Should you expect healing when you pray?

I have been praying for people to be healed for several years now.  Sometimes I see a physical healing, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes it happens right during the prayer, sometimes it comes soon after; minutes or hours or gradually over days. Many times it is not clear what has happened physically, but the person feels something distinctly positive inside them; some sort of energetic spiritual inflow or some sort of pressure release. Up until now, I have been satisfied with what ever results are achieved because it is the Holy Spirit doing the work and I am just an agent setting up the situation for it to happen.  This variation in results is fine with routine aches and pains but becomes an issue when serious illnesses remain after prayer. 

Should I expect more? Is there something more I should be doing?

HE showed me the answer and it is in black and white. 

I need to step up my game and deliver on His expectations of Healing.

A quick review of the basics:

The universal equation for God’s grand design takes the form of:

LOVE flowing through TRUTH yielding USEFULLNESS and then GROWTH

LOVE: God is love. We need to fully embrace Gods unconditional and infinitely powerful love for each of us. His love flows into us. As we transform, We become His love in action for others.  

TRUTH: We need to believe several key truths deep in our heart:

  1. God is the source of all good
  2. Illness is the work of the devil 
  3. God’s will can be known and it is unchanging
  4. God’s will is for us to prosper so we can bring him glory and attract others to the kingdom.
  5. Sin separates us from God and his will
  6. Illness and death entered the world as a wage of Adam’s Sin. It stays here because of  ours.
  7. Sin is between you and God; You “sin” when you choose to violate what God tells you to do; Choosing to do the wrong thing when you know better.
  8. You must repent of your sins for them to be forgiven (Acknowledge them, Turn from them, and resist them by Following God as you move forward) 
  9. Jesus paved the way for us to get out of sin: Divinely born as human, Resisting temptation and living a sinless life, Receiving the holy spirit and doing wonderous works, completely submitting his flesh to death in faith with the Father, perfecting his human soul, and glorifying his human body through resurrection 
  10. Jesus broken body serves as a reminder for us – sin cursed on a pole for all to see. We are to put our fleshly sin to death. 
  11. Jesus sacrificial blood provides forgiveness for mankind, it washes us from guilt for the decision to sin
  12. When we choose Jesus, He presents us as righteous to the Father, and we are reunited with his will 
  13. Jesus resurrection overcame all the the forces of hell and gave Him authority over heaven and on the earth 
  14. Jesus immediately delegated authority to us as his “body” to continue his work on earth
  15. Jesus released the holy spirit to each of us to guide us and help us
  16. We have the full authority to do all that Jesus did and more.
  17. The power that raised Jesus from the dead resides in us
  18. Our ability to engage The holy spirit in us strengthens as we transform our mind
  19. We must speak to our mountain, Life and death are in the power of the tongue
  20. We must conceive healing in our brain, and then manifest it through faith in our heart. 

For USEFULNESS:  I need to take action based on these beliefs to create usefulness in a situation

  1. Acknowledge God
  2. Acknowledge  Jesus work
  3. Stand against the devil
  4. Speak God’s will into place
  5. Bring glory to the father

For GROWTH: We strengthen our own faith and become a beacon for the kingdom.  Be assertive, Be humble, Give credit.

If you want to go deeper on any of these basic elements please <Click Here> to go to my web page on healing

Several key points recently became more clear

1) You need to KNOW it is God’s will to heal – and believe it in your heart

How can you know God’s will?  He tells us very clearly.  Jesus is the expressed image of the father (Hebrews 1:3).  If you know Jesus you know the father (John 14:7). Jesus does only what his father shows him (John 5:19). 

Jesus healed everyone that came to him (Matthew 15:30). He did not turn anyone away.  He never denied anyone because they did not have faith.

He didn’t just pray for them, He HEALED  them.

He didn’t heal some of them, He healed ALL of them. 

God is unchanging:   “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8).

If Jesus is God incarnate, and He healed everyone that came to him, and He is unchanging – than he wants you healed. It is God’s will to heal you!  Believe it!!!  

2) Healing flows from the Spirit through the Soul into the Body

Healing flows from the holy spirit through your soul into your physical body 

Your soul consists of your Mind,  your Will  and your Emotions. We are limited by the transformation of our mind. And the Eyes are the entry way to the mind.

You conceive of healing in your mind. You become what you think  (Proverbs 23:7). You can only be as good as what you eat (Eyes, Ears, and Mouth).

Stay focused on the Word of God and the model of Jesus life. Commit to Transformation from natural self centered nature to loving God and others more than yourself.  Work to become Love in action for those around you. This opens the pathway for transformation.

Cleanse yourself of unforgiveness. Just as Jesus loves you and forgives you of your sins against the father, You need to love your enemies and forgive them. Any negative energy in your emotions will impede the flow from your spirit through your sole and into your body.

Acknowledge Jesus broken body paved the way for your redemption and salvation. Submit your body to him. Receive His healing from the spirit through your soul into your body

3) Jesus handed the ball to us and expects us to continue his work on earth

After his resurrection, Jesus was given ” All authority in heaven and on earth”  (Matthew 28:18)

The very next thing he did was delegate his authority on the earth to us: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,…” (Matthew 28:19). 

He expects us to continue His work: “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21).

Jesus came here to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8),  but the work is not complete “…the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19)

Jesus expects us to do exactly the same things He did while he was here on earth, and even more:   “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father (John 14:12)

He established us as the Body of Christ on earth, with Him as the head. (1 Corinthians 12:27)

He gave us the holy spirit to guide us and help us just as it helped him. (John 14:26)

So there is a distinct hand off, and we need to take the ball;  and do what Jesu did, including heal the sick.  Pretty Clear message.

4) We need to expect healing

He told us  “…these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons;….they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:14-18). HE didn’t say they MIGHT recover. HE didn’t say they will recover if THEY believe.  HE said they WILL recover.  That is pretty clear.

When Jesus sent the 72 out to the cities, he sent them to heal the sick (Luke 10:14). He didn’t tell them to just Pray for the sick. He told them to HEAL them.  That is pretty clear.   

So I got my answer. Healing is the expectation. But how?  The answer comes in James 5.

5) We need to be fervent and pray God’s will into place

The basic healing instruction is in James 5:13:  “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.  Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed….” 

But the kicker comes in verse 16: “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

Fervent :  Intense and purposeful

Righteous: Right in the eyes of the Father, Righteousness is a gift from Christ.

It is God’s will to heal, but we must make it happen through our engagement and effort

James 5:17  shares how Elijah’s prayer was instrumental in executing God’s will to deploy a drought and then later rains as a way to influence Ahab. Elijah was the person who brought both of those into place though his fervent prayer.

We are the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27); We are His arms and legs on this earth.  He acts through us via the Holy Spirit.  If we do not have clear expectations of God’s will of healing in our mind and in our heart when we pray…folks will not be healed. 

There is a huge difference between praying for God to please come and heal someone vs taking the initiative to actually heal someone through prayer. 

Conclusion

I am now better aligned with the will of God as written in the Word and demonstrated by Jesus. I have accepted the hand-off and am committed ot continue Jesus work on earth.  I expect healing to take place. I will pray the will of god into existence on earth. I will not be satisfied until the promised signs are consistently manifesting through me as a believer.

Updaye: It has had a dramatic effect on the results of recent engagements. I look forward to sharing more dramatic healing testimonies as further evidence so others can leverage them and come into faith. 

Hope this helps someone.  

 

The Power of Positive Confession

 

I have come to appreciate the power of positive confession… It has opened up a whole new level of connection with HIM.

A very common aproach to prayer goes something like: “Jesus please do xxx for me” .  A better version goes something like “Jesus please help me do xxx”.  This is a good start but you can do even better. 

Recommended Approach: Consider the issue at hand, gather the spiritual truths you understand in your mind, grounded in belief, intentions, and conviction in your heart, and form them into strong positive statements from you mouth.

For example:

Before:  Lord, help me keep these sinful thoughts from my mind.

After: Lord, Thank you for loving me. Thank you for placing the holy spirit inside me to teach me and to guide me. Thank you for making me aware of the sinful thoughts I have had. Thank you hor helping me turn from them and follow you. Thank you for loving me and never giving up on me even when I miss the mark. I am committed to keep my mind pure so I can stay close to you and flow your love out to others with no barriers. 

This approach uses the same underlying principles prescribed to achieve salvation:

“… if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

The act of Speaking is powerful:

God spoke the universe into existence (Genesis 1):  He “said“..let there be light…and there was light (Genesis 1:3). 

“The power of death and life is in the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof” (Proverbs 18:21).

Your mouth reveals what is in your heart: “For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)

The speaking process connects all the dots through your mind (thoughts and understanding),  your emotion (values, beliefs), your will (choosing to speak), and your mouth (converting thoughts as words into sound projected into the air around you)

I encourage you to use this approach in your daily spiritual engagement.

Example: Heavenly father: I thank you for loving me more than I can ever even imagine. Jesus: I thank you for loving me so much you were willing to suffer and die for me. I thank you for reuniting me with the father so that I can stand here humbly in innocence and righteousness. I thank you for never giving up on me no matter how far off track I got. I thank you for giving me the Holy Spirit to guide me on this journey. I thank you for continuing to help me recognize shortcoming and helping me improve. You are the vine and I am a branch; Nothing is possible without you, but through you, anything is possible. I submit myself to you and put my complete trust in you. My mind is convinced, my heart is convicted, and my flesh is complying. You are pure love.  You are in me, and I am in you. With your help, I am becoming your love in action…your arms and legs on this earth. With your continued help, I WILL be a beacon for you and make you proud. Thank you for all you have done, and continue to do, for me, my family, and all of your kingdom. AMEN.

Other examples:

Confession of Faith and Identity – Derived from Dan Mohler

Confession of Transformation

Confession of Healing – From Greg Fritz

Leave a comment,  let me know what you think and how this works foe you

Other info on prayer