Just the fact he prayed for me lifted me up spiritually and psychologically, but it also resulted in an answer to myself from the Lord concerning the root of my problem physically which took care of the high blood pressure. As it turned out, two weeks later I had to get another physical from a company doctor of my employer. The tests showed I had normally low blood pressure, a heart rate of fifty-four, and this time I had no problem reading the eye chart. That was consistent with my exercise program, age, and what it should have been. Because this doctor combined medicine with prayer, the root of my physical problem was met and cured in the way it needed to be met for the right cure.

What about medically incurable cases such as cancer? The doctor has done all that he knows to do from a medical standpoint and concludes that from a presently known medical standpoint the person is incurable. From a medical standpoint the person may be incurable, but he or she is not hopeless. Through relating to Jesus through worship and praise and in Spirit and truth, something that the doctor might have missed through his ignorance can be revealed by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said,

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you." (John 16:13-14).

The author Harold Hill shares an experience he had one time in praying for a doctor’s patient at the doctor’s request.^19/173-177 It seems the patient had an incurable spastic bladder medically speaking. As Harold Hill looked to the Lord through worship and praise and in Spirit and truth, the Lord by the Spirit gave Harold Hill a vision of the person’s nervous system. The Lord showed Harold Hill that her problem was centered in her nerves. Harold then prayed and asked Jesus to heal this doctor’s patient of nervous imbalance. According to this doctor at that time, the effect of nerves on this kind of problem had never been heard of, but Jesus healed this person and it resulted in this doctor opening up a whole new field of research on the effects of nerves concerning this kind of problem.

John the Baptist said in the Gospel of John, "A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven." (John 3:27). When the medical field leaves Jesus out of their medicine, they limit and greatly slow down the process of finding solutions for problems which seem at present incurable and in some cases may result in the death of the patient prematurely. A person may be presently medically incurable, but not without hope. There is Jesus. Through relationship with Jesus a doctor can find an answer to a problem that the medical field at present does not have an answer for. Practicing medicine without involving Jesus is dangerous and is sin because it involves human life and a responsibility toward that human life that demands the help of the great physician Himself: JESUS!

Especially does this principle of relationship with Jesus as a key to effective ministry apply to counseling and psychiatry. Jesus has a purpose and plan for each individual life. After getting all the objective facts, the first step to successful counseling is to find out what God’s will and plan is for the individual you are treating through prayer. Once you find this out, you will automatically begin to know and understand what the problem is and what steps need to be taken to begin a cure.

Psychoanalysis and counseling without seeking Jesus’ will for the individual first and His instruction about how to counsel the person to health is plainly sin. This is because this kind of counseling does not emanate from the spirit but from the soul and we already shared that James tells us in the book of James that whatever emanates from the soul is automatically in league and under the influence of demonic forces. This will not solve the problem, it will only more greatly complicate the problem. The writer of proverbs states: "There is no wisdom and no understanding and no counsel against Yehovah" (Prov 21:30). Why? Because only Jesus knows his will and plan for a person’s life and how they deviated from that plan that led to the problems that they presently have. 1 Samuel 15:23 tells us that anything we do without seeking Jesus’ counsel first is rebellion and the same as practicing witchcraft. This means that anything we do without Jesus’ leading through the Holy Spirit automatically leads to demonic involvement and eventual demonic infestation. What you suggest may give momentary relief, but in the end he or she will be the worse off, not cured. The writer of proverbs states: "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Prov 14:12). The only right way is to seek Jesus’ counsel first before giving any counseling. Anything else will lead to spiritual death.

When we counsel out of the initiative of our soul rather than out of the initiative of the Holy Spirit, what are we doing? We are setting ourselves up as God and asking that person to put their trust in us: fallen corrupt human beings. The end result is that we end up committing idolatry: the worship of self. 2 Chronicles 12:14 states: "And he did evil because he did not set his heart to seek Yehovah." The Bible tells us plainly that when we do anything without seeking the will, direction and counsel of Jesus first, we end up doing evil. Isaiah 30:1 puts it this way: "‘Woe to the rebellious children,’ declares Yehovah, ‘who execute a plan, but not Mine, and make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, in order to add sin to sin.’" When we counsel someone with a sin problem out of the initiative and reasoning of the soul, we only add sin to the sin, we do not solve the problem. Only what is initiated by Jesus through our spirits will have life in it bring a true solution to the need at hand.

Whether on an individual basis or as a group or Church, Jesus wants us to look to Him for direction before moving out on our own initiative. When we wait upon Jesus through worship and praise and then plan our church activities or outreaches according to Jesus’ instructions, we are then assured of His presence, power, love, and backing in what we pursue and success in what we are pursuing.

Whatever the cause, the four applying principles are the same: First, what are the objective facts? What are the needs of the church or group you are working with. This can be accomplished through open discussion or through a church survey asking your people to list what they feel their spiritual needs are and what they would like to see happen in the church and in ministry outreach. Second, take these objective facts to the Lord in prayer through worship and praise, and in spirit and truth and ask the Lord to show you where he wants you to start, what you first need to teach on, and what group projects first need to be started and how best to go about starting them. Third, does what you believe is his counsel line up with the Bible? And fourth, does what you think is the Lord’s present leading in these endeavors line up with all the other facts outside the Bible. For example: do you have the people and financial resources to carry out the endeavor? If you do not, either it is not the Lord’s leading or it is not his timing. 2 Peter 1:10-11 states,

"Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you."

If Jesus is leading you to do something he will provide the money, man-power, and resources needed to carry it out. If these are lacking go back to step two and try again until points three and four do line up. If you truly apply these four principles you will not fall into error or fail in your endeavors. Section 4 on the sanctifying work of Jesus deals extensively on principles of discernment.

Does this mean that if we behold a brother or sister in immediate need, we are not to reach out to that need? Within our means we are to reach out to our brother and sister’s needs as they are brought to our immediate attention. The Apostle John states,

"But whoever has the biological-means-of-life, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." (1 John 3:17-18).

John is talking here about immediate needs which we are able to meet. The Bible says the love of Jesus constrains us. When we reach out in love to a brother’s need we are demonstrating the love of Jesus.³⁹

If someone asks me to tell them about Jesus, I do not need to go and pray and ask Jesus if He wants me to tell him about Jesus. Jesus already tells us in His Word, that the time is now! and that we are to Go therefore! (2 Cor 6:1-2, Matt 28:19). And again in another passage, "Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you" (Matt 5:42).

There is no question about whether Jesus wants us to share the Gospel with others or as to whether or not He wants us to reach out to our brothers and sisters needs as we are able to. The issue here is, "Jesus how can I best go about doing this in the immediate situation and need, so that the need is truly met as it is needed to be met?"