I’m putting some of my talks on here – subscribe so you don’t miss any. Here’s a talk I did some while ago to encourage faith as we then went on to pray for HEALING. May the Lord bless you – even heal you – as you read
Jesus Heals Today!
If you look through the Gospels, again and again you come across stories of healing. If you took all those miracles out, the rest of the story simply wouldn’t make sense.
And if we take healings and miracles out of the church today, what we’re doing won’t make much sense either. (The truth is, healings and miracles have been effectively structured out of most churches!)
Francis MacNutt wrote a book called The Almost Perfect Crime, describing how over the centuries the church was nearly robbed of the miracles and healing power it started with — the very things that changed the world.
Jesus healed everyone who came to Him or was brought to Him. He never once said, “Sorry, that’s too hard for me.”
And when He sent out His disciples with the good news of the gospel — announcing that a new King was in town – He also sent them with His authority and the same power to heal. After His ascension He poured out the Holy Spirit on them, and the miracles didn’t stop or shrink. They increased. Those early believers took Him at His word, and because they believed they represented Him now on earth, they prayed with boldness and faith.
Look again at this shocking statement from John 14:
John 14:8–14
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father… Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? … Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
Do you think Jesus just got carried away there? Or do you think He meant it?
He says whoever believes in Him will do the works He did — and even greater things – because now He is praying for us in heaven, and the Holy Spirit is living in us on earth.
I’ve been reading again the life and teaching of that great northern healing evangelist, Smith Wigglesworth. He said there are two kinds of people: “Whosoever will and whosoever won’t.”
The difference is what you believe.
The stories are incredible. Once he walked into a cobbler’s shop and saw a man with a green film of infection over his eyes. Wigglesworth didn’t know whether the man was a believer — it didn’t matter. He quietly put his hands on the man’s eyes and prayed. The infection disappeared instantly.
Wigglesworth summed up his ministry in four principles:
- Read the Word of God.
- Consume the Word until it consumes you.
- Believe the Word.
- Act on the Word.
It’s not about how clever or good you are. It’s not how old or young you are. It’s not whether you’ve been a Christian for years or five minutes.
It’s whosoever believes.
And what does Jesus say believers will do?
“The works I have been doing…”
Think about the miracles Jesus did:
– Healing the blind, paralysed, and deaf
– Multiplying resources
– Calming storms
– Raising the dead (He spoiled every funeral He went to!)
I have friends like Tobias and his team in ICF Munich who once tried it – to walk on water! It didn’t work- but I think Jesus loved the faith in the attempt! Now he leads a fantastic, growing church reaching thousands and planting across Germany. God is backing up their crazy faith! Because Jesus wants us to do what He’s done. The same kind of things. Imagine that.
And then He goes further: “Even greater things.”
That’s what He wants for us at Ivy.
To believe Him.
To pray in His name.
To expect Him to do miracles.
Now, you know as well as I do that not everyone is healed immediately when we pray. But I refuse to let my past experience limit my present or future expectation. When I read God’s Word, I want to say, “I believe You, Jesus!”
Do you believe? I believe therefore I speak – and I want Jesus to do His works now.
No batsman hits a six every time, – but we have to swing the bat!!
Wigglesworth’s own daughter Alice was deaf for her whole life. That didn’t stop him praying for her, or for others, or believing God for miracles.
Once he visited a friend’s farm. The friend pointed to a beautiful field and said, “It’s not what it looks. It’s ruined by blight.”
Wigglesworth felt faith rise, stretched out his hand in Jesus’ name, and prayed. The whole field was healed. The crop was saved — in fact, the farmer said it was the best harvest he ever had. Our God is sovereign over creation.
J. John says, “We live between miracle and mystery.”
Just because not everyone we preach to becomes a Christian doesn’t mean I stop preaching the gospel. And healing is there in the same breath as forgiveness to describe what the Lord will do:
“He forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.”
God doesn’t send sickness any more than He makes you sin!
But whenever you are healed – by medicine or miracle – it is always the Messiah doing it. He is the Great Healer.
The world is groaning, the Bible says, under a blight of sin and death. Creation is waiting for liberation – and for us, God’s children, to step into all He has for us.
Our Jesus is the wounded healer. The Man of Sorrows. If you are waiting for healing, He understands suffering more deeply than anyone. You don’t have to explain yourself to Him. He gets it.
Now whatever mountain you face – sickness, pain, heartbreak, longing – you can say, “Jesus, You understand. You’re here with me.”
And while you wait for the breakthrough, you don’t breakdown – don’t give up. We’re going to spend eternity with healed bodies and restored hearts! In the meantime, we connect to heaven as we pray again. Even a mustard seed of faith will do. What’s a mountain anyway!!
A mountain is simply a hill big enough to name. So name it — then look above it and see Jesus.
We are going to pray as He taught:
“Your kingdom come.” Not as a polite or religious request — but as a command. Draw on tomorrow’s perfection today because Jesus says, “Use My Name. Make the withdrawal from My account.”
So:
Let Your Kingdom come!
Let Your will be done — here, now, as in heaven!
Jesus commands us as he authorises us – to pull the perfect future into the present.
The King has given us keys to His treasury.
Do we believe this? Get ready!
How do we pray for healing?
Don’t look at the world – you won’t see God’s intention fulfilled there yet.
Don’t stare at the problem – that won’t fix it, you just magnify the misery.
Don’t fix your eyes on the mountain – look at the Mountain Mover.
Now Jesus says, “Speak to the mountain.”
Name it.
Tell it to move – His name!
It’s not the size of your faith that counts – but the size of the God you put your faith in.
We will ask God for healing today – for the same things Jesus did to be done through us, because He lives in us by His Spirit. And for greater works too.
What if it doesn’t work?
We pray again.
God hasn’t given up.
And what if it does work? I’m up for that!
Someone said, “If you don’t take the credit when it works, you won’t take the blame when it doesn’t.” Exactly. We don’t do the healing anyway. Apart from Him we can do nothing.
But abiding in Him, filled with Him — the Bible says, “As He is, so are we in this world.”
If Jesus were here, could He heal? Anyone think he could?
Well – He is here.
Where two or three gather in His name…
So name the mountain: body, mind, spirit, finances, fear — whatever it is. I may not know its name, but I know a name above every name!
We will pray now, and I believe we’ll hear stories again of answers in the coming weeks. Even greater things. This wasn’t just for Bible times or for revivalists 100 years ago. Reading their stories just makes me hungry, expectant, and full of faith — WHOSOEVER WILL!
I believe we will see the same and more.
Prayer is powerful, but the power isn’t in the prayer.
It’s not in the pray-er either.
The power of prayer is Jesus – and the Spirit He sent to live in us.
When we pray for healing now, keep your eyes open – not because you’re unspiritual, but because you want to see what God is doing. You want to bless the person in front of you. And more than anything, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.
Look at the promise, not the problem.Jesus told us to ask, seek, knock — so we will. And we’ll see Him do what only He can do.