By David Ryser
On my last trip to Barrow, Alaska, I relearned a
lesson I should have had to learn only once…a long time ago.
My friend, Tim, was involved with a
well-known prophetic movement for several years. During that time, he noticed that genuine
prophecies were often accompanied by what he calls “hamburger helper.” This term refers to when the
prophet/prophetess adds to the prophetic message. It can be in the form of a clarification, or
the addition of a timeline, or any of a number of add-ons designed to assist
the one receiving the message to interpret and implement it.
Adding “hamburger helper” to a
prophetic message almost always ends badly.
While ministering at a church in
Barrow, I felt led by God to lay hands on a woman who was seated in the
congregation. As I did, she began to
tremble. I was inspired to say, “You’re
in a lot of pain.” I then prepared to
launch into a prolonged blither-fest concerning emotional pain, and…blah, blah,
blah. But before I could say anything
else, the woman’s shaking increased to the point where she fell out of her
chair and onto the floor. She remained
on the floor for several minutes, shaking under the presence and power of God.
I thought, “Well, God started
this…He can finish it” and walked away without saying anything else. I’m glad I did.
Two nights later, the woman gave a
testimony in the service. It seems she
had been suffering from severe pain in her hips that bothered her when she
walked. When I laid hands on her and
said, “You’re in a lot of pain,” the power of God hit her. She was instantly and completely healed of
the hip pain.
And I learned two lessons. The first concerned accidental healing. The second was about not adding “hamburger
helper” to what God speaks.
Accidental healing is a term I’ve
coined to describe a healing performed without any intent to heal on the part
of the person God is using to perform the healing. This is not the first time this has happened
to me. When I was teaching at a school
of ministry, one of the pastors of the church pulled me aside before a church
service. He asked me to choose some
students to form a prayer team that would minister the power of God during the
service.
Being the obedient fellow I am, I
went about the selection process.
I noticed two of the students
standing at the front of the church building interceding for the upcoming
service. I came up behind them and
placed my hands on their shoulders to get their attention. I informed them that they would be part of
the prayer team. Then I went about my
business.
I didn’t intend to heal
anyone. Honest.
After the service, one of the
students approached me. She told me that
she had become increasingly sick during the day with what she thought was a
sinus infection of some sort. When I
touched her to get her attention before the service, she was instantly and
completely healed of her sickness.
My intellectually and theologically
astute response was, “Cool!”
The Bible records at least two
instances of accidental healing. In one
instance, Elisha’s healing of a person is particularly notable because both the
man and Elisha were dead when the healing occurred (2 Kings 13:20, 21).
OK, maybe that one doesn’t count.
But Jesus performed a healing on a
woman who had been suffering from an issue of blood (Luke 8:43-48). And He did not intend to heal her. In fact, He was on His way to heal someone
else when the healing occurred (Luke 8:41, 42).
If Jesus had not sensed the healing power flowing out of Himself and
into the woman, He would not even have known that He had healed anyone (Luke 8:
45, 46).
That’s an accidental healing.
In the case of the woman in Alaska, the healing was
ministered through a prophetic word, “You’re in a lot of pain.” Had I gone on to add a bunch of “hamburger
helper” about emotional pain and whatever else I was going to say, she very
likely would not have received her healing.
My “prophetic word” would have been wrong, and she would have had no
basis for the faith to receive a physical healing.
The whole thing would have been a
mess. And the tragedy would have been
that it would have begun as a genuine word from God…followed by a bit of
“hamburger helper” added to it.
Graham Cooke says it best when he
observes that, “We almost never know what we are speaking into” when delivering
a prophetic word to someone. From
experience, I can say that I almost never know anything about a person or their
circumstances when delivering a word from God to them. And I don’t need to know.
So why would I want to add
something to it?
The fact is that once God inspires
someone to speak, prophecy is really quite simple. After receiving the message from God,
prophecy requires only two other things on our part.
Knowing when to speak. Knowing when to shut up.
How hard can that be? Jesus summed up His entire ministry in two
statements: “I do what I see the Father
doing” and “I say what I hear the Father saying.”
If we would follow Jesus’ example,
I suspect we would more often see Jesus’ results.
So when we are going about our
business as ordinary Christians (carrying and ministering the presence, power,
life, and love of Jesus), we would be well-advised to do only what we see God
doing and say only what we hear Him saying…adding nothing.
God don’t need no hamburger helper.
Responses to this article are
welcomed. You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com
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