In episode 6 of my new series, Questions With God, I ask the question, “Can God Completely Heal Past Trauma In One Encounter?” In my film Holy Ghost Reborn, there is a powerful moment when we filmed a former Navy SEAL named Shannon having a full-on encounter with Jesus where his childhood trauma is met and healed in a dramatic and emotional time of inner healing.
One of my good friends, who used to work at a large church, took the clip and showed it to the man in charge of that church’s counseling ministry. He was excited to show his friend this scene, as he figured he would be encouraged and emboldened by it. But the reaction my friend got was wholly unexpected. The head of counseling, after watching the scene unfold, was silent for a moment. He then told my friend that this kind of thing could be dangerous, because you “can’t count on Jesus to show up every time like that.”
I deal in the realm of faith for a living, and I certainly understand that faith is often difficult, especially in relation to difficult circumstances. But when the head of a massive church’s counseling department makes a statement like that, I can’t help but wonder what the rest of the church thinks. I believe most Christians would say that God could do mighty miracles in people, but I am also learning that most Christians would never expect Him to do so. Instead of a God who is faithful to always meet our needs, we have often viewed Him moving on our behalf as a kind of lottery encounter. Your number just happened to come up this time. Praise the Lord.
But if I’ve learned anything, it’s that God is always faithful. He always responds to faith (granted, maybe not in the way you are expecting or even hoping, but faith moves Him every time). The ministry that prayed for Shannon, Operation Restored Warrior, has a 100-percent success rate in healing soldiers from PTSD. They have successfully prayed for hundreds of current and former soldiers, and Jesus has shown up for these men every single time. Why? Because they expected Him to, and because they simply asked Him to.
Perhaps our problem isn’t our lack of faith, but rather that we simply aren’t asking Him to show up at all.
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