Newsletters

Excerpt from "Under Healing Wings"
Published September 2005

We need a safe place. We are no match for the evil of this world, nor are we a match for the natural catastrophes of our time. We have an enemy who hates God, and he hates us…. For this reason, God wants to overshadow us with his wings. There IS a safe haven to run to. The disciple’s asked Jesus, where else are we going to go? They were saying that Jesus was the only security there is – that he is the only truly safe place in our lives. It is called living under the shadow of his wings…. I have never truly known what it means to be in the “secret place” before – under God’s shadow. Yet, now, I see it all through the scriptures. It is what Jesus meant when he said that we were to abide in him and he in us.

Under the shadow of his wings is not only a safe haven, but it is the habitation ofincredible provision, capacity and plenty…. The “secret place” is the powerful and graceful place where Jesus walked and communed with his Father. It is where Jesus is calling us to live and walk. Under his wings is an impenetrable fortress of might and strength. The devil is not afraid of us, but he is afraid of God. Jesus lived a hidden life with his Father, but was OPENLY rewarded for having done so. It was there he lived with all his being, firmly rooted in the Father. It was there where he heard and saw what the Father was saying and doing. The “secret place”, Under Healing Wings, is an extraordinary base of receptivity and supply. Jesus received all that he said and all that he did, and he said we would live in the same posture with the Father to do the same things he did. How can we not go there? To do less is to live with fruitless striving.

The “secret place” is the platform for the miraculous and the repository of supernatural supply for signs and wonders. Any truly anointed and blessed healing ministry has found this hidden dwelling for a life of signs, wonders, miracles and healings. It is where the fragrance of Christ blooms. Jesus was completely fearless, and as a result his life was lived in perfect love. The love he received and expressed “out from within” the Father would become the most powerful and effective agent in the world. The “secret place” is where he launched his all out assault on the minions of hell.

In the pages of this book we ask questions that are absolutely essential for living a victorious and highly effective Christian life right out of the pages of the Book of Acts. We cannot afford to face the trials, challenges, and stress of this third millennia of Christendom with any thing less than New Testament power and giftedness. The questions we ask are:

1. Why are most Christians struggling with the issues of life and with a sense of failure in “pulling off” a Christian walk?
2. Why are we not seeing the power of God at work in the churches of America?
3. What is the Secret Place of the Most High?
4. Is it really possible to live under the shadow of the Most High?
5. What happens when we are there?
6. How does one get there?
7. What keeps us from going there?
8. How does one stay in that place of provision, blessing, strength, anointing, and power?

OSL Corner

Having a Rule of Life is a lovely way to live as a Christian. I thought that those of you who do not participate in the Order of St. Luke would be interested in the Rule of the Order. For those who are members it is always a blessing to be reminded of what we have pledged to do.

(Taken from the Order of St. Luke Handbook)

1. I will pray daily for this work, remembering to use the Lord’s Prayer.
2. I will cultivate a personal prayer life, and will seek a closer walk with Jesus.
3. I will read from the New Testament daily.
4. I will receive Holy Communion regularly.
5. I will seek health of body, soul, and spirit.
6. I will cultivate the gifts God has given me for the work of healing by study and by active service.
7. I will seek continued growth as an instrument our Lord can use for healing.
8. I will share the healing Gospel by personal witness, praying with others, supporting Sharing Magazine, circulating healing literature, and by donations.
9. I will attempt all of this so far as I am able with the help of God.

Newsletter
August 2005

Greetings to all our brothers and sisters in Christ!

What a Glorious year this has been so far! We have been hearing for several years that, “Revival is coming!” Well, we believe it’s here! We are seeing Christians around the country waking up, our passion being restored, our hunger for God’s Word is burning in our souls, and signs and wonders are beginning to “follow those who believe!” Robin Mark, a worship leader from Belfast, Ireland, recorded a song a few years ago. It said “I can hear the thunder in the distance, like a train on the edge of the town; I can hear the brooding of the Spirit, ‘Lay your burdens down, lay your burdens down.’ Revive us, revive us.” I remember the stirring in my spirit the first time I heard that song, and the passion with which we would sing it to our God. Praise the Lord! I can hear the thunder on top of us and feel the first raindrops on our thirsty hearts! We are seeing hundreds of folks truly lay their burdens down and receive Life and Wholeness from Jesus Christ. Cancers are being destroyed both physically and spiritually. We have seen the lame walk. We are hearing doctor’s reports of unborn children being healed in the womb. We are witness to the “fire of God” going into diseased organs and burning up the disease before our very eyes! Marriages are being restored and parents with their children. A woman with seizures was totally healed!

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are being poured out in greater measure than we have ever experienced! We are joyfully seeing many new births, people coming for the first time, into the Kingdom of God. The love of Christ is moving on His people to compel their friends and love ones to “Come In!”

We are so encouraged! Our desire has been to bring gifts of encouragement and healing to the Lord’s people, to equip them for ministry, and we are enjoying the fruits of our labor. But our hearts cry out to the Lord for More! We want to serve Him More and reach More of His children. We are asking the Lord to open doors all across the Nation, Canada, Mexico and the World! Pray for us, that He will give us His strategy. We have seen denominational walls come down. We want to see More! We want to reach the lost in greater number.

Jack’s book, God’s Healing River has been sent as far away as Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean, Alaska and Austria! Many have read the book, and we have had reports of people being healed, even as they were reading it! What a blessing to hear. His second book will be out soon, Under Healing Wings. (Publication is set for September 2005.)

We give thanks to Karen Belinne for her generous gift of time and knowledge in constructing and maintaining the website. What a gift of love!

We give thanks to our board members for their wisdom and support.

We give thanks to our intercessors. They have served us all in amazing ways!

We give thanks to God for All of you! You have prayed for us and supported us emotionally, spiritually and financially. Without your help, none of this would have been possible. We pray that God will pour back on you all mightily as you have sown into the Kingdom.

Blessings and Love to you from our Great God, and from our grateful hearts,

Anna Marie and Jack

Newsletter - Two New Healing Houses
December 2004

Dear Ones, This has truly been a wonderful and eventful year. Thanks to God and to all of our friends and supporters. The Sheffield’s have many exciting changes to announce.

First: Deep River Ministries has moved to San Antonio, Texas! La Ciudad Del Rio!
Our new address is:

P.O. Box 12615
San Antonio, TX 78212
Phone number is (210) 320-5855
E-mail is deepriver_4@yahoo.com

We are still conducting Healing Missions and weekends of renewal all over the country and now into Canada, as well. There have been so many blessings and healings that we will cover that in another article! We are booking two per month starting in January 2005. Currently, our schedule is almost full for the New Year, and we are booking events into 2006. Please continue to pray for the ministry. We are so happy to be able to preach the Good News wherever the Lord calls.

Second: In June, we started two new healing centers. One of them is here in San Antonio. We are still in the process of getting the non-profit status for Christ Healing Center. Jack and Anna Marie will be directors and are already involved in training teams of volunteers who come and pray for others, by appointment. We currently are meeting at the gracious invitation of Alamo Heights United Methodist Church (AHUMC), here in San Antonio, every Tuesday. We (the teams) have prayed for over 100 people already with glorious healings both physical and spiritual. Many folks are volunteering weekly and it has been wonderful.

For appointments with a team for prayer, or to find out about training to become a volunteer, call Frankie at AHUMC (210) 826-3215.

Third: The second center is located in beautiful Columbus, Georgia. (Another River City!) It is called Bethsaida House and has been legally setup as a non-profit. Jack and Anna Marie are directors there as well. We travel once a month to Columbus to minister, teach and provide oversight. There are many people who have committed to pray and several ordained ministers are interested. A lovely office has been donated and fully furnished. When we are there we pray for an hour every morning for the city before we start the appointments. All are welcome to join us. When we are not there, the team meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

For appointments and other information, call Ida Page at Bethsaida House (706) 507-3360. Or contact her through e-mail bethsaida@knology.net

We thank each of you for your prayers, financial gifts and most of all for your friendship. Please keep us in your prayers as we plan for 2005. Keep Jack in your prayers as he works to complete his second book. We want to see Jesus lifted up high across this world. We are looking to take the message of healing to England and South Africa in the near future, more on that to come. Please consider a year-end donation to Deep River Ministries. We are hoping to reach farther in 2005.

Love and Blessings for Advent, Christmas and the New Year! Jack and Anna Marie

We are for Signs and Wonders
Isaiah 8:17

What we do in the healing ministry of the Order of St. Luke the Physician ought not to be done in a corner. Many times that is exactly where the healing ministry is located in the church. It is relegated to a small slot in the life of the church and given the prominence of a pot roast at a Kosher Wedding. We are so proud of the strides the healing ministry had made over the recent years in every manner of church. Ministers, lay and clerical, are beginning to realize how great is the impact of seeing God relieve people of the all too desperate and mounting needs they face in every day life. The evidence is growing and becoming irrefutable that the Church cannot live without a form of healing ministry in the midst of the congregation that relies upon the supernatural power of God with the attending manifold expressions of gifts the Lord offers. We must have the power of God in our midst.

In fact, we must have signs and wonders. This is, of course, assuming the healing ministry expressed has integrity and true substance.

Evangelism is greatly enhanced by the signs and wonders, and the Kingdom of God is advanced as God performs miracles and healings among the people in and out of the church. Signs and wonders open the hearts of the people to receive the Gospel of Christ. We were made to BE signs and wonders. When I was hit by a 25-ton asphalt truck, and my aorta exploded like a blown out inner tube, the people all around me in the hospital, in the church, and in the community marveled at my miraculous healing. Several months ago a woman was healed in one of our missions. She had polio at age 11, almost lost her leg with multiple surgeries, and recently contracted systemic lupus. She was supernaturally touched by God in a healing eucharist and over a period of several hours, came up out of her crutches. What a wonder!

What do you think happened to her office building when she walked in on Monday and negotiated the stairs for the first time ever. "Now, where do you go to church?" Just imagine the response! The church where she goes is growing leaps and bounds. Not one New Testament church was established without signs and wonders. It is time my friends, to move into the supernatural river of healing grace and mercy. The Church will grow exponentially when we give God back His Church and let Him run it the way He originally intended.

We do not need to be ashamed of this gospel of signs and wonders. There is great evidence that this Holy spirit movement is engulfing the entire Southern Hemisphere on the globe. Some statistics are staggering: In 1960 there were about 60 million Spirit-filled Pentecostal/Charismatic believers worldwide. Today there are approximately 650 million with as many as 65 million coming into the Kingdom in one year recently. The figure is probably higher given the fact that in China we cannot get an accurate count. It is estimated that in the year 2001, 25 million Chinese came into the Kingdom of God, and that all, or most of them, come in with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and with signs and wonders being the norm for their experience. While the rationalistic church of America dissects truth, and languishes as a result. It's time for us to wake up and become who we truly are: a Sign and a Wonder!

Overcoming Rejection

A major problem many face is rejection. A spirit of rejection can cripple and leave scars for a lifetime. All of us have some form of rejection in our lives, but it can be so severe that it causes one to feel unworthy or useless. It's hard, then, to feel the love of God as Father. It produces tireless effort to be accepted or worthy. Some have been rejected or unwanted by parents, spouses, or even the church. Words of rejection wound deeply, and produce bitterness. Anger can rule the soul and cause even more dejection. "A wounded spirit who can bear?" Ps 18:14 How does God see this one: "A bruised reed He will not crush." Is 42.1 God offers healing to all who are rejected. Jesus came to bind up the brokenhearted. He restores and sets us free to stop embracing the scars, and to release those who hurt us with forgiving grace. God Heals! He makes whole every scar forever!

Living in the Presence

Living in the Presence
When Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, the first thing they lost was the "Presence" of the One who walked with them in the cool of the day. In the Presence of God the most amazing things happen regarding healing, deliverance, provision and protection. It is the one ingredient in our Healing Missions that determines the extent of how God moves in each situation.
Moses knew how critical the ministry of Presence was. In Exodus 33:12, Moses said to the Lord who had just commanded him to go forth with the people of God out of bondage and into freedom, "If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way we shall be distinct from every people on the earth." He knew that without the Presence of God, there would be no demonstration of the Goodness and Mercy of God, and that the people of God would remain in bondage.
In reflecting on our ministry in 2002, I found that the greatest outpouring of healing occurred when the Presence of God was the strongest. What this is can best be described as the showing forth the Brightness of God, the Clarity of Word, the Fervor of Singing, the Cleanness of atmosphere, and the express Joy of the Lord with lots of laughter.
Many people have a hard time with the concept of faith. Too often faith is a mental exercise of trying to believe God's Word so as to obtain a certain end or receive some gain from having "believed." This really muddies the water and brings such confusion to the people of God. What is worse, it limits God from doing what God loves best: Sending Jesus into hurtful situations top heal and deliver. These mental gyrations only frustrate the "believer."
Faith is actually very simple. It is a gift! Faith COMES. It comes by the hearing of the Word of God, or the right now "speaking" word of God (Rhema) where the Holy Spirit is doing His ministry
The end of the year 2002 saw a wonderful culmination of power and demonstration in the Presence of the Lord. Never have Anna Marie and I met such people with great hearts for healing. Alamo Heights in San Antonio saw a beautiful marriage between staff and an OSL chapter birthed with around 40 people being inducted. The staff was incredible and blessed us so much with their attendance expressing their own giftedness in healing. This means so much to see the senior staff of these great churches getting involved in the healing ministry.
St. John the Divine in Houston was a dream come true. Mike Flynn was fantastic as we all jumped in the RIVER. The amazing thing was how ALL the people came forth with visions, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, healing hands, and other manifestations of the presence. The worship was key to all this giftedness.
Manitou Springs and Billings were equally as wonderful in their excellent hospitality and outpouring of love. Jesus healed many people in these places--backs especially.

The Richness of the Spirit

In I Corinthians 12 Paul shows us how the church is to experience spiritual gifts. The burden of this article is to live into to the richness of operations and administrations of the Spirit in getting people healed. Watch Jesus. In the Gospels, he never healed anyone the same way. Not once! Those of us who feel stuck in our patterns of ministry, seeing little power, can learn a great deal by observing Jesus as He obeyed the Holy Spirit who was administrating the gift of healing, and the other attending charisms. Methods, like Theophostics and others, are excellent ways to springboard into the free flow of divine giftings. The Holy Spirit wants to teach us how to flow with Him. Paul said, "There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. There are varieties of operations but it is the same God who works all in all." (Verses 5 and 6) And remember, they are ALL to work in ALL! So many times we try to box God in or make God do things our way, and we fail in prayer to achieve results. God has a much better way.
In the Order of St. Luke, to become an Associate Member one must study the healings Jesus performs in the Bible. From the start we are encouraged to do it the way Jesus did. "Go and do likewise" Jesus was under the administration of the Holy Spirit. We experience the gifts the same way Jesus did. Isn't that wonderful? The word for administrations is energeia in Greek and it means to energize. In other words, the Holy Spirit brings the energy or power that causes the gift to manifest. This energy or power can manifest the Mind of God in prophesy or a Word of Knowledge while we are praying for people. Jesus always listened to the Holy Spirit. When this power is present the healing is obtained and it stays; it is not a psychical energy where people are worked up emotionally or with some New Age hype with no real or lasting results to prayer. Look at Jesus. In one case he spoke to a fever, in another he forgave a person's sin and obliterated guilt, in another he sends the Word and heals a person, in yet another instance He commands a demon out. Look at Peter.
One time he takes a lame man by the hand and pulls him up, another time he just walks by and his shadow is used by God to heal many. .
She feared for his life. We sat her down on a stool in the front of the sanctuary and began to pray for her nephew. All of a sudden my hands began to burn red hot (not just warmly), and I looked up to see what was happening! I literally could not see John Mark for the golden light that flooded the sanctuary area. I said: "Do you see what I see?" Each of us saw the same thing, and I remember saying, "Ask what you will, but be careful what you ask." I mean to tell you, this was a very holy moment. In our circle of prayer the man standing next to me came in with kidney stones that night, and he was in severe pain. He asked to be healed and was instantly cured. His wife, who could not reach her son who had the flu, asked that he be healed. Later she called and his broken phone worked (she had tried all afternoon to call him and could not get through) and she found out that about the time we prayed he sat up in the bed and got up to watch TV and fix something to eat. Each thing we asked for (and one we did not even ask for) was immediately answered, each situation totally resolved. Praise God! Often, when I think of what happened that night, I have to believe we had an unmistakable FORETASTE of what it means to SWIM in the River of God.
In the last issue the statement was made that THERE IS COMING SOON, AN EXPERIENCE OF GOD'S PRESENCE THAT IS REFERRED TO IN THE SCRIPTURE AS SWIMMING IN A RIVER THAT COMES FROM THE THRONE OF GOD. In our meetings over the past several months the Presence of God has been so strong! In Beaumont a man with Parkinson's Disease was healed. He no longer walks with his cane, and the tremors are gone! In Pueblo, Colorado a precious young girl who had gone deaf in one ear and was losing her hearing rapidly in the other ear, woke up after prayer on Friday night to find that Jesus had healed her hearing! God is so Mighty, so Awesome! The same Jesus who manifested His Glory, whom John said we held Him, we touched Him, this same Jesus is in our midst. He has us waist deep right now in His Healing River. No more shallow waters. The waist is the place of reproduction and of giving birth. God is bring people to Christ in a very real way, some for the first time, some for the second or third or fourth time with very real breakthrough experiences out of bondage and into the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of Light! WE MUST BE THANKFUL WITH ALL OUR HEARTS! Jack

The Year of God's Favor

Luke 2:18 says, "And Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and with mankind." 1 John 4:17 says, "As He is so are we in the world."

In the year 2002 we are going to see the Body of Christ grow in wisdom (true knowledge realized or actualized) and in stature (God's anointed station) and also see it increase in FAVOR with God and with mankind. We, as a new creation in the earth, were not just created to have peace and happiness at a limited personal level equivalent to paid bills, with no ills, and a few thrills here and there. We were re-created in Christ to RIDE ON HIGH PLACES WITH OUR God!! We are right now moving into Favor territory. God has a plan to increase HIS BRIDE in this hour, to give her strength, stature, and THE YEAR OF GOD'S FAVOR.

Already, Deep River Ministries in 2002 has more engagements to do healing ministry than in all of 2001, and we haven't even gotten to 2002 yet! I sense INCREASE AND FAVOR! Not just for a few, but for all devoted friends and companions of Jesus who are seeking God with all their hearts. FAVOR comes to those who WANT WHAT GOD WANTS! How do we know what God wants? Just look at Jesus. HE IS THE PATTERN! HE GREW - HE INCREASED TO DO WHAT PLEASED GOD. He wanted to please the Father, he longed to win people - woo them to the heart of the father, and to obliterate all the works of darkness. That is why He was sent, AND that is why we are sent. He said you will do the same things I do, and like Jesus, then, we too will have the pleasurable favor of the Father.

The church is coming out of the wilderness. Everywhere we minister we simply say, "Look you're a mess, we're a mess, can we go to God now?" He is the only way out of the divisions, the strife, the rebellion, the sickness and heartbreak of God's blood-bought people. There is no other way. The wilderness is a place of a "desolate heritage." (Isaiah 49:8) It is a place of failure to enter into the full inheritance God has laid up for us in Christ, and a place of wallowing in our own pitiful self-dependency. We are co-heirs with Christ, yet we have failed to attain to our part of the inheritance - "the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe." (Eph 18-23) Literally "toward" in Greek means to us, into us, through us, and out of us!

Recently, I was reminded of a prophesy we received in 1996 concerning the direction our ministry would one day take. It said,

"For even the seed that has been planted in you shall now begin to go over the walls…only to find that you shall escape out of the walls and out of the barriers. For you will begin to go over into places and over barriers that have been obstructed and held out against you before…. For what the Lord has begun to grow in you, surely it will bring forth its fruit after its own kind. For son, even now you are coming out of the wilderness and you are coming out in the power of the Spirit of God!"

We do not base our whole lives on one prophetic word, however, this one has stayed with me. It seems to me we are entering fully into a time such as this. All that happened in 2001, all the healings, all the people released from bondage and from pain - that is only going to increase in 2002. The walls to this kind of release of the Holy Spirit are no problem to God. If they don't come down, He just take you over them or around them. There is a move of God's healing delivering power coming that no person or institution can stop. WE can decide, however, not to participate in it. Sadly many will. Some will fight it. But make no mistake it is coming like a flow. Some of those who will participate in the coming move of God's Spirit are doing so even now. The waters are rising Fear of people is being replaced by an anointing to believe God's Word again - the only thing God can agree with. God does not agree with our theories about His Word. God's FAVOR is poured out on those who honor His Word and work with God to see it happen - in action.

It is time to enter in God's FAVOR NOW! It is imperative! There is no guarantee that trials or sorrows are over in this nation, but Psalm 5:11-12 says that the FAVOR of God is a might shield and protection for the people of God. As we advance in HIS WILL we must trust with all we are that God will REMOVE THE DESOLATE HERITAGE and bring about what pleases Him most.

Dear friends, as I look back over 2001, I am so grateful for you, your unbelievable generosity in helping us launch out into a sometimes scary and yet always exhilarating new ministry. I am so full of thanks and love for each one of you. Each of you are so dear to us! You have encouraged us to press on and reach high! God bless us all as we enter a year of challenge, full of wonder and expectancy that God WILL bring His people to the ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF FAVOR.

Getting the Word In, by Anna Marie

Last week, I was thinking about the new year, about goals, desires, all the usual things I mull over at the start of the new year, and I was telling the Lord that I really want this to be the year that I choose to believe His word. Totally. 100%. He says to us "put me in to the test", and I really want to do just that. God's Word is so powerful, and let's face it, if there is anything that we Episcopalians and so many other denominational people admit, it is that we do not know the Word of God. This is why people don't know how to believe God, or what to believe about situations they face, and will believe most anything our culture is putting out right now. The Scripture says in Psalms 119:92,

"If your law (WORD) had not been my delight, I should have perished…."

The Word is our Shield and our protection. As Christians in this world, we are UTTERLY HELPLESS WITHOUT IT.

Last year God set me free from roots of rejection. He transformed my life! This year I want to continue to walk in that new found freedom and learn how to stay free. It is our nature to want easy answers, quick fixes; however, there are no short cuts in the kingdom. Becoming a disciple takes commitment. The most powerful thing we have to commit to is His Word! Joshua did! He meditated day and night on the Word and God gave him the promised land in 6 ½ years. He was a strong warrior with great prosperity in God's purposes at age 81. Why? The Word!

One of the consequences of Original Sin is feeling isolated or rejected. WE feel weak and afraid. "No one really likes me. I feel so alone, etc." The big "I" in sIn. Our focus shifts from our relationship with God to ourselves, and our fallen nature, "the flesh" tries to resurrect itself. That's why Paul said, "I die daily" (1 Cor 15:31). How do we die daily? How do we stay free from these thoughts that assail us? WE take every thought captive to the knowledge (obedience) of Christ. (2 Cor 10:5) WE choose to believe God's Word! We renew our minds daily in the Scriptures. Sometimes, several times a day! A metamorphosis takes place as we renew our minds - we are transformed into the image of Christ! Can anything be more exciting, more wonderful than that?

Beth Moore recommends "Truth cards." I have been using them for sometime now and I see the Word changing my heart. You make them yourself. These are 3x5 spiral index cards that you purchase in any office supply. They are a wonderful way to keep our minds renewed. Whatever your are dealing with, there is a solution in Scripture. Find out what God says about it. Write down one or two verses on each card, with chapter and verse. Carry this with you everywhere you go. When you are stopped at t traffic light, instead of fuming about how long the traffic light is, or when your' waiting forever in a grocery store checkout line, having a coffee break at work, waiting for your spouse to get ready ( and you are already late!) etc. - you get my drift - pull out the cards and pray the Word. Thank God for working that truth into your life. There will come the day when we realize that Truth has set us completely free, and we reflect it to everyone we meet! Hallelujah!

Thanksgiving 2001

Swimming in God's River of Healing!

by Fr. Jack and Anna Marie

Thanks be to God for His wonderful healing ministry. Where would we be without the incomparable love and mercy of our dear Jesus who was and IS so caught up in compassion and pity for the hurting and the afflicted. Ezekiel foresaw the ministry of Jesus as a river flowing eastward having its source from the temple of God. It becomes a DEEP river with banks lined with trees with healing in their leaves. It is God's River of Healing. There are times in the gospel accounts of this amazing Jesus that indicate a DEEP RIVER of HEALING came into certain places or towns.

In Luke 4:17-19 it says:

"He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. An all in the crowd were trying to touch him for power came out from him and healed ALL of them." (Emphasis mine)

In this reading Jesus healed ALL the sick and troubled. The power was so manifest, so powerful, that not one person walked away disappointed. I believe the GLORY of God must have been obvious all over this meeting. Jesus did not always heal each and every person in His meeting with the crowds of desperate people, but here He did. This is a real picture of what it means to SWIM in God's River of Healing.

In 1980, the Lord showed us something very special. My friend John Mark Searcy and our wives decided to hold a healing service at our Methodist Church. Inez, who had been healed of debilitating allergies at the communion altar, came in to testify of her touch from God. (After God touched her, she ate a whole pan of cornbread which used to send her to the hospital if eaten.) She did speak, but had a decided burden for her nephew who had been shot and was refusing food in the hospital. She feared for his life. We sat her down on a stool in the front of the sanctuary and began to pray for her nephew. All of a sudden my hands began to burn red hot (not just warmly), and I looked up to see what was happening! I literally could not see John Mark for the golden light that flooded the sanctuary area. I said, "Do you see what I see?" Each of us saw the same thing; the Shekinah Glory of God was there. I remember saying, "Ask what you will, but be careful what you ask." I mean to tell you, this was a very holy moment.

In our circle of prayer the man standing next to me came in with kidney stones that night and he was in sever pain. He asked to be healed and was instantly cured. His wife, who could not reach her son who had the flu, asked that he be healed. Later she called and his broken phone worked (she had tried all afternoon to call him and could not get through) and she found out that about the time we prayed he sat up in the bed and got up to watch TV and fix something to eat. Each thing we asked for (and one we did not even ask for - fixing the broken phone) was immediately answered, each situation total resolved. Praise God! Often, when I think of what happened that night, I know it was an unmistakable FORETASTE of what it means to SWIM in the River of God.

As God turns up the anointing in meetings for healing that Glory will be loosed on us.

Last issue the statement was made that THERE IS COMING SOON, AND EXPERIENCE THE BIBLE CALLS SWIMMING IN A RIVER THAT COMES FROM THE THRONE OF God. In our meetings over the past several months the Presence of God has been so strong!

• In Beaumont, a man with Parkinson's disease was healed. He no longer walks with his cane, and the tremors are gone!

• In Pueblo, Colorado a precious young girl who had gone deaf in one ear and was losing her hearing rapidly in the other ear, woke up after prayer on Friday night to find that Jesus had healed her hearing!

God is so Mighty, so Awesome! The God who manifested His Glory, whom John said we beheld Him, we touched Him, this same Jesus is in our midst. He has us waist deep right now in His Healing River. No more shallow waters. The waist is the place of reproduction and of giving birth. God is bringing people to Christ in a very real way, some for the first time, some for the second or third or fourth time with very real breakthrough experiences out of bondage and into the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of Light! Let us give thanks with all our hearts! Some are saying this is going to be a dark holiday season, but THANKSGIVING will plunge us into the River of God's healing and open the windows of heaven for blessings that cannot be contained!

The Spiritual Power of Thanksgiving

by Jack and Anna Marie Sheffield

My husband Jack says that every time he is filled with the spirit, which is often, he feels a great release of a spiritual force called Thanksgiving. It wells up as a spring within and on occasion becomes a veritable River of Blessing from within. Jesus said, "Out of your belly shall flow Rivers of Living Water." One of the major streams of this River is Thanksgiving.

The Scripture is clear that the spiritual force of thanksgiving provided a powerful breakthrough experience for the people of God who were expressing this wonderful gift of the Spirit of God. In a mighty battle in 2 Chronicles 20 the enemies of Jephoshaphat (Ammonites, Moabites, and Meunites) came against God's people, including wives and children. At this time the Spirit of God came upon Jahaziel, a youth, who said,

"…this battle is not for you to fight; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the Lord on your behalf." (vs 17)

They appointed SINGERS who went to the front lines of imminent war and were ONLY to use these obviously powerful words, singing them as weapons:

"Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for His steadfast love endures forever."

As they began to Thank God THE lord set an ambush against the Ammonites, Moab, and Mount Seir so that they began to attack each other. Just thanking God sent total confusion into the camp of the enemies of God's people. Are you aware of the spiritual force the word Thanks is? It reverberates all through the kingdom of darkness as thunder bringing the enemy powers to naught. It is so powerful, the lack of thanks to God keep people in hell (Rom 1:21).

Today in America we are faced with a terrorist enemy that has determined to destroy us, our families, our children. We thank God for our troops who are in danger's way for us, and are defending our way of life. But also, thank God for the weapons of our WARFARE that are MIGHTY to the tearing down of Strongholds right here on the home front. Thanksgiving is a wonderful SPIRITUAL WEAPON that when wielded with High Praise to our Lord destroys enemy encampments in our souls. Fear is ambushed, and Anxiety is set to confusion; Unbelief and Uncertainty attack themselves. These strongholds come tumbling down, and God's people are brought to FREEDOM again! This means ENDURING FREEDOM right here for right now. This also is the best way to do our part at home in this war with terror.

Lord give us a Thankful Heart as a means of healing, and as a powerful grace for spiritual breakthrough. Thanksgiving is the GATE to God's PRESENCE and it is in that PRESENCE that we are healed. Release us from our self absorption and put us over into YOUR PRESENCE. Let Thanksgiving well up and become a River of Blessing and of Praises to your Holy Name. You have death with us so wondrously, how could we refrain from the greatest chorus of Thanks. I believe God thirsts to hear our Gratitude, not because He needs it, but because it so blesses Him to see His child released from spiritual bondage and from a forgetful presumptuous distance that is blind to His steadfast and enduring love.

Sept/Oct 2001

What is Deep River?

by Fr. Jack

Dear Friends, we now have a viable healing ministry. It is up and running and it is called Deep River Ministries. It seems so timely with the recent tragedy in our nation. We are so pleased to be about the business that we believe God has been calling us to for years. The transition to this ministry has been difficult and trying. However, Anna Marie and I have the sense that we have found our PURPOSE. The joy of the Lord has become our strength, there is clarity of thought and motive, and the work is without the kind of striving and push that so often accompanies a person when they are a round peg in a square hole. It seems that God has opened doors for our going out into many places to do what He has called us to do. We pray that the coming months and, hopefully, years ahead will yield MUCH FRUIT for our lord as He prepares a HARVEST to receive the marvelous works of healing and deliverance our God desires to pour out on our generation.

There is coming into our lives a depth of relationship with the Lord that is like diving into water over our heads. There is coming soon, an experience of God's presence that is referred to in the scripture as swimming in a river that comes from the throne of God. It is for the healing of the nation and beyond.

Welcome, my friends, to Deep River Ministries.

"On both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of tress...and their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing."
Ezekiel 47:12

Ezekiel 47:0 describes a River flowing out to the east from the temple of God. It becomes a DEEP RIVER with banks lined with trees that sweeten the existing bitter waters of life, and everywhere this River goes it brings life so that all living creatures flourish in its waters. This River is also described in Revelations 22:1-2 as "the river of water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb." This is a perfect image of the healing ministry Jesus has issuing forth from God's throne into all nations. The trees by the River have leaves which are for the healing of the nations. IT is clear that the Church of Jesus is called to take healing to all the peoples of the earth. This River is referred to by Jesus Christ as a River that shall flow out of the "belly" of the believer. (John 7:38) The Holy Spirit so fills us that we cannot help but share this life-giving water with a dry and thirsty people. How desperate we are for healing in our time of disaster in America. So many are in pain, so many feel loss and grief. So many are afraid. We have not a high priest who is untouched by pain.

We have now ministered in at least six healing missions across the country. One thing we have discovered is that the people of God are also desperate for healing. And, if this is the condition of the CHURCH, what in the world is the condition of those outside the church? PEOPLE NEED HEALING!

It is so exciting that this RIVER gets deeper and deeper. Ezekiel saw a man wade out into the water ankle deep, then knee deep, waist deep, and finally the man was swimming. We began the healing ministry, wet behind the ears, twenty-three years ago. We were only ankle deep when we started. Healings, though remarkable, were very sporadic. The frequency of healing events has increased until now, where I sense we are is waist deep. God is bearing significant fruit at this time. People are coming to Christ and are being healed. However, there is coming a day in the near future where we will swim in this river and it will be like being in over our heads as God pours out His Spirit and His gifts.

In the next issue I will write about a time God showed us what "being in over our heads" will be like. It is a glorious time in His Presence. Healing and other gifts break out spontaneously everywhere in the meeting. Let us go there, with God, as He hears the cries of all the desperate people now. This is the time for our nation to cry out for our Father's mercy, and as God sees our wound, so must we, and so must we be willing to go with Him to be with them in His Healing Light.
Contact Fr. Jack: frjack@deepriverministries.com

Laying the Ax to the Roots

by Anna Marie

Do you know that God speaks to us in dreams? It is so important to listen to your dreams. Write them down and share them with fellow believers. Ask God to give you the interpretation. He will. Don't let the importance of them be minimized.

I had a dream recently that is significant to the healing ministry. I was clearing away cedar from around a live oak tree in our yard. I cleared out cedar after cedar. It was as if they were choking the very life out of this tree. I then could see the twisted and gnarled trunk of this beautiful form. Like a column crafted by unseen hands, the base of this tree had struggled and twisted to get to the light above, and to escape the grip of the cedar trees. Also hiding its beauty was a huge vine that grew up into all the foliage of the tree. This other intruder with all its tentacles hid all the light that would gladly shine through the branches of the tree. Like Tarzan or Jane, I swung on the vine, tugging and pulling to no avail. It was then that a golden sword appeared on the ground. With a mighty blow I laid the ax to the root of this massive vine. I was then able to pull it down and light began to stream through the splendid radiance.

The light revealed a two story house with green mold and mildew all over the side form years of being in the darkness. My husband joined me (after all the work was finished). Timing is everything. Ha. The owner of the house came out and thanked us for shedding the light on his house. He had not known how bad his house looked.

I woke up and asked God what all this meant? And, of course, He told me. God's Word says we shall be called "Oaks of Righteousness-a Planting of the Lord." That oak was me. The cedar were the things I allow to crowd in my life that don't belong. These are works of the flesh, sin, and the enemy's ploys. I had been weeding them out through a bible study on "getting free" I finally got to the place where I could see the work of God in myself, but it was being choked out by a deep inner root of rejection I had received in my childhood. The sword was the Word of God to cut the root away. When I did that , the Light of Jesus came flooding into my soul to heal and deliver me. Joy and a new energy accompanied me in renewal.

Praise be to God whose might power at work in us is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can ask or think. I am freer today than I have ever been. We now apply the teaching of laying the ax to the root in our Mission of Healing, and are seeing remarkable results as one after another is set free from inner bondage. Physical healing follows as well in some of the cases we pray for. More on this later.
Contact Anna Marie: annamarie@deepriverministries.com

Partner with Deep River Ministries

Would you like to be a prayer partner with Deep River Ministries?

Prayer is what gets the job done. DRM needs your prayers and intercessions for a truly effective outreach with the healing Power of God. If you would join us in a prayer commitment for intercession please call Anna Marie at 210-320-5855 or send us e-mail with your intentions.
annamarie@deepriverministries.com

Copyright © 2001-2005 Deep River Ministries Site modified: January 22, 2006
Website created and administered by Karen Belinne, KSB and Sons, Selma, Texas