How many desire to be used by the Lord in the gifts of the Spirit? Who would especially like to minister in healing when praying for others?

I think most of us would love to flow in a healing or signs ministry. But what kind of results have you experienced in trying to do this?

Do you pray in hope that something might happen? But there are not often immediate results. The person you pray for feels nothing and no healing manifests. And you wonder if you missed it or failed the Lord.

Perhaps you feel that if you carried a higher level of ministry it might work better. Do people get well when you pray or does nothing happen? Have folks you prayed for even died?

Why does it seem to work sometimes and not other times? Have you wondered if you need to receive the gift of healing first? And that if you had received this gift, people would get healed?

I know I have struggled with this many times in the past. I felt that when I rose up in ministry office it would become easier. But the only thing that became easier was getting prophetic revelation.

Even as an apostle in office nothing came automatically. I sought the Lord about this and asked HIm for the power gifts - healing, miracles, faith. He told me that I had them. But yet they did not always work.

I do not have all the answers to this, but tonight I want to show you some things I have learned and I think they might help you.

Let’s start by going back to what happened with Jesus’ disciples. Jesus gave His disciples authority to heal, cast out demons and raise the dead. This is what He told them when He sent them out.

Matthew 10:7 And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons: freely you have received, freely give. [GBMV]

He told them to not only heal the sick, but cast out demons and raise the dead.

What exactly did He give them to enable them to do this? Did He breathe on them and anoint them with the Holy Spirit?

No. The power was not yet available - Jesus had not yet died and resurrected.

After His resurrection Jesus gave the same authority to all believers, but added the availability of a new anointing. Here is what He told them:

Matthew 10:7 And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons: freely you have received, freely give. [GBMV]

Those who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit were given additional benefits.

Acts 1:8 But you will hold [dynamic] power in your hands, after the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. [GBMV]

So at this point all Jesus could give them was authority.

What is needed for authority? Simply a delegation from a higher authority.

After His resurrection, Jesus had more power to delegate.

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, every kind of authority has been delegated to me in heaven and upon the earth.

Now we are only talking here about authority, not power. So What is needed for power? The presence and influence of spiritual power - the anointing.

Jesus carried this anointing at first. Then He deposited this same anointing into the spirit of every believer. But it is enhanced by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Even Jesus experienced this at His baptism, when the Dove descended on Him.

So the early disciples did amazing things using only authority. But now since Calvary we have access to both authority and power together. And all we need to do is learn how to use these correctly. And we will get even better results.

So we must learn to use authority and power. Let me explain to you how to do this.

Authority must be asserted.

The centurion described this when he asked Jesus to speak a word of healing for his servant

Matthew 8:9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this [one], Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does [it]. [GBMV]

ll that was required of the centurion is that he should believe in Jesus.

Matthew 8:13 And Jesus said to the centurion, Go; and as you have believed, [so] it will be done to you. And his servant was healed at that exact time. [GBMV]

When he believed Jesus could heal his servant, then the power of God was released to bring the healing.

When someone did not have confidence in Jesus, healing was blocked. This happened when Jesus went to his hometown where they knew him and despised him..

So authority must be asserted.

But how do we use the power?

Simple - The power must be released. To do this, the power that lies in the spirit must be released through words and actions.

Even when Jesus could not use His full authority, He could still release some power through laying of hands.

So if you want to see miracles taking place in your ministry you need to take the following into account:

1. You need to combine authority with anointing

2. If the people have confidence in you, it will work powerfully. If not, you can still release power through a point of contact.

4. The most common point of contact is the laying of hands.

Now I want to look at the biggest mistake most of us make in trying to do this

We try to release the power using authority.

1. We pray louder or harder.

2. We try to command the healing power.

3. We try to do something to reinforce the power - like shake the person

And it just does nothing to release the power. The power can only be released by faith and this is where faith is needed in the person doing the praying.

When can we use mainly authority?

When there are demons or spirits of infirmity involved. This may require a revelation like discerning of spirits.

When should we use the anointing?

Always combined with authority. Release it into the spirit of the person. Then the healing flows out from their spirit into their body.

When you lay hands on someone you unite your spirit with theirs, and when you are praying for a need in their body you simply release what is in your spirit.

And the anointing of God rises up in you to flow out of you into them. Then God does the rest. It is not your anointing it is His. But it is coming up out of you into them.

Do not try to force it by commanding with authority. You cannot command the anointing. You can only command demons and what they do.

If the anointing is there it will flow out naturally without you making any fuss

With authority it is different

You have to command and assert the authority, especially for demons who will argue or resist. But you cannot command the power of God. You simply release it through words and actions, and in this case the action has an effect.

As you lay your hands on the person, the anointing within you flows out into them. They may feel it or they may not. Often you do not feel it yourself. But you release it in faith and then you step back and let God do His work.

Once you have done your part, you can wait on the Lord for revelation. He may show you that the work is done. He may tell you to stop praying because he has answered.

Do not see the answer only because the person feels it or something happens. Often healing takes place without anyone knowing it.

You simply do your part and then let the Lord do what He does best. Healing may only manifest in the person later. But we tend to feel that lack of an instant result means failure.

Always remember that you are not the healer, just the agent for healing. Always keep in mind the difference between authority and power.

You have all the authority in Jesus Name. But only He holds the power.

This process is so simple, but we tend to complicate it and then we feel like we failed. But Jesus never fails.

Now to use authority is easy and you do not need to feel anything. You do not need to wait for an enduement of authority. It has been delegated once off.

The power of anointing is not the same. You need to get into a flow. You may need to spend long periods of time in prayer to build up in this. Even Jesus had to do that.

But authority remains constant, and you can use it at any time. But you must know you have authority, and you must assert that authority.

Since all sickness ultimately is caused through Satan authority is always needed. But sometimes there is also sin involved and repentance may be necesary.

Before Jesus healed the man they let down through the roof, he told him his sin was forgiven. Sometimes after healing someone he told them to stop sinning.

The person you are praying with must be open to receiving ministry from you.If they despise you or hold bitterness against you then you will remain blocked. Even Jesus had this problem.

That is why before he healed anyone Jesus usually asked them if they believed He could do this.

Kenneth Hagin shares cases of people like this, who had a total block when he prayed with them. Then later when they opened their heart, there was a powerful flow.

We tend to think that Jesus spent most of his time healing the sick. But in reality he spent most of his time preaching and teaching.

Often it is necessary to expose someone to the Word before praying with them. This helps build their faith.

What is unconfessed sin? We all have that.

Jesus takes care of our sin on the right hand of the father the moment we commit it. I do not believe the time period is that important.

How long should we pray? Smith Wigglesworth is known to have said that he seldom prays for up to half hour. But he also said he seldom went half hour without praying. Yongghi Cho promoted long periods of time.

Demons always enter through sin. That is why you should never attempt to cast out demons without getting the person to confess and renounce their sin.

Confession of sin does not affect God - it affects us. If our heart does not condemn us we have confidence towards God.

Occult sin especially must be both confessed and renounced. In this person’s case it was more the guilt they carried that blocked things than their sin itself. Confession released them from that guilt and thus cleared the way for God to work.

Abortion can feel like an unpardonable sin to some. They will never have confidence to approach God. But there is no sin that is too great to be forgiven. Rejection of Jesus work on Calvary is the only unpardonable sin.

The best way to overcome evil is to deal with all known sin first.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [GBMV]

Jesus and the disciples cast demons out first then dealt with sin. It is only when a believer has allowed demonic entry through sin that they must deal with the sin first.

And when the sin is dealt with a simple renouncing of it brings deliverance without needing to cast out the demon.

I hope I helped some of you who are struggling to be used by the Lord. I look forward to meeting with and ministering personally to those who can make it to our conference next month.

I hope to get back to more writing soon and have many new teachings to publish. The Lord told me to become more of a Pastor Teacher again to show a model to those who will become part of the new Pastoral Movement.

And our conference will be a watershed of moving back into creating the God kind of church that is based on and founded on love. May the week ahead be one of blessing for all of you.

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