5) It Accompanies the Gospel
The power to heal and to deliver is part of the gospel, and as such it should accompany the proclamation of the gospel. Jesus’ coming made the power of the kingdom of heaven and of God available to us who have entered the kingdom in the present and are waiting for the consummation of that same kingdom.
The gospel of Jesus and His apostles was the gospel of the kingdom of God. This kingdom dawned with the coming of Jesus and is to be ever increasing. The gates of hell will not be able to stand the advance of the church with its message of the kingdom of God, which is based upon the revelation that Jesus is the Christ. Like leaven, the kingdom is to eventually leaven the whole lump—to affect all the systems of the world—just as the mustard seed continues to grow until it is the largest plant in the garden.
About one-fourth of the verses in the Gospels deal with Jesus healing someone or explaining healing or going to heal someone or commissioning His disciples to heal the sick. This emphasis on healing continues in the first recorded history of Christianity, the book of Acts. It is also evident in the epistles, with their mention of signs and wonders and the ministry of healing as the primary display of a sign or wonder.
Paul, near the end of his most doctrinal epistle, says, “For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the good news about the Messiah from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum” (Rom. 15:18-19, HCSB, emphasis added).
God’s calling card—His main plan of evangelism—is to demonstrate His power through healing and deliverance. The power to heal and deliver is not given to prove the truth of the message of the gospel but to demonstrate the message of a compassionate God who cares about our lives here as well as in the hereafter.
6) Its Fruit Is Joy
When we understand the authority we have in Christ, we will be better able to embrace the joy He has for us. You see, Jesus has a joy for us that cannot be taken away. It is a joy that springs from authority—an authority given to us to ask and receive. In the finished work of the cross, we can ask the Father for anything in the name of His Son, Jesus.
In His own words, this is what Jesus tells us about this joy: “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, 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 16:22-24, NIV).
Let me share a story about how this joy erupts when we walk in the flow of the Spirit of healing. I was ministering in Brazil in 2003, and as I was preaching, the Lord gave me an impression that I was to take oil and pour it out on the concrete floor and then tell the people that God said, “There is a river of healing right here, like the Pool of Bethesda, and when you come up and stand in this river, I am going to heal you.”
I felt certain it was a word from God, and because I was willing to take a risk in faith, I set about to consecrate the word by pouring oil on the floor and inviting people to come up and be healed.
A man came up with severe neuropathy. He could not lift his feet from the floor. All he could do was shuffle with the assistance of a walker. He was also bent over, not because of a bad back but because of the oppression that was on him.
But he made his way to the front and got into the “pool.” And God started healing him. The man was able to lift up a heel and then a foot, and then he started walking normally, without shuffling. And then his back began to straighten up, and his head came up too. Hope came upon him, and as it did, it began breaking the oppression.
The man straightened up tall and continued to take steps, and the people saw it. They began to clap for him and to praise God for the miracle that was happening. And then he threw aside his walker and continued to walk, and the people went crazy with praise because they had seen him come from the back with his walker, bent over, shuffling his feet until he had reached the Pool of Bethesda. He came in faith, he was healed, and there was great joy.
