And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.
Do you realize that when Jesus told His disciples to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons they hadn’t been baptized in the Holy Spirit yet? Jesus taught His followers to perform signs, wonders, and miracles before they even knew about Holy Spirit. He told them to do this based on their faith in His authority as the Son of God, not based on a spiritual gift or “anointing.” Everything Jesus demonstrated was based on His identity as a Son, and this is what He taught His followers. They were also sons. And based on that, they could do what He did.
This revelation should cause us to rethink our approach to healing and deliverance. In our Charismatic mindsets, we have lumped everything into a spiritual gift or an “anointing” and forgotten the simple power of faith in Christ to defeat the enemy. The majority of Jesus’ instructions to His followers was to destroy the works of the devil (Luke 10:19). He repeatedly reminded them of the authority they had because of their identity with Him. There was no mention of needing a gift of healing or a gift of deliverance to set the captives free.
What the disciples received on the Day of Pentecost was an increased capacity and exponential power to override the natural order. They no longer just “practiced” healing and deliverance by following Jesus’ example. They became conduits of another realm. They were now filled with a boldness and power that was not of man. Not only could they “do” the works of Jesus, they had access to a realm of wisdom and understanding to actually think like Jesus (1 Cor 2:10-16). They now had the ability to perceive and discern the realms of darkness and light and judge accordingly.
The main take away here is that it is our identity in Christ and knowing who we are as sons and daughters, that gives us the authority to overcome the power of the enemy. Even as the baptism of the Spirit empowers us with increased boldness and capacity for the miraculous, we don’t need a spiritual gift or special anointing to destroy the works of darkness. We don’t even need to “feel anointed” to pray for deliverance.
What Christ gave us in our starter kit as believers was an authority to overcome our enemies out of sheer faith. It is our belief in Him that determines miracles and freedom from bondage – not our gifts. Selah.
Did you know that both Smith Wigglesworth and John G Lake practiced signs, wonders, and miracles before they were ever baptized in the Holy Spirit?
Wanda has been in ministry for over 35 years as a worship leader, teacher, author, deliverance counselor, and speaker.
16 Responses
Wanda,
This makes sense but how does it line up with this scripture?:
“For example: The Spirit gives to one the gift of the word of wisdom. To another, the same Spirit gives the gift of the word of revelation knowledge. And to another, the same Spirit gives the gift of faith. And to another, the same Spirit gives gifts of healing.”
1 Corinthians 12:8-9 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/1co.12.8-9.TPT
I didn’t say there isn’t a gift of healing. I simply said that one isn’t required to operate in this spiritual gift to practice healing like Jesus did. 🙂
Wow, that was really, really good! Short and to the point‼️
God is faithful. I just wanted to thank Pastor Wanda for praying over me while at the event held at Believers Victory church.
I will be continuing to pray about moving close by to be a part of Cross roads church.
Also I will be in prayer for a ring of 🔥 to protect her, her family and the ministry!
In JESUS name
Barbara Turnage from Almost Heaven WV!
Thank you so much, Wanda! This revelation is quite profound and I feel blessed by it! God bless you always 🙏🏼🕊️💟✝️
Wanda, thank you for showing us how much our faith is required for delivering and healing. What do you recommend if the person you are trying to heal and deliver does not have the faith to be set free even though they call themselves a believer in Christ? They desperately want to be free. They know they need Jesus, but their faith does not believe they are worthy to receive such healing or deliverance. is it possible for them to be set free if they don’t come in agreement with you?
Probably not.
In my experience, being one who was in the position you are speaking of, what you are believing for them is the deliverance of that unbelief, distrust, etc. The healing will come when whatever formed that stronghold in them is confronted by the truth and power of God, which Jesus does for them as you intercede on their behalf .it is a process, not an event. So please don’t give up on them and pray with great faith and trust that Jesus wants them free and through your love via intercession (as He leads, don’t wear yourself out with worry over them – that’s not intercession…) He WILL encounter them and meet them at that place and set them free. Any healing (physical) will result as their spirit and soul is set free.
Also, your love for them does more than you can see or imagine. Keep loving them! Without fear. God is with you!
Blessings.
These signs shall follow them that believe: in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them: they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Mark 16, 17–18.
Believers lay hands on. It is the believer’s faith God works through. One could say Lazareth didn’t have any faith when Jesus raised him from the dead-because he was dead.
Signs are to establish or build faith and spread the gospel.
The last words of Mark indicate that they followed orders after Jesus ascended into heaven.
And they preached everywhere, the Lord, working with them, and confirming the words with signs following.
Oh my. I feel freed up. I never saw that. While Father has blessed me with a few gifts, this is profound. One question: where does fasting and prayer fit into the faith issue?? I really need to know.
Shalom
Thank you for this amazing revelation that Jesus commanded them to go and do before receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentacost. It’s great to know that our authority doesn’t depend upon the feeling of an anointing or being in a charismatic setting. (I do not go to a charismatic church, so it’s unlikely to have that going on) but we don’t need it! We just need to “And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.”
You need the Holy Spirit. It is the gift from God when you become a born again believer. It’s through the Holy Spirit that Jesus acts as intercessor to God. Before the gift of the Holy Spirit was given, people could have the Holy Spirit upon them, but after the out pouring on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit dwells within each believer. That is the Great Mystery, that no one knew about before the day of Pentecost. Once we have the Holy Spirit then each individual can have Christ within them and why members of the early church were called Christian’s because we now have Christ in us!
This is the very thing I have been praying about! Don’t you just love it when you ask and are given an immediate answer? Not only did I receive this message in my inbox, but received an answer from another source within a couple of hours.
Thanks, Wanda, for being a literal answer to my prayer!
beautiful teaching – reminding us what Jesus told us 🙂
Awesome wisdom again! Thanks for sharing.
I agree, faith is what moves, and stir up the power.