by Beth Dugan
OSL is the ecumenical healing ministry that we participate in at Good Samaritan. It consists of men and women who have been trained and ordained to offer relief from physical or emotional distress by face-to-face prayer and/or the laying-on of hands.
Jesus strongly urged his followers to go and heal as he had healed, and to believe in their power to do so. Each one of us, as part of "the body of Christ", is a temple to that same Holy Spirit that does the healing. The Christ came to dwell among us to remind us that God wanted man and woman to share His creation, to dwell with Him in paradise. Illness and suffering were not God's intention then, are not now, and never will be. Essential to every individual healer's balance, perspective, humility and support is participation in community with others who feel called to serve as healers. Therefore the OSL leaders provide speakers at monthly meetings and in larger conferences nationally and internationally to provide ongoing training.
On March 9 Josh Acton, a minister and OSL member, spoke at the La Jolla Presbyterian Church to an audience including OSL members and others who are interested in doing healing or who simply came to seek healing. Josh, formerly an Episcopal priest and now in ministry with the Vineyard Church in both San Diego and in Hemet, spoke about the doubt that assails him as a healer. Josh identified doubt as the attempt of the Satan to interfere with the work of Jesus Christ. Having felt such doubt even during his act of the laying-on of hands, Josh has learned to trust in the possibility of the smallest "mustard-seed moment" when he feels the presence of the real healer, the Spirit, even despite his own doubt. Josh's experience has been that it takes only such an instant to allow for a complete healing experience for the one he has touched. Josh also spoke about the embarrassment he has felt in offering services when he has felt the "shove of the Dove," describing a time in a cafe when he felt everybody must be looking at him as he placed his hands on a woman's eyes. However, that healing success then became evident to all around them as her eyes that were swollen shut with infection and pain were opened and free. After Josh finished speaking, instead of offering a period for questions and answers, he invited anybody who wished to be healed to work individually with OSL members during a period of prayer and/or hands-on service time. Clearly participation in this experience would be the most valid possible answer to every possible question. There is nothing intellectual required in the exercise of faith.
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