LIV2DAY – Episode 63 – “Healing Prayers”

Hi there. I'm Dr. Paula McDonald, and I welcome you to my podcast Live Today. It's here that together we will explore the concept of balance as God designed to it to be for us, his children, balance of the mind, the body and the spirit. And it's what I've named Theosynthesis. And it's here waiting for you.

Hello, everyone. It's Dr. Paula McDonald with the Live Today podcast. And I want to start today's podcast by just saying a word of gratitude for those of you who've been listening and sharing my podcast. I am getting so much more traction now, and it brings me great honor to have you invite me into your life and into your homes, into your cars or wherever you're listening. So I just wanted to say a little thank you. I just share what God puts on my heart. And so today I'm going to talk about a topic that is talked about a lot in the Bible. But sadly, I think it's just kind of surfacey spoken about in our churches and in society today. And that is on healing. And when we talk about healing, it's not just physical healing. It can be emotional and spiritual healing. There's a lot of different types of healing. But we know that Jesus did a lot of healing. And a lot of people in churches today falsely believe that there's really no such thing as the miracle of healing. And I want to share a couple of stories with you today that I think will cause you to rethink the whole healing issue. So first, my only and real experience personally with a situation that I didn't actually understand was the healing until later on because I had never been around it. I'd never heard about it. Of course, I've heard people getting healed, but I've never heard of true miracle healings that people experience. I've never really paid attention to that. So the story is, those of you who've listened know that I lost a lung. I had a massive lung tumor. And then years later, I had an Xray, and they discovered what looked like another growth in my lung. And so I was devastated. I mean, the thought of having my chest cut open for a third time was almost more than I could bear. And I was scheduled to go have a biopsy. And the night before the biopsy, we had a pastor friend of ours who is our neighbor. He and his wife came over and they said they wanted to just pray with me. Of course, I was honored and welcomed it greatly. We were standing in a circle. We were holding hands, and we were in deep prayer. And I felt like my body turned up 50 degrees. It was really odd. It was almost as if somebody had just lit a fire next to me. And I just felt this intense heat, so much so that I opened my eyes to look, to see if any of the others in the prayer group were affected. I didn't really understand what was happening. And so after the prayer, I said to them, you guys, I am so hot. Are you guys experiencing this intense heat? Do I need to turn on the air conditioner? And they looked at me kind of strange, but, I mean, it was so real. So very real, so very hot. And so the next day, I went in for the biopsy, and the results came back, no, it's not a tumor. And they were convinced it was a tumor. They said, you know, you have pneumonia, and we can treat that. You guys, at that moment when I heard that news, I put two and two together and realized I experienced a healing, that intense heat that is the fire from the Holy Spirit. And I had no knowledge of it. I'd never really studied people who'd been healed. I'd never heard about this heat, but I experienced it, and it was very, very, very real. And so yesterday, I was invited to a prayer group of women, and one of the women had received another second diagnosis of breast cancer. And so we all determined that we were going to lay hands on her, and we were going to pray with her, which we did. And it was absolutely a beautiful thing. And if you've never been a part of a healing prayer group or had somebody pray over you for healing, I encourage you to find a group, whether it's in your Church or outside of your Church. And this group that I'm involved in is actually outside of a Church. It's made up of a group of women who come from lots of different churches, but they are all amazing prayer warriors. And it's just such an honor to be a part of that group. So we all laid hands on her, and we took turns praying. It was very, very powerful. And when I put my hand on her shoulder, I could feel heat. And I believe with all my heart that she's going in today for her biopsy, and they're going to find nothing eyes for those of you who scoff at this or in the past have scoffed at it. There's a reason so much healing is talked about in the Bible. And for some reason, our churches and our pastors, a lot of them, not all of them have gotten away from it. It's almost if they look at it as something that happened back in those biblical times but is not relevant today. But I ask you, why would something that was so impactful and powerful not be a part of our spiritual lives today? Well, the answer is it absolutely is. We have been given the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised us that. And it's probably like our brain, how we use only a small fraction of our brains. Well, we probably only use a small fraction of the power that the Holy spirit has given us and if we only really knew how much power we have it would probably blow us all away. I'm still amazed each and every time I experience something like this so I wanted to share with you some of the beautiful healing scriptures that just confirmed over and over and over. The healing is a very big part of the Christian life and if you are in need of healing go find you some powerful prayer warriors and get busy praying in the spirit and claiming the healing. We can ask but we also need to go in with confidence and those who are being prayed over need to be open to receive the healing. If you are praying over somebody who really has a lot of doubt and doesn't believe that's going to be a hindrance. It's got to work both ways. So let me share some of these beautiful scriptures 514 15 Heal me O Lord and I will be healed. Save me and I will be saved for you are the one I praise in two Kings. 25 Go back and tell Hezekiah the ruler of my people. This is what the Lord the God of your Father David says. I have heard your prayers and I've seen your tears, I will heal you. Jeremiah 1714 says Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the Church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise them up and if they have sinned they will be forgiven. In Exodus 1526 if you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes if you pay attention to his Commandments and keep all his decrees I will not bring on any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians for I am the Lord who heals you another. Exodus 23 25 Worship the Lord your God and his blessings will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you and I'm going to just talk about that verse for just a moment because we had this conversation yesterday after the prayer and we were talking to the woman with the diagnosis and I shared with her what God was really laying on my heart because after my severe two major tumors that caused three massive surgeries, God landed on my heart to go through my home and do a complete cleanup of all toxic substances that were in my house. And I was so convicted because after having these crazy tumors and I've been a healthy just almost nuts about my health my entire life. To have those two rare tumors was very concerning to me and I wanted to know what caused them. And so bit by bit through my research, which is all part of my book, Theosnthesis Live Today. You can find that on my website. Dr. Paulamcdonald.com under books. And I've written about my journey of ridding my entire home of chemical toxins. And here I was thinking I was doing all the right things, eating right and exercising, but lurking in my cabinets and lurking in the products and the things that I had in my home that I thought were safe because the FDA tells us they're safe. They were not safe. And when I started to really dive deep into the chemical toxins that are out there and in our foods, in the candles we have in our homes, the plugins, the food additives, everything, it was astonishing. And I seriously went through my home room by room, and I was just purging it all. And a lot of people have said, well, that's expensive to go and throw all those products away and have to buy new things that are nontoxic. And I always look at people and say, let me tell you what is expensive. And expensive is losing an internal body part like a lung because of the toxicity in our world. So there's no argument there. Your health is worth it. So as I went through, I was really sad that I felt like I had been duped my whole life thinking these things were safe and they were not. Each and everything that I used that was toxic was slowly building up in my body. And the way my body built them up was they turned into tumors. Other people have autoimmune issues. Other people have skin diseases. I believe there's the ADHD and the autism and the Add, all of these things are all tied to chemical toxins that are in our everyday life. And if you don't believe me, you can look it up. The research is there. So I say all this because I just felt God prompting me to share with this woman. Ok? We've all just laid our hands on you, and now you have a responsibility. You need to go home and look at what is it that you're putting into your diet? Are you drinking Diet Cokes? Are you putting aspartame and artificial sweeteners onto your foods? You guys, that is toxic. That is some of the most toxic items on this Earth. And if you're drinking Diet Cokes and diet drinks, it is time to cease doing that right now. I'm not kidding. And I'm going to share another story with you. I was doing a leadership group in The Woodlands, Texas, and we were touring a polymer factory or a place that developed polymers. And so when you arrived in the main room were these glass cabinets. And each cabinet represented a different group of polymers and the chemical makeup and what those products were from those various chemicals. And so there was one cabinet, and it had a snowboard, it had a piece of cultured marble, and it had a packet, the blue packet of equal. And I looked at the gentleman who was giving the tour, and I said, So you're telling me that these items all come from the same polymer makeup? And he said, yes, ma'am, I am. I said, So you're telling me that the same packet of equal is the same polymer makeup as this snowboard and as this cultured marble? And he looked at me and said, exactly. And I said, do you ingest the blue powder? He said, no, ma'am, I do not. You guys, it is a plastic. And for whatever reason, and those of us in the know who know it's all about money, the FDA said, oh, yes, let's add that to food and drinks. And if those of you who recognize the side effects for me, I cannot even chew gum that has aspartame I get such an incredible headache. And once I realized what a toxic substance this was, I said, no more, no more. And it really pains me to see people who are fighting diseases yet they just don't know that they're filling their body with more chemical so they're going and getting treatments and then coming home and having more chemicals. So I've said this before, every time you put something into your body, you need to ask yourself this question, is this substance life giving or is it life taking? And so I'm having this conversation with her. And I know all the other ladies in the room. We all need to hear this. We all need to assess and we all have a responsibility because we know God said our bodies are a temple and it is our job to take care of them. And right now, God needs all his warriors to be healthy and ready to go. And if you think about a warrior, a warrior is ready for battle. A warrior trains and stays in tip top shape in order to do the battle, to perform whatever is needed to that's the same. Paul didn't just tell us to armor up each day like he said in Ephesians, but we are to armor up. There's a reason for it. He needs us in his battlefield, which is this Earth, you guys. And if we are all sick and jacked up on toxins and medicines and so overweight and just tired that we can't really function the way God intended us to function, then guess what? We cannot do the work that he's asked us to do. So I am charging you all with this healing message today. First of all know and believe healing is absolutely possible. It is the most wonderful thing to witness. It was one of the most wonderful things to be a part of and have it happen to myself. And it's biblical. And before we leave today, I'm going to share just a few more wonderful passages. And if you are a journaling person, Journal these passages about healing and pray and meditate upon them because healing is there for us. It's just there. We've got to claim it and we've got to believe it so in Isaiah 41 ten he says, so do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen and help you. I will uphold you in my righteous hand. Jeremiah 3017 But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds declares the Lord. Y'all that's a declaration it says declares the Lord. He is declaring it. Deuteronomy 32. 39 See now that I myself am he there is no God beside me. I put to death and I bring to life. I have wounded and I will heal and no one can deliver you out of my hand. These verses I can just go on and on. There are so many wonderful verses so I'm just praying for those of you who need not only physical healing but emotional healing and spiritual healing. It is there for you. You just have to take hold of it. You have to go in with an open heart and an open heart to receive it. And I say ask but then claim and then thank God for this amazing healing that is out there for all of us. And I pray that as you receive this message you will also receive the message of the responsibility of your part in taking care of this amazing and wonderful temple your body that was given to you as a gift. So go forward today in confidence. I pray for healing for you all and let's close in prayer. Father God, we are in a world that needs healing so desperately. I pray that you will open hearts and minds to the power of the Holy Spirit that is there for all of us. I pray for those who are hurting emotionally and spiritually that they experience the most beautiful healing the most beautiful new open door that they can walk through. Confidently and we pray all of these things in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for joining me, friends. My prayer for you is that you would seek to live today and ever every day in balance and in abundant connection with God.