Adam Short's Blog

Sometimes when we pray for people, we don’t always get the reports back about what actually happened until much later.

I believe that we are impacting people in greater ways than we often realize. It really is impossible for us to pray and for nothing to happen. God’s redemption is deep, thorough, and sometimes we see that the healing power of God seeps in like salve, and over time, a person’s life is completely overhauled.

This story is about one such life. We first met Regina in December 2007 on our weekly outreaches into an apartment complex area in Redding, California called Boulder Creek. Before leaving to go on outreach one particular day, we had a huge Holy Spirit fest at Bethel. I was still full of the Presence when we arrived at Boulder Creek. It’s always easier to release the Kingdom when we’re drunk in the Spirit! Ryan Taylor, Paul Smith, and I first saw Regina one Thursday afternoon as we were walking around the block looking for divine opportunities to love on people. We had Christmas presents we were giving out to people in the neighborhood just to bless them. Back in the cul-de-sac of the street were a few people hanging out, standing beside the apartment building.

The three of us approached them, and we introduced ourselves and exchanged names. There were two men and one lady in the group, and I asked her if she needed prayer for anything. The lady, Regina, said she needs more faith. I wasn’t satisfied with her answer, though. Then as I looked down, I noticed she had a brace on her right leg, and I got excited because I had no doubt in my mind that whatever was wrong with her foot, it was about to get healed!

We asked Regina what was wrong with her foot, and she said that she had torn ligaments and a cyst on her ankle. She said she's supposed to go have surgery on it. We asked if we could pray and lay hands on her. Before we prayed, I shared with her the story of how Janice was healed on the plane back in March 2007, and how her knee, neck, and wrist were all healed in a period of 45 minutes on that flight. Regina told me that it was hard for her to believe that, but she was still open for prayer.

We started praying for her, and invited Holy Spirit to come. I felt the presence of Holy Spirit in my hands, as I usually do when I pray for people for healing. It was as we maintained a disposition of rest and quiet confidence that a miracle began to happen right in front of us. All three of us laid hands on her foot. As we were praying, I felt electricity going out of my hands into her foot. I told Regina that the presence of God was entering her foot like electricity, and she began exclaiming, “God is amazing!” Regina began to experience a tingling sensation in her foot, and she started telling people nearby that she didn't even believe God would do this, but that she was being proved wrong!

By the end of our time praying over Regina, her pain went from a level 10 to no pain at all. She felt a complete relief from all the pain.

Now, fast forward a couple months to late January 2008, when I received a phone call from Regina, informing me that she was scheduled to have surgery on her foot to repair the torn tendons. She was asked me if we could come over to her house before the surgery to pray over her foot again. I told her that we would be glad to come, and I asked her to give me a call to let me know when the best time would be. But I never heard back from her.

The following week, on a Thursday afternoon, we were once again at Regina's house to find out how she was doing. We were thrilled to hear these exact words come out of her mouth, “I went to the orthopedic surgery on Monday, and because of you guys praying and healing, NO SURGERY! No surgery whatsoever!” This medically confirmed that her foot had been healed. The cyst on her ankle totally disappeared!

Not long after Regina experienced this healing work of God in her body, she was diagnosed with a severe cancer that was progressing very rapidly. It was such a severe case that the doctors wanted to put her on chemotherapy treatment as soon as possible. From the moment that she began treatment, week after week we could tell that her health was deteriorating, as well as her morale level. Of course Ryan, Paul, Evan, and I regularly prayed for her, contending for the total healing of this cancer. We did not get an official report on the status of her cancer for months, until…

I received a phone call from a friend of mine, Thomas. He asked me if I happen to know a lady named Regina from Boulder Creek. I told him, “Of course, I know her quite well,” though it had been several months since I had last seen Regina. Thomas then told me that he was at her house and that she had something to share with me. He passed the phone to her, and in a very excited tone of voice, Regina began telling me what had happened to her. Detail after detail, she explained to me how the cancer had continued to become more and more severe, until the point where she almost died.

After going in for a biopsy, the doctors found no cancer in her body whatsoever! Regina was absolutely beside herself with joy, because the cancer completely left her body.

I am in awe of God to see His love manifest in her life! We don’t always know how much the Presence of God is just leaking out of us by simply laying hands on somebody and praying. Cancer is a giant that is coming down, and for God, it is just as easy to heal cancer as it is to heal a headache or paralysis.

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Last night Evan, Jackie, and I went out on a Treasure Hunt and took a lot of risks that were outside our comfort zones.

I feel this momentum building and increasing as I continue to steward the opportunities that the Lord gives me in touching other people and praying for people, etc. So we went first to the Hilltop Drive water tower, because one of my clues was tower, and Jackie had the Sacramento River Trail as one of hers, which connects right there at the water tower on Hilltop Drive. We got there, but didn't see anybody.

We walked to the water tower, and Evan pointed out that there's a chainlink fence around it, and that was one of my clues! So we were in the right place. We went back to the car, and right then a red Mustang pulled up and parked about 50 yards in front of us. Then Evan remembered that one of his clues was to FOLLOW THE RED SPORTS CAR! So we all 3 jumped back into Jackie's car ready to follow this Mustang. But we waited several minutes because they didn't go anywhere. Eventually, they pulled a U-turn out, and we followed them, just down the street to River Knolls apartments. They parked, and we parked. We got out and approached them. Evan was the first one to get their attention. We told them about what a Treasure Hunt is, and how God gave Evan a clue to follow the red sports car! We asked them if they needed prayer, but they said they didn't...one of the guys said we could pray for his grandmother. Even though we didn't get to pray for them, it was a success because we took the opportunity that God gave us.

We left and went downtown, near the Cascade Theatre. We asked quite a few people if they needed prayer...most said no. Until we were standing right in front of the theatre, and a middle aged man was walking towards us, and he asked us if we had a dollar we could spare so he could get a beer. We introduced ourselves and his name was Bill. Love filled my heart for him. He spilled his guts to us, telling us he had just gotten out of prison. We told Bill that God directed us to come to the Cascade Theatre because He wanted to bless somebody, and he's the one we get to bless. As Bill was talking, I began to feel an angel touching my forehead and top of my head. It felt like feathers. I asked Bill if he is experiencing any pain or problems in his forehead or in his brain at all?

He proceeded to tell us a long list of medication that he's on to treat a condition in his mind that affects his mental health. We asked him if we could pray for him, and he said yes. His heart was so wide open. We laid hands on him, and I put a hand on his head. I told Bill that there's an angel touching his forehead right now rewiring his brain. And making new connections between his brain, spinal column, and body. I asked him if he felt anything happening? He said Yes, I felt chills go down my body! And he said, another guy in Winco just told me the same thing tonight! (About the angel touching his head!) We were so happy...apparently Bill had been intercepted by another Treasure Hunt team earlier. Wow. We prophesied over Bill and encouraged him and loved on him.

We parted ways, and Jackie said, "I wonder if he's saved?" So I said back to Bill, "Bill do you have a relationship with God and Jesus? Have you received Him?" He came back over and said yeah he has. He said he's prefer to do that on his own. We left with this tangible peace and presence on us and love.

Another thing that was a breakthrough for me in taking risks: we walked by this fitness center thing and there were some people inside having a cocktail party, nicely dressed. I looked in there, and saw 2 guys dressed in ties. One of the guys was in a full blown suit, with a gold tie. One of my clues was "suit and tie" and I knew the Lord wanted me to go in there. I was getting up my confidence, and Evan encouraged my by saying that even if they reject you, it's only for a moment and it's not that bad. That clicked when he said that, and I told them I'm going in. So we all 3 went into this formal cocktail party. One of the men greeted us and I told him that we're on a Treasure Hunt where God gives us clues about people He wants to bless. I explained how one of my clues was "suit and tie" and I noticed that 2 of y'all are wearing just that! I asked them if anybody needed prayer for anything? The man said no thank you. But another lady thanked us for coming in anyway. So we thanked them and left. Again, it was a success because we stepped out, even though we didn't pray for anybody.

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God absolutely blew my mind tonight with amazement! Melissa, Lacey, and I decided to do a treasure hunt on our own, and we all got some really good clues.

The whole time I was feeling that something was going to be happening downtown, and Lacey had a clue for Highland Lane, which there is a Highland Avenue downtown. There were numerous other good clues. So we went to SafeWay. Melissa has so much boldness and compassion for people...it's incredible. First guy we came to had black jeans on, which was one of my clues, and so we talked to him...his name was Bob, and we asked him if we could pray for him. We explained that he was on our treasure hunt list, and we got to pray for he and his family.

Then Melissa approached another lady, asking her if her name was such and such and she ran down her list of names on her list. She's so bold. Her name was Teresa, but it wasn't on our lists, but that's OK, we introduced ourselves anyway and told her we were on a treasure hunt and she's God's treasure and can we pray for you? She was so overcome with joy! She was so excited and touched that we wanted to pray for her! She started thanking Papa, and asked us to pray for her new praise and worship ministry she's involved in. We prayed and Teresa was just melting with the love of God. She was already so full of the joy of the Lord, that we were all feeling it come off of her. We prophesied over her, and I had the word that she writes or will write a book. Turns out, she is already writing a short book! She went out to her car and got us an excerpt of something she has written. It's her story and testimony of being saved, set free, and sober from drugs and other things. Ends up she works at the Empire Recovery Center, which is a member agency of United Way! Small world, especially when God's involved.

Then we met a couple other people who were drunk (on alcohol) and asked them if their names were on our lists, and asked them if they needed prayer. And some other people in the checkout line too. They weren't that open, and then I felt pain in my lower back and I knew it was a word of knowledge. I started walking down the front aisle, and the first guy I came to, I asked him if he had pain in his lower back? He said yes. I asked him if I could pray for him. He said no that he's got enough people praying for him already. But I told him, "Take it anyway," and kept walking to catch up with Melissa and Lacey.

The next encounter we had with people was by far the most mind blowing of the night. Melissa approaches these 2 younger guys about our age, and one of them had been limping. She asked one of the guys if his name was Danny, and told them about our treasure hunt we were one. They looked interested. I noticed Jeremiah was wearing a belt buckle, which was on my list, and I showed it to him. Melissa then asked Jeremiah if he was in pain because he had been limping.

We introduced ourselves, and they did too. They had such amazing hearts, such sensitive hearts full of so much love. Jeremiah was the one who had been limping, and Jesse was the other one. Jeremiah told us that he had 3 discs in his vertebrae that were out of whack, and he had been in pain for a couple years. We asked him if we could pray for him for healing. He said yeah. So we laid hands on his back and invited Holy Spirit to come. We all felt a deep love fill our hearts for these guys. They were precious. We really were connecting well with them.

After the 1st time praying, I asked Jeremiah if he noticed a difference in the pain. He didn't. Well then Melissa asked him if one of his legs was shorter than the other, because that oftentimes affects the back. She shared how her own leg grew out miraculously recently and she got taller as a result. So we had Jeremiah sit down (after praying over his back again), and he stretched his legs out...and sure enough, his left leg was about an inch shorter than the right leg. We laid hands on his legs and prayed. I could see the leg grow out. They evened up! Well then, after praying I asked Jeremiah if he could tell if it grew out because to me it looked like it did. He got freaked out and shocked and said a few 4 letter words because now his knees were lined up! He said y'all pulled my leg didn't you? We told him we didn't pull his leg. He said how he was skeptical of all this at first, but while we prayed he felt something pulling his leg in his thigh as if his leg was pulled out. That's exactly what happened! So we had him stand up to see if his back felt better as a result. When he did, he was amazed...he said his pain was lessened, and he was able to bend over more! Come on Jesus!

Melissa also prayed for Jesse because she had on her list that a heart needed healed, and Jesse said his did need healing (not his physical heart but his inner heart). Sounded like he was heartbroken in a relationship. So we prayed, and you could tell that Jesse teared up some. He has such a sensitive heart anyway...it blessed me so much to see it. I felt this deep love for both of them. I prophesied over them both that they have this gift to be able to lead and mentor young men/guys and that they are looked up to by them. They have a compassion and heart to father these young guys. Turns out that Jesse works at a place where he is working with young kids, doing that kind of thing! Wow.

So then the craziest part. Jesse was talking to Melissa and asked her where she's from. Melissa said Napa. Then Jesse said, "Our landlord is from Napa." I butted in and asked, "Mary?" He said yeah, Mary Wells. I said, "No way! Y'all live on Eugenia Avenue Apartment B?!?!" He said, "Eugenia Avenue?" I said, "Oh my gosh, that's where I used to live!!!!" Turns out that Jeremiah and Jesse live in the apartment where Nick and I used to live! Oh my gosh. What a God set up. So ends up we went over to their place and hung out with them for a couple hours, and had a blast. It was so fun. God blew me away. God's releasing His presence on their lives...they're both believers, Jesse stronger than Jeremiah, but God's calling them back deeper into His fold. And it blows me away that God put those 2 in that apartment, a place full of worship and presence because of our being there all last year. My gosh. Holy Ghost. You're so amazing God.

Posted by marseille at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Tonight I led a Treasure Hunt team on Friday Night Strikes. It was absolutely incredible!

There were 4 of us on our team: Farra, Bree, and a pastor from Norway who's visiting Bethel for 3 months. During worship, before we even gathered for outreach, I was listening for the Lord to give me clues already. I saw a white house, then got 2717 Cypress Avenue, and Sunset Market. The white house and Sunset Market and Cypress were not just vague clues, but very distinct and clear to me. I knew something was going to happen. I also got right Achilles heel pain, left back pain, pink umbrella, and several other things.

Farra had some distinct clues too...one of which was "home life" and the other was spine pain and shopping center. So we went out, and our first stop was Sunset Market in West Redding where there's a shopping center. We went into the store, and we were looking around for clues, but the store was mostly empty, and so we went up to the registers where the most people were.

We introduced ourselves and told them that we're on a Treasure Hunt and we're wondering if anybody's names match the names on our list because God wants to bless you. Turns out that one of the girls asks us if we're from Bethel, and she was Lars Frugard's girlfriend. She said we should pray for Shelly who was another cashier a few registers over, because she has MS. So we went over to her and Bree prayed for her. Shelly was a believer too.

We left Sunset and went to Cypress Avenue area, and Farra had a GPS and I looked up 2717 Cypress Avenue to see if it existed. It didn't find it, but we went towards Cypress anyway. I felt like we needed to turn down the road that's off Cypress that Caleb Murray used to live on. So we did. We were looking for 2717, but didn't see it. But we did pass by a house that had a group of people in the garage hanging out and partying some. There were lots of decorations and halloween stuff. We got out and approached the house. IT WAS A WHITE HOUSE, JUST LIKE THE CLUE I GOT!!

As we walked in, I asked them how they're doing and told them that we're out and about blessing the neighborhood and we're wondering if they need prayer for anything. They welcomed us in very politely, and they were super nice! We exchanged names and shook hands...it was such a friendly atmosphere. Their names were Bob, Martin, Brad, Meliea, Crystal, Tyler, and I can't remember any others. We explained to them that we're on a Treasure Hunt where God gives us clues and we're trying to find them.

I told them we are going to read off the names of the people we have on our lists and see if any of them match their names. When I said Rachel, they all perked up and said, "She just left!" They wanted her to come back but it was too late. Then Farrah read his names, one of which was Bob! He's the man of the house.

They were totally into what we were doing. Meliea said her mom needed prayer because she had breast cancer...her name is Rhonda, and then her grandmother needed prayer too. We were about to pray for her but got sidetracked I think. Then I asked if anybody happened to have pain in their right Achille's heel. Tyler said, "No but I messed up my right ankle/foot!" Then we told him that Farrah had right ankle on his list! We asked if we could pray for him and lay hands on his foot. He was so open! We started praying, and I was feeling the presence on my hands. Farrah and Bree prayed too. By the time we finished, I asked Tyler to stand up and try it out, and he didn't have nearly as much pain!! It was mostly gone! That's awesome because he had to leave work early today.

Then I looked at Brad, a young guy no older than 20, and he had a tank top on. I asked the Lord what He had on His heart for him. I started getting this stream of download for the guy. The word I heard was "hammer." But I thought I can't tell him that because it's not that positive. So I started prophesying over Brad telling him that he's hungry for power. In a good way. He's got this hunger and interest in machines and things that are powerful. He kind of smiled and grinned and was so surprised that I knew all that. His friends were laughing and saying, "Yep." And Brad's girlfriend especially was enjoying it because she knew how right on the words were. I could feel Brad's hunger for God. I told Brad too that I kept hearing the word "hammer" for him but I didn't know really what it meant. He laughed and the rest of his friends did too...because his nickname is "Hammer Down!"

I asked him if he'd ever felt the presence of God before. He said no. I asked him if he'd like to feel the power of God? He said yes. So I asked him to stretch out his hands and if it was OK, I'm going to hold them and pray. He was totally open. I invited Holy Spirit. I knew God was going to back me up and show up. As I was praying for Brad, he started twitching and manifesting and swaying. Mind you, this isn't a guy who's used to all the manifestations...he doesn't go to church. Better yet, he had been smoking! God comes to touch people no matter what they're doing. So I kept releasing the presence of God into Brad. When we finished praying, he was out of it, drunk in the Spirit. He said that the hair was standing up on his head and that he felt something go all the way up his arms!!!

Then the other guy Bob said that when I manifested (he used the word cough), he felt jolts go into his body too!! And the other guy also felt that! Dang. I asked Brad if he wanted more, and he said no, that's about all he could handle! He said he wasn't even in his element. Right after we prayed over him, he pulled out a cigarette and was asking everybody for a lighter because he was so rocked by God he didn't know what to do with himself. He felt peace he said. It was absolutely precious to see God come fill Brad with His presence and power. I love Jesus so much.

Then Meliea, Brad's girlfriend, told us about how excited Brad must feel to hear us tell him the things we did. And she said that she had a reading recently and it felt good for people to say to her what's deep down inside. She's so right. Even though she went to the wrong source to get it, it goes to show that everybody is hungry for what God has to say to our hearts.

It's so cool that these people had their Jack Daniel's and beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other, and Holy Ghost still showed up and touched them. Then Crystal, a young 10 or 12 year old girl showed up with a friend of hers, and Farra prophesied over her...he saw an angel behind her. She was so encouraged by what he said to her. Then I prophesied over her friend...I asked her if she sees angels. She said sometimes...and I encouraged her in that to let her know that it is real.

Bree prophesied over Brad too and told him he's a mystic and has this ability to connect and engage in the Spirit realm, which was such a right on word. Then she also prayed for Meliea's mom and grandmother.

The whole group of people were so open and friendly! God really showed up in their garage, on a night when lots of bad things were being done because of Halloween, we got to bless and heal people, showing them God's love. YESSSSSS! THIS IS WHY I'M ALIVE!!! By the time we were leaving, Bob told us to go to his neighbor's house J.R. because he tore his miniscus in his knee and he needs healing. We went and knocked on his door too, and it turns out he didn't want any of it.

I love You Jesus so much.

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