So far, in this series of blogs on healing prayer, I have attempted to make the following points:

• It is the nature and heart of God to heal.
• Illness and disability are the result of sin, directly and indirectly, and fall under “the works of the devil.”
• Although God is willing to heal, there are things that can restrict his response to our prayers.

Issues that may restrict God’s response to healing prayers are: (1) a lack of faith on the part of the one ministering healing or the one receiving healing when there has been ample opportunity for faith to develop. (2) Sin that has not been dealt with through the blood of Christ because it has not been acknowledged or confessed by the one who needs healing. (3) Unforgiveness in the heart of the one needing healing. (4) the failure of those needing healing to even ask for healing.

In addition to the above hindrances to healing, demonic spirits can play a significant role. Numerous times in the gospels, individuals came to Jesus with physical conditions or disabilities such as blindness, deafness, muteness, seizures, back pain, insanity, etc. and Jesus cast out a spirit. Healing then followed the deliverance because the presence of those spirits of manifested as illness. Until a spirit of infirmity is driven out, healing will not occur or will not be sustained.

The spirit is present because something in the life of the individual has given that spirit some ground or legal right to afflict the person. Sometimes the individual has opened the door through unrepented sin or unbelief. Others may be afflicted on the basis of the “sins of the Fathers” or curses spoken over them by those who have had spiritual authority in their lives and sometimes as a result of trauma and fear. In each case, unrepented sin or a curse must be dealt with by confession, repentance, and the blood of Christ so that the authority of the spirit to afflict the individual can be taken away. When that has been accomplished, deliverance can occur and healing may follow.

In addition, there may be times when healing does not occur and we will not know the reason. Those times can be reduced when we help sick people deal with the cause of their illness through a spiritual assessment, repentance, confession and dealing with any spirits who may be manifesting as an illness. When we pray for healing, we typically assume that a spirit may be involved and so simply command any afflicting spirits to leave so that our healing prayers will not be hindered if, in fact, a spirit is the source of the condition.

We need to remember that some supernatural healing is instantaneous while some is progressive. We should not always assume that healing has not occurred if it didn’t happen immediately. Authentic healings can also be lost because of fear and unbelief about healing that did occur. However, experience also tells us that there will still be some mystery as to why some were healed and others were not.

Although some mystery about healing will continue to exist. I am still convinced that healing should be the rule in the church and not the exception. A careful reading of scripture suggests that believers are not immune to illness because we live in a fallen world but when it comes, we can expect healing.

If healing does not occur, we should begin to look for hindrances that have prevented the healing so that God’s grace can flow unobstructed. If we can discover no reason for healing not to occur, and yet someone we love is not healed, our response must be to take no offense at God and continue to pray for others to be healed. If we believe in the supernatural ministry of God, we will have to be willing to live with some unanswered questions while we continue in faith.

In Monday’s blog I will discuss how we pray. Be blessed in Him.

The love of God is unconditional but the grace of God comes through faith. A lack of faith in those who should have some reasonable level of faith hinders healing. In addition, answers to prayers may also be conditional. For instance, in my last blog I quoted James when he said, “You have not because you ask not.” We are told that God knows our thoughts and our heart’s desires before we utter a word but asking in prayer still seems to be the normative condition for God responding to our desires or needs. There are additional conditions that hinder answered prayed and healing if they are not met.

In his letter, James reveals several of these conditions that, if not met, may hinder healing. “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (Ja.5:14-16).

From this text we discover that unconfessed sin can get in the way of healing. His counsel is to confess our sins so that we might receive prayer and through that prayer we receive healing. He has just mentioned calling the elders so that their anointing and prayer of faith might be offered for healing. Notice that if the elders pray without faith, healing will be hindered. I have seen many church leaders pray for healing with little to no faith that it would occur and it did not. He ends that instruction with “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.” The implication is that unrepented and unconfessed sin can open the door to sickness. We know that is true when guilt, stress, and worry compromise our immune systems. It also gives Satan legal access and the legal right to attack us with illness through spirits of infirmity.

In order to receive healing, we need to make sure we have dealt with any sin in our life – especially unforgiveness. Remember the psalmist, speaking of covenant children, declared that God forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases (Ps. 103:3). The fact that he mentioned forgiveness of sins before healing is not an accident. Isaiah declares, “your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isa. 59:2).

Another serious example of this principle is found in I Corinthians. “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world” (1 Cor.11:28-31).

Some in the church at Corinth were abusing the Lords supper by taking it while at the same time abusing weaker members of the church. Their sin brought the judgment of sickness on them. God calls them to self-examination and repentance so that the judgment might be lifted through healing.

How often do we pray for physical healing without doing any assessment of the spiritual health of the person for whom we are praying and then leave disappointed that God did not heal. But was there unbelief, unrepented sin, rebellion, unforgiveness, a disregard for the people that Jesus died for, etc.? Those things that come to us as a result of sin will typically not be healed until the sin is dealt with.

The problem is not in the prayer or the faith of those offering the prayer but in the spiritual condition of the one who is ill. Let me say right away that not all illness for disability is a result of anyone’s personal sin but some is. In addition, we see a number of people in the gospels come to Jesus with long term illnesses and disabilities that were caused by spirits of infirmity. They were not healed until the spirit was cast out. I will discuss demonic hindrances to healing in Friday’s blog. In the meantime, be blessed.

If it is God’s heart to heal his people then why does God not heal all those for whom we pray? That is a very legitimate question and a question that we must grapple with if we hold the position that God still heals. Although we may not be able to answer that question fully or with absolute certainty, scripture does give us some specific insights.

First of all, God may not heal if we do not ask. “You do not have, because you do not ask God” (Ja.4:2). I’m amazed at how many people turn down prayers for healing. It is not unusual to run into people who have been taught that God no longer heals supernaturally. Some have additionally been taught that any “so-called healing” is a fraud or from the devil. These individuals have no faith for healing at all or are afraid they will be deceived in some way. When sick, they will go to doctor after doctor but never approach the Great Physician.

Secondly, we know that faith is involved. Matthew tells us that when Jesus returned to Nazareth after beginning his public ministry “he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith” (Mt.13:58). The question arises, “Does healing depend on the sick person’s faith or the faith of the one who is praying?” Biblically, it seems to depend on the situation.

In Nazareth the problem certainly did not reside in the faith of Jesus. Therefore, there were not many miracles because the people there did not believe. At other times, Jesus healed people who had no faith at all because they didn’t know who Jesus was until after they were healed. In John 5, we have the account of the lame man lying by the pool of Bethesda. Jesus asked the man if we wanted to be healed and the man explained that when the waters were stirred in the pool, he had no one to help in get in. From the text, it seems that he did not know about Jesus or did not know that the man in front of him was Jesus. His faith was in the pool not the healing power of Jesus. Yet, Jesus healed him. We can even say that God does not heal because of our righteousness because after healing the man, Jesus warned him to stop sinning or something worse might happen to him.

In James 5, the church is told to call the elders when illness occurs so that they might anoint the sick with oil and pray over them for healing. He then says, “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well” (Ja.5:15). In that case, the faith of the elders (the ones offering the prayer) seems to be the key. And yet in many accounts of healing in the gospels, people were healed because of the faith they displayed.

It seems to me that if a person should have faith because they were brought up in a faith environment or because God has done previous miracles in his or her life, then some faith is a condition for healing. Others who don’t know the Lord or who have had little opportunity to grow in their faith may be healed as an opportunity to create faith or to bring them to Christ. The fact that faith does play a part in healing then begs another question. “How much faith is enough faith and on what should my faith be based?”

Let me begin by saying that I do not believe perfect or absolute faith is required. Remember the man who confessed, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief” (Mk.9:24)! Jesus healed his son even in the face of imperfect belief. It appears from scripture that in most cases, the faith required was the faith it took to come to Jesus and ask. I can’t imagine that all the people that flocked to Jesus in the gospels and received healing were all righteous people showing up with amazing faith. But they did have enough faith to come and to ask.

I also believe that faith progresses for healing. My faith begins with some belief that Jesus exists and that he has power to heal. I then need to progress to a belief that Jesus not only can heal but also will heal because he is good. My faith ultimately is in the goodness of God which I then believe will be expressed through healing. I cannot always be certain that God will heal me but I can be certain that he is willing to heal me when hindrances to healing have been removed. More about those hindrances in my Wednesday blog.

It is significant that God gave gifts of healing to the church. “To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers…” (I Cor.12:9, emphasis added).   “Gifts of healing” are mentioned two more times in I Corinthians 12. It is significant because God gave gifts to the church that reflected his nature, his heart, and his Spirit. God gave gifts of healing to the church because he wanted his people healed and unbelievers brought to Jesus through the grace of healing.

It is also important because some believe that “miraculous gifts” were given only to Jesus and the apostles to confirm the deity of Christ and to establish credibility for those through whom the Spirit would pen the inspired Word of God. If that had been God’s only intent he would have given healing gifts only to the Jesus and the apostles but he gave these gifts to numerous unnamed individuals in the church who wrote none of the New Testament. Yet they healed.

It is interesting that he gave gifts (plural) of healing. The heart of God desires to heal all kinds of hurts and illness in our lives for he is Jehovah Rapha. Jesus not only came to heal the sick but also to “heal the broken hearted” (Isa.61, Lk.4). I believe God gives gifts of healing to his church that minister not only to sick people but also to emotional pain, broken relationships, and demonic affliction. In the gospels the term “healing” was applied to illnesses, physical disabilities, casting out demons, and the healing of broken hearts or emotions.   Different individuals in the body of Christ seem to be spiritually gifted in different ways to address all these areas of pain and brokenness. If God is the God who heals us, it makes sense that his Spirit will equip the saints to heal people in all the ways that Jesus healed them.   Again we can be confident that it is God’s desire to alleviate pain and suffering in this world through healing since he equipped his church to do so in many forms.

Another interesting perspective on healing gifts held by many is that the gift of miracles ministers instantaneous healing while healing gifts release more gradual healing that occurs over days or weeks. Either way healing occurs but sometimes we place a standard on spiritual gifts that the Bible does not state. If we believe that all supernatural healing is instantaneous then we may miss much of what God is doing. I have heard numerous men with powerful gifts of healing and miracles say that probably 50% of those for whom they pray that are healed, experience healing over the next few days rather than immediately. I wonder how many of us have gifts of healing that we are unaware of because people we prayed for got better the next day so we didn’t see it or because they did not report it to us, so we assume nothing happened in response to our prayers. We then assume God has not given us the gift. Perhaps, we need to pray for the gift of miracles as well as gifts of healing.

Gifts of healing differ from prayers for healing. The gift resides with the person. Like other gifts such as mercy, administration, wisdom, prophecy, etc. the gift rests on the person. The Spirit may not always release power for the gift because of conditional restraints (lack of faith, unrepented sin, unforgiveness, etc.) but the gift resides and will impart healing when conditions are met.

In addition to gifts of healing, James counsels us to call the elders of the church if anyone is sick and assures us that their prayer of faith will restore that person to health. He then goes on to give a general admonition to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another that we might be healed (James 5:16). He did not say we should confess that we might be forgiven but rather that we might be healed. The admonitions seem to be for all believers not just those with gifts of healing so that any believer can pray for another believer who has dealt with sin issues in his or her life and anticipate healing.

The tenor of the New Testament is that when believers got sick, they were typically healed. When people were not healed it raised questions because healing was the norm not the exception. To the contrary, the American church wonders what happened when someone is healed. Again, my point is that God has given healing gifts to his church because he wants people healed and so is quite willing to give the gifts or answer our prayers of faith. May we have a hunger for those gifts and faith to step out and pray with confidence because we know it is God’s will for hurting people.

I’ve been asked to write a few blogs related to healing prayer so I want to honor that request and take whatever time is needed to cover the subject succinctly yet thoroughly. I will begin with the basis for healing prayer followed by a discussion of healing gifts, things that get in the way of healing, and then how to pray. I’m not an expert nor to I have a gift of healing but I have prayed for some who have been healed immediately and others who have been healed after some time has passed. I have learned a great deal about the subject from those who are gifted in healing and from the scriptures so I will share my best understanding of the issues involved.

First of all, faith is the basis for everything in the kingdom. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Heb.11:6). In the realm of healing there is one primary truth upon which healing stands – the character or nature of God. If I doubt the goodness of God and his love for people, then I will have no confidence that God will answer my prayer for healing – either for others or myself. My prayer cannot be offered with faith in my own righteousness or good works or in the righteousness and good works of others. I cannot have faith in my faith. As soon as I enter into he realm of my worthiness to be healed or someone else’s worthiness the question arises of how much faith, how much righteousness, and how many good works are enough and that questions introduces either doubt or pride. God does not owe anyone healing because they have earned the right. He heals because he is good. He heals because he is love. Even with our fallen nature, we yearn to see those we love healed from sickness and affliction. How much more does God love us?

Then the question is asked, “Well…aren’t God’s ways and thoughts higher than our ways and thoughts? So isn’t it possible that God views sickness and disability differently than we view them? Couldn’t those things be for our greater good and so might they not be an expression of love and goodness in ways we can’t understand?” The answer is “No.” I’m not saying that God can’t use calamity and sickness for good. He does so all the time. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Rom.8:28). The sense of that verse is that God will intervene in bad situations caused by life in a fallen world or by demonic attack and ultimately make them sources of “good” in our lives because he loves us. That is not the same as causing the bad situation or being the source of sickness.

Illness in scripture is always attributed to sin and rebellion in the world or in the lives of God’s people and each warning carries a promise to heal when God’s people return to him. Even under the Old Covenant, God promised health as a blessing. We live under a better covenant. Not once did God ever promise sickness or disability as a blessing to the faithful. Jehovah Rapha is the “God who heals you.” It is God’s nature to bless and to heal and so he delights in doing so when conditions for healing are met.

Jesus has been known for 2000 years as the great physician because he healed hearts and bodies throughout his ministry. We have no record of anyone coming to Jesus for healing and being turned down. We have no record of Jesus laying hands on anyone and imparting sickness or commanding a healthy person to become lame for his spiritual benefit. Jesus told Philip that whoever had seen him had seen the Father (Jn. 14:9). Whoever had seen the compassion and the heart of Jesus expressed toward the lost, the hurting, the sick and the demon oppressed has seen the heart of the Father. Jesus came to destroy the work of the devil. When he constantly healed the sick and made healing a mark of the kingdom, he identified sickness as a work of the devil.

When we pray for healing, we must have faith that the goodness of God and his love for people makes him agreeable to our prayer. There may be things that hinder God’s response, which we will discuss later, but our faith for healing must simply rest on the fact that God is a good and loving Father and fathers have no desire to see their children sick or suffering. Before praying, make up your mind that God is willing to heal because that is who he is. Jesus demonstrated the Father’s willingness to heal over and over again. Be blessed.

Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. (Ex.33:8-11).

This section of scripture from the book of Exodus gives us some insight into God’s heart for his people and their hesitancy to respond to the very blessing God offered. Most of us assume that only Moses or the priests of Israel could come near the presence of God in the Tent of Meeting or in the tabernacle. That was true of the Tabernacle and the Holy Place where the Ark of the Covenant rested but previous to the construction of the tabernacle it appears that there was an invitation for any Hebrew to come to the Tent of Meeting and “inquire of the Lord.”

Every Hebrew was invited to come before the Lord and speak to him and to hear his voice. It was an open invitation from Jehovah to enter an intimate relationship with the Creator and yet the people kept their distance – except for Moses and his aide Joshua. In this text we have a picture of God’s people standing back while Moses spoke to the Lord on their behalf. Undoubtedly, the people stayed away from fear more than reverence. When Moses brought Israel to the foot of Sinai, God descended in fire and smoke with the trumpet blasts of a king coming to his people. Moses was drawn to the presence of God because he perceived his goodness while the rest of Israel fell back in terror. Although Joshua was probably a man of courage by nature, he must have also had his view of Jehovah shaped by Moses who had initially met with God on the Mountain.  There he had seen the immensity of his goodness as God passed by while protecting Moses from being overwhelmed by his presence. Although Joshua had a great reverence for the Lord, he was not terrified of him and accepted the invitation to be in his presence even though he was not of the priestly tribe of Levi. The people would stand and worship as Moses entered the tent, but they would not go themselves.

That reminds me of God’s people today in many respects. They will stand and worship once a week but will let the preacher be the one who draws close to God on their behalf. Is it fear, a sense of unworthiness that keeps us away, or is it a sense that if we got close enough to hear the voice of God he might ask us to do things we are unwilling to do? Maybe it’s all three. Perhaps, the Church’s resistance to the Spirit of God moving in our midst comes from the same mindset of God being dangerous. In his book, Holy Fire, R.T. Kendall reminds us of the line from C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia where someone asks if Aslan, the Lion King, is safe? The response was that Aslan is not safe but he is good. Kendall makes the point that the same is true of the Holy Spirit – he is not always safe but he is always good.

If you think about it, God has made the same offer to us that he made to Israel. He invites each of us to come into his presence, to inquire of him, and to hear his voice. He has made each of us priests, made us holy by the blood of His Son, and opened the door to his presence and his voice by the Holy Spirit. And yet many continue to keep their distance while the invitation stands.

There are those who still see God as distant and unapproachable and one who only speaks through his written word. But Israel already had his written word in the Law and his Commandments when Moses erected the tent and issued the invitation for anyone to come and inquire of the Lord – not to know the Law but to know the Father. The issue is that the heart of God still longs to meet with his people and to dialogue with them personally. Because the Holy Spirit lives within us and bears witness with our Spirit, each of us have the potential of being a tent of meeting because we are the temple of God.

God still desires to speak personally with each of us – through his Word, through his Spirit with the “still small voice” of Elijah’s cave, and through his prophetic people as we speak the things of God one to another. My prayer is that we, like Joshua, never want to leave the presence of the Father and hunger to hear his voice. May we pursue him, his voice, and his gifts with the passion of treasure hunters for these are all treasures purchased for us by the blood of the Lamb.

Jonathan Edwards was one of the leading American thinkers, theologians, and pastors in the 1700’s. He once said, “When the church is revived, so it the devil.” His point, of course, was that then God begins to move in powerful ways on the earth, the enemy doesn’t just role over but doubles has efforts to oppose the work of God – in a nation, a community, a church, or an individual’s life.

When a believer who has been casual about his or her relationship with Jesus begins to get “seriously serious” about Jesus, it is not uncommon for “all hell” to break loose in his or her life. We typically expect God to smooth the road for us when we truly start pressing into our relationships with him and truly start serving him, so when everything starts blowing up we may begin to believe we were better off as a casual follower of Christ. Of course, that is exactly what satan is hoping for.

The problem is that, in most cases, believers have not been taught about spiritual realities or trained in spiritual warfare. We should all know that we will endure seasons of battle with the enemy throughout our lives because that is the nature of war and we are in a war. Instead of “throwing in the towel,” mature believers simply dig in and begin to exercise the divine weapons God has given them (2 Cor. 1:4-6). They also know that the battle will be theirs in time if they simply remain in Christ, persist in faith, and battle the enemy with prayer and the authority of heaven. Paul reminded the church in Rome of the same truth when he said, “Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom.16:19-20).

If you have gotten serious about your faith lately and things have started to blow apart around you, don’t be surprised. And don’t be surprised if God allows that to go on for a while. If you are going to live a committed Christian life you will need to get into shape spiritually. If you have been sitting in the stands for a while and then decide you want to get in the game, the coach is going to put you through some hard workouts to build muscle and stamina in your spiritual life so that you can walk off the filed a winner. Paul often compared the believer’s life to an athletic contest. Athletes have to train and training is hard…even painful. Not only do you have to get in shape but you also have to develop skills and learn strategies. It is no different in the spiritual realm.

When you decide that you want in the game and that you want to be an impact player in the kingdom of God, the devil will show up. When he does, things will get crazy but God has not abandoned you. Rather, he is using that difficult season to train you. Let me tell you from experience, that you do not want to learn how to fight those battles through trial and error nor do you want to go it alone. You will need others to fight along side you and spiritual mentors to teach you how to wield divine weapons.

Remember that great verse from James where he tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from us (Ja.4:7)? Sometimes we will have to resist for a season, not just a moment. But as you resist you grow stronger and wiser. You also gain more authority in the spiritual realm as you engage in the battle. At some point, the enemy will know that he is beaten and he will flee.

God is moving in amazing ways alI across the planet. At the same time, the persecutions of Christians is at an historic high. When the church is revived so is the devil. I also believe that God is preparing a great offensive in America because the enemy has been stirred. Even in the Bible Belt” of West Texas demonic activity is noticeably increasing – so much so that even those who don’t believe in the demonic are asking questions. Children and teens are manifesting demons in ways we haven’t seen before, people are sensing evil in their homes and asking believers to come and pray for their houses, the marriages and health of church leaders are under extreme attack, and so forth.

God’s people need to learn how to fight in the spiritual realm. We need to learn how to put  on spiritual armor and wield spiritual weapons.  If you have not been trained, find someone to train you. God has left it to us to drive back the enemy and this season of warfare is not going away for a while. Read books, get involved with credible ministries in your area that know how to pray, heal, and minister deliverance. Get in the word more than ever and build up your faith. Learn to fast and ask God for the spiritual gifts needed in this season. We do not need to fear but we do need to fight. Its time for every believer to get in the game! Be blessed and victorious in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because I spend most of my time with believers who are fully convinced that the Holy Spirit still operates through his church today as he did 2000 years ago, I can forget that there is still a great number of Christians in America who do not believe that. In fact, we seem to be living in a season where some who do not believe are becoming much more vocal in their disagreement. A book entitled Strange Fire recently released by John MacArthur, a well known west coast pastor, author, and teacher seems to be more than a presentation of “cessationist” theology but rather an angry attack against all those who believe in the present supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit. In his book he stated, “Charismatic theology…has warped genuine worship through unbridled emotionalism, polluted prayer with private gibberish, contaminated true spirituality with unbiblical mysticism, and corrupted faith by turning it into a creative force for speaking worldly desires into existence.” I don’t want to get into a rebuttal of all that was stated in his book but just wanted to give the flavor of the criticisms being leveled by some toward “charismatic” believers.

Even though I served in “cessationsist” churches for 20 years, I am still surprised when someone pushes back so strongly against the idea that the Holy Spirit does today what he did for believers in the beginning. I believe that deep in our hearts, nearly every believer must long for God’s miracles in his or her life, a personal word of encouragement or direction from the Lord, and an intimacy that Jesus offered when he called us to be his friends rather than servants. Who would not want God to still move in miraculous healing when a child has been diagnosed with incurable cancer or in supernatural protection when someone’s son or daughter has been deployed to a hot zone in the Middle East?  It seems we would try to find a way to believe rather than to discredit the supernatural move of God on the earth today.

The good news is that there are some very bright and articulate believers speaking out on behalf of charismatic theology today even in camps that by and large have been cessationist in their thinking. One of those is R.T.Kendall. In his excellent book entitled Holy Fire, he offers an interesting thought about such a mindset. He begins by reminding us that the apostles themselves were initially uncomfortable with the idea of the Holy Spirit coming in place of the physical Jesus whom they had gotten to know and with whom they had become comfortable. Maybe they had become so confortable with Jesus that they felt secure and even saw him as predictable. Of course he wasn’t but until the last few weeks of his ministry they were in their comfort zone with him – even picturing themselves in prestigious positions when he ushered in his kingdom. But this invisible Spirit didn’t feel quite so safe. He felt threatening. Not so predictable.

Kendall goes on to ask, “Do you feel threatened by the Holy Spirit? … if you feel threatened by the Holy Spirit is it because you are happily in your confront zone? Are you afraid of what the Holy Spirit might do to you? What he would require of you? What he might ask you to do? Do you think you will lose something if you make yourself vulnerable and totally open to him? Are you afraid he will embarrass you?” (p.12).

Maybe many believers push back against the idea of a Holy Spirit who, like the wind, “blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going” (Jn.3:8). Perhaps, the Spirit seems less predictable or less manageable than the Jesus we imagine. I believe that “cessationsist” theology is much more “manageable” that charismatic theology.   In my personal experience, I have found that the belief that God no longer acts in miraculous ways, distributes supernatural gifts, and still gives personal revelation to his people requires less faith and fewer struggles because those who hold the position do not allow God to work outside of their theological box. If I believe God not longer heals miraculously then I don’t need faith for healing nor do I have to struggle with the mystery of some being healed while others are not.

If the Holy Spirit no longer gives me personal direction or prophetic words then I have no need to test the spirits or the prophecies and wonder if I have tested then accurately. If God does not deliver from demons then I have no responsibility toward the tormented. I simply give them the name of a good psychiatrist. Since my understanding of scripture is based on intellect and education I can easily entrust my understanding of scripture to the experts in the pulpit rather than pressing in and asking the Spirit to give me understanding and revelation. And most of all, there will be few surprises in our worship services or small groups. When we confine God to his Word, as we understand it, he is fairly tame. The Holy Spirit is not so predictable because through him we experience God rather than just sermonize about him.   When Jesus showed up, the Pharisees had no theological box for him and the supernatural move of God that came without their permission, so they tried to control him, and then discredit him, and finally killed him.

We must be careful not to do the same when God begins to act in ways that make us uncomfortable. That doesn’t mean that anything goes because we are to test spirits and prophecies but it does mean that God does not always sit in the pews with his hands folded. Pentecost seemed out of control to many. David dancing before the Lord with all his might seemed “improper” and emotional to some. The assemblies of the New Testament church at Corinth got disorderly from tome to time and Paul cautioned them about that but did claim the gifts and revelations they were experiencing were from the devil. I have lived in both the cessationist world and the charismatic world. In my experience, the cessationsist world was easier but the charismatic much more rewarding and I believe much more biblical. I would love to answer any concerns you have about that. Be blessed!

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. (Jude 20-21)

He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself…(1 Cor.14:4)

These are two interesting verses form the New Testament that both relate to a believer’s prayer language or praying in tongues. The phrases “build yourself up” and “edifies himself” are the same word in the original language.   The word means “to increase the potential of someone or something, with focus upon the process involved—‘to strengthen, to make more able, to build up.’”

The above scripture taken from Jude suggests something very important. Jude suggests that our capacity to grow spiritually, to increase in our spiritual potential, and to be made stronger and more able in spiritual matters is directly proportional to the time we spend praying in the Holy Spirit.   Paul confirms that principle by telling us that when we speak in a tongue we edify (build up and strengthen) ourselves. That is why one of the normative experiences in the New Testament after being baptized in the Spirit was speaking in tongues. If you just received the power of the Spirit, you need maturity to govern the power you’ve been given. Praying in the Spirit accelerates our maturity.

The counter-intuitive part of that process is that when we pray in the Spirit or in tongues, we have no idea what we are praying. “For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit… For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind” (1 Cor.14:2, 14-15).

Paul encourages us to pray both “with the understanding” and “with our spirits” but he tells us that praying in the Spirit has the effect of increasing our spiritual strength, enhancing our spiritual gifts, activating our spiritual senses, increasing revelation, and developing the fruits of the Spirit. Every part of the ministry of the Spirit in our lives can be enhanced when we engage with the Spirit allowing him to pray through us.

The great advantage of praying in the Spirit is that the Spirit prays for the things we need most to thrive spiritually and lifts those prayers up to the throne room of heaven with an eloquence and familiarity we could never achieve. Not only that, but the Spirit is quite aware of God’s will for our lives – his purposes, plans, and desires. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Rom.8:26-27). The Spirit then prays things for us that we are yet clueless about so that God’s purposes can be perfected in our lives.

I believe the Spirit prays for us even when we are not praying in the Spirit but God always likes to partner with his people and accomplish things together. Praying in the Spirit helps to align our spirit with God’s Spirit. In doing so, I believe it also plays a key role in renewing our minds so that our intellect is submitted to the Spirit of God so that we can truly be led by the Spirit.

So…here is the point of all this. If you have your prayer language but just use it occasionally, begin to pray in tongues on a daily basis. Many of us only pray in tongues when we worship or when we are about to minister healing or deliverance to someone. But praying in the Spirit has a cumulative affect and, like physical exercise, needs to be increased for us to get stronger and go longer. Many of us have prayed and asked God for certain spiritual gifts we desire or to strengthen us is areas of our lives where we are often tempted and, perhaps, have not yet experienced the growth that we desire.

We can accelerate the process and fine-tune it by choosing to pray in the Spirit a significant amount of time each day. The testimony of many is that after choosing to pray in the Spirit daily for an hour or more they eventually realized that their spiritual lives had moved to new dimensions. Sometimes God is waiting to see how much we want him, his presence, his Spirit or the things of the Spirit. How much do you want it? Now much do I want it? Carving out time to let his Spirit pray through us and trusting the process – even though we don’t know what the Spirit is asking – is one clear measure of that desire. If you don’t have a gift of tongues for personal prayer, then pray for it, seek it, and ask others to help you receive. If you have it, use it as an exercise to become powerful in the Spirit. It is a gift unlike any other.

Over the past two weeks I have focused on the biblical promise of healing. Since faith for healing is required for the believer and since faith comes by hearing (and receiving) the word of God, I want to finish this short series by quoting a few verses on which you can begin to build faith for healing. This passage from Proverbs helps us understand how to build our faith.

My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. (Prov.4:20-23)

When building faith from the Word we need to give attention to scriptures that speak about the promises for which we need faith. We need to incline our ear or hear the promise by frequently speaking it out loud. We need to see the word or read it and write it out until faith for the promise forms in our heart. We need to keep the promise in the midst of our hearts by meditating on it and by staying away from those who would contradict or discount the promise. The unbelief of others tends to dilute our faith. When faith comes for the promise, then healing and life are released.

Scriptures that point to God’s heart for healing his children

I am the Lord, who heals you. (Ex.15:26)

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. (Isa.53:4-5)

Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion (Ps.103:2-4)

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.” (Mt.1:23)

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. (Mt.4:23-24)

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases,   and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. (Lk.9:1-2)

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go…Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ (Lk.10:1, 9)

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (Jn.14:12-14).

And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues… they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well. (Mk.16:17-18)

To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit (1 Cor.12:8-9)

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. (Ja.5:14-15)

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed (1 Pet.2:24)

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. (3 John 2)

That is my prayer for you. Be blessed and well.