Life App: The Miracles of Jesus – Part 1

by | Posted April 24th at 12:53pm

Here we have a list of the miracles of Jesus as a study reference. Jesus told the apostles to perform similar miracles that He had done, as He sent them out two by two to preach the Gospel. And as we look at Jesus healing, we will suggest guidance from the Epistle of James with regard to how elders are to interpret and proceed with anointing the sick.

Cleansing a Leper Here we see the willingness of Jesus to heal a leper who initiated coming to Jesus on his own. (Matt 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-41; Luke 5:12-16)

Life App: We might see that this is one case similar to Jame’s counsel for the sick individual to call for the elders. (James 5:14-15) Yet further study will reveal that interpretation to call an elder may be ambiguously understood.

Healing a Centurion’s Servant (of paralysis) Here we find a Roman centurion with faith enough to come to Jesus and ask on behalf of his servant to just say the word, and heal him. Jesus recognized the leader as a man of faith and healed the servant from a distance. (Matt 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-13)

Taking initiative by proxy Here we see the initiative being taken by a compassionate man who is in authority over his servant. Though it is an ancient example, of acting on behalf of another, it speaks to me about the power of the hierarchy of church-eldership-led potentiation to act to anoint, which I feel should come from the most clear-minded leader, when a sick person is in an emotional state of overwhelming decision-chaos: losing sleep, rescheduling etc.

Falling into Decision Overwhelm A difficult process of weighing lots of advice coming from medical doctors aiming to have you decide to act now as they lead. In this way, the medical profession may get ahead of the church ministries. Medical doctors have their place and I do not demean them. My emphasis is to take the Christ-centred initiatives first to pray over and anoint the members in need.

Life App: What if the sick person was entirely healed when anointed a day before seeing the doctor before procedures begin? Or if begun, one might need to ask: how soon can we anoint this man or this woman?

Healing Peter’s Mother-in-law It is noteworthy that, James and John, friends of Simon and Andrew, “appealed to him” on behalf of Simon’s mother-in-law. An effort “on her behalf” was to get Christ close to her, and seeing her dilemma, he healed her. (see Matt 8:14-15; Mark 1:29-34; Luke 4:38-41).

Life App: Friends and relatives as spiritual partners often need to help an ill person with their spiritual resolve and clarity during times of medical crisis. A tired mind cannot think with the same bandwidth as a well well-rested untroubled mind.

Healing the Sick at Evening Notice that friends and family brought the sick and demon-possessed to Jesus and He healed them. (Matt 8:16-17; Mark 1:32-33; Luke 4:40-41)

Life App: There was a local effort to get the sick people before Jesus to be healed, once they were aware of Jesus being in the region. The tipping point was that the potential for healing was now. Today, Christ empowers godly elders to anoint the sick in the name of Jesus, to engage healing believers by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Demons Entering a Herd of Swine  When Jesus saw the demon-oppressed man, he immediately began saying to him: “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” The demon possed man was incapable of asking for help so Jesus initiated the dialogue, which led to the man’s healing and desire to be with Jesus. (Matt 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39)

Life App: Elders will encounter sick people in states, which make them unable to call to an elder for anointing. It is my belief that an elder once aware of this, should then take the initiative to go and anoint the person even if they are in a comma.

Healing a Paralytic Here is a group of people collaborating to get a sick person healed. They acted quickly, engineering a way to get the paralysed individual in front of Jesus. (Matt 9:2; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26)

Life App: Here we have a group of men bringing a paralytic to Jesus. The scriptures note that “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.’” The action of getting the man front and centre with Jesus revealed faith, which resulted in Jesus healing and forgiving the man.

Raising the Ruler’s Daughter (Matt 9:18-19, 23-25; Mark 5:22-24, 35-42; Luke 8:41-42, 50-55)

Life App: Here is a case where the daughter was dead when Jesus arrived. Jesus said to Jairus, her father, who fell at Jesus’ feet, indicating his respect for Christ’s Sovereignty: “Do not be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” (Luke 8:50 NIV)

In this case, a father who was also a synagogue leader quickly took the initiative of faith to find Jesus. Today we have Jesus with us via His Spirit and can call on him to heal the sick without any excessive time passing.

The use of Anointing oil 

The eldership of the early church was told by James, as we can ascertain that the disciples were told by Jesus to use oil to anoint the sick people they encountered (Mark 6:13); whereas Jesus did not use oil to anoint. He did use his own spit and mud.

Life App: Oil use indicates a representative ministry of the Lord. The eldership of the church is the leading Royal Priesthood of Christ in the current New Covenant period, anointing the sick on behalf of and in the name of Jesus. (James 5: 13-18) Be aware that if taken literally elders may expect a sick person to request anointing on their own, without guidance relative to the context of the situation. In some cases, a sick person may never have perceived the aspect of personal responsibility to ask as per James 5:14; or if legalistically perceived by the eldership, may be misapplied theologically, determining that the member’s anointing may be deferred.

See also Life App: The Miracles of Jesus – Part 2 (in progress)

Article posted by Glen R. Jackman, founder of GraceProclaimed.org

Glen has optimized his eldership role to teach the full scope of the New Covenant of Jesus Christ without boundaries.
You can read his testimony.