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"PRESENCE HEALING"

We have so often heard of people who have been wounded when an unthinking
Christian told them that the reason they have not been healed is because of  
their lack of faith..that always bothered me...because I have no ability to
heal myself or others no matter how much faith I have...and because James
5:14-15 says if we are sick we should call for the elders...(that's not the
Church Board...that's those seasoned believers who know how to appropriate
the purchase of the Cross)...and they should anoint us with oil...(oil is one
of the symbols of the Holy Spirit..the elders should be full of the Holy
Spirit when they pray)...and the prayer THAT IS OF FAITH...will heal the
sick....but whose faith?....in this instance it's the faith of the one who is
praying....and faith in what?...faith in the Healer....then it says that if
they have sin they will be forgiven...and sin does have something to do with
sickness (sometimes)....but even beyond that...let me show you something....

At "Catch the Fire" last Saturday, Randy Clark tallked about the "four levels
of faith for healing" in the scriptures ...

DOUBT
The first level was "doubt"...
"Lord IF you are willing...." Luke 5:12-13..the leper thought Jesus COULD
heal...but had doubt if He WOULD heal ...yet Jesus healed him

FAITH MIXED WITH DOUBT
" Lord I believe...help my unbelief" Mk 9:24...the father of the epileptic
boy had faith for Jesus to heal his son...but he readily admitted that it was
mixed with doubt..yet Jesus healed his son

GREAT FAITH
The story of the woman with the issue of blood..Mt 15 22-28..she had great
faith that if she could only touch Jesus she would be healed...and Jesus
healed her

DESPERATE FAITH
The two blind men who cried out after Jesus ..."Jesus..Son of David...have
mercy on us" Mt 9:27-29...in thier desperation they cried out to Jesus for
MERCY...and Jesus healed them

Now this is surely a puzzle....Jesus healed when there was doubt...when there
was faith mixed with doubt..when there was great faith..and when there was
desperate faith..it kind of knocks a hole in all our religious theories....in
every event ...Jesus healed...

So?....what is the common denominator in each of these accounts?

THE PRESENCE OF JESUS....when the Healer is in the house....healing happens

I have become convinced...though there are many dynamics to healing...and it
DOES
have to do with faith (both the faith of the one who is sick and the one who
is praying)...and it DOES have to do with prayer...and it DOES sometimes have
to do with forgiving and being forgiven...the BOTTOM LINE to seeing Jesus
heal is having Him PRESENT to heal

We can easily become so focused on faith..that we lose our focus on the One
Who heals....Jesus....we can have faith in our faith...instead of having
faith in the One who gave us our faith to start with (remember faith is a
"gift of God")

Time after time when I was with Randy Clark in Brazil last year I watched as
Jesus came and sovereignly healed people...with no one praying for them...but
Jesus was PRESENT to heal....those Brazilians WORSHIP untill the Presence of
God comes in....one night Randy invited the Holy Spirit to come and blow
through the stadium of about three thousand people...and all of a sudden a
"mighty rushing wind" began to blow INSIDE from the back of the stadium...we
heard the people begin to scream... and later realised that as the "wind"
touched them they were being instantly healed..and they screamed....we just
stood in awe and watched....you see the Healer was in the house...and when
Jesus shows up...people get healed....they can't help but get
healed....because His VERY NATURE is Healer...

He paid a big price for healing...His Blood..His Life...He did that so that
He could stand before us as our Healer... having fully purchased that right
on the Cross...every curse...every sickness...every bondage was nailed to the
Cross that day...He took it all in His own body...every cold...every
cancer...every addiction....every broken bone...every pain...every
devastating disease...every broken heart....that you suffer now...or ever
will suffer....layed on Him....literally...

And as He drew His last breath...burdened down with your sin and
sickness...His heart breaking with the sorrow of it all...He cried out "IT IS
FINISHED"...and gave up His Spirit...and descended into hell...where He took
all your sickness...and threw it back at the devil...and rose TRIUMPHANT...
leaving all that sickness on the devil's back...and breaking the curse over
your body and mind and emotions and spirit...and setting you FREE from every
disease and bondage...positionally you are HEALED and DELIVERED and RESTORED
in every area of your  life...because of the Cross...but just like
salvation...it all must be appropriated...by faith...in the Healer..
Deliverer and Redeemer....and when HE SHOWS UP....stuff happens !!!!!!!

So when you have doubt...faith mixed with doubt...great faith ..or desperate
faith...don't put your faith in your faith...do as Ruth Ward Heflin always
said..."praise until a spirit of worship comes...worship until the Glory
comes...then stand in the Glory"...wait for the Healer to show up in the
house....and stand back and watch HIM heal

Lorraine St.John
Porch & Altar Ministries
London, Ontario Canada....
"Let the priests..the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the
altar; and let them say , have mercy and spare Your people, oh Lord"" Joel
2:17

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