I’m at that age when you should annually visit your doctor whether you have a concern or not. It is recommended to keep track of your physical health so that you can continue to live an active life. Your vital signs reveal how healthy you are. How is your blood pressure? Do you need to lose some weight? Is everything functioning as it should? These health checks help the physician to monitor how your body is doing and whether you need to make some changes in your lifestyle. Most of us would agree that physical health is vitally important. But what about our spiritual and emotional health? Feeling healthy and energetic goes a long way in our enjoyment of life, but it will not singularly bring us abundant life as spoken of in John 10:10. There’s more to us than just a body. Matthew 6:25 makes a similar observation, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?”

As a church, we are incredibly blessed to be able to offer prayer ministry and Christian counselling through the LifeCentre. Most churches do not have the resources available to develop such a wonderful ministry. The LifeCentre has been operating since 2013, but prayer ministry has been offered through the church for more than 30 years. Over the last six years, hundreds of people from all around Brisbane and Australia have been cared for and experienced powerful healing in their lives through the LifeCentre. The men and women who serve as members of the LifeCentre team are incredibly compassionate and capable people. It truly is a safe and effective space to engage with God to be healed, set free, and come closer to Him.

Yet, there seems to be some trepidation and mystery to prayer ministry. I have often had conversations in which I am asked, “What really happens in the LifeCentre?” Understandably, ministry names such as ‘Sozo’ and ‘M.O.R.E.H.’ do sound mysterious. ‘Sozo’ is a Greek word used more than 120 times in the New Testament and it has three meanings. It can mean ‘saved,’ ‘healed,’ and ‘delivered.’ It is actually a pretty cool name for an inner healing ministry! M.O.R.E.H. simply stands for ‘Ministry of Reconciliation and Emotional Healing.’ The name tells you what the ministry is about. Both of these inner healing methodologies help the client to address the wounds or sins of the past with God so that true healing and change can occur. Isaiah 61:1 is our mission statement: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”

Unfortunately, many people do not consider receiving prayer ministry unless there is a significant problem. In his book, Freedom Tools, Andy Reese observes, “We all have ‘stuff,’ and that stuff diminishes living and destroys lives. It pops up and bursts out at the most inconvenient times. It tarnishes us and hurts those we most love.” Reese goes on to point out, “It has to get very bad to actually go for help. And so, it does get very bad.” Thankfully, God can work with our mess, but we don’t have to wait until it is so big that we are overwhelmed. Like an annual doctor’s check-up, it would be wise to have prayer ministry each year or so. This would enable you to stay emotionally and spiritually healthy. When we intentionally take the time to let God show us where there are areas of unforgiveness or woundedness in our hearts, He can bring healing and wholeness and restore our intimacy with Him and others.

There isn’t anything mysterious about prayer ministry. The only mystery is how God can touch our lives so deeply through prayer. It is a gentle and nurturing process that leaves most people feeling emotionally lighter and at peace. If you’ve never received prayer ministry before why don’t you consider it? If it has been a while since you’ve received prayer ministry, why don’t you come in to the LifeCentre for a spiritual check-up? The world we live in is dark and difficult most of the time. People say and do things that hurt us. Only God can heal our hearts. He wants to take our burdens and heal our hearts so that we can live empowered lives in freedom and blessing.