The two scriptural statements
-"They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover" Mark 16:18
and "The gates of hell shall not prevail" against the church Matthew
16:18 are closely connected. Everything in the spiritual realm is somehow
connected to everything else in the spirit.
As we move in one area of the spiritual realm other areas are affected
and benefit from the action taken in the first area. This becomes evident when
we see the connection between these two scriptures.
Believers are given the mandate to come against the gates of
hell (any activity or place that Satan uses to enter into the natural realm) as
well as the authority to pray for and expect healing. Both are not only
possible but are connected to each other by their mutual objective. Good health
is a God given divine blessing. Satan tries to take it away to create misery in
the lives of those in the world as well as those in the church.
When we pray for the sick it is not just to impress people or to
gain new converts as has so often been stated. It does indeed do that but the
primary purpose is to reclaim what Satan has stolen from us and to come against
the works of the devil. This puts us in a better position to attack his
strongholds on earth and the gates where he enters the earth.
In praying for the sick we are
opposing Satan at the gate where he is trying to make an entrance into the
world (sickness, disease, disobedience, violence, hurt, pain, hate etc.)
Relieving any of these ills in the world is an attack on his entrance into the
world in which we live.
While healing and miracles make
things a lot better for the people involved it also closes doors for Satan and
his demons so they cannot enter into the world at this particular point again.
When we take the authority that
Jesus gave us and use it to lay hands on the sick and heal them we will also
begin to bring about the fulfilling of the scripture the gates of hell shall
not prevail.
Our prayer should be;" Show
us Lord how to attack evil and win, how to take the authority You have given us
and use it. Give us also the power that is needed to accomplish this. Make
clear Your word to us lord make clear the pages of Your book to Your people.
Give us the revelation of You and Your power to heal and deliver". Send Godly leaders who know the path to Your
throne room and will lead us in that direction. Lord we are ready to work in
your kingdom.
Habakkuk's complaint was derived
from what he saw going on around him, the modern churches complaint should be
that we don't have the proper vision to see clearly what is going on around us
in the spiritual realm nor the spiritual maturity to know what to do or how to
do it. Lord, remove the veil from our eyes and give us the ability to use the
authority you gave us.
Ray Cleghorn
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