Healing and deliverance

May 28th

Part 13 of Spirit, Soul and Body.

HEALING AND DELIVERANCE.

The two of them belong together so I use both in the headline. When we look at the ministry of Jesus, we see that He healed and delivered people all the time. This is one of the main reasons for the big groups of people gathering around Jesus all the time.

I have been in churches where they have taught a lot about healing of the body, but very little about healing wounds in the soul. I have also been places where they have talked a lot about “inner healing”, but very little about physical healing.

There have always been a discussion among Christians: Can we have demons in our soul and spirit or not? Some people say that we can have a footing or a hook for the devil. I believe that they mean that the demons come and go. I have never understood when they come and when they go. I personally believe that demons can live in wounds or areas of sin within our soul and body. I have written about the causes earlier. I also know from experiences that they can leave and never come back.

We are also open for attacks from the enemy. He can come when we have done something very good and he is angry or when we are about to do something that he considers dangerous. He can also come when we have opened a gateway for him by living in the flesh or in direct sin. He will always use the weak areas of our life. Maybe this is what somebody means when they talk about footings and hooks. Be especially careful when you are weak and tired.

God has created us as a whole human being. He wants us to be healthy in our spirit, soul and body. He wants a balance between the three parts. I am longing for churches that take care of all three parts of us.

I do not believe that a church should function as a hospital, but it should not only function as a military base either. Even military bases have a hospital ward.

Healing:

One of the covenant names of God is Jehova Rafa – The Lord, your doctor or the Lord Who heals you. (Ex.15:26) God has always desired to heal His people.

In Nom. 21:9 we read that Moses made a bronze serpent and hung it on a pole. When they looked at the serpent, they got well. This is a model of Jesus.

I have several times mentioned Is. 53:4+5 and at the end of verse five we read that: By His (Jesus) stripes we are healed. It is not written that we should be healed, but that we ARE healed. Jesus has carried all our sickness and sins. Many find this difficult to understand since we still sin and get sick. We must receive forgiveness for our sins and receive healing for our sicknesses.

We will look at the ministry of Jesus here on earth. I want you to remember when you read about what He did 2006 years ago that He is the same to-day, yesterday and for ever. (Heb. 13:8)

We can start by reading Matt. 4:23. When Jesus was walking around in Galilee, he healed all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of disease among the people. We see that He did not omit any kind. Jesus heals you and everybody else in your family for any kind of sickness.

I next verse we read about demon-possessed, epileptics and paralytics. These are difficult cases seen with human eyes, but not for Jesus

In Matt. 8 we read about the centurion who had a very sick servant. This man had such a great faith in Jesus that he could say: “Speak only a word, and my servant will get healed.” Jesus answered in verse thirteen: Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you”

The servant was healed that same hour.

Here we see that Jesus is mentioning FAITH. That is important for healing even if I have seen people without much faith being healed. God just did it out of His great goodness and mercy.

We can keep to the same chapter. Jesus entered the home of Peter where his mother-in-law was sick of fever. Jesus touched her hand and the fever left her right away. She actually got so well that she could attend to them right away.

In Matt. 10:1 Jesus called His twelve disciples to Him and He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

We can go to what we call the great command for mission: We read Mark 16:17+18: “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Jesus is healing in many different ways. He used a very unusual way when He healed a blind man in John 9. He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. He asked the man to wash himself in the pool of Siloam. The man did so and came back seeing. Different servants of God use different methods for healing. The method is not the most important, but the fact that the person get healed and that God is given the glory.

We read some places in the Bible that Jesus healed them when He actually cast out demons of them. Evil spirits are causing sicknesses and can torment people. Some of the possessed that we read about in the Bible, would be locked in a psychiatric hospital to-day. We read that they were nude and violent and that some of them lived by the graves. We read in Matt. 8:28-34 about two demon-possessed men. The demons asked Jesus if He could send them into the pigs and Jesus allowed them to enter the pigs. The whole herd of swine fell into the water and drowned. The good part of the story is that both the men became totally normal.

We can turn to Mark 9:14-29. There we read about a boy with a mute spirit. The spirit could throw him down and the boy foams at the mouth and gnashes his teeth. The disciples did not manage to cast out the demon, but Jesus said: “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you to come out of him and enter him no more.” The spirit cried out and convulsed the boy greatly. The boy was lying as he was dead, but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up. The boy was well and normal. The disciples asked why they could not cast the demon out. Jesus answered them: “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” That does not mean that we have to fast and pray every time that we cast out demons, but it is always beneficial to be spiritually prepared. There might be times when God asks us to fast and pray beforehand.

Gifts of the Spirit:

We can look up 1.Cor. 12 and Rom. 12. There we read about the gifts of the Spirit. Some people have gotten the gifts of healings and others the working of miracles. Then some are given the gift of faith. We all have faith, but this gift gives you supernatural faith to perform something supernatural. This has happened to me sometimes and when it happens great healings have taken place. Quite a few are operating in the gift of “knowledge”. We can hear them mention different symptoms and they say that God is healing them. This creates faith in the audience.

I have seen that some of those with the gift of healings, might have faith for certain illnesses. I know of one and every time he prays for those with asthma, allergies and bad backs, people get healed. The gift of working miracles is in function when we see people getting new eyes or a part of the body growing out.

The gifts of the Spirit are given to us to bless others. We must never forget that they are gifts.

JESUS IS THE HEALER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mother Else