the level of their most basic needs.

Every place Jesus traveled, the first thing He usually did was heal the sick or cast out demons, basically another form of healing. Then after getting people’s attention, He proclaimed that the Kingdom of God is at hand. There were times that He proclaimed the Kingdom of God first and then healed. Either way, the message was clear that God’s healing power was at the very core of His plan.

Jesus’ coming fulfills the prophecy written in Isaiah 61:1: [The Lord] has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. Many who need physical and emotional healing have been held captive by the enemy. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and set us free: He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3:8).

Another reason that Jesus came to earth was to initiate the work of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus returned to the Father after His resurrection, the Father sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in and with mankind as guide, comforter and enabler. This was the second great commissioning from God to His creation. With the gift of the Holy Spirit, we now recognize the complementary roles of each Person of the triune Godhead in establishing and building relationship with us.

All of these are important reasons why Jesus came, and the concept of Jesus as healer is the foundational focus of this book, but we must never lose sight of the most important reason that He came: He came to be our Savior.

Paul writes:

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.

Colossians 1:19–22

Jesus came as the redeemer of our mistakes and our imperfections. He came as the sacrificial lamb for our sins, so that we might have the opportunity to live with Him forever. If we are able to face the truth about ourselves, we know we are guilty. We know that we have sinned and deserve to die.

Imagine for a moment that you are facing a firing squad. You have committed crimes and you deserve to be punished. You are blindfolded and waiting for the shots to ring out. You hear footsteps coming toward you. You are not sure who it is, but there seems to be a hush among the executioners.

Someone begins to untie your hands and take off the blindfold. You open your eyes, blinking and trying to focus on who is standing before you. You then realize it is a man, but not just any man. It is Jesus, the Son of the living God. He looks at you with great love and compassion, even though He knows everything there is to know about you. Finally He speaks, saying, Run along now. I will take your punishment for you.

This is grace, pure and simple. We cannot earn it and we will never deserve it.

Years ago, while taking part in James Kennedy’s Evangelism Explosion Program, I learned an acronym for the word grace that I will never forget: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. This is truly the best definition of grace I have ever heard.

Grace is a difficult concept for many to grasp—even for pastors or lay people in longtime Christian work. It does not relate to the attitude prevalent in our society, the attitude of performance orientation. We are programmed from preschool to expect that if we perform well we will be rewarded. Think about those happy face stickers and gold stars we enjoyed earning. These are important tools, I agree, but by experiencing such a system of reward and punishment many people, especially in the United States, have trouble moving past the idea that nothing in life is free. We have to earn our way. We hope to earn God’s favor by praying harder or performing enough good works. This makes it difficult to grasp the idea of grace.

Most times, anything that seems too good to be true probably is.

There is, however, one exception: the grace of God. God’s grace is a free gift, and all we need to do is accept it. Scripture makes this clear: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Over the years many people have said to me, Well, I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy. I always respond with the same answer: You’re right, you’re not. You’re not and I am not. Even Billy Graham isn’t! No one is.

Remember the words of John the Baptist at the river Jordan: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire (Matthew 3:11, KJV).

Why did Jesus come?

He came because we were not worthy. We were not good enough or holy enough, and we never will be. Because we were not worthy He came to die in our places. It is only as we recognize this and accept His worthiness and His grace that we are able to spend eternity with Him.

A man died and went to heaven, and Saint Peter met him at the gate. Saint Peter said, Welcome to heaven! It’s going to cost you one hundred points to come in. Tell me about your life.

The man thought for a few minutes, and then he answered confidently, Well, I have gone to church my entire life. I was raised in the church, and I even attended when I went away to college.

That’s wonderful, Saint Peter replied. One point.

The man was startled by this response, but he continued. "Well, I not only attended church, but I was active. I served on the vestry for several terms. And, of course, I tithed. This was a special requirement for serving on the vestry, but I would have tithed anyway.

Oh, and one of the most important things I did was teach the eleven- and twelve-year-old boys’ Sunday school class. They were a rough group, and nobody else could really handle them.

Saint Peter had been listening intently and with a big smile he said, Wonderful! One point!

The man began to worry. Breaking out in a sweat, he continued, Well, I tried to be a good person. I never really cheated on my income taxes or anything, and I think I was a good husband and father. I mowed the grass for the little widow lady who lived next door. And if I couldn’t do it, I made sure my son did it for her.

Saint Peter smiled and said, Very good! One point! After this, the man could not think of another thing to say on his own behalf. So, feeling hopeless, he turned away dejectedly and muttered, Man, there’s no way to get into here except by the grace of God.

Saint Peter responded with a big smile, Ninety-seven points! Come on in!

The only way that we can get to heaven is through Jesus. Now, having restored our individual relationships with God, Jesus shows us the way: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). It is what Jesus did for us that counts, not our good works or the churches we attend or the families into which we are born. It is what Jesus did for us and it is absolutely free. This is why He came.

Communication with God

Once we understand that we may enter into relationship with God, we have a choice. How will we respond to Jesus’ invitation?

Scripture teaches us that before we were formed in our mothers’ wombs, God knew us; He even knows the number of hairs on our heads (see Luke 12:7). He created us in love. He has restored us to Himself. He longs to communicate with us. And in His great love, He leaves the final decision up to us: He allows us the free will to choose whether to be in relationship with Him or not.

Perhaps we were born into a Christian family and it seems natural to know Him. Perhaps through nature we came to the realization that a higher being had to create so much beauty. Perhaps we cried out during a crisis and felt the peace that only His presence can bring.

Somewhere along the way we came to the realization that something out there is much larger than we are, and that we are not only connected to it but can have intimacy with it. We are actually able to communicate with this God of the universe. What a stunning revelation!

In the mid-1980s our family moved to England for a year to do missionary work. While there my husband and I were involved in an evangelism street ministry called Open Air Campaigners. We were part of a team that went into towns on busy shopping days, set up paint boards on which we drew pictures, and told stories to whoever stopped to listen. We talked about feelings and events that the secular world could relate to such as depression, worry and finances.

After about four minutes of story and pictures, we told the listeners about Jesus and how He could help in these various situations. We then handed out little books about Jesus and offered to talk with them about any concerns or questions they might have. We were amazed that year at the hundreds of people who answered the call of Christ right there in the street while they were out shopping.

We also learned that our train trips into London, which took approximately forty-five minutes, were opportune times to converse about the exciting things happening with the street ministry. It was interesting to watch reserved Englishmen hold their newspapers and books in place but not turn a page for thirty minutes because they were listening. Often people would begin to ask questions about our faith and how they could know Jesus. It was on one of these trips to London with my friend Denise that a British rock star first answered the call of God.

On this particular day no seats were left in the coach section and we were allowed to sit in first class.