Locating my position in faith concerning receiving my own healing:
1. Where am I in the process of hearing from God?
a. “I’m not sure the promise is for me.”
b. “God is able, but maybe not willing to heal me.”
c. “God may be waiting for the perfect time – in order to receive the glory.”
d. “What I have is big – even for Jesus.”
e. “I need medical confirmation before I will believe that I am healed.”
f. “I hear, I do what God says to say/do, I receive my miracle.”
2. Faith comes by spiritual hearing and seeing.
Matthew 13:13-17
13 “Therefore I speak
to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not
hear, nor do they understand.
14 “And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’
16 “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;
17 “for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (NKJV).
a. This teaching is followed by the explanation of the Parable of the Sower, here and also in Mark 4 and Luke 8.
b. Jesus is quoting this from Isaiah 6:1-10.
Isaiah 6:1-10
6:1 In the year that King
Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the
train of His robe filled the temple.
2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”
4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.
7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.”
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 “Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed” (NKJV).
3. Has the ministry of the Church held you back in your hearing and seeing?
Luke 24:49 – “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
Acts 1:4-8
4 And being assembled together
with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the
Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;
5 “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (NKJV).
a. The Early Church got it – the modern Church needs to listen!
b. Jesus wants His ministers empowered.
John 1:32, 33
32 And John bore
witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He
remained upon Him.
33 “I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit’” (NKJV).
Mark 1:7,8
7 And he preached, saying,
“There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not
worthy to stoop down and loose.
8 “I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”(NKJV).
4. Jesus was tested after being anointed.
Mark 1:9-13
9 It came to pass in
those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John
in the Jordan.
10 And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.
11 Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
12 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.
13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him (NKJV).
Matthew 4:1-11
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit
into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,
6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’”
8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him (NKJV.
(This same event is also recorded in Luke 4:1-12).
5. When we are tested, we need to do what Jesus did when He was tested:
a. Hear from God.
b. Do/say what God tells you to do/say.
c. Receive the answer/miracle/deliverance.