Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the NET, netbible.org, all rights reserved)

The father of Publius lay sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and after praying, placed his hands on him and healed him.
Acts 28:8 (emphasis added)

There is nothing wrong with praying. Paul did it in today’s verse (and other places). Jesus did it. James exhorts us to do it. The thing is, NONE of them prayed FOR healing. They PRAYED. No one in the New Covenant asks the Father for a healing. They pray TO the Father. They pray ABOUT a situation. But in every single case, they COMMAND the healing. Healing is something that it is our RIGHT to command IN and THROUGH Messiah Jesus by the power of Holy Spirit. We aren’t the ones healing, we are ENGAGING the healing that has been apportioned for our use.

Apportioning is to divide and share out according to a plan. The Father’s plan was healing. Wholeness. Wellness. LIFE. It is ALWAYS Yahweh’s will to heal because the antitheses of wellness is sickness and sickness is of the curse, the result of sin. The CURSE is the result of sin. The sickness is part of the curse, it is not always caused by sin (John 9:1-5). It can be, but just like there isn’t a demon behind the bushes of every bad thing; there is also not a sin behind every sickness. We are in a fallen world. Sickness is part of that world which is fallen and victim to the curse. Yahweh doesn’t like the curse, doesn’t accept the curse, and actively worked to deliver us from the curse. He accomplished that in and through Messiah Jesus. We have been given the opportunity to share in that through the Grace of Adonai. We didn’t earn it. We don’t deserve it. But He made sure that we could have a part in it through His Son. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him” (John 3:17).

I think you would agree that being healed from the condition of being dead is pretty much the biggest kind of healing. Jesus raised more than one person from the dead, but Lazarus was the most dramatic and well-known. Before Jesus raised him, Jesus prayed. He did NOT pray for Lazarus to be healed OR raised. “So they took away the stone. Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you that you have listened to me. I knew that you always listen to me, but I said this for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped around his face. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go” (John 11:41-44). This is a typical prayer of Jesus. Jesus prayed to His Father. Not for things. For Blessing or to acknowledge that the Father’s will is what needed to be done in the given circumstance. It was a prayer that showed His TRUST.

“And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up—and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” (James 5:15). The Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) puts it this way: “The prayer offered with trust will heal the one who is ill – the Lord will restore his health; and if he committed sins, he will be forgiven.” These aren’t prayers FOR healing, they are prayers of TRUST. We are to enter His courts with PRAISE (Psalms 100:4-5). These are prayers praising the Father. Thanking for what He has made available to us. Thanking Him for what we have the right to engage. Then we engage it. Jesus prayed and then stopped praying. That was when He commanded. Peter commanded. Paul commanded. Once we have prayed, WE are ready to release our trust in Yahweh’s process and engage with healing over sickness. The PRAYER isn’t the mechanism of healing. The AUTHORITY of Jesus’ NAME is the mechanism of healing. The prayer is verification of our trust in the Father that the healing is available and apportioned to us for us to engage.

My children have a habit I would prefer they would grow out of. It is asking me for things that they already have received permission for. We have very few ‘rules’ in our house. We have about five major guidelines for them to follow that we call House Rules. When they follow them, they are in a position that we can Bless them (screen privileges, treat meals, later bedtimes, special snacks, etc). If they break or go against them, they are in a position that we cannot Bless them. They aren’t eligible for those things. Outside that, there are things that we have set up for them to be able to do. For example, if our eldest is finished his schoolwork, put away his clothes, and done his chores, he is allowed to go to his room and use his computer. I don’t know HOW many times I have had to put up with him coming to ask whether he can go use his computer. Every single time I ask if he has met the prerequisites. When he responds that he has, I have to ask: why are you asking me to do what you already have permission to do?

Healing (and some other things of the Kingdom) works the same way. We have been apportioned healing. Period. It has ALREADY been given to us. Why are we ASKING for what we have permission to ENGAGE? Why aren’t we thanking Him, using the Word to strengthen our trust, and then engaging? He told us we could. The Word shows us we can AND that it is His will. What is stopping us? Why are we begging permission? More than that, why are we surprised nothing is happening when all we are doing is asking if we can and getting told yes? Adonai has already done everything that He is EVER going to do about healing. He released it. He apportioned it to us. He has given us the authority to use it. He has told us to do it. That’s it. What more can He do? Take us by the hand and use us like a puppet to walk it out? That would be RIDICULOUS.

Now, it is one thing to pray to see if there is a specific WAY in which He wants us to engage healing. There might be a specific phrase to say, an action to do, or a time or place to do it. It is ALWAYS important to check in with the Father because He knows EVERYONE’s heart and knows what will be most effective for all of the faith of everyone involved. Sometimes it is something we think of as weird (like washing in a river seven times – 2 Kings 5:10-12). Sometimes it is something active (like standing and picking something up – John 5:8).

Sometimes it is just speaking (Acts 3:6). Whatever the Father wants, THAT is how we should do it. Jesus spoke words and healed. Jesus asked for actions. Jesus sometimes even did something as part of it (John 9:6-12). Whatever the Father wanted, that is what Jesus did. “So Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise” (John 5:19).

We check into hotel rooms that we have reserved and paid for so that they are apportioned for our use. We pray to the Father for what He has reserved and Jesus paid for so that they are apportioned for our use as we stay in His will and abide in Jesus – which we are assisted in by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. We let Adonai renew our minds to His ways and His will. We stay in Jesus, walking where He guides through Holy Spirit because that centre line is where the Father wants us. Not turning to the right or left. Keeping His Word before our eyes and foremost in our minds. Checking in to see how HE wants us to engage what HE has apportioned for us. We pray and then we (as HIS behest) command healing.

Checking in with the Father is VERY important. When you pray, praise Him, ask how He wants to do it this time, and thank Him for the healing He has ALREADY accomplished for us. Don’t fall into the trap of praying for what we have already been given. Don’t ask permission to do what you have permission to do. Ask how to do what He has commanded you to do instead. Healing is ours! Let’s engage it His way!

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Psalm 38:12-13

“Those who seek my life try to entrap me; those who want to harm me speak destructive words. All day long they say deceitful things. But I am like a deaf man—I hear nothing; I am like a mute who cannot speak.” Messiah would not be a complainer. He would not demand His ‘rights’. He would not point out His innocence. He would quietly endure, like a lamb heading to slaughter. He would submit to the will of Yahweh and endure the punishment without despairing. “But when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he did not respond. Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many charges they are bringing against you?” But he did not answer even one accusation, so that the governor was quite amazed” (Matthew 27:12-14). Jesus did not shout and scream. Jesus didn’t demand a fair trial. Jesus didn’t proclaim His innocence – although He could have. Jesus closed His mouth. Jesus stopped His ears. Jesus endured our punishment. Jesus IS the Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b