In Luke 10:9 Jesus tells his followers to "Heal the sick". It doesn't tell them how to do this, so we have to assume that they have already been taught by being with Jesus. In Luke 9:1-2 Jesus gave power and authority to the 12 to heal the sick and sent them out. They had recently (Luke 7)seen Jesus heal a dead boy, a dead girl, a sick woman and a man witha legion of demons. Presumably they were taking note of how Jesus healed.
We don't have the benefit of watching Jesus heal, so we are groping around in the dark a bit. However, twenty years ago John Wimber burst upon the english church with a method of praying for the sick which produced some good results. It was all supported by scripture and a theology of the Kingdom which most theologians agree with in theory even if they don't live it out in practice. This method of prayer for healing is still taught in New Wine churches including ours.
On Sunday evening we began a time of re-training for our Healing Prayer Team as it is about 4 years since we last trained people and there are too many people in the congregation who think that the use of spiritual gifts is "not for us". We are using John Coles' book "Developing a Healing Ministry: A Training Manual for Churches" as the basis of the teaching.
We started the evening with praise and finished with a time of corporate confession for the way we allow the secular scientific worldview to replace the worldview of Jesus. As we repented and asked for more power the Holy Spirit moved powerfully amongst us. We were encouraged by a testimony of healing from a woman who had been prayed for the previous week. Others were convicted by the Spirit of their need to read the scriptures more.
As this was a training evening I involved a couple of inexperienced Christians in praying for one of our ladies while I supervised. They all were filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit in a way that reminded me of Acts 2.
We are all looking forward to next week's training.
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The Apostle Peter was sent by the Spirit to eat with Gentiles. Saul of Tarsus was a Hebrew of the Hebrews called by Jesus Christ to be an Apostle to the Gentiles. Who are the Gentiles in Britain today? How can the gospel reach those who are unlikely to ever make the cross cultural journey required to belong to the Church as we know it?
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About Me
- Ross Garner
- I am the Vicar of St. Mark's which is the Church of England Parish Church in Bredbury and Woodley. We have been a Cell Church since 1998. I am married with two sons at university.
1 comment:
What an exciting report and one that definitely speaks to my own heart this morning. Could it be that "you have not because you ask not?" When Jesus says to do something, like you point out in Luke 10 "heal the sick" and we don't do it, are we in disobedience? Please keep us posted on how things progress with the prayer team. Again, thanks for lifting my spirits this morning with this report of faith. We may not understand all the theology or it all and these things may go "against the grain" of all that we have been taught, but they are clearly in the NT pattern for normal Christian living!
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