Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 289

October 15;   John 6:2;   74/260(II);   ‘Healings Evangelize’

John 6:2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.     NIV

Miracles are the greatest evangelistic tool.  They verify that Jesus is the Lord.  Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, healed everyone who was sick.  That caused the multitudes to follow Him.  Those who conduct large healing rallies say, that in a large gathering of people, usually around 80% need healing of some sort.  The power of miracles still draws multitudes today.  One of the reasons the Lord Jesus ministered as a Man anointed by the Holy Spirit was that when Jesus returned to heaven, He would send the Holy Spirit to come upon Christians, empowering them to heal, just as our Lord was empowered.  The love of Jesus and His commitment to bless people and reveal to them, by miracles, that He is God, is just as powerful today.  One reason the baptism in the Holy Spirit is so important, is that it opens the door for the miracle working power of the Holy Spirit to flow through believers.  It is almost ‘automatic’ that when an unsaved person receives a healing by the power of God, they are willing and excited about accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  A person can go to heaven sick in body.  They cannot go to heaven without making Jesus their Lord.  The Lord made it easy for them to do both.  The desire of Jesus is that you not only receive eternal life, but that you live your life here on earth, blessed, free of sickness and pain.  One of the greatest honors a Christian has is to get baptized in the Holy Spirit and pray for those in need of healing, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Obviously it blesses those you pray for and it gives the praying Christian a joy nothing can compare to.