“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…” (Luke 4:18-19, Isaiah 61:1-2).

I think there are many ministers who devalue the place of healing in the proclamation of the gospel. They think it’s a side attraction or maybe an aftermath of being saved. They look upon those who have been anointed for such a ministry with suspicion, saying they should just preach the gospel and not try to bait people to believe in Jesus…

But if you listen to these words Jesus read out to the Jews as He began His ministry, you will see that the ministy of healing is not apart from the work of salvation the Lord came to deliver.

We have a most compassionate God, who sees us as we are, who longs to comfort us, heal us, and bless us. He knows our potential and is eager to see us whole and fulfilled. But He also understands what hinders us, what oppresses us, what discourages us, and it is His will to free us of every bondage.

It is a fair point that believing in Jesus and confessing Him as your Lord and Saviour is the best and most significant thing anybody can do. But it is also true that a man who is hungry or even drowning, first needs his physical body saved in order for him to listen and believe in Jesus for His salvation. You can’t just go to the hungry and say, “Believe in Jesus, and you will be saved.” If you do not also bring food and help them to get on their feet, they won’t even believe that you believe in Jesus!

Why am I saying all this?

I guess I’ve come to a glaring realisation that many of us are sick and in need of healing. Maybe not physical healing, but mental, emotional, and spiritual too. For the longest time, the impact of unseen sickness has been overlooked or undervalued, but it is probably much more damaging than physical illness.

I’ve seen people born with disabilities, who were resilient in their minds and achieved great things, despite never being physically healed. Yet, many, who are physically able are bound and paralysed by how they think, and they continue to make choices that damage their lives. They too need ministration. They need their mental strongholds broken. They need to be set free so that they can be all God created them to be.

There are some people who have been so gifted in this ministry of breaking mental chains. One of them is Joel Osteen.

I wrote a post a while back about five things I love about Joel Osteen. I started listening to his podcasts out of curiousity, but it turns out, I needed it. People will argue that his messages are diluted or not focused on preaching the gospel, or that he is simply a motivational speaker. But I believe what he has is a ministry of healing… And I love the way we delves into all the Bible stories to show us someone we can relate to or learn from. Anyone who listens to him and has their mindset rewired will also come to see that God has used him in their lives, and they too will believe in God.

Like me, there are many who already believe in God who are still in need of emotional and mental healing…just like there are many who believe in God who still need physical healing and deliverance from oppressive situations. Being saved is a healing of our spirit, not of our soul. We still need healing in our soul, and that what God’s truth, rightly wielded will do to us. It will literally break every chain!

Jesus has sent us out to go and preach the gospel, to heal the world with His truth. Some are amazing preachers, and God uses them to convict the world of sin so that they may fall at His feet and serve Him too. Others are amazing healers, endowed with God’s grace to be sympathetic and understanding of our trials, and lead us, with gentleness, to the cross. It would be great if such gifts were perfected in a single person, but the only man who ever lived and was filled with Grace and Truth was our Lord and Saviour, Jesus of Nazareth, Himself.

I pray we can all be more sensitive to the needs all around us and speak the right words that will deliver a soul from torment, and a spirit from hell.

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