Bill Johnson - Healing 101
Wow, good morning! By the way, that album is an instrumental album. The Tibetan music was another great video. The album is amazing; I just bought it this week. I bought Kanye’s «Closed on Sunday.» That’s me right there! It’s something you have to listen to to know what I’m talking about. That’s good; I really enjoyed it. Actually, I just saw Kanye at Lakewood with Joel Osteen this morning, so that’s wonderful! Anyway, that’s a good album they gave me, but I like buying them, so I just buy them. I’ve got a story to read that I haven’t read in years. It’s a good one; it’s actually supposed to be a true story, kind of like that great quote from Abraham Lincoln: «Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.»
All right, in Mount Vernon, Texas, Drummond’s Bar began construction on the expansion of their building to increase their business. In response, the local Baptist Church started a campaign to block the bar from expanding with petitions and prayers. Work progressed right up until the week before the grand reopening when lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. After the bar burned down from the lightning strike, the church folks were rather smug in their outlook, bragging about the power of prayer—that is, until the bar owners sued the church on the grounds that the church was ultimately responsible for the demise of the building, either through direct or indirect actions or means. In reply to the court, the church denied all responsibility or any connection to the building’s demise. The judge read through the plaintiff’s complaint and the defendant’s reply, and at the opening hearing, he commented, «I don’t know how I’m going to decide this, but it appears from the paperwork that we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer and an entire church congregation that now does not.» That’s just too funny to not be true.
All right, open your Bibles to the book of Acts—Acts chapter 10. In Acts chapter 10, I think it’s already been addressed. Now, excuse me; I am so sorry. All right, I’m gagging, and I’m going to talk to you about healing, which is such a privilege! Yes, I think you’ve already been told we’re on this part of our discipleship series; this is week two, and we’re looking at Acts chapter 10, verse 38. My personal conviction is that Acts 10:38 is an apostolic review of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, putting into one verse the impact of how Jesus changed the world. Verse 38—let’s take a look at it: «God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.» Let’s look at it again: «How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.»
This particular verse is so important to me personally that I’ve actually developed a routine. Anytime I see 10:38 on the clock, if Benny and I are in the car together and I just happen to look down and it’s 10:38, I quote the scripture and then pray, «God, do it again, do it again where we are, anointed by the Holy Spirit and power, healing all who were oppressed by the devil because God is with us.» I just make that a prayer. Sometimes, I’m in the middle of a conversation and I just pause in my heart and acknowledge the work that Jesus did that is to be carried on.
Again, he actually prophesied over this generation and over every following generation that we would do greater works than he did, and you can’t do greater until you’ve done the same. So we are in that journey right now to see the same breakthroughs that Jesus demonstrated. Let’s go back to the verse; let’s walk through it. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth. Number one, his humanity is emphasized here. I get in a little bit of trouble in this area because sometimes I’ll emphasize the humanity of Jesus, and people make the assumption that I don’t believe he is eternally God the Son. Listen, if Jesus isn’t God, then let’s go home; we’re wasting our time. I’ll go fishing or find something else to do. I have no desire to belong to a Christian club of any sort; we all have better things to do with our lives.
If Jesus wasn’t God, then there is no purpose in his life except being just another inspirational human being. He is the eternal Son of God, the Lamb of God, who alone was qualified to make a payment sufficient to cancel the power and debt of sin over each of our lives. He is the eternal Son of God who never stopped being God; did I make that clear? He is eternally the Son of God. However, here’s the great mystery of the gospel: entirely God became entirely man, and in this passage, Luke, the writer, emphasizes his human part—Jesus of Nazareth, anointed by the Holy Spirit and power. I’d like to suggest that God didn’t need to be anointed any more than he already was; it was his humanity that needed the anointing of the Holy Spirit’s power. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that when it says «the Holy Spirit and power,» power is not an addition to the Holy Spirit; it’s an emphasis.
Let me illustrate it this way: in Matthew 6:33, there’s a verse many of us can quote: «Seek first the kingdom of God.» What’s the next phrase? «And His righteousness.» It sounds like «seek the kingdom, and while you’re seeking the kingdom, seek His righteousness.» That’s not what he’s doing. He’s adding emphasis to a part of the kingdom. The righteousness of God, illustrated in how we live, should be a primary focus in our pursuit of the kingdom; that makes sense, right? Let me give you chapter and verse: Romans 14:17 says the kingdom of God is not meat or drink; it’s not in the natural realm, but it is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God is righteousness.
So when he says, «Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness,» do you get the point I’m trying to make? He’s adding a focused effort on the issue of righteousness. It is the same here: Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power. In other words, that expression specifically refers to the person of the Holy Spirit—the Dunamis of heaven himself. Jesus was anointed; that word «anointed» means to smear. It would be like putting sunscreen on—you wipe it everywhere. Jesus was completely smeared with the Holy Spirit and power; everything about him glistened with the presence of the Spirit of God. Why is this important? Because the way Jesus entered into the miracle realm is an example for us to follow.
So let me walk you through this thought process: if Jesus did his miracles as God, we’d all still be impressed but remain spectators. We would stand back and say, «Oh God, it would be awesome if you did it again.» But when I find out he did his miracles as a man yielded to God, then suddenly I’m no longer satisfied to stay where I’m at; I have to pursue the example that has been given to me. The example summons me; the example provokes me. So Jesus, in his humanity, did the impossible. He did it because he was anointed by the Holy Spirit for power. What did the Holy Spirit do? John 16 reveals to us that the Holy Spirit would reveal what the Father was doing. Are you following me here? Alright, well, I’ll try to calm down in a moment. So Jesus says in Matthew—excuse me, in John 5 and John 8—he says, «I only do what I see the Father do; I only say what I hear the Father say.» I only do what I see the Father do; I don’t say what I hear the Father say.
How did he know what the Father was doing? It was the Spirit of God upon him that made him aware of what the Father was saying and doing. Alright, it says that Jesus healed all who were oppressed of the devil. Everyone that Jesus, that the Father sent him to, was healed 100%, and everyone who came to him was healed. But not everyone who was sick on the planet was healed. Right? In Acts 3, we have Peter and John walking to the gate called Beautiful, and they see a lame man who had been there for years. The implication is that he was there when Jesus walked by, but for whatever reason, he didn’t cry out or the Father didn’t lead Jesus to him. We don’t know how; we don’t know why. We just know that he was alive in the same city as Jesus when Jesus was healing people. Many believers make what I think is a huge mistake in creating theology around what didn’t happen.
Jesus never taught on unanswered prayers because he never had any. He didn’t teach us how to navigate when people aren’t healed because he didn’t have that happen. You can only impart what you have. He was summoning us, inviting us, compelling us to enter into a stream of life, a thought of ministry where we do what he did, and that is where all are healed. Now, I may never be good at this; I may stink for my whole life. I just don’t have the luxury of changing my assignment to what I like. Most people look at their gifts, their skills, and their talents, and they come to a conclusion about what their ministry is based on their gifts and talents. In other words, they define their ministry by what they are good at. Jesus defines our ministry by what we can’t do.
In Matthew 10, he says, «Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, cleanse lepers.» He didn’t say pray for the sick or pray that they’d be raised from the dead. He didn’t say that; he said raise them. Now, we’re not healers; we pray for people. That’s how they’re healed, I get it. It’s just not what he said. He said raise the dead. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this yet, but the Father doesn’t seem to have a problem making us uncomfortable. My comfort is not high on his priority list. I think he gives me commands that make me uncomfortable so I’ll need the Comforter. It’s that combination: «Here, I’m going to put you way over your head; you’ll have to learn how to pray.»
Now, I’m going to give you an assignment that, if you really believe and understand what this assignment is, you’ll know it’s impossible. That way, you’ll really learn to pray. It’s the Lord who puts us in these situations that are actually impossible to do. How could you heal somebody? How can I raise anyone from the dead? And yet that is the expressed command. Why? Because in the command is the automatic implication that you can only succeed through an intimate, tender relationship with God. I believe our talents and gifts are to be used by the Lord in ministry, but I’d hate for anybody in this room to ever come to a complete definition of what your life is about simply based on what you’re good at. Part of what we’re assigned to is what we can’t do. I may never do it well, but I don’t have the luxury of changing my job description. It says Jesus went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.
Years ago, I did a study where I tried to find every place in the Bible where God said, «And certainly I will be with you.» What I found was that every time that’s mentioned, it’s right before or right after he had given his people or an individual an impossible assignment. So, in other words, the presence of God comes with an impossible assignment. When it says «for God was with him,» this is Jesus, who is himself God, but again, he chose to live with the limitations of a human being so that he could be a model for us to follow.
So now it says he went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. That statement would be unnecessary if he didn’t live and depend on his humanity. Consider Moses, given an impossible assignment to lead Israel out of Egypt; God says, «I’ll be with you.» Gideon is given an assignment to win a battle against thousands of soldiers with 300 men with pitchers and torches. God says, «I’ll be with you.» Then he assigns a last-stage generation to make disciples of nations themselves in Matthew 28:19, the Great Commission, and he ends by saying, «And I will be with you.» What God has given us to do is impossible, except that he does it through us.
I want you to look at a passage from Malachi, chapter 4. I love these verses; they are a little bit humorous, mainly due to the prophetic language, which can be amusing, you know, promises like you’re going to get fat and stuff like that, which some do better than others. Verse two: Malachi 4, the last book in the Old Testament. If you get to the Gospels, turn left to get to Isaiah or right, alright? Verse 2: «But to you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings. You will go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You will trample the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on that day that I do this,» says the Lord. Here’s the decree: the Sun of Righteousness shall arise. He’s talking about a sunrise. The Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in his wings. The word «wings» there can actually be translated as «hem of a garment.»
Remember, Jesus was healing when the woman touched the edge of his garment? So, it says the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in his wings. Here’s the most important point from that verse: healing is a display of his righteousness. Way back before the fall of man, there was no sin, no disease; Job of Arafah was righteous before there was anything to heal. The expression of healing emerges from his righteousness—absolute beauty and perfection. Righteousness and holiness must be restored in our thinking to their rightful place. All beauty stems from the concept of holiness and righteousness. Everything that is beautiful and everything that is right; when you see something that is diseased or sick, righteousness perfects and restores it. I believe that, in our lifetime—I pray in our lifetime—the subject of holiness and righteousness gets restored to its rightful place of absolute affection and adoration: the righteousness of God.
So, here we have this concept: what sickness is to my body, sin is to my soul. What sin is to my soul, sickness is to my body. Hundreds of years ago, there was a division among theological camps in the church. I’m not going to delve into why; I understand a bit of what happened and why, but I won’t take the time. I’ll just say this: several hundred years ago, there was a serious division in theology within the church. It was this: the word salvation actually refers to being saved, which means I’m forgiven of sin, but it also means I’m delivered from torment and healed of disease. It’s in the word. We use the word «Sozo» in ministry; that’s the word for salvation. Somewhere back several hundred years ago, a division was made, creating a distinction that you can be forgiven of sin, but healing and deliverance were seen as additional items. It kind of formed the church’s thinking that salvation—being forgiven of sin—is the main thing.
And then, forgive me, but if there’s time, let’s get to the rest. Essentially, the word salvation, in its meaning and definition, includes that when you’re saved, you’re immediately in a place to be delivered and healed of affliction. John G. Lake would call it a triune salvation: spirit, soul, and body. It was never meant to be separated from the gospel of salvation. It was always meant to be, «Here, welcome. You’ve received Christ; now let’s get rid of that disease. You’ve received Christ; you can’t sleep at night. Let’s break off that torment.» It was always supposed to be part of that same package, but the church has dissected it so much that we’ve actually stolen the life out of this wonderful subject.
In Isaiah 53, we have a series of verses that say, in fact, I should just read it to you. Sorry I didn’t read it in the last two sessions, but this one says, «Surely he has borne our griefs, and he has carried our sorrows. He was smitten by God and afflicted, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.» Stop right there. Let me tell you what’s happening here. It says, «He has borne our griefs.» That word «griefs» literally means sicknesses; it doesn’t just bear my sorrow—he bore my disease. And it says, «He carried my sorrow.» The word «sorrow» is actually the word for pain.
In the crucifixion of Christ, there’s a picture of Jesus making payments for your health, for my health, for my healing. He was making payments. Now, if I were the Bill Gates of this city and I came to you today and said, «Hey, I have bought a brand-new Chevy Tahoe, brand-new, with every luxury item you can imagine on it. I’ve taken care of your next five years of insurance. Everything’s covered; just take this car down to the manager. I’ve already arranged it with him. Just take this to him, and you can pick up your car.»
How many of you, after you get to the law, would apply for a loan? No, you wouldn’t apply for a loan because it’s already paid for, and the miracle that you and I are in need of has already been paid for. As we jump, there are so many different spiritual hoops to try to repay for something that’s already been bought. It’s religious calisthenics; it’s shadowboxing. It’s dealing with things as though we need to fight to obtain something that’s actually already in our account. I may not know how to make the withdrawal from my account, but Jesus doesn’t need to do anything new. As Randy Clark taught us years ago, he said for us to beg for healing is to assume we have more mercy than he does.
See, he takes these things personally. We pray for the sick because we want him to get what he paid for. When Saul persecuted the church, Jesus said to Saul, «Why are you persecuting me?» He takes it personally. He says if you give a cup of cold water to someone in my name, he takes it personally. He thanks you for giving him a cup of cold water; he takes it personally. We pray for the sick because we want him to get what he paid for. It’s a relational journey where we learn how to better and better represent him. It has to always be for his glory. The moment I start taking the glory is the moment I’ve chosen a level place, a place to level off in my own maturity and development. He will not allow me to run with what belongs to him, and yet he has summoned every one of us into this lifestyle.
Benny and I moved to Redding with our kids in 1996; was it quite that long ago? After we were here a while, we started feeling that burning in our hearts to start a school of ministry. It became clear it was time. I met with Chris; we went on a particular trip together where I was speaking, and he accompanied me. I asked him to pray and think about joining us here in Redding and helping us to start the school of ministry. He and Kathy, of course, did that; they prayed, and the Lord really confirmed it when he came here. At that time, I think he had like seven businesses, and he closed them down to join us. But that meant he had a lot of debt when he closed the businesses, which I knew but was never announced to the church. I knew he had a lot of debt that he was working on paying. One day, I was at the back door; I like to go back there and just meet people, talk to people as you leave.
One of the gals in our church came up to me, and she had a piece of paper folded in half. She said, «Is Chris here?» I said, «No, he’s— I forget where now—he’s preaching somewhere else this morning, but he’ll be here tonight.» She handed me what I saw to be a check. She said, «Would you give this to Chris?» I said, «Sure,» and I took the check. Now, because it was not in a sealed envelope—you’re following me—because it wasn’t in a sealed envelope, I felt as though it was the will of God for me to know what was on this check. I didn’t want to open it while she was standing there because that would be rude. You know, I’m a very sensitive person. So, I walked out to the lobby and around the corner, and as soon as I did, I flipped it open. It was for $30,000. I looked, and it had his name on it. I wanted to make sure that part was clear, just in case we got something mixed up here. It was his name, and I thought that’s amazing.
So, I put it in my Bible. That evening came for pre-service prayer back in the dining room, and when Chris came in, I said, «Hey, Christopher.» He walked over, and I said, «Somebody gave this to me this morning to give to you.» He looked; I said, «Does that say $3,000?» I said, «$30,000.» Chris ruined the prayer meeting; he walked around that prayer meeting waving this check, showing everybody who had eyes to see that he had just been given $30,000. There was no more praying in that meeting; there was just the anointing for prayer. We lifted right at that moment. You know, he never thanked me for all that money because I didn’t write the check; I just delivered the check. When you pray for the sick, you’re delivering a check that somebody else wrote. Faith is an important part of healing; I grew up in a Pentecostal church, Assemblies of God. I’m very thankful for my upbringing.
I grew up believing in healing as a central part of the gospel. Nobody ever told me this, but somehow I came to the conclusion that if you were a very special person, you could be entrusted with an anointing for praying for the sick and seeing them get healed. In my upbringing, I learned that my mom’s dad was baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1901, and his wife, my grandma, was baptized in the Spirit in 1903. This was before Azusa Street; they sat in on Wigglesworth’s ministry, and Malka was the soloist for Aimee Semple McPherson. I grew up hearing these stories. My grandfather would tell me, «Billy, not everybody liked Wigglesworth because he was so bold in his faith.» He said, «Not everybody loves Wigglesworth now because we love him; now that he’s dead, Israel loved all their prophets who were dead too, as though the ones who were alive were the ones who gave them problems. Bold faith is offensive to the stationary.»
He would talk to me, and so I grew up with that. My parents took me to see Kathryn Kuhlman a number of times, and that was a rich highlight. We used to have Mario Murillo come here and preach back in the early '70s—'71, '72, '73 in that era—when so many great miracles would take place. I had this notion in my mind that you had to be one of those special persons called by God, with unusual experiences and a unique touch from God on your life to qualify. I knew I didn’t qualify. It’s a little bit weird now because some people think I’m in that position. No, let me just say there’s a lot of things in ministry that I do very naturally; I’ve been doing it for over 40 years. Healing is one of them. Healing is one of those things I have to push into every single time. It does not flow naturally; it flows as a decision, a choice.
This is essential to support the authenticity of the gospel, and so I will choose to pursue it again. Faith for miracles is a huge thing. One of the beautiful things about the way Jesus dealt with the subject of faith is that He never punished people who were low in faith. He didn’t punish them by withholding a miracle; He addressed the smallness of faith. The smallest measure of faith I can find in the Bible hardly moves the needle on the Richter scale—it’s the guy who comes to Jesus in Mark 9 and says, «If You are able.» That’s not the boldest confession of faith. He says, «If You can handle this size of a request, please help my son.» So he comes with that faith that’s lacking oxygen to Jesus, and Jesus turns the tables. He says, «If you are able to believe…» This is the famous statement: «Help me in my unbelief! I believe, but help me in my great state.»
What does Jesus do? He doesn’t look at him and say, «Your faith is too small to warrant a miracle.» No, He adjusts the smallness of faith so that when the man experiences a miracle, his faith—and his trust in God’s promised nature and commitment to him as a person—can grow. Miracles are supposed to accelerate their faith. Jesus didn’t withhold a miracle because of small faith; He would address the issue but then provide the miracle as a place of access to greater faith. I remember so many years ago, I was in a meeting in Nashville with wonderful friends there who I had gone to see many times. A woman came up to me and told me her condition. She said, «I believe tonight is my night. I believe God’s going to heal me.»
Now, you have to understand, I have heard that phrase—"God is going to heal me tonight"—more times than you can imagine. And I don’t mean that in a put-down way; I’m glad when I hear that because I know people are actively agreeing with God’s Word. But in this particular instance, when she walked up to me and said, «I believe God’s going to heal me tonight,» it stunned me because I could feel the presence of faith. This is no exaggeration: when she said, «I believe God’s going to heal me tonight,» I stepped back. I stepped back because I could physically feel the atmosphere of faith.
Now, it sounds weird, but I stepped back and just stared at her, examining her head to toe. Honestly, I wanted every cell in my body to recognize the presence of faith. I wanted everything about what was on this woman to impact me in spirit, soul, and body. I wanted every part of me to connect to this thing; I had never seen that level of doubt before ever. I stepped back and laid hands on her—she was out for maybe 20 minutes. When she got up, she said, «What’s happening?» She explained it had to do with her heart and lungs, saying, «My chest is burning.» I said, «Your faith got you that.» She had a medical device, a pump, which delivered medication directly into her heart 24/7. Every morning at 7 o’clock, she would change that bag of medication.
So she’s got this wire, this single line right into her heart, pumping the medication. She comes back the next night, so now 24 hours later, I said, «How are you doing?» She said, «Well, this morning at 7 o’clock, the Lord told me I didn’t need the medication anymore.» Now, doctors had told her she could live, I think it was four minutes; it may have been as many as six minutes without medication. So she unplugged it. You’ve got four minutes to find out whether you’re hearing from God. Oops, I’m here early, sorry Ivy. It was sobering to hear her talk about it. So here she is; it’s now 7:00 in the morning. She undid it. This is 9 o’clock at night, she’s giving testimony. Everybody in the room, she said, «This morning I took the thing off, and the Lord came and completely healed her.»
Faith, yeah, for energy! Faith is a glorious thing, a wonderful thing that everybody in this room should be cultivating. The scripture says without faith it’s impossible to please Him; it’s that vital. Without faith, it also says anything that’s not done in faith is sin. So faith is central to our behavior, our conversation, our speech, our thoughts, ideas, plans; all the stuff. Faith has to be a decision. So here we have this issue of faith. Faith doesn’t grow as an expression of our will; I can’t determine to have faith. Picture this: a river next to me, it’s already flowing. I can step into what already exists. Faith is when I actually participate in how God thinks about an impossibility.
Faith grows not through striving but through surrender; it’s coming to the place of abandonment to Him. It’s coming to the place where I may never do this thing well. I just don’t have the luxury of reducing the assignment to what I do well. I’ve been assigned to this lifestyle, whereas there’s this continuously flowing river called the will of God. Jesus modeled it by healing all who were oppressed of the devil that came to Him. What we tend to do, if you’re anything like me, is if somebody approaches you with a need, you immediately try to think of somebody else in the room who has a greater anointing in that area who can pray for that person instead of realizing the sovereign God arranged for you to meet with that person and pray. I saw no miracles then. I already talked to you about my vineyard trip. I’m sorry; I’ve done this twice today, so I’m not delirious, but I’m in the neighborhood.
As a pastor in Weaverville, I would pray for the sick often. I never saw anybody healed. Some died. So I figured I had the gift of eternity. I’d go back to the owner’s manual and get inspired again, try it again. Then they wouldn’t be healed or whatever. So it actually went something like this: I would pray for people for maybe three months, and then I’d get so discouraged because nothing happened, I’d quit for six months. But it never leaves the pages of Scripture: these signs shall follow those that believe. So I wrestled myself back to a place of faith, maybe read a book by Wigglesworth or a book by John G. Lake or something to stir my faith and try it again.
In 1987, I think it was February 4th, I took several of the leaders in Weaverville down to John Wimber at the Vineyard Church, and I’m forever grateful to that movement and that ministry. We went to this conference. I sat there, and the only time this has happened in my life, every teaching that I was in that week I had already taught before verbatim. What was weird is some of the illustrations they used I had used, but it was confirming. However, it wasn’t all that encouraging because they had fruit for what they believed; I just had theory. Many people stop short when you become satisfied with knowledge; you often stop short of a divine encounter. Revelation knowledge is supposed to introduce us to the person that completes the experience, if that makes sense. It’s the person of Jesus being the healer that rounds out the experience so that I can care for others.
Anyway, I attended all week and realized the one thing I came out with was that I needed to put a demand on what I believed. I came home both frustrated and challenged. That next week, the miracles started immediately. There’s no explanation because they didn’t line us up separately. Hands almost like today. Today we would have impartation times; we believe very strongly that the power of God can be imparted to people to walk in greater anointing. There was no corporate prayer over the group; there was no time holding hands.
We just prayed that everybody in this room would walk from this day forth with the anointing for miracles. None of that happened; it was just that we were there, we listened, we observed, and went home, and it started the next week. I have no explanation except I think we underestimate the value of the presence in a corporate setting. We caught something; we caught it! It actually started that we caught something in that week of meetings, like a virus, except a good one, like being exposed to radiation. You know all kinds of things go wrong in your body? Well, the radiation of Heaven is good; it gives you something to distribute to other people.
I went home and entered a friend of mine’s store. When I walked in, there were a bunch of people there, and I felt uneasy since I’m going to have to retire due to arthritis in my arms and hands. I can’t use tools anymore, so I can’t reach the shelves to take the boxes down. He said I’m going to have to retire; he’s probably in his 40s and doesn’t know the Lord yet, but I felt led to pray for him. I didn’t have the courage to pray in front of the crowd there. I’m so glad Jesus loves everyone. Nicodemus visited Jesus at night; Gideon was told by God to tear down the altar that his dad built in his backyard, but he was too nervous to do it by day because everyone would see him, so he did it at night.
Three days later, when I came back, nobody was in the room. I was going to bring up the conversation, a bit nervous, but I had that purpose. Then he brought it up, mentioning his need to retire again. I said, «Why? I feel like God wants to heal you.» He replied, «Okay,» so I told him it was time. I have since found that people who don’t know the Lord are often much more eager to receive prayer. I think Christians have to sort out whether or not it’s God’s will for them to be sick; if it’s God’s will, then what is the hour for healing? There are all kinds of hoops to jump through. This guy just thinks that if there’s a God, certainly He’s capable of healing. Maybe we should return to an unbeliever’s faith.
I put my hand on his elbow and spoke to the condition, just as Jesus did in Scripture when He rebuked arthritis, laying hands on people. After two minutes of prayer, I stirred him to move his arms around, and he was astonished—I think I was more astonished. He exclaimed, «It’s all gone! I am healed!» He moved his arms and hands around joyfully. Then he said, «Bill, you are a healer.» I thought, «No, don’t correct an unbeliever for their bad theology; we have enough issues as it is.» I just let him go on because, let’s be honest, he was trying to compliment me and encourage me. He was my friend, expressing amazement and saying, «It’s incredible, Bill; you’ve got a gift!»
Once he finished, I said, «I’m so thankful for that. Thank you for your encouragement; it is amazing what God just did. But let me explain something to you: whenever we come together as a people on Sunday, Jesus shows up and moves down the rows. He comes to this person who needs encouragement and strengthens them, and to another person over here who needs clarity for a work decision. He gives clarity to this person over here, who’s been suffering from migraines all week, and during worship, He lifts it off. He moves around, giving these gifts to people up and down the rows. He thinks to Himself that it’s so much fun giving gifts. I think I’ll give this person a gift of healing, but it’s not for him; it’s for when he prays for someone after the service. He ensures those two meet. I’ll grant insight on a scripture to this person during worship because it’s something the other person needs to hear. He loves giving gifts so much that He wants us to enjoy it, and all that happened to you was that you were visited by Jesus. This was one of those moments when He gave me a gift that was my privilege to deliver to you. I got to deliver a check that I didn’t write.
The next time I went to see him, I had gone to Spain the week before. When I got home, I wanted to see how he was doing. When I walked into his store, he saw me and exclaimed, „Bill! You’re back!“ He stopped and said, „I was visited by Jesus.“ Why? Because Jesus went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Is the Spirit of God with you?
See, as soon as the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead took up residence in everyone in this room that confesses Christ, all of heaven positioned itself to see what you and I would concur in His name. We’ve been given the privilege to confront things that are impossible, knowing that is our assignment; it’s the nature of the Christian life. It may be that there are people in this room who don’t have that personal relationship with Jesus. You don’t know what it is to be forgiven, to have a clean conscience, to have a clean slate. You don’t know what it is to actually be adopted by God, who is the ultimate Father, bringing us into His family and His circle. You may never have known what that is like, and yet you would say today, „Bill, I don’t want to leave the building until I know what it is to be forgiven, until I know what it is to be at peace with God; so I know what it is to have Jesus as my absolute Lord, Master, and Savior.“
If there’s anyone here who would say that, „I don’t want to leave the building until I know I’m at peace with God,“ then I want you to just put your hand up right now. Right back over here is one, right over here. Anybody else? Here’s another; lay down. Here’s another; everybody else, put your hands down. Here’s another, another right here, yep. Bless the Lord! Yep, yep, yep, I see that. There are at least five, five or six who put their hands up. Right here’s another one, yep, yeah, yep, another one right here, yeah. It’s the most wonderful thing in the world. I’m going to ask those who raised their hands, there are six or seven of you that I could see, and anyone additional who would say, „I want that to be me,“ to make your way over here to my left, where a trusted friend is waiting.
I want to have a ministry team come at the same time; it will help them, so just come on down. Bless you right over here; I want you to come down. Yeah, blessing! If you raised your hand, come right over here to my left. Yeah, come on over here. These folks with their hands raised are just here to pray for you. Yeah, yeah, and I need to make sure that we get everyone who came down. Maybe come right over here to my left; we have some more that are coming. My goodness! Church, give thanks to the Lord for this! Yeah, walk them all the way over. Yeah, yeah, yeah; here’s another one, is there more? Yeah, it’s more like eight or nine!
Praise the wonderful Jesus! This is just harvest time; this is harvest time, and Jesus is bringing people in. I pray that today they would receive the salvation of forgiveness, healing, and deliverance, because that’s what Jesus provided. I want to pray for you, then I’m going to let you go. Father, I thank You so much for the privilege of being together like this and the reminders You give us of what the gospel looks like: the gospel of power, the gospel of transformation, spirit, soul, and body. I ask that out of this gathering, You would raise up an army—an army who would contend for the breakthroughs that Jesus alone saw on the earth, and that we would once again glorify You through our absolute surrender to Your purposes. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Now, if you would hold your places please for just a moment, we’re going to invite people to come forward to receive ministry. But come on up; then I’m going to get to the end, and it’s such a good word. If you need a miracle in your body, we want to encourage you just to come up front to receive prayer, to receive healing. Specifically, I felt like anyone with migraine headaches in the back of their head, problems with the tailbone, also achy knees—just feels like your knees almost want to give away if you walk too long—sore feet, and problems with the sense of smell. Any condition, it doesn’t have to be those, but specifically I felt like the Lord is highlighting those things. If you need healing in your body, please come up; our ministry team would love to pray for you. Bless you all; thank you so much for coming, and hopefully, we’ll see you next week. God bless you guys!