Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Power to Heal-Receiving God's Everyday Miracles by Joan Hunter

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!


Today's Wild Card author is:


and the book:


Power to Heal - Receiving God’s Everyday Miracles

Whitaker House (June 8, 2009)


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:



Joan Hunter is head of Joan Hunter ministries based in Pinehurst, Texas. She served as co-pastor of a church for 18 years, and has been involved in healing ministry for over thirty years. Along with her parents, Charles and Frances Hunter, she has traveled the world, ministering to thousands. Her previous books include: Healing the Whole Man Handbook, and Healing the Heart. She is married to Kelly Murrell and together they are parents to her four daughters and his four sons.

Visit the author's website.

Product Details:

List Price: $12.99
Paperback: 219 pages
Publisher: Whitaker House (June 8, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1603741119
ISBN-13: 978-1603741118

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:


Healing the Whole Man


This book is about miracles--all kinds of miracles. Do I perform the miracles? Oh, no. You don't, either. However, we are a very important and vital link in the process of the miracles that manifest around us. Without us, without our cooperation, many miracles would not occur. Years ago, I heard someone teach that Jesus is God's heart, the Holy Spirit is His mind, and we, the believers, are His hands. Without us, God can't physically ÒtouchÓ others in need.

Just as He did in the Bible, Jesus Christ performs miracles today. Believers know that Jesus was a miracle worker when He walked on this earth. After He died, His Holy Spirit came to earth, enabling Him to live within us. When we accept Him into our hearts, we have the choice to allow Him to work within us and through us. Note that I said we have a choice. God gave us free will. He allows us to choose. We have the option to refuse.

It is our choice to allow Him into our hearts and lives. It is our choice to allow Him to shine forth to others through us. It is our choice to witness to the lost. It is our choice to share His love. It is our choice to accept His healing. It is our choice to allow God to use us.

If God can use me, God can use anybody. I am always amazed that God uses me, but I know God can and will use anyone who is willing. He wants everyone to fully understand that His help, His love, His power, and His healing are for everyday use. He can use you at home, at work, and anywhere else you happen to be at any moment. He will minister through you--if you allow Him to do it.

Allowing God to work through me is a way of life for me wherever I am---at the grocery store, in an airplane, in the airport, or at the gas station. What God does is amazing. When you realize your capability, His anointing flows, and you can lay hands on anyone, anywhere. It's so much fun!

An Introduction to Healing

Today, many of God's children are sick and looking desperately in every direction for solutions, and their Father is waiting patiently for them to finally fall to their knees and call out to Him for His divine intervention. Through the ages, there have always been a faithful few who tenaciously hung on to His promises. These few kept the Word of God alive despite the teachings of the church to the contrary; these few were miraculously healed and wouldn't keep silent. These few knew that God was the Healer.

In modern times, believing in the miraculous, healing power of God has been minimized. ÒYes, it happened in Bible times, but it is not for today,Ó they say. God hasn't changed. Jesus hasn't changed. The gifts God gave, as recorded in Scripture, are still ours today. Jesus did it all so many years ago. He paid the price. Pray that God will open your eyes to His perfect truth today, right now.

The number one answer for all our problems is Jesus. He is the one Source of healing for all disease, discomfort, and pain. He is the only Òsecond opinionÓ anyone ever needs to look for or request. He knows how to cure all conditions--no matter how small or large, simple or complicated. He is the Answer.

He is the Physician, He is the Counselor, and He is the Provider. He knows the root causes of our infirmities and ailments. His healing power is not limited to the physical or mental realm. His healing goes all the way to the heart and soul of a person. He heals every aspect of your being--mental, physical, emotional, and financial. Many people consider healing to be a very complicated subject--a mysterious, unknown entity with unattainable answers hidden in impossible places.

If you depend on science, medicine, or theology for your total recovery, healing can indeed be a very long and complicated journey. However, if you recognize the fact that there is one Person who has all the answers to any disease you have, the Answer is simple. His name is Jesus. In concert with our heavenly Father and His Holy Spirit, anyone can be healed. Jesus can heal the whole man.

Does it always take a long time? No! Is healing guaranteed? No. I can't promise or guarantee anything. Only God has that answer. After dozens of years of ministering around the world in various countries, however, I can share endless experiences of healings that I have witnessed personally, as well as documented testimonies of healings that occurred during healing schools and meetings held by my ministry.

My goal in writing this book is to share freely these keys to being healed and whole.

Healing Is Easy

It is not difficult. It is simple. We are going to get into the details of what makes healing easy and what makes it hard. Actually, we are the ones who make it hard. Through this book, we are going to break down the barriers and excuses that make it difficult for some.

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. (Ephesians 1:17-18)

I pray that God will not only open your eyes but also your hearts to what you are capable of doing for Him. You accepted Him by faith. You accepted His love by faith. You accepted salvation by faith. After you exercised your faith, the inner knowledge of His truth and salvation, His presence within you both grew and matured. You found that you could trust Him with your heart. You may have trusted Him to care for your family members. Miraculously, the impossible started happening. Family members got saved. Barriers disappeared. Mountains were removed. Your prayers were getting answered.

You opened your heart, your mind, and your life to Him and to His will. First, you trusted Him with little things. Then, you went on to trust Him with larger things. Maybe it was the other way around. Perhaps you trusted Him only with the big things and not the little things. It is now time to take the next step and trust Him with everything, whether small or large.

Take the limits off God. We need to take the limits off ourselves, also. Even though I have been saved for many, many years, I didn't realize who I was until just a few years ago. It took some major, life-changing events before I finally opened my eyes and heart to who He wanted me to be.

Now, part of my assignment is to help you realize who you are in Christ and find the gifting He has given you. He has much more for all of us than we are walking in right now.

Choose His way and experience a whole new way of life. Allow your eyes to be enlightened to what God has for you. Don't blame the enemy. Don't give the devil credit. You chose to believe the lies that you were incapable, that you were inferior, that you were too shy, or that you didn't know enough. Now, you have heard the truth. Open your eyes and stop blaming the devil. Make the choice today.

And He said to them, ÒGo into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.Ó (Mark 16:15-18)

Each person has a part of the assignment given to the body of Christ. God knew that one person couldn't do it all. He needs everyone to work together. He made the provision for Jesus to live within each of us and for His Holy Spirit to work through each of us. He asks us only for willing hearts and obedient spirits. He will do the rest. If you aren't seeing people healed, you aren't laying hands on the sick. However, if you can't see yourself doing it, it won't happen.

When you lay hands on the sick, they will recover. Everywhere you go, you will want to lay hands on people. If you don't lay hands on someone every day, you may feel that something isn't right--that something isn't complete for that day.

God simply needs a willing vessel. He doesn't place a list of restrictions on any person; it doesn't matter where you were born, how tall you are, how young you are, how healthy you are, how smart you are, how much education you have, or who your relatives happen to be.

God doesn't care who I am. I appreciate the fact that I am Charles and Frances Hunter's daughter. I praise God that I had the opportunity to learn from them and work with them in the ministry for all those years. But that's not why God sent me into the ministry. I'm also not in the ministry because I went to Oral Roberts University, part of another outstanding healing ministry in this country.

I am here because I'm anointed to be here. God has called me to lay hands on the sick and to see signs and wonders wherever I go. I believe God can use me. I am willing to allow Him to work through me. It is just that simple. I see miracles everywhere I go.

If you have ever been healed, no one can convince you that God does not heal. He healed me from the top of my head to the soles of my feet: physically, emotionally, mentally, and financially. Years ago, my CPA told me that I wouldn't survive another two years with my small income and three children in college. I not only made it, but God also surpassed my expectations by leaps and bounds.

Spiritually, I have always been strong because I have had to hold on to Him simply to make it through each day. Emotionally, I have been a mess. I have felt as if my heart had been dragged out of my chest, stomped on, and smashed. Jesus came along, picked up my heart, healed it, reshaped it, and gently put it back in my chest.

If God did it for me, He can do it for you. If God healed me, He can heal you. If God can heal you, He can heal anybody. The more limits you take off God, the more limits you take off yourself. You both become limitless. God wants to use you. Does He want you to go all over the world? I don't know. But He does want you to start where you are. We need to live for today. You need to be willing to go wherever God asks you to go today.

There is a difference between believing you are doing God's business and Him actually doing His business through you. Open up your heart, mind, and soul. Choose to allow Him to work in you and through you to help others.

Be the messenger, not the message.

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