The
training seminar at Full Gospel Assembly in Kepong went on
smoothly in spite of the participants having to listen to my
raspy voice – the result of a very bad sore throat. Grace
and I had consistently exercised our faith and taken authority
over this attack but it did not go away. However, I felt that
it was a test from the Lord as to whether I would continue
conducting the seminar with such a bad throat condition. There
were three negative considerations that perturbed me – Firstly,
how could I teach about divine healing when I was not healed
myself? Secondly, would the participants have doubts about
God's power to heal after seeing me in such a condition? Well,
these two fears did not materialize as the participants seemed
to accept the fact that I was under spiritual attack and that
only happened because the evil one knew something great for
the benefits of the kingdom of God was in progress. Secondly,
in spite of my less-than-beautiful husky voice, the people
said that they appreciated the fact that nothing could stop
God's words from being shared.
Friday
came in a hurry. I had spent the day praying and seeking God's
face – partly because I needed healing
for my throat and partly because I had to conduct the seminar
in Mandarin again.
Apart from praying for me, Grace had also made herbal tea that
really helped soothed my parched and painful throat. In fact,
she was also coming down with a sore throat. Grace's parents
who attend this church were already at the church managing the
book-counter. They have been our great helpers especially in
guiding and showing the people the correct way of taking authority
over diseases.
At
the beginning of the Friday's seminar, I cracked a joke about
how my wife along with the effort of my mother-in-law,
had overwhelmed
with "Elijah Tea, Elijah Manuka Honey and Elijah Cough Drops".
The participants learned about the authority given to both the
Apostles and the ordinary Disciples such as the 70 who were being
sent out. They responded very well when asked about the difference
between praying for the sick and healing the sick. Everybody
said that praying is obviously easier as it requires no responsibility
on the part of the minister. If nothing happens then God would
be blamed for his unwillingness to heal or the victim would be
blamed for not having enough faith. The participants caught on
the idea and were thoroughly convinced that their duty and responsibility
as believers are to heal the sick in the name of Jesus.
I went on to describe the difference between "Faith in
God" and "Faith of God". To emphasize on the disciples'
authority to heal, I used the relationship between a pet owner
and his dog as an example. There was much laughter when they
saw the picture of the dog commanding the owner to sit down.
After the owner had sat, the dog said, "Good boy!" Amidst
roars of laughter, I explained that the condition of the present
church is as pathetic as the illustration of the dog having authority
over its owner. Most churches are powerless and even fear the
works of the devil. They lost all authority and try to survive
in passivity.
The
healing demonstration was at its best. The participants had
taken on a different disposition – far
more positive than that of the previous night. Pastor Wong's
wife, Sister Angela
commented later that the faith levels of the participants had
surged very high after they witnessed the healing on the first
night. Indeed, they had! My wife, Grace and Pastor Wong took
the lead in giving the command for healing. However, after a
while, Pastor Wong had to stop because every ministering group
was taking authority and giving commands on its own. Some very
young people, hardly out of their teens, were ordering the diseases
to leave with loud and confident commands. Pastor Wong and I
rejoiced at such display of faith and confidence.
As expected, with such powerful faith, it would
be impossible not to be healed. A lady with a painful hand was
healed and testified
solemnly – recalling her painful past experience. Another
lady was absolutely delighted that God had healed of her shoulder
pain. In fact, that night, people with knee pain, limb pain,
finger pain, backache and headache were miraculously healed.
Saturday arrived quickly and some of the participants were not
present because they had to work. This session began at 9.00
AM and lasted for three and a half hours. I began by leading
them through the Ten Commandments. Explaining how the grace of
God cannot be appropriated upon unrepented hearts. Then I showed
how they could take authority over their sins.
The
participants subsequently learned that on some occasions, Jesus
may not like to listen to their prayers.
They were a little
disturbed by that but were visibly relieved when they learned
the reason. I used the illustration of a soldier who was given
the order to kill the enemy. It would be ridiculous if when this
soldier spotted the enemy, instead of killing him, he picked
up his mobile phone and called the Prime Minister to ask for
permission to do so. What if the soldier, being very humble,
said to the Prime Minister, "Sir, I do not want to partake
of your glory – why don't you come and kill the enemy instead?" Another
illustration that I used was about a maid who called the lady
boss to come home and wash the dishes because the maid felt that
she herself should not get all the credit for doing this chore.
She "humbly" deferred her opportunity of "getting
the glory" so that her lady boss would have every opportunity
to be appreciated and "glorified" by the family members.
The participants laughed out loud but the truth sank in. They
were satisfied with the explanation – whenever there is
a direct and specific instruction from God's Word to do certain
things, one has no need to verify it through prayers. One just
need to do the tasks!
That was why Jesus became very upset when his disciples woke
Him up to calm the storm. He expected them to calm the storm
by their own new-found authority. In the case of Peter, Jesus
was upset that he did not have enough faith to keep walking on
the water. Peter, instead, cried out for help. Jesus did not
expect him to cry out because at that moment Peter had been given
sufficient authority to overcome the laws of nature.
The
final session was dedicated to the teaching of distance healing
and "mass" healing. The participants
were then challenged to use the new-found authority of distance-healing
to heal their loved ones and friends who were staying elsewhere.
They did this with great fervour. The training seminar ended
with a challenge for every participant to use the authority to
heal for the glory of God.
Learning healing-at-a-distance
Reported by Rev Albert Kang, Coordinator, Elijah Challenge Asia
Luke 10:9 "Heal
the sick who are there and tell them,
'The kingdom of God is near you.’"