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