Be Healed In Jesus’ Name!
Exodus 15: 26 declares, “I AM the LORD who heals you.”
I AM. Not “I was” and not “I will be” – but “I AM.”
In our New Covenant understanding this translates as “I AM your Father, your Daddy, who heals you.”
I AM. Not “I was” and not “I will be” – but “I AM.”
Jesus said that he has come so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. The Greek word translated as “more abundantly” is perissos, which means “super-abundant, excessive, overflowing, surplus, over and above, more than enough, profuse, extraordinary, more than sufficient.”
Jesus came to remove every threat and every challenge to us experiencing and enjoying that quality and quantity of life.
Psalm 83: 18
18 That they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.
LORD is his covenant name. It is the name that is revealed to us in his new covenant declaration as our Father, our Daddy, and it is the name that declares and promises that “I AM everything you will ever need me to be whenever you need me to be” – just like every good Daddy aspires to be. Except this is our perfect and all-powerful Daddy speaking, the one who according to Jesus is our “how much more” Daddy.
Psalm 46: 1
1 God [our Father, our Daddy] is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.
The reality of our Father’s healing power and his desire to heal is integral to the message of the good news of the kingdom that we are commissioned to proclaim. And yet it seems that in many places – particularly among those who have a long and strong tradition and reputation as places where biblical truth is highly valued and defended – that there is virtually a zero expectation for healing as a valid expression of the kingdom in the here and now. It’s almost as if the good news of physical healing has been surgically removed from the gospel message to the extent that many committed Christians will argue against or struggle to accept it to varying degrees. Some will argue that healing should no longer be expected, and others subscribe to an experience-based belief of “some he does and some he doesn’t.” Perhaps that could even be re-phrased according to most people’s belief system as, “very few he does, and very many he doesn’t.”
This makes no sense because ministering physical healing is one of the primary ways that Jesus demonstrated the kingdom and he told us that we would continue to minister in the same way, including doing the same works.
Mark 16: 17 – 18
17 “And these signs will follow those who believe: in my name….they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
That is why it is essential that we reclaim the message and ministry of healing within our communities. If we are believers then we can expect to lay hands on the sick and see them recover.
We must simply believe that it is always God’s perfect will to heal the sick.
Recently I was reading in Isaiah chapter 64. As I read the first verse I was realised that this prayer was actually answered two thousand years ago.
Isaiah 64: 1
1 Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence.
The word “rend” means to tear open.
Matthew 27: 50 – 53
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Our Father tore open the heavens that day and on the Day of Pentecost he came down in the person of the Holy Spirit and he has never left.
What is sought by many as “revival” is actually an Old Covenant concept that was once and for all and forever established in the New Covenant as the everyday experience of those who simply believe that Jesus came to give life that is to be had, experienced, and enjoyed in all of its glorious fullness.
Listen to verse 8 of Isaiah 64.
8 But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.
Those who come to God – to our Father, our Daddy – must believe that HE IS, that he is I AM, the LORD – our Father, our Daddy – WHO HEALS.
Jesus said that where two or three are gathered together in his name that he is right there among them. We tend to think of that in regards to a church meeting, but what if it might simply mean a situation where there is just you or me and maybe one other person who needs to experience the love of the Father through physical healing. And all it takes to minister that healing is a simple five word prayer – “Be healed in Jesus’ name” – because where he is, I AM the healer is.
Luke 5: 17
17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
The pressure is not on us to do the healing. We simply believe in the power that is in the name of Jesus. All we are asked to do is lay hands on the sick in Jesus’ name and healing will come.
We aren’t actually even told to pray for the sick, but to simply declare them healed in Jesus’ name. Ministering healing in the workplace, in the marketplace, in social gatherings – wherever people are, including church meetings – can greatly impact our community with the kingdom of God.
We don’t need any more elaborate or complicated of a declaration than, ”Be healed in Jesus’ name.”
Acts 3: 16
16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
“In Jesus name ” is not some kind of religious formula.
John 14: 13 – 14
13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
Jesus was telling us that we are representing him, that we are his ambassadors and so as he is in heaven so we are on earth. We are here in his name and with his authority so that it can be on earth as it is in heaven, because Daddy tore open heaven and came down.
Jesus said that the Father sent him and he is sending us in the same way and with the same remit. He said he came in the Father’s name and it was the father who did the works, and so now Jesus sends us in his name, and it is him who does the works. It looks like it’s us but it’s him, just like it looked like it was him but it was the Father.
Jesus said he has given us authority over all the power of the enemy so that nothing can by any means harm us and so that must include sickness.
Who are “us”? Jesus said that he came that “they” may have life so there is no us and them any more, because they have been incorporated in us – they are now included with us.
When Jesus originally spoke these words he was talking to Jews about the Gentiles – so that they too may have life.
Ephesians 2: 11 – 18
11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
And so he gave us all the authority to say STOP to sickness and every other means that the enemy employs to steal, to kill, and to destroy.
For that to work we simply have to believe that he has the authority to give us authority, and so the authority that we exercise is backed up by his authority.
Faith works by believing that he is “I AM.”
And so I receive healing by believing that he is “I AM” – that HE IS THE LORD WHO HEALS ME.
And I dispense healing to others by believing that he is “I AM” to all of us.
And all it takes is a simple five word declaration:
“Be healed in Jesus’ name.”
We should always want and expect to receive the manifestation of healing that brings glory to our heavenly Father. Every time we take a stand on the word of God we produce a testimony to God’s goodness and faithfulness.
Sickness is the result of demonic oppression.
Acts 10: 38
38 God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
It is the devil who works hard to keep us bound under the effects of sickness and so he doesn’t like it when God’s word brings healing and destroys his work.
1 John 3: 8
8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
The devil – the enemy of our souls – will always try to establish sickness in our lives by stealing the truth of God’s word from us.
Matthew 13: 19
19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.
What is the word of the kingdom? The word of the kingdom clearly states that it is God’s will to save everyone, to heal everyone, and to deliver everyone.
Don’t ever be discouraged if you make the simple simple five word declaration “Be healed in Jesus’ name” and it appears to not have worked. It just means that the wicked one has succeeded in stealing the word that was sown because the person being ministered to didn’t understand it or couldn’t grasp it. You don’t quit on that person or condemn them as an unbeliever or write them off as one of the some he doesn’t.
Romans 10: 13
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (healed and delivered).”
There is access at all times to the throne of God where we can obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need because the heavens have been torn open by the Father himself.
Matthew 8: 1 – 3
1 When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.
2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Worshipers in spirit and truth don’t just believe that he can – they know that he will because he already has. Anything that we can receive from our Father in heaven is something that has already been provided – bought, purchased, and paid for.
Isaiah 53: 5
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
The word is clear that Jesus has already paid the price for our physical and mental well-being just as much as he has paid the price for the forgiveness of our sins.
Listen to what the original Hebrew actually says:
4 Surely he has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains.
5 He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace [shalom] was upon him, and by his blows that cut in we are healed.
It is so important that we reclaim the message and ministry of healing because it can be easier to get someone to acknowledge that they are physically sick than it is to get them to admit that they are bound by sin.
When Jesus was confronted for hanging out with sinners he replied that it was those who were sick that needed a physician – he said that he had come to call sinners to repentance.
I like to think of repentance as coming home to Father’s house and walking into the fullness of his provision.
We place such a strong emphasis on people confessing their sins but in the account that Jesus gave of the prodigal coming home the Father didn’t seem interested in listening to a blow for blow list of all of his son’s sins – he was just rejoicing that his lost son had come home.
We must fully transition in our thinking from an Old Covenant mindset of “sinners in the hands of an angry God” to a New Covenant mindset of “sons in the arms of a loving Father .”
I have heard many preachers say that if God didn’t judge America he would have to apologise to Sodom and Gomorrah, but someone else said that if God judged America he would have to apologise to Jesus.
We need to reach people with the love of the Father that reveals his heart toward them by healing their physical sickness, that reveals that he is not mad at them and that everything they will ever need is to be found in his house in abundance, and so they simply need to come home to Father’s house.
Galatians 5: 1 (The Message)
1 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.
As one contemporary worship song declares, “I’m no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God.”
One of the greatest hindrances to, and reasons given for not living in the fullness of all that has already been provided is that we need a “revival” and since a “revival” is always a sovereign move of God then you just have to wait in line hoping and praying that your turn will come.
That might fit into an old covenant understanding of how God worked but the greatest sovereign act of God was when Jesus came down, and again at the Cross when the heavens were torn open by God the Father giving us perpetual access to the throne room, and again on the Day of Pentecost when God the Holy Spirit came down and has never left.
And so every time we pray in Jesus’ name or declare something in Jesus’ name there is a sovereign move of God in response to that prayer or declaration.
We have been given authority as Christ’s ambassadors to release the Father’s love in a simple five word declaration – “Be healed in Jesus’ name.”
We simply have to decide that God’s word is the final authority in our lives, and then all of the pressure is off us and onto him.
Hebrews 12: 2
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith
“In my name,” Jesus said, “you will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.”
Let’s get the good news out….