#12 - Sometimes, the Sense of Touch Can Hurt

A Spiritual Kingdom

Courtesy Dean Williams 2012

Our small group was invited to a prayer meeting at the home of a pastor and his wife. Truthfully, I did not like this pastor because he seemed not to care for his wife, only for his reputation as a "man of God".

That being said, after everyone had arrived, we began the meeting with prayers, prophecies, and a whole lot of praises to the Lord. Pastor came to stand next to me. I felt uncomfortable and inched away. By the end of the night, it seemed to me as if pastor was going out of his way to "minister" to me.

Later, as the group shared our fellowship meal and things had settled down, I began to feel ant bites on my neck. I brushed behind my neck with my hands. I brushed again. These biting sensations were stinging me! Still I found nothing. I tilted my head up to silently inquire of the Lord, and as I did so, the pastor's wife came into view and glowered at me. Ahh. She also knew of her husband's tricks and each time he performed them, she was filled with jealousy.

I silently prayed for grace and mercy for her. Perhaps she was unaware of the power her intense jealousy could spiritually inflict upon the women her husband singled out. Then I asked God to deal with her unfaithful husband (1 Peter 4:17). I never went back. By the way, jealousy is a work of the flesh (Gal. 5:19, 20).

(Update: More than 20+ years have passed since that time, and the pastor and his wife got divorced. However, he did manage to marry their divorce lawyer.)

Note: Spirit can be felt (Mark 5:29; Acts 18:5), which is why I put this article under “touch”. Touch and feeling often manifest together.

Next week: Sense of Touch Conveys Power
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version . 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Spiritual Senses #11 – The Sense of Touch

A Spiritual Kingdom

Since our physical body belongs to God (1 Cor. 6:19, 20 NKJV), sometimes he uses bodily manifestations as a different way to communicate with us. After all, God is not bound by our traditional methods of communication. Remember, he conveyed his message to a prophet through the behavior of a donkey (Num. 22:21-33); and brought conviction to an apostle with the crowing of a rooster (John 13:38).

• As a Body, our church ministered in small groups by prayer and the laying on of hands. One evening, an elderly woman requested ministry. Everything being done decently and in order, it came my turn to minister. I placed my hands upon her head and prayed; it was then that I felt a bombardment of small pings (like sonar pings) rise up from her head and bounce off my hands. I got the message, “pray for her thought-life”. As I gently prayed, silent tears began to run down her cheeks. Afterwards, she expressed her gratitude to the group and gave testimony that for her, God had become a caring God, up close and personal.

The bible instructs us to renew our minds. Our minds are breeding grounds for all sorts of carnally-infested thoughts that will continue to emerge untethered (Rom. 8:5-7), and cause us many troubles in varying degrees of difficulties. Some troubles the fleshy Christian might notice and be able to change; while other difficulties become too noticeable to ignore—and requires diagnoses and doses from the professional world of psychologists and psychiatrists.

Touch reveals the works of the carnal flesh hidden by many Christians. While their bodies are sending out silent signals, our bodies are receiving them. But to do so, we must be spiritual Christians; otherwise, we’re unable to discern, judge (1 Cor. 2:15), or “pick up” on these silent messages. Once received, though, we should also be spiritually fruited Christians (Gal. 6:1, 2) in order to minister within the parameters of love (1 Cor. 13:4-8). 

Next time: Sometimes, the Sense of Touch Can Hurt

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.