When we pray for the sick in our ministry, we see more that are healed than we see people that do not receive healing, and this is an uncommon thing to see in most churches today.
The first key is to understand that Jesus healed ALL who were sick and oppressed of the devil. Jesus had a high rate of healing when he prayed, 100 percent! So, we must look at how Jesus prayed and do the SAME thing, pray the SAME way, and follow in his footsteps.
Let's look today at one example of when Jesus healed the sick. And hopefully we can continue this series. Every week we have people come forward for prayer, for healing in our church and every week people are healed.
Luke 17:11And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
12And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off:
13And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Teacher, have mercy on us.
14And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
15And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
16And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
18There was not found one that returned to give glory to God, except this stranger.
Notice in this Scripture that first of all, Jesus didn't even PRAY for these lepers! Often the sick can be healed by the power of God without even uttering a prayer. As a matter of fact sometimes our long-winded prayers just distract and get in the way.
Let's look at the verses above. These lepers came out to meet Jesus and they cried out, "Have mercy on us" Now this is so very important when praying for the sick. If people are not looking for healing, don't offer them healing! Jesus didn't go to the leper colony and clean it out. No, these 10 lepers came and looked for Jesus. People will say, "If God uses you to heal, why not just go to the hospital and clean it out?" It is plain and simple, because even JESUS didn't do that! Who was the one that got healed the most often in Jesus' ministry? Was it the skeptic sitting quietly on the side of the road minding their own business? NO! It was the one that was chasing after Jesus and calling out to him!
We offer people prayer daily, but we seldom suggest what kind of prayer they need. We will say, "Is there anything we can pray with you about?" And if they are sick and request prayer for this, they have the faith to be healed! Or if there is a crowd we may call out, if you are sick, come forward for prayer. Those who come forward are usually healed, but not everyone that is sick will come forward for prayer, some people simply do not believe and others are afraid they will lose their disability check if they are healed. Yes. People have told us this, quite often in fact. So do not assume that all sick people want to be healed of their sicknesses and diseases.
So what happened in this Scripture? Did Jesus go find a leper colony and clean it out? No. He came into a city and 10 lepers came to meet him and cried out to him to help them. This is setting the stage for a miracle to happen! Are you needing healing? Than why are you sitting passive by the wayside? Get up out of that seat, find anyone and everyone you can with even an ounce of an anointing and ask them to pray for you. Never stop asking people to lay hands on you, or to anoint you when you are sick, keep pressing in day after day seeking out healing and you will find it. I know people with serious illnesses. Do they seek after people to pray for them? No. They sit passive by the wayside and say, "Well, God will heal me someday." If these 10 lepers had done this on this day guess what, they would have remained lepers! When facing illness, I get anyone and every one to pray for me, and if I don't get healed, I go through and get them all to pray for me again! Needless to say I am 48 years old, no sickness in my body, no medicine, no pains in my body. To God be the glory, but in the past seven years I bet I have had everyone in our church lay hands on me at one point or another. Why? Because when I ask someone to anoint me for healing, my faith activates the power of God in their life and it is just a matter of time before I am healed!
So what does Jesus do after they cry out to him? Does he come running and ask them about their sickness and get their life history? Does he spend a lot of time with them and make a big fuss over them? Does he get out his bottle of oil and anoint them? Do he spout out a big KING JAMES prayer and stomp and holler? None of these things. He simply tells them to go show themselves to the priest. Now , they could not rejoin the community and their families unless the priest declared them cleansed. And on the way they were made whole.
This is so important for you not to miss this. I will give you a few examples of how we have used this model of healing in our ministry. I was in the church parking lot one day and a woman came up to me and said, "I have heard that God has used you to see some people get healed. Boy, I sure would like to get healed, my hips are just killing me all the time." So as she is talking, I reach out and put my hands on her side and I speak to her hips to be healed in Jesus name, and I say to her, "Move your hips right now, do you have any pain." Well, the whole time she still hadn't finished telling me what was wrong with her hips, and she is continuing to tell me the whole story of her pain as she begins to do what I say and move her hips. Suddenly, she stops talking and she says, "HEY! The pain is GONE!" So this woman received a healing before she even had time to finish explaining to me what was wrong. How did it happen. She came and asked for help. I laid hands on her and spoke healing to the hip in Jesus name. And her faith activated when she began moving her hips. The PAIN was gone! Praise God.
Another time I was at a woman's retreat and I went to the bathroom and a woman I used to attend church with was in the bathroom. She said, "Oh, I am so glad to see you pray for me please, I am in such pain." So as soon as I walked over to her she went into a religious chant. She closed her eyes and started chanting the same things over and over again, a religious habit of hers, nothing but a DISTRACTION to healing. So I said to her does it hurt when you bend over and touch your toes?" Well, it broke her chant, and she opened her eyes and said, "Oh, I can't touch my toes." I reached out and tapped her back bone and I said, " In the name of Jesus, You can now, reach down and touch your toes." So, she bent right down and touched them! Well, she was just excited, She left right out of that bathroom and told everyone, I saw her bending over and showing everyone that she could touch her toes without any pain. They were rejoicing! When I told her to touch her toes, it was her faith to bend over and try to touch them that activated the power of God. Healing the sick is just that easy. We are the ones that try to make it complicated. Show me anything complicated in what Jesus did for these lepers in these verses. It's not rocket science, it is faith, and faith will work if you let go of your religious ways and activate it.
No comments:
Post a Comment