Healing Ministry
1. The Bible says that...
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, Who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Acts 10:38
2. Every ministry of Jesus' is a healing ministry. Jesus came to heal all who are oppressed by the devil. It does not matter how they are oppressed. Jesus came to heal them. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.
3. All believers are called to share in this ministry. All believers are called to confront the works of the devil and destroy them. Jesus commanded His disciples to ...preach, saying, "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." and He told them to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. And He said to them, Freely you have received. Freely give. Matthew 10:7-8
4. Jesus has never changed His mind. He has never rescinded any of His commands or His commission. His expectations of His Church are still the same. He is the Lord, He changes not.
5. Jesus said,
"...these signs will follow those who believe; in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover." Mark 16:17-18 *
*note: Some scholars say this verse is not recorded in the oldest manuscripts. That just is not true. It is recorded in the oldest manuscript we have. So while it may not be recorded in most of the oldest manuscripts, it is recorded in the oldest one. That is why most versions of the Bible keep this verse in the text.
6. For a long time Jesus' command to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons seemed impossible for me to follow. But then I realized that Jesus had given his disciples this power in a preceding verse of the same chapter - Matthew 10:1
And when he had called his twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Matthew 10:1
7. Moreover, I realized that before Jesus gave His disciples this power, He had instilled in them His love for people. (see Matthew chapter 9, verses 36-38) This is a prerequisite for ministry.
8. Having this understanding cleared some things up for me. GOD LOVES PEOPLE. It is this love (the Bible calls it compassion), that compels Him to heal people. GOD IS LOVE. That is His motivation. Every act of healing and deliverance is an act of His love.
9. People are converted at the deepest level when they know how much God loves them!
10. I am called to be an agent of God's love.
11. I need His power to be an agent of His love. I seek the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit in order to have God's love moving through me to reach people. This is the anointing of grace. I do not deserve any anointing at all. The gifts of the Spirit are gifts of grace. They are to be used to bring God's grace to people, not to exalt me.
12. I cannot heal anyone. God does that. I cannot raise the dead. God does that. I cannot cast out demons. God does that. But God wants to use me to do all of these things! As one of my fellow ministers says it, "I am just the delivery boy."
13. How do I know what God wants to do? I have to ask Him. Since I am just the delivery boy, I have to go to the store and pick up the pizza before I can deliver it. That means I have to spend time with God and in His Word asking Him what He wants me to do. I have to be able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking through God's Word. Then, when He tells me what He wants to do, I have to obey. I actually get to deliver the pizza! Wow! What a great privilege! I want to be a good delivery boy.
14. And yes! God has used me as a delivery boy to bring His healing to some who were sick, and to cast out demons. (So far, I have not been called upon to raise the dead.)
15. I shall relate just a few incidents to help build your faith a little. (If God can use me, He can use you.)
One time a small girl of about seven years old came to me. She had warts scattered everywhere over her body. She wanted me to pray for her. God told me to tell her, "Three days from now you will have no warts." She came back three days later with no warts. That is what God did - not me.
note: "Now wait a minute," I can hear you saying. "How did God tell you He would heal her in three days?" Actually it was simple. I'd had 85 warts on my hands and feet when I was a child. God healed me. In three days my warts were all gone. This made a strong impression on me. God raised Jesus from the dead in three days. The Holy Spirit used Scripture to remind me of these things. Then I thought, "What He did for me, He will do for this little girl." I knew it was the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Once, I saw a sick baby dying in a hospital emergency room. I just had to pray that the love of God would heal that baby! He was choking with pneumonia. His face was turning very blue, and he could not breathe. It looked like a horrible death was taking place before my eyes. I prayed that the baby would go to sleep (while gasping for breath?), and that his breathing would return to normal. God told me to pray silently as He did not want to make a scene that time. So I said to a friend of mine, "watch this." (I dared to say "watch this" because God had already told me what He was going to do. I already had the pizza.) Then I prayed silently for God to heal that baby. He did. In just a few moments the baby was sleeping calmly and his breathing and color were normal!
note: So how did I know that God wanted me to pray for that boy? It was simple. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth. Somehow I just knew that God wanted to heal that boy in order to bring salvation to that family. They would have to know that God did it.
I praise God for such things.
16. But I do not have the gift of healing. "Wait a minute!" someone might say, "Didn't you just say that God used you to heal some people? (No, that's not what I said. What I said was God used me to bring HIS healing to some people.) What do you mean, you do not have the gift of healing?" I mean I do not go around bringing healing to people. I just do not hear the voice of the Holy Spirit talking to me through Bible verses, to use me that way very often. In fact, in my life so far, this kind of thing has been rare. But God has used me for that a few times, and He wants to use you too.
17. The point is this. God has used me that way on some occasions. It is a matter of hearing His voice. So although I do not have a gift of healing, I do have a ministry of healing. Every believer has a ministry of healing. Everything that Jesus does is healing in some sense. These signs will follow those who believe... It is a matter of hearing God's voice as He reminds you of His Word. I expect to hear His voice more often as I come into more contact with people and as I get deeper into His Word. God loves people.
18. In fact, God's love for people is so great that He makes them whole. The ten lepers were made whole not just well. Jesus always said, "Go in peace, your faith has made you whole." This includes emotional, mental, and physical healing, and restored relationship with God, for their faith has made them whole, and they know God's love.
19. Jesus did not say that Christians would be known for their power. He said we would be known for our love. The fact of the matter is that the greatest healing evangelists I am personally acquainted with, are men of God who are known for their love. They have the love of God for people. (When people are healed, they know that God loves them.) So they became God's delivery boys. I want to see people transformed by the love of God, so I desire to be a good delivery boy. I want to get better at seeking God's heart, and hearing His voice. That's all. I want to be God's delivery boy for whatever He wants to deliver through me. I want to be a good servant. I want people to know God's love, and be converted, and come to Jesus. Whatever God delivers through me will help to heal someone and deliver them from the oppression of the devil, and bring them to a personal, saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, or build His character in them. All of this is healing ministry.
P.S. I have picked up snakes and swallowed deadly poison without harm, but I did these things by accident - not on purpose. And I think that is the meaning of God's word. We have His protection. But I believe that doing things knowingly and purposefully would be tempting God. Jesus told us not to do that, for He said, "It is written, you shall not tempt the Lord your God." Luke 4:12
P.S.S. A friend of mine says, "Abuse and misuse is no excuse for lack of use." In other words you may hear of abuses taking place in one ministry or another, but that should not stop you from following the Lord. If God tells you to do something, you have to follow your leading. If you make a mistake, just apologize and go on. We are practicing Christians. God is still perfecting us.