Fire On Your Head

“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:35-38)

I’m going to go out on a limb here, and use this passage concerning healing and preaching the Gospel, since both teaching and healing are what Jesus was doing in the context of this passage.

I just want to say out the outset, to people reading this: I’m hardly an expert in this area (healing). I deem experts those doing this regularly and more than I. I can count using both hands how many times the Lord has done a miraculous healing at my hands. I get convicted writing some of these entries because I’d rather write testimonies of it rather than opening up the Scriptures to show what the Word says on the subject.

One night at De Fakkel I began this passage of Scripture.  At our house church meeting, someone shared this passage, and I forget what application they gave it, but I zoned out a little bit because it’s one of those overused ‘missionary passages’. Every time a missionary comes to one of our churches and shares and exhorts concerning going on the mission field, they remind us all in the body “the harvest is ripe but the laborers are few.”

But what context did Jesus say this in?

“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.”

He was doing three things: teaching, proclaiming the Gospel, and healing every disease and every affliction.

I don’t necessarily know what he was preaching or teaching, but I know when he was done, people were getting healed and set free. So I’m going to go out on a limb based on my experience with teaching on this topic, that Jesus probably was proclaiming to them stuff that built their faith up in order to get them positioned to receive their healing and deliverances. So with that being said, that’s another reason I blog about this topic—to build our faith up in the Word so we can all go back to our lives, jobs and school and live it out. Jesus demonstrated what he proclaimed.

THEN Jesus turned and said to his disciples what he said:

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Compassion is what moved him. It’s the compassionate Shepherd who turns to his sheep, and leads them. It’s the compassionate Shepherd that turns around and if his sheep fall into a rut, he gently and kindly picks them up, dusts them off and leads them again. It’s also the compassionate Shepherd that heals his sheep.

Looking at the crowds, Jesus had compassion for the sheep, and told his disciples the laborers are few, and to pray for the Lord to send more. But here’s the problem. Too many of us are praying for someone else to do the work. Yes, Jesus did say pray, but he also said in Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

He told us to go, and he told us to pray for others to go. There’s an un-reached harvest that is ripe. And there’s a bunch of unhealed people out there in our churches and in our workplaces. I had a great opportunity to ask someone if they’d like me to lay hands on them this week. The brother was in pain and said he hasn’t had a pain free day in decades since a car accident. I thought I experienced compassion for him, but really all I did was experience sympathy. Sympathy says “I feel sorry for you” or simply has pity for the person. Compassion DOES something, like Jesus’ compassion motivated him to do something. I was too afraid of even asking, because he was from a church that doesn’t believe in healing and I worried I’d look excessive to him and the other people present who have “corrected me” on the subject of healing–and I feared he’d say “no thanks”. But in most cases, I’d rather go for it and fail, than to not go for it at all and guarantee no results. So with this opportunity, I failed.

People are everywhere in our lives, and we make excuses all the time for not sharing the Gospel, for not seizing an opportunity to heal someone (yes heal someone, not ‘pray for them to be healed’—the Holy Ghost lives in you if you’re saved and Christ does it THROUGH YOU–so get used to me saying it that way all the time because I’m not going to qualify myself anymore). Next time you see someone, and you know they’re in a condition, then ask them if they’d like you to lay hands on them to heal them. Don’t ask “IF you can pray”, because everybody thinks of doing that and it’s just some nice religious thing and leaves out the possibility for results.

Force yourself out of your comfort zone, because if you say “would you like to be healed” then now you instantly force yourself to build up your faith for that thing to happen or you’ll look stupid. Most of the time, I have easier luck with unsaved people because they don’t have a bunch of bad theology they’ve been taught about how God works. Most of the time, if you say “you’ll heal them” (by laying hands on them), they put their faith in you, (as an ambassador of God to them), and they believe that you’ll do what you say you will. So it’s made easier for you actually because they have faith that you know what you’re talking about, even if you don’t and you’re trembling in your boots worried it won’t happen.

Go for it! The harvest is ripe but the laborers are few. The only reason we’re not seeing more results, is because we’re not stepping out and DOING anything with what we know.

As someone once told me years ago, ‘no guts, no glory, no newsletter story.”

Think of it that way. Have some guts, cuz it will take some. I’m nervous every time I go street witnessing or ask someone if I can lay hands on them–worried in both cases that my efforts will be in vain. But then I usually go to bed that night excited and unable to believe what I saw God do. When we start taking God seriously, He starts taking us seriously as well, and demonstrates His power through and around us.

Don’t listen to that fear keep you from doing anything. Step out, you’ve got it made already for you—the harvest is ripe. That means go harvest something!