He healed because he’s God, of course. That was my mindset for years, and it stopped me from healing.
Before you throw your coffee, yes, he IS God—yesterday, today and forever!
However, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). This made no sense to me. If Jesus healed because he’s God, how can I do what he did?
Then I noticed John 5:19. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself.” He repeated (v30): “By myself I can do nothing.”
Philippians
chapter 2 explains. Jesus took the form
of a servant [Greek, doulou, a
slave (Strongs)], and shared in our humanity in every way (Hebrews 2:17). A slave has no power or authority. Jesus
left them with his Father.
He waited for the Spirit
Jesus did no ministry until he was baptized with the Holy Spirit. After his temptations, he returned from the desert in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4:14), and preached his first sermon:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to… heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised…” (Luke 4:18-19 KJV). That’s why he healed. Because the Spirit was on him.
…God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and … he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him (Acts 10:38).
We have the same Spirit (check out Romans 8:11!) If Jesus healed
by the Spirit, we can too. Suddenly John 14:12 makes sense. All we need is the
Spirit, and we CAN do what he did.
If you’re not already filled with the Spirit, why not ask
the Father right now?
In Luke chapter 10, Jesus sends out the 70 disciples (72 in some translations) into the villages. These weren’t the apostles he sent out in chapter 9. They weren’t the big men of God—they were just ordinary disciples like you and me, hanging around Jesus.
He told them, “Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you’” (Luke 10:9). “Heal the sick” is a command, not a suggestion.
Who do we heal?
He also
said to heal “those who were there,” which includes a) every type of person,
and b) every type of sickness. Good people and bad people, headaches and
viruses.
In John chapter 5, Jesus heals a man who’d been an invalid for 38 years. Later he tells him (John 5:14), “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Jesus knew he was a sinner, but healed him anyway.
Healing is a partnership
Jesus didn’t say, “Pray for the sick.” He said to heal them! Problem. I can’t, and neither can you. So why did he tell us to do something he knows we cannot do? Because of Luke 1:37: “For nothing is impossible with God.”
It says, “WITH God.” We are not
alone! Jesus promised he is with us “always,
to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). We cannot heal anyone, but he
can and does. He wants us involved. We’ll see why when we check out the
authority he’s given us.
Something must happen
Look again at Luke 1:37. If “nothing” is impossible, then when we minister healing, in faith, in
the name of Jesus, something must happen. We may not see it, or feel it, for we live by faith and not by sight (2
Corinthians 5:7).
Are you with Jesus? Then trust him—when you step out, “NOTHING”
is completely impossible!
With the current shutdown, I feel prompted to post an online school of healing, as a blog and on our website. Why not get a School of Healing Manual (free by signing up here), or buy a copy ofHeal the Sick!
Jesus did it: Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them (Luke 4:38-39).
We praise God for the wonderful medical profession, but they shouldn’t have to carry the burden alone. We, the church, should be healing the sick including those with the virus. We can even do it isolated!
In Nepal recently, two of our team ministered with this lady at church. Her daughter-in-law was seven months pregnant but was at home with chronic pneumonia.
They commanded the mountains of sickness to move, and she was healed that same day. Praise Jesus!
Thousands healed
We’ve been
teaching divine healing for twenty years, and have seen countless thousands
healed of almost every kind of sickness, by following the example of Jesus and
applying a mustard seed of faith.
It’s not hard. As you will learn, it’s not intended to be the preserve of platform evangelists or ordained clergy. Every Christian believer is commanded to heal the sick. We’ve seen mothers healed by their own children and grandmothers healed by newly-believing grandchildren.
Hundreds have been healed in a single meeting simply by people laying on hands. Children with no experience have seen almost every sick person in a meeting healed.
We simply have to step out in faith. If we do what he told us to do, he will do what he promised to do. Follow the School of Healing category.
Is the BMW
in the driveway? The house larger than your neighbors’?
Is it
finally achieving your fitness goal—losing that weight, running that marathon,
climbing that mountain, being selected for that team?
by Joshua Earle, Unsplash
Prosperity?
Or is it, as
King Solomon of Israel believed, that the Lord has prospered the nation? The message
of the book of Judges in the Bible is clear. When the leaders followed the
Lord, the nation enjoyed peace and prosperity. Everyone content under their
vine or fig tree—the Mediterranean lifestyle we still aspire to.
When Israel’s
leaders fell into idolatry, the Lord allowed their enemies to defeat them, tax
them, or enslave them. Obvious conclusion: if they prospered, the Lord must be
happy with them.
It’s a subtle and popular deception. For the Lord “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45).
Miracles?
After our
teams return from a mission trip to Nepal, I am often asked, “Was it
successful?” Did we achieve our goals? How many were saved? How many delivered?
How many healed? Did we see any miracles?
These are valid questions. After all, doesn’t the Lord want everyone saved, healed and set free? (But for the one man saved, his life has been rescued. For the woman set free, she’ll never be the same.)
When we
stand before the Lord, I don’t believe he’ll ask such questions. Rather, he
will simply ask, “Did you do what I asked? Did you use the talents I gave you?”
The Lord’s
measure of success is not prosperity or fitness or even miracles. It’s
obedience.
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven,” Jesus said
to Peter (Matthew 16:19). He went on, “Whatever you bind on
earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed
in heaven.”
Whole books have been written about binding and loosing, which imply astonishing authority. But what are the keys?
Keys open locks and doors. Spiritual keys open hearts—things we do or say that cause people to receive the Good News and surrender to Jesus. What caused you to turn?
When Jesus sent out the twelve, he commanded them, “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:7-8). Here are five keys:
The message
The gospel
of Christ is the power of God. When we share the gospel, it changes
hearts.
Healing
In Nepal,
90% come to Christ through healing, a demonstration of both the power and love
of God. He loves people and hates sickness.
Raising the Dead
When the
Lord used Peter to raise Dorcas from the dead (see Acts 9:42), the miracle became known all over Joppa, and many people
believed in the Lord.
Cleansing the Lepers
Leprosy is
less common today, but outcasts are everywhere: refugees, addicts, the
homeless, and the abused. When we care, people notice.
Drive out demons
There are
only two kingdoms—light and darkness. Only Christians can cast out demons. The
devil cannot drive out himself. On the far side of Lake Galilee, Jesus set a
demoniac free. When the transformed man told his story, hundreds came to Jesus.
Guest post by Julie Young, Canterbury Evangelism Network
Demons can put thoughts, songs or images in
your head or give you feelings (e.g. fear). Any negative thought is usually
from them. Over time you will get faster
at distinguishing between what is your thinking and what is not and getting rid
of it.
My experience
I used to think the words in my head were all mine and every now and then God would speak. But I have come to realise there are more voices; these include mine, God’s and the naughty angels. All the negative thoughts weren’t mine at all.
This has been great news! My days are much happier without all the negative thoughts in my head.
One of the biggest breakthroughs came the day I realised the devil and his naughty angels could speak into my mind. After five months of being really sick, some friends came around and prayed for me and anointed me with oil.
I believe their prayer helped me to realise a naughty angel had slipped up with his words.
I was thinking: How I would manage to get to the women’s conference for our denomination? I had attended six years in a row and didn’t want to miss it.
But now even having a shower was a problem. As I lay in bed planning how I would have a shower that night so I didn’t have to in the morning, and what I would wear, and how I would drive across town and find the room and walk into the conference, a voice in my head said, “You don’t want to do that again do you?”
I had a horrible vision of how I had got so unwell in the last conference; I even had my doctor friend taking my pulse, as I hadn’t been able to stand, thinking I would faint.
But . . . I realised the words had been in the third person “You don’t want to do that again do you?” I don’t speak to myself like that, and I’m sure it wasn’t God as he would want me to go to women’s conference.
So I learned that naughty angels can put thoughts into my head. Later I learned they can also put songs, images, dreams, and feelings into my mind. Anything negative is usually from them.
Over time I have learned more and more to distinguish between what is my thinking and what is not and have therefore shut them down more quickly.
Any thoughts not in accordance with how God thinks about you, and/or if it is accusing, it’s very likely the devil or his demons.
What to do
Say, “Stop it in the name of Jesus Christ.” You need to use Jesus’ name to stop the bombardment. He is much more powerful, having conquered and overcome.
Rebecca Brown suggests if we try saying “stop it” in our own strength, the demon’s persistence is likely to outdo ours. [1] Using Jesus’ name sorts it out.
Some people who have written about these things think you should speak out loud to demons (e.g. Rebecca Brown), while others such as Derek Prince think you can speak to them in your head as that is where they are speaking to you. If you’re in public it’s probably best to do it in your head.
Declare what God thinks by finding verses from the Bible or a
Christian song that declare God’s truth.
This is fighting with the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17).
Be persistent. If they are persistent then you need to be persistent using the name of Jesus and declaring the truth.
Only think about good things. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
Here are some common lies and verses of truth.
You can use www.biblegateway.com or a
Christian friend/pastor to help you find verses.
Lie I’m believing / being told
What God says (Bible verse)
I
am a nobody
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
Life
sucks
Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
I
can’t escape the devil
Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 The one who is in you (God) is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4
Letting
others down
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. Colossians 3:23
I
am a failure
The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him. Psalm 37:23
I am not lovable
I have no worth
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14. But whoever loves God is known by God. 1 Cor 8:3 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matt 6:26 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Matt 10:29-30 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. John 14:21 God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
[1] Rebecca Brown, He
Came to Set the Captives Free.
