Genesis 1:26 (Amplified) says, "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), make mankind in Our Image (after Our Likeness), and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the (tame) beasts, and over all the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth."
Genesis 3:1 (Amplified) says, "Now the serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he, satan, said to the woman, Can it really be that the Lord has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the Garden?" There have been many questions raised about the serpent in the Garden, but let me ask one more, "According to the first scripture above, who had authority over all the earth and everything that creeps upon the earth?" Why did Adam allow the serpent into the Garden to begin with? Why did Adam allow the serpent to remain in the Garden, instead of using the authority God gave him, over the serpent?
We too, have failed to use the authority that has been delegated to us, through Jesus and His Name. Many things happen, because even though we have authority again, we fail to recognize and use it on our own behalf or on behalf of others. The Last Adam Jesus, didn't use this authority only on His behalf, but mostly on behalf of others. The Church has done the same as the First Adam, failing to take God's Word as being Truth, in every realm of life. The serpent uses the same question against today's Church, asking, "Yea! Did God say that by His stripes you were healed and made whole?" Or, "Yea, Did God say that you've been made to be the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus? And, "Yea, Did God say that you've been given authority over sickness, disease, demons, and all things by His Name?"
We've been taught to tolerate most of the serpent's lies, so that we don't "get people's hopes up." Paul writes in Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified), "Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed), of the things we hope for, for being proof of the things we do not see and the conviction of their reality, faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses." If we could already see it, then it wouldn't take faith to believe for it. The senses have no concept of faith, without renewing the mind by God's Word.
Many today, are fearful about teaching the Fullness of God's Promises, believing people would be discouraged if they don't see them. How do we know it won't work, unless we hope for it or try it in our lives. Have we come to the place where we encourage God's people to believe these things aren't for here, but are only for when we go to Heaven? If we don't trust God for anything, then I suppose we won't be disappointed when we don't receive anything. We won't be disappointed in prayer, if we don't pray. Romans 10;14 (Amplified) says, "But how are people to call upon Him Whom they have not believed (in Whom they have no faith, on Whom they have no reliance)? And how are they to believe in Him (adhere to, trust in, and rely upon Him of Whom they have never heard)? And how are they to hear without a preacher?"
Our job isn't to make it work, but to preach it until people begin going from faith to faith and have God's Word work in their lives. Healing is as much a part of God's Word, as it the forgiveness of sin, in our lives. We read about a paralyzed man, whose friends lowered him down from the roof, in order to get close to Jesus, in Mark 2:5-,7,9-12(Amplified), where Jesus said to the man, "Son your sins are forgiven you." Many in the crowd had a problem with Jesus' dismissing sin, making a fuss about it in Verse 9, where Jesus asked them, "Which is easier; To say to the paralyzed man, Your sins are forgiven and put away, or to say, Rise, take up your sleeping pad (or mat), and start walking about and keep on walking?" The rest of the account tells us that, the man rose from his bed and took that bed and walked away.
If Jesus did away with our sins, when we were born-again, then is it any more difficult for Him to heal our body? Jesus told the people in the above scripture, "It takes no more ability to heal, than it does to save from sin." Did Jesus deliver us from sin? Can Jesus still heal the sick? The people in around Jesus then, could see that He could heal, but they couldn't believe for the forgiveness of sin. We, on the other hand, teach that Jesus can forgive sin, but teach that He doesn't heal any longer or won't heal anymore. Jesus tells us in the above scripture that, "It's no more difficult to forgive than it is to heal." The problem isn't that Jesus won't do what He said, but that we don't believe what He said.
Paul asked, "How can they hear without a preacher?" Could it be that the Church is weak in faith, because we (the preachers) have been negligent in the preaching of God's Word? The Lord speaks to the shepherds or pastors, through the Prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 34:1-4 (Amplified), saying, "And the Word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them; even to the spiritual shepherds, Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the spiritual shepherds of Israel who feed themselves, should not the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you kill the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep. The diseased and weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the hurt and cripples you have not bandaged."
How are the shepherds to "feed God's sheep?" Not by bread alone, but by the Word of God. We've failed to feed them the Words of healing, redemption, and things that pertain to life here in these flesh and blood bodies and not only for when we leave this earth.
We won't need to preach about healing in Heaven, because there's no sickness there. The Bread of healing is to be fed to God's sheep or family, here and now. Teaching that "God no longer does these things," is lying against the Truth of God's Word and failing to do what we're called to do. We don't see much healing or deliverance today, because God's people haven't heard and they haven't heard, because we don't preach it.
How did we lose the Truth and Power of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the speaking of tongues, the healing of our bodies, and the healing of the nations? When did believing God's Word become so contrary to what many teach in church? 1Kings 18:21 (Amplified) says, "Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you halt and limp between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word."
If our God is God, then what is there that He can't do? Can He still heal, raise up the dead, cast out devils, open blind eyes, cause the deaf to hear, and do all the things He says? How long will we halt and limp between two opinions? Let's put aside the fear of the people and stay with God's Word, so we will see the fire fall from Heaven, like it did with Elijah!
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