Kingdom of God – Healing I

12-15 mins read

The Normal Christian Life

In Jan 2009 I was preaching at church. I testified to my healed neck at the end of last year.  I said that I shared my neck testimony in the local prison, following which an inmate came forward for prayer and his neck was substantially healed. At church that morning, I said that if anyone had a neck issue, I would like to pray for them after the service. 

Afterwards, Mick came forward. He said he had problems with his neck. He had limited rotation of his neck and he experienced shooting pains from his right shoulder and down his arm.  The problem first arose 17/18 years ago following an accident on a bouncy castle.  He was soon to embark on a journey to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (Africa), to raise money for charity.  I prayed for him. I asked him how it was. He said he felt nothing and he experienced no immediate relief. 

I saw Mick the following Sunday and asked him how his neck was. He said it was amazing! On Tuesday, two days after we prayed, he had woken up and his neck wasn’t hurting any more! He has had no shooting pains down his arm and his neck rotation is much improved. I asked him how much better it was in percentage terms. He said ‘60% better!’ We prayed again. Two days later, when I spoke to him again, he said there had been further improvement. He rated it at 85-90% better.

This kind of miracle is supposed to be part of the normal Christian life.

In this blog, I set out a Biblical basis for healing. In the next blog – Healing II – I’ll provide a blueprint (prayer model) for healing.

Proclamation & Demonstration

Much of Western learning is derived from a Greek model. It’s abstract! In many western institutions, you can earn a degree in a vocational subject but get no practical experience – and be taught by people with little or no practical experience in that subject! For example, you can obtain a degree in Business studies or management without any experience of running or managing a business!

The Hebrew (Jewish) model of learning makes an inextricable link between teaching and demonstrating. Nicodemus the Pharisee who visited Jesus at night got this. He said: ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with Him’. For Nicodemus, the evidence of God being with the teacher [Jesus] was the signs he performed, not how good His teaching was! There is an inseparable link between what Jesus taught and what He did. He proclaimed the gospel (good news) and then He demonstrated it. It’s the Hebrew way. It was Jesus’ way. It is also meant to be our way.

Put simply, Jesus had a ‘show and tell’ gospel: “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people…and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them” (Matthew 4:23-24). The WHOLE gospel is ‘healing’ as well as ‘teaching’ and ‘proclaiming’.

In Matthew 9, we see this continuing pattern of teaching and miracles. In Matthew 10, Jesus sends out the 12 disciples with a similar ministry to His own: “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near [or here, or at hand].’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give”. Then in Luke 10, Jesus sends the 72 with broadly the same commission.

[the disciples] went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

Mark 6.12

After His resurrection and just before His ascension back to heaven Jesus says to His followers: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me (won back from satan). Go now therefore and make disciples… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28.18-20). ‘Obey everything’ does not mean ‘obey selected highlights’; it does not mean ‘pick and choose what you obey’! ‘Obey everything’ includes healing the sick. Jesus is passing on the baton and authorising future generations of His followers to literally follow in His footsteps. It is known as the Great Commission for a reason.

The disciples get things off to a good start. In Acts they healed the crippled beggar. Peter said “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!” (Acts 3.6). And he did!

’Aeneas’, Peter said to him, ‘Jesus Christ heals you! Get up and tidy up your mat!’ Immediately, Aeneas got up.

Acts 9.34

It says, “The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people” (Acts 5:12). The Apostle Paul said: “I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ...” (Romans 15.18,19). We should aim at full presentation of the gospel, not partial presentation!

Augustine of Hippo (in Algeria, north Africa) lived in 4/5th Century. In his epic work The City of God, Augustine wrote about numerous miracles that he had personally witnessed and investigated, including remarkable miraculous healings involving breast cancer, paralysis, blindness, and even people who were resurrected from the dead. He wrote, “For even now miracles are wrought in the name of Christ.” Augustine also reported this: “The miracle which was wrought at Milan when I was there, and by which a blind man was restored to sight, could come to the knowledge of many; for not only is the city a large one, but also the emperor was there at the time, and the occurrence was witnessed by an immense concourse of people.”

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In August 2019, J said: “I injured my back about seven years ago when I joined a pilates class and attempted to do sit ups. Being inexperienced, I tried to do it using my back muscles rather than my ‘core’. It has been painful ever since. I have had two sessions of physiotherapy, but this did not solve the problem.

A couple of Sundays ago, several good news stories (testimonies) during the morning service encouraged me to go forward for prayer. A member of the prayer ministry team prayed for me. I felt no change at the time but, the next morning, I woke up and all the pain had gone! I then put it to the test as we were camping a few days later in a tent at a summer festival for nearly a week. I came through that, and my back remains pain free!”

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Keys to Healing Prayer

Now we have the baton in this generation. While it is true that some people will have the spiritual gift of healing (1 Corinthians 12.28) and will be used by God more than most, all Christians are called to pray for healing.

Here are some of the most important keys to praying for healing successfully:

• Intimacy. Jesus said: “Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15). Other translations of the same verse say ‘abide‘, ‘live in union with me as your source‘ and ‘joined with me – the relation intimate and organic...’ If you want God to perform miracles through you, strengthen your connection to Him; deepen your relationship with Him. If your relationship with Jesus is not strong, then neither will be the flow of God’s Spirit through you to perform miracles.

• Faith. This is simply trust in God, reliance on Him. You really need this when you step out for healing because the outcomes depend wholly on God! You can’t heal anyone. But remember, faith is powerful – it can move mountains (Matthew 17.20)! In other words, faith helps you overcome seemingly immovable things in your life. Because it’s powerful, you only need the equivalent of the size of a mustard seed (also Matthew 17.20). That’s small! I have written a separate blog on faith earlier in this series.

• Power. It says of Jesus’ followers (about 120 people) at the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4). We too need to be filled with the Spirit! The Apostle Paul later adds, “Go on being filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5.18). The first disciples weren’t just filled with the Spirit at Pentecost; they were filled again on subsequent occasions (eg Acts 4.31). We regularly need a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Jesus).

Aeneas, Peter said to him, ‘Jesus Christ heals you! Get up and tidy up your mat!’ Immediately, Aeneas got up.

Acts 9.34

• Authority. “[Jesus] said to the paralytic ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home’” (Mark 2.10). The Apostle Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!” (Acts 3.6). And he did! Commanding, not requesting. This is by far the most common method of praying for the sick in the gospels and Acts. The disciples were good students of the Master. We should aim to be, as well. I have written a separate blog on Authority earlier in this series.

• Boldness. “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4). It takes courage to step out and offer to pray for people! Pray for boldness before you pray for healing! I have also written a separate blog on Courage (boldness) earlier in this series.

• Persistence. Once I committed to go after healing no matter what, it was the best part of a year before I saw much happen. I was prepared for this because I had read that John Wimber (who helped re-introduce healing back into the western church) and Bill Johnson (senior pastor of Bethel church, Redding, California) had had similar waits before breakthrough came. It really tests how much you want it, and how much you are prepared to go out on a limb to pursue it.

Words of Knowledge for Healing

Words of knowledge are one of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12.8). I suggest that the main reason God gives words of knowledge through one person for the benefit of another person is to encourage that other person who is backward in coming forward for healing prayer to do so.

You might be very aware of your need (because you’re in pain!), but you might nevertheless be reluctant to ask for prayer. But when God shines a light on your need through another person, that can often be the nudge you need to ask for prayer.

You may receive your words through seeing, sensing, feeling or experiencing:

• You ‘see’ a mental image or picture, like a daydream. Or more unusually, you have an ‘open vision’ when something like a large screen TV opens in front of you and something plays out on the screen.
• You sense the Lord saying something, eg ‘persistent migraines’; ‘pain of a broken relationship He wants to restore’. It’s an impression. You probably won’t be trying to think of a word of knowledge; it just pops into your head. It might be for a split second or it might be repetitive.
• You feel a pain in your body where you are not injured/hurting (a ‘sympathy pain’). This is how I personally get most words of knowledge.
• You read them. You actually see words on or over a person, or the words look like newspaper headlines.
• You have a dream and you sense the dream carries a message for someone else.

Learning how to know what the Father is doing, saying and revealing is more an art than a science.

Dr Randy Clark

It will take time to develop discernment – what’s you and what’s God. We should give words humbly: “I think someone might have…”

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A report from October 2019. J says: “I had been suffering with shoulder pain for a good two to three weeks. The pain at times was hard to cope with. It was depriving me of sleep. I was on the worship team at church on Sunday evening. I could only really use one hand to play the cajon (percussion) as my left shoulder was so painful. Unbeknown to me, a word of knowledge was given in the morning celebration about someone suffering with left shoulder pain. At the end of the celebration, I approached the person who had given the word in the morning and asked him if he could pray for me.

After praying and allowing the Holy Spirit to go to work, the person praying then asked me to test my arm/shoulder, to see if there was any improvement. I felt an improvement – 90% pain/immobility reduced to 70%. The pray-er prayed again and I tested it again – it was still improving. After the third time of praying, there was a significant improvement, leaving me with just 20% pain/immobility. I could now fully rotate my arm, bend it back and not feel the chronic pain I felt in my shoulder blade beforehand. Although it’s not 100% yet, I have faith that God is continuing the healing, and that soon it will be completely right again. God is good!”

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Can we risk a powerless gospel?

This then is the Biblical basis for going after healing. It is inescapable from scripture that pursuing healing is part of our assignment as God’s children, as citizens and ambassadors of His Kingdom. In the next blog, we will provide a blueprint for healing prayer.

Because so many people were coming and going, they did not get a chance to eat.

Mark 6.31

When God’s Kingdom is truly at hand, when it is clearly in evidence, we will struggle to keep people away. They will be kicking the doors down to get to us! Why? Because people won’t only hear that it’s good news; they will see it’s good news too!

Most of what happens in Western churches is possible by human effort – it doesn’t require much faith. Faith involves risk. When you step out, the risk is that nothing happens (or appears to happen)! But at the very least, the people you’ve prayed for feel loved and cared for! We need God to invade the impossible. If our proclamation of good news is accompanied by demonstrations of power, it’s more impacting because people have an immediate illustration of the kindness and love of the King and His Kingdom. And remember, it’s the kindness of God that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4).

And as we see the power of God at work, our faith, our worship, our prayer lives, our Bible reading…all go to another level! Here are a few questions for you:

• How hungry are you for more?
• Will you single mindedly go after healing?
• Will you press in to your relationship with Jesus?
• Will you pray for boldness?
• Will you pray with your God-given authority?
• Will you persist and not become discouraged when you don’t see things happen?

We owe a world in pain a good news message illustrated by signs and wonders, just like those recorded in the gospel accounts. Can God count on you, or will He have to look elsewhere?

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In October 2019, N came forward on Sunday morning at church in response to a word of knowledge about a damaged left ankle. He says: “The history is that I injured it running off road about 7 years ago. Stupidly, I carried on which no doubt aggravated it. It’s never been right since and it’s been weak and prone to turning over. Even on paved surfaces, I have had trouble. It’s meant that l have had no confidence to exercise. It was an ongoing drag and worry. I had some prayer for it previously, but there was no improvement. It was not generally hugely painful, but it was quite limiting.”

We prayed for N and he tested it out quite thoroughly by walking on it and by jumping up and down on the spot. We then prayed again and he tested it again. He said: “I didn’t feel anything while being prayed for, but I could jump on it and it was fully mobile without any pain.”

N later reported: “Last Thursday, I was in Bristol on Redcliffe Way. I saw the M2 bus and was able to run around the corner and over Redcliffe Hill which has to be at least 150m and just made it, with no pain or restriction in my ankle (the only issue was my level of general fitness)! I have also done some long drives and it’s the clutch foot, but no pain at all. There’s been a couple of twinges but it has to be at least 80% better. I am trusting that God will deal with any residual issues. So, all the glory to God and many thanks…not just for the prayers but for raising a standard in God to contend for this huge expression of Kingdom Life...”

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Further Reading

• Release the Power of Jesus – Bill Johnson
• There is More – Randy Clark