So Much More: Moving Beyond Kingdom Principles to Kingdom Power (9 page)

As I said, I had been in ministry for over twenty years but I had never been trained in my conservative Bible college background or in my years of experience for an encounter like this. So, I did the only thing I knew to do. I went to the hallway outside the room where this was all going on and called a Pentecostal pastor friend. I was pretty sure she had dealt with this before. Over the phone, she gave us a crash course in taking authority over the demons. So we commanded the demons in Jesus’ name to stop tormenting this young man and to leave him alone. Immediately the young man became calm.

Now I am not one to believe there is a demon behind every bush, but from that time on, I began to encounter demons regularly. Another of my early experiences with the demonic realm took place in a deliverance session with a man who came from an America Indian background. He had come to me in desperation because he couldn’t sleep at night. He heard voices and felt constantly tormented and found himself doing things that seemed beyond his control. As we talked that day, we discovered that he had an uncle who was the medicine man of their tribe. The medicine man’s role is basically to bring the spirit world to assist people in the tribe with things like healing. This was a connection to the demonic spirit world, and as a result this man became exposed to many evil spirits. In the course of that meeting, as we called out several demons, several spoke to us and identified themselves by name and the man at times began to sweat profusely and become violent and physically ill. We took authority over the demons one by one, bound them up, and cast them out of this man; and they stopped abusing him. After multiple demons left, the man’s countenance changed drastically as he began to radiate with joy and peace. This is the kingdom!

Another young lady I encountered came into our church one year just before Christmas. She looked exhausted and disheveled. Her fiancé, who was with her, told us that she had been acting really weird and talking in this strange deep voice that was not hers. I tried to get her to read from the Bible and she couldn’t. Her countenance would change and she became violent and a deep voice, definitely not the voice of this sweet young lady, came out of her swearing profusely. Again, I took authority over the demons in Jesus name and cast them out and she left a much happier, much freer young lady. I saw her in church in the coming weeks and she didn’t even look like the same girl. She was beautiful, radiant, and free. This is the kingdom!

These were just a few of my beginning experiences with the demonic, and I have encountered this on a more regular basis ever since then. For over twenty years of ministry I had never witnessed this, but now I seem to see it regularly. Why? Because now I’m aware that there is a real clash of kingdoms going on and we have been given authority as believers over the kingdom of darkness. We shouldn’t be surprised because Jesus told us, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you” (Luke 10:19). We are called to take authority over the kingdom of darkness because we live in the kingdom of light. He has delegated to us His authority over the enemy.

Chapter 5
HEALING POWER

J
ESUS ALSO DEMONSTRATED
the kingdom was at hand through the healing of disease. It was important for Jesus to demonstrate the kingdom through healing. In order to understand why healing is a demonstration of the kingdom, we first must understand why disease is a part of this world. It is almost impossible for you and me to imagine a world that does not include sickness and disease. It’s almost impossible for us to comprehend a world that doesn’t include hospitals, pharmacies, doctors’ offices, surgery centers, cancer treatment centers, radiation, and chemotherapy. And while it is almost impossible for us to fathom a world that does not include all these things, that is exactly the way God created the world in the beginning. When God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, as unbelievable as it may seem to us, the entirety of their lives and daily experiences were all disease-free. They experienced the world as God created it to be and desire of it to be—a place of physical perfection.

When Satan came and tempted Adam and Eve to rebel against God’s kingdom, and they sinned, Satan usurped the authority that God had delegated to mankind to rule in this world; and all of a sudden this world became Satan’s kingdom. And with his kingdom came sickness, disease, and pain—physically, emotionally, spiritually, you name it. And our world, ever since, has been plagued with physical dysfunction. So it only makes sense that when Jesus showed up on the scene, He would not only announce that He had come to restore the kingdom of God and bring an end to the kingdom of Satan, but that He would demonstrate the kingdom by restoring physical health to people wherever He went.

Over and over again in the Gospels, we read about how Jesus brought physical healing to those facing disease. Matthew 9 is one chapter that focuses on the healing ministry of Jesus. And Matthew ends this chapter with a little summary statement. This particular statement is mirrored several times in the Gospel accounts.

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

—M
ATTHEW
9:35

What message did He preach? The good news of the kingdom. What ministry did He do? He healed every disease and sickness. In doing so, He was demonstrating that He had come to usher in the kingdom.

I don’t believe Matthew’s intent was to say that Jesus healed every person. There were still sick people in the world while Jesus was here. I think what Matthew wants us to know is that there was no sickness or disease over which Jesus did not have authority. I don’t believe when Jesus went into a town He automatically healed everybody who was sick. That may have happened at times, but not always. For instance, in John 5:1–15 tells of when Jesus went to the pool of Bethesda where he healed a lame man who had been lying at that pool for thirty-eight years. The people lay at this pool day after day because they believed that occasionally an angel would come and stir the water and the first person in the water would be healed. If this man had been sitting there for thirty-eight years waiting for healing and the people believed that healing happened when the waters were stirred, you can imagine that there would have been many people gathered at the pool that day waiting for their opportunity to be healed. In fact, John wrote that the blind, lame, and paralyzed were all brought to the pool. But out of all of the people there that day, Jesus asked just one man, “Do you want to get well?” (v. 6) and proceeded to heal him because He realized that was what the Father was doing. The Jewish leaders were upset with all this, so “Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does’” (v. 19).

Matthew details some very specific healings in this chapter. Jesus had just been teaching His disciples about fasting. They were having a conversation and got interrupted by a ruler of a local synagogue: “While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, ‘My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live’” (Matt. 9:18). Can you imagine a deeper pain for a father than to watch his daughter pass away? Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. Verse 20, says, “Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.” In Luke’s gospel account, we learn that when she touched Jesus’ cloak, she was instantly healed (8:30). There was a huge crowd following Jesus. Why was there a huge crowd? Because He was on His way to supposedly raise a little girl from the dead. You would go to that show, wouldn’t you? You would even buy a ticket. You would be thinking, “If He’s about to raise somebody from the dead, I want to witness that!” So they crowded around Jesus and followed Him, and this one woman touched Him. Jesus amazingly asked the question, “Who touched me?” (v. 45). The disciples just laughed at Him. “What do you mean who touched you? Jesus, everybody is touching you! There are people crowded all around you.” But He knew this touch was different. He had felt healing power go out from His body. He turned and looked at the woman and said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you” (v. 48). She was healed before Jesus could even heal her. And then we read in Matthew 9:27 that Jesus healed two blind men and gave them sight. Later in this chapter we read about a demonized man who was mute and could not talk. Jesus rebuked this dumb spirit and healed this man and instantly he began to talk (vv. 32–33).

Matthew intended to communicate in his summary statement that everywhere Jesus went, healing was a part of what he did. He would talk about the kingdom and then demonstrate the kingdom through healing. He healed many thousands of people—so many that they are not nearly all recorded in Scripture. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell of about thirty-five specific people who were healed in addition to times where they say multitudes came and He healed all of the sick. If you were to lay those accounts side by side, read through them, and think about them, you would come to a few conclusions and observations about Jesus’ healing ministry.

First, there was absolutely no formula to the way Jesus healed. I believe he did that on purpose. If he always did A, B, C, and D, and people were healed, we would copyright it, put it in a book, and use it as a formula to heal the sick everywhere we went. We would put God in a box and expect Him to act the way we expect Him to. But as we look at the way Jesus healed, we see there was no formula whatsoever. Sometimes Jesus spoke a word and sometimes He was silent. Sometimes He touched a person and sometimes He healed from long distance; He spoke it in one place and in another geographical region someone was healed. The power that flowed through Him was amazing. Sometimes He did it among a crowd so that people could watch and be amazed. Sometimes He did it in private, pulling someone to the side. Sometimes when Jesus healed, the people that needed healing asked, “Lord, would you heal me? Can You heal me? Are You able to heal me? I believe, but help my unbelief.” And sometimes Jesus healed without us knowing if the person ever asked for it or even wanted it. There was no formula.

Once He made mud with His spit and rubbed it on a blind man’s eyes (John 9:6). One time when Jesus went to heal a man who was blind, it took Him two tries to finish it. The first time the man opened his eyes and saw men who looked like trees. Then it says Jesus touched him again and he was able to see (Mark 8:22–25). How can it take the Son of God two tries? What we clearly see is that there was no formula in the healing ministry of Jesus whatsoever. Sometimes faith plays a significant part. He said to the woman who touched His garment, “Your faith has made you well” (Mark 5:34,
NAS
). But sometimes it appears as though faith is completely absent. We don’t know, but sometimes it seems like Jesus healed only to give somebody faith. There was no formula to how Jesus healed, and I think that’s important.

Sometimes physical sickness is intimately linked with a demonic presence. In Matthew 9 when Jesus healed this mute man, it says the reason he could not speak was that he was demonized. In Luke 4 we read of another such encounter.

Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.

—L
UKE
4:38–39

Jesus had gone home with Simon Peter, and when they arrived at his home they found that his mother-in-law was sick. Peter must have looked at Jesus and said something to the effect of, “Jesus, I’ve seen you heal all these sick people. Will you heal my mother-in-law?” So Jesus ministered to her.

Peter’s mother-in-law was sick with a fever; and Luke says something interesting, “He rebuked the fever.” The word that is translated “rebuke” here can again literally be translated as “stop it!” When Jesus spoke to demons, He often rebuked them and said, “Stop it!” You may wonder, “What relationship is there between a demon and a fever? A fever doesn’t have any personality. How do you speak to a fever?” Yet, Jesus did it. He rebuked the fever. You may think perhaps Jesus was just caught up in the viewpoints of His day, but I think Jesus knew everything. The Scriptures reveal the fullness of His knowledge. What I believe is that Jesus recognized there was a spirit behind this fever that was causing the fever to manifest. Look at the words that Luke used: “He bent over her and rebuked the fever.” He spoke to the fever and said, “Stop it!” He saw something in that fever that was beyond the fever itself. There was a demonic presence that was causing it. Luke records that when he bent over her and rebuked the fever, it left her immediately. It doesn’t say the fever died down or that the fever had cooled. It says the fever left. How does a fever get up and leave? In this case, the fever got up and left because it was caused by a demonic spirit.