Living in Freedom: Spiritual Warfare and Healing Prayer

By Chris and Mishka Cabana, St. Andrew’s Church, Little Rock, Arkansas

Early in 2025, All Saints Dallas Church hosted CHI (Christian Healing Institute) to provide instruction to invited guests including those in our church, St. Andrew’s in Little Rock. Five of us attended. The conference on “Living in Freedom” was powerful and pertinent for our day. There were exercises after each discussion to practice everything we were taking in. The program started on Friday afternoon and lasted throughout the day on Saturday.

The space was well suited for this type of event. The room overlooked a large parking lot in a less-touristy part of downtown Dallas. There were several homeless people going to and fro and many activities taking place outside of the church to serve them in some capacity. It was a visual reminder for me that not everything is right in the world. Spiritual warfare is an unseen battle, but no less real than the countless people I witnessed outside the windows of the church.

It was my first introduction to CHI, and we were very impressed with their vast knowledge, resources and experience in the topics that they instructed us on. The first afternoon focused on laying a foundation, helping us understand the battle that we are facing and showing through Scripture the various ways that spiritual battle has been raging since the very beginning of time. They briefly delved into the period prior to the incarnation of Christ before launching into why Christ had to come and what he truly accomplished on the cross two millennia ago. We finished up Friday afternoon learning about the role of the Holy Spirit, praying for a fresh infilling of his presence and discovering why that is so important.

Saturday from 9-5 was the meat and potatoes, so to speak. The practical nature of this retreat cannot be overstated. Each topic that we discussed was very personal. The focus was not some arbitrary person out there who needs help but the multiple and various ways that each of us needs to receive healing and forgiveness from Jesus. Some of the sessions included their own practice time: “Freedom Through Spiritual Cleansing and Deliverance,” “Freedom Through Restoring our True Identity” and “Forgiveness as Spiritual Warfare.”

Each exercise lasted roughly 30 minutes. We were situated in small groups around tables, which proved to be a perfect setting for these exercises. It’s always a joy to be with a group of like-minded people who are hungry to learn about a certain topic.

CHI finished the conference by offering their services through their multiple resources. They also offered to go to other churches and conduct presentations very similar to what we experienced over the weekend in Dallas. Every person who attended from our church in Little Rock was blessed, encouraged and more equipped to serve our congregation in healing and deliverance ministry.

Mishka and Chris Cabana serve together on the prayer team at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church of Little Rock, and Chris also serves on the missions team. Mishka is a physical therapist of over 30 years, and Chris is a retired Air Force officer specializing in healthcare administration. Mishka is originally from West Monroe, Louisiana, and Chris hails from Miami, Florida. They been married eight years and have been going to St. Andrews for almost that long. Mishka and Chris have three children from previous marriages: one son, Samuel, and two daughters, Sophia and Madeline. They have been blessed in countless ways and are eternally grateful to the Lord Jesus for saving them, redeeming them and bringing them together.