While brushing my teeth this morning, a prophetic image of a young man from my office named Raymond popped into my head.  Raymond is new to the office and suffers from Turrets Syndrome.  When he is at the office, he has an outburst once every few minutes. 

When Raymond popped into my head this morning, I knew I needed to talk to Raymond right away.  I have been fasting and praying for other issues, and it dawned on me that praying deliverance for Raymond would be perfect timing while I’m fasting.  The office has training on Wednesday nights, so I knew I would see him tonight.

During training, I coincidentally sat behind Raymond.  Like clockwork, there were the outbursts.  I couldn’t wait to pray for him.  I just kept asking for God’s sovereign will to line everything up the way God wanted it.

After training, I approached Raymond and told him about the image of him I had while I was brushing my teeth.  I asked him if he believed in God and he said, “Of course.”  This answer made me comfortable enough to take it to the next level.  I told him that this sort of thing (images) doesn’t usually happen unless God wants to heal or give some kind of encouraging message.  Though he initially thought the whole conversation odd, he seemed interested.

I asked Raymond if we could go into one of the conference rooms and I would ask God what message he had for Raymond.

Raymond:

Can we do it tomorrow?  I need to study for a final exam tonight.

Me:

Can we just take 5 minutes?

I was thinking about how I was fasting and I wanted to take advantage of a fasting-influenced prayer.  Since I was not planning to fast tomorrow, I was very concerned that tomorrow’s environment would be different…somehow less conducive to healing.

Me:

Raymond, if God gave me the image this morning, I really don’t want to risk not doing it tonight.  I don’t know if it would affect any sort of result or not, but I’d rather not risk it.

Raymond:

Ok.

We headed for a conference room and sat down.  After some initial small talk, I asked Raymond if he had ever asked Jesus to forgive his sins and if he had claimed the free gift of what happened on the cross over his own life.  He said that he had asked for forgiveness for certain things, but not in the way that I was describing. 

We bowed our heads and Raymond asked Jesus to forgive all of his sins and claimed Jesus as Lord of his life.  Probably much too abruptly (but feeling the pressure of time ticking away), I asked him about the turrets.

Me:

How long have you had turrets?

Raymond:

6 and 1/2 years.

Me:

What brought it on?

Raymond:

Nobody knows.

Me:

Would you like to be healed?

Raymond (emphatically):

Yeah!

I told Raymond about some of the previous healings over the last year–most of them involving people from the office that he knew.   Touching Raymond’s shoulder, I prayed for deliverance from the Turrets.

Though when Raymond left, there were minor symptoms still manifesting, Raymond sincerely thanked me for what I was doing.

UPDATE ( 9/6/10): Raymond texted me today.

Raymond:

It hasn’t gotten any better–not that I can notice.

Me:

Ok bro…let’s just keep praying.  We locked-in your eternity with God last week–which is way more important!

Raymond:

True.  Thanks.

Today was difficult in that it has been so long that someone I have prayed for has NOT been healed.  In the back of my mind, I have been remembering that not all of the people who Jesus prayed for received healing either (Matthew 13:58).  Still, I called my mentor Mark Cowpersmith for encouragement.

Mark:

Chris, you can’t take credit when someone gets healed and you can’t take credit when someone does NOT get healed.  Your job is to pray for them and leave the results to God.

It is interesting to point out that I was less interested in leading Raymond to the Lord than in getting him healed.  The security of his soul is FAR more important, yet the physical manifestation of something so harassing (turrets), was the real challenge to me.  Of course this post represents something infinitely significant (his salvation), yet I find myself bothered by the continued existence of this infirmity.  It makes me wonder about Jesus…

He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.  And he was amazed at their lack of faith (Mark 6:5-6).

The scripture says that Jesus was “amazed”, but I can’t help but wonder if he was also ticked-off.  I feel ticked-off that this sickness remains.  Yet, I know that I must leave this in God’s hands.  I am just so grateful that God is allowing me to be a part of so many healings and conversions to Jesus Christ.  I can only do what I am called to do…and I must “leave the results to God.”