Episode 5 is an interview with Nancy Ann Johnson about her brand new book called Ask For Your Miracle.  Meet the author in a heart to heart talk as she shares the testimony of how Jesus healed her. Let this comeback story restore your hope in the promises of a miraculous God. You can find more from her at engagingjesus.com

Cindy Spencer 00:00

Welcome to Episode Five. Ask for your miracle. This is Pastor Cindy Spencer, here to talk about good news. Just like the title says, In a world that likes to talk about negative news, I want to shout from the rooftops good news. I will be sharing a variety of topics in this podcast. But as the song says, Remember the best news, it's all about Jesus.

Welcome to today's episode, we are going to interview Nancy and Johnson. She wrote a book called Ask For Your Miracle. I've known Nancy for eight years now. And I've actually basically been here alongside while she's been going through this journey that she wrote about in her book. And so today, we get to hear about different facets of her book and different things that we think that would just totally bless your day today.

So welcome, Nancy.

Nancy Johnson 01:05

Hi, Cindy. And so glad to be here. And I'm just so thankful to have you for a friend and just to be alive. So I'm, I'm so glad I met Jesus, and he's lined all this up for us.

Cindy Spencer 01:16

Yes, literally, she's thankful to be alive, it's you should get her book. I mean, it's amazing her story. So we're here today to hear some little juicy bits about your book. And you're going to share some of the things that you wrote about. And one of the things I'd love for you to share is explaining the title that says, Ask For Your Miracle. And why you decided to write this book.

Nancy Johnson 01:42

Yeah, um, I'm just so excited to share my testimony with people, you know, I've, I almost died and was in a position of a lot of weakness. And God was able to bring me out of that and restore me completely, not just me, but my marriage and our finances. So I want to share that with people. Because it's good to know that Jesus is doing miracles today. And that there are steps that you can take to get to that kind of victory. And so I kind of laid out the steps and it's healing spirit, soul and body, learning to pray with faith, you know, learning that we can actually believe God for a miracle, and they actually has promises that we can step into. And so knowing him is, is an amazing thing, and nothing is impossible for him. And so my main point is to ask, you know, seek knock and never give up like I had to just hang on and never give up. I wanted that promise of healing at one my miracle. And I wanted you people also to know that you can do it. I just want to encourage you to fight for your miracle and fight for your healing. And I'm using the pain in the situation that I was in, to be my life purpose now and to help others, to help others and to give hope to others, to encourage, and encourage others that they can do it. And so there are lots of neat things in this book about those keys. I talked about having an extraordinary marriage, I talked about the Holy Spirit, I talked about resting in the love of the Father, and just different things on faith and prayer. So I just wanted everybody just to dive into those things, because God's amazing, and he's the best friend that you'll ever have.

Cindy Spencer 03:19

Amen! I agree with all that. That's amazing. And I know that at the back of the book, I was really excited because you, you added some scriptures that are for people that maybe don't know where to start. Can you share a little bit about that?

Nancy Johnson 03:37

Yes. So the Word of God is really important. And when you're contending for one of those promises that God has given you, you literally need to go through the Bible and find the promises that you need. So what I did, since I needed healing, I went through and studied the healing scriptures. And I put some of those in the back of the book that I studied on who I am in Christ, my identity. And I put some of those in the back of the book. And I also found healing faith scriptures that I needed to learn about faith and how faith works and how to believe for miracles. And so when we, when we go over the scriptures that we need, we're actually meditating on them, we're learning them are memorizing them, and we're speaking them out loud because God created in the book of Genesis, it says, God created the world, by speaking or speaking it into being and so we learn to speak out his word, His Word will not return to Him void. And then we're also sowing and reaping a harvest. So part of my healing was learning really fast what the promises of God were because I was in a crisis situation. And so I wanted to put those in there. And then in each chapter, I also put steps and I put a prayer. And so for those days, when you may not have time to read a whole chapter, whatever, you can just go right to the prayer, pray out the prayers, you can go right to the back, pray out your scriptures. And just have that as an amazing resource.

Cindy Spencer 05:01

Yeah, I mean, it's like the whole book is a resource because it covers so many different things. And, and you provided things in there. You know, so for the prayers. And one of my favorite quotes, I'm going to quote this out of your book, you wrote that if you want this is God talking to you. And you said, he said to you, if you want more authority, Nancy, then get right next to my heart. And you went, Whoo, whoo, that's exactly where I need to be.

Can you share about that?

Nancy Johnson 05:36

Yeah, I love that. 

I have a heart to worship God. And I found that that's the best place to be like when you are, when you are so in love with someone, you just get lost in that love. And you forget all about yourself, which is exactly what I needed to do is to forget about all those problems, all those circumstances. And when you do that, when you forget about yourself that much, and you're so focused on the other Your Beloved, you actually can get caught up in the spirit, which happens to me a lot in worship happens to a lot of people in worship, and you end up being in the heavenly's, right before the throne. It says it says the veil is torn, we have free access to the throne of God. And we can be caught up in the Spirit. It says in the book of Revelation, "come up here". And so that's where he wants us to be. And so he's telling me, get right next to me, that's where the place of authority is. And so I always wanted to be in worship, like, that's what I wanted to do all day long. It's the most joyous, most wonderful thing because when you're in that place, in the praises He enthrones you, which means the gates of your heart are wider. 

You're wide open to love, and He is on the throne. And He battles for you. And so in that place, it's just gloriously fun, wonderful, you know, if you can smell the fragrances of God. It's all available to you right there. And that's the place where you're at the power of the center of the universe. And that's what I was telling me if you want more authority, be here, abide in my love. It says in John 15, it says to abide in the vine. And when we abide in that place with Him and we know His word, then whatever we desire, He will do it.

Cindy Spencer 07:16

Now I know you and so I know that this works for you at church. But I also know that you're a huge worshiper at home. Can you kind of share with people how they can do this at home?

Nancy Johnson 07:29

Yeah, so what I do is, I found out that the enemy doesn't like it when we worship. So it's one of my favorite things to do. And so I turn on my radio or my iPad, and I run worship music 24/7, so I leave it on all night. And it's going in my home, and it actually creates an atmosphere. Like the throne room, in our homes. And I've taught a lot of people this through the years, actually hundreds I mean, almost everybody I tell is to just to keep your music on because it's doing warfare for you. It's cleansing the atmosphere, it's cleansing your home, and it's keeping the enemy away and strengthens you. Yeah, it's powerful.

Yeah. And it's that spiritual atmosphere where whatever you sow it's like pregnant with possibilities. You're sowing your word into that atmosphere. It's just like, wow, stuff just starts manifesting fast.

 

Cindy Spencer 08:27

That's amazing. And I know, there's another chapter that you shared. And this is another quote that I really liked. And you said, I would never want to do anything without my glorious friend, the Holy Spirit. Can you tell us about him and your relationship with him?

Nancy Johnson 08:48

Yeah, I'm just so excited about the Holy Spirit. He is like pure joy. And it says in Acts it actually says that Jesus, when He ascended, that he was telling his disciples, I'm not going to leave you orphans. I'm going to send you the promise of the Father. And then He told them to wait in the upper room until the power comes. And what was that power? Well, it was the Holy Spirit. And so they prayed and prayed and prayed. And, you know, a mighty rushing wind came, and then tongues of fire broke out in the room and landed on everyones head. And they broke out in other languages. I mean, it was just amazing. And then right after that, they went out and 3,000 people got saved. So that's when the power came in.

And they were telling me in the healing rooms, Nancy, you've accepted Jesus into your heart, you know, the promises of God. But now you also need the Holy Spirit, because he's where the power comes in, for all of these miracles, that you're asking for and the things that you need to break through on. So I was after the Holy Spirit, like, like, I just wanted him and I desired him so much. And I had asked them to pray for me. And I believe that I got baptized in the Holy Spirit, which is what Jesus came to do. He came to baptize in, in the power and the fire of the Holy Spirit I and so I felt like I got that, but I didn't get the what they were talking about the prayer language.

And so I kept going after and I kept asking, and finally, I read a book, or Joyce Meyer wrote, called, Knowing God Intimately. And then just me and the book, I got, I got it, this prayer said, and I got what she said. And it actually came out of my mouth. And I was so excited. I ran through the house, and I went to bed that night, and I woke up in the morning, and now my feet had been swollen up. As part of what was wrong with me, I had really bad circulation. So my feet were swollen up really huge. And I went out on the couch that that morning to do my exercises because they told me, you've got to get your circulation going, or we might have to remove your I had abscesses, and they might have to remove my foot. So I was really like, when I'm doing my exercise, I look up at my feet, they're all down normal size, all the water, drain out of them everything and I jumped off the couch, my heart was pounding and I'm like, What in the world, nobody prayed for me.

It wasn't because I knew how to receive from people. I was going in, getting prayer and they were praying for me. But I had never gotten anything on my own and, and all I got was my prayer language. So I was so thrilled with the Holy Spirit. And like I was so wowed, like, I'm going after the Holy Spirit, I'm going to learn how to pray my prayer language. Because what happened was, the prayer language is the perfect will of God. In Corinthians, that's the perfect will of God.

And they were praying for me in English, but I wasn't getting that breakthrough. So once I learned how to pray that language, things started really breaking off of me very quickly, I started to get my foods back my blankets and clothes, you know, that I couldn't do before shoes, things like that a lot more quickly.

Holy Spirit is like my best friend. Like, He talks to me, he plays with me, I just have so much fun, I just hear him, He chases me. I mean, just,  He is pure joy. And He's like, my best friend

Cindy Spencer 12:10

And He is! And Jesus told us in like John chapter 14 through 16, that the father was promising to send him to us. You know, and he was very excited about that. And he was going to be our comforter, because he knew, like literally for those disciples that they were going to be dealing with him on the cross and dying and just think, you know, everything was over. And you know, when He rose from the dead, and they saw that He was alive. And they, even at that moment, when they saw that He was alive, He still told them to go and wait for the Holy Spirit before you go do any ministry. Because He knew that we would need the Holy Spirit's wisdom, His comfort, His strength, His direction. And you know, you read about that all through the New Testament, you know, where He gave them direction where to go, where not to go,

Nancy Johnson 13:06

and help them with strength and edify them in the Holy Spirit. Well, Jesus showed us how to live as a God-man, by emptying Himself out when He got baptized in the Jordan River. And the Holy Spirit came down and rested upon him. And then the Holy Spirit drove Him out into the desert for 40 days, when He came back, He walked into the synagogue and took out the book of Isaiah, and says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me and set the captives free. And so He showed us how to do it as sons and daughters. We need to empty ourselves out and have the Holy Spirit. And so that's how we are supposed to do the Great Commission, how we're supposed to do the greater works. It's all because of the Holy Spirit and how to walk out that amazing life of signs and wonders with Him.

Cindy Spencer 13:55

And you know, I've been watching you for eight years, and you have a very close relationship with the Holy Spirit. And one of the things you also talked about, which is pertinent to the Holy Spirit being with us is believers who are also receivers. Can you share more about that?

Nancy Johnson 14:16

Yeah, so we're saved by grace through faith. And so there's a two-part thing going on here. God has the grace for us have everything we need. It's a free gift. But then we also have to use our faith. So it's two things going on. And the believer, that's a receiver, that's the one that knows they're coming for prayer, they're asking God, and they can just relax and let him pour it on. They've learned that God actually God gives a spirit without measure. So if you can just lay down and soak, you know, actually not even asking anything, but just learn how to soak and rest in the fact that he's a giver, God is a restorer of all good, then you can just be the receiver, you can just receive every promise, you can just sit down and relax, he actually calls us to rest, rest in all of what he's done for us, enter my rest, which is not striving. We're not striving after our healing, we're actually going to rest in the fact that he's given us the promise, we know what's going to happen, it might not happen immediately. It didn't happen immediately for me, even though it's all finished.

And it's all done, according to First Peter 2:24. Yeah, God has, you know, taken all that upon Him, we were actually dead to sin and live unto God now, and by his stripes, we were healed. So it's a done deal. So we rest in the fact that it's done. But we continue to ask, we continue to knock we continue to seek, but that was striving. And so that's the believer, that's a receiver and a lot of people have their receivers turned off. Because being plugged into, like a TV being plugged into this socket, it's always there, or the radio, the radio waves are always going, the TV's always broadcasting, but we're not plugged in. And so we have to get plugged in, we have to learn to pray, we have to learn to worship, we learn to read the word we learn to meditate. And that's all. All of those and the presence and seek the presence of God. Because He says, seek my face, you know, seek My face and go after His presence.

And so we want his presence around us always. So that's about being, you're tuned in to Him at all times, listening, aware, you know, submitting surrendering, repentance is huge, you know, those are all tool belts, those are all weapons on your tool belt that you can use as ways to learn to tap in and engage the Lord.

Cindy Spencer 16:42

And understanding that we have all that God's given us, the right to be healed. And every single one of us is worthy for that healing because that's all that Jesus did on the cross. And all we have to do is receive that. And like you said, our receivers aren't broken. I went for years with my receiver not plugged in. And I didn't know that God really wanted me healed and, and that I thought I had to do it in my own strength and wasn't resting in Him.

And you know, Romans 8:11 tells us that the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is indwelling in us. Yeah. So we're one third, you know, dwelling with God, and then our body and our soul. And so it's just, he's so powerful. Yeah. But we have to know that. 

Nancy Johnson 17:35

Yeah, and that's all about renewing the mind. And why we keep going over the promises, you know, and renewing our mind because the enemy keeps trying to take us out with these little deceptions here and there. But if we stay in the Word of God, we stay in those promises, then our mind, just like Romans 12, one and two says, We are transformed. We're not conformed to this world but transformed by the renewal of our minds. And so that's where we want to walk into that change, that transformation that, like God. I don't want to stay the same anymore, you know, help me change.

So that's where we get in the word was why we study it, why we keep going after him. And He is the word of God. So if we're after His presence, we're after Him and worship were after Him in the word, were after Him in prayer, that he is the word and so we will be transformed.

Cindy Spencer 18:25

So I would encourage anybody that's listening to this, if you don't know where to start, like, how do I renew my mind? Where do I start? She's got in the back of her book, those scriptures we talked about earlier. And they talk about faith in and your identity in Christ truth, that of what God did for you. And what you do have and his promises, and there's nothing like getting enlightened to those truths. Just, it gives you that understanding that you need that makes your receiver work, that Ah-Ha moment, yeah.

Nancy Johnson 19:11

My gosh, I have all this already. All I have to do is get my mind to come into agreement with my spirit. Yeah. And then my body just will follow along.

Cindy Spencer 19:22

Yeah. Because faith is just coming into agreement with the truth of God's word, right? His Word is full of the truth. But we have to come into agreement with that. That's faith. Yeah. That's why He said, it's just a mustard seed of faith. You're just coming with your agreement with Him.

Nancy Johnson 19:43

And he's the, He's the God of breakthrough. So yeah, all we need is that breakthrough mindset, like, He's in you with that breakthrough mindset all the time, like He can do far above all you could possibly imagine or think. So He's just taking us little by little into that kind of mindset. That is the breakthrough, like, Oh, my gosh, I can dream big. Yes, I can because of Him and who's in me, He loves the higher thoughts.

Cindy Spencer 20:08

And He really does want me well. Right. And He wants me to have a prosperous life and just be happy and joyful. Because He's provided everything for us. Now we just need to come into agreement. Right? And ask Him and say, Poppa, I want everything you have for me. Yeah. And that's what you did. And you stayed asking, and you stayed asking!

Nancy Johnson 20:29

Yeah, I literally had to hang on like a pit bull. Because the tracks and the strongholds I had for so long, that sickness was my identity, because I was sick for over 14 years in that situation. You know, I had to pull out of that. And so I had to rewrite the whole, the whole of my thoughts and my systems, everything had to change. So it wasn't an overnight miracle for me, but I, I really stayed with it. Lord kept telling me, you can't be passive.

You can't let the enemy run over you and you draw a line in the sand and you fight back. Yeah. And not with my own strength, but by the Spirit says the Lord, It's by the Spirit that I am doing it with.

Cindy Spencer 21:13 

Yeah. Because we can't do it alone. Even Jesus couldn't do it alone. Yeah, He said He had to do everything with the Father. And so that's why we need the Holy Spirit to help us with everything. Yeah.

And so the other thing I wanted to find out, and have you share with people is, you know, you, you took this journey with this book writing, but what would be different if you started out as a teenager and had done things different? Because you mentioned earlier that, you know, you started a little bit later in life. So do you wish that you had known some of these things earlier? What would you tell a youth that's listening right now about what they could do different, to be more empowered at an earlier beginning and start off different?

Nancy Johnson 22:07

Yeah, for all those youth that are out listening right now and want to become a writer, or, you know, maybe you have another dream in your heart. My heart is that you would get to know Jesus, like, if I had known Him and excepted Him into my heart when I was a lot younger, then I would have been so blessed my life because God wants to pour blessing after blessing after blessing on his children. And, you know, now that I'm at this, this elder age, I could have had all of those blessings and accumulated all of those blessings. And so I would really suggest that all of you young people, you really go after Jesus and give him your heart, and just let Him pour out over your life, all these blessings.

But as far as learning to write when I was younger, I would have gone after journaling, because I've learned to journal with God. And it's an incredible experience. And it helps you learn to write.  One of the ways that I learned it is just to get a notepad and ask, what do you want to do is, first of all, you want to write a letter to Jesus, like, tell Him you love Him, pour out your heart, on the paper, for Him, you know, all of everything I want to say. And then actually, there's a prayer that you can pray that would that you say, Lord, I gave you my pen. And it's the pen of a ready writer, which is din the Psalms, Book of Psalms. And that's a scriptural prayer, and then have Him write a love letter back to you. And you'll find out that what He writes, is incredibly loving. It's incredibly kind, it's full of wisdom, it's full of good fruit. And He'll always be encouraging you. So you learn to be able to tell the difference between your voice and His voice and the enemy's voice because the enemy, he wants to kill, steal, and destroy. So if there's anything that's negative at all, or that's pressuring you are discouraging you that's the enemy's voice coming in there. So when you learn to journal with the Lord, and you give Him the pen of a ready writer, He can tell you all kinds of wisdom that you need for the day. He can tell you how much He loves you, He can tell you what you need to know about, you know, if you want to learn how to really get into His word, you know, what revelations that you need, you know, we should go through scriptures. You know, tell me about this Lord, and start to dialogue with Him. Write back and forth. The Lord said and then write. And then ask Him another question. And the Lord said, and it gets to be a really fun way to learn about your life and your destiny and what you're supposed to be going after.

Cindy Spencer 24:38

And then you always have it there to look back over. Maybe you're having a rainy day, and you want to look back over something positive. And you can go back and read it. And, you know, it talks all through the word, especially like in Psalm 139. And in the book of Malachai, where God Himself is writing books about us. Yeah. Back when we were born, before we were born. And even like, today, you and I are having this conversation. And we're talking all about Jesus and all about God. And they're up there recording this. Yeah, it talks about that in Malachai. I mean, it's just amazing. So they love to speak to us. 

Nancy Johnson 25:19

Yeah. And one thing is, sometimes you might not always hear a thought or a voice, but you might see in pictures. So there are different ways that you can hear his voice.

Cindy Spencer 25:27

You can draw.

Nancy Johnson 25:28

Yeah, you can draw, you can draw it out. One of the things that you want to do is just make sure it lines up with Scripture. So just check it after. If it doesn't line up with scripture just toss it out. And go with what you got that goes with Scripture. So it's fun. Yeah. Do you think in pictures? If you smell fragrances, there's so many ways he talks to us. That's amazing. They'll give you music, sometimes videos, movies that you might have seen, so there is a lot of ways that you can hear God's voice. Yes.

Cindy Spencer 25:59

Amen. And, you know, you mentioned how important salvation was not only for, for you with this whole health condition but also you wished you'd had sooner. So can you share a little bit more about that for anybody that's listening that may not have a relationship with Jesus right now? Can you share on that?

Nancy Johnson 26:24

Yeah, I just want to say that Jesus is always knocking at the door of our hearts wanting to have relationship, he loves us so much, you know, I've had visions of the Father just crying over His children, the lost children and, and so He's a Father that, you know, when the son comes back to Him, He's a Father that will run with the robe and the ring and fall on your neck and kiss you, He loves you so much. And Jesus would leave the 99 sheep to go after the one. Then all the angels in heaven are celebrating when one of God's children comes back to Him and gives them their heart again.

And so if there's anybody listening right now, you can just ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin. And, you know, he remembers it no more he doesn't remember it, whatever kind of mistakes you made. He accepts you right where you're at, you know, I made all kinds of mistakes. Right where I was at, and yeah, and took me into his heart and under his wing, and started to teach me and disciple me and, and so it's really, he's the best friend I've ever, ever, ever had, and the most amazing, miraculous God that can help us with everything.

And so if you're listening right now, and you want to give your heart to Jesus, just say this prayer with me. Just say beautiful Jesus, come into my heart. Be my Lord and Savior. I believe that you are the Son of God, forgive me of all my sins, walk with me through life. Be my Father and fill me with your loving Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.

And we just thank you, God, for the salvation. Yeah. And just suggest that you all get into a Bible-based church and start learning the Word of God and start being you know, discipled, and get into small groups and friends, so you can learn and you can grow and, and get this book. Yeah. Thank you so much, Cindy. Really appreciate it.

Cindy Spencer 28:27

Yeah, no problem. I mean, I'm so excited for you, Nancy. And just, this book brings so much hope, brings so much hope, no matter what your situation is, maybe, you know, she talks about marriage, maybe your situations, not health, but maybe it's a marriage or maybe it's your work, whatever the situation is these truths that she wrote in this book, help with every situation. So I just encourage you to get her book and I thank you for coming by and listening today and, and getting to meet Nancy and you'll see her heart all through the book. You know, it's just, it's very apparent all through the book, her heart and her love and passion for Jesus and, and we just had her heart for people. Both of us have a heart for people and that's why we're doing, whether it's a book or a podcast, we're doing this to share with other people and bring hope that there is good news out there. There's good news. And as Jesus said, He loves you. So have a great day. Be blessed. And subscribe to this podcast so you can hear more coming out more good news coming and have a great day. Take care. Bye.

Nancy Johnson

Bye.