Healing: A Life-Style

Healing is simple, easy and uncomplicated because it is all done with God’s power in the name of Jesus! Healing was a life-style for Jesus and for the early disciples, and it should be exactly the same today for every born-again, Spirit-filled Christian on earth.

However, since the time when the disciples lived on earth, only a few people – mostly ministers – have been gifted with what is called a healing ministry or gifts of healing. Only recently, primarily during this generation, have ordinary Christians discovered that they, too, can do what Jesus told all of us to do.

There is a big difference between the gifts of healing and being merely obedient to the commands Jesus gave us. The gifts of healing are still present in a number of Christians, but all Christians have a responsibility to obey everything Jesus told us to do. In Mark 16:18 He said that those who believe “will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover, “This is a life-style Jesus was talking about, not a special gift, but a normal sign and wonder that would follow every believer to confirm the fact that they were telling the truth when they spoke about His miracle-working power.

Healing is not an end unto itself, but it is a God-given tool for us to use, just as Jesus and the disciples did, so that people will believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord and be born again. It is most certainly a tool which is vitally needed by Christians today. But even more important, it is probably the best tool we have been given to aid in the evangelization of souls. When individuals are healed by the power of God, it is extremely difficult for them not to believe in Jesus.

In the beginning of our ministry, success in healing was beyond our reach because we did not have the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Our church had taught against it, and we believed it was not for today.

Because of our intense hunger, however, God opened our blinded spiritual eyes, and shortly after that we received the baptism with the Holy Spirit in an extremely exciting way. We never once questioned its reality or the fact that it was a genuine gift from God. We knew beyond all doubt that it was not just senseless jargon from the devil, as some have tried to teach.

Once we received this wonderful gift of God and spoke in tongues, we instantly knew we had received God’s power within us, and we believed that every person we touched would be healed – but they weren’t! We laid hands on everyone we could. More results occurred, but it was nothing like we expected, so we went back to the Bible to see how Jesus healed the sick.

As fanatical as we were about wanting to learn how to heal the sick, we never lost sight of the purpose of healing: “Jesus’ disciples saw him do many other miracles besides the ones told about in this book, but these are recorded so that you will believe that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing in him you will have life” (John 20:30-31, TLB, italics added).

Jesus laid hands on the sick, and they recovered.

Jesus commanded fever to leave, and it obeyed.

Jesus spoke to diseases and evil spirits, and they left.

But, strangely, Jesus never “prayed” for the sick. He healed them! Paul “healed” the sick, too (Acts 28:8). A light began to shine in our hearts, and a key of understanding opened a door of healing for us.

The principle of healing the sick was summed up by Jesus as: “The works that I do in My Fathers name, they bear witness of Me. My Father who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father hand” (John 10:25,29).

“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has’ come upon you” (Acts 1:8a).

“He who believes in Me, the works that l do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father,: “ (John 14: 12b).

We are told in the Great Commission that all these miracles are to be done in the name of Jesus. Therefore, healing is simple because it’s done with the power of God’s Holy Spirit and by the authority that is vested in us when we use the name of Jesus.

Let’s examine the way a doctor “heals” the sick. We will assume that we have caught a germ of some kind and have made an appointment to see our doctor. He examines us and gives us his diagnosis.

Then he prescribes a certain amount of penicillin or other medication and says, “That should cause you to get over this in two or three days.”

You go home, and what happens? In two or three days you are well. Did the doctor heal you? No, he used his skill and knowledge and understanding to discover what was wrong, and he prescribed the proper medication for the problem. Did the nurse who injected the medicine heal you? No.

What healed you then? The penicillin or other prescribed medication did.

Divine healing is similar in principle. The power is injected by the laying on of hands for healing, but it is the power from the giver of power who gets all the credit.

When we receive the baptism “with” or “in” the Holy Spirit, we have the most dynamic healing power of all within us. We are endued with the power of the Holy Spirit of the Almighty God (Luke 24:49)! What an honor! What a privilege! What a responsibility! When this divine power is dispensed into a sick body, the power does the healing. We always give glory to God and Christ Jesus. Always, when ministering healing, do it in the name of Jesus.

You are a “Light Switch”

If you have ever turned a light switch on or off you’re smart enough to heal the sick!

Somewhere, not too far from where you are, is a generator (a power plant) that generates electricity. A wire brings this electricity, this power, from the source to your house and up to your electric bulb. The energy flowing from the power plant to the light bulb causes the filament of the bulb to illuminate. When this happens, we say the light is “on.”

Between the power plant and the light bulb is a switch or breaker The switch is designed to break the flow of energy, the power, from its source to the destination in the light bulb. If you turn on the switch, the two ends of the wire are connected and the energy will flow through. If it is turned off, the wires are separated; and the energy cannot continue because of the gap between the power source and the light bulb.

In the same way, the Holy Spirit in you is the generator or the power plant – the source of the power. Your hands are the on and off switch, and the person needing healing is the light bulb.

Now it is entirely up to you whether you turn the light switch on or off. It is entirely your choice in healing to lay hands on the sick. Actually, the only choice you have is whether or not you will be obedient to the command of Jesus.

The power of God will do the healing, just as the electric current will light the bulb. If you want a dark room to light up, you can turn on the light switch. If you don’t flip the switch, the room will stay dark. If you have an opportunity to minister healing to someone, it is the same kind of choice. You can lay hands on them and see them recover, or you can let them remain sick.

If you have not yet received your “generator,” do so right now. Ask Jesus to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Lift your hands up to God and begin to praise Him, but not in any language you know. Start expressing sounds of love so the Holy Spirit can take whatever sounds you give Him and give you the language that will turn any ordinary individual into an extraordinary person! Let your spirit soar as it talks to God for the very first time (I Corinthians 14:2).

Be a light switch for Jesus, be sure you are “turned on” for Him. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Let this be part of your being the light of the world.

Laying hands on the sick and healing them is one means that Jesus used to be the light of the world, to illuminate the way for the lost to find Him. He passed this earth job on to us and gave us this healing virtue, this dynamic power, so we could effectively carry on all of His work while we are on earth.
(Charles)

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 617