Getting into the boat

I've been on a bit of a book binge recently. I've been preparing for tomorrows preach and generally stocking up on books about healing plus trying to get up to speed on the doctrine of the church for some teaching I'm doing in a few weeks time. I thought I'd list some of the healing books here in case you're interested (they are all great):

Authority to Heal by Ken Blue

Power healing by John Wimber

In pursuit of the Miraculous by Roy Todd

The nearly perfect crime by Frances Nutt

The five attributes of a church in revival by David Carr

Healing and Deliverance by John Woolmer

healing today by Mark Stibbe and Marc Dupont

The shifting Shadows of Supernatural Power by Julia Loren, Bill Johnson and Mahesh Chavda

Shaping history though prayer and fasting, by Derek Prince

Expecting Miracles by Heidi and Rolland Baker

God can do it again by Kathryn Kuhlman

Supernatural power of a transformed Mind by Bill Johnson

Smith Wigglesworth on Healing by Smith Wigglesworth

The fact that as I type pain is increasing in my arms shows that the possession and even reading of all these books in not enough! I hope though that in reading them and filling my mind with scripture and testimony of Gods healing power my faith will increase to see more people healed.

Faith is a mysterious thing but a real thing nonetheless. It is not a vague hope, but something solid, that sits in the soul and refuses to budge even when the rest of the world laughs. Experience can stretch it up or squash it down but the substance of it is grows from God's Word. The above books are really helpful but there is another in a category of its own that can do what no other book can. It is of course:

The bible by God

I was asked recently what one of my most significant transformational moment as a Christian was. It happened a few months ago when I realised that whoever wrote the Bible really wanted the reader to have a massive expectation of healing. Either that or they were grossly negligent in what they wrote. Since its God who caused every jot and tittle to be written down the only conclusion is that God wants me to have a massive expectation that he is going to heal people as I step out in faith.

That simple penny dropping hermeneutical moment changed everything for me. As the dust settled I found something new in me. Faith for healing.

It feels strange. Its as if having wobbled for a while with one foot on the bank and one in a rowing boat I am now sitting down in the boat clutching the sides as it drifts off from the bank. I don't know how to row, I'm still wobbling, but I am all in. It feels different to have water support you than solid ground. Suddenly there are forces upon you other than those you put in motion yourself with your legs. There are currents, there are waves, and there is wind. You have to start using different limbs to move and figure out how the ores work. Oh, and you go backwards. And you risk looking very silly if you fall over board. 

Tomorrow we I will have that feeling again as I step out of the natural into the supernatural and pray for people to be healed. If I've been a bit poetic with the boat thing, then perhaps Ken Blue explains it better:

"Christian healing is a mystery which cannot be controlled by applying some cause and effect formula. Those who pray for the sick entre an unseen world of spiritual forces which cannot be fully comprehended. It is at once fellowship with God in his work and warfare against the lawless destruction of evil. Those who risk entering this realm expose themselves and the ones they pray for to the possibility of humiliation and defeat without ever knowing why. This personal investment, which I label faith, is present in all healing ministries." Ken Blue, A to heal p123

 

Now I need to prune my preach so there’s time to pray for people at the end!