Mike Bickle emphasizes the importance of persistence in faith through the story of the Syrophoenician woman who, despite initial silence and seeming rejection from Jesus, continues to worship and plead for help. Her unwavering faith and humility lead to her daughter's healing, illustrating that true desire for God's intervention requires relentless pursuit and trust, even in the face of discouragement. Bickle encourages believers to be faithful in small beginnings and to earnestly desire spiritual gifts, as God responds to the depth of our desires and faithfulness.

A little bit about the healing anointing of Jesus. Just to stir our attention and our faith and our focus and then tell a few stories and ask the Lord to heal the sick. It says in verse 21, Matthew 15, verse 21. Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Cana came from that region and cried out to him saying, have mercy on me. So this woman's a Gentile woman, she's not Jewish. And the Jewish community in the nation of Israel were not very friendly to the Gentiles and vice versa. So in verse 22, we have this Syrophoenician woman, one translation says. And she comes and hears that Jesus is healing the sick, et cetera, and she wants to get in on the action. And she calls him son of David, which was a distinctly Jewish title. So she's kind of using kind of the inside terminology and some of the Jewish people in the midst kind of looked at her and the apostles and says, hey, you're not one of us, what's going on here? And she has quite an afternoon here. He cries out, son of David. Again, here's a Gentile claiming the Jewish terminology. And it was obviously strange for her to even speak like this. She, he says, uh, she says, my daughter is severely demon possessed. Verse 23, Jesus doesn't answer her. Not even one word. It's like he's looking at her and he seemingly is rejecting her. She says, please have mercy on me. My daughter's severely demon possessed and he stares at her, but says nothing. Rejection, seeming rejection. Number one. And then his disciples came and urged him. They kind of got on his team. They're completely misunderstanding what he's doing because he fully intends to heal her in a, in a little while, but they don't know that. So the apostles, the disciples, they go, yeah, Jesus, send her away. She cries out after she's bugging us. Yeah, she's a Gentile. We understand that. Look, you're not going to heal her. Let's, let's move her on. Let's get her out of here. Verse 24, but now he answers her as she's standing there persistently. And he gives her the answer. I was not sent basically to the Gentiles is what he's saying. I was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He goes, I was sent to the Jews, not to the Gentiles. So first he seemingly said, uh, he seemingly rejects her requests by silence. And now by his answer, he turns her away the second time. And what strikes me is the woman's response in verse 25. She came and she worshiped him. And she said, Lord, help me. And what happens, uh, often is in our request in our pursuit of the Lord to break in and to touch us. Often verse 23, the Lord doesn't answer us one word. He doesn't say yes or no. He just says nothing. Silence is his response. And of course, more times than not, we interpret silence as no, but Jesus wasn't saying no. He was saying nothing. And the apostles assumed Jesus was saying no. And often we assume the answer is no when the Lord is silent. But what the Lord was doing is he was using this whole process. It's a three-step process. He's stirring her heart and he's causing what's in her to come to full boil, so to speak, the passion and the desire in her to be awakened and stirred. But in that process, a lot of people go the other direction. Instead of being stirred, instead of becoming more urgent and more diligent, what happens is they get offended at God and they get bitter and they get cynical and they get jaded in their faith and they, and they lose that sense of anticipation for the Lord to break in with power. But verse 25, she worships him. She's not offended, but rather she's worshiping her spirits open instead of being angry and drawing back. And the next thing she does in verse 25, she continues to eagerly and urgently ask him to break in and help her right then in the present tense. This is amazing to me. Now, in every situation that this principle applies, it's not always to do with healing. Obviously, it's a healing situation here, but sometimes it's finances. Sometimes it's a restored relationship. Sometimes it's like we're praying at IHOP for the breaking in of God's power for revival in our city and our nation and for the manifestation of the renewing of the spirit and power, apostolic power and authority. And it seems as though the Lord says no, because first, his first response is he does not answer us. It's silent. The second response is he gives the answer, but it's a seeming rejection. There in verse 24, he's not rejecting her, but it looks like he's rejecting her. But she doesn't respond to those two seeming rejections in a negative way, but rather she presses in. I love you. I love you. Break in with power. It's an amazing response that she's giving to the Lord here. Now, verse 26, he takes it up a notch. I mean, he's really pushing her. The Lord knows where this is going. She doesn't know where it's going, and the apostles do not know where it's going. Now, he is going to give her an answer that would be so offensive if her spirit was at all postured to be offended at the Lord. He looks at her as a Gentile, and he said, it's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. Now, the idea of calling the Gentile dogs is an idea found in the Old Testament, not because Gentiles, which the vast majority of us are Gentiles, are by nature dogs. That's not, not, or intrinsically, that's who we are. But in that context, what they're talking about is the Gentile nations were idolatrous, and they were demon worshippers and false gods, and they had no morality. They did not honor God's justice or wisdom. They were really godless, pagan, idolatrous people. And they lived in the animal instincts of dogs and a total disregard for God. And so several times in the book of Psalms and a couple times in the prophets, there's references to this kind of animalistic type of pleasure seeking, no regard for human dignity or God type of spirit in the Gentiles around. So Jesus is actually quoting a biblical concept. He didn't, he didn't tell her she was that, but he lays that out. He says, it's not good to take the children's bread. Now the children's bread, he's talking about the children of Israel. And the children's bread is clearly healing the sick. It's the bread because it's, it's the bread. The father provides for his children. Jesus taught us to pray, give us this day, our daily bread and part of our daily bread, the father's bread for his children, according to Jesus, part of the daily bread is healing. He gives us daily bread. He provides for us our needs physically, actual food and money. He gives us daily bread in terms of direction. He gives us daily bread in terms of he inspires our heart and grace to walk in holiness and intimacy and revelation. He directs us. He corrects us. There's many dimensions of, of, of bread that God promises as a father to give his children on a daily basis. But Jesus tells us that as a child cannot produce bread, nor does a child try to produce bread under the care of the father. The child just comes just innocently and just full of confidence. Father, I'm hungry. I need lunch. And it never crosses their mind that the father won't feed them in that day. And if the relationship is healthy and Jesus puts healing into that context into the normal open-handed provision of God, the father, and the little four or five year old child that doesn't have a second thought about whether it was in the heart of the father to give them bread that day or not. Most four year olds aren't, you know, going up to dad, you know, and just, what do you think? Is lunch on the menu today? I mean, is that on the agenda? I mean, are you going to feed us today? Or is this going to what, what, you know, four year olds don't do that. It's, Hey, I'm hungry. Give me a hamburger, you know, and, and they're just going full steam ahead. And Jesus is putting healing into the category of what a child would expect their father to minister to on a routine daily basis. But Jesus says it's not good. This powerful negative. This is a negative thing. He's saying it's not good to give the healing ministry, that, that daily flow of healing to the dogs to throw it down to the dogs. And she answers in such humility, there's no offense at all, but rather her desire gets stronger to see the breakthrough of God. She said, yes, Lord, even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. So she was acknowledging, she says, even the glance of your eye, because of who you are, you are the master. I know who you are. Even just the, the flick of your hand is all I need. And this demon will leave my daughter. And Jesus looks at her and she's not at all manifesting or operating in that spirit of the godless pagan Gentile of which the, the, uh, Jewish people around were expecting her to operate in. Now, Jesus was operating with, with supernatural understanding. He knew what was going on. He was stirring her heart in these three encounters. I mean, these three responses. Remember the first response, verse 23 is silence. The second response, he seemingly refuses her in verse 24. And then in verse 26, he seemingly insults her silence, refusal, insult. This is God's seeming threefold rejection that he's given this woman. But this woman does not draw back. She does not quit. She worships and she honors him and says, even just the glance of your eye, even the crumb from your table is all that I need. And Jesus looks at her verse 28 and gives one of the greatest responses he gave to anybody in the, in the, in the four gospels, he looks at her and he said, oh woman. And I like to put a little pause in there. I don't know if it's really, really happened this way, but just, I'm just putting it in there anyway. Oh woman, you know, 1001, 1002, 1003. And Peter and the boys like, yeah, I was kind of scowling at her. Get out of here, you old dog. You know, and they're just kind of looking mean at her. Get, get old woman one, two. And the apostles are kind of, you know, remember back in verse 23, send her away. She's bugging us. She's crying out after us because Jesus wouldn't heal her. So he turns and she turns and starts crying out to them. Heal me, heal me. Tell him to help me. He goes, get rid of this lady. She won't stop. And Jesus loves this persistent, unrelenting, pressing in of her spirit to see the goodness of God touch her. So he says in verse 28, oh woman, pause, great is your faith. And he could have all but said far greater than all the apostles is the faith. And the faith is, is not because of her physical, uh, it's, it's not necessarily the way she asked or the style. It's the fact that in her spirit, she would not let go. She would not take no for an answer, but she continued to worship and she continued to ask for the breakthrough of God. And he said it to her, verse 28, very important phrase. He goes, let it be to you as you desire. What an incredible statement. Let it be to IHOP as IHOP desires. Let it be to your family and to your individual life and to your assignment in the marketplace or in ministry. Let it be to you as you desire it to be. Now the problem with this, Jesus means this for real. Some people take the word desire and they kind of take it at its lowest. And, uh, uh, it's its lowest meaning and application. Like, oh yeah, I went to a healing conference once, or I read a book on healing by John G Lake and I desired healing for about 10 days from Jesus's definition. That is not a desire. That's kind of a passing mood that kind of you're in a desperate two week period and you kind of got stirred up by a few things. This definition of desiring it, Jesus will give the people what they truly desire, what they carry in their heart in an unrelenting way. I have to have the fullness of what God will give the human spirit in our generation. And if that's really what we desire, I have the authority of the lips of Jesus to tell you this, let it be to you according to what you continually desire, even in the secret place when no one's looking in your life. It's not what you desire at the healing conference. It's not what you desire. After you read a healing book, it's what you continually desire in the secret place of your heart. That is precisely what God gives his church. But it's very easy in the church to get stirred up for a moment and then to settle in to what we really desire longterm. And that's just to have things like we business as usual. And none of us really like business as usual, but we want to do our own thing and live and carry our heart in the, in our own way and without that, that, uh, relentless pressing into God. And that's how we desire to live. And that's how the Lord allows us to live. He says, well, if that's what you really want church in America, if you want just superficial Christianity, if that's really what you persistently are after, I'm going to give it to you. I want to live in a way before God where I don't just have a fiery mood for 10 or 15 days, but for month after month, year after year in public and in private, I live with several desires that I will not take no for an answer. I will not draw back from those are the things that God will give me. Those are the things God will give you. Those are the things that God will give his church. And her daughter was healed that very hour. Now, most of us in this room were somewhere in between one of those three responses. We're either in the silence mode, Lord, does that mean no, or the Lord gave us an answer and it certainly sounded like a no, but it wasn't actually no, but it sounded like a no, we wasn't sure that's how we concluded or we feel insulted by the Lord. And so we said, forget it. We're just going to go on business as usual. I guess that's just how it is these days. This isn't the hour. This isn't the season. I'm not going to bother with it. And we just acclimate to kind of whatever, just run of the mill, kind of whatever the popular way in the church is. And beloved, I want to have everything that God will give the human spirit in this generation. I want to experience everything God has proportioned to us in this nation in this hour of time. Turn to first Corinthians chapter 14, first Corinthians 12. I mean, verse 31, it's a real kind of well-known verse. If you've been around for a while here, we talk about it a lot. It's really important. Verse 31, earnestly desire the best gifts, earnestly desire the best gifts. Now there's this, this little preacher statement that goes around the body of Christ. It seems really cool, but it's a deception. I've said it a few times. Probably you've said it a few times. It's this, we seek the giver, not the gifts. That is not biblical. God never told us to choose between seeking the giver or the gifts. We seek both. We just seek them in the right order. We don't have to choose who we like most, the father or the son, we get both. You know, what, what is your favorite organ, your kidney or your liver? Well, you get both of them. We don't choose between the gifts and the giver. The word of God gives us both of them with just in proper sequence. Now that's a true, we seek, we seek the face of the giver before the gifts, but not instead of the gifts. Paul said that we earnestly, earnestly desire the best gifts, the most powerful gifts, the gifts that edify the people the most. We earnestly desire the problem in the church today. It's not that the church doesn't believe technically in the gifts of the spirit, because much of the church believes in the gifts of the spirit. They have definitions typed out. They got a couple of books in their library on the gifts of the spirit. They are for today. Much of the church believes in the gifts of the spirit. That's not the issue. The issue, it's not enough to believe in them. We must earnestly desire them. And in the spirit of what Jesus told the Syrophoenician woman or the Canaanite woman back in Matthew 15 says, I'm going to give to you according to what you desire. And that's what you desire consistently. And even in your private life, not just do you desire the gifts when you're there and the big conference is there and everybody's excited and it's the thing to do for that two hour period. Beloved, if that's the only time you desire the gifts is when you're with a whole bunch of believers and it's kind of exciting to do, then I want to say this. It's true that you don't desire the gifts, not earnestly. You kind of casually would like them to follow your way, you know, to come your way. But that's not enough. He said we are to desire them because the very pursuit of the gifts of the spirit, the very desiring of them changes the way we posture our heart on the inside. Now we desire them in several ways. The way we walk this out, we desire them, we pray and we fast and we ask God to release them more. We have prayer meetings for the manifestation of the spirit's presence. We cry out to God and ask for an increase of his manifest power. That's one way, but that's not enough. And and to some folks, that's new. They join IHOP, they go, hey, we were pursuing the gifts. That's one part of pursuing the gifts. Another part of pursuing the gifts is we take our hands out of our pocket on a regular basis and we lay hands on people. When in the days of smallness, when very little is happening, we are pursuing the increase of the spiritual gifts, not just by praying for them to be released in fasting and prayer in corporate times, but yet that's valid. I never want to minimize that. But that's not enough. That's not enough in terms of the biblical mandate to pursue the gifts. We actually have to pursue them, meaning to operate in them in the present tense when seemingly very little is happening. We have to pursue them in that way. The analogy I've used over the years is put a sailboat out on a lake and it's a very calm day on the lake. And the guy says, well, there's no wind blowing today. And you put the hand up and say, well, I can't feel any wind. Well, they go ahead and put the sail up. And ever so slightly, there's this subtle wind. You can't hardly feel it, but the sail picks it up and the boat moves just a little bit. You think, well, there you go. The wind is blowing, but none of us could have discerned it. And beloved, the wind is blowing many times when we gather. The wind is blowing many times when we're just alone and we just encounter somebody out in the marketplace. The wind is blowing, but because a lot of us say, when the wind blows heavy, I'll put my sail up and I'll take the wind serious. And the Lord's answer is, no, I want you to put your sail up when the wind is blowing slightly. And then we'll go from there. Be faithful in the days of small beginning. And then I will make you faithful. And then you will be faithful in the days of much. Many people in the body of Christ said, I'll jump into the healing ministry 100% when the great, the powerful, the outstanding miracles happening start happening. And the Lord says, no, let's do it the other way around. I will call you. I will give you the outstanding miracles if you will pursue the gifts of the spirit when seemingly nothing is happening. Put your sail up. That's the posture of your heart. It's asking the question throughout the day in our spirit. Lord, what are you doing? Lord, I want to see what you see. Lord, I want to move in the spirit right now. And just having eyes, having eyes to see where there might be a need and stepping out with an ever so slight breeze, a breeze that nobody can even feel. You don't even see it till you put the sail up. And then, you know, lo and behold, the boat did move a foot. It did move a little bit. Look at it. Beloved, there's a lot of times where the wind is blowing, but it's not blowing enough for the church to want to bother with it. That is called not pursuing the spiritual gifts. And it's really easy to not pursue the spiritual gifts. It's kind of we get stirred up for a season, for a week or a month or maybe even a year in some different ministry context. They go hard for a year and not enough happens. And like the Syrophoenician woman, they get, well, opposite of her actually. They have the silent response from God, but they get offended instead of worshiping and asking Lord, break in and help. They go the other direction. They shut down and they say, this isn't the season. We're just gonna settle down and acclimate to a spiritual culture where there's no power in it and just somehow be positive about a spiritual culture where there's no power. Let's acclimate. Let's just settle down and let's not stir the boat up. And let's not pull the sail up every day. You know, it's just so much work. It takes work to put the sail up, meaning we have to dial down of what our natural normal pursuits are on the inside. And we've got to refocus and say, Lord, I have time. I have time to work together with you. I have time to see what you're doing. I'm making time for you to use me even though I don't feel like it right now. Now, everybody has time to be used when it's real dramatic. But the way that the Lord, the way he runs his kingdom, he says, I want you faithful when it's real small. And then we'll do the dramatic things later. And people say, I have time when it's dramatic, but I don't have time to kind of re-gear my inward man to be available and to be eager and to reach for you. I'd rather just do the normal soulish occupation of my soul, just fill my mind with the other things and not bother with getting into this waiting and watching and reaching mode on the inside. It takes some spiritual vigilance in our spirit. It takes an aggressive, vibrant spirit to reach, to reach, to reach, to reach, to turn the switch to on on the inside instead of just being on off and just being in our normal pursuits of just things that are just according to the natural realm. Chapter 14, verse 1, 1 Corinthians 14, verse 1, says, pursue love, but desire spiritual gifts, especially that you should prophesy. Desire, he says it again, desire spiritual gifts. Beloved, it's biblical to desire them. The reason we do not operate in the spiritual gifts is because the church does not desire them by the biblical definition of desiring them. Yes, we want them for 10 days after a healing conference or after we read a book on healing. That's not the same thing as desiring. Desiring is a consistent, it's what we do publicly and it's how we carry our heart privately. We live in desire and it doesn't mean we're just red hot with intense desire all the time. It's a decision. We're going after these things or we're gonna line our life up with the word of God and with the spirit in private and in public so we can be vehicles and vessels to be used by the Lord in this. And as a spiritual community and just the body of Christ as a whole, as we in our nation begin to more intentionally desire spiritual gifts by this definition of reaching for them, of valuing them, of being faithful with them when the wind is barely blowing, of posturing our inner man to go for it when nothing big is happening, that's what biblical desiring gifts means. It doesn't mean that we technically, theologically agree they exist and we buy a book on them and when the debate is, do the gifts, you know, are they for today or not? You stand up and go, yes, they're for today. They're Lord, you mark that down. I voted yes. So Lord, here I am. That's not desiring the spiritual gifts. It's giving mental assent to them but that's not what desiring is. And Jesus told this lady in Matthew 15, he says, I'm gonna give you according what you desire. That wasn't a special deal he gave her. Beloved, he gives to everyone according to what they consistently desire. That's the way he runs his kingdom. We just have to define desire in the right way. And desire, one of the most painful, offensive definitions of biblical desire is we stay steady when we don't receive the answer we want. Beloved, will we reach for healing when we only see the little nickel and dime little healings that we think we despise them? Lord, I don't wanna bother with those. Then the Lord's answer is, then as a community, you don't desire healing then. No, Lord, I desire healing. The big ones, here I am. The Lord says, no, what you desire is exciting meetings and to establish your name in ministry. I'm not looking for people who want exciting meetings. I mean, that's what the rock concerts are all about. I mean, the world's filled with people that desire exciting meetings. The world's filled with people that are wanting to make a name for their self. The Lord's not looking for people who just want exciting church meetings. They wanna make a name for themselves by healing. The big one, he's looking for people who really see the value of this and will be steady and faithful in the day of small beginning because those are the people that he can trust with healing. I remember through the years, watching different prophetic ones who had just a lot of prophetic ministries come and go over the years and seen a lot of things in that regard. And one of the things that I remember, Bob Jones, who was with us for about 10 years in the early days, and he would lay hands on people. And the Lord gave him an ability in the grace of God to tell people what gifts they operate in. And he would, really accurate, and tell people, you're called to this. And he said, that's exactly right. That's exactly what no one knows that. That's exactly right. Or I mean, no one in town, they're from out of town, no one here knows that. How did you know? He said, the Lord showed me. And I remember just having a lot of fun with this, kind of carnally having fun with it, is that I would see Bob and he would tell the guy or the gal, you're called to healing ministry. They go, yes, yes, I knew it. And they're so full of joy. And what they're imagining is stadiums and posters. Jesus is the only way, only for his glory featuring me. That's what they're thinking. And what the Lord's talking about is hours and hours in a lonely hospital room with one guy laying hands over them for hours. And that's what he says, you're called to the healing ministry. But they're like, I knew it. Are you sure, Bob? Oh, I can't wait to call my friends. I'm called to healing. The prophet said, yes, I will remember you in my kingdom. I will remember you. Just in my honoriness, I would just smile at that poor guy. He has no idea. He just got enlisted in the army. To live a life of death. He's going to die to his flesh all the days of his life. He's faithful to this healing anointing. I know some people that are faithful to healing anointing and they are. Bob Jones is one of them. I've seen him so many times pray for five and eight and nine hours, 10 hours at a setting. Everybody else kind of goes and grabs lunch and comes back and Bob's still there praying and laboring. One person sitting in a chair, not in the crowds, not up on the platform. And I said, now that's what the healing anointing is. And the Lord says to the body of Christ, you want healing. Do you desire it? Yes. Well, then you'll get what you desire. If you only desire it in the fanfare, the big dramatic, that's what then I'm only going to give you according to what you desire. And you don't desire healing by the biblical definition of desire. So he tells them desire that you would desire spiritual gifts. Turn to Galatians chapter three. Okay. Where are we at? We're first Corinthians, second Corinthians. I got this memorized. Galatians. Oh, there you go. Galatians G E P C Gentiles eat pork chops. Okay. That's how I remember it. Galatians. Or if you're kosher girls eat popcorn, there you go. Okay. Galatians chapter three, verse two, verse two. That's actually verse three. I gave you the wrong one. Verse two. This I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing with faith? Paul says, this is what I want to understand. Did you receive the, the person of the Holy spirit and the operation of the Holy spirit and the moving of the spirit? You know, it all is one big subject. Did you receive it by earning it? Or did you receive it by hearing, hearing the word of God with confidence? The hearing means hearing God's heart and hearing about the character of God and what he did on the cross and who Jesus is and his passion for people and his compassion for people. Hearing from the word of God with confidence instead of the word faith for the word confidence. So Paul says, here's what I want to learn from you. Did you receive, do you operate in the anointing? Do you receive the Holy spirit because you earned it? Or do you operate in the Holy spirit because you hear the word of God on a regular basis in a way that stirs confidence in your spirit? Now there's a point of confusion that I run into a lot in the IHOP world. And it's the idea that fasting and prayer somehow earns the move of the spirit. It doesn't. Fasting and prayer positions us, positions us to hear better so we have confidence. Fasting and prayer does not earn anything. Fasting and prayer takes our cold heart and puts it in front of the bonfire of God's presence so we can hear more precisely and more clearly and we can have confidence when we hear. So fasting and prayer is part of our lifestyle. We don't fast and pray on Monday and Tuesday so we earn healing on Wednesday. We fast and pray as a lifestyle while we heal and while we walk in holiness. Fasting and prayer postures us to be more tender in the subject of holiness, more tender in the subject of revelation of the word. Our heart is more tender in receiving the word of God with confidence to move in the spirit. Fasting and prayer positions our spirit to be tender to hear so we can receive. So don't go, okay, fasting and prayer, we're gonna pray fast for a week and therefore we have confidence that next week we'll move in healing. No, don't get into that kind of equation but don't go the other way. I'm so into confidence for healing that I'm gonna throw away fasting and prayer. I'm not earning it. Well, God never meant fasting and prayer to be a means of earning anything. It's a means of increasing your ability to hear the word of God with confidence. Look at verse five. Therefore, he who supplies the spirit to you and he who works miracles, does he do it by the works of the law or does he do it by hearing with faith? He asked the same question again. So the question is, does God who supplies the anointing of the spirit or the person of the spirit or the gifts of the spirit because we talk about the spirit, it's all of his administrations and activities. When God gives you the spirit, does he do it because you earn it or does he do it because you hear with faith? And beloved, we need to hear the word. We need to fill ourselves with the word. We need to remove the other things of compromise and darkness that obscure our hearing. It blocks our hearing. The things that people fill their minds with in the media and the conversations they have and slander and gossip and sin and sensuality and darkness, it obscures hearing is what it does. Fasting and prayer and faithfulness with meekness, it enhances hearing. It doesn't earn anything. It enhances hearing. But God, Paul said, God supplies the spirit to you and he works miracles because your hearing increases with confidence. Okay, let's go to Acts chapter 10, verse 38. Just gonna read Acts 10, 38 and then 1 John 3, 8 then we're gonna be done with this part. Acts 10. Now then I'm gonna tell a story I forgot. Peter's preaching at Cornelius's house and he talks about in verse 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, the man Jesus. Now we know Jesus is fully God but we're talking about in his humanity, there's this man from Nazareth whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil because God was with him. Beloved, Jesus went about healing all who were oppressed by the devil. There are many within the body of Christ and outside the body of Christ but even within the body of Christ who are being oppressed by the devil. And we can seek medical solutions to curb some of this. We can seek medical solutions to kind of minimize some of this oppression. But this oppression will not go away without a supernatural manifestation of power. At the end of the day, when the oppression is of the devil, the oppression needs a power encounter of the Holy Spirit for the devil to move. And some people because of the sophistication of medicine and science, we can take some oppressions and just kind of stabilize it, neutralize it. And I'm not making a negative point about that. That's not my point. My point is we need power to move this thing so the oppression is gone. Where the activity of Satan that's oppressing the sick and some sickness is a direct spirit that's oppressing. And sometimes it's because the person invited the spirit and other times it's an attack that's not related to the person inviting the spirit. And I'm not wanting to go into all the different categories. I don't want to reduce healing to where, well, we just do one little equation and everybody's going to get healed every time. There's all kinds of points to make on the subject of healing. And I'm not trying to give those tonight. What I'm just saying is, is that Jesus went about healing all and he knew he had to move in supernatural power to get the devil's work broken because a medical answer won't solve the problem if a demon is causing it. Even though it could kind of steady a person for a little while, we want to solve the problem. Okay, final verse, 1 John, right before the book of Revelation. 1 John 3, verse 8. In the middle of the verse, for this purpose, the son of God, Jesus was manifest. Why did Jesus come? To destroy the works of the devil. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and one of those works, not the only work, there's many things he came to destroy the works of the devil. One of them is the oppression the devil puts on people. And the devil oppresses saints and he oppresses unbelievers as well. And we need to be in the midst of a supernatural community. And I don't mean a people were just charged with power all the time. I'm talking about being supernaturally natural. Supernaturally natural. I had a chance to travel with John Wimber for three years. And some of you know the name John Wimber. He went home to be with the Lord in 1997, had a very dynamic healing ministry in the Western world for maybe 20 years. I don't know. It's just some number like that. Long time and had large conferences, five and 10,000 all over the Western world. And many people healed and many leaders would go and get trained for four days. And then they would operate in healing. And I just love the opportunity to be able to travel with him from, it was in 1988 to 1991. And he brought me up on the platform and taught me a lot of things. And I asked him a lot of questions and got to just really be with him a lot and just pick his brain. And his story is truly amazing. John Wimber story is, John, how'd you get into healing? Did you go to a healing service? No, no, I never went to healing service. Oh, okay. Did you read a book on healing? Like my favorites, John G. Lake. He goes, no, I never heard of John G. Lake. Go really? He's like the main guy. We got all this stuff in the bookstore. You want to read John G. Lake? Trust me, it's good. He goes, no, no. Well, how'd you get into it? He goes, I read the Bible. He says, you know that one book? I go, oh yeah. This is good. He goes, no, I just read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John over and over and over and over and over. And I just said, I'm going to do it. I'm just going to do it. And he prayed for the sick. He'd never seen healing. Never heard anybody teach on it. Never witnessed it with his eyes. Just read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John over and over. He says, I'm just one to do the stuff. He always said, I want to do the stuff. And Gary, who was just up here a moment ago, will come up again. He was a, how long were you a vineyard pastor, Gary? 10 years. And part of the national leadership and Linda Gordy was in the vineyard for about 15 years, something like that. So many years. And some others in our midst have been in the vineyard as well. And we, and they got to know John as well and traveled with him a bit as well and did a lot of healing things. And so we got a handful of us have that common legacy and history back in the eighties and nineties together in that. And so we're kind of looking at things today going, you know, we got to see more happen that God, we got to go back to some of our roots. And, uh, though, uh, God wants to give more than he always, every decade, he wants to do more than he did the decade before. And so we're believing for more, but there are some things back there that, that are valuable that we've kind of lost. We've lost a handle on. And, and John prayed for healing every single, he taught on healing. This is just a remarkable, remarkable. He taught on healing every Sunday, 52 weeks a year for two years in a row, every Sunday, a hundred sermons on healing and never saw one healing. So we called him up, pray for the sick every week. I said, wow, no healings ever. No. And I go, and you never went out anywhere and saw anybody healing anybody goes, no, I go, this is a miracle that you didn't quit. He goes, no, I had to see healing. And he just operated under the principle. I'm going to be faithful in small things and I'm just not going to quit. He had that, that, uh, Canaanite woman kind of mentality is I'm not going to get offended. It's seemingly the Lord's answer is no, but I'm going to keep doing it. He said, the only thing that consistently happened when I prayed for the sick is I got the disease of the person I prayed for. He goes, I mean it. I'd somebody have a flu. I'd go to her house. I'd get the flu. He goes, somebody would, you know, have a, a real bad cold and migraine headaches. I'd go pray for him. I get migraine headaches. He goes, I was scared to death to pray for a pregnant woman. And he told that joke so many times. I just drove me crazy. I heard him say that a hundred times still works though. I meet him in heaven. He'll say, Becko, do you still eat my corny stuff down there? So, uh, one Sunday they saw their first healing and it's a, it's a great story. Not that it was so dramatic, but there, there were some dramatic things, but he went on to see many things, blind eyes, open deaf, all manner of diseases were healed after that. The legacy of John Wimber was his faithfulness for two years. I mean, two years, every meeting, people are getting angry at him, you know, like Sunday, you know, 94 Sundays. Okay. Turn to gospel of Matthew. The healing was like, Oh no, not none of them had ever seen healings. They said, John, we're quitting this crazy church. If you don't stop teaching on healing little, did they know that God was going to look at him and says, John, I'm going to give you what you desire. And he gave John, we desire. He had one of the most significant healing ministries in the 20th century in the Western world. It just started breaking out. So, uh, I'd, uh, get to be on platforms with John and he would help me to do ministry. And he'd kind of whispered over my ear and tell me what to do or not do. And mostly, he did mostly what he told me not to do. He's shut up. He says, you're talking way too much. He goes, you got to dial down. You got to listen way more than talk way more than talk. Listen. So I had asked John after the meetings, I go, John, I want what were you feeling? He goes, I felt what I always felt. I go, what? You know, my first big conference with, I go, what'd you feel? He goes, I felt what I always feel. What? He goes, nothing ever, never. You know, he's done some hundreds of conferences. He goes, I've never, ever once had a feeling on a platform. I go, no way. He goes, never, ever. He goes, you other guys, he goes, you get different, you know, just a ton of different guys. He goes, you guys feel a little, this little, that you feel the spirit's presence. He goes, that kind of upsets me. I don't ever feel anything anywhere, but he had the, you know, the manifestations of power that were continual. I said, well, really I go, he goes, yeah, for some reason, the Lord just set it up that way. He goes, the way I spill faith is R I S K. He goes, that's how I spell faith risk. I just say things I get people. He goes, I don't say the Lord said if the Lord didn't tell me, but he goes, I just say, I'm going to pray for me. I speak things later. I want to pray for you. I want to ask that cancer, your body, he commands cancer to leave a lot of times the cancer doesn't leave. And John's so open about the many, many times it didn't happen. John was remarkable because he didn't, he was one of those rare guys in the healing ministry that didn't have to have an answer for when it didn't work. Most people that get well known for healing after a decade or two, they almost always have to have an answer for why it doesn't work. And John was content to live in unresolved tension. He goes, there's a tension. I don't know why it doesn't work. And I don't want to give the answer. I'm going to live in that tension unresolved. I'm just going to keep praying for the sick. John said, here's what I found out. He goes, I'd rather see one out of a hundred get healed. Then zero out of zero. He goes, I go one out of a hundred. He goes, yeah. He goes, that's, he goes, you'll get a lot of people healed one out of a hundred. I go, really? He goes, yeah, if you're me. He goes, I pray for thousands of people every week. So, you know, one out of a hundred, I get a lot of healings every week. John's point wasn't to have one out of a hundred. That wasn't his point. His point was, he says, I'm not going to wait till the numbers big and start. He goes, a lot of people, I heard him say it many times because a lot of you, you're content. You'd rather have zero out of zero. You'd rather have a perfect record than one out of a hundred and pray for thousands of people. He goes, I'd rather see the one out of a hundred. I'm going to pray for the sick all the days of my life. Okay. Now I'll, I'll, I'll end with this story. And then Gary Marie, you guys come up and get, get ready here in just a moment here. I was, it was, uh, some years ago, actually it's 1984. And, uh, we were at the, at the church and Bob Jones, uh, it was one of those really oppressed meetings. The worship was really oppressed. I mean, it was oppressed like, and so my preaching was really oppressed. And it was like, it wasn't dead. It was doubly dead. I mean, I left, it was horrible feeling. And so, uh, I just wanted to get out of the building and Bob Jones runs up on the platform. He says, you know, grabs the microphone and he really never did that, but he just said, Mike, I got a, a word that's so important. I said, just, let's just get this meeting over. And he gives the most horrible word I could imagine. He says, the Lord spoke to me. This morning in the morning visions, he said that Mike, he points at me is going to move in supernatural faith. Tonight. I mean, I am like, the meeting is so bad. It's one of those drive home in the car. And if my wife goes, it was pretty good tonight, I'm going to shut up. Don't go there. It was just kind of, you know, the volume two, it was kind of good, you know, like it's kind of like, I said, don't, no, no, no, don't go there. So then I got her to where she wouldn't go there. Then I'd drive home and say, how come you never said nothing? She goes, well, anyway, that's another story. But, uh, so anyway, I'm just trying to get out of that meeting. Bob comes up on the platform. It says, if you need, he goes, there's a couple hundred people in the room. He goes, if any of you need a supernatural miracle. Tonight, Michael pray for, you know, happen. I am, I am like literally angry at him for that. So I took the microphone. I said, not, I said, I know that's not going to happen. I mean, I was, I was not happy about that because it was such a horrible night. If I'd been in a good mood, maybe different. I just wanted to get out of there. So nobody came up, praise God. And I mean, really, it was like, let's get this thing over with. I mean, I, I mean, I don't know if you've been in a meeting where you let it, and it was really bad. I've had plenty of them. So on the way out, this one lady comes up and people are shuffling out and she goes, Mike, she goes, I need a miracle. She was just so sincere. She goes, I'm going in tomorrow. She gave me a list of ailments and she goes, I'm getting a hysterectomy tomorrow. And I have a number of other serious problems. I go, wow. She goes, would you pray for me? She was, maybe I'm the person Bob Jones was talking about, and I said, okay. I said, Jesus, in, in your name, in the name of Jesus, heal her, heal her by, and I'm walking. She goes, that's it. I go, I don't really know what else to do. You know, I can do it a third time, heal her. Okay. Now you got your money's worth. I don't know what else to do. She goes, that's it. See, I don't want to create a culture where we have to tune into whoever does it. So-and-so way on TV. I don't want to, I want a supernaturally natural culture where we can broken people. Everybody can do it. And we all believe for it. And we don't have to have answers when it doesn't happen. And we stay like this. A Syrophoenician woman, when the answer seemingly no, or even insulting or a total rejection, we worship and we ask yet again, we just stay, we keep pressing it. That's the kind of culture I want here. So come back a couple of days later. That was a Tuesday night. Maybe, you know, three, four days later, she comes in, she goes, Mike, did you hear? I go, no, no, I didn't hear anything. She goes, I was totally healed. I go, like, what do you mean? She goes, I went in and I asked the doctor because I believe the Lord might've touched me when you prayed. I go, did you feel anything? She goes, no, nothing. She goes, did you? I go, absolutely not. I was just a little bit mad. That's all I was. She goes, I went in, I was completely healed of everything. So I saw Bob a couple of days later and he goes, I told you, I said, Bob, that was ridiculous. I said, how did that work? He goes, it's not you getting all jazzed up and getting all hyper about it. It either it's the name of Jesus or it isn't. He goes, it's not what kind of mood you're in. He goes, pursuing and even believing isn't about psyching yourself up. It's about taking the time to take your hand out of your pocket. And I didn't do it very long. And you later on her head. And I said, in the name of Jesus.