I believe that God has given me the spiritual gifts of prayer and intercession, as well as the discernment of spirits. God revealed the gift of prayer to me one day when I was with a friend who prayed for the Holy Spirit to be with me. As I walked home, the Holy Spirit came upon me powerfully. I felt a strong power in my chest, and saw the words “PRAY” written in the air. Since that day, I pray and intercede for both my friends and people I meet during times of ministry, and have seen God answer my prayers in an amazing way. 

I never asked or expected God to give me the spiritual gift of discernment. For me, it usually comes in the form of visions, but I can also deeply feel and see the spiritual world around me, including evil spirits and demons. God has surprised me by using this gift powerfully to bring physical and spiritual healing to people.

During times of ministry and praying for people to be healed, I have received visions from God. It happened one time when I was praying for a friend’s wife who was sick. Another time, a friend and I were praying for a homeless man who had a blood infection—I had a vision of Jesus’ hands being placed over ours as we prayed for his healing.

I have even seen Jesus’ hands placed over me when I was being prayed over for healing. I was blessed one day by my friend Mike, who felt assured that God wanted to restore what the enemy had stolen from me during my painful life before I was saved by Jesus. I had self-harming scars on my arm. We sat down at Starbucks and prayed for healing over the scars on my wrist. Three scars shrunk, turning from red to white, and all but disappeared right in front of our eyes! Then, at home, I prayed the same prayer by myself and saw the scars healed again. I have since had Jesus heal almost all the scars fully. I have also been mostly healed from self-harm and suicidal thoughts that I’ve had for most of my life. Praise Jesus!

One verse that is meaningful to me is Psalm 77:1—“I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me.” I know that God is with me and he was always with me, even when I didn’t know it. The gifts I have do not make me a “better” Christian,” but are part of life with God, which is so much better than life without God.