God commissioned Jesus in Isaiah 61 to do all of these wonderful things of restoration that are listed again in Luke 4. Jesus likewise commissioned His disciples to go and do the same thing in Matthew 10. In Matthew 28 Jesus then commissioned His disciples to go into the entire world and make disciples, teaching them all that they had been taught.
I do not believe there is anything that shows the heart of a loving Father more than caring for our needs and restoring us back to Himself in wholeness.
When Jesus went to heaven we became His hands extended by doing all the things that He did while He was here on earth.
Once after I had finished preaching in Africa I called the people forward for prayer. Our meetings were being held in a very large building and the people were standing several rows deep all across the front of the building, waiting for prayer. The idea was that as I prayed for the first line they would go back to their back to their seats and the next line would step forward. By using this method everyone would be prayed for, which was no small task.
However, I noticed that every time I went down the prayer line I was praying for this one lady over and over. She was probably in her mid to late twenties…and she would not leave the front line.
I asked one of the pastors why she did not go back to her seat after I had prayed for her. He told me that she was blind and she believed that the Lord had told her that she was going to be healed that night. Therefore she refused to give up her place in the prayer line until she was healed.
I had never seen such faith and determination. I was so moved by her faith that I turned and passed all the other people in the prayer line and went straight back to her. I laid hands on her again and I cursed the spirit of blindness and she immediately received her sight and began praising God. She was so excited that God had healed her (as He had promised He would), that she cried for the next three days, thanking God for His goodness.
There are several things about her healing that should be studied. First of all this young lady received a word from the Lord because she had been talking to the Lord about her blindness.
The second thing is that she strongly believed the word that she received. She acted on it by having someone take her up to the prayer line.
The third thing is that she stubbornly held on to the Lord’s word. She had an attitude very much like the lady with the issue of blood that pushed her way through the crowd in order to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment.
The forth thing is that she never stopped praising God and giving Him thanks after she received her healing.
Perhaps these four principles should be taught in our discipleship classes, i.e. how to receive our blessings from God.
Father,
Help us all to walk in the faith that this young lady walked in as we bring our own petition to You. We believe Lord, but help us in our unbelief. Help us to grow in miracle expectancy as we touch the lives of others. We are thankful Lord that You love us and that You have patience with us as we mature in our faith.
Amen
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18 KJV)
Apostle John Dean Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved
Alliance International Ministries