I love this song from Hillsong -
You Are Here (The Same Power)
It is a powerful reminder of the power that lives in us! The same power that conquered the grave lives
in me! Man, Yes, Jesus, let it be!!
Ephesians 1:18-20. “I pray
also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know
… his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working
of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the
dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.”
Surely he
took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered
him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was
pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the
punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
It was prophesied of Jesus in Isaiah 53 and fulfilled in His
perfect work that He completed on the cross and through His resurrection from
the dead!
“Divine healing is another
experience of resurrection life in the present.
The physical benefits of the resurrection are available although
sickness and death are still active”
He does not promise you that you
will never be sick, he does not promise you that you will never die, but He
does promise you that, until your work is done, until His purpose is fulfilled
concerning you, He is the strength of your life, your victory for bodily as
well as spiritual infirmity and oppression.
AB Simpson, “How to Receive Divine
Healing,” 1885
My Father
will give you whatever you ask in my name.
Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will
be complete. John 16:23
Unfortunately the predicament most people were in back then is
still true today. Matthew 13…
15For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.
But it
doesn’t have to be this way… we need to
ask in confidence and rested assurance.
But blessed
are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17For
I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you
see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
So, what keeps us from praying for healing? Are we too worried that we might disappoint
the person that we are praying for if nothing happens. We need to trust the Lord and leave the
results with Him. Ultimately it is His
Name that is on the line.
The practical…
when praying for healing
When praying for healing, this is really important to
understand. The confidence that you pray
with is not ‘commanding God’ as if He must act because you demand it. Recognize that when you pray for healing, you
are coming from a place of divine authority.
We have been given authority to pray, it is a “delegated
authority”. We pray from our heavenly
position, from our identity in Christ.
"As you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at
hand.' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons.
Freely you have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:7-8).
Notice also Jesus' instructions as well.
"Heal
the sick who are there and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to
you'" (Luke 10:9).
Once again,
Jesus did not tell His disciples to pray for the sick. He authorized them to
heal the sick.
The power is
in the proclamation. Tell them what God will do. This takes boldness.
Bert M. Farias
What brings Jesus joy?
We know as we discover it in Luke 10:21. It is when His followers take Him at His word
and take risks for the kingdom of God. They
do what He asked them to do.
21 At that time
Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and
learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what
you were pleased to do.
What brings us joy?
The Bible again reminds us that it is when we live out His truth,
take risks of faith and take Him at His Word!
17 The
seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in
your name.”
We get into the secret place and that is where we cry out to God,
but then as Bill Johnson teaches, we get into the public place and we take
risks. All of our ministry is
imparting the Spirit of Christ into the lives of others where He places
us. We let our peace be known to
all. It is the substance of heaven and
it comes in the person of Jesus Christ through the power of His Holy Spirit. The important realization in all of this is that
we are carriers of His presence, it
flows through us.
So, when we pray, it’s also important to listen to what the Holy
Spirit is saying to us. We need wisdom
and discernment and we also need to get to root issues too. A great question to ask always is, “Is there anything
else you want me to know?”
I know sometimes that I can rush into prayer and maybe pray
through surface issues and miss the point.
I can remember clearly when a student came to speak with me when I was a
youth pastor. They spoke about the lack
of intimacy in their quiet time with God and so we talked through strategies,
distractions and how to be still in His presence. However, as it turned out, the real issue
that she was struggling with was that she was sleeping with her boyfriend and
knew that it was really hurting her relationship with the Lord.
Also, when we pray for healing for the body when it’s physical,
pray that the body will be restored to the beauty of the way that God
originally designed it to be.
Also remember the obvious as one pastor said, “when we don’t pray
for healing, no one gets healed. Now, we pray for lots of people to get healed and
some get healed.
Our ultimate healing will come when Jesus fully establishes His
kingdom, but now every healing is a foreshadow or foretaste of that very
kingdom! We live in a now, but not yet kingdom, but let’s keep pressing in for
more of it to be experienced now and for people to come to faith and trust in
Jesus, the greatest miracle of all!
Healing also comes through our joy-filled disposition.
A cheerful
look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones. Proverbs 15:30
In life, an attitude of self preoccupation is lethal, but joy is
life giving to us and to others.
Laughter and smiling are found in joy as well. It is this type of joy that produces relief
from stress by releasing pain-killing, endorphins which give us a natural
God-given high!
The kind of lift that we need in our spirits to move us from the
valley of spiritual distress. As
believers we live in community and we have no reason to be joy challenged. We can be the kind of people who infect
others with joyful enthusiasm. We have
the best news of all, that Jesus is our ultimate healer in every way
Jesus said it best in verse 22
you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. He has promised it to us if we would but ask
him. It comes as we recognize it as we
identify ourselves with Jesus, as we listen and we are guided by the Spirit
like the 72 were in Luke 10:17
They returned
with joy…why? Because they experienced
being ministers in His name. Joy is multiplied in community as we all serve
together.
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