" Increasing Your Measure od Faith "
Dear Friends and Family,
One of the things the Lord has impressed on us to do is to train up other believers in how to minister to the sick and afflicted. We conducted our fall and winter classes in our home. We have also conducted previous classes at the church, but we prefer the home setting the best. We have found that when we taught in our home, the students developed strong relationships one with another. They bonded very well with each other.
What an excited group of students we had. This class wasn’t open to everyone. The Lord led us to select eight people who had demonstrated an interest in the ministry of healing. We presented several videos from healing evangelists Charles and Frances Hunter along with many of our own experiences in the healing ministry. This was a twelve week course on “How to effectively pray for the sick and afflicted, and see them recover”. We also viewed three videos with doctor panels that covered healing by faith as seen from a doctor’s viewpoint. Many questions were asked of the doctors on how to pray for certain types of illnesses and disorders. Everyone learned a lot about the body and in particular the spine.
We taught and showed many different ways of commanding the body to come into order through the authority and name of Jesus. There is great power through the name of Jesus. No other power on earth can match His power, and that power has been given to the believer. Let’s read what the scriptures say.
(Mathew 28:18) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
(Luke 10:19) "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you. These two scriptures make it very clear that Jesus has given us, the believer, all power and authority.
We believe that building relationships is one of the most important ministries of the church today. Jesus built a relationship with his 12 disciples. He then trained them and sent them out into the highways and byways two by two and gave them power over unclean spirits. So they went out preaching that the people should repent and they healed them of their sicknesses and cast out many demons. (Mark 6:6-7, 12-13)
But it didn’t stop with just His 12 disciples. In (Luke 10:1) it says: After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before Him into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. You see it didn’t stop with His 12 disciples, every believer is a disciple (a follower) of Jesus.
The last words of Jesus before He was received up into heaven is found in Mark 16:15-20
15: And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
16: He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
17: And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
18: They will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
19: So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
20: And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
There is one other element you need and that is Faith. Faith is not just believing something, because you can believe something and not have faith. Faith is like knowing whatever you ask in Jesus name will come to pass. The scriptures tell us that everyone is given a measure of faith. We have found that you can increase your measure by using it. The more faith you use, the more faith you will be given. It’s like in the natural. Faith is like a muscle, the more you exercise it, the larger your muscle will get. The more you exercise your measure of faith, the larger your measure will get.
These are just some of the things we teach in the classes, but one of the most important things we do is actually pray for one another and see how God can use you. As the students practice by praying for each other, they are exercising their faith and their faith is getting larger.
We not only teach them healing, but we train them in how to lead someone to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Healing is a tool to use in winning others to Christ. After all, if Jesus heals you, wouldn’t you want to ask Him into your heart?
I believe that we should do as Jesus did. He didn’t preach at the non believer, He ministered to them at their point of need. Once their needs were met, then they accepted Him into their hearts. You say why healings and miracles? It’s a sign to the unbeliever that Jesus really loves them. It’s also a sign to the believer that He really loves them also.
In James 5:16 it says we should confess our faults, one to another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Your faults may be the only thing standing in the way of your healing. If so, you can ask Jesus to forgive you of your faults and ask Him to come into your heart.
We hope that by reading this letter, your faith was increased. Remember, the more you use your faith, the greater your measure of faith will become.