Experiencing Healing Prayer - by Rick Richardson (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Rick Richardson shows that God can heal your deepest hurts, wounds and areas of sin. And he helps you to receive healing from God through prayer, learned and practiced in community.

Review Quotes

"Experiencing Healing Prayer is a remarkable book. Rick Richardson . . . simply but profoundly leads his readers into the life of prayer for healing. His use of the miracles of the Gospels to develop a truly biblical doctrine of healing is coupled with suggestions for dealing with deep human wounds--emotional, physical and spiritual. Better yet, he has furnished me wise guidance on my own spiritual journey!"

"[Richardson] has urged the creation of an emotionally and spiritually safe space for both recipients and prayer ministers, encircled by the presence of God within the church community."

"As a pastor for over thirty years, I only wish it had been written over thirty years ago! It is amazingly balanced in its approach to healing. It is immensely practical. It is also very biblical and historically orthodox. Rick's definition of what healing is, that it is 'not primarily about escape or relief from pain . . . [but] is primarily about the transformation of the person into a truer and more whole follower, worshipper and lover of God, ' so needs to be heard today."

"God will use Experiencing Healing Prayer to dive deep into your mind and heart, helping you to understand and apply the personal and spiritual healing you need to have a healthy, balanced, Christ-centered life. Rick Richardson gives us personal and practical tools to make sure the wounds and pains of our past do not wreck the healthy and whole future we all yearn for."

"I chose Leanne Payne as a mentor through her writings--so you can imagine my interest when I saw Rick Richardson's book. I have been giving it a thorough working through and now am routinely recommending it for all my clients and others I pray for."

"I found the book most unique and refreshing. Rick Richardson integrates Jesus' power to heal with Jesus' mission to the world. Often healing prayer becomes the Christian substitute for the secular obsession to 'be all that we can be, ' which means to do whatever we can to make ourselves feel good. Rick speaks to the reality of God's healing power and how it moves through us toward a world that is in desperate need of reconciliation on so many levels. This is a truth that the church needs to hear and embrace."

"The journey of 'dying to self' so Christ can come alive in us appears to be a misunderstood and elapsed discipline in the lives of Christians and the church today. Rick Richardson offers practical insights into how we respond to the incarnation of God through healing prayer. I will pass this on to the prayer ministers in our church."

"We live in an age that desperately needs healing to be the heartbeat of the church. Experiencing Healing Prayer is an answer to that need. Rick Richardson intimately testifies of his own experience of healing and shares his wise gift of teaching to train others. Remarkably, he simplifies the complex without being simplistic while offering genuine hope for wounded souls and clear practical steps for those who care for the soul. Pastors who want to see their congregations transformed by the healing power of God will want a copy of Experiencing Healing Prayer for every member of their leadership team."

"Whenever I see a book on healing prayer, I wonder if it is charismatic or evangelical in its approach; is it biblical or practical, psychological or spiritual? When it comes to Rick Richardson's new book, Experiencing Healing Prayer, the answer is . . . yes! Rick provides us with a model for healing prayer that is all of the above. While firmly committed to the authenticity and authority of Scripture, Rick guides us into a deeper partnership with the Holy Spirit as we venture to petition God for the healing of friends and strangers. He helps us recognize, from both Scripture and personal experience, the signs of God's healing presence as we pray with and for others. And healing is more than the reversal of a physical ailment; healing is the biblical hope and promise of a satisfied soul. Rick has written a road map for many of us who need to pursue a greater depth of healing (i.e., wholeness) for ourselves, even as we seek to pray for others and train others to join us in the journey."

I immediately found myself caught up in Richardson's journey to lead people with emotional brokenness and wounds from the past toward emotional healing. This book should prove of immense value to people struggling with inner brokenness or who know someone who is.

About the Author

Richard Peace (M.Div., Fuller Theological Seminary; Ph.D., University of Natal, South Africa) is Robert Boyd Munger Professor of Evangelism and Spiritual Formation at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, where he has taught since 1994. His books include Conversion in the New Testament: Paul and the Twelve (1999), the Spiritual Formation small group series from NavPress (three books, 1995-1996), the Learning to Love series from NavPress (three small group guides, 1994), and Small Group Evangelism (1985).

Rick Richardson (M.Div., Northern Baptist Seminary) is associate director of evangelism for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and an ordained priest with the Anglican Mission in America. He is coauthor with Brenda Salter McNeil of The Heart of Racial Justice and the author of Evangelism Outside the Box.