You must make up your mind what you believe

I had been a Christian for a few months and found myself sitting on a platform in London on this particular day, waiting for the next train.

A man came by and sat down on my left and I thought nothing of it.A minute later, I saw a man on the opposite platform walking to and fro, mumbling to himself and occasionally calling out to no-one in particular.

Viewing this as a ministry opportunity, I leaned over to the man on my left and asked, “Do you know what his problem is?” He answered right back, “What’s his problem?” I smiled and responded, “He’s probably demonically oppressed,” and then continued, “do you know there’s a world beyond this physical one?”

This is when things got interesting.He gave me a wan smile and said to me, “I guess you’re a Christian.Listen to this…”He then launched into a short burst of speaking in tongues.I was surprised but managed to recover.“I guess you’ve probably heard the gospel before”, I said with a grin.

“You listen to me,” he demanded.“I was in the ministry for years and was in ministry school.”“But,” he continued, “we prayed and prayed and God didn’t heal the seven sick people we prayed for.They all died.That’s when I left the ministry.”

I didn’t know too much about the Word but I replied that our faith in God did not depend on who got healed or not.I told him I didn’t understand why those people didn’t get healed as I wasn’t there.But I said, God was still faithful and He was and is still our Healer.

He wasn’t moved, as our train pulled in.“All I want”, he said, “is one minute when I die, to say my piece and tell God how I feel about it.So much power over there when we need it here!”I patiently responded that it wouldn’t play out that way, that no one gets to vent in heaven.

The funny thing was that as he kept telling me how he didn’t want anything to do with Christianity, he kept talking about God and what he wanted to say to him.I tried to talk with him before my stop, about 15 minutes later and he kept asking me to refute what he was saying, but he was way too angry.I just told Him over and over that God loved him and was faithful.My stop came along first and I got off the train.

This man was in a place that I’ve seen others get to over the years since that day in 1987.I refer to people who have seen failures over and over, particularly ministers- folks who have had to comfort the bereaved again and again.It can be heartbreaking and I can even understand mentally, how he arrived at that place.I have been tempted too.Tempted to just walk away and not even bother to pray any more – just send people to the doctors and leave it to others who are willing to test their faith and face the risk of failure.

I’ll be honest though and share the determination I made years ago that no matter how many tragedies I see, God is still a Healer and His Word is still true.What’s the worst that could happen?We go to be with the Lord, which is better by far.Why would I want to arrive in heaven, with the thought in my heart: “you didn’t believe in God’s healing promises!”No, I won’t be condemned for it, but why not fight, why not believe, why not engage?

Paul said, “Fight the good fight of faith..” (1 Timothy 6:12).He said “We wrestle not against flesh and blood…”(Ephesians 6:12) .He continues, “Run in such a way as to win the prize…” (1 Corinthians 9:24).

Do we have this thought that it will always be easy, especially in the West?Do we think that healings are not a prize to be fought bitterly for, in prayer?

Jesus said, “This kind can come out only by prayer.….” (Mark 9:29).Do we still pray and fast, or are we caught up with activities that just engage the flesh?Is there too much “seeker-friendliness”, with mime and dance and too little all-night prayer and intercession?God help us!Philip didn’t need street mime and dance to cause Holy Spirit-led havoc in Samaria, did he?

As we struggle with church programs and ‘church growth’ activities, we’re wearing ourselves out with “stuff”.If one blind person received sight in your church each week, even with 4 services on Sunday, you would have lines that stretched for blocks.You would need the police to keep order.

Our leaders are so afraid to preach, teach and demonstrate healing though, that for many, this is beyond their reach. It’s at a point where so many just don’t believe anymore.Like my friend on the train, they may have started with zeal, but disappointments got the better of them.They not only refuse to believe now, but are deeply bitter at unrealized hope.

Like my friend the real cause of the bitterness is that they know healing is there and is real, but somehow or the other, they could never attain it. That’s where the broken heart and deep bitterness comes from, “..so much power over there when we need it here!”

There is a path to healing in our churches.It is not easy, but it is not obscure either.Preach it, teach it, pray for it, minister it, and repeat over and over until breakthrough comes.What if it tarries?Read John Wimber’s story if you find the time (Power Healing).You simply continue as a church until breakthrough comes.

Well, what if it still doesn’t come, you ask?Better to enter heaven declaring the truths of God’s Word and kingdom than to give up.I will never give in or give up.For me though, healing has already come, over and over again.  May such steadfastness undergird your own soul, may the Holy Spirit encourage you and reward as you persist in seeing the manifest promises of God fulfilled in your life and the lives of those around you. Amen.

Precision is key to long-term effective healing ministry

Precision is essential to the healing ministry.  Without it, we often flail about, turn up the volume, and hope for results that seldom materialize. What do I mean by ‘precision’ and why is it so important?  Precision is accuracy in hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit during ministry. Every ministry situation provides you with many alternative ways that you can minister, but not every way will bring success.

When the Shunammite woman came to Elisha after her son died, notice what Elisha did.  He took a specific set of actions. Gehazi was to take the Prophet’s staff and lay it on the boy’s face.  He was not to speak to anyone on the way.

It is interesting that the boy did not immediately recover and Gehazi returned, unsuccessful.  Didn’t Elisha hear God, you may ask?  I’m inclined to say he did.  Why didn’t the child come back to life then?  I don’t think the Bible spells it out explicitly, but I would lay the blame on Gehazi’s doorstep,  as being an unsuitable vessel of grace.  He later proved this in the case of Naaman the Syrian.

In any case, when Elisha finally arrived, he didn’t anoint with oil or lay hands on the boy, but instead, did something that would be strange in any age.  He lay on the boy nose-to-nose (2 Kings 4:32) and eventually the boy came back to life.  Again, he didn’t walk around the bed seven times in the manner of Jericho or smash arrows on the ground as in the case of King Jehoash (2 Kings 13:18).  He was specific in what he did and got results.

Jesus put his spit on a man’s tongue (Mark 7:33), spat in another man’s eyes (Mark 8:23), and asked Lazarus to come forth (John 11:43).  He asked the 10 lepers to go and show themselves to the priests in one instance (Luke 17:12), but laid hands on the one leper who sought healing (Luke 5:13).  Jesus was precise, He didn’t try everything, He did one thing.

If you are in healing ministry, realize you can minister in hundreds of ways to any healing candidate.  Will every approach work?  No, but the one the Holy Spirit illuminates in your heart will in most cases.  I say most cases, because it is not that simple working through the vessels of clay that we are. Unforgiveness on the candidate’s part, tiredness on our part, or disorganization may just a few obstacles to healing.

Yes, we must know all the Biblical approaches to healing, many of which are listed on this blog.  But we must always strive to hear the Holy Spirit in every situation.  We must also be flexible and open to his direction during the healing encounter.  I have seen dual errors of treating every situation like a nail when you only have a hammer (e.g., laying on of hands on everyone you meet), and being so inflexible during ministry, you don’t receive a change in direction from the Holy Spirit.  We would do well to avoid both.

May you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit as you minister, may you be flexible enough to deal with changing circumstances in healing ministry.  Amen.

Without evidence, I’m guessing that statistics for Christians are similar. Especially since they are similar in divorce statistics and reportedly, greater in support of torture of prisoners of war (62% vs. 49% – Pew Group Report). However, those discussions are for another day and perhaps even another blog. The focus here is on healing, so back to television.

While there can be good television programming, I think there are few things that are more destructive to faith and a life of communion with the Lord than television. And no, I’m not just referring to sex, violence and profanity. I’m referring instead to the act of TV-watching itself and what happens as you watch TV. It is possibly the most passive and mind-surrendering act you can perform in your home.

Many say they watch TV to relax, but it is merely giving your mind over to the folks in Hollywood. We hand it over to them to fill with images, to engage, but later wonder aloud why we seldom hear the voice of God. It may be that the “still, quiet voice” is drowned out by the multiple explosions and gunshots of those thrillers we have surrendered our minds to.

My personal thesis is that the more we watch TV, the less we’ll hear God. I’ll add even “Christian channels” to the mix here. Some of these are good to watch, others are simply fund-raising operations that don’t edify. If we watch the average of almost 5 hours a day, I personally doubt that we can ever be effective in healing ministry. We simply will not have enough time to pray, to study the word and build faith, and to consecrate ourselves before the Lord.

These days, I now catch myself almost automatically while watching TV. Five to ten minutes seems to be my limit before an internal timer warns me it’s time to move on. I just can’t seem to do it anymore. I realized a long time ago that even with an unremarkable cable package, it is easy to watch TV for hours on end – there is so much ‘interesting’ stuff. History, the geographical channel, news and sports, all of which I’m a fan (sadly!) In Hebrews 12:14, it says:

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

What is holiness? It is separation unto God. The word “see” means perceive. In other words, without separation from the world system (including thoughts, desires, and its affairs), we will not, and cannot perceive the Lord’s purposes. That includes personal leading for our own lives as well as ministry unto others.  If we look at Jesus’ life as a model, we see in Mark 1:35, that:

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Watching TV late at night just makes this impossible for us to do, especially if you have a job you must go to. However, without this type of communion with God, forget signs, wonders, healings and miracles.  They just won’t happen for us if we don’t spend the time – it’s that spiritual law of sowing and reaping again.

So, in summary, I’m not saying all TV is evil, but the less time we spend watching TV and the more time we spend praying, the more effective we’ll be in ministry, including healing ministry. There is a price to be paid for more effectiveness in healing. I’ll say it again, there’s a PRICE to be paid to be effective in healing.  May we be ready and willing to pay that price. 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.

John 5:14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

From this, we saw that sin can lead to sickness. Worry or drugs or sexual sin, among other sins, can lead to sickness of the body and mind. In case you were wondering, worry is a sin, as in Philippians 4:6;

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Note that this is not a suggestion, it is a command—primarily for our own good. Physiologically, worry and stress raise cortisol levels in the body and can affect blood pressure, sleep patterns and so on. Anxiety and worry cannot coexist with faith.  Once they arrive, trust and faith in God departs.

So then, is all sickness the result of sin? Thank God, it is not, or some would be sick every day or week. In Jesus’ day, many believed that sickness was the result of a person’s sin or that of his parents, but Jesus debunked that very quickly:

John 9:1-3 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

So this sickness was not the result of sin by either the man or his parents. Some sickness comes from our being in a fallen world, others from our unwise choices and lifestyles, and yet others by demonic attack. Also, the actions of sinful or malicious people can cause sickness in others, such as parents who smoke.

Note that I didn’t mention God here. He is not the source of sickness. I find it strange that the obituaries of worldly people state that “after a yearlong fight against cancer….”, whereas Christians point to God or “God’s will” for their sickness. Many non-Christians recognize sickness as an enemy of all that is good, an evil that must be fought, while many Christians go on about God’s supposed will ‘permitting’ or causing them to be sick.

If you think this way, tell me this: If it was God’s will for you to be sick, why do you visit the doctor to escape “God’s will”? If it was His desire that your character be perfected in sickness, why do you ask for your name to be placed on the prayer chain to avoid this perfecting? If God wanted you ravaged by illness, why not ask the brethren to pray for you to become more sick, so as to enter His will more deeply? The faith-sapping myths we propagate in the church today are a tragedy.

Why is it that wise Christians cannot tell God’s will until after the event? The person died of sickness, ergo, it was God’s will that they died. The person recovered from sickness, thus it was God’s will that they recover. This is a “que sera, sera” Christianity, a lazy spirituality that tries to infer God’s will after the fact. It has more in common with fatalistic Mid-Eastern and Eastern religions than Christianity. If you know God’s will, tell me before we pray, so if it is not His will, we won’t bother. However, not one of these wise ones ever knows until afterwards—going by sight and not by faith.

I can tell you God’s will for the very sick young man with a heartbroken wife and three young children all crying out to Him. It is for him to be healed, period. That is His will before I pray and that is His will after I pray, whether he gets up or stays down. God’s will for that sick child? The same, of course. Why? Because healing is in His Word and His Word is His will.

Why do tragedies occur then, you ask? There are many reasons, but why on earth wouldn’t they occur when we continue teaching unbelief throughout our churches….because we, as a church do not believe all of the Atonement. As a pastor, you doth protest too much that you believe. It doesn’t matter what you profess in conversation. Do you preach healing? Do you regularly pray for the sick? No? Why not? Because you don’t believe it. I learned a long time ago that people do what they believe and avoid what they don’t believe. Most pastor/teachers don’t believe in the full Atonement. If they want to argue about healing being in the Atonement, fine, we don’t have to bring that up.  They just don’t believe in the many healing promises in the Word or in doing the works Jesus said we would do.

Finally, some will argue “why the undue focus on healing?  There are other things to preach about, aren’t there?” Yes there are.  But let’s look at Jesus, in Matthew 4:23:

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

Jesus focused on healing quite a bit, didn’t He?  He didn’t have other things to preach about?  Somehow though, our gospel has been transformed into a shadow of that which Jesus and the Apostles preached.  It has changed from the Full Gospel to the “Part-Gospel”.

If you are one of few who preach and minister healing regularly, God bless you. May He strengthen you, embolden you, impart spiritual gifts to you, infuse you with the power of the Holy Spirit and may signs and wonders accompany your ministry. Amen.

…to be concluded…

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

From my earlier post about righteousness, it is not surprising that much of the church’s interpretation of this passage is negative i.e., “Paul had a thorn (sickness) so I’m in good company if I have one too.” It is interesting that Christians seek the most negative interpretations of scripture even when these interpretations do not square up with the rest of the Word.  Let’s look at a few scriptures again:

Joshua 23:13 … “then you may be sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the LORD your God has given you.”

Numbers 33:55…” ‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.”

Matthew 7:3  “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

When Joshua talked about the ‘thorns in your sides’ and Jesus warned about the ‘plank in your eye’, we took them all to be metaphorical, not literal.  Joshua did not mean the physical, literal side of your body or your eyes.  Neither did Jesus mean a real plank in your actual eye.  These are metaphors, aren’t they?  But to give the worst possible interpretation, we have mixed the literal with the metaphorical.  So when Paul says:

there was given me a thorn in my flesh,

we translate ‘thorn’ as a metaphor for sickness but keep flesh as our actual, physical body.  Wrong! Completely inappropriate.  Jesus, in speaking of a plank in the eye meant this as a complete metaphor and so did Paul here.  He meant harassment, just as Israel was harassed, as Joshua predicted.

Why we seek out the most negative in the church is still a mystery to me.  I once thought it was our past programming from the world, but now I doubt it. Some of the most naturally optimistic people I have met have been non-Christians. As I mentioned in a previous post, the world will hold telethons to “fight the enemy, cancer” and “fight the killer, malaria“.  Many Christians, on the other hand, will wax lyrical about how God is teaching them something or blessing them by “giving them” a disease.  We have created church myth to satisfy false humility.

I’m not asking that you misinterpret the Bible to “be positive”.  The Bible is positive enough.  ‘Gospel’ actually means “good news”, not bad. Just read the gospels again and see how positive Jesus was – he healed everyone who came to Him.

I now think that much of what we believe in evangelical and even pentecostal circles is church myth or tradition – things that are just not so. May we interpret the Word correctly to see the great hope to which He has called us through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

“We are just sinners, saved by grace”….

Although it offended my spirit, I never really knew why until I decided to do a study on it. Now I understand why that phrase is not only unscriptural, but also illogical, and one of the sticks we use to beat ourselves up in the church.

The point is that I want to call myself only what God calls me. If you look throughout the entire New Testament, nowhere does God call His people sinners. He calls them righteous.  1 Peter 4:8 is a good example:

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

There is a name for you if you have believed in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That name is “righteous”. If you want other names, they are “light”, “believer”, and “temple of God”. Listen to Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:14-16,

14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.

Could it be clearer than this? In our false humility, we resort to calling ourselves and each other names. Again, nowhere in the NT does God call you a sinner. There will be no sinners in heaven. People are not sinners because they sin, they are sinners because they have not come to Christ to become new (righteous) creatures. Conversely, you are not righteous because you do right things all the time, you are righteous because you are a new creation, because of Christ’s work and the transformation by the Holy Spirit.

It doesn’t matter if you add “saved by grace”. That is irrelevant, as the first part of the statement says “I am a sinner…” (present tense). You are not (present tense) a sinner. You were a sinner, but you are not one now. Why glorify that part of your life, when God does not? You are a saint. Go through all of Paul’s Epistles and see how he addresses the church. He typically begins, as follows,

Romans 1:7  To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints…

1 Corinthinans 1:2  To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy…

2 Corinthians 1:1  To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:

Ephesians 1:1   To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus….

Philippians 1:1 To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons…

I could go on, but I hope my point is made. Why didn’t Paul say: “To all the sinners saved by grace in Ephesus…”?  You are NOT a sinner, you are a saint, you are of a holy nation, a peculiar people, a people belonging to God. Do this for yourself: study the NT closely, looking for the names God calls you. See that He calls you a child of God in 1 John 3:2

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.

John didn’t say that you would become a child of God. You are already a child of God!! That’s who you are and what you are. He calls you many other names besides, none of which is “sinner”.  The reason I’m discussing this here is that it affects your faith and your faith is important in healing.  Calling yourself (present tense) a sinner is harmful to your faith because it is a lie.  So let us grow up in Christ and stop using that harmful phrase, “I’m just a sinner, saved by grace”. It is neither humble nor true.

“He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6)

When people read this, self doubt often arises, based on a self-appraisal of their faith. Many feel their faith is not sufficient to receive from God. I’m not sure how to break this to you, but there’s truth to the fact that faith is important. James declares,

1:6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

This lets us know that faith is important. “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:5). Sadly, as I mentioned earlier, most churches do little to teach or preach healing, so it can be an uphill battle for congregations and congregants alike in the area of faith for healing.

However, here is the good news. Remember Jesus’ response to the disciples after they failed to drive out a demon from a boy?

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 20He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

The fact is you don’t need a huge amount of faith to move mountains, or to increase healings for that matter. A mustard seed-sized faith will do. Besides, faith doesn’t come from willpower, it comes from hearing. So the more I feed myself with the Word on healing, the more faith automatically grows in my heart. People with strong faith for healing are not mystics – they have simply embraced the Word on healing over and over again.

The second encouraging fact is that my healing is not always dependent on my faith. Sometimes it can be partly or almost wholly dependent on the faith of another. We can enter the Prayer of Agreement with another believer for healing or we can receive healing primarily through another’s spiritual gifts and faith.

Remember also when Jesus healed the blind man who didn’t even know who He was? Clearly, the blind man’s faith was not a factor, nor was the cripple’s faith at the Gate Beautiful. Isn’t it great that in the Body of Christ, we can minister to each other?

So feed your faith constantly with God’s Word, to be able to minister to yourself and to others. However, don’t be reticent or prideful about being healed through the faith and gifts of others. God can, and will work through others to bless you.

However, she saw her daughter awake and went right to her, very emotional, talking frantically to her and calling for the nurses. Interestingly enough, her daughter fixed her gaze at me all through this. I knew she knew she had been revived for the Prayer of Agreement, but disconcerted by her mother’s entrance and approaching nurses, I fluffed it. I told the mother I was a there to pray for her daughter and asked if I could. Cautiously, she said yes but in my flustered state, I didn’t do what I had myself asked for i.e., a Prayer of Agreement, and instead prayed a tepid prayer that I knew didn’t even make it out the window. Obedience and boldness are so important.

She began an instant improvement from that day on, but I went home and wept that day, because I knew I had not done what I was called to do. Each day saw further improvement and positive reports from the doctors, but I was cheered not a bit. On the day they were transferring her out of intensive care to the regular ward due to her improving condition, she died. This came as a shock to everyone but me.

Yes, I did beat myself up for a while over that. Do I still beat myself up? Of course not! It is often harder to forgive ourselves than others, but I learned long ago that wallowing in self accusation is a favorite trap of the enemy. She was saved and is walking the streets of gold; I learned obedience; and I led her father to the Lord in the hospital and followed up for months afterward. Please, don’t even get started about the Lord having some purpose in her untimely death at 30-odd years old. We just lost that one. We’ll do better next time. In the tragedy, God gave comfort, because that’s what He does. In ministry to the sick, may we be bold, compassionate, and obey His leading. Amen.

With many believers, this bitterness leads to a loss of the “fire” of the Christian faith, a discouragement that comes from loss or bereavement. These Christians don’t deny God, they just “turn the lights out”, attend church once in a while and pretty much wait for heaven. A minority will go against God in their anger and walk away from Him. There is a more subtle reaction from many on the front line, i.e., the pastors and other ministers who are called into these situations often. They strike what I call a pose of détente, where they simply avoid challenging the enemy on this territory in the hope that they are left alone. They never teach or practice healing to avoid what their instincts tell them will be another bitter failure.

If you have been in a situation of tragedy before, I quite understand. It can be hard, brutal even, to go through such tragedy and trauma. I sympathize and empathize, because I have been there myself. However, God was never to blame. James declares,

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)

Peter echoes this is 2 Peter 1:3

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

God is good. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 92:15,

“The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

God is not wicked. He didn’t send evil, tragedy or sickness. He gets no glory when young men and women believers are cut down in the prime of their lives or when people suffer tragedy. To think He is, or even worse, to use the “He permitted it” in the sense we often do i.e., He connived with the devil, is just plain wrong. We know who the thief is; we know who the destroyer is, because Jesus told us,

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)

The devil steals, kills and destroys in this fallen world. He brings sickness, pain, sorrow and loss; God works to heal, protect, restore, and help. Jesus came to give us abundant life. Wasn’t it interesting how Luke described Jesus’ mission in Acts 10:38;

38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

God was not conniving with the enemy about people’s sickness on one hand (the “permitting” thing) and then having Jesus go and undo all his planning on the other. A house divided cannot stand. Those Jesus healed were under the power of the devil and Jesus did good by healing them. If your theology has God as complicit in visiting tragedy on your loved ones, you’ll never have either the faith in God to pray effectively or the indignation against the enemy to be fervent against his works.

I know more today than I did last year about healing. I have more faith and I can be more effective. I know things today that would have made me more effective in situations years ago and I trust I will even more effective next year. My point is that seemingly unanswered prayer and tragedies do not make the Word of God of none effect. Healing is still ours and God is still able and willing to heal the sick. If we could see further in the spirit, we would understand better our failures of the past. But God’s goodness is not determined by anecdote – beloved, think on this. The Word and our hearts declare Him to be good-always good. Perfectly good. May we grow more in understanding, fire, and effectiveness in healing ministry.

So, to paraphrase a teacher I respect, if tragedy occurred in your life, know that God is still your loving Father, He was not responsible for it, only in restoring you.  Use it instead as an avenue to seek divine retribution against the works of the enemy in the future.