If I Touch Him, I Will Be Healed - A Theology for Using Vision to Come Into His Presence

Rhema: Healing is bringing people into My presence, My ocean of love, to receive a touch/wave of My compassion. Entering into a Gospel story which comes alive by My Spirit is one way to allow people to touch My healing presence and My miracle working power.

Our goal: To lead people to Jesus to experience waves of divine compassion from God’s ocean of love and through this encounter experience their miracle of healing as His power penetrates their beings. We accomplish this by dependence upon the Holy Spirit, as we share stories of healing encounters with Jesus which become stepping stones for the listener to have their own healing encounter with Jesus.

Prayer: “Lord, take me back to the language of my heart, let me become a master storyteller, so people can ride on the wings of these stories into Your loving arms, and receive Your healing touch.”

A Brief Theology Concerning Touching Jesus and Experiencing a Miracle

In the Gospels, anyone who desired healing sought to get into the Presence of Jesus because they knew if they could stand before Him and touch Him, they would be healed (Mk. 3:10). It is the same today. When we stand in the Presence of Jesus and sense His compassion and power penetrating our beings, we experience a miracle of healing.

So How Can I Come Into Jesus’ Presence and Touch Him?

One powerful way is to use the eyes of our hearts to “see” Him. We say, “A picture is worth 1000 words.” That is because pictures are the language of the heart. Pictures are the fabric of life. Our lives are stories which are lived out and remembered as a series of pictures. When we “think back” over our lives, we actually recollect pictures of scenes and events that moved us greatly. We recall using pictures.

When God grants pictures (i.e. visions) they release faith within our hearts. For example, God showed Abram a vision of thousands of stars (Gen. 15:5) which immediately resulted in Abram believing (Gen. 15:6 “then Abram believed…”). Wow, increased faith as a direct result of receiving a picture from God! This picture was a visual confirmation of a rhema word which God had already spoken to Abram in Genesis 12:1-2.

God entered history through His Son, Jesus Christ, to give us a clear picture of Himself. History became “His- story” revealing His compassion and His redemptive glory. The life of Jesus has been preserved for us as a series of stories recorded in the four Gospels. When one enters “His-Story” either alone in their Bible meditation time or in a group setting, they have the opportunity to reach out and touch Jesus’ Presence, power and revelation in the midst of the Bible story.

Jesus, knowing that stories were the essence of life, was Himself a great Storyteller. Not only did He see pictures all the time (Jn. 5:19,20,30) but since the Bible says that “the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Matt. 12:34), Jesus constantly spoke in picture stories (parables). “Without a parable, He taught them not” (Matt. 13:34). Jesus knew it was important to paint pictures, for a picture captures the heart and unfolds a divine reality which moves the heart in the direction of that reality.

All Spirit-anointed, gifted communicators intuitively know this. They are great storytellers. For without painting pictures, people will not see, and will not enter into the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The story in Genesis 15:5,6 confirms to us that we are right when we say, “A picture is worth 1000 words.” Now, we must live this reality out in our healing services. We must ensure that people see Jesus, and stand in His presence to receive His grace and His glory. In the Gospels, all who came into Jesus’ presence and asked for a healing touch were healed.

Ways We've Used the Eyes of Our Hearts in Healing Services

1. Hearing the testimonies of others: As we listen, we picture the scenes in our minds and enter into them, receiving Jesus’ touch ourselves.
2. Anointed preaching, which contains stories, draws people close to Jesus so they can touch Him.
3. Words of knowledge from the Lord which are acted on. Both Randy Clark and Bill Johnson use this method. A word of knowledge lets the hearer know that God is present in the room and knows their need, loves them and wants to heal it. Now they are asked to step forward and receive His touch. They enter the story. They encounter Jesus in a present tense story.
4. Worship which ushers in His Presence. Kathryn Kuhlman’s services were saturated with softly sung worship songs about Jesus. Obviously many pictured Jesus as they sang.
5. Soaking sessions, where people soak in His presence, receiving from Him. As they see Jesus with them, and tune to the Spirit’s voice (flowing thoughts), visions (flowing pictures), emotions (flowing emotions) and power (flowing energy), they are healed in these soaking sessions. John Arnott has promoted “soaking sessions.”
6. Spirit-led Bible meditation times, where we prayerfully picture the Bible stories and ask the Holy Spirit to illumine the eyes of our hearts (Eph. 1:17,18). The Bible story comes alive by the life of the Holy Spirit and Jesus ministers healing grace to us. More here…
7. Add other favorites of yours…

How King David Lived in the Continual Presence of the Lord

King David knew how to abide in the Lord’s presence (Ps. 91): “David said of him, I saw the Lord before my face at all times, for he is at my right hand, so that I may not be moved” (Acts 2:25 BBE). “I have set the LORD always before me …” (Ps. 16:8 KJV).

So King David used the eyes of His heart and practiced “godly imagination.” Godly imagination is defined as: “Picturing things that God says are true.” We know God is with us always (Heb. 13:5), and King David saw that reality, by setting the Lord at his right hand. In the case of healing prayer, we could begin with the picturing of a Gospel story where Jesus is healing the sick.

Godly imagination is to be followed up with the prayer for God to illumine the eyes of our hearts (Eph. 1:17,18) so we step from the godly imagination into His divine visions (Acts 2:17), which happens when we tune to flow (Jn. 7:37-39) and the Holy Spirit takes over the scene and brings it alive. At that moment we are stepping from a godly imagination into a vision where we experience Jesus’ presence and healing touch.

Those who are not trained to use the eyes of their hearts to enter in and see the story may find greater difficulty in receiving their healing. This may be one reason why healing works so well with children and in non-western nations as both these groups tend to more easily use the eyes of their hearts. This is not to say God can’t break through anyway, but yielding our faculties fully and completely to Him is a good foundation to work from.

As prayer ministry counselors and Spirit-anointed preachers and teachers, we can help people enter God’s story and touch His presence. We can paint scenes through testimonies, through stories from Scriptures, and through words of knowledge to name just a few. You can invite people to stand and simply say “Yes, Lord,” or “More, Lord.” If these simple words are connected with faith, flowing thoughts, flowing pictures, flowing emotion and flowing power from one’s heart, they can more easily receive His healing touch.

The Healing Power of God Can Be Seen as Light Flashing from Jesus’ Hands

His energy flows from His presence, through His touch. His healing power can be seen as Light that flows from His right hand.

His radiance is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, And there is the hiding of His power. (Hab. 3:4 NASB)

The power to heal can be seen as light leaving Jesus’ hand. Since Jesus now lives within you and you are His body, you can see His healing light flashing from your hand as you lay it on the sick or extend it toward the sick. This is the true spiritual reality we are witnessing and participating in.

As we have learned, seeing for Abram the “Father of Faith” was an important ingredient in him believing. The Lord spoke this in my journal. “Mark, whatever you fix your eyes on grows within you and whatever grows within you, you become.” So I choose to see God’s realities, for then these realities grow within me and I release God’s realities into the world around me. I see His healing power flowing through His (and my) right hand. His Kingdom comes, His will is done, on earth as it is in heaven.

I suggest we practice seeing the healing power of the God flowing as light from our hands as we lay them on the sick and command healing in Jesus’ name.

What Transpires in These Healing Encounters with Jesus?

1. Put on some inspirational music - This can be soft soaking heavenly music which takes you into His Presence, or inspirational music centered on the person of Jesus, or singing softly in tongues.
2. See Jesus – Become immersed in His presence. I do this best by getting relaxed and playful, a big smile on my face, seeing myself as a child playing or simply hand in hand, walking together with Jesus.
3. Receive the gift of faith – He is alive and present. He is speaking. His compassion and power are to heal! Lay your hand on your heart and say, “Faith, arise!” and receive His gift of faith (1 Cor. 12:9). A flowing surge of faith is His gift of faith to us. Everything is coming from His flowing River (Rev. 22:1,2; Jn. 7:37-39).
4. Soak up His healing rays - Spend perhaps 15-20 minutes with your eyes fixed on Him, tuned to flow and simply receiving flowing thoughts, flowing pictures, flowing emotions of compassion and flowing power which heals you. See healing power as light leaving His right hand and entering your body, transforming it until it glistens with His light. You can lay your hands on the infirm area and see His light entering that area.
5. Ask for His instructions and obey them: You may choose two-way journaling as a way of receiving these instructions. If you are reminded of a hurt or anything at all that you have ill feelings about, then extend forgiveness. Forgiveness releases His healing power.
6. Become the radiance of His glory - We enter into His Divine Exchange, letting ourselves be consumed and replaced by Him and His Presence. We trust in Him to do it ALL, remove our sin, our sickness and our weakness. We see ourselves clothed in His robe of righteousness, radiating His divine health, strength and power.
7. Repeat as necessary – Continue to ask God to show you any blocks to the flow of His healing power, and how He wants you to remove those blocks.

The “How To” of Leading People into a Healing Encounter with Jesus

1. Read the Gospel story so we have a jumping off place.
2. Paint the scene in the listeners' minds, dramatizing it as we go, keeping it fun and light and enjoyable, for after all, it is all about Jesus and His amazing compassion and healing power.
3. Invite them in as willing partners to encounter Jesus, speaking, laughing, touching, being touched and receiving from Him.
4. Follow the flow of the Holy Spirit, as He brings the scene alive.
5. See to it that we include the key elements necessary to receive from God as listed above in the section titled, “What Transpires in These Healing Encounters with Jesus?”
6. Since we follow flow, God can and will bring to our hearts and minds specific key elements which must be addressed as we go along.
7. Team up a prophet and a teacher, and honor the gifts of both (Acts 13:1,2).

I Have Experienced Years of Success with the “Sea of Galilee” Encounters with Jesus

For over 35 years I have had a greater than 95% success rate leading people into hearing God’s voice and seeing vision by simply taking them by the hand and leading them into a story, a walk with Jesus along the Sea of Galilee. (Experience it here.) How about if we take this simple proven strategy and extend it, so we use it not only to hear God’s voice and see His vision but to actually receive His compassionate healing touch to heal our bodies with His miracle working power?

In the “Sea of Galilee” Encounters, I Ensure the Following Simple Things Happen

1. We quiet ourselves down and ask the Holy Spirit to lead us into an encounter with Jesus.
2. I paint a visionary scene of walking with Jesus together in Galilee. (For healing we will use a Gospel story of Jesus touching and healing a person.)
3. We engage our senses: we see Him and the surroundings, hillside, grass, Sea of Galilee, fisherman in a boat quietly enjoying his Master, sun, sky, clouds, feel the warmth of the sun and the gentle breeze.
4. We see ourselves as children with a big smile on our faces and say, “Thank You, Jesus, for being here.” (This ensures we are in a relaxed, non-striving posture which is crucial to being in a receptive mode.)
5. While looking at Him, we tune to flowing thoughts and flowing pictures, receiving what He wants to say. In the case of healing, we are going to receive His instructions to be healed, and experience His compassionate, healing touch, and feel the pulse of His divine energy upon our bodies. (Play soft soaking music in background.)
6. We will remain in the presence of God for 5-8 minutes, soaking in what He is speaking. In a healing service, we will be basking in His compassionate healing rays, seeing the power and radiant light coming from His right hand and pulsating through our bodies for perhaps a 15-20 minute divine healing radiation treatment.
7. Follow up: We share in small groups of two what we have experienced and then have a few volunteers come to the front to share with the entire group, what God has done.

Let’s ensure these same elements are present as we seek healing encounters with Jesus.

“Lord, may we experience Your miracles of healing and see Your Kingdom extended.”

Tools and Resources for Hosting a “Healing Workshop” or a “Miracle Service”

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