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 Why Westerners won’t stay healed.

I have received many positive comments regarding my recommendation of the DVD “Finger of God.” As usual, I also received several negatives. I could live on those positive remarks, but it’s the negatives that I feel need to be addressed. Many Westerners have experienced healings, deliverance and incredible manifestations that yielded no fruit, disappeared as quickly as they appeared and, in general, left those who experienced these manifestations scratching their heads and saying, “Now what?”

Scripture says that signs and wonders will follow us. Too often, we are guilty of following after signs and wonders. 

I’ll never forget the Wednesday night when, after our church service, we all piled in our cars and headed to Fort Worth to attend a Rodney Howard-Brown laugh-a-thon. The place was packed and, everywhere I looked, I saw people from my own church. 

Rodney started preaching and, as advertised, people started laughing. 

Then he started laying hands and people started falling. 

I jumped up and started catching them…down the aisles, in the foyer, in the classrooms, down the halls, in the kitchen. When it was over, I walked through the sanctuary. No one was standing except me, Rodney and his entourage. Not even the other “catchers” remained standing. The faithful were on the floor, looking like the results of a massacre, laughing, quivering, crying. I was drenched with perspiration, shirt tails hanging out of my pants, leaning on my cane (I was suffering from an incurable spinal disease at that time; catching people with one arm was my way of “rubbing Satan’s nose in it”).

We followed after signs and wonders and all I could do was WONDER what had just happened.

I’ve read enough of church history to understand that there has NEVER been a tidy move of God. Whether it’s speaking in tongues, people being “slain in the Spirit,” gold dust, gold teeth (as my own daughter-in-law experienced), gemstones on the carpet, people barking like dogs or roaring like lions, whose job should it be to walk the aisles during such manifestations and determine whether this or that was of the flesh or of the Spirit? 

Shall we use that same Flesh-O-Meter on the preacher? 

The Choir? 

The tithing Saint?

During every revival, the weeds grow right along with the wheat. I’ve read of incredible, wonderful things happening in the great Logan County outdoor revivals, but I’ve also read about the strange, evil and perverse things that were taking place in other parts of the camp.

No, never has there been a tidy move of God. Satan will always be right there, confusing, deceiving, counterfeiting and dividing.

HEALED OR NOT?

Last year, while teaching on healing, a 93-year old woman in a wheel chair was sitting in the group. After my closing prayer, I asked her if she believed Jesus wanted her healed. She said she did, adding that she had been in that chair for 10 years. I laid hands upon her back and, after I had prayed, I looked at her and said, “Faith without works is dead…you have to DO something.” With my assistance, she stood and walked about 20 feet, hands raised, tears rolling down her cheeks. I walked alongside, praising God right along with her. It was glorious.

The next day, about 5 hours away, I was, again, teaching on healing. Again, there was a woman seated in the audience, age 85, a stroke victim who hadn’t walked in 2 years, according to the Head Nurse. Just as I had the day before, I prayed, helped her stand, and she circled the table, crying and praising God. Later, as I attempted to continue teaching, she sat with a beaming smile. When I asked what was happeninh, she said, “I wanna do it again!” She did.

The following month, as I made my visit, both ladies were back in their wheel chairs. The older woman said, although it felt great to walk again, her muscles were “so sore the next day” that she found it easier just to return to her wheel chair.

I see.

The other woman, as she was being pushed down the hall in her wheelchair by her daughter, said, sheepishly, “I don’t know…guess it didn’t take.”

That’s it! No more healing for YOU, ladies!

Kidding.

Sigh.

Since then, I’ve heard a story about a police officer who was paralyzed after being shot. He received a miraculous healing but, when the minister who prayed for his healing returned, the police officer was back in his wheel chair. When asked why he had resigned himself to the chair, he said he was afraid of (A) losing his disability income and (B) that people in town would accuse him of “faking” that he was hurt so that he could get injury pay.

Give me a break!

MAINTAINING A HEALING

Bear in mind that a miracle is an instantaneous healing while a healing is a progressive miracle. Many people, believing that Jesus “zapped” everyone He touched, healing them all, give up when they are prayed for and nothing immediately changes. They forget that he prayed twice for a blind man and that the lepers were healed “as they went.” They forget how He cleared the room before resurrecting a dead girl yet the woman with the issue of blood was healed in a crowd when SHE touched HIM! We’re looking for formulas whereas God is looking for obedience and faith.

There are many reasons why people lose their healing and deliverace. Most of these begin between their ears, with their thoughts and choices. One thing’s for sure: these things were provided for and made available at the cross. Whether we choose to accept them, or fight to keep them, is up to us.

I believe, especially for those of us who minister healing in America, there are some things we should do initially to increase faith and instruct those we’re praying for BEFORE we ever part company. Oddly enough, people in 3rd world nations aren’t as prone to losing a healing as we are. Whereas we can go to a physician, take a pill, etc., they depend solely upon help from Jesus to relieve their distress. For them, toothaches, migraines, in-grown toe nails, boils, even minor ailments have to go…and they DO! 

When I was living in poverty - literally chasing cats out of an old mobile home with no hot running water before I moved in - I trusted God for my next meal. Many were the times that I saw miracles happen. He sent “ravens” to care for my needs which served to bolster my faith to an incredible level. I once had acid blow into my eyes with no ill effects. I stepped on a long, rusty nail that ran all the way through my foot. By the time I got home, there was not so much as a hole in my shoe. After several months of microwaved water and sponge baths, I laid my hands on that ol’ water heater and, next morning and thereafter, I had hot water. Friends providing food, people giving me money, it was an incredible, faith-building time with God. I KNOW what it’s like to trust solely in the Lord, PERIOD.

As you may recall, I was healed of an incurable spinal disease. I coveted the prayers of anybody who asked if they could. I took a step of faith by becoming a “catcher” at church services. I maintained my deliverance from that affliction by thanking Jesus for my healing LONG after I was healed. These days, I belong to a Prayer Clinic where we minister healing to whosever will. Recently, a woman with 4th stage uterine cancer was sent home to die. She’s being healed right before our eyes. Don’t think for a moment Satan will ease up on her. But we promised to pray until she was healed, following after the model exhibited throughout the book “Megashift” as well as the Healing Rooms of Cal Pierce.

Here is a brief list worth considering where maintaining a healing, or deliverance, and just what to do after experiencing any amazing manifestations, is concerned:

1. Keep yourself in an atmosphere of faith.

Many Christians, even ministers, believe that Jesus healed everyone every time everywhere He went. But the Bible is clear that they were healed by expressing faith. It wasn’t uncommon for Jesus to affirm that by saying, “Your faith has made you whole” or “According to your faith, so shall it be done unto you.”

2. Praise the Lord!

Praise means to exalt; to lift it up higher than everything else; to make it the center of everything. That sounds pretty important, doesn’t it? “Praise the Lord” is NOT an exclamation; it’s a command, and with good reason. Sadly, far too many Christians have taken ownership of a tormenting sickness. I hear it all the time when Christians say such things as, “My asthma. My diabetes.” Why do they want it so bad? Why do so many thoughts and actions cener around that sickness …so much more than on Jesus?

3. Testify about God’s goodness.

Your testimony about God’s goodness not only brings hope and joy to others but also to yourself. As you keep testifying, you are building strength into your life.

Medical science is discovering the healing effects of “the attitude of gratitude.” Psychologists are saying that thankfulness is a positive emotional responses that strengthen our immune system.

4. Increase your faith.

Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing God’s Word.

I’m talking about the Living and Written Word of God. The Living Word is Jesus, and the Written Word is the Bible.

We cannot see Jesus with our naked eyes, but we can read, meditate and partake of the Written Word. When our hearts are full of the Written Word, there will be a manifestation of the Living Word in and through us. We will reflect the life of Jesus Christ.

When we speak the Word of God against the devil (EXAMPLE: “Satan, by Jesus’ stripes, I am healed. You cannot steal my healing”), we are using the Sword of the Spirit; and the devil must flee. He flees because of two things. One, there is a manifestation of the presence of the Living Word each time we utter His Written Word. Two, there is the devastating power of the Sword of the Spirit which is the two-edged sword that he fears greatly.

So it is imperative that you partake of daily spiritual food just as you do physical food. Learn to enjoy reading, studying and meditating God’s Word. Post it on the mirror and refrigerator. Then use it as your two-edged sword against the devil.

When you feel the old symptoms of your sickness or a complacency trying to return, reject these things immediately. Quote Nahum 1:9, for example. Take the Word of God and defeat the devil. Your healing CAN and SHOULD be permanent. God’s glory shall not depart!

5. Keep being filled with the Holy Spirit

I am sure that many people who had been healed and delivered were thankful for a while. Soon their gratitude wore thin. Gradually, they lost all interest in the Word and things of the Spirit and were seduced back into their old, ungodly ways. Everything gets tested. It HAS to. This is why the making of Disciples - NOT Converts - should be the goal.

A person’s failure to fill up his being with the Word and Spirit of God can be fatal. Now, instead of having one evil spirit beset him, there are eight. They are taking all precautions to make their place secure.

In that light, it is necessary to continually fill our hearts and minds with the Word and Spirit of God.

6. Confess God’s Word.

The Bible says that God’s Word is spirit and life, meaning: it is so impregnated with divine life that it releases tremendous power when we confess it in faith. It has God’s life force in it.

7. Keep watch over your heart.

Proverbs 4:20-23 20, “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

Why should you watch over your own heart? It is because springing out of your heart are the issues or forces of life. Good and pure forces will keep you healthy, but evil and unholy forces will weaken your body.

The best way to have a healthy spiritual heart is to fill it with God’s Word. That’s also the best way to keep your healing.

8. Pray and Obey.

Obedience is better than sacrifice. The one whose heart is yielded and obedient to God is able to pray with confidence and wage spiritual warfare against Satan with boldness. Daily, keep obeying God in big and small decisions. Be continuously filled with the Spirit and the Word of God so that sin cannot dominate you. When you pray, listen!

9. Resist the devil.

The two main sins in the world are pride and unbelief. These are root sins which give birth to all other sins such as fear, jealousy, lust, hatred, violence, vices, etc. Hatred and anger can destroy a healed body and make a healthy body sick. This is why, in deliverance ministry, dealing with unforgiveness is usually Step One.

10. Believe and Trust Jesus.

Here is a simple exercise that all of us should do every day. As you go about your daily duties, simply whisper to Jesus short but powerful “breath prayers” such as: – “Lord, I trust You to help me in my job.” – “Lord, I believe You and all Your promises.” – “Lord, I put my faith in You as I go to this meeting. Thank You for Your presence. Your wisdom is in me.” – “Lord, I have Your strength, power and authority. I am more than a conqueror in Jesus’ name.” As you continue to whisper scriptural words, you are building your faith.

Let all your thoughts and words be Word-based. Let them agree and tally with each other. Let them be filled with God’s Word and Spirit.

When you are facing adverse circumstances or recurring symptoms of an old sickness, you have a choice of what thoughts you’ll entertain or what words you will allow to roll off your tongue which golds the power of life and death, by the way.

You can either say, “Oh dear, I think my sickness is coming back. Perhaps I wasn’t healed.” Or you can say with confidence and authority, “By the stripes of Jesus, I AM still healed! Sickness, you are bound in Jesus’ Name! I reject your symptoms! Devil, you are a liar! According to God’s Word, I am healed because I believe! I was healed at the cross when my salvation AND my healing were secured!”

Train yourself to react to the devil at the least provocation. That habit will win you every battle with the enemy. What we’re talking about here is a LIFE-style. We are at war, constantly under assault. None of us - not even the most healthy physical specimen - should forget that. The devil hates us. His intent is to kill, steal or destroy anything God has blessed us with. Unfortunately, far too few Christians are not being trained for this war.

I pray that this message helps you to sort some things out in your own mind. Often, we’re too quick to try and kill what we don’t understand.

Every blessing,

Michael Tummillo