Divine Healing Made Simple: Simplifying the supernatural to make healing & miracles a part of your everyday life (The Kingdom of God Made Simple Book 1) (11 page)

For as yet He had fallen upon
(epi)
none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
ACTS 8:16

The apostle Paul likewise assisted people in receiving the Holy Spirit after they became believers:

And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came “on”
(epi)
them; and they spoke with tongues, and prophesied.
ACTS 19:6

Finally, Peter taught that the Spirit of God rested “upon” believers:

If you are reproached for the name of Christ, be happy; for the spirit of glory and of God rests “upon”
(epi)
you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
1 PET. 4:14

The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit does in fact rest “upon” believers today, just as He did with the saints of the Old Testament. If we agree that Jesus and the disciples had the Spirit come to rest
upon
them at the starting point of their ministry, we could make the case that the power for ministry depends on this experience.

In the account of creation in Genesis 1:2, we see the Spirit of God moving over the face of the waters. What this reveals is that the Spirit of God moves. We also know that the voice of God spoke as the Spirit was moving and things were created that had not yet existed. Implied here is the fact that when the voice of God speaks, when and where His Spirit is moving, creative miracles occur.

It is frequently taught that God is present everywhere and yet people claim that God’s presence “shows up” in different locations for different reasons. How do we reconcile this apparent contradiction?

One of the main verses used to support the idea that God is present everywhere is from this observation by the psalmist:

Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the morning,

And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there Your hand shall lead me,

And Your right hand shall hold me.
PSALM 139:7-10

This is where I must attempt to explain something that seems to be a contradiction. The Bible does teach (or at least it implies) that God is present everywhere. And yet it also teaches that in some way, He appears at certain times in certain places where He was not previously present, or at least not present in the same way. One example is when God’s manifest presence (or His glory) inhabited the temple of worship. Another is the indwelling of His spirit inside of us, after we are born again. So here is our question – how can God become present in some place when He is already present everywhere?

Let’s look at a few more passages of scripture.

In the following passage, God’s Spirit appeared in a cloud, from which He spoke:

Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him,
(Moses)
and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again.
NUM. 11:25

In the days of the kings of Israel, the manifest presence (glory) of God rested between the cherubim, on the mercy seat, above the Ark of the testimony. At one point, Ezekiel witnessed the glory of the Lord as it departed from the temple:

So the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was high above them. And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain, which is on the east side of the city.
EZEK. 11: 22-23

The Holy Spirit is a person. He inhabits us and never leaves us. The manifest presence of God (His glory) is the spiritual substance of His being and not a person. God’s glory (or presence) comes and goes, though His Spirit does not.

When people refer to God’s presence being “everywhere” they’re speaking of God’s awareness of all that is happening in creation. But there is a different aspect to His presence, which is purely relational and it has to do with worship. It’s this presence (His glory) that appeared in the temple. The presence of God as it was manifested in the temple, and which is now manifested at different times in different places, is not present everywhere or all the time. It is reserved for places and times of worship.

This aspect of His presence is manifested wherever the sincere worship of God takes place. It is there for the express purpose of entering into a relational experience with Him. God’s glory brings healing, deliverance, creative miracles, and much more into existence. Wherever God’s presence is manifested in this way, heaven touches earth.

Jesus was fully God and fully man, but it wasn’t His own divine power at work when He healed the sick. If the works that Jesus did were a result of His divinity, it would be impossible for us to do even one, because we are not God. The Bible says that Jesus emptied himself of His divinity and became a man just as we are (Phil. 2:6-8). The apostle Peter made the following comment about how Jesus was able to heal and cast out demons:

“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”
ACTS 10:38

Peter’s explanation was that Jesus didn’t heal the sick because He was God, but rather, because He was anointed by God and that God was with Him.

Jesus is God and yet, the Bible teaches that God was with Him and that God’s Spirit rested upon Him. Somehow, the oneness shared by the Godhead allows all these seemingly impossible relationships to exist, despite the fact that they seem to contradict one another. Since God’s nature doesn’t change and His nature has been to appear (manifest) as dwelling in people, resting upon them, and residing in certain places, His Spirit could rest upon you or I and His presence could manifest in a restaurant, your living room or my ambulance.

In October of 2011, I had a dream about God’s presence that took place in a hospital. In the dream, I was talking with the hospital staff, introducing them to God’s presence and praying for them to be healed. One of the patients was a baby about five months old. There was also a doctor who wanted healing for arthritis in his elbow and knee. But in the dream, I knew that healing wasn’t the main goal. My primary goal was introducing them to the presence of God. Getting them healed was secondary.

If we want to have victory over sickness and we want people to recover faster with fewer complications, we should invite God’s presence to come and make Him welcome when He arrives. God’s presence can do the work of healing, deliverance and restoration that we need. I’ve read dozens of testimonies of people who were healed merely by resting in the presence of God in worship. Although healing is a tremendous blessing to those who receive it, the greater need we all have is to draw closer to God and to know Him in a deeper way. Healing is one way to bring people into a greater experience of His presence.

W
HEN YOU ASK STRANGERS IF
they want to be healed, you will on occasion be turned down. I often wear my paramedic uniform because I’m either praying with people at work or on the way home from work. When in uniform, I rarely get turned down. But in street clothes, I get turned down more often. The funny thing is – some of the people who don’t want me to pray for them are Christians. When they say no, they usually tell me about the church they go to and how many people are already praying for them.

I often meet people in wheelchairs who receive disability checks from the government. Some of them don’t want to be healed. In most cases they fear that if they were healed, they would no longer receive money for their disability and they’d have to find a job. Not knowing if they could find work, they prefer to remain just as they are, because their income is guaranteed.

I’ve also met people with disabilities who refuse prayer because they refuse to believe that their disability reduces their quality of life. They tend to have an optimistic outlook on life. They don’t believe their physical condition affects their happiness or productivity in any way. They’re quick to dismiss the perception that they’re less able than anyone else. These people rarely accept healing prayer, because they don’t believe they need to be healed to have a better life.

I’ve decided not to engage people in debates about the value of healing. Jesus healed those who wanted to be healed. I think we should do the same. When I meet someone who doesn’t want to be healed, I smile and continue looking for someone who does.

Being rejected can be discouraging, but I’m not as discouraged as I once was. I’m learning to accept the fact that some people are comfortable with their pain, sickness or whatever imprisons them. They’ve made a choice to keep their affliction and I must honor it. Apparently, God knew I was feeling a little rejected, so He gave me a dream to help illustrate one of the realities of how His kingdom works.

In the dream I was traveling to a variety of locations. My job was to facilitate the closure of prisons. People in the areas I traveled to had voted to close certain prisons and let the prisoners go free. My job was to make sure the prisons closed on time without any problems. I was a representative who had been given the authority to close them. Near the end of the dream, I went to one prison and asked if it was to be closed. I was told that I couldn’t close that one yet, because the people had not yet voted to close it. This was the end of the dream.

I asked God to help me understand the dream. Here’s what I heard Him say:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,

Because the LORD has anointed Me

To preach good tidings to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives,

And the opening of the prison to those who are bound
ISA. 61:1 (SEE ALSO LK. 4:18)

Many of us (myself included) have faulty beliefs about God and His sovereignty. In recent years, He has been speaking to me about freedom; specifically about our choices and His decision not to overrule them. As an evangelical Christian I was well-instructed about God’s sovereignty – or so I thought. Back then, I was under the impression that God always does what He wants with little or no regard for what we want. I was taught to believe that He is all powerful, He calls the shots and we’re subject to His sovereign will. I think this understanding of sovereignty is an oversimplification.

I believe that God is all-powerful; that is to say He has the ability and power to do anything He wants. But I believe He honors the free will of man much more than I’ve been comfortable with.

In my dream, a group of people had not yet voted to close a prison. Their decision was to keep it open and allow people to remain prisoners. And their decision had to be honored. Although God gave me authority as His representative to close some prisons and free the captives, this did not give me authority to overrule the free will of others. And this seems to be the main point God wants us to understand. It is His will that all of us would live free, but some of us have chosen to remain prisoners and His sovereignty does not negate our free will.

Some leaders teach that it is acceptable to cast demons out of people against their will. In studying the ministry of Jesus, I don’t see this principle practiced or taught. I’m often surprised at how low-key and unobtrusive He was. He often simply asked, “What do you want from me?” In freeing those who were oppressed, He first inquired about their wishes, then gave according to what they asked for. He honored the desires and free will of others. He never used His authority to violate the free will of those who were in bondage.

Without question, we do have a great deal of authority in Christ. Using it properly seems to be the thing we struggle with. Perhaps the most common problem is not knowing the authority we have. The other problem is knowing our authority, but using it at a time when restraint might be the better thing. The harsh reality is that some people we desperately want to see healed, don’t want to be healed and we must respect their wishes.

Most of us will be asked to pray for someone who truly doesn’t want to be healed. Here’s how this often happens: A well-meaning relative sends out a prayer request on behalf of someone with a severe illness. A number of people attempt to get them healed but the person dies a short time later. They conclude that it wasn’t God’s will for them to be healed. What they often overlook is the fact that the one they prayed for didn’t want to be healed by God.

I had a heart-breaking experience with this in 2010, when I learned that my younger brother was dying of cancer. I flew to North Carolina on short notice and spent 24 hours at his bedside praying for healing. In the midst of this, my older brother informed me that my younger brother had given up the fight to live and had already accepted death. He died a few days later. I assumed that he wanted to be healed when in fact he did not. When a person decides that they’re ready to die, they are exercising their free will. God usually honors that choice. He doesn’t force healing on anyone who doesn’t want it.

In my adventures, I’ve run across many people who were reluctant about being healed. In most cases, I shared a few testimonies and asked if they would reconsider. Some allowed me to pray and some didn’t. I believe we should always honor the wishes of those who don’t want to be healed. There may be exceptions like when a patient is in a coma and can’t express their wishes, but in general, we should refrain from praying with people who have refused prayer. The heart of the Father is such that He honors our free will, even if it leads to our own detriment and destruction. God honors free will and we should too.