Many people pray today and get disappointed if they do not get results. Why don"t we see miracles as there used to be? Are there things we have overlooked that could be causing some reduction in the flow of God"s power? God is the same and has not changed, so we need to do some changing. It is time to get back into the flow of His power again as we learn to receive our healing! This study is aimed at helping us see, understand and take advantage of the healing that has been provided for us by the sacrifice of our Lord

Jesus Christ. Get ready to receive your healing!

Luke 13:10-16 “Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And there was a woman there who for eighteen years had had an infirmity caused by a spirit (a demon of sickness). She was bent completely forward and utterly unable to straighten herself up or to look upward. And when Jesus saw her, He called [her to Him] and said to her, Woman, you are released from your infirmity! Then He laid [His] hands on her, and instantly she was made straight, and she recognized and thanked and praised God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, There are six days on which work ought to be done; so come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day. But the Lord replied to him, saying, You playactors (hypocrites)! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead it out to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

On the basis of the Abrahamic covenant, He brought healing to this woman on a Sabbath day and the priest was angry at Him for healing on a Sabbath day. How was He able to translate an old covenantal provision of healing into the woman"s body? By the release of His faith in the covenant, healing was made manifest in her body.

THE WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD

Mark 5:25-34 “And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years, And who had endured much suffering under [the hands of] many physicians and had spent all that she had, and was no better but instead grew worse. She had heard the reports concerning Jesus, and she came up behind Him in the throng and touched His garment, For she kept saying, If I only touch His garments, I shall be restored to health. And immediately her flow of blood was dried up at the source, and [suddenly] she felt in her body that she was healed of her [distressing] ailment. And Jesus, recognizing in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around immediately in the crowd and said, who touched My clothes? And the disciples kept saying to Him, You see the crowd pressing hard around You from all sides, and You ask, Who touched Me? Still He kept looking around to see her who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had been done for her, though alarmed and frightened and trembling, fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, Daughter, your faith (your trust and confidence in Me, springing from faith in God) has restored you to health. Go in(into) peace and be continually healed and freed from your [distressing bodily] disease.”

This woman initiated her healing by touching the hem of His Garment. She placed a demand on His power for her healing.

UNBELIEF HINDERS JESUS" MINISTRY

Mark 6:1-6 “ Jesus went away from there and came to His [own] country and hometown [Nazareth], and His disciples followed [with] Him. And on the Sabbath He began to teach in the synagogue; and many who listened to Him were utterly astonished, saying, Where did this Man acquire all this? What is the wisdom [the broad and full intelligence which has been] given to Him? What mighty works and exhibitions of power are wrought by His hands! Is not this the Carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not His sisters here among us? And they took offense at Him and were hurt [that is, they disapproved of Him, and it hindered them from acknowledging His authority] and they were caused to stumble and fall. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honour (deference, reverence) except in his [own] country and among [his] relatives and in his [own] house. And He was not able to do even one work of power there, except that He laid His hands on a few sickly people [and] cured them. And He marvelled because of their unbelief (their lack of faith in Him). And He went about among the surrounding villages and continued teaching.”

It is amazing to see how a climate of unbelief can stop God"s power. What is the climate of unbelief and how is it generated?

We shall study this in the following areas: the process called faith; the power of the covenant; the climate of faith or unbelief; the vessel and the preparation of the vessel.

FAITH CAUSES THE FLOW

Mark 11:23-26 “Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him. For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it]. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and let it drop (leave it, let it go), in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your failings and shortcomings.”

Faith can be hindered when unforgiveness is tolerated in the heart.

POWER GENERATION AND THE VESSEL

The covenant that God had with his people is powerful. The question is how do we translate a provision of the covenant to become an experiential reality? There is a lot in our new covenant that still needs to be translated into experiential realities in the lives of people. Jesus prepared for His ministry by fasting and praying before going out to preach, teach and heal the sick. He said that the basis of the healing he released over the woman in Luke 13:16, was the Abrahamic covenant.

Exodus 15:26 “And he said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, and do what is right in his eyes, and incline thine ears to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the complaints upon thee that I have put upon the Egyptians; for I am Jehovah who healeth thee.” (Darby"s new translation)

The provision for healing in the old covenant is based on this scripture in the book of Exodus. God"s Word is loaded with God"s power because every word from God has the inherent power in itself to come to pass. The conditions are sometimes stated as we see here. At other times we need to fulfil the condition of believing. All things are possible to him who believes.

Mark 9:19-23 “And He answered them, O unbelieving generation [without any faith]! How long shall I [have to do] with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to Me. So they brought [the boy] to Him, and when the spirit saw Him, at once it completely convulsed the boy, and he fell to the ground and kept rolling about, foaming [at the mouth]. And [Jesus] asked his father, How long has he had this? And he answered, From the time he was a little boy. And it has often thrown him both into fire and into water, intending to kill him. But if You can do anything, do have pity on us and help us. And Jesus said, [You say to Me], If You can do anything? [Why,] all things can be (are possible) to him who believes!”

Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfilment.”

Luke 1:45 “And blessed (happy, to be envied) is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of the things that were spoken to her from the Lord.”

We can see that the power rests in the Word of God and that faith is necessary to see the demonstration of the power.

If Jesus fasted and prayed before He preached or healed anyone, we might learn some things from what He taught us to do in the book of Matthew, chapter 6. He taught us about the right motive, focus and manner we should have in our giving, praying and fasting. If we do these activities rightly, we get the promise that the Father-God will reward us! Church history and contemporary history are filled with stories of people who engaged in prayer and fasting extensively and as a result, they experienced God"s power mightily. There seems to be a price to pay for a covenant provision to become an experiential reality in people"s lives. Perhaps a lack of these disciplines, amongst other things, may be a contributing factor to the seeming lack of power amongst many of God"s people. In Acts 10, we read about a non-Jew who was interested in developing a relationship with the God of Abraham, through his giving, praying and fasting. He eventually had a visitation from heaven and things were set into motion for his entire household to experience the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit fell on them as in the upper room when He fell on the first Apostles of Jesus along with others. So we see an example of one who practiced what Jesus taught us in the book of Mathew and he received God"s rewards.

Acts 10:2 “A devout man who venerated God and treated Him with reverential obedience, as did all his household; and he gave much alms to the people and prayed continually to God.”

Acts 10:3-8 “About the ninth hour (about 3:00 pm) of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God entering and saying to him, Cornelius! And he, gazing intently at him, became frightened and said, What is it, Lord? And the angel said to him, Your prayers and your [generous] gifts to the poor have come up [as a sacrifice] to God and have been remembered by Him. And now send men to Joppa and have them call for and invite here a certain Simon whose surname is Peter; He is lodging with Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside. When the angel who spoke to him had left, Cornelius called two of his servants and a Godfearing soldier from among his own personal attendants. And having rehearsed everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.”

Acts 10:30-31 “And Cornelius said, This is now the fourth day since about this time I was observing the ninth hour (three o"clock in the afternoon) of prayer in my lodging place; [suddenly] a man stood before me in dazzling apparel, And he said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and harkened to, and your donations to the poor have been known and preserved before God [so that He heeds and is about to help you].”

Acts 10:44-48 “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all who were listening to the message. And the believers from among the circumcised [the Jews] who came with Peter were surprised and amazed, because the free gift of the Holy Spirit had been bestowed and poured out largely even on the Gentiles. For they heard them talking in [unknown] tongues (languages) and extolling and magnifying God. Then Peter asked, Can anyone forbid or refuse water for baptizing these people, seeing that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (the Messiah). Then they begged him to stay on there for some days.”

We can see all our factors played out in this story. God"s power had been made available through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The climate at that time in Jerusalem was that salvation was for the Jews not the Gentiles. So nobody believed or expected God to move amongst the Gentiles like He did in Cornelius"s house. Cornelius became God"s vessel as he gave himself to prayer, fasting and giving. Peter was instructed by God to respond to the request of Cornelius"s servants by going with them. An angel appeared to Cornelius saying “your prayers and giving have ascended to God” and a fresh development began. Angels are not responsible to preach to human beings; we are the ones to preach to others, as labourers in the field. So the angel gave instructions as to how Peter could be invited to preach to them. Faith was the process behind Cornelius"s giving, fasting and prayers.

THE POWER OF PRAYER

Prayer can release angels, can activate the gifts of the Holy Spirit (as seen in Acts 10) and makes tremendous power available. Let the Holy Spirit help your prayer life as you pray in the Spirit as well as with your understanding. (See Romans 8:26, 1 Corinthians 14:14 and Jude 20).

James 5:16-18 “Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have [with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours]; and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months. And [then] he prayed again and the heavens supplied rain and the land produced its crops [as usual].”

Prayer makes great power available. In Acts 12, we read about prayers bringing about the deliverance of Apostle Peter.

Acts 12:5 “So Peter was kept in prison, but fervent prayer for him was

persistently made to God by the church (assembly).”

Acts 12:6-12 “The very night before Herod was about to bring him forth, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, fastened with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared [standing beside him], and a light shone in the place where he was. And the angel gently smote Peter on the side and awakened him, saying, Get up quickly! And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, Tighten your belt and bind on your sandals. And he did so. And he said to him, Wrap your outer garment around you and follow me. And [Peter] went out [along] following him, and he was not conscious that what was apparently being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed through the first guard and the second, they came to the iron gate which leads into the city. Of its own accord [the gate] swung open, and they went out and passed on through one street; and at once the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, Now I really know and am sure that the Lord has sent His angel and delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting [to do to me]. When he, at a glance, became aware of this [comprehending all the elements of the case], he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where a large number were assembled together and were praying.”

Another example of fasting and prayer is Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20.

2 Chronicles 20:3-5 “Then Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself [determinedly, as his vital need] to seek the Lord; he proclaimed a fast in all Judah. And Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord [yearning for Him with all their desire]. And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court.”

2 Chronicles 20:14-18 “Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. He said, Hearken, all Judah, you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you King Jehoshaphat. The Lord says this to you: Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God"s. Tomorrow go down to them. Behold, they will come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the ravine before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You shall not need to fight in this battle; take your positions, stand still, and see the deliverance of the Lord [Who is] with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping Him.”

The rewards of fasting include breaking the yoke of poverty (Joel 2:15-16) and it also includes healing (see Isaiah 58:8-12). Fasting also prepares us to seek God"s face and get definite results. (See 2 Chronicles 7:14). Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled (Mathew 5:6).

THE 'CLIMATE"

Everyone carries a climate. It is a function of your thoughts, expectations and belief systems. Your beliefs affect your thoughts. The words we speak also affect our climate. People and things respond to the climate you allow in your life. How people thought about Jesus, in Mark 6:1-6, affected the miracles that He was able to do amongst them. The climate of unbelief is not just a decision not to believe; it is generated by a number of thought patterns. What they thought of Him, as opposed to who they thought the “Christ” ought to be, created some conflicting opinion about His genuineness. This hindered Him from functioning in power like He could do. Climates are dictated by prevailing MINDSETS. In Acts 10, the climate (or prevailing mindset) was that only the Jews could be saved. Climates can hinder the out-working of God"s power until someone does what it takes to break the climate so God"s power can flow. To generate the right climate is to believe God"s Word from the heart, speak it with our mouths and expect God"s power to make the difference. Prayer and fasting also influence the climate over the lives of those who engage in such disciplines. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and He transmits the power of God. These disciplines can help us be more yielded to the Spirit of God as He enables us to generate the correct climate for God"s power to be experienced. Satan also generates climates that are conducive for his operations. His allies are the flesh, the world and the demons under his control. He pollutes the minds of people, confuses them and stops their minds from believing the Word of God! There are spiritual 'climates" over regions of the earth, just like there are natural climates too.

UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF FAITH

Faith is an inward conviction about God and His Word and His willingness to demonstrate His power on our behalf. Faith is the spiritual substance poured into our hearts when we believe God"s Word. It comes by hearing, affects our convictions and fills us with assurance. Faith in our hearts influences our words, actions and expectations. When faith is present, the power flows, when faith is reduced, the power is reduced. God is faithful. Let us trust Him to perform His Word in our lives. And if any 'climate" prevails, let us get into prayer and fasting as we exercise our faith in God"s ability to demonstrate His power on our behalf.

HOW TO RECEIVE YOUR HEALING

First, you must believe that Jesus bore your sicknesses and diseases on the cross of Calvary. So by His stripes you are healed! Meditate on the scriptures as you mutter the Word of God to yourself. Let His Word on healing abide in you. (See John 15:7and Psalm 107:20).

Acts 10:38 “How God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the [Holy] Spirit and with strength and ability and power; how He went about doing good and, in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of] the devil, for God was with Him.”

He is still the same today. His anointing is on His Word and on His people who believe in Him.

Mark 16:17-18 “And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; They will pick up serpents; and [even] if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well.”

The laying on of hands is one way to receive healing from God. The provision is guaranteed, Jesus paid the price but we need to do the receiving.

1 Peter 2:24 “He personally bore our sins in His [own] body on the tree [as on an altar and offered Himself on it], that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.”

Isaiah 53:3-5 “He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him. Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.”

We can pray based on the Word and expect to receive answers to our prayers. In fact, we can say to the mountain, 'be removed and cast into the sea" and it will obey.

Mark 11:23-26 “Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him. For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it]. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and let it drop (leave it, let it go), in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your failings and shortcomings.”

A simple prayer of faith can get the job done as we believe according to scriptures. Finally in James 5:14-15 we learn about the prayer of faith as well as the anointing oil.

James 5:14-16 “Is anyone among you sick? He should call in the church elders (the spiritual guides). And they should pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord"s name. And the prayer [that is] of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will restore him; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].”

Healing is yours for the taking. Receive your healing in Jesus"s name. Let us pray: “Father I thank you for the provision of healing for everyone who believes. I pray for every reader who needs healing, right now. I bind the powers of darkness and every spirit of infirmity. I break their hold and ask for the power of God to be released into the bodies of those who are sick. I speak to every sick body, “Be healed now, in Jesus"s name. Receive your healing now in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.”

Please write to share your testimonies with us. God richly bless you.