You are not alone. God’s strong and loving hand is reaching down right now to grasp your weak and trembling one. He knows all about your present circumstances, and His voice is whispering, ” Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1). God stands ready to comfort and strengthen you no matter what you need.

Yes, the promise of God’s presence is a wonderful assurance to all who are His. He has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

STRENGTH FOR YOUR EVERY NEED

In addition to God’s presence, the Bible also promises, “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” ( Isaiah 40:29).

This is why God invites us to commit our needs into his hands. “Cast all your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you” (Psalm 55:22). Not just part of your burden or some of your care, but “cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7).

LIGHT IN YOUR DARKNESS

To countless individuals life is a dark street, a meaningless riddle. But Jesus Christ , the savior of the world declares, ” I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me willl never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Happy indeed is the person who can say, “The Lord is my light and my salvation–whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life–of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).

If circumstances around you appear dark just now remember that “God is Light; in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).

GOD’S GIFT TO YOU

God’s love is demonstrated to us in that He offers us the greatest gift possible. How wonderful that He should offer this fallen race, seperated from Him by sin, the gift of eternal life. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

The Bible also tells us the “God so Loved the World the He gave His one and only Son (Jesus Christ), that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because He has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:16-18). Everyone who puts his trust in Jesus Christ as Savior at that moment begins an eternal relationship with God.

How wonderful it is that this salvation does not depend on our own righteousness, which the Bible describes as “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6), but on Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. His death paid the penalty for our sins; His resurrection made eternal life possible.

GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU

But God’s love seeks a response in your heart. Is this unreasonable? The price Christ paid to purchase you from sin’s hold was high. The Bible says, “It was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed…..but with the precious blood of Christ” (1Peter 1:18,19).

This matchless offer is God’s, but the final choice is yours.

GOD’S INVITATION TO YOU

Yes, Someone cares for you and right now is reaching down to grasp your hand. It is God Himself. “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all–how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

If you open your heart to His voice, which through the centuries has come to suffering humanity, you will hear the Lord calling, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Won’t you come and find rest in Him?

N.J. Christiansen

(used by permission)

“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27).

You Can Be Free from The Fear of Death, and know Heaven is Your Home

Make Heaven Your Home……the first question is how? A simple answer is make sure Heaven is your future Home.

Think of Heaven as a person……. not just a place. This person is God the Son. The Lord Jesus Christ. He is your Creator and He Loves You.

In the Bible, God reveals himself as three persons in one meaning Trinity….God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit .

Two thousand years ago God sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to become part of Humanity. All He did from his birth to his death and resurrection speak to humankind of an eternal love and a longing to be with each and every person. To know them personally.

He died on a Cross for all the sins of humanity so we would not have to live in our sins. Asking Christ into our lives means He forgives our sins and we now can spend eternity in Heaven. Hence making Heaven our Home!

Anyone can Believe. This is a Free Gift. The Price has already been paid. If you accept the Sacrifice, his blood poured out on the Cross when he died, you will live forever with him when you die.

Pray to God the Father, in the name of Jesus his Son, asking Him to forgive you of all your sins and come into your heart. Experience Peace and Joy. Know your name is written in the Book of Life in Heaven and Make it your Home Today.

PRAY this Prayer of acceptance in Faith out loud as you talk to God:

Dear Heavenly Father,

I come to you in the name of Jesus your son. Please come into my heart and forgive my sins. I receive your gift of eternal life by faith. I confess you are my God and Jesus you are my Lord. You love me and I love you. My desire is to get to know you and serve you all the days of my life. Someday I will be with you in Heaven and in the meantime be with me as I serve you with all my heart here on earth. Thank you for hearing my prayer.

I prayed the prayer

Congratulations, and welcome to the family of God! Please pray everyday and read your bible, in it you will find all of God’s promises for everyday. Then be sure to find some real Christians, they will help you on your journey to heaven.

Now that you have become a child of God, you need to follow Jesus in water baptism as a testimony of your new found life. This act of faith confirms your witness. What is so precious about this is our identification with Jesus , it declares that we belong to Him. You should be baptized in the name of Jeus as in the Bible. Contact a Godly pastor filled with the Holy Spirit, he will assist you in this matter. Here are the Bible verses for this; Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, Repent & let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins & you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Also look up these veres in the new testiment {bible] Luke 2:21; mark 1:8; Matthew 3:13,14,15/ note water baptism is complete imersion in water; God bless you as you do this;

P.S. Please pass on this information to everyone on your e-mail address list. God loves them and is preparing a place for them in heaven. Our thought is to share this word with anyone who has ever wondered; Is there a heaven and how can I get there? Share the good news with them, even your enemies would thank you. Eternal life is wrapped up in this e-mail/send it/ use the seven languages of the seven flags on the top of this page, if you have contacts in other nations. See you in heaven.

Larry Taylor

Please contact us at taylor.larry77@gmail.com

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Please contact us at taylor.larry77@gmail.com

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Numbers can be deceiving, so they say. They can also be very informative. Today, we would like to pass along a few numbers from Mozambique, with a prayer that they will be both informative and encouraging to you.

The extension bible school program continues to operate throughout the 10 provinces of Mozambique, with 100 centers and 1,000 students. In July, a successful 3-day alumni seminar was held for extension bible school graduates in the central Province of Manica. Over 50 attented part, or all, of the seminar. Common-law marriages and polygamy are big problems in Mozambique. For a student to graduate from our Bible Schools, he must be legally married, if he/she has been living in a common-law relationship. It was interesting to learn at this seminar that 45 couples in that Province had become legally married because of the Bible School. May others have done the same in other parts of the country.

From September 14th to October 12th, I travelled over 10,000 km by land to visit 28 extension school centers in the northern and central parts of the country. There were 8 graduations, at which 34 students graduated. These became part of more than 100 students throughout the country to graduate this year from theis 4 year program.

The Northern Province of Cabo Delgado is lion country. While I was up there, hunters killed a lion that, over the period of 3 months, had killed 15 people. I was encouraged and challenged when I heard of one of the bible school ladies in that area, that walks almost 1 day to get to the center center for weekly bible study. Pray for her safety. She and others like her have an intesnse desire to learn more about the Word of God.

During the past 2 years, many pastors (present count 150) from 45 different denominations have been taking special course at the Maputo Bible School. New students are entering all the time. At the first graduation, held in November, over 50 pastors recieved their certificates.

The AIDS prevention program, sponsored by the Christian Education Department, of which Linda is the directo, continues to produce positive results. In October, 48 teachers in the graduating class attended a 2 day seminar on AIDS prevention. There were 33 that voluntarily signed a covenant stating that they will practice abstinense until they are married, or in the case of those who are already married, that they will be faithful to their partner.

The AIDS problem in sub-Saharan Africa is critical. A U.N. report for 2003, sent out in July ’04 stated that 2,200,000 people died of AIDS that year. Many of these were in Mozambique, where 470,000 orphans have been left without their parents. The local Maputo newspaper has reported that an estimated 97,000 people will die of AIDS (SIDA) in Mozambique in 2004. Before the AIDS epidemic struck this country, life expectancy was 42.5 years. It is now 38 years, and by 2010 it is estimated that the average life span will be 27 years. Pray!

From August to October the National Christian Department sponsored a leadership school for church leaders, as well as a training program for those interested in working with children. Laura Templeto and Angela Baker, from the USA, were in charge. This year, this annual short-term training program resulted in 187 graduates. Besides these, 180 graduated from a similiar program that the C.E. Department held in the local churches.

We are as equally grateful to all who have entered with us into the new shared funding support program of the Missions Department. Thanks for our support during this year of 2004. We trust that you will be encouraged by this letter to know that you have been making a worthwhile investments in missions. We encourage you to stand with us in prayer and financial support during 2005. as we continue to help meet the needs of many Mozambicans.

Now for the last number – 25. Yes, December 25th is upon us once again – that date that focuses our attention in a special way on God’s provision for us, by sending Jesus to be the Saviour of all who personally believe in Him. May he bless you on that day, and may 2005 be a year of continued blessings in every way from His good hand. It could be the year of Christ’s return.

Sincerely,

Bill and Linda Mercer

P.S. For anyone that would be interested in being part of our ministry in Mozambique, you can send your donations to The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, 2450 Milltower Court, Mississauga, ON L5N 5Z6, Canada. Be sure to clearly state that your gift is for the ministry of Bill and Linda Mercer in Mozambique. Thanks.

Any believer ready to share the good news with or in another country or culture, including your hometown.  We are on a mission, our mission is the great commission. Jesus said, go into the entire world and preach the gospel to everyone.  This is our goal, our task, our assignment, our work, and our objective, our calling. And anyone can do it, if  they want to become a missionary for the Lord.  God wants to use you right where you are, there is a work to do, many people have never heard the good news that God really loves them, and has provided salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ for them.  The greatest tragedy of all, is for some one to go to hell, never having heard the gospel.  What an awesome responsibility we have.

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In third world countries we have a tremendous opportunity, because they are very receptive to the gospel and what God can do for them, once they become westernized and affluent, they are not interested, they have everything, so they do not need God.

So let’s pool our resources and work together for the kingdom of God to come to those who have never heard.  Our mission is the great commission; to preach the good news to everyone.  If you can not go, send some one in your place, do something lest you do nothing.

INVE$T IN WORLD MISSIONS MILLIONS NEED JESUS!

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Rev. Paul S. Gould

10/20/2009

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Sprit was giving them utterance. Acts 2:4 (NASB)

Being filled with the Holy Spirit according to Acts 2:4 is surrounded with controversy in the Evangelical community. Is it for today? How does it get done? What are the requirements? What are the benefits? Why is it important to us? These are questions that continue to be asked about one of the most misunderstood issues in the Bible. This expose is about the process of being filled with the Holy Spirit. I am totally going on the assumption that it is for today and it is the same as it was in Acts 2:4. These other questions will have to be addresses at another time.

Being filled or Baptized with the Holy Spirit is a process that starts with John 1:26, 27; “John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know.

27. It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

John is saying that he baptizes unto repentance but there is One that will come that will baptize in the Holy Spirit.

Verse 33, says “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.

When you accepted Christ as you personal Lord and Savior, you were baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Spirit of Christ. When you are baptized in the Holy Spirit you are baptized by Jesus into the Holy Spirit.

This was made possible by the Advent of Jesus Christ when he rose again and went unto His father, ascended if you will to the right hand of His Father. He told us on that day that He would pray to His Father to send the comforter; the Holy Spirit to dwell among men for the building of the Kingdom of God.

This was prophesied to the Prophet Zechariah in Zechariah 12:10. “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication , so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for and only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

The purpose of the Holy Spirit is so that we as Christians will have the power to overcome the strongholds of Satan and the Power to build the Kingdom of God. Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

This is the commission to evangelize the world for Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is sitting at the right hand of the Father but He gave us the Holy Spirit to help us evangelize the world.

Salvation and the filling or Baptism of the Holy Spirit is two different and distinct processes. We read in Acts 9:17 when Ananias was given the instructions to baptize Saul (the Apostle Paul) with the Holy Spirit.

So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and by filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Saul had already been converted on the road to Damascus by Jesus. The Lord gave Ananias a vision to go to the house of Judas and lay his hands on Saul so that he would regain his sight. At the same time he was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Scripture says that Ananias would find Saul in the house of Judas, praying. If Saul was praying, I believe that he had already accepted Jesus as Lord.

Verse 18 says that immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized.

So how do we become baptized in the Holy Spirit as was Paul?

Let’s turn to John 14. Starting with verse 14; “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”

Let’s go down to verse 16. “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17. That is the Sprit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

This is amazing. First, Jesus says that anything we ask in His name he will do. If we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, all we have to do is ask.

The next thing that really has drawn my attention is that Jesus says that He will ask His Father to send the Holy Spirit. He uses the word Helper, which is capitalized, suggesting a person. Then He says, that He may be with you forever. This confirms that the Holy Spirit is a person of the Godhead, but we already knew that. Jesus continues to give a brief description of the Holy Spirit and uses the word Him several times and He once more and then caps it off by saying the He will not only abide with you but will be in you.

This is amazing. First, Jesus says that anything we ask in His name he will do. If we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, all we have to do is ask.

The next thing that really has drawn my attention is that Jesus says that He will ask His Father to send the Holy Spirit. He uses the word Helper, which is capitalized, suggesting a person. Then He says, that He may be with you forever. This confirms that the Holy Spirit is a person of the Godhead, but we already knew that. Jesus continues to give a brief description of the Holy Spirit and uses the word Him several times and He once more and then caps it off by saying the He will not only abide with you but will be in you.

What an amazing affirmation if the personage, description and purpose of the Holy Spirit. HE, THE

SPIRIT OF TRUTH WILL ABIDE IN YOU.

I don’t know about you, but at this point I am ready to accept the baptism of the Holy Spirit with all that I have and all that I am.

So let’s put this in perspective so that we can get our arms around it.

Go to a Spirit filled Church and find the Church leadership or anyone for that matter that is Spirit filled to pray with you. They will lay their hands on you as you ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit. ALL that is required is your wiliness and a short prayer asking God to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Name of Jesus.

By faith you will have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit but the next step is critical because how do you know that you have received it accept by faith?

You need to know without a doubt that you have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Now that you have asked and received the Holy Spirit, you can proceed to the next part.

The Elders or Christian workers will pray with you the second time so that you will receive your own prayer language known as speaking in tongues. They will pray in tongues and you will just

simply pray whatever comes to your mind. Within a few minutes you will be praying in your new prayer language that only God will understand.

First you have to be filled with the Holy Spirit and only after which you will be able to pray in your prayer language that is powered by the Holy Spirit. It’s that simple. This process will show you that you have indeed been filled with the Holy Spirit without a shadow of a doubt.

Two simple steps that will change your life forever;

Ask and you shall receive

Speaking in tongues as evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

You are now equipped with the Power that God has intended for you to witness for Him and build His kingdom.

Acts 4:31 says, And when they prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the Word of God with boldness.

This is how the original Church began. It hasn’t changed. It is for today as much as it was two thousand years ago.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Sprit was giving them utterance.

ACTS 2:4 (NASB)

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Healing in His Wings

By Rev Paul S. Gould

Copyright©2011
All rights reserved

All Scripture references in this text are NASB (1995) unless
otherwise noted

Is divine healing for today?  What does the Bible say about healing?  Why are some people healed and others not?  These are the questions that need to be discussed.  The answers may surprise you.  In the course of this discussion, I would like to explore what the Word of God tells us about healing.  It has a lot to do with what is not written as well as what is written.

Let’s start with the opening scripture.  Malachi 4:2 says that “The Sun of righteousness will rise with healing in His wings.” This seems to imply the Jesus, the Son of God, and in this case the light of the world, will rise (be resurrected) with healing in His wings.  Don’t shout me down just yet, we are just getting started.  I am not implying that Jesus has wings.  The Hebrew word for wings in this Scripture is “eber”.  The meaning is “from its strength”.  In other words, the Scripture is telling us that from the strength of Jesus’ resurrection after His death on the cross He arises with healing for all of mankind.  Keep in mind that the Scripture doesn’t say healing for the physical body.  Nor, does it say healing for the soul.  It simply says healing.  I will accept the fact that this means healing for anything; healing for the body, soul and spirit.  We can’t add to this verse anything that isn’t there.  We can’t interpret this verse to make it something it is not or take away anything that is not said or implied.  Unless there are words that make the word “healing” more descriptive then we have to agree that the writer is implying that the meaning is healing for anything.

The first thing that gets my attention is that this verse (Malachi 4:2) is talking about the Son of God.  The source of healing comes from the resurrected Son of God.  We can also find this reference in Isaiah.  Isaiah 53:5 tells us “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;  The chastening for our well being fell upon Him, and by His scourging (stripes) we are healed.” It would seem to me that healing points to Jesus.  Could this be the common denominator to present day healing?

Let’s take this one step further.  It seems that during Jesus’ ministry on earth, every person that Jesus touched or touched Him was healed.  Let’s read in Matthew chapter 8;

2.  and a leper came to Him and bowed down before

Him, and said, “Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean.”

3.  Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

14.  When Jesus came into Peter’s home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever.

15.  He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up a waited on Him.

Chapter 9:

20. and a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak;

21.  for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will get well.”

22 But Jesus turning and seeing her said,

“Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.”

At once the woman was made well.

28.  When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them,

“Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

29.  Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to our faith.”

30.  And their eyes were opened.

Chapter 14:

35.  And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and bought to Him all who were sick;

36.  and they implored Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were cured.

Chapter 20:

30.  And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

31.  The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

32.  And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

33.  They said to Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.”

34.  Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.

As you can see, the common denominator of this is touching Jesus.  As we read these accounts we also see another re-a curing theme.  In many occasions Jesus mentions faith.  We will look at this issue as we continue this discussion about healing.

Let’s take a look at the book of James chapter 5.  We can start with verse 13.

13.  Is anyone of you suffering?  Then he must pray.  Is anyone cheerful?  He is to sing praises.

At this point I want you to notice that the writer is saying that in these two examples the person is to pray or sing praises, however, in the next verse the person is to go to the elders of the church.

14.  Is anyone among you sick?  Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;

15.  and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.

16.  Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another

SO THAT YOU MAY BE HEALED.

Okay, let’s see if I got this.  If you are suffering you are to pray for yourself.  But if you are sick you are to go to the elders of the church.  They will pray for you and anoint you with oil in the name of the Lord and pray the prayer of faith and you will be healed.  It doesn’t say anything about faith except in reference to the prayer that the elders pray.  I didn’t say that we should go to the elders of the church if we had enough faith.  It also didn’t say that we should go to the elders of the church if we were without sin.  It says that if we do this we will be healed.  In fact in the NASB translation is says that the prayer offered in faith would restore the one who is sick.  And what’s this about sin?  It goes on to say that if the one that is sick has committed sins, they will be forgiven.  It even gets better.  The very next verse tells us that if we confess our sin one to another and pray for one another WE WILL BE HEALED.  How cool is that.

Before we sum this all up to see what this whole thing of healing is about we need to talk a little about faith.  There is a story in Matthew chapter 17 that bears repeating.  Often we only hear part of this story but I think that it applies to what we are talking about.  It starts with verse 14.

14.  When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying,

15.  “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

16.  I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.”

17.  And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I put up with you?  Bring him here to Me.”

18.  and Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once.

19.  Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?”

20.  And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Mover from here to there, and it will mover; and nothing will be impossible to you.

21. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

The interesting part of this story is that Jesus corrected the disciples for their little faith.  Not the boy.  Then his example was faith the size of a mustard seed.  The last time I saw a mustard seed I could barely see it because it was so small.  So where is this great faith needed for healing?  Jesus does say that for this kind of deliverance from demons that prayer and fasting is in order.  Probably a good idea if you are an elder of the church and are call on to pray for the sick on a regular basis, but let’s take another look and see if we can find out what the writer James is talking about regarding the prayer of faith.

We have already seen that when Jesus touched someone that was sick or they touched Him, they were healed.  Today Jesus is not here in physical form.  We can’t just reach out and touch him.  However, if you recall that when He left this earth He said that he would go to His father and ask Him to send a comforter.  That comforter was the Holy Spirit.  He told the disciples to go to a specific place and wait for the Holy Spirit.  When the Holy Spirit came we refer to this as the day of Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit then became the Physical manifestation of God and His Son Jesus to dwell in and among men.  Along with this manifestation of the Holy Spirit came the gifts of the Holy Spirit which included the gift of healing as well as the gift of faith.  These gifts as well as others are available to all those who seek them.  Specifically Christian workers that need these gifts to fulfill the work of the church.  This is why the writer James, the brother of Jesus said for the sick to go to the elders of the church for healing.  He knew that they wouldn’t be elders unless they were filled with the Holy Spirit and possessed the gifts of the Holy Spirit for this purpose.

Note:  Jesus taught us how to pray.  The prayer of faith in this case should include but not restricted to the following:

1. Praise, adoration and glorifying God

2. Praying in the Spirit

3. Petitioning God in the name of Jesus.

Keep in mind that when you are healed the first thing that Satan is going to do is try to convince you that you are not healed.  By praying in the Spirit, Satan does not know your medical problem or that you have been healed.  It is like protecting yourself from the on slot of fiery darts from Satan and the doubt of your healing.  Praying in the Spirit allows you to gird yourself with the Spirit of truth which is the Holy Spirit.

The mere fact that you would get out of your seat and walk down the aisle to stand in front of the church and ask an elder to pray for you because you were sick and needed healing is Faith.  More than enough faith as far a God is concerned.  From this point forward it is the Holy Spirit and through the Holy Spirits gift that makes the connection to touch the Hem of His garment to be made whole.  Jesus is there anyway, but it is the Holy Spirit that makes the connection.  The elder is the extended hand of Jesus that reaches down and touches you to make you whole.  Remember, James said that the elder would anoint you with oil.  This is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.  This is a reminder to us that the Holy Spirit will make this powerful connect to the touch of Jesus.  Jesus said in His own words in Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name I am there in their midst.” It is okay that we can’t see Him.  It is the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit that will do the work that He was sent to do.

One final story.  Jesus shared with the disciples an example of a fig tree beside the road.  He commanded the fig tree die and the tree withered at once.  When the disciples asked him how this could happen he repeated His words in Matthew 21:21,  And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen.

22. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

What have we learned?  Yes, it is for today and it is not smoke and mirrors.  We don’t have to have some secret formula, stand just right, hold our head just right or jump up and down until it happens.  It is simple faith.  The source of healing comes from the cross; all we have to do is accept it.  Healing comes from the touch of the Masters hand; today it is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.  Healing comes from faith; a faith the size of a mustard seed is all that is needed.  Healing comes when we ask in His name; He is always there and willing.  And finally healing comes from the prayer of faith; the faith that comes from the gifts of the Holy Spirit through Spirit filled elders of the church (the anointing oil is a symbolic reminder of the Holy Spirit).  The kind of simple faith that is firm and without doubt as the Scripture says.

Years ago we used to sing a chorus that exemplifies the process how God uses man through the Holy Spirit to accomplish his work which includes healing.  It goes like this:

Oh to be His hand extended

Reaching out to thee oppressed

Let me touch Him

Let me touch Jesus

So that others may know and be blessed

My hope and prayer is that this helps you understand how God extends His mercies to people through those that accept His call.  You don’t have to be an elder of the Church.  You only need the desire to be His hand extended.  I challenge you to be the touch of Jesus for others in need.  Through your hand you can touch the sick and the oppressed.  This is how it works.  God has to work through you and me to do His work so that others may know Him and be blessed.

Yes, healing can be a mystery.  God really gives us all that is needed in His Word to pray for and receive healing for anyone who wants to accept it.  It is not difficult.  We try to make it difficult by nature, however, by following the Word of God and with simple faith we can be healed and we can pray for others to be healed every single time.

Rev Paul S. Gould is a retired airline pilot, a minister and a missionary.  He has spent his life spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  His background is the Assembly of God Church where he grew up with both parents as ministers.  He is married and has three children.  He attended Life Bible College of the Foursquare Gospel in Los Angeles, California and the American College of Theology in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He has a Masters degree in divinity and his passion is Biblical prophecy.  He and his wife have a home in the Philippines where he spends most of his ministerial duties holding minister and leadership seminars

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