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I was reading this passage today, and something jumped out and hit me:
"When the days drew near for him [Jesus] to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village." Luke 9:51-56
There's something very interesting about the nature of authority in this passage. Read the disciples' question again, "Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"
This occurs soon after Jesus gave the apostles "power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases" in Luke 9:1, and then sent them out to "proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal" Luke 9:2. In his commissioning speech, Jesus tells them "Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgement for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town [any town that rejects their message]" Matt 10:15. And what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? Consumed with fire.
So, a little sanctified imagination here: the apostles have been with Jesus from near the beginning. They have now seen Jesus heal the sick, cast demons out of folks, curse fig trees, calm storms and raise the dead. Often times he performed these awesome miracles with simple commands, "Child, arise" Luke 8:54, "Peace! Be still" Mark 4:39, "Stretch out your hand" Luke 6:10, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again" Mark 11:14, "Be opened!" Mark 7:34, and "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" Mark 5:8.
The disciples have seen the power of God in Jesus Christ. They have witnessed his authority. They were there for the miracles of their Rabbi - the one whom they longed to be like. And then the day comes: Jesus gives them authority and power and turns'm loose. What do you think happened the first time they encountered a blind man in a village? What do you think they said? How do you think they went about healing him? How do you think they prayed? Could you even call it prayer?
Now, back to our original passage:
"Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"
Now, let me ask you: where in the world did James and John get the idea they could tell fire to come down from heaven and consume a village? It's clear that they got the idea that rejection of their message was punishable by fire from Jesus in Matt 10:15. But where did they get the idea they themselves could just, well, tell fire come down and consume a village? I mean, these guys didn't have any intention to ask God to send the fire down. They weren't going to ask Jesus to do it for them, either. And they certainly weren't going to ask the fire itself if it would come down. No, they were going to tell it to come down themselves.
Do you see it now? What do you think that would have sounded like? Maybe something like, "Fire, come down here and consume these people!" Look, I know Jesus rebuked them for their attitudes here. I'm not condoning any kind of destructive behavior by any means. Rather, I want you to learn something very important about our authority.
You don't have to pray. You don't have to ask God to do it. Jesus didn't, and it's clear that the disciples didn't either. Jesus didn't tell his disciples to go out and pray for the sick. He told them to go heal the sick. There's a difference.
This might seem like a little thing, but it's not. Prayer involves communication. It's a two-way street. Healing the sick doesn't. The only communication involved is a horizontal communication: you telling the sickness to get lost. It's a resident authority based on your relationship with Jesus Christ.
So, what's the point? The point is: You don't have to pray to God and ask him to heal the sick, because he's given you authority to do it yourself! What an exciting privilege we have! God has given us everything we need to co-labor with him and build the Kingdom!
To facilitate a truly global conversation, we ask Christian leaders from around the world to respond to the Global Conversation's lead articles. These points of view do not necessarily represent Christianity Today magazine or the Lausanne Movement. They are designed to stimulate discussion from all points of the compass and from different segments of the Christian community. Please add your perspective by posting a comment so that we can learn and grow together in the unity of the Spirit.
The Reformation of the 16th century was a revolution of mythic proportions. Scholars and pastors with fresh scriptural insights took advantage of revolutionary changes in the arts, science, humanities, politics, travel, and commerce to turn the Western world upside down. It marked both a return to biblical roots and a leap into the future. In the 21st century, what major changes in the church should Christians be hoping and working for? In the final installment of the Global Conversation, four key leaders from four continents reveal their hopes.
One big surprise of the 20th century was the dramatic growth of churches in the non-Western world. A bigger surprise was that the fastest-growing churches were strongly supernaturally oriented. "In this thought world, prophecy is an everyday reality, while faith healing, exorcism, and dream visions are all basic components of religious sensibility," religion historian Philip Jenkins has noted. This is true of African Initiated Churches, Pentecostal churches in Latin America, house churches in China and India, and numerous others.
I grew up in a thought world where ancestral spirits, demonic powers, "gods," and miracles of all kinds abounded. Modern education, the most powerful force behind secularization, almost succeeded in getting me to toss out everything as superstition. Some of these supernatural elements clearly are, but not all. A careful reading of the Bible and the sheer weight of empirical evidence eventually brought me back to a supernatural Christianity. In this, I found myself out of sync with much of Western theology. Here liberals were at least consistent, but not evangelicals. Most liberals denied the supernatural both in the Bible and in the present; evangelicals fought tooth and nail to defend the miraculous in the Bible, but rarely could cope with it in real life.
It is now recognized that much of Western thought has been domesticated by modernity, with its roots in Enlightenment thought. The autonomous rationalism initiated by Descartes and the narrow empiricism pioneered by Hume have so emasculated the modern worldview that a mechanistic universe is all that remains. The resultant denial of the supernatural has crippled much of theology, leading to at least two serious consequences.
First, most present-day Western systematic and pastoral theologies fail to address the demonic at both the personal and cosmic levels. Many scholars deny or ignore the whole subject, explaining away numerous related biblical passages: Paul's references to "principalities and powers" are reduced to sociological structures; sin and evil are discussed without reference to the demonic. Such theologies sit well with modernity, but they provide no help for evangelists and pastors ministering to people who are under spiritual bondage. If these issues are not properly addressed, many non-Westerners will find the gospel impotent and irrelevant.
The other consequence is that Western Christians often fail to fit the "signs and wonders" of the Holy Spirit into their theological framework. Up until recently, they have treated classic Pentecostalism as some form of aberrant religion, along with various versions of non-Western indigenous Christianity that also take the New Testament teaching on spiritual gifts and miracles seriously. But today, with Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement increasingly accepted in the West, and most of the dynamic non-Western churches taking the miraculous seriously, it increasingly looks as if the real aberration is "mainline" Western Christianity.
A 21st-century reformation will demand reinserting the supernatural into the heart of Christianity. This will result not only in a sounder biblical theology but also a more powerful missional church. The world will then understand what Jesus meant when he said, "But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Matt. 12:28, ESV).
It's exciting to me that even in intellectual circles the supernatural trademark of Christianity is gaining prominence. The reality of modern day signs and wonders are being discussed, written about, and debated. Fortunately, there's not much skeptics can do about the tidal wave of miracles sweeping the globe. Soon, it will be on their very doorsteps.
Just in recent months, there has been a surge of interest in healing and the miraculous. Multiple blogs, YouTube Channels, and websites have started. Oftentimes the founders are normal, everyday believers like you or I, living in America. In fact, your reading one of those blogs right now.
In my opinion, one of the sad consequences of naturalism, at least as it relates to Western Christianity, is that there are many pastors, and Christians, who themselves suffer or have loved ones who suffer from demonic influence, attack, and sickness and disease. All the while they had the authority and power of Jesus Christ at their disposal to set them free, heal them, and together live a victorious Christian life.
Things are changing though, and the future is promising. Let's go get'm! Praise God!
A few weeks ago, some friends and I tried to raise the dead. I’m amazed even as I write this. What audacity we had in thinking we could raise the dead. I mean, just thinking about this was totally out of my paradigm a few months back, let alone actually going for it. And yet this group of foolish believers desire to take God at His Word and believe that Matthew 10:8′s call to “raise the dead” is something that applies to us. Curry Blake has got to take a large part of the blame for such foolish thoughts and actions on our part, since his teachings have challenged us to obey the plain meaning of Scripture and believe that we too are called to raise the dead.
Here’s the story. I got to know this person (A) through my blog about two months ago. We met for the first time at Mike Reyes’ meeting, after which three friends and I went to A’s place to pray for a family member who was in a bad state – cancer, tumor, etc. We prayed for about 30 minutes and saw improvement. Some of us came back 2 other times to pray for him but soon the person suddenly died. Having also been influenced by Curry’s teachings, A called us to raise the dead. Some of us went and prayed to raise the dead for about 3-4 hours on the day of the death and 1-2 hours the next day. We still continued to believe even as we went to the wake and the service.
How exactly did we pray to raise the dead? What exactly did we do and say for the many hours? Well, none of us had ever done this before and maybe what we did wasn’t correct, but we did what we would do with a sick person. I’m still pondering over short faith-filled prayers vs. continued long prayers and the tension between aggressiveness and rest. For example, do we just pray a short prayer of faith and believe that the person will be healed or raised from the dead eventually, or do we continue to pray until the person is healed on the spot and the person rises from the dead there and then? If we pray for a long time, is that an expression of a lack of faith and trying to “work” for the healing (thus not “resting” in the finished work), or is praying a long time good because it expresses the aggressiveness needed to see the healing (raising from the dead) manifest?
Anyway, we declared the truth of God over the person, we sang and worshiped God, we spoke to the person to wake up and arise as Jesus did in Scriptures and we laid hands on the body and imparted life. When the casket guy was on the way to pick up the body, the body had already been dead for about 24 hours by then. He told us that the body should normally be taken away for embalming within a few hours of death and because it’s been such a long time after death, we had to be careful of bacteria from decomposition of the body. Well, that advice came a bit too late because we had already laid hands on the body for many hours. Laying hands on a dead body can be a bit freaky but we believed Romans 8:2 like John G. Lake – not only that nothing would harm us but also that the Spirit in us that gives life would be imparted to the dead body as we laid hands.
When we first decided to raise the dead, we actually faced some difficulty dealing with the Christian casket services. We needed a registered doctor to certify the death so that the police would leave the place and we could get some time to pray to raise the dead. As Curry mentioned, never allow the body to be taken to the mortuary because then you don’t get to pray much there. Anyway, the casket services normally provide both the doctor certifying the death and the rest of the arrangements needed (coffin, wake, funeral, etc.). When I helped to call a Christian casket service to ask if we could just get them to send the doctor to certify the death because we believed that we would not need the other services (why would you need the other services if the dead is raised?), they couldn’t understand me at all and continued speaking to me as if I were talking nonsense. I got so frustrated with trying to explain that we’re Christians and we believe in raising the dead because they responded pretty much ignoring what I’d said. Yes, a pretty foreign concept it is, raising the dead. You can’t blame them because that would have been a foreign concept to me too a few months back. The fact that raising the dead is a foreign concept for almost all Christians today shows how far we’ve fallen from the norm of the Bible and early Christianity.
Well, the person didn’t wake up despite hours of prayers but even during the wake service, we would still hold on to him being raised. When the Christian minister mentioned that this person was called to the Lord and acted as if it was over, we would just quietly reject that. When we viewed the body, we spoke to the person to wake up and arise, as Jesus did. Why accept defeat when it’s not over yet? Be it unto us according to our faith.
So what happened in the end? The dead person did not rise up. Why not? I dunno. Our lack of faith or our unbelief? Most probably. What I do know is that even as I laid hands on a dead person for hours, smelling the stench of death, I knew it’s not God’s will that a person dies this way. It brings no glory to God and it’s sickening. Sickness and death through sickness is sickening and I hate it. And I know God hates it too. Yes, we all have to die if the Lord tarries, but not this way.
I know thinking this way is pretty radical. Thinking we should be raising the dead is radical. Thinking that no Christian should die of sickness is radical. But I believe the only reason it’s radical is because of our Christian traditions based on a form of powerless Christianity. I can’t believe that if I so hate sickness and death, Daddy up there thinks any differently. The compassion for the sick and the hatred towards sickness did not originate from you or me, as if we’re somehow more compassionate than God. It’s the Christ in us who so hates sickness and disease and who has compassion for those facing it. It’s the mind of Christ in me that cannot accept all this.
“Yes, God hates sickness and disease but that’s only going to be fully eradicated only when Jesus returns again”, some may argue. Yes, total eradication will occur then but the only reason why the sick are not being healed and the dead are not being raised now regularly is because we’re not doing it – not because God doesn’t want to do it through us. Our prayer and desire ought to be that God’s Kingdom come on this earth. That’s God’s desire too. And I believe we’ll see more and more dead being raised over the next few decades before Jesus returns. And I’m going to be part of raising the dead. I have absolutely no doubt about that…
P.S.: I’m getting in touch with The Dead Raising Team to see what they can teach us.
First, Kundan (who I wrote about here), came into our room some time back and had some kind of stye-type-of-thing in his eye. Ashley raised her hand (without touching him) and prayed. Kundan said that something was happening, and to keep praying.
Since that time, and since Kundan is a believer now, he has been praying to Jesus and commanding the pain to leave his eye on his own. He said that his roommates think he's nuts, but he's getting results. Not 100% (yet) but still, the pain is leaving. On top of that, Kundan has been reading the Gospel of John, and learning about Jesus on his own. This is so exciting for me, because Kundan is seeking all of this out himself!
Secondly, I called to order some food at the hotel, and at the end of the call I asked the man on the other end of the line to send a sick person to my room because I wanted to pray for them. He said that his wrist hurt, so he'd come. I love it :)
He came, I put my hand on his arm, commanded the pain to go and it took off. Jesus is King!
Look, believers will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. If you're a believer, just put your hand on somebody! It's that easy!
Our Call to Abortion Clinic - Be like Jesus and Trust the Holy Spirit
I have made a decision to be like Jesus. This entry is dedicated to my brothers and sisters from The Call and IHOP. I say this with such love in my heart. I gave up my life and my posessions to build a House of Prayer. My heart flames for Jesus more than any other time. Open your heart to an experience I had yesterday. For any readers who do not know, The Call and IHOP leaders have called our people to do silent seiges which is walking around abortion clinics to pray with red tape across the mouth that says LIFE. As I have been studying the Life of Christ, I measure everything on this principle, "WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?" I do not see Jesus wearing red tape over His mouth instead I see Him minister to the people at the clinic with LOVE! I have even began to preach against doing this but had not yet done this which is take the tape off, love and pray for people. Well yesterday, I was trying to get to an appointment and got lost. In front of me was a large Planned Parenthood Facility, I had no excuse. I was scared but perfect love casts out fear. There was noone walking in or out. I prayed, "Lord I will give this 15 minutes..." Then a lady walked out with a cane and I approached her and asked her if I could pray for her (ALL FEAR LEFT)...she immediately lashed out and said, "Are you a christian...are you here to protest..." She was angry and bitter. I replied, " I am here to LOVE people and pray for them. I noticed that you have a cane, can I pray for your pain. WAlls began to crumble before my very eyes! I could see breakthrough! My eyes began to water. I did not see a "baby murderer", I saw a soul who needed Jesus! She said, "What the heck, why not." She allowed me to take her hand and I commanded pain to go and restoration of the knee and leg to come NOW in Jesus name! I felt a surge of intense love and I thought this is John 4, the Samirtan Woman. I KNEW THAT THIS IS WHAT JESUS WOULD DO. She declared that she was 100% healed. Her parting words with a smile made me joyful and pierced my heart through. She said, "Thank you (with a smile), I HAVE NEVER MET A CHRISTIAN LIKE YOU!" Christians, wake up!!! Get the red tape off of your mouth! This is REVIVAL! I trust the Holy Spirit to do the rest in her heart! Please hear my heart...I love that 20,000 youth were fired up anough in Jesus to go to The Call, but can you imagine if all those kids went out and prayed for people in hospitals, Planned Parenthood, parks, malls, etc...THIS IS REVIVAL!!!
In my experience, there's one thing that will keep you from stepping out and laying hands on the sick more anything else: the fear of man.
Healing is easy. It really is. Unfortunately, the reason most Christians have never experienced God working through them in this way is because they've never actually tried. Their powerlessness has nothing to do with a lack of anointing, impartation, or spiritual gift. Every believer has authority to heal the sick and do the works of Jesus (Matt 10:1, Luke 9:1, Luke 10:19, John 14:12). Rather, it's the fear of man keeps believers from stepping out in obedience, trusting God, and seeing the Kingdom of Heaven crush through the gates of hell. This very thing kept me in bondage for two years, and there are still times when I struggle with it.
Mark 12:14 says, "And they came and said to him, 'Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God." The actual greek says, "you do not look at people's faces."
Obviously, I think Jesus looked at people's faces. Rather, the greek here implies that Jesus did not take the reactions and opinions of man into consideration. He didn't let other's thoughts and feelings about Him sway Him from the truth and obedience to God. Jesus was a free man.
So, what did Jesus know that we don't? How can we renew our minds and break out of these prison bars of fear?
Know that the stakes are high - set your mind on the things of God! We're talking about life or death, heaven or hell. This isn't about your inner-comfort and reputation, this is about the King getting what He paid for. This is about souls being snatched from the fires of hell. Your obedience or disobedience could mean heaven for somebody, it could mean life. On the flip-side, your failure to overcome the fear of man might mean an early death and Christ-less eternity for someone. I know this isn't easy to hear, but it's the truth. What we do or don't do makes a difference in where people spend eternity (including ourselves - Matt 25:31-47). Jesus knew that enduring the cross meant an eternity spent with those who loved Him. He set His mind on the "things of God" (Matt 16:23, Col 3:1-4). This allowed Him to "set face towards Jerusalem" (Luke 9:53) and gladly enter into suffering. Hebrews 12:1-2: "...let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."
In 1 John 3:8, it says "the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." And in John 17:4, Jesus says "I glorified You on earth [God], having accomplished the work You gave me to do." Then, in John 20:21, Jesus says "Asthe Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." And Eph 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Here's what I'm getting at: Jesus glorified the Father by accomplishing the works the Father gave Him to do. Then, Eph 2:10 says that God has prepared good works for us that we should walk in them. These two verses imply that one of the ways we glorify God is by completing the works He has given us to do. If the fear of man in your life is causing you to leave the works God has prepared for you incomplete, then God is being robbed of His glory!
Fear of man is an attack from the enemy - a defeated enemy! I had a friend tell me once that if we didn't see the fear of man as an attack from the enemy, then it would be more difficult to overcome. The truth is, "God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control" (2 Tim 1:7). If God didn't give us a spirit of fear, then where is the fear of man coming from? There's only two other sources: you, and the devil. I'm betting on the latter. Either way, it's an attack, and it's not from God. It's standing in the way of your obedience and that means it has to die.
Okay, let me ask you a question: who in the world is scared of a defeated enemy?! Answer: Christians!
Guys, let's get real: "He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him." (Col 2:15)
"...that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil..." (Heb 2:14)
"...and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." (Eph 1:20-23)
If the above two points are true, here's the situation: people are dying and some are going to hell for eternity because a defeated enemy has imprisoned you with fear, and this is keeping God from being glorified in your life.
Time for a jailbreak - declare war on the enemy! That last bit wasn't to guilt trip you, it was to get you fed up. If you're not fed up yet, you need to get fed up. The fear of man is idolatry. My suggestion is that you repent right now, and declare war on the fear of man. You must see it as an enemy! Set your heart right now to be a doer of the Word, to seek first the Kingdom of God, and make a commitment to share and demonstrate the good news of Jesus with every person you encounter who needs to know the love and power of the King. And if the fear of man rises up in your heart, take authority over that work of the enemy and command that thing to BE GONE! in Jesus' Name! If it doesn't leave, show that devil you're serious by busting out of those prison doors, approaching that person and openly destroying the work of the devil in their life. I guarantee you it will feel good to glorify God and show the devil what's up.
To summarize: 1) Know what's at stake, set your mind on the things of God and see the big picture. 2) Realize that the fear of man is an attack from an already defeated enemy. 3) Declare war and repent by openly launching an attack against this thing. Step out in faith and overcome the enemy!
I encourage you as you go about life today to take a risk of faith, and watch how God shows up and meets you. Then, please, share your experience in a comment below.
It's been a while since I've posted. Part of this is that I've been busier at work, and another part of this is that opportunities to pray for the sick have been passed up (grr!) and not as frequent.
However, that doesn't mean that nothing has happened!
Remember Bhaghat? I wrote about him here. His son was sick (waking up with a fever and bad congestion), and he asked us to come to his home and pray for him. We did, however, his son's sickness continued. I told him we'd pray for his son every day until he was better. So we set up a plan: he was going to call me every night when he got home, and I'd pray over the phone. We did this once, and his son was totally better! Thank You, Jesus!
Then, earlier this week, one of our driver's told me that his wrist and his back hurt. When he dropped me off, I commanded the pain to go in his wrist, and then God grew his leg out. He was totally healed.
Jesus is amazing!
Unfortunately, the rest of this week has been a struggle. Most of the sick or injured people I've seen have been at work (I did pray for one person, but did not see results :/ ). I work in a corporate setting, and I'm sure that some of you know how difficult it can be to pray for your coworkers. Regardless of that, this fear of man thing has to die. Jesus is my Master all the time, and there's no off button in the Jesus-life.
"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
For a while now, I've been looking out for an opportunity to pray for some of the hotel supervisors and managers, hoping to open a door to the rest of the employees. Well, last night I went down to pay our hotel bill. While in the lobby, I looked across into the dining area and saw about 5 - 7 employees and 2 supervisors. None of the guests were eating, so the staff were patiently standing their posts, waiting for customers to arrive.
I figured this was the opportunity I had been waiting for. I walked in and told one of the supervisors to send me all of his sick employees, and that I would pray for them and Jesus would send them back all better. He was skeptical, and laughed, and then called over a friend of his (the other supervisor) and said he had back problems. I had him sit in a chair, prayed, and Jesus grew his leg out. Suddenly he realized I wasn't playing around.
Then another person came forward, also reporting back problems. Jesus grew his leg out too. I stood up, "Who's next?" All total, I think Jesus grew 3-4 legs out right there.
One man said he had really bad neck pain around a 7-8 (pain level). I prayed once, and it improved. Hit it two more times and it was totally gone. He made mention that he had it since he was young, so I had him sit so that I could check his legs. One was about an inch short. I had one of the supervisors (the skeptical one) hold the legs, and Jesus grew it out pretty fast. It looked like the leg jumped out 2 to 3 times, and it was completely even.
After that, one of the supervisors said that he had tennis elbow. He had damaged some nerves and seen doctors for near a year. He had had surgery, and was currently in physical therapy. I put my hand on his elbow and told him he'd feel some heat, and with the biggest smile on his face he looked up and said that he did. After a moment, the pain was gone.
I kept telling them all, "It's Jesus," over and over again.
At this point, guests were coming down, managers and other big wigs were staring from a distance, and other employees were starting to gather in 2s and 3s talking about what had happened. I decided I should probably go upstairs so that everyone could get back to work.
About 1 hour later, however, I came back down. I saw Aneesh (the supervisor with tennis-elbow) and he said that a little bit of pain came back. I prayed and it went away again. He said, "She has a headache," and motioned to a female employee standing next to him. I took the woman's hand, and held it for a minute, silently commanding the headache to go. Suddenly, she began to look down and kept asking, "What's happening to my hand? What are you doing?" I'm assuming she felt some tingling or warming sensation, but I'm not sure. I commanded the headache to go, and it left, but all the sudden she said she was really confused. I could see it in her eyes too. It looked like she had been hit in the head or something. At first, I thought maybe Holy Spirit was wrecking her because of the odd sensations in her hand. However, our God is not a God of confusion - and she was definitely confused! And if you had seen her eyes, you probably would have come to the same conclusion I did... that this was an unclean spirit. I commanded it to leave, and suddenly all clarity came zipping back.
Aneesh said that every time I prayed, the pain left, but then it came back. I told him that that's because it's an evil spirit afflicting him, and since Jesus doesn't live in his heart, he has no one to protect him. I told him it would just come back again if he didn't receive Jesus.
Suddenly, both were all ears and both definitely wanted to know Jesus. I pitched the good news of Jesus, told them that they must repent and turn away from their false idols. You could almost see it in their faces, they knew that their idols weren't gods. The light of heaven broke through and shone upon their hearts. I prayed with them right there on the spot (at the dining room guest book in a four-star hotel) and both gladly receive Jesus as their Lord.
I emailed both of them a link to the Hindi version of the Gospel of John, and am praying for a church plant.
Jesus is King! Man, all we have to do is step out, and God will be faithful.
Yesterday, at work, I found out that my manager's 8 month old daughter has dysentery. I told him that Ashley and I would come and pray for her, and he said that he might be calling me in the near future. He asked me, "Are you a Christian that sees visions?" At first, I didn't understand him, so I asked him to repeat himself. Then he said, "Well, I have a friend who is a Christian, and he developed these powers and can see the future. Then, another friend, his Mother is a staunch Christian, and she developed these powers to do exorcisms. Are you one of the Christians that have developed powers?"
Haha! I love it. People in the third-world have a more Christian worldview than those in the West, and they aren't even Christian!!!
So, I told him yeah, my wife gets insights on people and moves in the prophetic, and I move more in healing. It's not that we're limited to these gifts, these are just areas we're more practiced in.
I'm looking forward to his phone call, but regardless, his daughter's name is Niesha. So, join me: Dysentery, sickness, GO! In Jesus' Name! Unclean spirit, come out of her and never return, in Jesus' Name! Body, be completely healed, in Jesus' Name!
I'll let you know the report.
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Today, Deepa, the girl we prayed for (I wrote about it here) and God grew her leg out (and shrunk one!) came back and told us she still had back pain. Something happened today, and it's been causing her a lot of problems. To demonstrate the pain, she bent about a 1/4 of the way over and stopped because it hurt too bad.
Hmm, seems fishy, doesn't it? Just yesterday, God healed her,... today it's back...
...anyhoo, we prayed once for the pain to go, and there was a slight improvement. Ashley's hand was on her back, and said it was really hot, so she left it there (heat is good!). We prayed a second time and commanded a spirit of infirmity to get out, and not return, and this time, she was completely healed! Thank You Jesus! Ashley said later that she knew it was an unclean spirit, she could sense it.
Deepa was thrilled and said she was thankful to Jesus, and to us. She then told us that everyone in the hotel speaks very highly of us, and says that we're really good doctors. Haha! We told her that we aren't doctors, but we know the Doctor.
Jesus is so awesome.
Let's do what the Bible says, and watch the Kingdom of Heaven crash into earth.
Yesterday, Kundan, a friend of ours from housekeeping, came by to clean our room. While he was here, two of his coworkers came in. One was a female, and when she was on her way out I thought I got a word of knowledge that she had back pain. So, I asked her, and she did. I had her sit down, and Ashley held her legs. One was short.
I had Kundan, and the other gentleman watch her legs as Ashley and I prayed for it to grow out. One of the legs started to grow, and the gap began to shorten, but it wasn't closing all the way. Then I commanded the other leg to shrink in Jesus' Name, and as soon as I did that it jumped right back to where it was supposed to be. Both legs were even!
The girl, Deepa, felt both of her legs growing/shrinking as we prayed. She was very thankful to Jesus and to Ashley and I, and her back pain was totally gone!
After Deepa and the other gentleman left, it was just Kundan left in the room. He was very amazed. He kept trying to express his shock in broken English, all that would come out was, "This I have seen with my eyes... I have never imagined..."
Ashley and I used the opportunity to tell him about the love and power of Jesus Christ. We told him that Jesus loved him, and that if he was willing to turn away from all wrong things and live a life of love, that Jesus would send His Spirit to live in his heart (it's hard to present the fullness of the goodness with such a language barrier).
Kundan was ready to turn from sin and receive Jesus as Lord, so we prayed with him. It was a typical sinners prayer, and we asked God to fill him up. At the end, I asked Kundan how he was feeling, and he was like, "Something feeling good." So, because of the love and power of Jesus, we have another brother to spend eternity with!!!
We offered to come to Kundan's home and teach him and his roommates more about Jesus and the Bible. He sounded interested so we'll see what happens!
Haha, Jesus You're so amazing! Kingdom baby! Kingdom!
Since being in India, Ashley and I have prayed for a lot of people. Probably 7 - 10 in the last week. God has healed every single person we've prayed for.
Word is getting out about the healing power of Jesus, and it's becoming common for people to ask us to pray for them to be healed. Lately, we've been getting invited to people's houses to pray for their sick loved ones. We've had two invites in just the last two days!
Two days ago, on my way back from work, the driver asked us to come to his home and pray for his 8 year-old son because he has frequent nightmares that wake him up and terrify him. I told the driver that his son was being attacked by an evil spirit, but that Jesus is more mighty than the evil spirit and will kill it and set his son free. He was very hopeful, and glad to hear the good news. Ashley and I hope to go there tomorrow. Please pray that God would draw them into the Kingdom!
Yesterday, a man came to our room to bring us some food we had ordered. He had some stomach pain, so we prayed for him and Jesus completely knocked it out. Right afterwards, he asked Ashley and I to come to his home to pray for his mom.
Last night I spoke to Baghat on the phone (he's who I wrote about in this post), and he told me that his wrist had very "low pain" in it. I prayed for him over the phone and Jesus took all the pain away.
Today, we went over to Baghat's house and met more of his family. While there, we had the opportunity to pray for Baghat's Mom, and his son. His son had nightly fevers and congestion. Baghat told me that they had seen 2 or 3 doctors, and no one can help. Ashley and I put our hands on him and commanded the infirmity to go. It was difficult to check if he was healed because his son is only 2 years old. I'm assuming he is, because the Word says we'll lay our hands on the sick and recover. But I went ahead and told Baghat that if he keeps waking up with fevers that we will come back until he is healed. Jesus healed them all (Acts 10:38) - so we know it's His will - and promised that we would do the same things and greater (John 14:12)!
After this, we prayed for Baghat's Mom. She had a stomach surgery where the doctors removed some veins, and since that time she has suffered from gas. Ashley and I put our hands on her and commanded all the organs to function as they should, and thanked Jesus for making them brand new. After praying, she said that she felt heat down by her stomach, and that it felt better.
They were all very blessed.
Ashley and I hope to return in the future to share more of Jesus with the family. We hope that a door opens and they all accept the good news. Perhaps we can start a family church (just another name for simple church that Indian's are more receptive to). Baghat is definitely a person of peace (Luke 10:5-9). If Baghat accepted Jesus, I imagine the entire family of 10+ would readily follow.
Lord, please give them heart revelation of Your beauty. Put a desire in their hearts to know more about You, and more about your Word. Thank You, Jesus! You're amazing! Amen.
This morning, one of the hotel staff brought breakfast up to Ashley and I's room. I asked him if he had any pain in his body, and he said he had a nerve that caused him trouble in his back. I prayed for him and the pain totally went away. I told him it was all Jesus! He was blessed, and thankful.
A little later, another person from the hotel staff brought some sugar packets up to our room. I asked him the same question, and he had back pain. I had him sit down, and I pulled his legs up. One was short, but I didn't even have to pray, God just started growing it out. He stood, I prayed one more time, and all the pain was knocked out. I told him it was all Jesus! Woo!
After that, Ashley and I took a cab over to Shipra Mall. On the way there, the cab driver asked us to pray for his chest pain. When we got to the mall, we prayed, and God healed him. Then he said his back hurt too. I prayed a few times, God grew his leg out, and his back pain left. While this was going on, a man walking through the parking lot stopped and observed. I had the taxi driver translate and ask the man if he had any pain or sickness. He said he had a headache, so I prayed and Jesus healed him too. I told them both it was Jesus that healed them. They were very thankful and happy that they were pain free.
Every time God heals a person here in India, there's a language barrier. It's difficult to tell them about the Kingdom and the fullness of the good news of Jesus Christ. I usually just try to say "Jesus" as much as possible - at least three to four times every encounter. They at least get that, because they are very religious people.
Holy Spirit, please lead them to search out Jesus Christ. Appear to them in dreams and visions in the night, and open their hearts to the fullness of the love of God! Thank You, You're amazing! Amen.
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Below is a really cool YouTube video the guys over at RevivalorRiots crew put together. If you go to the source YouTube page of this video, you'll see links to their websites.
This video is really about repenting from an Old Covenant mindset and embracing a New Covenant mindset. This paradigm shift has radically changed my relationship with God in a way that has brought peace, faith, and love. I encourage you to dig deeper. If you would like to discuss, feel free to email me or leave a comment. Be blessed:
A few posts ago, I wrote about a cab driver that God healed after I prayed for him. The next day, on my way to work, the cab driver (a different one) said, "Sir, I have question I ask of you. My back has been in some pain for quite long time..."
He had heard from Baghat how Jesus healed his wrist, and he wanted to know if I would ask Jesus to heal his back. He was driving down a hill and crashed his car back in May. Since then, he had spent 25,000 rupees (about $500) - which is A LOT of money here - but still had no comfort. When we reached our destination, I had him get out of the car and I prayed for him. I had to pray about 5 times, but Jesus knocked it completely out.
I told him, "It was Jesus! It was Jesus! He loves you." It's difficult to say a whole lot more because of the language barrier sometimes.
He was blessed. Jesus is Lord!
Since then, I've also prayed for several of the hotel staff who had various back problems. Everyone's on their feet all the time here, so it's a common thing. Jesus has healed them all, because He loves them all. And I told them that.
In the future, I'm hoping to find a hotel manager to pray for. That would open some doors... God wants to take this place more than I do, so I've got my eyes peeled :)
Thank You Jesus for the privilege of co-laboring with You to bring the Kingdom. Let's take back the land for the Kingdom!
Today, housekeeping came by the hotel room to clean. After the two guys were done, I asked if either of them had any pain or sickness in their bodies. One of them said they had back pain.
I asked one of them to sit down, I checked his legs, and one was short. Then, like a blast from the past, God grew it out. I told him that it was Jesus, and that Jesus loved him. There wasn't much time to talk, and they didn't speak very good english. But I kept saying, "Jesus, it was Jesus."
On the way out, one of the men told me that if anyone else had back pain they would send them to Ashley and I. I told them to send us anyone who has ANY pain or sickness. They walked away touched by the Master.
The devil's got nothing, and Jesus is supreme! Thank You Lord!
"I felt sorry that they had to go through all this and I felt a bit embarrassed for myself, but I know that ultimately it’s about obedience. I didn’t see any result then and obviously I was terribly disappointed but I still hold on to God’s Word for His Word is above my experiences. If there’s a failure, it’s not with God, but with me. But when I say this, I am not condemning myself. I am secure in God’s love enough to know that His love never leaves me when I fail."
During my time in India, I will be staying at the Park Plaza hotel. Every day, I commute to work via hotel cab drivers. Since this is going on my fourth month in India this year, Ashley and I have been able to build relationships with various hotel staff.
Yesterday, on my way to work, Baghat (pronounced Bug-ot), my cab driver, said to me, "Sir, last time you here, you blessed me for better job. But you also ask me if I had pain. Sir, I did not have pain then, but I do now." Baghat showed me his wrist. It was all bandaged up.
Baghat didn't know why there was pain, but I think it may have been some form of tendonitis. He had it X-rayed, but the bones looked fine. He told me it had been hurting him off and on for about two years.
At any rate, I told him Jesus would knock that out no problem because Jesus loves him. When we got to the office, I prayed twice and the pain was totally gone. "This is incredible, sir!" Baghat said.
Immediately after Jesus healed his wrist, he asked me to come to his home and pray for his child. His baby has had a fever off and on for two months, and keeps waking up with congestion and some other things.
God is opening doors! Man, He's just so awesome! Thank You, Papa!
