Other kings started well and ended badly, like Saul and Solomon, while others had rocky beginnings, yet ended much better, like Manasseh. One cautionary word here: we often say it’s not how we start, but how we finish that’s important. That is strictly speaking, true. The grace of God means that 100 wasted years followed by 10 minutes of repentance takes us straight to heaven.

I noticed though, that very few kings of Israel or Judah started badly but ended well. Many more started well but ended badly. This should motivate us to guard our hearts, as so aptly put in Hebrews 3:

12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

In Isaiah 38, King Hezekiah became ill and cried out to God for his healing. God healed him and what is notable is one line he wrote after his recovery. In Isaiah 38:9-11, he said:

9  A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: 10 I said, “In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years?” 11 I said, “I will not again see the LORD, the LORD, in the land of the living;

Did you notice that? Hezekiah, under the Old Covenant said he would not again see the Lord … in the land of the living.

If Hezekiah could boast of seeing (experiencing deeply) the Lord on earth, how much more should we expect to experience deeply the Lord under our covenant, which eclipses the old. Hebrews 3:16 says:

6 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.

Most of us would be excited to have lived during periods in the Old Testament when Israel experienced God’s miracles and tangible glory. Sad, isn’t it, that our Christian life in these days of the Latter Rain are less characterized by the miraculous than the days of Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and David?

Beloved, we should not settle for this. If Hezekiah could boast of “seeing God” , experiencing Him under an inferior covenant, we should expect to walk in more power, more miracles and more of the presence of God. We were birthed (the New Birth) by a miracle and we go miraculously to be with the Lord when we die. Should our life in between be devoid of miracles? That makes no sense, biblically.

May we press on in the faith until we walk in the fullness of the New Covenant and its better promises. Amen.

I’ve been struck over the years by how so many diseases are beyond the reach of medical science to cure.  Medical science is quite good at disease management and keeping people alive while sick, but hundreds of millions live with chronic conditions that cause daily pain and distress.  Naaman was one such individual.

It is surprising how adaptable people are.  People can adapt to pain, discomfort, and even a limb that may not work as it should.  Often, they rarely think about it any more. Not Naaman though.  He appeared to have had his condition on his mind, so much so that his servants had his situation on their minds also.

2 Kings 5:2  Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

Naaman was immediately interested.  He acted on the information and traveled to see Elisha.  Interestingly, he  took along gold and other valuables with the mindset that his healing was going to cost him something.

Healing costs nothing, of course.  It is provided free of charge to all who come to eat the children’s bread. I’ll be a little controversial though and say that while the gospel is free, it is simultaneously not free- it costs money to send missionaries out, to print Bibles,  and to send those with healing gifts out to the people.  But the power, the anointing, the Word itself is free. Anyway, I digress.  Back to Naaman.  After making the trip to Israel he met Elisha,

2 Kings 5:9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”  11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.

Naaman was indignant about the method used by the prophet and almost went back to Damascus in a huff.  Fortunately, his servant prevailed on him to dip in the Jordan river and this is where humility played a major role.  He changed his mind.  He turned instead and went to dip in the river, and got healed.

Is that relevant to us?  Yes, it is.  In my work in the healing rooms, I have seen many get offended for one no-reason or another and leave before they could be ministered to. In truth, people can have legitimate reasons to leave a ministry venue, and I tell friends that if they are genuinely not comfortable in their spirits, go ahead and leave.  And just as you would do your research on doctors and specialists, by all means do your research about specific healing rooms and ministries.  Attend a few meetings to test their spirit.  Talk to others.  All too often, we walk into churches and lose all common sense.  I don’t let just anyone lay hands on me – neither should you.

However, some are so easily offended at nothing that they miss what God has for them.  God chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and His ways are not our ways.  But some come with a firm opinion of how God has to minister to them.  Remember what Naaman said:

2 Kings 5:11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.

I often wonder: if they knew this, why didn’t they just get their healing on their own?  God does more than all we can think or imagine,  so why try to put Him in a box?

What do we take away from Naaman’s example?  Humility is an avenue to healing.  As an example of humility, Bartimaeus is a great example. “Son of David, have mercy on me,” was his cry. Likewise, Jairus humbled himself before Jesus (Luke 8:41). So did the woman with the issue of blood (Luke 8:43) and the ten lepers who were healed (Luke 17:12).

Isaiah 57:15 For this is what the high and lofty One says—
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
“I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Few have problems humbling themselves before God, many have problems humbling themselves before men. However, God doesn’t lay hands on you. Men do. You’ve got to deal with anointed men and women and that’s where it gets sticky. Yes, you might know more scripture than the minister, you may been a Christian longer and you may be more mature spiritually.  You might even be better looking.  However, you can still receive your healing through them.

Some men won’t allow themselves to be prayed for by women, to their own loss. If God sent a donkey or a three year-old to lay hands on me for healing, I’ll take it. Kathryn Kuhlman was one of the most anointed healing ministers that ever lived, if any man needed proof that God uses women in healing. However, I’ll blog on men’s attitudes to women in healing ministry in a later post.

Not a single chronic disease impresses God.  He is able and willing to heal your sicknesses and diseases.  Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand and He will lift you up, heal you and restore you through Jesus. Amen.

After a while, she managed to slowly drive back home and visited the doctor soon after. Several studies followed and eventually, the doctors told her they thought she had suffered a mini-stroke in the recent past that affected the muscles attached to one eyeball. Their remedy was surgery to tighten up the muscles. As has happened at similar times in the past, indignation rose up within and I said I believed Jesus could heal her. I asked if she wanted to pray and she said yes.

At this point, I called a friend of mine in Kenya – a stalwart in prayer, and we had this 3-way call while physically separated by thousands of miles. After quick introductions, my other friend began to pray up a storm. He bound and he loosed, he banged out scripture after scripture, cast out demons and called forth healing. From me came hearty amens interspersed with the tongues of angels.

After a minute or so, someone tried to call me via call waiting, repeatedly. I ignored the call, angry at the enemy apparently trying to distract us from this important mission. I keep hearing the call waiting beeps. No matter. We press on. After my friend concludes, I begin to storm the heavens and call forth healing. Eventually, I am done and we “power down”.

I called out my friend’s name. No response. “Perhaps she’s slain in the Spirit,” I thought…very spiritually. God has a sense of humor, as you’ll see in a second. I realized she was not connected and called her. Here’s her story.

When the prayer began, she sat in a chair, took off the special glasses she had been given to merge the images, shut her eyes and leaned back. In doing so, the phone connection was lost, so she opened her eyes to call me back. When she did, her eyesight was perfect! She screamed and excitedly called me back. However, our prayer blitz had just begun and we were not stopping for anyone She was the caller, as you have probably guessed. We kept at it for another 15 minutes or so, until we were done and called her back.

God has a sense of humor indeed. She was healed immediately we started praying, but I can imagine the angels laughing as we raised a holy ruckus for the next 15 minutes. Needless to say, no operation was required by the puzzled doctors. This is one of the most touching, but also the most hilarious healing I have been involved in. I thank God for it – for saving my friend from going under the knife.

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

11God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12so 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.

Those who are familiar with healing and deliverance ministry understand the significance of touch and how the anointing can be released through touch.

On one hand, we can look at this scripture and say: “well, this was specific to Paul as a healing method and nothing is said about its generalizability to other ministers”. They would recall when a dead body was thrown into a cave in which Elisha had been laid and the dead one came back to life on contact with Elisha’s corpse (2 Kings 13:20, 21). Surely, we would not introduce that as a general form of ministry, would we?

However, there are other precedents that seem to me to permit this form of healing ministry. Elisha (2 Kings 4:29) had his servant, Gehazi, take his staff to lay on the face of a dead boy for healing (although unsuccessful in that instance). Most important though, the woman with the issue of blood was healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ garment.

Clearly it is not the cloth itself that heals, but the Holy Spirit’s anointing from the individual that impregnates the cloth. With these examples, I suggest this is a viable method of ministering and receiving healing today. However, as practiced today, this method is dramatically unsuccessful or at best, “hit-and-miss”. Why?

I believe the major reason is that we have little understanding in our churches about who has what kind of anointing, calling or gifting in any area. We just gather around en masse, lay hands on the cloths and send them out “on a hope and a prayer”. It is almost ritual now.

As an aside, I have been in meetings where twenty believers gather around a sick person and begin to pray. This irritates me, quite honestly. That is dignifying sickness and ascribing importance to the demonic activity behind some sicknesses. Why are twenty Christians needed to pray for healing for one person? Am I the only one to whom this seems ridiculous? The Greater One lives in us, doesn’t He? If one Christian can change a light bulb, one believing Christian should be able to pray successfully for a sick person’s healing.

Anyway, back to anointing cloths. What would it take to have a better success rate? Teaching and recognition of spiritual gifts…much more of it. Are we an army? Yes, but an army of specialists. Pilots fly planes, tank drivers drive tanks, engineers build bridges. This is important. You have this gift, I have another. Those who have this gifting and success in it should be doing it, not everyone. We just don’t operate like an army and so become largely ineffectual in warfare, particularly when contending for healing.

To conclude, I suggest that anointing cloths are a method by which God heals. Trained and anointed ministers in this area can have great results that glorify God and get the sick healed. Please tell us about your own experiences in this area.

I read a quote from Blamires that I liked, “Revivals are caught, rather than taught”.  I certainly agree (mostly) in regard to these large-scale outpourings.  However, I also believe that it is possible for individuals and churches to walk in constant revival.  One certainly does not need to wait for a massive outpouring to have a local one.  All that is involved is hunger and desperation for God.

OK, onto Florida.  If you kept up with it, you will know by now that it did not end well.  Todd Bentley, who led the meetings attended by thousands night after night for weeks on end, had personal difficulties and self-admitted shortcomings that led to his stepping down.  Shortly thereafter, the meetings ended.  Now, before I go on, I should state that I didn’t attend any of the meetings, I watched a few clips on YouTube and GodTV like many, so I cannot give a qualitative view of the happenings there. I’m more inclined to believe that God was deeply involved in it though.

It seems that some have discounted everything that occurred because of one man’s failings. To me, that is not a valid assumption.  If it was, we could discount David’s inauguration and calling after he killed Uriah and married Bathsheba.  Men and women of God fall-get over it.  To discount everything they did because they fell is faulty thinking.  All you need do is look at yourself.

What I’d to hear though, is observations from folks who went down to Brownsville and attended the meetings.  Were you blessed?  Were you healed?  What did you see?  What did God do?  Share your experiences on here and give us a deeper perspective on Brownsville, 2008.