In the last year and half Manna Prayer has been contacted by people from around the world - from India and Pakistan, Kenya and South Africa, to Argentina, Malaysia and the Philippines. We thank all of you who have spread the word about Manna Prayer. Great things are happening. People are being healed and set free from their afflictions. God is on the move. Many people follow the blog and don't look at the rest of the website for Manna Prayer Ministries. We suggest you roam through the full site for yourself and recommend it to others who might find it useful. On the home page there is a phone number for calls for one-on-one prayer. The phone is not covered quite 24/7, but close. (If you live in Canada or Puerto Rico, we can call you at no cost. Just email your phone number to us and what time to call.) All emails are answered with a prayer specific to the request. If you appreciate the blog or other aspects of Manna Prayer, I hope you will take a moment to make a donation. It is tax-deductible in the U.S.
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Another aspect of the Kingdom of God on earth, brought up by the typhoon, is that there will be no more destructive storms. We can deduce this because we have the example of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35-41). After Jesus simply speaks to the storm, "Quiet! Be still!", the wind dies and the waters are calm. Then he chastises the disciples for not having enough faith. They had not recognized that his miracle-working power extended to storms even though they had already seen him heal many people and cast out demons. As Jesus healed people, he taught them that "the Kingdom of God is near" so they should "repent and believe the good news" (Mark 1:15). This was a new kingdom, not like any other kingdom they had ever seen. Did they have the faith to believe it and to tell others about it and demonstrate how it was different? For reflection: Do I believe that the Kingdom of God on earth is near? That it is different? Do I have the faith to calm storms? If I banded together with other people, would I have the faith to stop typhoons? Let us pray. Jesus, I've never even prayed to stop a storm before. I've always just prayed for the people to endure and recover. Help me have the faith to believe and to act when there is a threat. Let us pray today for the people of The Philippines who are suffering from the typhoon. Father, we ask for a miraculous recovery for the people of The Philippines. That the food and water arriving will be more than sufficient, that the debris be cleared away more quickly than anyone thinks possible, that housing and workplaces be restored in the blink of an eye. We loose the storehouses of food, building materials, medicine and philanthropy around the world. We also ask for healing for their loss of families, friends and loved ones. We ask for loving families to be found for all children left orphaned and new hope for the elderly who lost everything dear to them. Pour out your provision of hope and healing, Father, for those who are spiritually destitute, for those who don't know you. May this time of physical renewal also be a time of spiritual renewal. What does the Kingdom of God on earth look like? Continuing with "proclaiming . . . recovery of sight to the blind" (Luke 4:18), what if recovery of sight meant physical healing instead of spiritual healing (or both spiritual and physical healing)? Jesus certainly made it a point to heal people while he was on earth and his mission was to proclaim the Kingdom of God on earth. So the healing of people with physical problems is evidence of the kingdom. I doubt that all people in healing professions would proclaim that they are helping to bring about the Kingdom, but they are because all wisdom and knowledge comes from God. All ability to help and to comfort is from God. Inspiration for cures comes from God too. Aside from people in the healing professions, people who pray for the healing of friends and loved ones are helping to bring about the Kingdom because in the Kingdom there is no sickness (physical, emotional or spiritual). There is no more death, no more crying. No one weeps in the Kingdom. For reflection: For whom do I need to pray today? If I see someone in the next few days, will I be open to God's prompting to pray with them in person? If I am in the healing professions, do I thank God every day for the privilege of helping to proclaim "sight to the blind". Do I know someone who is caring for a loved one at home? How can I offer a hand? Let us pray. Heavenly Father, there is so much work to do in the area of healing to bring about your Kingdom. We need more knowledge of how the human body works. We need more inspiration for cures. How can I help? Lately I have been asking God for keys. (No, not car keys or house keys.) What is the key for healing autism? What is the key for healing multiple sclerosis? What is the key for healing down syndrome? What is the key for healing asthma or allergies? I haven't been asking for treatments, I've been asking keys to healing. When Jesus walked the earth, he healed people, he didn't treat them. He didn't offer a treatment to the 10 lepers. He didn't offer a treatment for blindness or lameness. That's not to say that I don't appreciate everything doctors today can do to treat and heal. I do appreciate them and their knowledge. But there are so many diseases for which we have no answers as to cause, no treatment for relief, and no cure. Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (Luke 11:9). For reflection: Can we join together in asking God for keys to healing? What disease affects you or your family? Let us pray. Jesus, we are asking, we are seeking, we are knocking. Please give us the keys to open the doors of healing. Holy Spirit, author of hope, inspire us with the answers. Healings continue to be reported in the Acts of the Apostles as we return to Peter's life and ministry in chapter 9:32. Peter healed a man named Aeneas who was paralyzed. How? Simply by saying to him, "Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat." There is no long drawn out prayer. There is no, "Oh Lord, if it be your will." Instead there is a statement of faith, "Jesus Christ heals you" followed by a command, "Get up and take care of your mat." Who knows how many people Peter witnessed Jesus healing? No doubt quite a few, so he learned from the master. Jesus healed simply by command. Jesus knew it was the Father's will to heal people; so Peter knew it was the Father's will to heal people. Both acted out of complete faith, with no doubt of what the Father wanted done. For reflection: How often am I able to act confidently, out of complete faith? Do I know that it is the Father's will to heal? Let us pray. Father, sometimes I lack the faith to do the things I know you want done. Sometimes I am afraid of being ridiculed. Or I am just afraid of doing things "wrong". I am the one in need of healing today, Father. Heal me physically, spiritually, emotionally. Heal my unbelief. Saul went quickly from a persecutor to being persecuted. After learning from the disciples in Damascus about Jesus and his message of healing, forgiveness and the kingdom of God, he himself began to preach. The local Jews plotted to kill him but Saul made the first of many miraculous escapes in his life. His disciples get him out of the city by letting him over the town wall in a basket (Acts 9:19-25). For reflection: When has God helped me to escape from a bad situation? When has God used me to help someone escape from a bad situation? Let us pray. Father, thank you for the times you have protected me and saved me. You are my protector Stephen and Philip are only minor characters in the Acts of the Apostles. By far the major figure in Acts is Paul. (He was called Saul in Hebrew and Paul in the Greek language.) Saul was going about his business, rounding up Christians to be sent back to Jerusalem for trial, when God has an appointment with him. Saul didn't have an appointment with God, but God had an appointment with him. God was not at all polite about getting his attention either. God knocks him to the ground and speaks to him. When Paul gets up he is blind. His fellow deputies escort him on to Damascus and find him a room. While there, God gives Saul a vision of a man named Ananias visiting him, laying hands on him, and restoring his vision. Meanwhile, God is speaking to Ananias about Saul. Understandably, Ananias, a follower of Jesus, knowing who Saul is, doesn't want to go see him. But God insists, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name" (Acts 9:15-16). So Ananias keeps his divine appointment with Saul and Saul is healed. For reflection: What does Jesus have to do to get my attention? Do I have a regular appointment time to listen to Jesus? Am I keeping it? Or am I on vacation from God? Let us pray. Jesus, I apologize for not keeping my appointment time with you, for not listening and for not seeing what you want me to see. Open my eyes. Open my ears. What else do we know about Philip who witnessed to the Ethiopian? He was one of the 7 men chosen by the apostles to handle the daily food distribution for those who needed it. These 7 deacons (another of whom was Stephen) were chosen because they were "known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom" (Acts 8:3). This administrative matter of the food was obviously important, but it was not all they did. Stephen preached and worked miracles (and was later stoned to death). The persecution following Stephen's murder caused the new believers in Jesus to spread out away from Jerusalem. Philip went to Samaria where he proclaimed the good news about Jesus, worked miracles, cast out demons, and healed people with physical disabilities. Many Samaritans became believers and were baptized. As we've already seen, one day Philip heard the Spirit speaking to him, followed the Spirit's leading and witnessed to an Ethiopian, led him to Christ and baptized him. When Philip finished that divine appointment, he was miraculously transported to another town far away. He preached all around that area, eventually settling in Caesarea. He is mentioned once again in Acts 21:8-9 where he is called Philip the evangelist. By that time he had four unmarried daughters who were prophets. Philip is a relatively minor figure in Acts and yet look at what he did. He began his service as a deacon in charge of the food pantry but had to flee persecution. He settled in Samaria among people not his own where he had to start over in life. Still he found time to speak about Jesus. God found he was movable. First to Samaria, then in one day to where the Ethiopian was and after that to the western area of the country. So in one day he was moved many miles and again left everything behind. He evangelized and worked miracles in that new area, eventually settling in Caesarea where he established his family. For reflection: Am I movable? If God called me to move, would I? How attached am I to my current situation? Am I movable on any given day to be able to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit? Let us pray. Lord Jesus, I want to be attached more to you than to things or to places. I want to have a movable spirit each day so that you can move me to do what you want. |
AliceI started this website and blog on May 1, 2012. I am a Catholic who has been in ministry for many years. I first developed what I would call a close relationship with Jesus in the early 1970s. Ever since then I have been praying with people for healing and other needs. It is because I have seen so many of these prayers answered that I am so bold as to offer to pray for you individually through this website and phone line. Archives
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