Receiving God’s healing touch

Thirty-five people attended the day led by John and Gillian Ryeland from the Christian Healing Mission (CHM). The day was a mixture of hearing about ‘Encounter Prayer’, seeing it demonstrated, experiencing it for ourselves and practising it with each other. We learned that there are three aspects: resting on the Father’s love; finding the presence of Jesus, and inviting the presence of the Holy Spirit.

John demonstrated this on a volunteer, emphasising that when we come into the Father’s presence we stand on His love and not on guilt, condemnation and a sense of worthlessness (which is often our default mindset). After some moments of reminding the person how much God loves them, John asked ‘Where is Jesus for you right now?’ and, after their response, he continued with ‘What would you want to say to Him?’ He then invited the Holy Spirit to come and make real for them any revelation they had received.
Encounter Prayer is an approach that lets each person come to God and talk to Him themselves. Each person matters. We all carry something of the presence of God. God may do things in an unexpected way. Don’t be afraid of silence! Allow space to explore what is happening with the person who is being prayed for. If the answer to ‘Where is Jesus in this?’ is negative that is ok because God wants reality and we have to start from where we are. It is our ongoing relationship with God that brings the healing.
From the ‘buzz’ in the room at the end of the day it seemed that people were refreshed and encouraged by all that had happened.
Pauline Turner

For more info about CHM see https:/www.healingmission.org