Despite Todd's falling from grace, this is a good article. After reading it
I went to India & God cast out deaf & dumb spirits, & teens who'd never spoken or heard began to hear & speak. Even Jesus told the people to LISTEN TO THE PHARISEES, but don't do as they do, because they don't do what they preach. SO, you can preach right, but do wrong. I'm not perfect at doing what I preach all the time either! Pride can bring you down. We are all in process of healing except for those people who already are perfect sadly! ONLY GOD IS PERFECT! So understand I am not promoting Todd, but promoting godly principles in dealing with deaf n dumb spirits. I've written my own article too. Pris
The Revelation Of The Deaf And Dumb Spirit
There is a stronghold over North America called unbelief. There is a spirit that operates with that stronghold whose goal and function is to make you spiritually and physically deaf and dumb so that you cannot hear the voice of God and receive revelation. The way that this spirit accomplishes its work is by becoming a stronghold of the mind, better known as a mindset. It will make you dumb so that you cannot understand the truth of God's word, or what the Spirit is saying. This spirit is connected to learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder (ADD), dyslexia, memory conditions, concentration, spiritual deafness, and physical deafness. Though you have ears to hear, you cannot hear.
As I have shared this message in different places, we have had all kinds of testimonies of people with a spirit of insanity, madness, manic-depressive, and bipolar set free and delivered. One example is a boy in Indiana who had dyslexia. I prayed for him and the power of God hit his body and caused an electric shock to go off in the back of his brain. The next day he was miraculously able to read. We have seen people's memory restored instantly that had been lost for years. We have had testimonies of restoration to concentration, ADD, and even improved grades in school. It gets as practical as people being able to instantly read and focus. Ninety percent of the cases of healings in deafness that we have seen have taken place as I shared this message. This message brought a change to the spiritual climate in Albany, Oregon. There is still an open heaven in Oregon.
My wife has a powerful testimony of how when she heard this message, it broke the spirit that made her deaf, dumb and mute. She was released into words of knowledge, visions, taken into the heavens and shown angels. She is moving in a high level prophetic anointing and beginning to give detailed words of knowledge that are blowing me out of the water! I said, What happened Shonnah? She said, That power, whatever it is; something physically broke over my life and lifted off of me. Some people have a weight, a mental block, when they read the Bible and pray. The heavens seem to be brass, and they cannot get a breakthrough or remember what they have read. Or they cannot even focus to read the Bible. There is a spiritual oppression connected to that. It is a deaf and dumb spirit.
My Past was My Push
The first time that God revealed to me the spirit that makes us deaf was a couple of years ago. My mom was completely deaf all my life. My father left when I was three years old. I was left to be raised by my mother. I remember the frustration, rejection and lack of communication that went on in my home because of my mother's deafness. It drove me into absolute anger, rage and rejection. I began to run my home and physically abused my mother by the time I was 11 years old. I was involved in all kinds of criminal activity. I was an alcoholic by age 11, and ended up in prison by the age of 14, where I served over an 18 month sentence. I listened to satanic music and was involved in the occult. One thing that I was angry about was the fact that my mom was deaf. I released that rage by mocking her with my school friends and laughing about her disability.
When I got saved, God turned my heart and captivity. I read about the ministry of Jesus in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and believed in miracles. I heard about how the deaf hear. I told God that I wanted that for my mother. I asked Him to open my mother's ears. My rejection, anger and rage of the disability of my mother were turned. The Lord put inside of me a fuel and a fire to believe for miracles in my own ministry, especially that deaf ears would be completely opened. I then committed my life to believing God to turn what the devil meant for evil against my own mother to good in other peoples lives. In every way that he tried to steal, kill and destroy I committed to ask God to return by the hundreds and the thousands.
My mother died this year (2001) as a young woman of 48. She had a massive stroke and lived 18 months in the hospital as a vegetable and completely deaf. She was so broken in her body and depressed. She had given up because of things that she walked through and the many years that she had dealt with the way that I and my father had lived. I prayed for her every day. She died in the middle of a revival that we were experiencing in Albany, Oregon. I went on and grew in strength and ministry; what I call perseverance. I said, I will not quit; many died in the bible not yet receiving the promise. (Hebrews 11:39) I may not have received the promise of my mother's healing, but I am still going to preach the truth of what the Bible says about divine healing, regardless of what I feel and see. I literally refused discouragement and disappointment, though I had every right to be angry, confused, discouraged and disappointed. I used it to press in a greater way to believe God for miracles, rather than allowing the circumstance to wound me and crush my faith.
The Spirit that Makes Men Dumb
Isn't it interesting that in the last 20 years in America there are more children in special education classes. We have taken an apologetic attitude toward this. Bringing in teachers to help and making the disability acceptable. I am not saying that the person that is bound is evil. I believe there is a deeper root to the problems that we are seeing. I believe it is connected to the deaf and dumb spirit. The dumb spirit affects your ability to understand revelation. It makes you spiritually dumb, so that you cannot understand the revelation of the spirit of wisdom and revelation. It affects your ability to understand the Bible. It is like a big parable to you. It affects your ability to understand mysteries. It affects your ability to understand, hear and receive spiritual revelation and truth. When you are deaf and dumb in the spirit, you have nothing to say. So there is a form of godliness, denying the power. The kingdom of God in word only. Organized religion, denominationalism, and tradition and programs. We do what we do now because we have done it for the last ten years. We talk about power, but we do not see any. We talk about what we did 20 years ago, but we do not see anything. We talk about the truth of the gospel and proclaim that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, but we do not see anything. We are hearers, and not doers. We want to be doers, but we know there is a place that we are not getting the revelation in our heart that God wants us to have. We are truly hungry for revelation, but there is an assignment to make us deaf. And we see it in the North American church. It is shown in the bible, and it is connected to unbelief.
The Spirit that Makes Men Deaf
God completed the revelation that He gave me of the deaf spirit in October 2000, as I was ministering in Nigeria and Ghana. I shared it for the first time in January 2001. I have shared it since, in many different places. The Lord first showed me the deaf spirit as I prayed for the deaf. I wanted the deaf to hear. Just about everywhere I went I asked for the deaf. I wanted to believe God to open up the ears of those who could not hear. I committed my life to believing in miracles, but beyond anything else I wanted deaf ears to be opened. I prayed for hundreds of deaf ears. Every once in a while someone would have somewhat of a partial healing, but I was not having the victory that I believed that God had promised me. One day the Lord Jesus spoke to my heart about the deaf spirit. About the boy in the gospels that was deaf and mute. He was possessed with a spirit, but he was deaf and mute. And when Jesus commanded the spirit to come out of the boy, he both heard and spoke. I said, That is the key. It is a spirit that is possessing them and making them deaf and mute. So I began to pray. I asked for the deaf, but this time I did not pray for their hearing. I commanded the devil that made them deaf to come out of their ears. I went from 2% to 75-80% of the deaf being healed in the meetings. I thought, hallelujah! More times than not, it is a spirit that makes people deaf and mute. When you command that spirit to come out, the lord opens their ears. That is when the Lord Jesus began to show me that it is a spirit that makes you spiritually deaf. The Pharisees and Saducees had that spirit. The Lord referred to it as a spirit that made them dull of hearing.
Ezekiel 12:2 Son of man, you live in the midst of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see but do not see, ears to hear but do not hear.
You do not have the understanding that I want you to have in your heart. Had you had the understanding, having an ear to hear, you would turn in your heart from your wicked ways, and I would have healed you. I am not talking about your natural ear. It is the ear to hear the spirit of wisdom and revelation. You would have the understanding that I want you to have. The bible declares, let him who has an ear hear what the Spirit is saying. Do you think the devil wants you to hear the voice of God? Do you think the devil is going to have demons such as epilepsy, infirmity, sickness, pain and torment and every other devil in hell and not have a counter-attack? A spirit that will war against the message and spirit of faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Whatever you ask for, praying and believing, you will receive it. The devil does not want you to have faith. He knows the power of faith. He knows the kingdom of God operates by the law and principal of faith.
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
He wants to get your hearing. You will read the word, but you do not hear. No matter how many times you read, you will be a hearer only and not a doer. You want to be a doer but you do not know why you are not a doer. You do not know why you do not believe what you say you believe. You confess it, but you know you do not believe because nothing is happening. What is the problem? Faith comes by hearing. There is a spirit that makes you dull. Every time the message of the word of the kingdom comes, this spirit comes to rob you of those seeds of revelation, which can give you faith. We must get the revelation out of our head and into our heart, but we cannot because of the spiritual assignment; the principality called the deaf spirit.
Casting Out the Deaf and Dumb Spirit
The Lord Jesus began to show me the power and strength of the spirit that makes people deaf while I was in Africa. He began to show me the revelation of the dumb spirit. It was in October, during our crusade in Ghana. We had restoration of hearing to 23 of 25 deaf people whom we prayed for, as well as their speech. I do not even know how many deaf people were healed between Ghana and Nigeria. Many times when we go overseas, unless you are deaf and mute, when we pray, we do not even talk about the healing. For example, if you were deaf in one ear only, many times we do not include those healings in the statistics. Most times we only talk about the healing of deafness if you were deaf and mute.
When I begun to command the devil that made them deaf and mute to come out, and I began to break generational sickness in the area of deafness, the Lord opened deaf ears all over the place. We were casting out devils. Thousands of people were getting saved. I was reaching 3 to 4 million at one time. There were over 10 radio stations that were broadcasting the crusades live in order to reach many. We were excited about what God was doing.
We went to a leper colony in the hospital. I prayed for every leper I could get my hand on and led the entire leper colony to Jesus. Every one of them got saved except for one who was already a Christian. The bible says to cleanse the leper. I cannot do it in the Americas. We went where the lepers are. Africa.
In the middle of the evening crusades, young people began to come in their school uniforms and ask me to pray that they would get good marks in school. I was casting out devils, healing the sick, and cleansing the leper, the real ministry . All these students wanted me to pray for was the blessing of their mind. I said, Come here. Laid my hands on their head and said bless that mind Jesus. I prayed a courtesy prayer with little faith. Come on, let's get back to the real ministry of Jesus, and give me some more deaf and cripples. But when the other students saw me pray for one, they began to line up for me to pray for their minds too. I do not know how many; maybe 20 a night.
Every one of them wanted me to pray for their studies, mind, reading, concentration, or good marks. They wanted a grace and anointing to study and learn and be filled with wisdom and knowledge. So, I said, OK (reluctantly). After all, God did fill people with the Holy Ghost and give them all kinds of skills and understanding. Even though I had no practical skills at all with my hands. All I could do was lay hands on the sick. I got a grade 8 education, was raised in poverty and welfare. When I did go to school, I was the D, E, and F student. I did get a B in French once because I cheated. I cannot use tools. So, I reluctantly agreed to pray for their minds.
I prayed, oh, hallelujah Lord, bless their minds , over and over. And before I began to pray for one specific person after having prayed for several others, I thought to myself Man, there are a lot of dumb people in Africa , to be honest. Then I began to pray for this girl and she began to manifest a demon. Then I thought, Cool, a demon! ( The real ministry of Jesus ) And I cast out that demon. Immediately another young man manifested a demon the same way when I blessed his mind. I thought, Something is happening here. The young people were all beginning to line up. Finally the Lord spoke to me and said Todd, this spirit is a dumb devil. I said, What's a dumb devil? He said, The dumb devil affects your ability in the natural to understand, read, focus and concentrate. It is the root of all sorts of learning disabilities.
Faith is Key
Hebrews 11:39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised
Many have allowed their circumstance to wound their faith. The kind of faith that God wants to give us is Hebrews ch.11 faith. Perseverance means to never quit, and to refuse discouragement and disappointment and to believe God. We need to base our whole life on the word of God, though there are so many circumstances we have and will walk through that seem to oppose and contradict the word of God. His word is prosperous and successful and will not return to Him void. (Isaiah 55:11) God is God. He is not a liar. He is not slack concerning His promise, regardless of what I have or have not seen; regardless of how successful I have or have not been in the healing ministry.
If I pray for a thousand and they are not healed, I will pray for another thousand. Faith and perseverance work together. Many died not yet receiving the promise. Some of us need to purpose in our heart if we are going to commit ourselves to the spirit of faith. God is a rewarded of those who diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6) Commit regardless of success or failure to be a word man until I die, whether I see God do what I think He's going to do or not, or what I believe He promised He was going to do. I am not going to be moved by what I feel or think. I am going to believe the Bible. How long am I going to believe the Bible? How many times am I going to get prayed for when I am sick?
I'm not healed yet, so I am going to keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking until the door is opened. (Matthew 7:7-8) How long? Until I am healed. Regardless of how many people I have seen die of sickness, my successes or my failures, I am not going to let that be the basis of my theology. Persevere. Let past failures be used as strength to push you into the ministry of Jesus Christ. And strengthen you to war against the author of sin, sickness, disease and death. (John 10:10) Satan is the god of this world.
1 John 3:8 The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that he might destroy the works of the devil
Acts 10:38 Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.
The devil is the source of our pain, torment and anger. Let's let our disappointment, discouragement, and failure be fueled to the fire to take it out on him. Not our God. Believe God, regardless of what you walk through. God is true.
The Stronghold of Unbelief in North America
There was a revival in a city in the gospels, called Capernaum. Capernaum was the international headquarters for the ministry of Jesus Christ, a hub for signs and wonders. If you read what God did in the gospels in Capernaum, you will find more miracles, healings, signs and wonders than just about anywhere else. In fact, great multitudes came to hear the word and be healed. He cast out devils with the word and healed all who were sick. He raised Jairus dead daughter, healed woman with the issue of the blood, and healed the paralytic in Mark 2. Matthew 8:16. All these miracles took place in Capernaum. Immediately we are taken from this city of revival to Nazareth, and the Bible declares and He could do no mighty miracles because of their unbelief. Matthew 13:58
What happened in the city? It did not have anything to do with Jesus or His anointing. It had nothing to do with the will of God or the faith of Jesus. Nothing changed concerning Jesus. He wanted to do in Nazareth what He did in Capernaum. He wanted to heal all the sick. His message, will, power and anointing never changed. There was an open heaven in Capernaum, and in Nazareth it says He could do no mighty miracles.
It was not that He did not want to, but He could do no mighty miracles. Something was limiting the manifestation of the power of God, and it was corporate unbelief. The corporate unbelief in the hearts of leaders and those who were in the city hindered habitation. He came in and laid His hands on a few sick and healed them. I believe that there were more people who wanted to be healed. I do not believe that everyone was in unbelief. But, because there was so much unbelief in a city, He could do no mighty miracles.
I believe corporate unbelief in North America hinders God's manifestation of miracle healing power. We need the change of a spiritual climate. It was not more faith, fasting, power, better preaching, praying for the sick longer, more healing teams, or extended meetings that God wanted to do in Nazareth. The key was overcoming the stronghold that ruled over a city. It can rule over a life, a church, a city, a region, and a nation. I have been to one church and had open miracles, signs and wonders and went down the road to another church and the heavens were closed there. No one would get healed except maybe one or two people. The heavens can be opened or closed according to corporate faith or unbelief. Ultimately, we want to see an open heaven over America. The only way we are going to see it happen is by combating and warring against the stronghold that is ruling in the air over a city or nation. In America, that stronghold is what we see in Nazareth and it is called unbelief. God wants to make us a Capernaum. We need to overcome the stronghold of unbelief, which works with a deaf and dumb spirit.
The Deaf and Dumb Spirit
Mt 17:14-15 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic, and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.
The word epileptic can be translated as lunatic. It suggests that he had mental illness, insanity, madness, or he was moonstruck. Moonstruck looks like someone who is punch drunk. Have you ever listened to Rocky or anybody else who had been punched in the head too many times? They are kind of like duh . They are dazed and confused. Have you ever met someone that has been in the sun too long? They are slow. That is what I am talking about. I am talking about some sort of condition that makes a person dumb. I am talking about conditions of the brain, whether it is insanity, madness, learning disabilities, or epileptic.
Mt 17:16 So, I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.
The Lord spoke to me about this and said, That is the same as in Mt 13:58, and He could do no mighty miracles . It is not that they did not want to cure him, but they could not cure him. It is not that they did not have an impartation of the healing anointing, or that they had not already preached the gospel, healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead, and cast out devils. That they could not cure him was the same as and He could do no mighty miracles.
Mt 17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? Bring him here to Me. The word faithless means some faith but not enough faith.
Let us look at this same passage of scripture in Mark 9:14-17;
14 And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. 15 Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. 16 And He asked the scribes, What are you discussing with them? 17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, Teacher I brought to you my son, who has a mute spirit. Mk 9:14-17
First he was an epileptic, lunatic, moonstruck, and now he cannot talk. He is mute. He has a spirit that makes him mute. I thought he was an epileptic or lunatic.
18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So, I spoke to your disciples, that they should cast him out, but they could not. 19 He answered him and said, O faithless generation & (Some faith but not enough faith)
We are talking about the unbelief of a generation. Isn't it interesting that every time we talk about the miracle that needed to take place in this passage, the question is imposed Why could the disciples not cure him? . The answer is that there was a hindrance. The first thing that Jesus says is, O unbelieving generation...... There is something that is in a generation, the spiritual climate of a generation.
I know people that have disputed the message of divine healing because of those that they prayed for that did not get healed or died sick. Because of their experience, they say, I believe God can heal, but does not heal all . I say How do you know that? They say, Because I prayed for a hundred people and only ten got healed; if God wanted to heal all, all would have gotten healed. And I say Well, I know all kinds of people that died and went to hell; does that mean God sent them there? No. Should we never preach salvation again because we do not want to get too many peoples hopes up about getting saved? We do not want to preach too much about what the Bible says about healing because we do not want to get peoples hopes up about healing. We are careful and want to take an apologetic route and say God can heal and He does heal some. Let's just thank God for the one's that He does heal, but let's not believe and preach that He's going to heal all. Let's not include healing in the covenant. Let's not include healing in the shedding of the blood, death and resurrection of Jesus. Let's not make it a general call for all, when clearly healing is for all.
Jas 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Jesus told the disciples to heal the sick. What sick? Heal the sick. Whatever town or city you enter, heal the sick there. God never said some of the sick, so why do we? God never made it look like some, He made it look like all. And when He made the promise about healing, He made it for all. We have a some gospel because of our experience. What about this experience? The disciples could not heal him, so that proves God does not want to heal everybody? Jesus shows up on the scene and says No. Just because he did not get healed does not mean that I do not want to do it. That was not why we did not have a miracle. Let's get to the real reason of what hindered the boy's healing.
It is the same in North America. Do not make your doctrine based on the experience of what you walk through. I know that some have been hurt by believing for someone to be healed and they were not. That has nothing to do with God. That preacher may be a man of God, but be careful not to say it was God. He will turn it to good, but I do not believe it was Him. Even in this passage of scripture it looks like the boy did not get healed because God did not want to heal him. They had prayed and healed so many others. The disciples could have sat down and said, That's it! He did not heal him so I guess God does not want to heal everybody. Then Jesus shows up and says No, that is not the answer. The answer is O unbelieving generation . Some faith but not enough faith.
And they brought the boy to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling about and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, How long has this been happening to him? And he said, From childhood. And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything...... Mark 9:20-22
See the hopelessness and disappointment? The man did not have much faith, confidence or hope. That spirit of this man was speaking through his heart when he said, If you can do anything. Look at the first thing that Jesus said. It looks a little brutal.
Mark 9:23 And Jesus said to him, if you can! All things are possible to him who believes.
Not if I can do anything, but if you believe. All things are possible to them who believe. Then, we see the mercy of God.
Mark 9:24 Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying, I do believe, help my unbelief.
That means that the father's unbelief helped keep his boy bound to sickness. We see that the deaf and dumb spirit is connected to unbelief. It is connected to the hindrances of our healing. It is the root of all kinds of sickness and disease. It manifests with dyslexia, ADD, learning disabilities, insanity and all kinds of conditions of the mind; memory, focus, and concentration.
Mark 9:25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, You deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.
Jesus calls the demon a deaf and dumb spirit. I thought it was an epileptic or mute spirit.
After unbelief is revealed, He reveals that the power of the spirit of unbelief is broken because unbelief is repented of and faith is revealed. The spirit of unbelief is what gives strength to a spirit that makes men deaf, dumb and mute. After the unbelief is dealt with, Jesus is able to get to the root; the deaf and dumb spirit. We need not only repent of personal unbelief but also like Daniel, confess the sins of a nation (generational unbelief) and walk in the contrary, the spirit of Faith.
Part 3 of 3
Four Ways to Overcome the Spirit of Unbelief
One key to overcoming the spirit of unbelief is fasting.
And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast him out?" So, He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." Mark 9:28-29
This deaf and dumb spirit (unbelief) does not come out by anything but prayer and fasting. Jesus gave the disciples the key. You could not overcome that spirit of infirmity (epilepsy, moonstruck, insanity, madness, learning disability, dumb condition in Mt. 17:15) in the boy because of unbelief. And this kind, the deaf and dumb spirit which is connected to unbelief, cannot come out except by prayer and fasting. There is something that begins to happen when we fast and pray and choose to say I will not digest anything except the truth of what the Bible says about healing. He sent His Word and delivered them from destruction. That means healing is in the Word. When you fast and pray and digest the Word, it gives you faith and power and you overcome personal unbelief and doubt. Fast for an extended time and study nothing but what the Bible says about healing, and you will see the results. Do not read anything else but what the Bible says about healing. There was a time in my life before I entered into the ministry in the area of miracles when I fasted and read only what the Bible said about healing. For months I fed on and read nothing but what the bible said about healing. I began to be full of faith and power. I overcame the personal spirit of unbelief in my own life because this kind, overcoming the deaf and dumb spirit, only comes out by prayer and fasting. That is level one.
The second key to overcoming this spirit of unbelief in your life is understanding the difference between the gifts of healing and miracles. Understanding what it means to war and contend for the miraculous by understanding the difference between the gifts of healing and of miracles. It is okay not to be instantly healed.
For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles… 1 Cor 12:8-10
The Bible makes a distinction between the gifts of healing and the gifts of miracles. The definition of miracle is "the instantaneous operation of God's power". When you look at the word in the Bible for healing, many times it is translated to "therapy" in the Greek. Therapy is the gradual cure, the remedy, the process, and the gradual recovery.
"And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; "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." Mark 16:17-18
The word for recover suggests a recovery by remedy, therapy, gradually, by a process, and in a mount of time. Even in the ministry of Jesus, many times the word for healing in the Greek is "therapy". But because we have not understood the differences between the gifts of healings and miracles, we have left church many times thinking we did not have enough faith to be healed because others were instantly healed and we were not. When in reality we may be having a healing rather then a miracle. We think we did not have as much faith as they did, and if we had more faith then what happened to them would have happened to us. We leave the service with rejection; feeling like God does not love us as much as He loves them. In truth, if we understood the difference between a healing and miracle, we would hold on to the seed of our healing. Where do we see the seed of healing?
Prov 4:20-22 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.
Seed of Healing
This suggests a seed. Something happens as you meditate day and night. Remind yourself of the promise of what the Bible says about healing. Keep that word in the midst of your heart and over time it will begin to be strength in your body. It will begin to be life, health and strength in your bones. "Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. "And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it." Mark 4:3-4
The devil comes to take away the seed of truth. When you do not understand the difference between the gifts of healing and miracles, and realize that it is ok not to be instantly healed, you do not see that you can hold on to your seed and be healed tomorrow, the next three days, the next ten days or a month. Do not dig up the seed every day to see how it is doing. Be convinced that though you do not have the immediate and full harvest of a miracle, there is a process that gives you the responsibility to water the seed by remaining in (Prv 4:20) and keeping the word in the midst of your heart.
Mark 16:18 does not say that you will see them all instantly recover. When it is an instant healing, it is not actually a healing. It is a miracle. When it takes place over an amount of time, it is a healing. That is why the Bible distinguishes between gifts of healing and gifts of miracles. Did you know there are also other levels of healing?
Mark 16:18 is not the anointing or gift we see in 1 Cor 12. The anointing in 1 Cor 12 is the gift of healing and the gift of miracles, which come through the Holy Ghost. The gifts are different from the general commission of healing in Mark 16:17. The gift in 1 Cor 12, the Holy Spirit distributes individually, as He wills. It is not a general commission. However, you can have the gift, and I can have the gift. How can we get it? Earnestly desire it. Earnestly hunger for the healing anointing.
Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 1 Cor 14:1
You cannot overcome the spirit of unbelief until you understand how the devil operates to bring you to the place where you do not believe God. He does that because the North American church is ignorant of how miracles operate and does not understand healings. We do not understand the operation of the anointing, the levels of the healing anointing or the difference between healings and miracles. We do not realize that it is ok not to be instantly healed.
Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" So, when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. Luke 17:12-14
They were not immediately healed. They were going to Jerusalem, and from where they were it was a three day journey. They went 3 days. As they went, they were healed. They were not instantly healed because had they been, all ten would have come back to praise the Lord. Only 2 came back because as they went they were healed. Naaman the leper dipped himself in the pool seven times. There was a process. And the word "recovery" in Mark 16:18, the Greek word for healing at times, even when you see it in the ministry of Jesus is "therapy", and suggests at times the "remedy" or the "cure" or the "process" of healing.
I was in Roseville, California when I prayed for a lady who had multiple sclerosis. She was not immediately healed. The power of God touched her, though she was not physically changed. She left on her cane with weakness in her body. Two weeks later she phoned the church saying that she had been healed of multiple sclerosis and all of her strength had returned. She threw her cane away. She had been to the doctor to confirm the healing. How do we know that when the Bible says "and He healed them" that the actual healing did not manifest until two days later? The writer could have used that sort of language because he found out after the healing took place. We can never be sure. It looks like every time in the bible there is a miracle it is instant, because we have an instant mindset. We are prayed for and we walk away with discouragement and disappointment. If the miracle is not instant but it may be a healing, then hold onto the seed. That is how the devil takes away the seed, which might have been a miracle in one week. The birds of the air have a door through disappointment and discouragement to rob your seed of healing. Understanding the difference between healing and miracles will help you overcome the spirit of unbelief in your own life. Release you to war and contend for your healing until you have the full manifestation.
The third way to overcome the spirit of unbelief is understanding what real faith is.
Real Faith
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarded of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrew 11:6
Faith is diligent. God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Faith keeps on asking. Faith keeps on seeking. Faith keeps on knocking until the door is opened unto you. Faith is the persistent widow. That is what Jesus meant when He talked about the prayer of the persistent widow. It is the "keep on asking, keep on seeking, do not give up" prayer. I am going to persevere in what the Bible calls faith in Hebrews 11. Real faith is "many died not receiving the promise." We must purpose within our hearts to be persistent knowing that many died not receiving their promise. (Hebrews 11:39)
It is ok to ask God for the same thing more than once. Some who have preached the "faith" message have taught that if you ask God for the same thing more than once, you are a wavering, doubting man and that you will not receive what you are asking for. So, then you ask God once very specifically for what you want, believe God, and wait for Him to do it. That has worked and it can still work. But we need to understand that it is ok to ask God for the same thing more than once.
I have been in places where people have said, "Todd, you prayed for me last night and I was not healed. I did not want to ask you to pray for me again tonight because I wanted to believe God regardless of what I feel or see. I wanted to be a faith man, and I did not want to ask for the same thing more than once." But we need to understand what real faith is. Real faith is to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking. There is a place where you can stand on the word and believe God after asking once if you want to. But you do not need to be under condemnation if you talk to God about the same thing more than once. Even if we come to God with the same promise every day and tell Him that we are still waiting. He is not going to say, "Well, if you would have believed the first time, you would have had it. But, because you are in unbelief because you are asking Me for the same thing more than once, you have cancelled your prayer the first time and you are not standing. You are not a faith man!" That is what men have said faith is. I used to be under that bondage. I understand today that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
The interesting thing about the passage of scripture in Mark 11:24 is that it says "whatever things you ask for, believe when you pray…. It does not say whatever you ask for praying once. It could be, whatever you ask for praying and keeping on praying, God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Whatever you ask for, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, and have persistency like the widow, believing you shall receive it. And pray until something happens according to what God has said.
Prayer of Faith
James 5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Elijah is the perfect example of the prayer of faith. This is the way that we pray, war and contend for people to get healed. What is the prayer of faith? Men will say, "I need to believe God. If you did not get healed, it is not because I did not believe God. I am not the problem, God is not the problem, and it must be you. Go and get more faith some men say. You need to listen to a few more hours of my teaching tapes because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. You did not get healed because you do not have enough faith." It is not always that we do not have enough faith but at times there is a place where it could be a spirit attached as a hindrance. There may be corporate unbelief in a city or region. There are all kinds of reasons why you may not be having an immediate miracle. It may be a healing, and not a miracle. We need to understand that the prayer of faith is not "I believe God, you believe God. I prayed, therefore it is done." The prayer of faith is the prayer that keeps on praying until the job is done and the answer is there.
Lets look at the example of the way Elijah prays;
1 Kings 18:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word." 1 Kings 17:1 There would be no rain on the earth except at the word of Elijah. He said, "Except at my word, Ahab, there is going to be no dew nor rain." But yet, that was the word of the Lord. And it came to pass after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, "Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth." 1 Kings 18:1
Elijah did not say, "hallelujah, I believe what God said. I am going to believe what He said whether I see a cloud or rain in the sky or not. I am going to stand on the promise and it is going to come to pass. Let's just sit down and wait for God to do what He said He was going to do. Let's just wait for God." No. Elijah said there is a place that God will not do what He said He was going to do except at my word. That means my word, and what I do or do not do with what the Lord says, makes or breaks what the Lord wants to do. I am a part of bringing this thing out of the heavens into the earth. I get my authority from the word of the Lord that came unto me, but now I speak what God has spoken to me and that is what brings it to pass. As it is loosed in heaven, I loose it on earth.
In this scripture (1 Kings 17:1) it says there will be no due or rain on the earth except by my word…but it really was not his word. Because now in 1 Kings 18:1 the word of the Lord comes unto him. He could have stood and believed and just prayed once according to what God said. But he saw that there was a place where he was involved in this promise coming to pass. Here is another perfect example of the prayer of faith.
So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." So he went up and looked, and said, "There is nothing." And seven times he said, "Go again." I Kings 18:42-43
There was a sound in Elijah's spirit. That sound was the abundance of rain. He heard it in his spirit. He could not hear or see it in the natural, but in his spirit he carried the sound of rain, which represents the promise of God in the bible. Some of you have already got the sound in your spirit of healing. You have had the promise of the word of God; a prophetic word, a revelation of the promise of the Bible. You know that God is going to touch and heal your body. But you cannot see it yet. That is what happened on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18:42-43. Elijah puts his face to the ground, `gets into a birthing position. He begins to call for that rain.
He begins to call forth those things that are not, as though they were. It is not that they were not. He began to call forth those things that were not in the natural world, that already were in the eternal purpose of God. He called the things that he knew were supposed to be in the earth. He had the promise and the word. He said I do not see it in the natural, so now is the place where I birth that word. How do you birth the word? What is the prayer of faith? "God do what you said you were going to do according to every promise that you said you were going to give me in the Bible concerning healing.
I have the word of the Lord. I do not see or feel it. I am going to believe God, but there is something that I must do." Like Elijah, who got face down to the ground, and began to birth he prayed one time. He told his servant to run to the edge of the cliff and see if he saw anything. The servant said, "I do not see anything." Elijah did not stand up and say "Well, we prayed about it once. We do not want to pray about it more than once because we either believe God or we do not.
If we pray about it more than once then God is not going to be able to do what He said He was going to do. So, let's just stop and stand back and wait for God to do what He said He was going to do." No. He put his face to the ground again. It is ok to keep on asking, seeking and knocking. I have the word from heaven. I carry a sound in my spirit. I have got to get this thing into the earth! And he prayed again…nothing. Prayed again…nothing. Prayed again… nothing. Prayed again…nothing. Prayed again…nothing. And on the seventh time it was a cloud the size of a man's hand. A partial healing; it was not even complete. Seven times. That is the example of the prayer of faith.
Purpose within your heart that real faith is warring and contending and asking, seeking and knocking. Searching, fasting, praying persevering and asking. Lay hands on me a thousand or five thousand times, until… Many died not yet receiving the promise. (Hebrews 11:39) Unbelief will have no room in your life when you look at faith this way. You will know to press in until you get your healing.
Identification and Repentance
The fourth way to overcome the spirit of unbelief is identification and repentance. If Daniel could stand in the gap on behalf of the sins of a nation and confess their corporate sin, and ask God for mercy, I believe that we can ask God for mercy over our region and our nation. We can open the windows of heaven a little more. We can establish something in the spiritual realms. We can fulfill Ephesians 3:10.
Ephesians 3:10 ...to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church then manifold wisdom of God.
We can repent of personal unbelief, church unbelief, and national unbelief. We need to identify the sin that has taken place in the hearts of so many in the North American church. We have been like a Nazareth climate hindering God's power; God wants us to be like a Capernaum. God wants to move on whole cities like He did in Spokane, Washington, under the ministry of John G Lake and Zion, Illinois under the ministry of Alexander Dowie. These cities were declared at this time the healthiest cities in America. We can war and contend and renounce personal unbelief and doubt, and then begin to pray for our city.
Ask for all of those who have not known the truth of God, in ignorance like the Pharisees and Saducees, to have a revelation of the ministry of Jesus. In their ignorance they have cluttered the spiritual climate by bringing in all kinds of doctrines. Why does God not want to heal the sick? Why have miracles passed away two thousand years ago?
Why is the thorn in the flesh from God? All of the traditions that are mere theologies or denominations, which have a form of godliness, deny the power thereof. It has cluttered the heavens in America so that God can only heal but a few sick people. If we can get rid of this in our own hearts, we can increase the level of miracles that will be done in our city or region. Then through corporate intercession and repentance of these sins, we can change the spiritual climate in North America.
Todd Bentley
