Many have found Jesus as Savior, but are not aware of His healing power. God said in Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
Even today some church leaders are offended by miracles, saying that miracles have long passed and are no longer part of the Christian life. That could be true if God has changed or Jesus has changed, but the authority of God’s Word says that neither one has changed. In fact, God says of Himself, “I am the Lord and I change not” (Malachi 3:6).
Jesus knew His mission. He was set to go to the cross, and on that cross He would pay the price for our sin, for our peace, for our sicknesses, and for our diseases. He took upon Himself all our punishment on that cross.
Remember, the miracle of salvation occurs without a touch. What happens to the body when the Spirit of God, Who created the whole universe, fills it? Our bodies need life just like our spirit needs life. When we respond to words that heaven backs up, then Life infuses our system and oftentimes, without even a prayer, transformation occurs. Scripture tells us that the same Spirit which raised up Jesus is now making our mortal bodies alive (Romans 8:11)!
Many years ago I was in the nation of Côte d’Ivoire. As I was standing on a great field with nearly a quarter of a million people, there was a woman on the very edge of the crowd, listening. Actually she was in the throes of death, lying in what we would call a wheelbarrow. I didn’t know she was there. Her family had carried her a great distance just to get her in the presence of that meeting. And as she heard some words of life something very special happened to her.
The meeting went long and miracles were happening all over the field. We couldn’t even control the platform; there were so many people rushing it from both sides to give their testimonies. I would run back and forth from the left side of the platform to the right to let people give their testimony in the microphone. I remember one young girl dressed in white, and her mama looked at me and said, “My daughter is healed. She could not hear, she could not speak.” I said, “Mama, how do you know?” And right at that moment the little girl just looked up at her and said “Mama, Mama,” and her mother broke into tears right there on the platform.
At that moment on the other side of the platform, someone else rushed up and the whole crowd began shouting “Jesus! Jesus!” I ran over there to take the testimony, and discovered a man who had been chained to a tree because he was dangerous to himself and others. He had just been set free! They had taken the chains off him and now he was walking about totally healed, in his right mind! And yet, in the midst of all these miracles, there was that woman on the outside of the crowd that I didn’t even see, nor did she testify, but I heard much later that on the outside of the crowd it was also her day to receive her healing from God!
I can’t see you face-to-face, nor can you see me, but I know this—I have been sent by God to declare to you that the foundation for your miracle is solid when you understand that God is willing, God is able, and right now God is ready to heal you!
Scripture tells us in Isaiah 53:4 that in fact Jesus has borne our griefs and has taken our sorrows and our pains, yet we ignorantly thought that He was stricken and struck down by God.
Many years ago I was traveling across Russia in a sweltering hot train with no air moving and no way to open a window. The flu was going around everywhere and I was coughing from a deep burning pain that was attacking my chest. I remember as I lay back on the bed I picked up my Bible, and as I was experiencing these symptoms of flu or bronchitis this scripture in Isaiah leapt out at me.
I said to the Lord, “I have not considered what you did on the cross for me and I have yielded to this sickness that is trying to take over my body. Lord, I know who You are, I know You paid the price so I don’t have to suffer this sickness because God put it on You.” I remember at that moment with great confidence I said, “Lord, I will no longer consider you ignorantly, and right now in the name of Jesus I receive what you did for me 2,000 years ago and command these symptoms to go from my body!” I fell asleep right at that moment and woke up a few hours later without one sign or symptom of cough or a fever…not one symptom in my body at any level!
I encourage you today to take an aggressive stance against every form of sickness and disease trying to come against your body!
For many, salvation through Christ means an escape from eternal judgment. Often as I stand on the open fields of world evangelism, whether I am preaching or standing among the crowd, I find myself declaring the salvation prayer as if it were the first time I said it. Why? Because I understand the value of this word “Salvation.”
I am not simply uttering a religious prayer, but I am making a proclamation of my deliverance from fear, my redemption from sin, my discovery of healing, and the reality of God’s peace! This most simplistic Salvation Prayer opens my heart and my mind once again to the reality of God’s promises for me — His child!
One day as I was speaking to our partners via the internet, I sensed a strong presence of the Lord as together we made this simple salvation confession. Not an elaborate religious prayer, but a confession of the heart and a trust in the reality of Jesus and what He promised for you and me.
I cannot explain how such a simple prayer can transform people, churches, and even nations. Yet—I can declare to you that I have seen God respond to a simple heart desiring to know Him as Savior, healer, protector, deliverer, and comforter time & time again!
Let’s not make prayer difficult! Keep it simple! That’s how He designed it! Religion is the extra ingredient of unbelief added to the simplicity of Christ’s cross. Faith is the simple confession of a heart trusting in what He has done for us!
I’m trusting . . . are you?
We were preaching in India a few years ago, and at the end of the service a young man rushed onto the platform with his mother. The mother was dressed in a black hijab covering her entire body. Suddenly, while standing there in front of tens of thousands of people, she ripped the hijab off revealing an elegantly dressed young woman who immediately began to preach to the crowd. She was full of faith, and pointing at her son she exclaimed, “This is my son! Look at my son, he can talk! Look at my son! I know who the real Messiah is, I know who the real prophet and God is!” She gave the microphone to her son, and he began his story.
He related how he had been coming to the mass meetings for several nights, and each night as he watched and as we prayed with the people, he would see crosses come out of the sky and sit on the heads of people who were scattered across the field like a sea of faces. He began to notice that whenever the cross rested on someone they would begin to shout and just a few minutes later they would be the one up on the platform testifying.
On the night this young man came forward, his mother told how he was hardly able to speak above a whisper and he struggled with fear in everything he did. That night as he said the prayer all of a sudden the cross came to him out of the sky. And as that cross approached him, out of that cross came the face of Jesus with His arms opened wide. “At the moment Jesus came to me, I was healed” the young man said. “I am different, I am transformed!” He and his mother looked at that crowd and declared to them, “We know who the Healer is—this Jesus who went to the cross and who died for us!”
In Jesus’ day when the people saw Him hanging on the cross perhaps they remembered the woman He had loosed from a spirit of infirmity (Luke 13:11) or the lepers who were healed? Most likely what they didn’t see as he hung on that cross was that every person who would ever look and believe was loosed from the spirit of infirmity that day! Maybe you’ve been watching from afar and wondering if Jesus would heal you! We want to encourage you that this same Jesus who died 2,000 years ago is appearing to His people today! He will come to you! Reach out and embrace the power of the cross today!
In 1991 we were preaching in the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia, and two Muslims were saved and healed. They made the decision to follow Jesus and their hearts were immediately opened.
Just as quickly as they accepted Jesus, they took out their wallets and said, “You must go to our home city of Baku, Azerbaijan, and tell our people what you have told us. We will buy your plane tickets, a sound system and whatever else you need!”
They saw the precious gift God had given them and quickly thought of all their loved ones who did not have this gift. When Jesus comes into your heart, the world comes with Him!
Most people are aware that they have 5 senses. Some become greatly skilled at one or more, but have we developed our 6th sense? With this sense we touch the unseen realm. With the 6th sense we see what others cannot see and expect what others think is impossible.
The 6th sense is the FAITH sense. Jesus encouraged people to use this sense. He said, “Only believe,” all things are possible to those who believe.
The unseen God is a faith God. Without using faith we cannot please Him, but it is possible for all to please Him. Your heart knows things your hands, taste, eyes, ears, or smell cannot understand. Before you die make sure you see at least one miracle, but really go for it and see one a day!
I’d like to share a story with you about a man from the Congo who was only one step away from a very tragic decision in his life. However, in just a matter of moments his world was changed instantly.
How? He heard words. Simple words of Good News opened the door to a new world. Do you need doors opened in your life? Today is your day!
In one of our meetings in the Congo, a young father was distraught and very upset about how life had treated him. I don’t know what situation you are facing—maybe you find yourself like this young father.
He had just purchased poison at a local pharmacy and was on his way home to take his and his family’s lives that night. As he walked, he heard words in the distance over loud speakers and decided to see what was happening. As he listened, he heard a new idea. The words began to penetrate his heart, and he had an overwhelming sense of God’s love and presence.
This young father later made his way to the platform to tell the audience what had happened. He stood weeping before 100,000 people, telling them the evil he had planned and how God had freed him and forgiven him. Suddenly, the crowd began to part as a woman with several children made her way to the platform. She was crying and shouting, “Honey, honey! We are here too!”
The couple embraced on the platform, forgave each other and committed their lives to the LORD. In an instant the question of who God is was answered—God is love! God is forgiveness, peace and restoration!
Do you need God’s presence? We have seen Him touch the masses around the world. Jesus is here for you right now. Wherever you are, just stop and turn your thoughts to God. He loves you. He believes in you. And today, He offers you forgiveness!
It is as natural for a human to pray as it is for a fish to swim. We see that strong atheists are more a product of unanswered prayer than of intellectual conviction. It is to our benefit to discover how we can tap into a spiritual source for all we want to accomplish in life, rather than rely on the whims of man or the limited knowledge we have.
Let me encourage you to ponder one thing. We are without a prayer without the blood of Jesus shed for us. His blood still speaks for us from the mercy seat of heaven. God looks at that blood shed by God the Son and will respond. How can He not respond to what Jesus did? He washes our sin with that blood. He heals our body with that blood. He keeps us from the accusation of guilt that our enemies use by the blood. We are without a prayer if we don’t understand that HE established the way, not us by our goodness, piety, or eloquence.
Do we pray? Yes. Why? Because God answers.
Why does He answer? The BLOOD.
Think about that the next time you pray!
