Brother Word (34 page)

1.
“Strong faith in the area of healing or not, his present chest pains were real.
Painfully
real.” How does your faith coexist with a painful reality? Does living or speaking in faith mean denying a physical experience? Why or why not?

2.
“Ministry and emotional burnout mixed together like oil and water.” How do you guard yourself against burnout in ministry—or in life in general? How have you made time and space in your life for Sabbaths such as vacation, recreation, and a day of rest?

3.
What do you think—what
is
the “fine line between anger and stupidity in questioning the Almighty”?

4.
Many people share Travis’s awkwardness around people with disabilities. What experience do you have relating to children or adults who have special needs? How do you handle interactions with people who have some kind of handicap?

5.
What is the worst possible handicap that you can imagine for yourself? What physical (or mental) capacity would be most difficult for you to lose (e.g., sight, hearing, voice, ability to walk or use hands, etc.)? How do you think your faith would respond to such a loss?

6.
“It’s one thing to believe for someone else’s healing,” Lynn realized. Why is it different—more difficult—to believe for your own healing?

7.
What knowledge or experience do you have of divine healing? What do you think or believe about such miracles?

8.
How would you minister to someone in Lynn’s situation after the accident? Would you exhort her to greater faith, comfort her in her mental and physical anguish, encourage her to trust, bear her company in silence, or serve her needs in practical ways? Why?

9.
Prayer, familiar scriptures, and recollections of her own faith history—how God had worked in and through her in the past—were an encouragement to Lynn in her darkest hours. What encourages you in such times—and how?

10.
Would you allow a stranger to pray over you or someone you loved? Why or why not—or in what circumstances?

11.
After the accident, Lynn asked, “Why me, God?” At the healing service, she wondered, “Why not me?” When have you asked one of those questions? Did you feel like God answered you, and if so, how? How did
you
ultimately handle the question (and answer)?

12.
Many of us acknowledge a
belief
in healing and other miracles—and then we are amazed when we see one take place. Why is that? What does it suggest about the nature of faith and belief?

13.
What role do divine miracles have in God’s work on earth today? What purpose did they serve in Jesus’s ministry?

14.
Rev. Gentry regards the newspaper article as “spiritual warfare 101.” What does he mean by that?

15.
Chance tells Lynn that his healing ministry is “more a principle of obedience than faith.” What does he mean by that? What does that idea mean to you?

16.
Salvation is free, Chance notes, but everything else God gives has a price. Our anointing is proportionate to our sacrifice. Do you agree? Why or why not? What has your own experience taught you about this aspect of God’s empowerment?

17.
Nina had thought it would show a lack of faith to go to a doctor to have her healing confirmed. Do you agree? Why or why not?

18.
Nina was convinced she would be healed at the conference; Floyd Waters said Nina was healed; Nina herself experienced what she believed was healing. Then she died—and an autopsy revealed the cancer had killed her. How do you deal with such situations where you seem to hear God say one thing—and time seems to prove you (or God) wrong?

19.
Chance experienced his calling and anointing as a burden. How have you experienced the call of God on your life or the gifts of God to be a burden? How have you responded to that experience?

20.
Have you ever met someone like Chance—someone with great gifts who also had great needs? How can you—and the church at large—minister to such a person?

21.
Most of us have a family member, friend, or coworker who is a bit like Travis. How do you relate to that kind of “stubborn agnostic”? What strategies have you employed to share God’s love and power with him or her?

22.
What do you think about the follow-up strategies of Faith Community Church—the prayer calls, the emphasis on continuing in divine health, and on developing healthy living alternatives? Have you ever encountered a church that balanced belief in divine healing with such practical or “earthly” follow-up? What is the value—and biblical foundation—for such a holistic approach?

23.
Chance had never felt led to lay hands on his own father to pray for divine healing. Why might a family member not be the best candidate for your ministry? What other reason(s) might Chance have for not sharing his gift with Pop?

24.
What gift(s) has God given to you? How is it developing? What are you doing to cultivate it? In what ways has that gift ever made you feel like “some weird traveling sideshow”?

25.
Lynn reflects that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had a faith that would believe even if God
did not
deliver them. Many people would think this foolish. Do you? Why or why not? What is significant about that kind of faith?

26.
What do you think:
Is
it God’s will for all people to be healed and live in divine health? Why or why not?

27.
As he sinks into the water, Chance figures he’s probably dying—and he wonders, “This is my life?” If you were dying today, how would you sum up your life? How would you feel about its conclusion at this point in time?

28.
By virtue of being alive, Lynn asserts, we can assume we have some unfinished Kingdom business. What is
your
part in God’s unfinished business? What treasure is God unveiling in you?

29.
Chance is startled when Lynn talks about his ministry. He doesn’t really think of his itinerant healings as ministry. What gifts are you operating in that might be organized into a ministry?

30.
Family, love, money . . . What would it take to make
you
happy?

31.
Pastor Gentry’s Bible study (see chapter 53) deals with a lot of issues related to healing. Which insights or arguments stood out for you? Why?

32.
Compose your own litany of God’s goodness, based on your own life. Allow that realization of God’s grace to bring you to
your
knees in worship!

33.
What do you think Chance meant when he told Travis the greatest healings are those in the heart?

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