The Goal is Whole: One Together, Part 1 Community Witness, O1.3: Healing and Deliverance

FULL STUDY:

“You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38)

Jesus said clearly that His plan was to continue this work through those who would come to believe in Him:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12)

Community witness is about taking the message and presence of Jesus to the world. We are workers in the harvest, and ambassadors for Christ. In that, we meet people at their point of need, and for many that is the need for healing of some kind.

The mandate is pretty clear. Now, learning how to become equipped in healing and deliverance of demons is not something we will be able to handle in a single study of this nature. The best way is to join with those who are already walking in a ministry of healing and deliverance, and learn from them. There are also many great resources available across the wider church that can help with this. Our purpose today is to lay a simple biblical foundation for this kind of ministry, so we can be eager to pursue this ourselves.

Already, we have seen that this was part of Jesus’ life. Read the gospels and follow Him around on the healing trail. It was awesome. And He said believers would continue the works when He left. And just for good measure, He sent out teams to do it too while He was still here, just as a demonstration of that:

Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. ² And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest...  ⁸ Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; ⁹ and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ (Luke 10:1-2 and 8-9)

Notice how these workers are just called “others”. These were not the inner twelve, but ordinary followers like us. Based on this, and the John 14:12 verse, it is clear that all those who have become believers in Christ can heal the sick and cast out demons. If there is a need, the Holy Spirit may use any one of His new creation team to meet it. When Jesus said we need the baptism of the Holy Spirit so we have power for witness, this was partly to enable power for healing and deliverance. Notice in the Luke 10 passage above how this was also a means to open up proclamation of the Kingdom message.

We can learn much from studying the gospels to see how Jesus ministered to the sick. The conclusion we reach though is there was no set pattern or formula, except that Jesus said He was yielded to the Father and it was the Father who did the works. That is probably the biggest key. We don’t minister healing in isolation, or our own strength, but yielded to Jesus. It is His manifested presence that brings the healing. And similarly, casting out demons is an issue of His authority, so again we really just become channels of Him working through us.

Jesus is the key to any power ministry, and this is clearly demonstrated in a passage from Acts 3, which we will use as an outline for this topic today. Peter and John healed a crippled man who was begging outside the temple. Here’s what happened:

“Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” 7 And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. 8 With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.” (Acts 3:6-8,)

There was no prayer involved, just a proclamation, “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk”. This is exactly how Jesus worked. Rather than pray for the sick, we need to embrace the role of healing the sick. In reality it is Jesus in us, doing the healing through us. Jesus manifested! We don’t need to pray, but rather proclaim healing in His name. He will work through our words.

Fortunately, Peter explained exactly what happened there in Jerusalem,

“Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, ... 16 And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.” (Acts 3:12-16)

So, let’s get this clear.

1. It wasn’t Peter’s prayers or his power or piety. It was Jesus
2. On the basis of faith in His name, it was the name of Jesus that strengthened the man
3. The faith that comes through Jesus gave perfect health

The healing ministry is not a prayer ministry. It is a proclamation ministry. It is a demonstration of the authority of Jesus, and it works by faith and words. Notice Peter doesn’t say it was his faith that healed the man, but the faith that comes through Jesus.

Let us be expectant as we use the name of Jesus in showing love to someone with a sickness or disease.

Although we are looking at this as a ministry to others, this is also a stance we should take against any sickness we may encounter in ourselves. We stand on the victory of Jesus and speak His name to our body. We do not need to tolerate sickness and disease, and we should aspire to walk in Divine health.

Delivering demons is quite similar. Demons are cast out through words of authority. Again, this is the authority of Jesus, as activated by using His name. Those first disciples were pretty stoked about that:

“The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” 18 And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” (Luke 10:17-19)

Notice that phrase, “in your name”.

We need to use the name of Jesus with confidence against demons. Jesus said,

“These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18)

Jesus has made His name available to us. We need to step out into situations of need and use it!

This may seem a little daunting at first, and again that is where our community witness is so powerful here. Our call to witness and ministry is a community calling. This may well be by going out in teams of people that you know and trust, or by organizing events where people are invited to receive healing and deliverance in the safety of the Inn-community.

One word of caution on religious backlash. Sadly, there are some believers and groups that do not encourage healing and deliverance, through fear of a warning Jesus gave about the end times:

“For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24)

Some have misread that to mean that anyone doing signs and wonders are false Christs and false prophets. That is simply not true! We are the new creation, and have the mandate to fully be witnesses of Jesus, co-working with Him in carrying out the work He did and spoke about. There may be counterfeits and deceivers out there, but that does not invalidate our mandate. Don’t be put off by those who may criticize and warn. Stay close to Jesus and in His community. Be safe and fruitful!

Healing and deliverance ministry are acts of love and kindness to people in need. Ministry must never be seen as an end in itself, or a way to promote ourselves. Our purpose is to carry the love of Christ to a hurting and broken world. That brokenness moved Jesus with compassion when He was walking the earth, and He will still be carrying that in and through us as we become His witnesses and ambassadors in our generation.

In your group time you might like to discuss setting up a healing night where you can learn to grow more in these love-deeds. The worst thing that could happen with this study is that we just check it off as something we studied. This is not something just to know about, but something to do!