I am a Spirit…

Be sure to read my other “Journey” articles.
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In my first post about my journey about walking in the supernatural, I talked a little about the mindsets that I held, but I don’t think I did a sufficient job. So here I go:

Mindset #1: Ignorance

What I believed:

Up until my first encounter with the supernatural power of God, it didn’t even cross my mind that people could be healed of sickness or delivered from demons. That kind of stuff only happened in foreign countries like Africa.

What it looked like:

I was a “Sunday Christian.” I knew I wanted more of God, but I didn’t know what looked like. If someone mentioned something about the supernatural, I probably would have said, “Sure, if God wills it.”

The fruit:

Didn’t help anybody with this mindset. I had wise words, but no power. (1 Cor 2:4)

How it changed:

I saw people get healed at a Jesus Culture conference. I heard people testify that they felt their cancer sores dissolving; it was too undeniable.

Mindset #2: Mental Understanding of His word

What I believed:

I finally had a biblical understanding that healing existed and that it was for today. I would defend that belief to my death, but I couldn’t prove it in experience. I knew God had the ability to heal people, but I didn’t really believe that God could use me.

I had the mental understanding of what the Word said, but I still had more faith in the physical situation than the ability that God put in me to change it (dominion, authority).

When I would pray for people, I believed that if I said the right “magic words” and if there was some kind of perfect cosmic alignment, the power of God would be finally released.

What it looked like:

I wished with every fiber of my being that I could get people healed. I often failed to even approach people.

Whenever I prayed for people for healing during this time, I was always thinking in my mind, “I hope this works, I hope this works, God you better show up, God you better show up, please be healed.”

My prayers would sound something like “God please come and heal, I know you can do it.” I spent more time persuading and reminding myself that God had power and trying to convince God that I had faith in His word more than I did speaking to the problem (Mark 11:23).

Whenever someone didn’t get healed, I had to wrestle through it before I prayed for the next person because I’d be thinking, “Well, they didn’t get healed last time, so I’m not sure they’re going to get healed this time.” I often let thoughts like that seep into my thinking and it would hinder me from stepping out to talk to people.

In other words, I created a theology based out of my experience. I allowed my past experience to influence my future.

There was a lot of begging and a lot of works. “Revival” prayer meetings were often about “God, give us an open heaven,” or “Let your glory fall” so that we could see miracles without actually expressing faith through works (James 2:22).

We often prayed for more boldness, had a lot of great ideas for bringing revival, but there was very little action-producing faith.

The fruit:

Still many wise words, very little power. When I started listening to Bethel’s podcasts, I had even more wise words, but still little power.

Although I prayed for and saw 2-3 people healed of pains during this time, I never expected them to happen and most of all, I was surprised to find out that they were healed.

How it changed:

While I was at Bethel, I began to realize that it wasn’t a matter of words, but rather faith in God.

It isn’t enough just to say that “I have faith in God.” The proof of whether you believe or not is whether it produces action or not.

Although Bethel’s Healing Room training did not help me have faith in what God already gave me and Who was IN me, the training helped me realize that I had a faithful Father.

Mindset #3: Faith in God

What I believed:

God is good. All the time… and He’s also in a good mood. I had full assurance that God would come if I asked.

It was no longer about a “perfect cosmic alignment,” it’s more about God’s abundance goodness and that He is “good-er” than we can imagine. He is more willing to the sick than I am because He’s more compassionate than I am.

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Bethel is very big on asking God to “come.” The premise of Bethel’s healing rooms ministry is about God “coming,” and having fun and seeing God do amazing things when “He comes.”

Again, like I wrote in the previous post, their core value was, “When we pray, God comes, and we He comes, does good things because He’s a good God and He’s in a good mood.”

This core value instilled in me a confidence that if I ask God to “come,” He will undoubtedly come.

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All I had to do (to heal the sick), was to ask God to come and He would do His stuff.

What my life looked like:

I saw more people get healed with this mindset (granted, I was only in this mindset for a few months)… I had the confidence to say “God will heal you right now,” because I had complete faith that God would “come” and do His stuff.

At this point I no longer felt a need to “pray and fast” or cry out to God for an open heaven, because I knew I already had one.

I no longer had to beg God because my perspective of Him changed. He was no longer a corrupt father, trying withhold blessing from his children, but a loving, faithful Father who sent his Son while we were still sinners.

I knew theologically that “God is good” but like most other churched people, that was just a vain repetition. I didn’t act like I really believed that He was good. The “God is good, all the time” phrase came to life again.

He’s better than you think.

How it changed:

I started to listening to Curry Blake‘s stuff and began to realize that God gave us responsibility. God is good, but He is so good that He empowered us to represent Him. I began to realize the finished work of the cross and what it paid for and how to live as a new creation in the New Covenant.

I no longer had to ask God to “come,” because He set up residence in me when I became a believer. The Holy Spirit abides, and doesn’t leave…

You don’t tell someone who’s next to you to “come.” It’s like paging a doctor who’s in the room.

I realized asking God to “come” and heal was like a U.S. soldier calling the Commander-in-Chief (Obama), and asking him to “come” and shoot the enemy (complete nonsense…).

I knew that God, by Himself, had the ability to heal, but He would much rather do it with me.

Mindset #4: Authority - Faith of God

What I believed:

I have all authority in Christ. The devil has none. The law of authority is this:

The one who is under authority must submit to the one who has authority. Period.

The one under authority is the kingdom of darkness. The ones who have ALL authority are those in the Kingdom of Light. (Matt 10:1, Luke 9:1, Luke 10:19, Matt 28:18, Eph 1:21-23, Col 2:15)

We have absolute dominion as light in a world of darkness. (1 John 4:4, 1 John 5:4)

I win. I finally realized that I had power and authority to crush every work of darkness wherever I went.

Healing the sick was not a matter of asking God, but a matter of speaking to a mountain (Mark 11:23) and having believed that what I say will come to pass (2 Cor 4:13).

What my life looked like:

I had this mindset when I first started in Bethel’s healing rooms. I saw most of the people I prayed for get healed. Sometime it was instant, sometimes it took 30 minutes. I saw a few people get out of the walker/wheelchair, deafness healed, hundreds of legs grow out, and every kind of pain go.

How it changed:

There was a point where healing the sick became a routine. I would go heal someone because I knew that I had authority to do it, and I knew that the devil would have to listen to me.

It was a mixture of catching myself in this mindset, and going to the JGLM LifeTeam Conference in Colorado with Curry Blake/Joe Funaro.

Mindset #5: Ministering Life, walking in Compassion

Beyond the authority aspect, I realized that I was also ministering Divine life (1 John 5:12).

Beyond realizing that I had all authority, I realized that the motivation must be about having compassion on people (Matt 9:36).

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You can heal the sick without having compassion on the person. If you do it enough, you will realize that you’re missing something. It is easy to get caught up in the fact that God is working with you to do the impossible, and it’s good to have fun and enjoy it. But the emphasis shouldn’t be on what happened, but who it happened to.

That is why the best testimonies aren’t ones like, “We saw someone’s leg grow out,” but the ones like, “A lady’s leg grew out and she was healed of 30 years of constant back pain, and she could pick up her daughter for the first time without any pain.”

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Hopefully this helps!

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Be sure to read my other “Journey” articles.
1 |  2 |  3 |  4

Related Posts:

• The Journey; Up to This Point
• The Blueprint of “Renewing Your Mind”
• Lessons from Africa
• Africa Update #1