Humbled is a wonderful word. A word that represents being lowly or from the ground. As it is said, we are from the dust and to the dust we shall return. Eventually. While here, we have a job to do and purpose to fill. When we humble ourselves, God will exult us so we may better glorify Him.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
James 4:10
I had been walking by direction of the Holy Spirit for a few short months during the spring of 2019, but during those months, it was the most humbling and satisfying time I had ever experienced in my life. I was truly guided, and if I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me, I would simply go. Turn left here, turn left. Turn right, turn right. Talk to her, I would speak to her. Pray for him, and I would comply and pray for anyone the Spirit of God would want me to pray for. I never thought I would be brought to churches. Most people in the churches, I thought, would already be walking in the spirit too, why would they need me? I was wrong, because although people in ministry do hear from God, they don’t always walk with every gift or spirit the Bible speaks about. I never thought I would receive words of knowledge for people, especially pastors, but I did and still do.
“When we preach or teach the Scriptures, we open the door for the Holy Spirit to do His work. God has not promised to bless oratory or clever preaching. He has promised to bless His Word.”
Billy Graham
The Pastor’s Path
Pastors are wonderful people, in general. There is no one who will convince me that pastors go into the line of work of ministry or were called to ministry to end up as an evil doer. I know by past, very public examples, that there have been ministers and pastors who have had moral failings. Some had given in to temptations with bad decisions like divorces, affairs, DUIs, sex scandals and theft, but in general, most pastors and ministers, who are called to service, are called to live a holy life and do it faithfully.
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Matthew 3:11
My Journey
As a newly bonafide baptized in the Holy Spirit Christian in 2018, I began my spiritual walk. I was led to churches, to people and to pastors. I received hundreds, if not thousands of words of knowledge to guide my way. The gift I have received from the Holy Spirit is amazingly powerful and wonderful to see when the power of God manifests in healings and confirmed words of knowledge so that the persons I met were humbled and honored when they received them. You see, the messages I spoke weren’t from me personally, but through me. I simply yielded.
In the spring of 2019, I started one day like most others. I took care of the needs at home, got the kids to school, took care of chores and went out into the day to see what God had for me. The prior week, the Lord and I spent time in the downtown area of Kansas City, meeting the homeless, praying for the lost and broken, feeding people found under bridges and overpasses and exploring what God had for me to learn that day. This week would be different, and I knew it. When I left my home, got in the car and started driving, I didn’t feel the pull to go downtown. I didn’t feel the need to meet anyone on the street, I was directed to a local church. In the past months, while be led, I had visited a quite a few churches in various parts of the Kansas City region, so visiting churches was no new thing for me at this point. When the spirit guides you, it isn’t by accident, it isn’t by coincidence, but by purpose. This day, I had drove to a little church that appeared completely empty, but it was not.
A Supernatural Meeting
As I pulled into the parking lot, I thought to myself, what a strange place, I didn’t recollect seeing a church there before. It wasn’t far from my house and it was almost as if the church was made invisible to me, until now. It was an odd location and one that most people would drive by and never see. This exterior was white and not the most kept up, It had the appearance in the front of an office building and the age of the church was approximately 4o years. The building obviously had deferred maintenance that I could tell would need to be addressed eventually.
I wasn’t sure which door to enter. There were several doors on the exteriors, some that faced the street, some that faced the north and some that appeared to come from a sanctuary. I tried the front door facing the street first, but there was a sign that said, “parsonage, please use doors on the other side of the building.”. So I got back into my car and drove around the backside of the building. Once there, I saw the doors to the sanctuary first and tried them. Like many churches I had driven past in the prior six months, this church also appeared closed and the doors were locked, but I knew someone had to be there, because the Holy Spirit had never led me to an empty building on the assumption someone would be there.
The doors on the outside were locked. I knocked because I knew someone had to be there. Then, I walked to the other set of doors located in the middle the building. Once there, I knocked again. I faintly heard voices and I waited. I was sure someone was there now, so I waited. Upon knocking on the door a second time, a man came around the corner and smiled. I stated my purpose for being there and he laughed as if surprised, but thankfully, not scared off. It is not often a person hears a person like me say that God sent me to talk with them, and only a year prior to this meeting, I myself would have scoffed at the idea. But there I was.
The man let me in the door and there was a second person he had been speaking with prior to my second knock. We also greeted each other, but he had to leave and departed directly after our meeting. The man introduced himself as the pastor of the church and we made our way to the entryway of the church through a long hallway and sat down on a couch located in the foyer. He was a kind person and although I could sense, in the spirit, a glimpse of haughtiness, he was a gentlemen and offered me a water while we talked.
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Matthew 10:8
Unlike many other pastors I had met in those first months of walking and being guided by the spirit, this pastor was genuinely interested in what I had to say. We discussed our experiences with God and the supernatural, the healing gifts and of the shocking moments of my adventures with God. He listened intently, asked copious amounts of questions and we talked for over an hour. During our conversation, I was keenly aware of messages I received in the spirit and listened to what the Holy Spirit had to say while we talked. When he mentioned names, I would get a word of knowledge for each person he spoke of. When he spoke, I would received insight into the world of pastoring a church and what he understood as a pastor compared to what I had learned in a short period of time while walking in the spirit.
Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
Mark 1:41
Words of Knowledge
I was encouraged by our conversation about the spiritual gifts found in 1 Cor. 12, when the Holy Spirit revealed to me two pains the pastor was experiencing in his body. The first word of knowledge I received for him concerned a stomach pain issue that he had. In prior months, I had met three other pastors who led small congregations with similar ailments. One located in Nebraska, the second in a church near where I lived, and a third that was located in the downtown Mission Hills area of Kansas. This pain I perceived in his stomach affected many pastors. Every time I had asked the other pastors if they had been experiencing pain in their stomach, they confirmed it. I prayed for them and they confirmed that the pain had left them. As did the pastor I was speaking to this day. The pain left him after a short prayer as well.
John G. Lake
Regarding stomach pain, I believe the pain is physical, but it starts spiritually. It’s a pain brought about by stress and not giving up burdens to the Lord as we should. It is likely to be an ulcer or an ailment that causes attacks of acid reflux. Bitterness and unforgiveness is also a probable cause to stomach pain. I know this pain, because it was only 10 years earlier when I too had the symptoms suffered for months with the same condition. My healing came when I stopped taking all medications that doctors had prescribed for me to combat the pain, ulcers and acid reflux, and it quickly healed with no further medical help. I know God healed me then too, but I didn’t acknowledge that it was God’s work then. But now, glory to God!
The second pain I detected as the pastor and I talked that day was in the lower back region of his body. It was the organs I recognized as the kidneys. When I spoke of his kidneys, he confirmed that indeed he had kidney issues for years, and he spoke of how he got the pain. He said that his kidneys were damaged. So then, based on the information, I asked the pastor if he would allow me to pray for his kidneys to be healed. He said yes and I held his hands and spoke a prayer similar to this:
“I command the spirit of infirmity to leave your body and kidneys now, I bind the spirit of infirmity and I loose the spirit of life and gifts of healing. Body, mind and soul, be healed now in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”
“Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.”
Luke 9:1-2
Pastor’s Body Healed!
The pastor confirmed that the pain did indeed leave his body, and we chatted for awhile longer and we departed. It was one of the best conversations I had in awhile. We got to speak about the power of God, His gifts, and the power of healing manifested by our Lord Jesus Christ. It had been a good morning!
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
1 Peter 2:24
I followed up with the pastor, but not the other pastors, for months afterwards. He confirmed that the pain that he once felt in his kidneys was truly gone. The pain in his stomach also was no longer a stress in his life. Glory to God!
I believe that the pastor’s body was supernaturally healed that day, because the Holy Spirit confirmed it with a word when it happened and his later testimony was the ultimate confirmation. So why did the pastor not already have his body healed? Why do many pastors today, walk around not experiencing the power of healing in their ministries to a degree they might? I believe it is because the seminaries and pastoral colleges have failed us and them to a degree. They focus on book knowledge vs. heart knowledge and miss entirely the purpose of important elements of the powers Jesus gave the church. With a little exposure, training and practice, many pastors could potentially also walk in the power and authority the Lord gave His followers.
“God wants to purify our minds until we can bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things. God dwells in you, but you cannot have this divine power until you live and walk in the Holy Ghost, until the power of the new life is greater than the old life.”
Smith Wigglesworth
The Love of Christ
I trust in the Lord with all my heart. I am humbled in knowing that I didn’t deserve any of His grace or mercy, but I received it. I know what it means to be healed and forgiven. He had healed me only months earlier from several documented conditions of health problems, including asthma, pre-diabetes, testicular pain, bladder pain, chest pain, and a life-long battle with chronic and at times, clinical depression. I no longer take any medications of any kind and I haven’t been sick in any of the same ways I once was. I was also healed of addictions to alcohol, food and pornography and I am happy to say that healing can be permanent. When you choose to walk a holy path, you can keep your healing. Resist the devil and he will flee!
This all started when I was desperately seeking and found God in the living room of an apartment duplex when I was at a very low point in my life. Jesus baptized me with the Spirit of God and later gave me an even more powerful gift of discerning of spirits by baptism of what I can only describe was by a crown of thorns. I truly know what it means and what it feels like to be saved and forgiven, and I now have a desperate and unquenchable desire to see others have the same healing manifested in their life for them to be truly set free. For who the Son sets free, is free indeed!
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
Psalm 103:2-3
On Ministry
Ministry is now my life mission and my calling. I was called to meet, educate and inspire others of what God has for us. To help others understand that we do have a common enemy in our world and he is defeated, but we have to command him to leave us. To share with others my testimony in hopes of convicting them to repent, asking Jesus into their life, and learning the ways of the Lord so they too can experience the life that God had created them for, and know their purpose and their reason to be alive!
Blessings to you this day, may this writing touch your heart with the finger of God and may you be healed of all things, the way I and others have, through the everlasting saving mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You are loved!
In Christ,
Darrell B. Jones
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14:13