Partial healings frequently occur

Continued from Part 1 –>

We earlier looked at the account of Jesus’ healing in Mark 8;

22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”
24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

What we learn here is that partial healings can occur. Why? Perhaps because we are complex and fragile beings who cannot handle the whole healing at once. Perhaps we must deal with some heart issues like forgiveness that get in the way of receiving.

The “why” is not important, What is important is that it shows us partial healing can and does occur. When it does, what should our approach be? Keep getting after it.

Again I say, be encouraged and continue to get after it. Some have been healed after many sessions of prayer. In Hebrews 6:12, we read;

We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

In today’s church, we often have faith but lack patience. If we don’t receive right away, we say God has stopped healing for all time.  We inherit the promises through faith and patience (some translations say ‘perseverance’). We should have faith, but also persevere.

In Luke 11 and Luke 18, Jesus conveyed to us the importance of steadfastness, urging us to “pray and never give up“. We can be too quick to give up, too quick to surrender. He wouldn’t tell us not to give up if everything was going to be easy.

I have prayed up to a year for healing. Nothing happening was followed by nothing happening. But healing finally came. Why so long? Brothers, I honestly don’t know. I have no clue other than we are opposed by the enemy of our souls.

I just knew to be dogged and to persevere. Do the same and the same God who, under no duress, filled His Book, the Bible, with promises of healing, will be there to heal.

Get after it.

Partial healings frequently occur

Partial healing can be a stumbling block for many in the healing ministry. It is a complex subject for many reasons. Some ask, “If God is healing and He has all power, why doesn’t He do it completely?”

Others get discouraged when they see those they pray for receive only partial relief, and in some cases, lose even that which they received.

Now, as usual there are many facets to this. Let’s be clear though, when I talk about partial healing, I mean that which is verifiable in the cold light of day.

There are preachers who ride in for the weekend, pray for the masses and ask for a show of hands for those who have received their healing. They then ask for a show of hands for those who have received partial healing.

Much of the second category and some of the first are just exercises in emotion, exercises in adrenalin. Jesus did not go about with microphone and speakers whipping his flock into a frenzy – His healings were verifiable when the dust has settled and the preacher has left town.

Pity the hopefuls who come expecting healing and don’t want to disappoint the preacher who asks them if they have “partial relief” from their symptoms. Especially when a microphone is poked in their faces.

Ninety nine percent of the time, the answer is; “Yes, the pain is less” or “Yes, I feel a little better”. While in some cases this is true, in most cases, they just want to save the pastor embarassment or avoid “negative confession”.

How do I know? Over two decades spent in healing ministry, many being a follow-up minister after the “big guns” left town.

Here’s the classic account in Mark 8;

22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”
24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

Jesus ministered to the blind man in verse 22 and asked him whether he saw anything. He said he saw people, but they looked like trees. In other words, there was an improvement, but he still did not have normal eyesight.

In our day, the one ministered too might have declared “I’m healed, in Jesus Name!!”. Well, obviously, he would not be. Ministry would then be over and you might see moving trees for the rest of your life. We can become so overspiritual, we stop making sense.

After praying for a person, I ask them to tell me exactly what they experienced. If nothing, I tell them to recheck after awhile and if healing still doesn’t show up in a reasonable amount of time, we can have another ministry session.

I tell them to tell me exactly how and what they feel and experience, not what they think I want to hear.

This is one of the reasons I am such a fan of smaller healing settings like Healing Rooms, where you can come back and receive continuing ministry.

continued–>

I watched this yesterday. While I haven’t researched it completely, it appears very compelling. Very compelling indeed.

While this account is consistent with many I have heard and seen of visiting heaven and/or hell after death (and subsequent resuscitation), I’m not in 100% agreement with everything on the Mickey’s website.

However, insofar as he believes in God, the Trinity, man’s sin, the need for repentance, the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, and salvation through his blood shed for us – God bless him and thank God for His mercy.

God’s mercy is always astounding. There are accounts of the unsaved who die and then have an encounter with Jesus, repent, and are able to come back saved. Why does that happen? God only knows. Most unsaved folks don’t receive that opportunity and shouldn’t bet on it.

Well, I hope you enjoy the account as much as I did.

Unprovoked kindness brought about a child for an older couple

Continued from part 2 –>

Picking up on the story of the Shunammite woman and the principle of unprovoked kindness, we last saw from 2 Kings 4, vv. 18-20 that the boy had died. His mother didn’t tell the father, just placed him in the room she kept for the prophet and headed to see him.

Starting from verse 22:

22 She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.”
23 “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.”
“That’s all right,” she said.
24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.” 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

The Shunammite had an urgency about her as she set out to see the prophet. Her mindset was that once she could get the matter into God’s hands, it would be sorted out.

The prophet actually saw her coming from a distance and sent his servant, Gehazi to meet her and ask her what the matter was. He didn’t know what her problem was, but with her coming out to meet him, he knew there was a problem.

I once asked a person I was about to minister healing to what the matter was. “I want God to tell you” was her response.

“Why should He when you’re right here?” was my answer.

Sometimes the Lord will reveal things a minister doesn’t know, many times He won’t. If you can open your mouth to tell the prophet, you may have to. Don’t be afraid to not have everything be in the supernatural realm. God created your mouth also.

Let’s go on..

25 … When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite! 26 Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’”
“Everything is all right,” she said.

Remember how the Shunammite had learned not to waste her time updating people with no ability to help her? Rather than wasting time and effort telling her story to soon-to-be-proven-corrupt Gehazi, she told him, “no problem”.

She didn’t set out to tell her story to Gehazi. Gehazi didn’t prophesy for her to have a son. She set out to see the Elisha – the prophet who promised her the son who had just died.

I remember once I traveled from the United States to England to be ministered to by one man – Colin Dye of Kensington Temple in Notting Hill, London. After his Sunday service, I cornered him and he was gracious enough to take time for me.  He prayed and I was healed and returned home.

One of his ministers earlier asked me if he could pray for me. I declined. I didn’t fly several thousand miles to see that minister. I traveled that far to be prayed for by Pastor Dye. If you have someone in mind for prayer, get it done. Find that person.

Another time, I wanted to get another minister to pray for me all the way in Texas.  He was really busy and I must have called 10 or more times until they put me through to him. I explained my need for prayer and he prayed.

Interesting… I wasn’t healed then, but I appreciated his prayer as it helped my faith. I was later healed from the”entirely hopeless” (quoting a top orthopedic surgeon) situation months later through God’s mercy.

So this is how the Shunammite woman’s account concluded…

27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me why.”
28 “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”
29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. Don’t greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
30 But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.
31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD. 34 Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. 35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” 37 She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

So many lessens from this passage. Where do we begin? There’ll have to be a Part 4, I guess…

Concluded in part 4 –>

Unprovoked kindness brought about a child for an older couple

Continued from part 1 –>

The last post covered the Shunammite woman whose unprovoked kindness led to the prophet Elisha declaring she would have a son, even at an advanced age.

The woman had no ulterior motives or even an expectation of reciprocity from Elisha, but her kindness led to her miracle child.

One more note here… remember how we have blamed people for their lack of faith that prevents them from receiving a miracle or healing? Take a look at the Shunammite woman. After Elisha promised her she would have a child, she said;

2 Kings 4:15 “No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”

It is clear she had no faith to bring about the miracle. In fact, she asked Elisha to stop teasing her, or as we woould say in our modern church, “giving her false expectations”.

Her baby came about from God through Elisha’s faith. He carried it. Not her.

What’s my point? Have the mindset ready to “carry it” for the ones you pray for. Don’t be so quick to blame the sick person if healing is not manifest. Rather, blame yourself first.

It was the same with the paralyzed man Jesus healed at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5. Jesus told him to take his bed and walk and he did.

We follow the account…

8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

Do you notice he had no idea who healed him? Therefore he had no faith for his healing. Jesus carried it. I’ll say it again, Jesus healed him through His own faith.

Have this mindset and be ready to do the same. Frequently, there just isn’t time to get someone saved and teach them the basics of healing. Teach people, but be ready to carry it.

Back to the Shunammite…

Later on however, the child became sick… and then he died. Here’s the account;

18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. 19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!”

His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. 21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.

She didn’t even tell her husband what was going on. There’s a lesson for us all here. Don’t share information with people who cannot add to your situation and might even make it worse.

In the past, when I’ve had to trust for healing, I would share with only one or two people, people of faith, not the general population.

Personally, I would not share much with most of our “prayer chains“, I think that would be a worthless exercise. Why? How many realy believe God will take action? Maybe 1 out of 100. The other 99 would likely be of no help at all. It would just be gossip for them or they might begin to pray useless, unscriptural prayers.

“Lord, give him the patience to bear what he cannot change…” I once heard. Useless. I’d rather stand alone than with blessed folk who have no faith for healing. I’m also more militant in ministry – if I perceive anyone around in a healing session who subscribes to some of silly things we teach in church these days e.g., God gave you the sickness to teach you something… it is simple: either they go away or I will.

Continued in the next post…

Unprovoked kindness brought about a child for an older couple

The story of the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4 is powerful as it relates to healing. However, it began with the prophet Elisha taking a trip to Shunem.

2 Kings 4: 8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9 She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”

So we see this woman, not really looking for healing or anything else for that matter, just having a desire to bless the prophet. She made up a room for Elisha and he began to stay there whenever he was in town.

One day he asked her what he could do for her. He had in mind to request for a favor from the king or the commander of the army, as he had the standing to make a request – for land or houses etc.

11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’”

She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”

She answered that she was fine, thank you very much, making it clear she wasn’t giving him a room for any recompense. Her reward would be from God.

Nevertheless, the prophet asked a few questions about her from his servant, Gehazi.

14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked. Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”

Something then enters the heart and mind of the prophet. He pivots from favors from the king and army commander to something totally different.

15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”

“No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”

17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

There are many lessons here. One is for us to exhibit unprovoked kindness to God’s people. The Shunammite’s unprovoked kindness to Elisha led to a child at an older age.

By ‘unprovoked kindness’, I’m not referring to church services where you are hounded into giving based on either ‘sowing and reaping principles’ or not ‘robbing God through tithes and offerings’.

I’m also not referring to the television evangelist whose video repeats on TV for 30 days saying the Lord told him 1000 people would respond ‘tonight’ with a certain amount of dollars. I’m never sure which night he meant. Tonight or the following 30 nights??

Sorry for my pet peeve getting in the way. Those are what I call provoked acts of giving.

What I mean instead is when you have a clear, unmistakable Word from God to bless one or more of His people. It is seldom in the church or church service.

I believe unprovoked kindness leads to special blessings, and can be a gateway to healing, deliverance and even salvation. Remember Cornelius in Acts 10?

Acts 10:1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

His prayers and gifts to the poor came up as a memorial offering before God. Wow! Do you know that they led to his family’s salvation and the acceptance of the Gentiles into what was until then, a Jewish-only church?

Unprovoked giving. Regular, unprovoked and secret prayer. Take something from this. You always have the poor with you. Bless the unfortunate, help the weak, be generous to God’s people.

Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and be a blessing to God’s people. Pray always and remember widows and orphans especially. God’s heart is for them. Your unprovoked kindness always has a reward from the Lord.

Continued in part 2 –>

Emotional sickness can hurt as bad as physical

When the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, Peter quoted Joel in Acts 2:17-21. Verse 17 went as follows:

17 “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.

Young men see visions because they have the energy and strength to fulfill them. Old men dream dreams about things that will come and things pertaining to glory, but they don’t always have the strength to fulfill them.

Now, I’m not yet an old man, but I’ll share with you that I don’t think I could do some ministry I did as a young man with the inner-city homeless. That was a vision and God gave me strength to fulfil it. Yes, there is still strength today, but for other types of ministry.

When I was a young man, I approached healing energetically, looking for those with pain, cancers, diabetes, and the dying. I was young and strong and had vision. I’m still looking for them now, but I’m also more sensitive to those with emotional hurts.

At that time, I didn’t see emotional or even spiritual hurts, just the physical. That’s young and energetic for you. I have since learned that emotional hurts and sickness can be every bit as terrible as physical sickness.

We go to crusades and look for wheelchairs and are excited when cancers are gone and the crippled walk, but we should also attend to the emotionally sick.

There are those who are demonically oppressed, those who are simply emotionally hurt and sick, all of whom need deliverance and/or healing. We need to be sensitive to them though their healings are not always spectacular, because Jesus died for their emotional hurts and sicknesses, just as He died for their physical sickness.

There are those who are so emotionally devastated they can no longer function. There are those tormented by distressing thoughts and memories, and there are those filled with debilitating regret and pain from wrong decisions taken in the past.

Can the Lord heal them instantly? Yes. Will He? It is a little bit complicated, but I remember the Lord telling a pastor who was ministering to an emotionally sick person the following (and I’ll paraphrase):

“The layers of emotional issues this person has are so many and so intertwined that if I undid all the issues at once, it will kill them.” And so the pastor had to go slow, layer by layer of spiritual and emotional baggage.

Over the years, I realized that while we all look for instant healing (and should expect it), certain people – not all, but some – got in their situations through years and years of sin and bad decision making. It can often take time to unravel them and get them healed.

I have prayed for people with cancer, seen the cancer gone and them, see the person light up a cigarette on leaving the church. Were all the issues dealt with? No.

I have seen drug addicts gloriously met by the Spirit of God, but leave church and go and use. Human beings are complex, fearfully and wonderfully made. It’s not always about laying hands on their heads and running off to the next meeting in another town.

Some people need continuous ministry for a period of time in order to be completely healed. This is so whether we are a fast food society or not. It is also that way, because their will, their souls, and their decision making mechanisms are involved.

So, as ministers, be more aware of emotional hurts and sickness and remember that you will need time and dedication to see the work of healing perfected in many of these believers.

Breaches will be healed

Finally, I have the opportunity to return and finish my thoughts on imperfect vessels and healing ministers.

Studying the lives of many of those who, over the centuries, have been used greatly by God in healing reveals many flawed lives – divorce, infidelity, straying from sound doctrine, sins of the flesh, the heart and the mind.

If you know little about their lives, then look at Moses – who said no to God multiple times; David, who killed a man and took his wife; Peter, who betrayed Jesus not once, but three times; Solomon, the man blessed with the most wisdom who strayed to idols; Peter again, who drew back from the Gentiles until Paul had harsh words with him.

Jars of clay.  That all it is.  Jars of clay.  Imperfect vessels.  Yet, time and time again, our Heavenly Father uses imperfect vessels, not letting the perfect become an enemy of the good or an enemy of saving souls or healing the sick.  If He had to wait for perfect ministers, no one would ever be sent to work in ministry. Peter wouldn’t get to write a chunk of the Bible and neither would Solomon.

Yet also, it is this paradox that perplexes us, doesn’t it?  It disappoints us when we see imperfect men and women (we must include ourselves) in ministry, and hurts us when we have unpleasant encounters with Christians – our close brothers and sisters in Christ.  Sometimes, in truth, it leads to bonds that are irretrievably broken…on earth.

Have you ever lost close friendships with other Christians? I think we all have.  So it gets me to thinking….

How will we be in heaven?

What will happen to all the pettiness in the church?  What will happen to all the awkwardness of broken friendships, broken trust, hurts, differences, separations and the like?  How much awkwardness will there be when Paul meets Barnabas?  Remember they had such an argument that they went their separate ways, despite the bond between them forged in the challenges of ministry.

Yes, Paul had charitable things to say about Mark later – Barnabas’ nephew who they disagreed about – and there was certainly forgiveness.  Yes.  However, we never see Paul and Barnabas together on the mission field again.  That bond is changed, things probably became awkward. Same with the fellow who cheated with his father’s wife in Corinth. Just awkward. Not sure how they look each other in the eye after that, even though he repented.

Will similar moments exist when the Grecian widows meet the Hebrew widows in heaven? Or when you meet that cousin whom you love but cannot stand his tactlessness or the broken trust from the past?

The answer of course in scripture, is No – there will be no awkwardness in heaven.  There will nothing to cause hurt or embarrassment or pain or shame. We lose the old flesh and that is part of it.  In that, we are set free from sins of the flesh and the soul.   We get a new resurrection body that is unblemished and spirit-ruled, not soul/mind ruled.

I believe the other part is a work God does when we go on to be with Him.  Remember, like Lazarus and the rich man, we will keep our memories.  We don’t lose memories.  However, they will lose their power to hurt or harm or shame us.  Thus all the awkwardness, pain, shame will be also gone- rendered powerless also.

So back to the imperfect vessels.  You see, that’s why God says love as He loved you.  Forgive as he forgave you.  Not “to the best of you ability” or “because they deserve it”. Can’t understand how God forgave you?  Right, forgive others the same way.

You can’t understand why God didn’t strike down that arrogant or racist or sinful minister?  Well, he didn’t strike you down, did he?  So we invent the canard that the minster lost his salvation. It makes us feel better.  Most likely, he did not, no more than you did when you lied yesterday or watched that ungodly film.

Jars of clay. Imperfect vessels. That’s why Christianity is so different from any other religion. Pure grace. Unfathomable grace.  Grace yesterday. Grace today and tomorrow.  Grace in life.  A mysterious grace in death.  A grace that sets things right, cleanses, purifies.  Why don’t you see the end from the beginning?  Then you can love without real reason.  Then you can also “love sincerely, from the heart.”

May God’s grace be upon you who offended and the ones who offended you.  May His grace work to restore broken trust in THIS life, not only the next.  May He bring reconciliation where it is possible and where it is impossible.  May He help you understand and love even when distance must be kept in this life due to the memories and awkwardness. Amen.

A Predictable Beating

An issue many Christians think about, especially those seeking to become more involved in healing, is that of ‘clean vessels‘.

Often, many believers avoid healing ministry and especially deliverance ministry because they feel that they are unclean vessels.

They may be wrestling with some sin, some hurt, an impure thought life and unconfessed sin.

It is advisable that people wrestling with strongholds of sin should be cautious about involvement in ministry, especially healing and deliverance.

I’m not even referring to the Sons of Sceva, who were given a thorough beating in the Book of Acts (Chapter 19) when they tried to mimic Paul in deliverance.  They were not believers afterall and their beating was predictable.

^19:11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, ¹² so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

¹³ Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. ¹⁵ One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” ¹⁶ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

Instead I refer to Christians seeking to be used by God in healing and deliverance.  Here’s how I understand it from the Word.  We operate in vessels of clay and can sin on a daily basis.  When we do, simply lean on 1 John 1:9, confess your sin, receive forgiveness, and then you can minister with all confidence.

However, if you are bound by a stronghold of sin – anger, ongoing spousal conflict, hate, alcoholism, sexual impurity, it is best to sort out your issues before you go forward. Why?  Because you generally will be less effective in ministry than if you were a pure vessel.

I say ‘generally’, because sometimes God will work through impure vessels, just out of His compassion for the sick. However, the thing is that when He does this, many are deceived that He is OK with their current lifestyle and they continue in sin.  That is the tragedy of mortgaging truth.

In deliverance,  it is more dangerous, because if for example, you are having an affair and attempt to perform deliverance, the demons may actually call you out on it.  Both embarrassing and faith destroying for you and your congregation.

So what to do – continue your affair and don’t attempt deliverance?  Lord no!  Stop the affair, the flirting with pornography, unforgiveness and THEN continue with deliverance ministry.  There are many sadly, with godly callings on their compromised lives who run away from their callings for this obvious reason.

It is a very dangerous way to live, because you are unhooked from God’s purpose for your life.  If you need help to become free, seek help and don’t be prideful.  Sometimes, folks cannot get free without help and we are called to help each other.

I have more to share about this, but I’ll hold it for the next post.

Luke 13:10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

Let's go and do the same

So let us conclude here.   This woman had been bent over for eighteen years. Eighteen long years. Jesus did not forget her experience of year after year of shuffling along, most likely in pain and definitely with lost dignity.  Jesus cared.

Our response today would be to organize a special bus to get her to church on Sunday to hear why God doesn’t heal anymore.  For the deaf, our response would be to hire a “signer” so they can follow along with the sermon on how miracles died out with the last of the apostles.

Man’s idea of compassion is not Jesus idea of compassion.  In their fear, pastors preach their experience and avoid any topic that actually involves them exercising their faith.  Shame. Shame.  Jesus said we would do greater works.  Now we lay on buses and learn to sign.  We would rather drive the old lady to church for 20 years than have the courage to pray until she gets relief…

Don’t misread me.  I’m not churlish.  I’m not against buses and signers.  Use them if you need them. Especially if healing takes time.  But Jesus showed us He has something better than pity.  Its called healing.

No wonder the world largely ignores the gospel.  Why?  Because there is no power.  Paul came with power.  Philip came with power (and no, Philip wasn’t an apostle, so let’s stop that silly line of thinking before it starts!).  Know what happened whan Philip came to Samaria with power?

^Acts8:5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. ⁶ When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. ⁷ For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. ⁸ So there was great joy in that city.

It was when they heard Philip AND saw the signs he performed that they paid attention to him and there was revival. Perhaps that’s why few pay attention to the Christian message today.  Perhaps too few signs are performed.

In the case of the old woman bowed over eighteen years, I believe Jesus teaches us a thing about true compassion here. We seldom have true compassion anymore, just something that passes for it in our minds.  We won’t pay the price to see the greater works, so we delight in the works of our hands.

The legalists as usual, were concerned about Jesus healing on the Sabbath.  So Jesus poses the question to those hard-hearted ones… after suffering for 18 years, should Jesus have had to wait for the Sabbath to heal her?

Glory to God, she should be healed immediately. If she was your mother or sister or daughter, your answer would be yes!

So if you are sick, Jesus, who never changes, says: You should be healed! The mind of God would not have us sick a single day longer.

The minute we renew our minds with the Word of God and not the ways of men, and we begin to believe and act this way, that is the time we allow the Holy Spirit within us to move us unto “greater works”.