Today, we talked about preparation and impartation, as well as forgiveness as they relate to healing and deliverance. There were four main reasons Jesus healed people: to glorify God; out of compassion for people; to destroy the works of satan; and to provide a witness to God's future and present kingdom. We must make sure we are glorifying God and not ourselves when we pray for healing. Jesus imparted to the disciples the authority and the mission in which they were to walk and the healings, signs, and wonders flowed from that. The gifts we have are meant to be shared outside the church so that others may come to know Him. The gift of tongues is often ignored because people don't understand it. It attacks our pride and is a way for us to speak to God in humility because we must rely on Him to practice it. When we talk about forgiveness as it relates to healing, we must recognize that repentance is part of it. Jesus didn't tell people to confess: He told them to go and sin no more. When we stay in unforgiveness, we put ourselves in a prison and don't allow God to come through the door with healing. Unforgiveness leads eventually to bitterness. Ways to deal with bitterness are: express negative feelings - don't suppress them; accept responsibility for our negative feelings; confess reactionary sin (vengefulness); ask yourself if you really want to be healed of the emotional pain; in faith, choose to forgive!; choose to extend Christ's love to those who have hurt us; forgive ourselves and accept God's forgiveness; break the inroads of satan that came through the situation(s). Jesus does NOT will for us to live in bondage! It is a simple command to forgive, but is not easy to do and we must rely on faith and ask for help to walk in it.

Amen!

Reference verses: Matthew 11:2-5; John 5:44, 7:18; Matthew 14:14, 20:34; Matthew 12:22-29; Isaiah 35:4-6; Matthew 9:35-38, 10:1, 10:7-8; John 14:12-13; Matthew 6:10; Matthew 16:18; 1 Corinthians 1:27-29; 1 Corinthians 14; Psalm 103:2-4; Isaiah 53:4-5; Matthew 6:14-15; Mark 11:24-25; Luke 5:17-26; 1 Corinthians 11:17-33; James 5:13-16