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) (7 page)

“If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream, not so, with my servant Moses, who is faithful in all my house, with him I speak face to face, even plainly, not in dark sayings.”
NUM. 12:6-8

Both the apostles Peter and Paul were given assignments from God in visions. Dreams and visions are very similar; the main difference is that visions occur while we are a wake. In his vision, Paul saw a man from Macedonia praying. God told Paul and his friends to go there. Peter had a series of visions (actually described as a trance) in which God showed him (symbolically) that the ‘unclean’ Gentiles he disliked were the ones God wanted him to reach next with the gospel (see Acts 10:9-15 and 16:9-10).

When the prophet Samuel anointed Saul as the first king of Israel, he knew in advance all the details of the encounter. He knew where Saul would go after he left and all the people he would meet. It’s likely that God revealed some of this information to Samuel through dreams or visions (see 1 Sam. chapters 9 and 10).

Both Daniel and the apostle John saw events that would take place thousands of years in the future; all of them were revealed through dreams and visions. Here are two examples of what God has done through dreams and visions in modern times:

Charles Spurgeon, the famous 19th century preacher was given an entire sermon in a dream. His wife wrote it down and he preached it to the congregation the following Sunday.

The city of Spokane, Washington was once called the healthiest city in the world, due to the healing ministry of John G. Lake. He was a millionaire who held an influential seat on the Chicago Board of Trade. While in prayer one night he had a vision from God that lasted four hours. In the vision he was given all the details of the next season of his life. Later he moved to Indianapolis, then to South Africa, where he had an incredible ministry in healing and church-planting. Later he moved to Spokane, Washington and started the healing rooms there. Records show that over 100,000 people were healed there in a span of five years. All of these things were revealed to him in the night-vision.

As I mentioned in the introduction, since 2008, I’ve had hundreds of dreams and visions involving different aspects of healing. In some of them, I was praying with a person who needed healing and in others I watched healing miracles take place. Many of the dreams have been instructional; God taught me things about healing that I didn’t know. Some of the dreams revealed things about healing that are not clearly explained in the Bible.

I don’t believe our personal revelation has greater authority than Scripture. The word of God is our best place to turn for instruction. We should not accept anything that contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture. But the Bible does not exhaustively discuss the subject of healing. Instructional passages on healing are rare and some of the teachings of Jesus

(particularly the kingdom parables) are highly symbolic. Because of this, there is a lot of ambiguity concerning the practice of healing.

Some people take the view that where Scripture is silent we should remain silent. Since I began having dreams from God about healing, I’ve realized that He wants us to know more than what is contained in the Bible. This is why He gives us dreams. The Holy Spirit is given to us as the Spirit of Truth, who leads us into all truth (see Jn. 16:13). As you read about the dreams God has given me, I’ll ask you to discern if there is truth in them or not.

T
HE ADVICE IN THIS CHAPTER
is largely that which I received from a trusted friend and mentor who goes by the name of Nor’west Prophetic. His observations have profoundly changed the way in which I minister healing to people and it’s given me favor wherever I go.

I am sometimes asked, “Exactly how do you walk up to a complete stranger in a store and ask if they want to be healed?” Every person we meet is a stranger at first. Everything we do from the time we meet them either builds or destroys the relationship. If we want to heal a stranger, at minimum we should probably learn their name. (Personally I think we should go much further, but it’s a start.)

There are many ways to approach strangers – some are better than others. You could stand on a sidewalk with a loudspeaker announcing your desire to heal people, commanding them to be healed from ten feet away. You might even heal a few of them. But I don’t think it would qualify as effective ministry. Most of us want to know something about the one representing God before we give them our time and our ear. When a stranger speaks at a church, they’re introduced and their credentials are presented. It’s part of our culture.

A few years ago I met Nor’west Prophetic through a website he authored. I liked the things he wrote so much that I began corresponding with him by e-mail. He was very gracious and patiently answered some of my questions and encouraged me to find the rest of the answers on my own. We became good friends and over time, I realized that he saw me more as a peer than as a student. One day I wrote something that provoked him to thought. Here is the inspiring response he sent me:

Some time ago, I had an image of a network of islands in a vast sea, connected by a variety of bridges. The islands are people, and the bridges are the relationships. Some of the islands have many bridges, some just a few, and a few islands have no bridges at all. And the bridges are of all varieties. There are some rickety footbridges, some rope bridges or narrow wooden bridges. Some are just a fallen log. Others are well-made stone bridges, and there are a few modern steel or concrete bridges.

“No man is an island,” or so John Donne says. Nobody is completely self-sufficient. I may produce quite a lot of what I need on my island, but there are some things that I’ll need from others. Besides, if I get by with only what I can make myself, then I subject myself to a very primitive lifestyle: no cars, no cell-phones, no laptops or toilet paper: none of these can be produced without heavy industry. If I want coffee, I can trade some of the things I make on my island (let’s imagine I’m a carpenter) with someone else for their coffee, but only if I have a bridge. But not just any bridge. I need to have a bridge that I can carry my wood furniture over: the rope bridge won’t do. In fact, the fallen log is out, and many of the narrow wooden bridges. The guy with the coffee can make use of most of the bridges, but my work requires a bigger bridge. The stonemason on the next island over needs really strong bridges.

I heard Rick Joyner say one time that when God sends him somewhere to minister, he’s always interested to see how they receive him. If they recognize him as a pastor or ministry leader, then there’s a certain amount of ministry he can bring. If they receive him as an author and a teacher, then there’s more he can bring. If they can accept him as a prophet, still more, and if they welcome him as an apostle, then he can bring the entire arsenal for them. Rick is looking to see what kind of bridge exists between himself and the people he’s ministering to. If it’s a smaller bridge, built with less trust or less understanding of the things of God, then he’s able to bring less ministry over the bridge, perhaps just the ministry of a pastor. After a number of visits, perhaps the bridge is strong enough to support apostolic ministry.

If I don’t have any relationship with you at all, then it will be very difficult for me to minister to you, to strengthen you, encourage you, to equip you for the assignments that God has given you. Likewise, it’s nearly impossible for
me
to receive any strength or encouragement from
you.
There are people I know professionally; most of them don’t have a bridge with me that would support a prophetic word or a revelation from Scripture.

When I speak with a group of people, the first thing on my agenda is to build relationship with them. I only have a few minutes with them, maybe an hour, so we have to work fast; I do that work with jokes, stories, and illustrations. Fortunately, I have a teaching gift from God and the Holy Spirit loves to inhabit them: He makes the job much easier and faster, but it still takes time, and if I hope to carry something of value to them, I must have a bridge to do it! Even Jesus saved His heavy revelation for the Last Supper, after Judas had left to collect his 30 pieces of silver. Only there among His eleven most trusted friends did He share his most significant secrets. Those were the only relationships that were able to bear it.

For a more scriptural example, let’s look at 1 Corinthians 3. It’s my opinion that this is essentially what Paul is saying: “Your end of the bridge isn’t substantial enough for this ministry.” They were acting like “mere men” which prevented him from teaching them weightier subjects. Same with Hebrews 5. The seven sons of Sceva may be an example of the bridge of relationship breaking because they tried to carry too much weight over it, but Stephen certainly is such an example.

Recently, I needed to bring a very strong word of correction to a brother in Christ. I actually had the word two years earlier, but the word was heavy enough that our relationship couldn’t support it. We built a relationship over those years, and eventually he invited me to speak into his life on that subject, and when I did, our relationship supported the weight of the word: he made the needed changes in his life (it took a few years) and we’re still friends. Now we both speak into each other’s lives.

Now the question is whether you and I have enough of a relationship to support this much meat? It’s not really a lot of weight, but then, we don’t have a lot of experience relating to each other either.

I thought about my friend’s words for a long time. Then I thought about people I’ve met who can’t receive advice or correction from leaders, because they’ve never had a relationship with a leader that was strong enough. Some go from church to church, unfortunately unable to receive correction from anyone. Many pastors never get to know their congregations well enough to give advice without causing offense or intimidation.

I thought about the sidewalk evangelist who brazenly walks through town condemning people to hell, without ever stopping to ask their name or demonstrate one act of compassion toward them. I thought about street healers who go around healing injured people just to gather testimonies to share with anyone who will listen and leave without anything else being said to the one who was healed. And I came to this conclusion: ministry flows through relationships.

We must learn how to develop bridges of relationship with people if we hope to minister healing (or anything else) to them. Even if it’s a small bridge, they must have a reason to trust us. Healing may just be the beginning of their life in the kingdom. After healing or deliverance they’ll need to be discipled. Who does that? It might be us if we have the relationship to support it. We need an approach to ministry that is relational. Where do we find a relational model of ministry?

When I’m looking for an example of effective ministry, I think about how Jesus did things. He healed people in a variety of ways. Sometimes the sick came to Him. Sometimes a family member sought His help. He didn’t need to establish who He was in those cases. They knew He had the power to heal and they trusted Him. All He did was release the healing to them. But sometimes He healed strangers who knew nothing about Him. How did He gain their trust?

My favorite example is when He met the woman at the well of Samaria as recorded in John chapter 4. Here’s a brief overview of their encounter:

•   Jesus departs from Judea and heads toward Galilee, passing through Samaria (verses 3-4).

•   He meets a woman at the well and asks for a drink (verse 7).

•   She is offended at His request (verse 9).

•   They discuss the nature of water (verses 10-15).

•   Jesus gives her a prophetic word about her current boyfriend and previous husbands (verses 17-18).

•   She recognizes Him as a prophet (verse 19).

•   They discuss religious practices (verses 20-24).

•   She brings up the subject of the Messiah (verse 24).

•   He reveals that He is the Messiah (verse 25).

Jesus took a perfect stranger and in a few minutes convinced her He was the Messiah. We don’t need to convince people that we’re the Messiah, our task is much easier. We just need to show them through kind words and actions that we care enough about them to have God bless them with His healing power.

My suggestion is simple. Take a few minutes. Get to know the person you want to see healed. If they have an obvious injury, ask how it happened. Ask about the weather or their children. Ask about anything you might have in common with them. If you see sadness, ask what it’s about. If you sense fear, ask what they’re afraid of. Listen to what they say and respond out of compassion.

Take time to establish a bridge of trust before attempting to minister to strangers. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

I
T’S POSSIBLE TO DO THE
right thing for the wrong reason. Healing, which in itself is a good thing, can be done out of questionable motives. I’ve had to check my motives more often than I’d like. When I began this life of healing, it was at the prompting of God. He kept after this reluctant, unbelieving skeptic until I finally got in the flow and saw people healed. I’m glad He was more persistent than I was. As time went on, I stepped out and laid hands on the sick more often because it was finally working. People were actually being healed.

There came a day when I began to feel a bit guilty because no one had been healed and I was making my way to bed. I began to wonder if I was becoming lazy. Two days went by and I failed to lay hands on a single person. I began to wonder if God was disappointed with me. After a week of kicking back on my “no healing vacation” I wondered to myself, “If I laid hands on someone, would they actually be healed?”

My guilty conscience got the best of me and I went back to praying with people in stores again. And they were still being healed.