With great delight I welcome you to the month of June, our Month of Healing. Any one that has survived these past four months of Coronavirus and global death must know for sure that it is not by power or by might but by the mercy of God generated and engineered by the Holy Ghost.
With the Coronavirus and other factors many are now sick, mentally, physically, financially and emotionally. That is why our God is saying He is available to heal. Let your prayer this month be like that of Jeremiah: “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise.” Jer 17:14. I learnt over 800 people have committed suicide in Nepal in the past few months. A closed mouth is a closed destiny. The bible declares that by the stripes of Jesus Christ we are healed and you know Jesus is still alive and is ready to heal now. Instead of committing suicide and other atrocities, declare to yourself “this is my month of healing”. “The Lord is healing me now”. “My marriage is healed”. “My spouse, ministry, business, mind, life is healed”. “My parents are healed”. “My children are healed”. God is still in the business of healing if only you can believe. Tap into the grace of healing now.
I see God healing you now. I see God healing our land and our nations. I see Coronavirus and it’s evil disappearing from our planet. In the month of healing be healed in Jesus name! Healing is not only your portion (Ex 23:25, Matt 15:26) healing is your new normal in Jesus’ name.
What is healing? Healing is the process of making or becoming sound or healthy again. Healing is to make healthy, whole, or sound; restore to health; free from ailment. Healing is to bring to an end or conclusion, as conflicts between people or groups, usually with the strong implication of restoring former amity; to settle, to reconcile. Biblically healing is through divine intervention in response to prayer or generally because of faith.
Facts about Healing.
From Christianity Today online magazine we learnt that two important point about healing:
Healing comes from God. No Scripture condemns the legitimate use of doctors or medical science, but one of the names of God is Jehovah-Rapha meaning “the Lord who heals.” The Father has the power to heal the whole person. • Spiritually (Psalm 103:2-3; Jeremiah 3:22; 1 Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:5) • Physically (2 Kings 5:10; Isaiah 38:15-16; Psalm 41:3; Psalm 107:19-20; Matthew 14:14) • Emotionally (Psalm 34:18) • Mentally (Daniel 4:34). Healing also comes through the agency of the Holy Spirit working through believers’ spiritual gifts (Acts 3:1-13a). Jesus healed “every disease and sickness among the people” in Galilee (Matthew 4:23), Judea (Matthew 19:1-2), and everywhere He went (Mark 6:56) to authenticate He’s the Messiah (John 7:31) and to give Israel a taste of the kingdom (Luke 11:20).
2. The gift of healing is biblical. The Holy Spirit gives gifts to the Church (1 Corinthians 12:8-11), like the gift of healing (1 Corinthians 14:1). God knows best and He distributes the gift of healing according to His will (Hebrews 2:4). Besides honoring God and glorifying Jesus, healing is also for the common good of the Church (1 Corinthians 12:7). Healings are also a strong sign the reign of death will come to a redemptive end (Romans 5:17; 8:20-21). Jesus healed while proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 4:23) and gave His disciples and others power and authority to heal diseases as they also proclaimed the kingdom of God (Luke 9:1-2; 10:1-9). It’s wise to distinguish between physical and spiritual healing.
How do I receive my healing? The purpose of this article is not just for intellectual acquisition or exercise, it is to enable you primarily to receive your healing now! So, pray along as you read this and apply the principles shared. The subject of healing is broad and diverse. The most important need of every human being is good health. You cannot talk about spirituality to a dead person. That is why the maxim “health is wealth” is very important. Most people will go to any length to ensure they secure their health. The woman with the issue of blood we are told had spent all that she had (Matt 9:20-22). Nations spend billions of dollars to sustain healing of their citizens. In 2019, total health expenditure in Canada reached $264 billion, or $ 7,068 per person.
There are two broad ways of healing in scripture, preventive and reactive. The preventive, the scripture declares “And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.” Ex 15:26. That level is for those who can say in the thick and the thin they stand in faith. And God honours it. I thank God I have enjoyed that for the six decades of my life and hope to enjoy it for the rest of my life. I have not had cause to use any medication. It does not mean those people in that category do not get sick, it just means that when they are sick they trust God for healing and God honours that trust. For instance, when I am sick I go to my doctor for checkup and carry out the test he recommends. However, when he prescribes medication, I ask God for divine healing. I remember many years ago I was told I had malaria 3+, I challenged God to heal me and he did.
The reactionary healing is supported by scripture as well “And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee 23:25. Many of our spiritual fathers of faith in Christ Apostolic Church worldwide enjoyed that. As a matter of fact, history has it that the celebrated 1930 Oke-Oye in Ilesa, Nigeria was a product of that. The growing Faith Tabernacle group as it was called then were to debate whether to allow the use of medicine or not, after which they intended to discuss the issue of the young Evangelist Ayo Babalola. As the meeting progressed, a dead person was sighted, this young evangelist prayed and the dead came back to life. Raising the dead and healing the sick has characterized the ministry since then. This is called divine healing. Many people received their healing this manner in the bible: The cripple Mark 2:9-12, the ten lepers (Luke 17:12-16), the blind man at Siloam (John 9:6-7) curing every disease Matthew 9:35, the woman with the issue of blood. (Matthew 9:20-22), raising Lazarus from the dead (Matthew 9:20-22). I often say all the people whose names we mention in the bible are dead. So the importance of the discussion is for you to tap into various and diverse types of healing by faith.
Apart from divine healing by praying in faith, there is healing through medical sciences. It must be said that God in his infinite mercies gave the wisdom for healing though science. John 3:27 says: “John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” This includes such healing and provision of God. It is important to mention this because as a pastor some people approach you and desire only divine healing especially during child birth, they feared C-section, other surgeries. The doctors and paramedical personnel care but it is God that heals. What I detest however is consulting evil spirits, necromancy, voodoo, oriental media, occultism and other media in that line, the reason is that the devil has nothing good to offer you. Many years ago, I went for evangelism in Warri, Nigeria. I met a woman and was preaching to her. She hardly waited for me to finish leading her to Christ, then she told me if I have spiritual power, she needed me to use it to heal/deliver her only son of about 12 years old. She told me how she had gone to the river side between 1am-2am through a medium and Spiritism, yes she got pregnant for the child however, since she had that child she had never known peace. As early as age 3 this boy has been beating her mercilessly, physically!
Other conditions for healing.
1. Faith. Many times, Jesus commended those who exercised faith for healing and rebuked those who did not have faith. For instance, he commended- The centurion who said- “Just speak the word my daughter shall be healed”. Matt 8:8 He rebuked his disciples who could not heal the lunatic for lack of faith. Matt 16:20. If you are sick in your body now begin to address. Speak the word. Believe God for healing, it works!
2. Forgiveness. You need to forgive others if you really desire healing. “And when ye stand praying, forgive if ye ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. (Mark 11:23-25) If you consult an herbalist for healing, he will demand money and fetish stuff. God’s demand for healing is a sound relationship with him and your love for him, your neighbours and yourself. Forgives those hurting you. That itself is therapeutic!
3. Being prayed for. Many are wary of asking ministers to pray for them today because of counterfeit ministers who take advantage of some gullible ones. But the truth is that counterfeit exists where original exist. Don’t be afraid to ask for prayer, however be mindful of who you ask for prayers. Matt 18:19 encourages two people to pray together in unity.
4. Confess your sins.” Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed….” Jas 5:16. Don’t wait. Pray that prayer now. Confession is important preparation to healing. Ask God to forgive you your sins now and enjoy unlimited healing.
5. Pray with scriptures. The strength, skeleton and backbone of spiritual healing or any prayer point for that matter is based on scriptures. Whatever you cannot support by scripture don’t bother asking God. God says he values his word more than his name. Psa 138:2. God says my word cannot return to me void. Isa 40:8-9
6. Pray with expectation and conviction. There is so much volume of prayer today but little results because the people are not expecting results. Pray with expectation. God still answers prayers. Matt 7:11; Heb 11:6. The story was told of a young lady who was always boasting to her devout Muslim friend that there is nothing her God cannot do. The Muslim friend became seriously sick and had to approach the friend for prayers. The lady just prayed a simple prayer, Lord your daughter has come home to you, accept her. The lady felt very bad that her friend did not pray to cover her needs. The following day she went for a check-up and she was totally healed. When she called her friend to share the good news she was surprised, about her reply- “I know you were healed already”! Pray with expectation.
7. Confess healing/ Speak to the situation. No matter the amount or the name of the sickness you are going through. Speak against it. Command that disease to go. Kenneth Hagins spoke against sickness at 17 years. Dr Ravis Zacharias, at 19. Oral Roberts at 17 spoke against sickness and they changed their world. If you have any sickness in your body rise up right now and command it to leave.
Calling on nations to heal. Healing transcends just dealing with you as a person. Wherever there is strife, healing is the solution. So, if your marriage, business, family, finances, career needs healing go for it. So many nations are hurting in our time. Nigeria is hurting. The lopsidedness of appointment that is skewed to favour the north, needs to be addressed. The recent massive transportation of northern youth to the southern part is hurting and needs to stop. These are fuels for divisiveness in the nation. President Buhari, APC and his cabinet need to address that and ensure the land is healed. The killing of George Floyd in America this past week shows that healing is needed between the white and the black. My call to the reader is what do you notice that needs healing in your nation or community, pray for healing to take place. We are the agent of change.Healings don’t just happen they are made to happen through spiritual, social and other means of interventions. O Lord heal our nations!
COVID-19. Over 6 million cases of these coronavirus have been identified worldwide and over 300,000 death reported. Sad and terrible. Are we going to continue to watch this evil virus to continue to devastate the world? No! The world needs healing. Let us pray for healing of our land. Let us pray for government of nations for wisdom to handle this mother of all crisis. Let us pray for wisdom to discover the appropriate vaccine. Let us pray for frontline workers. Let us pray for coronavirus to leave our planet. (Ex 10:13,19). More importantly let us pray for our protection from Psalm 91,46,122. O Lord heal our world!
Conclusion. Healing is your portion. God is still able to heal. Don’t believe the lie of the devil that there are no more miracles. God does not change. It doesn’t matter the level of sickness you have, it doesn’t matter the name of the sickness, call upon the name of Jesus. (Phil 2:9-11) Maybe it is your relation, colleagues, neighbours, nation, community, church, family, marriage, business, that need healing, I want you to believe God for healing and pray for it now. Maybe it is physical, spiritual, emotional, mental, academical or financial healing you need go for it now. It is available for the takers. This is the month of healing. Believe it, receive it and walk away from that hospital bed, from that bed of affliction right now.
