Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser
We need to find out everything God says about His healing power and put into practice. The church isn’t representing God accurately in this area. If some people will go to a normal church today and say they’ve got some sickness or disease, church members will say, ‘go to the doctor’. ‘Have you tried this treatment or that?’ But that’s not what the Bible teaches. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven’ (James 5:14 -15).
Jesus expects us to heal the sick. “ And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 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). In Mathew 17, when the man with a lunatic son went to the disciples for help and they couldn’t cast out the demons and Jesus came down from the mount of transfiguration, what happened?
The man said ‘I brought my son to be delivered by the demon, they couldn’t cast him out but if you could do something have mercy on me’. How did Jesus respond? Jesus rebuked them, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me” (Mat. 17:17). He didn’t say this is beyond your capability or this is not your job. He said ‘you faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?’
He was speaking directly to the disciples who were unable to meet the needs of the people. He said, ‘bring him to me’. They were unable to meet the people’s needs so He said ‘you faithless and preserved generation’. He was making a point that this is not what I want my representatives to do. They don’t have to go elsewhere to get healed.
Most Christians will exhaust the medical field and only when the medical field can’t handle before they look to God. That’s not what the Lord wants us to do. Also, when it comes to emotional problems, they will say have you been to the doctor? Have you been to the psychiatric? Have you had this or that treatment? Maybe you are to take this drug.
The first thing they do is to look elsewhere for help. Jesus said “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Jesus said this to them because the disciples had power and ability that they didn’t recognise. We as believers and as a church are the answer to the world’s problems.
God has put His power in our hands to bring about changes and transformation in peoples’ lives. We are to help all sorts of people including those whose minds are troubled as well as those with medical problems. How many times have people come to you with their spiritual, material and emotional problems? Let them know that you share God’s kind of life because you have God’s power in you so you can help them.
God is ever ready to work through you to provide solution to other peoples’ problems. Some years ago, a colleague’s husband was diagnosed with cancer, so she (the wife) sent me an email asking me to pray for him. I prayed for him via email. I didn’t go to the hospital, and he was miraculously healed. We have a miracle working God. How did God do it? I don’t know, but what I know is that our God is good, and the gospel is a miracle message. I have been to many meetings where all sorts of things have happened. I have seen God’s power at work in most of my open-air crusades and during preaching, teaching and healing services at various places.
" God has put His power in our hands to bring about changes and transformation in peoples’ lives "
He is a miracle working God, but He works through kingdom citizens because we are His ambassadors on earth. We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us (2 Cor. 4:7). The man was healed because God alerted the wife to contact me as His vessel to pray for the husband’s healing. Christ has inspired every believer by telling us to do greater works than He did during His time on this earth. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12).
He said all authority has been given to us to do greater works in His name. We must take this power to our generation and do exploits. We have a wonderful heavenly father, and we need to tell the world about the love of God and His healing power. Many believers are failing to use the power available to us. Some have been asking so many questions about whether today’s believer has the power to replicate what Christ’s disciples did in the past. We’ve been empowered to do the miraculous, and that happened on the day we received Chris as our Lord and personal saviour.
We must learn from this scripture (Mark 16: 17-18) that Christ wants us to move in the Holy Spirit’s power. “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 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). You have been assigned to your community to do them good for the benefit of the Kingdom. Heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead, and preach the gospel, for God is with you. Don’t undervalue the power available to you because He can do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us (Eph. 3:20).
In my meetings, I pray for the sick and they feel the power of the Holy Spirit upon them. There’s always the demonstration of God’s mighty power at work in my meetings and open-air crusades with testimonies of healings. I never preached at a crusade without seeing devils being cast out and sicknesses being healed. People come to be prayed for, and they receive answers to their problems. He gave us power to heal all type of sickness and to cast out demons. I have seen sickness healed and demon possessed set free in my open-air crusades.
The power of the church is to change peoples’ lives. We are to bring solution to hurting people. We need to respond positively to sick people instead of sending them away. Jesus has passed His mantle of earthly mission to us, His followers. “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). We need to demonstrate to the watching world that Jesus is indeed real, that He was sent by God, and that He still lives and continues to transform lives. When believers and the church demonstrate cohesion and purpose others witness the reality of Jesus and His love. But when we don’t demonstrate His love and power, our attempts to proclaim truth too often prove futile.
Thank you, partners. You are helping us share the truth about God’s healing power, and eternal life. Together, we are bringing God’s love to hurting people.
