pat loughery

Last night my buddy Chris and I went to the Divine Healing Rooms to check out the scene and see what God was up to.

A few other churches in our area are pursuing a vision of a regular time gathered to pray for healing, and doing so outside the context of our individual churches and the efforts we have in the community. Some liked the model of DHR. I wanted to go scout a bit and just go bake in God’s presence for a bit. I had been to the Healing Rooms in Spokane a few times, and a dear friend is an intercessor on the team there. The model here in Renton is pretty different, though, so I thought it’d be fun to go.

I have to admit that although my background and beliefs and practices are charismatic, I don’t like being around a lot of the more extreme expressions of my peers – the hype, the shouting, the demands for faith, the shrillness and agitation that I feel when in more pentecostal settings. The stuff that feels like people trying to work themselves up into a frenzy so God will pay attention. Plus, I hate tambourines. I was hoping that this stuff wouldn’t be part of the package.

The environment here was actually really peaceful, calm. Entering into the building a bit early, you wait in a lobby area until the doors to the main sanctuary are opened (the intercessors and prayer team are praying in the sanctuary, and while they aim to be done at 7pm, they come out when they feel prepared). There are clipboards of intake information that you’re asked to fill out – name, contact info, prayer requests, church background, that type of thing. All information is optional.

The room is set up with chairs in a big square facing the center. There’s a few minutes of mingling, and the prayer team talks to people. DHR currently meets in the space of Seattle Revival Center, and I loved their building. Huge open vaulted ceilings, flags from 30+ nations flying from the ceiling. There’s a great sense of peace in the room.

Three different people – the director and two other members of the team – give a short (10-15 minute) message, all designed to focus our attention on the giver of grace, and to build trust and faith in what God’s about to do. Very non-hyped. They take an offering, and then they turn on some music in the background, and the teams follow God’s direction in who to pray for, and when. The team carries little round stickers to put onto your name tag – these stickers basically tell the team that this person has been prayed over at least once.

Twice members of the team came to pray for me. The first time, the intercessor was a Korean man that I’d chatted with before we began. The guy speaking told me that the Lord wanted to increase my discernment in spiritual areas, and especially that there would be a focused ability to hear beyond what people are saying, or not saying. Specifically helpful in the way that men speak and don’t speak. That was awesome. I have some gifting in that area, and more is even better.

I thought I was done, but another guy came by and asked me to stand up so he could pray a blessing over me. I did, and as soon as he placed his hands in mine I felt God in a powerful way. He began to say that God had made me a good listener, and then he said something else that I now forget, and then he said that God was planting within me more mercy and compassion. When he spoke those two words – words that are great desires, and the things I think he’s leading us as a church to be – I felt like I’d just stuck my finger into an electrical outlet. I got zapped, fell back into the chairs behind me, and lay on the floor for a while. The longer I was on the floor the more heavy I felt. The Lord didn’t say anything else to me during that time, I just continued to mull over those words: mercy, compassion. After a while the sense of heaviness began to leave, I sat up and found my chair again, wrote in my journal, chatted with Chris and we went home.

Should be interesting to see what happens in the areas of mercy and compassion…