By Linda Josef, Ph.D.
With these mixed feelings, she went home and set about making her own funeral arrangements, but she didn't die as expected. Instead, she experienced what Sid Roth calls one of the greatest healing miracles of the twentieth century. Today she is 80 years young and busy ministering the healing power of the Holy Spirit from her home in Shreveport, LA. Delores told Sid all about her remarkable experience in a recent radio interview. I have paraphrased and summarized Sid's interview with her in two parts. Part 1 describes her own healing, and Part 2 gives some of her teaching about the Holy Spirit and healing.
A Rare and Painful Disease
Delores' symptoms began in childhood - she seemed to break bones very easily. Numerous medical tests were conducted to try to determine the cause of her fragile bones, but nothing was diagnosed. When she was in her late twenties, she experienced a collapse of several vertebrae that required a fusion of her spine. The spinal fusion failed and had to be repeated three more times. Her doctors realized that something was terribly wrong with her bones.Delores was ultimately diagnosed with a rare disease in which her bones thinned out because they could not absorb calcium and other needed minerals from her bloodstream. This made them old and brittle and as easy to break as a twig. Her hip sockets were so fragile that she could barely walk and she lived in fear of them failing completely. She had to live in a full body cast with a neck brace to avoid more breakage.
Delores also had to take a lot of medication, and it made her sick and unable to eat. She weighed only 73 pounds, was almost completely disabled and required help for the most simple body functions. It is hard to imagine living for 15 years in such a condition. She could not walk without assistance, hold her own child or enjoy anything like a normal life.
One of the worst aspects was the excruciating pain. Delores described her normal pain level as "15 on a 10-point scale." Even the heaviest pain medications could not alleviate her suffering, so the doctors carried out an agonizing surgical procedure, called a percutaneous chordotomy, in which they went into the brain and burned out the nerves to the lower part of her body. The good news was that the pain level was greatly reduced because of the procedure. The bad news was that her lower body now could feel nothing and could not move on its own. This procedure was an extreme measure, taken only because she was at the end of her life.
Delores was not afraid to die. She had been a Christian since childhood. She loved God and believed in God, but she did not believe in healing. She belonged to one of those churches that taught that healing had passed away with the Apostles. In fact, people that believed in supernatural healing made her uncomfortable. She believed that everything that happened to her was God's will, and that her job as a Christian was to bear her suffering as best she could.
The idea of dying did not bother her, but she was deeply grieved about leaving her husband and 14 year old son all alone. She did not tell her son she was dying, but he knew, and she could hear him crying at night in his room. She said, "I begged God to tell me what would happen to my boy - how he would get along and be cared for after I was gone. I just wanted to be able to tell him it would be okay for him. That worry, along with the worry for my husband Bill - that was the main thing I thought about. I prayed about it almost constantly as I waited for the end to come."
Jesus Set Me Free"
He helped her up, and as he helped her shuffle to the door, he asked her if she had had any surgeries. Then he asked how she could feel her legs burning if she had had her nerves deadened. She did not know it at the time, but the man had come off the stage to Delores because he knew she was being healed, and he told her this. At the bottom of her heart she thought this was just more of the sideshow, but there was something in his face that said, 'he knows what he is talking about' He persuaded her to take off her body cast, and then had her carried to the stage. There, her worst fear came to pass - she was standing with Katherine in front of 3,000 people, the center of a big spectacle.
Katherine told her to walk, and the men holding her up backed away. Terrified of falling, she tried to prove she could not move her feet. To her amazement her feet did move, and she started walking She could feel the floor! Then the feeling came back into her hands and arms, and she started shouting, I can feel! I can feel! Later they told her she began running around the stage. When she came back, Katherine told her to bend over, and she did so, finding her spine was completely healed. She could touch the floor with no pain and was able to stand up. Everything was different! Different! Katherine smiled at her and said, "There is work for you to do. God wants you to have a dose of the Holy Spirit." Then she went down from the power of the Holy Spirit.
Delores said, "When we left, I walked off that platform - no cast, no cane, no assistance. This was medically impossible. I had thought the woman was a kook, but I was healed. I was in such shock that I did not really know what had happened. But I was completely healed!"
When Delores finally arrived home, it was 2 AM. Her son had been waiting up for her, and came to the door. He saw his mother get out of a car unassisted for the first time in his life. He was so excited, he ran to her and picked her up, all 73 pounds of her, and began dancing around with her. Her husband was in shock, but really thought somehow it would not last. He made up his mind to enjoy it as long as it lasted. The next morning she got up and took a shower by herself for the first time in many, many years. She went to church and then went out to lunch where she ate a normal meal for the first time in years. She went back to the same doctor who had sent her home to die. When he confirmed that she was completely well, she said, "Is there any possible medical explanation for this?" And there wasn't. It was God.
Closing Thoughts
Delores also had to take a lot of medication, and it made her sick and unable to eat. She weighed only 73 pounds, was almost completely disabled and required help for the most simple body functions. It is hard to imagine living for 15 years in such a condition. She could not walk without assistance, hold her own child or enjoy anything like a normal life.
One of the worst aspects was the excruciating pain. Delores described her normal pain level as "15 on a 10-point scale." Even the heaviest pain medications could not alleviate her suffering, so the doctors carried out an agonizing surgical procedure, called a percutaneous chordotomy, in which they went into the brain and burned out the nerves to the lower part of her body. The good news was that the pain level was greatly reduced because of the procedure. The bad news was that her lower body now could feel nothing and could not move on its own. This procedure was an extreme measure, taken only because she was at the end of her life.
Delores was not afraid to die. She had been a Christian since childhood. She loved God and believed in God, but she did not believe in healing. She belonged to one of those churches that taught that healing had passed away with the Apostles. In fact, people that believed in supernatural healing made her uncomfortable. She believed that everything that happened to her was God's will, and that her job as a Christian was to bear her suffering as best she could.
The idea of dying did not bother her, but she was deeply grieved about leaving her husband and 14 year old son all alone. She did not tell her son she was dying, but he knew, and she could hear him crying at night in his room. She said, "I begged God to tell me what would happen to my boy - how he would get along and be cared for after I was gone. I just wanted to be able to tell him it would be okay for him. That worry, along with the worry for my husband Bill - that was the main thing I thought about. I prayed about it almost constantly as I waited for the end to come."
Jesus Set Me Free"
One day I was lying in my bed and a lady I knew as an acquaintance came into my bedroom. She had come to pray for me and then she turned on the TV to a show with Kathryn Kuhlman, the miracle healing lady. I was just revolted by what I saw. I did not believe in divine healing at all, and I felt at the time that these television ministries were making a mockery of faith. I asked her to turn it off, and to please leave me. Well, she did turn it off, but she asked me just to pray about Miss Kuhlman and not close any doors.
"Later, after she left, I was pleading with God to tell me how He was going to take care of my son Chris and my husband. As I prayed, I clearly heard the name 'Kathryn Kuhlman' just as if someone had said it out loud. Then I knew that my answer about Bill and Chris would come through her."
It was not too long afterward that Miss Kuhlman came to a nearby town to speak on the Holy Spirit at a Methodist conference, and Delores knew that she had to go to this conference. Her friend Gail agreed to help her make the very difficult and painful ride to the conference. When she finally arrived, Gail was unable to get her out of the car. They had decided to give up and go back home, but fortunately a man came out of the meeting and helped her get out of the car. He carried her into the service and got her and Gail settled in their seats.
Kathryn Kuhlman began to teach saying, "I am going to introduce you to the Holy Spirit. If you call the Holy Spirit an 'it', you don't know Him. He is God here with us. He is the third person of the trinity." That is the last thing Delores heard, because she suddenly felt that she was in the presence of God. A great sense of peace washed over her, and she had a vision. In the vision she saw her son standing with a man that she recognized as Jesus. He told her that her son need never feel alone, that He would always be with him. Delores had her answer; she had what she had come to the conference to receive.
Delores later said, "I had been in church all my life, and had even taught Sunday School. I read my Bible constantly, but the reality of the Holy Spirit had always escaped me. He is so real, and He wants us to know Him as a person - to be conscious of Him in everything we do. He wants to use all of us to deliver gifts of healing. All we have to do is open our hearts to Him. Healing is the ministry of the church, and He wants to use all of us for this purpose."
Meanwhile, people in the audience were being touched. Some seemed to faint, some were getting healed and others were laughing. Although she had encountered the Holy Spirit, she wanted no part of a healing service, which she thought was a lot of bunk. She was ready to leave and was pulling herself to the edge of the seat, gathering her things. Suddenly, her legs started burning as if they were on fire. This made her even more desperate to leave. Delores did not realize that her legs were supposed to be dead, and medically speaking, they had no potential to feel burning pain. Something supernatural was happening to Delores, and she did not even recognize it.
Delores described what happened next: "I wanted no part of this sideshow. My friend was about to get me up to leave, when I noticed a man standing next to me. He said, 'Something is happening to you.' I told him, "My legs are burning like fire and I am dying, and I need to get out of here right now."
"Later, after she left, I was pleading with God to tell me how He was going to take care of my son Chris and my husband. As I prayed, I clearly heard the name 'Kathryn Kuhlman' just as if someone had said it out loud. Then I knew that my answer about Bill and Chris would come through her."
It was not too long afterward that Miss Kuhlman came to a nearby town to speak on the Holy Spirit at a Methodist conference, and Delores knew that she had to go to this conference. Her friend Gail agreed to help her make the very difficult and painful ride to the conference. When she finally arrived, Gail was unable to get her out of the car. They had decided to give up and go back home, but fortunately a man came out of the meeting and helped her get out of the car. He carried her into the service and got her and Gail settled in their seats.
Kathryn Kuhlman began to teach saying, "I am going to introduce you to the Holy Spirit. If you call the Holy Spirit an 'it', you don't know Him. He is God here with us. He is the third person of the trinity." That is the last thing Delores heard, because she suddenly felt that she was in the presence of God. A great sense of peace washed over her, and she had a vision. In the vision she saw her son standing with a man that she recognized as Jesus. He told her that her son need never feel alone, that He would always be with him. Delores had her answer; she had what she had come to the conference to receive.
Delores later said, "I had been in church all my life, and had even taught Sunday School. I read my Bible constantly, but the reality of the Holy Spirit had always escaped me. He is so real, and He wants us to know Him as a person - to be conscious of Him in everything we do. He wants to use all of us to deliver gifts of healing. All we have to do is open our hearts to Him. Healing is the ministry of the church, and He wants to use all of us for this purpose."
Meanwhile, people in the audience were being touched. Some seemed to faint, some were getting healed and others were laughing. Although she had encountered the Holy Spirit, she wanted no part of a healing service, which she thought was a lot of bunk. She was ready to leave and was pulling herself to the edge of the seat, gathering her things. Suddenly, her legs started burning as if they were on fire. This made her even more desperate to leave. Delores did not realize that her legs were supposed to be dead, and medically speaking, they had no potential to feel burning pain. Something supernatural was happening to Delores, and she did not even recognize it.
Delores described what happened next: "I wanted no part of this sideshow. My friend was about to get me up to leave, when I noticed a man standing next to me. He said, 'Something is happening to you.' I told him, "My legs are burning like fire and I am dying, and I need to get out of here right now."
He helped her up, and as he helped her shuffle to the door, he asked her if she had had any surgeries. Then he asked how she could feel her legs burning if she had had her nerves deadened. She did not know it at the time, but the man had come off the stage to Delores because he knew she was being healed, and he told her this. At the bottom of her heart she thought this was just more of the sideshow, but there was something in his face that said, 'he knows what he is talking about' He persuaded her to take off her body cast, and then had her carried to the stage. There, her worst fear came to pass - she was standing with Katherine in front of 3,000 people, the center of a big spectacle.
Katherine told her to walk, and the men holding her up backed away. Terrified of falling, she tried to prove she could not move her feet. To her amazement her feet did move, and she started walking She could feel the floor! Then the feeling came back into her hands and arms, and she started shouting, I can feel! I can feel! Later they told her she began running around the stage. When she came back, Katherine told her to bend over, and she did so, finding her spine was completely healed. She could touch the floor with no pain and was able to stand up. Everything was different! Different! Katherine smiled at her and said, "There is work for you to do. God wants you to have a dose of the Holy Spirit." Then she went down from the power of the Holy Spirit.
Delores said, "When we left, I walked off that platform - no cast, no cane, no assistance. This was medically impossible. I had thought the woman was a kook, but I was healed. I was in such shock that I did not really know what had happened. But I was completely healed!"
When Delores finally arrived home, it was 2 AM. Her son had been waiting up for her, and came to the door. He saw his mother get out of a car unassisted for the first time in his life. He was so excited, he ran to her and picked her up, all 73 pounds of her, and began dancing around with her. Her husband was in shock, but really thought somehow it would not last. He made up his mind to enjoy it as long as it lasted. The next morning she got up and took a shower by herself for the first time in many, many years. She went to church and then went out to lunch where she ate a normal meal for the first time in years. She went back to the same doctor who had sent her home to die. When he confirmed that she was completely well, she said, "Is there any possible medical explanation for this?" And there wasn't. It was God.
Closing Thoughts
It took Delores a long time to process what happened to her. She had never believed in healing at all and was disturbed because she could not explain what had happened. Gradually she began to understand, however. As she got to know the Holy Spirit she started to have quite a number of supernatural experiences, signs and healing miracles coming through her.
Delores said, "God has given a healing ministry to the whole church, not just to special people. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, but we must step out and take a chance to pray for people. I often wonder what would have happened if that man had not stepped forward to help me out of the car. We should all be doing these works. If people will only open their hearts, God will do it. We just have to believe. And if we cannot believe, we can pray, 'Lord, I do believe in you, help my unbelief.' My belief was in Jesus not in healing.
Surprised By Healing
For many years, Delores had suffered a painful, disabling bone disease and excruciating treatments to try to arrest its progress. However, it had gotten to the final stages and Delores was dying. Her kidneys had shut down and her esophagus was closed off. The end was very near.
An acquaintance had gotten her tickets to a Kathryn Kuhlman Holy Spirit conference, and she went, literally carried by a friend into the meeting. Delores went to the meeting with no expectation of her own healing. In fact, she felt opposed to the divine healing movement because it went against the teachings of her church. Delores went to Miss Kuhlman's meeting because she wanted to learn more about the Holy Spirit and how the Lord might comfort her family after she was gone.
As she sat in the meeting, a sense of amazing peace settled over her. Delores began to experience the real presence of the Holy Spirit for the first time in her life. Feeling profoundly loved, she relaxed into a warm glow in His presence, and got the reassurance that she had longed for, as the Holy Spirit showed her how He would take care of her family. This comfort was more than she had even hoped to find.
As the Holy Spirit rested over her, her legs began to burn intensely. The pain scared her, and she felt that she had to get out of the auditorium immediately. As her friend was getting her ready to leave, a gentleman came down from the stage and began speaking with her. The Lord had shown him that Delores was being healed. He had her take off her neck brace and body cast, then he carried her up to the stage to meet personally with Kathryn Kuhlman.
With Miss Kuhlman's encouragement, Delores took a few steps, then suddenly found she could touch her toes, walk and do all movement without pain. She was completely healed. At the time of her healing, Delores did not believe that there was such a thing as divine healing and she knew nothing about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Surprise and confusion mingled in with her joy at being free of the terrible disease. However, she went home completely well.
Delores Rebels Against Healing
Although she was overjoyed at being healed, Delores struggled because she could not explain it. People who knew how sick she had been were shocked at her vibrant recovery and wanted to know how it happened, and why it had happened. She said, "People that knew how sick I had been did not know what to think about my healing and wanted answers. I had no answers, and did not know what to think of it myself. I really believed that divine healing ended with Jesus and the Apostles. Also, I didn't want to be any kind of spectacle at all. I wanted no part of the divine healing movement because of the way I had seen it portrayed on television."
Delores tried to stay home and mind her own business doing housework and taking care of her family for the first time in more than a decade. But her phone kept ringing with people calling to talk about her miracle. She got to the point of not answering her phone and even asked her husband if they could move away someplace so that she could go back to being anonymous. She really wanted no part of the divine healing movement.
Her husband counseled her to stay where she was and see what the Lord would have her do. Her healing had come for a reason.
People began to show up at her house seeking prayer for their own healing. She always tried to help them as best she could because she understood the desperation that the very sick sometimes feel. Also, strange things were happening when she tried to help people. She was hearing words and getting images about peoples' conditions that really confused her. When she prayed in accordance with these images, people were healed.
For example, a lady came to her house asking for prayer, seeming desperate but not really indicating the nature of her problem. Delores suddenly saw an image of this woman in a lesbian relationship. She was so shocked by this image that she wondered if it were from the devil. Then suddenly it was written on the palm of her hand what she had to say to the woman. To her amazement, the woman received her message and came back later and thanked her for the tremendous work Delores had done in her life.
After the lady left, Delores started to write down what she had seen written on her palm so that she could use it when others came, but the Lord spoke to her and said that she must trust Him to lead her in each situation.
Other strange things were happening also. Delores said, "I would get hot spots on my hands, and when it happened I would put my hands in my pockets and hide them. One day I was at Bible study when I got these hot spots. We were all standing up after class, and as I reached out to help another lady get up from her chair, she took hold of my hand. As soon as she touched my hand, she fell down onto another person. I reached out to help this other lady get up, and she also fell over. Then I backed up and touched accidentally two others who also fell down in the Spirit. I was so upset about this that I rushed to leave and I brushed against a lady who was in a wheelchair, and I was later told she came out of that wheelchair."
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit Are for Today
Although Delores had been a Christian all her life, she had never had any teaching about the power gifts of the Holy Spirit. In fact, she had been taught that they did not exist and firmly believed it.
A friend led her to visit a pastor who could help her understand the workings of the Holy Spirit. At first she argued with the pastor saying, "These gifts are not for today -- they passed away with the Apostles." The pastor challenged her to show him where in the Bible it said that the gifts were not for today, and she couldn't find a single place where it said the age of miracles was past. Her eyes were opened to great teaching passages that said "Greater works than these shall you do." And, "Nothing shall be impossible to you." She saw how Paul, not one of the original Apostles, did great miracles, and how the early churches that he founded were based on supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit. One thing about Delores, she respected the Word of God. A light went on inside, and she heard the voice of the Lord saying to her, "I have taken your theology away."
Delores said, "We have a watered down version of the Gospel. I am a prime example that God is the same healer today that He was in Jesus' time. If people will only open their heart to it, God will do the miracles. People have become so programmed to the worldly way that they will not believe the truth of the Gospel. This is exactly what happened to me. My prayer is that you begin to believe, and ask the Lord to help your unbelief."
Belief Matters
What you believe is important. If you seek healing, you must believe that God exists and that healing is for today as much as when Jesus walked the earth. Delores teaches, "Beware of the natural mind. It is programmed with all sorts of unbelief and belief in the wrong things. The natural man is programmed that cancer is a fatal disease and very often even the treatment kills. But cancer can be healed. It does not always turn out the way the doctors say it will. In my Bible study, we believe what the scriptures teach, not what man teaches, and we get results when we pray."
"For example, a doctor's wife came to our bible study with cancer throughout her body. Being a doctor's wife, she had plenty of medical tests that documented the seriousness of her condition. The people in our Bible study were prepared to pray for her, so we prayed and anointed her with oil. Her healing was not immediately apparent, but three months after we prayed for her, she had a CAT scan that showed the cancer had gone completely away."
Delores does not say to disregard medical advice. She believes that medical care is important. Delores teaches that what we should get rid of is our unbelief.
"The mind of Christ says our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He needs to dwell in it. When he does, cancer gets pushed out. Our purpose should be to walk in the presence of the Holy Spirit, and to care for out bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit."
"We get so programmed with the world's way of thinking that we cannot easily believe in healing. What works is to get so saturated with Jesus and so far away from the world that you know that you know you are healed. Unless God has told you that it is your time to die, you should know that you are healed."
"God uses doctors and He uses surgery. We must be open to medical help, but we should go to God first."
You Can Be A Healer
"Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. When He walked the earth, He healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead. This was His ministry. He passed it on to His disciples, telling them to go make disciples of all nations and to pass this ministry on. He came to bring us abundant life. We miss this abundance because we are not expecting it. We have lived in the natural realm so long that we have forgotten that we also live in the spiritual realm. God can use anyone who is willing to be used to pass on these gifts of healing. If you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you lay hands on the sick and you expect that the Holy Spirit will heal them."
"Healing gifts belong to the Holy Spirit, not the person. So if someone is sick, you should not wait for a healer to come on the scene, but you should lay hands on the sick yourself and expect -- expect -- that they will be healed."
To illustrate this, Delores described an experience she had while ministering at a Presbyterian church in Shreveport, LA. Although the audience was filled with people seeking healing, Delores found her attention particularly drawn to a Catholic Sister sitting in the audience. She felt impressed to invite the Sister up on to the stage to minister with her, and the Sister agreed. Delores asked her to pray for a woman with a large, disfiguring growth on her face. Sister looked startled, and said, "I've never done this before, but I will try."
"No," Delores told her. "You will not try, you will do! Then God does the rest." Sister laid her hand on the woman's cheek and prayed. When she took her hand away, the disfiguring growth was gone. The first time this Catholic Sister prayed for someone, a great miracle was done through her!
"Always know it is the Holy Spirit doing the work. We are just the messengers. This the beginning of a great day in the church, where the Lord is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh. More and more churches will be carrying out the full ministry of Jesus, and healing ministries like mine will no longer be needed. The healing ministry will have returned to the church where it belongs."
"Right now I know that God is changing hearts, preparing those hearts to believe in healing and be willing to be used. This is the cry of my heart, to see changed lives. This is the work of the church, to set people free."
"I prayed for a man in one of my services who couldn't walk. To make a long story short, I took away his cane and he started walking, then running around the sanctuary. This man is now a minister in India, serving God."
Often we have to make an effort -- to step out in some way. God will honor it.
Spiritual Weapons
One thing that comes through Delores' teaching is that the spirit is primary battleground on which we must fight. Our security is trusting in the Word of God. She says that we must literally put on a new mind, seeing our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit. Welcoming His presence pushes disease out of us. With our hearts firmly anchored in the truth of God's Word, we can better see how to fight off diseases that may attack us. This understanding helped Delores fight off a return of her deadly symptoms.
Although Delores was healed at the Kathryn Kuhlman service, in the back of her mind was a fear that her disease would return, bringing back misery and suffering. About a year after her healing, Delores was home doing housework when she was struck with a sharp pain in her back. The pain struck in the same place where she had had a spinal fusion years ago. Her first thought was that her healing was lost and that she would go back to her terminally ill state. She had heard stories of people who had lost their healing. As she prayed for guidance, she realized that this was an attack -- the devil was trying to steal her healing! She began singing and praising the Lord, rebuking the symptoms in the name of Jesus. The pain went completely away, and did not return.
Another powerful principle that she teaches is to believe that once you have asked, that you have received, even if it is not immediately manifested. Delores teaches that healing is a process that sometimes comes about gradually. We must be patient as it comes into manifestation. In her book, Delores says, "When we know what God has available for us, then we can come to Him and ask for it. But we don't keep on asking. We start appropriating it. We say, "Lord, although I still have pain in my body, I believe that You are healing me because Your Word says so. I believe I am healed according to your Word. Then our physical body begins to change and the mind, body and spirit come into accord with God's Word. We must be in accord with His Word to be healed, for it is basically through His Word that we hear from Him."
"Most healing is not instant, but is a process that unfolds over time. Just keep saying, 'Thank you. Thank you Lord. I am being healed.' Know that healing power is at work within you. God says all things are possible to those who believe. Believe it, and it will be."
The Centrality of the Holy Spirit
"The Holy Spirit is my life. Jesus sent Him to be with us always, to lead us, guide us, and use us. Without him we are trying to live our lives by ourselves, without hope. We keep him in the guest room of our heart. We must bring Him out of the guest room, into the living room. We are not to do anything with Him, but we are to let Him do with us as He decides. Anything can happen. But we have to surrender totally to the Lordship of Jesus.
"In practical terms it means I can't live without Him. In the beginning the Lord would say to me, 'Remember you can't lift a finger without me.' Today, I say, 'Jesus, You are my whole life. You lead me and guide me and direct me. Take me where You want me to go. Use me.' This does not mean He takes you out of your life. You are still in the same place, but He is foremost in your mind and your thinking and your awareness. I am still primarily a housewife. I am a wife and a mother. I will never go into a downtown office building to minister. So it is very important for you to catch the vision to minister, to have the gifts in operation wherever you are, whatever you are doing in your daily life."
Linda Josef is a Christian psychologist who is working on a book about supernatural healing with Messianic Vision. The book should be available in the next few months. If you have a story of healing that you would like to share, or wish to ask questions or make comments, you can write to Linda at ljosef@usa.net.
http://www.sidroth.org/site/News2?abbr=art_&page=NewsArticle&id=8907&security=1043&news_iv_ctrl=1049#sthash.dtIzNJlv.dpuf
Delores said, "God has given a healing ministry to the whole church, not just to special people. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, but we must step out and take a chance to pray for people. I often wonder what would have happened if that man had not stepped forward to help me out of the car. We should all be doing these works. If people will only open their hearts, God will do it. We just have to believe. And if we cannot believe, we can pray, 'Lord, I do believe in you, help my unbelief.' My belief was in Jesus not in healing.
Wherever she goes, Delores walks in signs and healing miracles. More details about her healing, her miracle experiences and her teaching are revealed in her book, Surprised by Healing (formerly Joy Comes in the Morning). Some of these ideas are summarized in Part 2 of this article.
Delores Winder: A Healing Ministry
By Linda Josef, Ph.D.
 Click here to order the full story of Delores' miraculous healing, Joy Comes in the Morning. |
Sid Roth has said that Delores Winder has one of the most outstanding verifiable miracles of the 20th century. She has walked in supernatural anointing for healing since she was surprised with her own miracle many years ago, and she has seen just about every kind of disease and disability completely healed. The details of her illness and healing are described in Part I. In Part II, I will share a brief summary of her miraculous healing, and then describe what she has learned and how we can have more faith for healing in our own lives. This article is based on Sid's radio interview (listen to Week One and Week Two) with her as well as her book, Joy Comes in the Morning. Some of the quotes are summaries of things she has said and not literal statements. You can also watch Delores' TV interview with Sid Roth on It's Supernatural!: Week One and Week Two.
For many years, Delores had suffered a painful, disabling bone disease and excruciating treatments to try to arrest its progress. However, it had gotten to the final stages and Delores was dying. Her kidneys had shut down and her esophagus was closed off. The end was very near.
An acquaintance had gotten her tickets to a Kathryn Kuhlman Holy Spirit conference, and she went, literally carried by a friend into the meeting. Delores went to the meeting with no expectation of her own healing. In fact, she felt opposed to the divine healing movement because it went against the teachings of her church. Delores went to Miss Kuhlman's meeting because she wanted to learn more about the Holy Spirit and how the Lord might comfort her family after she was gone.
As she sat in the meeting, a sense of amazing peace settled over her. Delores began to experience the real presence of the Holy Spirit for the first time in her life. Feeling profoundly loved, she relaxed into a warm glow in His presence, and got the reassurance that she had longed for, as the Holy Spirit showed her how He would take care of her family. This comfort was more than she had even hoped to find.
As the Holy Spirit rested over her, her legs began to burn intensely. The pain scared her, and she felt that she had to get out of the auditorium immediately. As her friend was getting her ready to leave, a gentleman came down from the stage and began speaking with her. The Lord had shown him that Delores was being healed. He had her take off her neck brace and body cast, then he carried her up to the stage to meet personally with Kathryn Kuhlman.
With Miss Kuhlman's encouragement, Delores took a few steps, then suddenly found she could touch her toes, walk and do all movement without pain. She was completely healed. At the time of her healing, Delores did not believe that there was such a thing as divine healing and she knew nothing about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Surprise and confusion mingled in with her joy at being free of the terrible disease. However, she went home completely well.
Delores Rebels Against Healing
Although she was overjoyed at being healed, Delores struggled because she could not explain it. People who knew how sick she had been were shocked at her vibrant recovery and wanted to know how it happened, and why it had happened. She said, "People that knew how sick I had been did not know what to think about my healing and wanted answers. I had no answers, and did not know what to think of it myself. I really believed that divine healing ended with Jesus and the Apostles. Also, I didn't want to be any kind of spectacle at all. I wanted no part of the divine healing movement because of the way I had seen it portrayed on television."
Delores tried to stay home and mind her own business doing housework and taking care of her family for the first time in more than a decade. But her phone kept ringing with people calling to talk about her miracle. She got to the point of not answering her phone and even asked her husband if they could move away someplace so that she could go back to being anonymous. She really wanted no part of the divine healing movement.
Her husband counseled her to stay where she was and see what the Lord would have her do. Her healing had come for a reason.
People began to show up at her house seeking prayer for their own healing. She always tried to help them as best she could because she understood the desperation that the very sick sometimes feel. Also, strange things were happening when she tried to help people. She was hearing words and getting images about peoples' conditions that really confused her. When she prayed in accordance with these images, people were healed.
For example, a lady came to her house asking for prayer, seeming desperate but not really indicating the nature of her problem. Delores suddenly saw an image of this woman in a lesbian relationship. She was so shocked by this image that she wondered if it were from the devil. Then suddenly it was written on the palm of her hand what she had to say to the woman. To her amazement, the woman received her message and came back later and thanked her for the tremendous work Delores had done in her life.
After the lady left, Delores started to write down what she had seen written on her palm so that she could use it when others came, but the Lord spoke to her and said that she must trust Him to lead her in each situation.
Other strange things were happening also. Delores said, "I would get hot spots on my hands, and when it happened I would put my hands in my pockets and hide them. One day I was at Bible study when I got these hot spots. We were all standing up after class, and as I reached out to help another lady get up from her chair, she took hold of my hand. As soon as she touched my hand, she fell down onto another person. I reached out to help this other lady get up, and she also fell over. Then I backed up and touched accidentally two others who also fell down in the Spirit. I was so upset about this that I rushed to leave and I brushed against a lady who was in a wheelchair, and I was later told she came out of that wheelchair."
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit Are for Today
Although Delores had been a Christian all her life, she had never had any teaching about the power gifts of the Holy Spirit. In fact, she had been taught that they did not exist and firmly believed it.
A friend led her to visit a pastor who could help her understand the workings of the Holy Spirit. At first she argued with the pastor saying, "These gifts are not for today -- they passed away with the Apostles." The pastor challenged her to show him where in the Bible it said that the gifts were not for today, and she couldn't find a single place where it said the age of miracles was past. Her eyes were opened to great teaching passages that said "Greater works than these shall you do." And, "Nothing shall be impossible to you." She saw how Paul, not one of the original Apostles, did great miracles, and how the early churches that he founded were based on supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit. One thing about Delores, she respected the Word of God. A light went on inside, and she heard the voice of the Lord saying to her, "I have taken your theology away."
Delores said, "We have a watered down version of the Gospel. I am a prime example that God is the same healer today that He was in Jesus' time. If people will only open their heart to it, God will do the miracles. People have become so programmed to the worldly way that they will not believe the truth of the Gospel. This is exactly what happened to me. My prayer is that you begin to believe, and ask the Lord to help your unbelief."
Belief Matters
What you believe is important. If you seek healing, you must believe that God exists and that healing is for today as much as when Jesus walked the earth. Delores teaches, "Beware of the natural mind. It is programmed with all sorts of unbelief and belief in the wrong things. The natural man is programmed that cancer is a fatal disease and very often even the treatment kills. But cancer can be healed. It does not always turn out the way the doctors say it will. In my Bible study, we believe what the scriptures teach, not what man teaches, and we get results when we pray."
"For example, a doctor's wife came to our bible study with cancer throughout her body. Being a doctor's wife, she had plenty of medical tests that documented the seriousness of her condition. The people in our Bible study were prepared to pray for her, so we prayed and anointed her with oil. Her healing was not immediately apparent, but three months after we prayed for her, she had a CAT scan that showed the cancer had gone completely away."
Delores does not say to disregard medical advice. She believes that medical care is important. Delores teaches that what we should get rid of is our unbelief.
"The mind of Christ says our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He needs to dwell in it. When he does, cancer gets pushed out. Our purpose should be to walk in the presence of the Holy Spirit, and to care for out bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit."
"We get so programmed with the world's way of thinking that we cannot easily believe in healing. What works is to get so saturated with Jesus and so far away from the world that you know that you know you are healed. Unless God has told you that it is your time to die, you should know that you are healed."
"God uses doctors and He uses surgery. We must be open to medical help, but we should go to God first."
You Can Be A Healer
"Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. When He walked the earth, He healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead. This was His ministry. He passed it on to His disciples, telling them to go make disciples of all nations and to pass this ministry on. He came to bring us abundant life. We miss this abundance because we are not expecting it. We have lived in the natural realm so long that we have forgotten that we also live in the spiritual realm. God can use anyone who is willing to be used to pass on these gifts of healing. If you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you lay hands on the sick and you expect that the Holy Spirit will heal them."
"Healing gifts belong to the Holy Spirit, not the person. So if someone is sick, you should not wait for a healer to come on the scene, but you should lay hands on the sick yourself and expect -- expect -- that they will be healed."
To illustrate this, Delores described an experience she had while ministering at a Presbyterian church in Shreveport, LA. Although the audience was filled with people seeking healing, Delores found her attention particularly drawn to a Catholic Sister sitting in the audience. She felt impressed to invite the Sister up on to the stage to minister with her, and the Sister agreed. Delores asked her to pray for a woman with a large, disfiguring growth on her face. Sister looked startled, and said, "I've never done this before, but I will try."
"No," Delores told her. "You will not try, you will do! Then God does the rest." Sister laid her hand on the woman's cheek and prayed. When she took her hand away, the disfiguring growth was gone. The first time this Catholic Sister prayed for someone, a great miracle was done through her!
"Always know it is the Holy Spirit doing the work. We are just the messengers. This the beginning of a great day in the church, where the Lord is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh. More and more churches will be carrying out the full ministry of Jesus, and healing ministries like mine will no longer be needed. The healing ministry will have returned to the church where it belongs."
"Right now I know that God is changing hearts, preparing those hearts to believe in healing and be willing to be used. This is the cry of my heart, to see changed lives. This is the work of the church, to set people free."
"I prayed for a man in one of my services who couldn't walk. To make a long story short, I took away his cane and he started walking, then running around the sanctuary. This man is now a minister in India, serving God."
Often we have to make an effort -- to step out in some way. God will honor it.
Spiritual Weapons
One thing that comes through Delores' teaching is that the spirit is primary battleground on which we must fight. Our security is trusting in the Word of God. She says that we must literally put on a new mind, seeing our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit. Welcoming His presence pushes disease out of us. With our hearts firmly anchored in the truth of God's Word, we can better see how to fight off diseases that may attack us. This understanding helped Delores fight off a return of her deadly symptoms.
Although Delores was healed at the Kathryn Kuhlman service, in the back of her mind was a fear that her disease would return, bringing back misery and suffering. About a year after her healing, Delores was home doing housework when she was struck with a sharp pain in her back. The pain struck in the same place where she had had a spinal fusion years ago. Her first thought was that her healing was lost and that she would go back to her terminally ill state. She had heard stories of people who had lost their healing. As she prayed for guidance, she realized that this was an attack -- the devil was trying to steal her healing! She began singing and praising the Lord, rebuking the symptoms in the name of Jesus. The pain went completely away, and did not return.
Another powerful principle that she teaches is to believe that once you have asked, that you have received, even if it is not immediately manifested. Delores teaches that healing is a process that sometimes comes about gradually. We must be patient as it comes into manifestation. In her book, Delores says, "When we know what God has available for us, then we can come to Him and ask for it. But we don't keep on asking. We start appropriating it. We say, "Lord, although I still have pain in my body, I believe that You are healing me because Your Word says so. I believe I am healed according to your Word. Then our physical body begins to change and the mind, body and spirit come into accord with God's Word. We must be in accord with His Word to be healed, for it is basically through His Word that we hear from Him."
"Most healing is not instant, but is a process that unfolds over time. Just keep saying, 'Thank you. Thank you Lord. I am being healed.' Know that healing power is at work within you. God says all things are possible to those who believe. Believe it, and it will be."
The Centrality of the Holy Spirit
"The Holy Spirit is my life. Jesus sent Him to be with us always, to lead us, guide us, and use us. Without him we are trying to live our lives by ourselves, without hope. We keep him in the guest room of our heart. We must bring Him out of the guest room, into the living room. We are not to do anything with Him, but we are to let Him do with us as He decides. Anything can happen. But we have to surrender totally to the Lordship of Jesus.
"In practical terms it means I can't live without Him. In the beginning the Lord would say to me, 'Remember you can't lift a finger without me.' Today, I say, 'Jesus, You are my whole life. You lead me and guide me and direct me. Take me where You want me to go. Use me.' This does not mean He takes you out of your life. You are still in the same place, but He is foremost in your mind and your thinking and your awareness. I am still primarily a housewife. I am a wife and a mother. I will never go into a downtown office building to minister. So it is very important for you to catch the vision to minister, to have the gifts in operation wherever you are, whatever you are doing in your daily life."
Wherever she goes, Delores walks in signs and healing miracles. More details about her healing, her miracle experiences and her teaching are revealed in her book, Joy Comes in the Morning.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright ©1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Linda Josef is a Christian psychologist who is working on a book about supernatural healing with Messianic Vision. The book should be available in the next few months. If you have a story of healing that you would like to share, or wish to ask questions or make comments, you can write to Linda at ljosef@usa.net.http://www.sidroth.org/site/News2?abbr=art_&page=NewsArticle&id=8907&security=1043&news_iv_ctrl=1049#sthash.dtIzNJlv.dpuf
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