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) (26 page)

As I thought about the pain, I remembered that God had been speaking to me about pain returning after healing. This was a new concept as I’d only been praying with people for about a year. On a hunch, I took the position in my mind that the pain was not a herniated disc, but an imitation of that pain, caused by a demon. I told myself repeatedly, “I do not have a herniated disc.” Suspecting an evil spirit was at work, I commanded the spirit to leave. After ten minutes it left, but it returned 20 minutes later. When it returned I repeated the same process and had my wife join me in the battle. This went on for two hours. Each time we did this, the pain would leave – only to return. Finally, I was so exhausted I had to go to sleep, even if the pain was still there. I decided to rebuke the spirit one last time and commanded it not to return. When I went to sleep the pain was as bad as it had been all night. But when I awoke in the morning I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had no pain – and it never returned.

I learned a great deal from this experience. I learned that we may have the symptoms of a condition that perfectly mimic the condition itself, with no actual injury or disease process in our body. A demon can create a near perfect imitation of a real medical condition. I also learned that a key to victory over the enemy lies in what we believe and what we say. I refused to believe or admit that I had a herniated disc, even though the symptoms felt exactly like it. I also learned that although we might see complete removal of the spirit and symptoms once, it doesn’t mean they won’t return. And if the symptoms return, the strategy that worked the first time can be used again as often as needed until the spirit realizes we aren’t going to allow it to afflict us. I’ve used these principles in my own life many times since then. Today, when I pray with someone who has been healed, I always try to spend a few minutes teaching them what to do if the symptoms return.

In 2010, I had a chance to help my sister-in-law obtain healing for an occluded artery in her leg. She suffered from poor circulation in her leg for many years. Her foot was always cold and numb and her doctor had been considering placing a stent in the artery to keep it open. One day, I asked if she wanted to be healed and she said yes. I commanded the artery to be open and the circulation to return to normal. She didn’t feel anything different until the next morning, when she woke up with a warm foot that had normal sensation and circulation. She was beaming with joy. Later that day, her foot became cold and numb and with a worried heart she asked me what happened.

I sat her down and explained that healing and sickness are a battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. Like it or not – healing is warfare. God wants us to be healed and the enemy wants us to be sick. I’m not sure that my sister-in-law is a Christian, but she understood what I was saying. I told her the enemy brought the symptoms back to try to convince her she wasn’t healed and that all we had to do was push back a little and do some more warfare. I commanded her leg to be healed again and a few minutes later the circulation returned to normal. I told her that all she needed to do was to resist the enemy’s tactics if it happened again. “If the symptoms return, command them to leave.” With a smile of understanding she confidently maintained her healing and she’s had normal circulation in her foot since that day.

My sister didn’t want to continue the merry-go-round of sickness. She wasn’t getting sympathy from anyone. She received no financial benefit. She didn’t dwell on how her ability to endure the condition proved that she had great character or strength. She received no gratification from it whatsoever – she wanted it gone. Once she was healed, she chose to close her account with sickness.

She and many others like her will be healed and remain healed, because they earnestly want no part of their condition. Once it’s gone, they don’t imagine what will happen if it returns. Fear that our sickness will return is an easy trap to fall into. Fear is a tool of the enemy. When we are healed, we are given a taste of God’s power and love. The Bible says,

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
1 JN. 4:18

When we fear the return of sickness, we do so because we doubt that God has really healed us or that we will remain healed. We may also doubt that He truly loves us. Fear and doubt about God’s goodness allow the enemy to bring sickness back. When we live from a place of faith, we walk on ground that God has given us as our possession. It is our inheritance and our refuge. Faith is our place of strength. The enemy is at a disadvantage when we walk on the ground called faith. When we walk in doubt and fear, we walk on the enemy’s ground, which allows him to keep us in pain. Where we walk is a choice we have to make. The choice we make determines the outcome of our healing. Fear will keep us in sickness. Faith will keep us healed. This is why we must close our account with sickness and choose never again to entertain these thoughts

Roger Webb shared this testimony on Facebook about how some people view healing and sickness:

I have often wondered just how many people would rather talk about their sickness instead of be healed of their sickness. So many would lose their benefits if they got healed and would rather have the monthly income instead of being free.

I remember a woman several years ago that attended a service. I laid hands on her and she was instantly healed of major knee and leg problems. You should have seen the look on her face when all the pain left and she regained full mobility. She was jumping around so excited!

The next night I was looking for her so she could give her testimony but she was nowhere to be found. Her friend that brought her the night before told me when her friend got home it dawned on her that she was going to lose her monthly check because she no longer had a disability. The woman got depressed and went to bed and woke up the next morning upset. She told her friend she would rather have a monthly disability check than be healed. She went and laid down on the couch and by the time afternoon rolled around all the pain returned and she was right back to her disability and crippled up. She refused to return to the miracle services.

Roger Sapp made this observation about keeping our healing:

I prayed about this matter and felt that the Lord told me that because I was getting them healed on the basis of my faith rather than their faith, this was creating this situation.

In other words, I knew how to stand in faith and receive a healing for them but they didn’t know how to stand in faith to keep it. Whatever is received by faith in Christ must be maintained by faith in Christ. When a symptom arose, they quickly doubted that they were healed and didn’t maintain it. So today, we spend more time getting them to believe for themselves, helping them deal with their doubts and teaching them what to do if a symptom returns… which is to do the same thing that they did to receive the healing. They had to believe that the healing belonged to them before they received it. They had to believe that Christ had purchased it for them at the cross. Nothing has changed if they have a symptom. They must believe that the healing still belongs to them despite a symptom because of what Christ has done. What causes someone to receive… faith in Christ as Healer… is what causes them to maintain. Today, I think that we have a lot fewer people losing their healing.

In summary, there are a number of things we can do to maintain our healing. One is to treat others, particularly those in the body of Christ, with respect and honor. Another is to avoid sin. It’s good to occasionally testify about our healing instead of testifying about our sickness.

We should refuse to entertain thoughts about sickness returning and instead fix our thoughts on God’s goodness. Another key is to resist the tendency to take ownership of the condition by referring to it as “mine.” And occasionally, if the symptoms return we might need to command them to leave. We must continue to believe after we are healed, that Christ is still and always will be our healer. Once we are healed, we must close our account with sickness.

I
’D LIKE TO DEDICATE THIS
chapter to the friends who have come to me often for prayer and are still not healed. I want you to know that I haven’t given up on seeing you healed. You’ve received prayer from so many people and you’re still not well, but you refuse to quit. Your persistence is remarkable. I’ve learned some things by talking with all of you and it’s my hope that eventually you’ll get the breakthrough you’re looking for. Thanks for being patient with God as He teaches us about healing. Thank you for not giving up on us.

We’re on a journey of discovery. That journey is a progressive revelation of eternal truths that have existed in the mind of God and upon which His kingdom was built long before Adam walked with Him in the cool of the day. On this journey, we’ll find many things that have been hidden, waiting for us to find them. For in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and it is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Yes, God has hidden from us the treasures of wisdom. Why, you ask? So that we might pursue them and in the process find Him. Our journey is nothing less than the complete revelation of God and all of His ways through His son, Jesus.

One of the mysteries we hope to uncover has to do with the question of why some people are healed while others are not. Some may be content to shrug their shoulders and say, “We’ll never know.” I’m not one of them. I think we may know, but I believe many will reject the truth when they hear it, finding it distasteful.

So the question is: Why are some people not healed despite having received prayer from faith-filled believers, who know their authority and who otherwise have good results?

The most likely explanation for failed healing is a lack of faith in the person praying. I’ve had many people tell me that they’ve prayed in faith, but nothing happened. When I ask what kind of results they typically have – they admit that most of the people they pray for are not healed.

If you aren’t seeing people healed regularly, the most likely explanation is that you lack the kind of faith that consistently heals people. This kind of faith is covered in the chapter on faith for healing.

The next thing to consider is that some obstacle may be present that must be removed. Sometimes it’s a spirit of sickness; sometimes it’s fear or an attitude toward God or themselves that must change.

I’ve heard stories about failed healing from people who asked if they might pray with someone they knew. In these cases, the one needing healing held the one praying in low esteem or had other negative feelings that the one praying was able to sense. In these cases, healing did not manifest.

Our perceptions of the one praying can be an obstacle to receiving healing. Our view of them can create doubt in their mind or build a barrier in our heart that prevents us from receiving our healing. This is particularly true if we hold ill feelings toward them or someone else. Remember that James tied confession of sin and forgiveness to healing.

I’m a creature of habit. One of my habits is finding patterns in things. I’m not sure that I do it intentionally, but it seems like I notice patterns more than most people. In my time on Facebook, I’ve noticed patterns of behavior and beliefs among the thousands of friends I have. People who have these behaviors fall into groups, at least in my mind, and sometimes they form literal groups. There are three groups of people that regularly interact with me.

Two of these groups operate in divine healing. The groups have their origin in two divergent views about how healing is to be done. One group existed long before the other one. Although the first group has a lot of truth in its teaching about healing, it also has some misunderstanding and error. As these errors were recognized, a second group formed which took note of the errors and developed new doctrines about healing that were supposed to be free of them. In an attempt to completely strip the first group of any credibility, the second group tossed out nearly all the teachings of the first group, including the legitimate things they had discovered. We now have two groups that operate in healing which seem to have become adversaries. Now let’s look at each group.

The first group tends to approach healing from a revelatory standpoint. They desire to have God reveal the issues involved in a person’s life that contribute to their condition and through a process of dealing with each issue, healing takes place. They look at issues of sin and repentance, generational curses, and problems that exist in the soul. They have good results in the areas of inner healing and deliverance and some success in physical healing.

The second group for the most part rejects the need for God to reveal issues in a person’s life. They operate instead by exercising faith and authority over sickness. There is little else they rely on to accomplish healing. Because of this view, they tend to attribute failure in healing to a lack of faith or a lack of exercising authority. They rarely consider other possibilities. And although they have impressive results in the area of physical healing, they don’t do as well in the area of emotional healing, though they agree that 100 percent healing is the goal.

Both groups have a measure of success and a measure of failure, but neither group sees everyone healed. It’s been said, “If your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” I think both groups suffer from working with a small toolbox. Each group could learn a great deal from the other and probably have better success, but this never seems to happen. Both groups are highly suspicious of the other and frankly, there’s a lot of hostility between them. Sadly, the hostility is instigated and encouraged by the leaders in each group.

The third group is small; just a handful of people who receive healing prayer as often as possible from people in both groups but their illness remains. Most of these illnesses manifest as physical symptoms. Often their symptoms confound medical experts and defy diagnostic tests. They’re often told, “We can’t find anything in our tests,” or they receive a diagnosis like fibromyalgia, which puts a name on the condition, but doesn’t explain its cause. (There are many theories about what might cause fibromyalgia, but there is no consensus among medical experts at this time.) While other people with serious illness gradually get better or experience a sudden miracle, these individuals often suffer continual disappointment, never getting better and some actually become worse. They always ask, “Why?”