John Wimber : Power healing

Hodder 1996 AJM December 03

Good, thorough introduction to healing based on his own experience.

I. Why does Jesus heal?

1. The long struggle

Their initial experience of healing; discussion of whether healing meant to happen today. Influence of secularism in modern theological works; contrast percentage of pages in mod theological works on healing/signs and wonders (very low) with percentage of the same in NT (very high).

Problem of suffering: ‘it is not the release from pain and sickness that is the primary goal of healing, it is the release from the guilt of sin’, 33. Pain is God’s megaphone to a deaf world (CSLewis). That doesn’t however mean we have to accept it passively:

God does not will evil

God does remove evil

God sometimes uses evil to accomplish his purposes, frustrating but not removing it

There are therefore many kinds of evil we experience but do not approach passively

2. An unlikely healer

Exodus 15.26, I am the Lord who heals you – one of his names is Jehovah-Rapha, which means ‘I am the Lord who heals you’.

Jesus always combined healing with proclamation of the kingdom of God.

Healing includes:

Forgiveness of sin]

Restoration from sickness

Breaking the hold of poverty and oppressive social structures

Deliverance from demonic power and influence

Raising the dead

It is associated with repentance from sin and conflict with Satan. It includes corporate sin (Acts 5.1-11, 1 Cor 11.27-32).

Of 3774 verses in the 4 gospels, 484 relate to healing. 38% of the narrative verses are devoted to accounts of Jesus healing. Jesus also equipped the disciples to heal and sent them out to do it.

Healing in church history – there are many accounts.

Irenaeus quoted.

3. A vision of God’s compassion and mercy

own experience of trying it out.

II What does Jesus heal?

4. Healing the whole person

Healing comes in all the areas of our lives (1 Thess 5.23 spirit, soul, body).

Healing of the spirit – from spiritual sickness caused by sin

Healing of the effects of past hurts – inner healing

Healing of the demonised and mental illnesses (easily confused)

Healing of the body

Healing of the dying/dead

Jesus also used healing of disease to illustrate on a physical plane what he wants to do for us spiritually, eg John 9 and man born blind.

The most fundamental healing is healing of the spirit, which brings renewal and restoration of our relationship with God. Lost in Adam and Eve. Eg of spiritual healing – paralytic, Mk 2. Examples of modern healing where inner sin (anger, bitterness) has lain at root of physical conditions (eg arthritis).

5 simple steps to spiritual healing:

1. confronting sin
2. confessing sin
3. performing appropriate acts of repentance
4. receiving God’s forgiveness
5. forgiving others as God forgives

5. Overcoming the effects of past hurts

Inner healing is ‘a process in which the HS brings forgiveness of sins and emotional renewal to people suffering from damaged minds, wills and emotions’.

Most hurtful experiences needing inner healing fall into one of 3 categories:

being born into a sinful world

wounds inflicted by others

damage that comes as result of personal sin we commit (eg adultery)

We carry a burden of pain which develops into attitudes and negative patterns of behaviour, and sin. Eg judgementalism, perfectionism, fearing future, aloneness, competition for success. We all suffer from it to one degree or another. Any unreasonable fear, anxiety or compulsion caused by patterns built up in the past can be broken by prayer, if the person is doing his best to discipline his life in a Christian way. Even a recognised leader may have a need for inner healing. The goal of inner healing is an emotionally healthy person, ie a person

whose emotional reactions help them live the Christian life

whose emotional reactions instinctively work correctly

whose emotional reactions are subordinate to right responses

Need to distinguish between ‘surface’ and ‘root’ memories – ie conscious or buried.

The most essential ingredient in inner healing prayer is repentance and forgiveness.

The next is seeing our past experiences from God’s perspective.

6. Healing the demonised

Jesus’ ministry had 2 elements; proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of God and demonstration of its power by the casting out of demons, healing the sick and raising the dead. He commissioned the 12 and the 72 to do the same. 4 points in his teaching of the kingdom:

1. God;s reign came into the world in the person of Jesus
2. by repenting of personal sin and believing in Jesus we are redeemed from the world, the flesh and the devil and come under the reign of God’s kingdom
3. the kingdom of God is destroying the kingdom of Satan
4. at the return of Christ, when he ushers in the fullness of the kingdom of God, Satan will be eternally destroyed.

Meanwhile we’re in a battle.

What are demons?

2 Peter 2.4 fallen angels

Jude 6

Rev 12.7-12

Their characteristics:

intelligence (Acts 16.16-28; 19.15-16)

spirits (Mt 8.16, 12.43-45; Lk 10.17-20, 24.39; Rev 16.14)

manifest in diff forms (Rev 9.1-11, 16.13-14)

malevolent (Mt 12.43-45; Mk 1.27. 3.11; Lk 4.26; Acts 8.7; Rev 16.13)

know their own end (Mt 8.29; 25.41; James 2.19)

have supernatural strength (Mt 12.29; Mk 5.4; Lk 8.29; Acts 19.13-16)

must bow to Jesus (Mt 8.28-34, Mk 5.7; Lk 8.26-33)

How do demons affect us?

Satan attacks in 3 ways:

temptation

opposition (eg Daniel 10.1-15; Acts 13.6-10 Elymas; Acts 16.16-18 slave girl)

demonisation – causing physical affliction (eg dumb/blind Mt 9, epilepsy Mk 9, fever Lk 4, crippling Lk 13), habitual patterns of temptation or weakness not changed by repentance (eg 1 Sam 16 Saul; James 3.15), and mental illness (the sick are sometimes described as demonised, sometimes as just sick). The Gk word for having a demon is best translated ‘demonised’ (influenced, afflicted, tormented in some way by demonic power). It may be mild or severe.

Severe demonisation

leaves some control of the person over their life

influences episodically, maybe with symptoms of rigidity, seizures etc

demons may be in residence, blotting out consciousness

person may have unusual physical strength

may project a new personality

has strong resistance/opposition to Jesus

often has the ability to convey knowledge the person does not of themselves have

may speak with voices/languages not theirs

will be marked with moral depravity, usually a serious sexual sin

immediate deliverance is possible

when they leave, they seek other bodies to inhabit

Can a believer be demonised – yes. (Concept of possession is not biblical).

Entry points:

sin (anger, hatred, unforgiveness, lust, pornography, sexual wrongdoing, drug/alcohol abuse

occult

sin committed against the person – esp those sinned against sexually; or who have alcoholism, occult, curses, in family; or who have suffered trauma which create fear/terror.

Our weapons

Eph 6.

Symptoms of demonisation

1. contorted physical reactions
2. addictions
3. compulsions (sexual, food, stealing, lying etc)
4. bondage to fear/depression/anxiety/rage etc
5. bondage to sinful attitudes like self-hate, unforgiveness, contempt
6. chronic physical sickness, esp if in family for generations
7. history of occult involvement
8. disturbed family history, eg incest, abuse, alcoholism

Self-deliverance:

turn to Christ

confess and renounce the area of sin/temptation with which you are having difficulty

take authority in Christ and commend any spirits to leave

destroy all objects associated with the area you are struggling with

7. Healing the body

The hardest type for westerners to believe in. Healing in gospels/Acts:

1. organic disorders – fevers, blindness, paralysis etc
2. functional disorders – common mod egs headaches, stomach disorders, irritable bowel
3. mental illness – eg schizophrenic disorders, paranoid disorders, depressions, anxiety disorders, disorders with no known cause (ulcers, asthma), dissociative disorders (amnesia, multiple personality)

Medical treatment ok – using mud, spittle, wine were all standard therapies

Jesus always prayed for healing when asked.

Factors in healing:

Importance of faith – centurion (unworthiness, confidence in Jesus’ authority, belief in power of his word) God releases his healing power throughthe medium of faith; but not necessarily the faith of the person being prayed for – friend, relative, those praying.

Divine power - Woman healed of bleeding – Jesus felt power flow out through him.

Important to make sure there is an atmosphere of faith when praying for physical healing. Wimber asks those who do not appear to have faith in Jesus’ power to heal to leave.

8. Not everyone is healed

Reasons vary:

lack of faith

unconfessed sin

disunity, sin, unbelief in the body

incomplete/incorrect diagnosis

people stop praying if instant healing does not occur

Healing comes through the atonement but is not in the atonement.

The common factor to Jesus’ healings of the chronically ill was evangelism

III How does Jesus heal through us?

9. An integrated model of healing: principles, values, practices

Jesus used a show, tell, deploy and supervise method of training. He took them to watch, he commissioned and sent. Results in Acts. Disciples trained second generation.

Guiding principles

1. God wants to heal the sick today
2. importance of corporate ministry (! Cor 14.26, James 5.16, 1 Pe 2.9; 4.10)
3. our trust in God is demonstrated by action
4. we are empowered by the HS
5. impce of loving relationships with our brothers and sisters
6. God wants to heal the whole person, not just specific conditions. The goal is to leave the person feeling more loved by God than they did before.

Values

1. A healing environment – healing happens when the HS is present and people are full of faith in God for healing. He asks if they believe Jesus can heal; if he can heal now. If no one does, he asks God for the faith. If the sense of faith isn’t there he rarely sees healing. Faith is increased by worship, so that helps.
2. A ministry time. They prefer to pray in teams (more powerful; avoids discouragement/pride; nec for demons)
3. Training. Leaders must train others.
4. Lifestyle healing – do it as norm.

Practices

1. Hearing. Most fundamental skill reqd for healing is openness to the HSS, emptying self and receiving his leading and power.
2. Seeing. Spiritual eyesight – look for things which suggest the HS has come upon the person.
3. Speaking – learn how to pray, to offer words of love, understanding, assurance. Followup instructions are important.
4. Touching – sensitively and appropriately

10. An integrated model of healing: programmes and personnel

Practitioners and trainers. Two qualifications for anyone to practise healing are faith and openness to HS.

Gifts of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:

gifts of discernment (wisdom, knowledge, discerning of spirits)

inspirations (floods of thought describing situations)

dreams/visions/pictures

impressions – knowing in one’s spirit

scripture verses

pains in the body

gifts of power (faith, miracles, healings)

anointing – infusion of power (heat/confidence)

detachment – awareness of sth beyond oneself happening, presence of HS

words of faith

dreams and visions of healing

impressions, knowledge that God will heal – usually in prayer before the ministry time

11. A healing procedure: interview diagnosis, prayer selection

Five stages:

1. Interview – which answers the question, where does it hurt?
2. Diagnosis – which answers the question, why does this person have this condition? (ask qs before relying on gifts of knowledge)
3. Prayer selection – answers the question, what kind of prayer is needed to help this person? (prayer directed towards God, words of command from God, prayers of rebuke)
4. Prayer engagement – answers the question, how effective are our prayers? (prayer, laying on of hands, further interviewing)
5. Post-prayer directions

12. A healing procedure: prayer engagement, phenomena, post-prayer direction

Prayer engagement contd

Shaking, falling over and other physical phenomena accompany profound healings and spiritual renewals; they are not normally associated with healthy Christians’ walks. Drunkenness in the Spirit, bodily writhing and distortions, laughing and sobbing, prolonged expressions of praise all occur. Other phenomena of the HS are more subtle – fluttering eyelids, slight trembling, perspiring, heaviness in the air; this usually indicates the presence of the HS.

Often however there are no external signs.

When the need for healing of the spirit is diagnosed he takes the following steps

do they agree this is sin?

Will they pray to God about it?

He proclaims them forgiven (Jn 20.23)

He asks how they feel

If it hurts, there is anger.

He encourages the person to realise that Jesus was with them throughout the painful events; ie he reinterprets their experience in the light of God’s purpose.

He takes authority over problems that have been passed on to children from their parents; eg ‘I break the power of alcoholism/pornography/homosexuality in the name of Jesus, and I release you from the sins of your parents’.

He speaks healing to the abused part of the body, eg ‘Lord, I ask that you bring healing and wholeness to this person’s genital organs. Cleanse his organs with the power of your blood.’

He breaks bondages to habitual sins (Mt 16.19 keys).

He breaks emotional ties with other people – eg former lovers.

He lays hands on/near the affected area.

He may speak to the condition itslef, eg I command you (back) to straighten.

He listens to words that might release healing power.

He watches for manifestations of the HS on the person (keeping his eyes open).

Demonisation.

Best done in a private setting, in a team of 2-5 people.

Psychological disorders must not be diagnosed as demonisation. He never calls anything a demon until he has actually talked with the demon. Indicators: personality change, eye changes, bodily changes.

When he knows it is a demon, he commands its attention by telling the person to look at him and commanding it in the name of Jesus to tell him its name.

He only commands demons to identify themselves when the person is out of control (ie when it’s obvious there is a demon there). When it tells its name, he asks the meaning. Then he commands it to leave.

Most people don’t know they have demons until the prayer time. Then they become frightened, as the demons threaten them.

The leaving of evil spirits often has a reaction in the person – falling, crying, exhaling; followed by an unusual peace. If he isn’t sure, he looks them in the eyes and commands it to manifest if it’s still there.

Another method is to pray for various parts of the body, asking the HS to consecrate them. When he gets an adverse reaction, he stops and begins the process of expulsion again – identify, silence, cast out.

Mild demonisation is th emost common – periodic attack from evil spirits iin certain areas of their lives. He commands it to leave, then ministers for forgiveness, repentance, infilling of HS.

Post-prayer directions

Answer the question – what should they do to keep their healing?

Epilogue

Appendices – healing in OT, healing ministry of Jesus, ministry of disciples.