STANDING FOR HEALING BREAKTHROUGH

A Testimony of Healing from Chronic Pain

I have been a Christian for over 29 years and during the first three years of my walk with Christ, the Lord healed me from various medical conditions. As a new believer I learned the healing power of God firsthand. There was one condition, however, that was not healed during this miraculous time in my life.

Thirty years ago I was in a horse accident that injured my neck, back and right ankle. I was only 14 years old and staying with my Aunt. The horse I was riding the day before this accident did not like steep hills and threw me over her head on onto a rocky slope. I got back up and rode back to my Aunt’s home. How many of you know of a teenager who is crazy about horses? That first accident didn’t stop me from riding a different horse the next day. But when this horse got near his barn at the end of the day, the side bridle strap came unbuckled and I could only control one side of the horse. After becoming quite agitated this horse took off at a fast gallop for the barn, and I could not control him. The only problem with this barn-sour horse’s plan is that there was a fence and cement ditch between us and the barn. We cleared the fence only to crash into the cement ditch. I landed on my back in the ditch and the horse put his hoof on my right ankle on his way up. My cousins had to carry me lying over the saddle of another horse back to my Aunt’s house. I grew up most of my childhood without medical insurance, so when my Aunt saw me she didn’t think I needed any medical attention. That night my broken ankle swelled and turned purple as I slept in a reclining chair. The next morning my Aunt took me to a doctor under my cousin’s name. I was only treated for the ankle injury and so my back and neck remained untreated. For the next twenty years my back would hurt on and off and my neck would go out of place so severely I would be on ice-packs for days or even weeks to relieve pain.

Ten years ago, when I had been working for five years as a CPA in a job that demanded a minimum of fifty-five hours per week, six days a week for four months out of the year, I started needing pain medication to make it through the long days. For about three years, I used it only during my four months of busy season. Seven years ago, I started needing it almost every day when the travel required for my job increased to approximately 3,000 miles per month. About five years ago the doctor increased the dosage of pain medication I was using and prescribed muscle-relaxants to help with the busy seasons and when my neck or shoulder would go out or chronically hurt. Both medications I took had to be administered on an empty stomach so my day revolved around what time is it, when can I take the next pill, and when can I eat. My physical activities were limited to how much I could do before the pain became severe. I also had to stay constantly aware of my posture so I was either sitting or standing in the least painful position. I was in some kind of back, neck or shoulder pain every day for over seven years. Over the years I tried many different therapies for pain relief, many of which gave a temporary reduction in the pain level, but none offered lasting pain relief.

Over the years I have received prayer for healing from my chronic back condition and even had a one month period in the summer of 2009 when I was pain-free. As I read Bill Johnson’s book, “Release the Power of Jesus”, I realized that disappointment had caused a stronghold in my life.

So, how does a believer get free from strongholds that have attacked their identity as a citizen of heaven? Pastor Paul told me last November that what I needed was a deeper revelation of the cross and Christ’s work on the cross.

I spent the next six months learning how to stand for breakthrough by feeding my heart on what God has said about who I am, my identity in Christ, and feeding my spirit in intimate times of worship. I read books and wrote down on index cards specific scriptures and declarations that reinforced these themes.

For much of the six months I spent learning how to stand for major breakthrough, I stopped almost entirely praying about my cares and concerns and instead prayed for a deeper revelation of God’s love for me and increasing desire to spend more and more time in His glorious presence. It was during these times of worship and meditation that God strengthened me with power through His Spirit in my inner being, so that Christ would dwell in my heart through faith. And I continued to pray that I would be rooted and grounded in love, so deeply and thoroughly, that I would receive God’s power, both in my worship times alone and with the saints in Church services, to grasp, to really get a hold of, so it went deep into my spirit, how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to really know this incredible love that surpasses human head knowledge – and each time becoming more filled with a measure of all the fullness of God. (adapted from Ephesians 3:16-19)

Paul challenged me to pray in the Spirit one-third more than I was already. During my forty minute commute to work, I usually prayed in the Spirit about half of that, or twenty minutes. During last winter I increased that to thirty minutes every morning. Then after about four months of this I started praying in the Spirit much more when entering into deep, intimate times of worship. These deep worshipful times were happening in the car, in the office on long nights, at prayer meetings, at Bible study, while cleaning the house, and many, many times in my sewing room while I quilted or sewed with worship music playing in the background.

After about six months of learning how to stand for my breakthrough from chronic back pain, things began to really change. I was still working fifty-five hours per week, six days per week, but I was not experiencing any back pain until late in the day, after eight hours or more. My worship and prayer times had become very intense; I felt so close to the heart of my Savior. During my first vision of angels, I saw over 100 of them assigned to our little church of about forty people. Two days later my neck went out of place and I spent two days on ice. I knew I was in a battle for the visions I was seeing. While on ice, I spent most of the time praying in the Spirit and listening to the words of Christ. The visions of angels continued and for about four weeks I saw or heard them almost every time I went to Church.

Eight days after that first vision of angels, I had a dream during the night that the Lord told me to remember. In the dream I was nine months pregnant and starting labor. I had “attendants”, like EMT or nurses. It was significant that I was “older” having this child. I didn’t realize it until later that it had been exactly nine months since I had been pain free for one month in the summer of 2009. I had walked through nine months of chronic pain again, but still standing on the promise of healing. I felt a release from the Lord to decrease my pain medication and go off muscle-relaxant medication.

The next day was April 15, 2010, the last day of my CPA busy-season at work and my 45th birthday. It was the usually crazy, busy day at work, but I had no pain until 4:15 pm and the peace of God was on me all day; I just knew in my spirit that the full manifestation of healing was very close. I also knew I would be very vulnerable over the next few days and weeks both spiritually and physically as I came off the medications.

I was home the next four days, and the only thing I prayed for was for the presence of God to be very close to me and that God would send His ministering angels to me during this vulnerable time. All four days I felt the presence of angels and felt the Lord’s presence very close to my heart and a deep, abiding peace and joy. On the fourth day I saw the ten angels the Lord had assigned to be with me all weekend!

What I did not feel was that dull, nagging, constant pain in my back, shoulders and neck. My healing breakthrough had come! I am free from chronic pain!

“So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:32

It has been exactly two months since the manifestation of my healing began on my 45th birthday. Jesus set me free from chronic back pain when He bore stripes upon His perfect back for my healing and now I am “free indeed” because the full manifestation of that healing has come!

Written by: Laura Hokanson, the disciple whom Jesus loves                                                 Completed on: June 15, 2010

 

RECOMMENDED READING:

Release the Power of Jesus, by Bill Johnson

Spiritual Warfare, by Joseph Prince

What Happened from the Cross to the Throne, by E.W. Kenyon

Healing the Sick, by T.L. Osborn

Face to Face with God, by Bill Johnson

Unmerited Favor, by Joseph Prince

The Happy Intercessor, by Beni Johnson

Healing, Our Neglected Birthright, 6-part CD series by Bill Johnson

Destined to Reign, by Joseph Prince