HEALING AND DELIVERANCE MINISTRY

​Healing and Deliverance. It is good to explore these two essential words that are a part of some church ministries. Oftentimes, when we hear these words, they are used interchangeably, as if, they are one of the same. Yet, this is far from the truth. Although these two methodologies go hand and hand, they are quite different in their functionality and require different sets of tools, resources, and methods when administrating them. So, let’s look at the basics first. I encourage you to do your own research to discover what valuable lessons you can learn about these godsent tools. 
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We need to remember these factor

Now, let me say this. There is no special method, action steps, or ritual in administrating any of these tools. Each person who needs these services is different, their situation or circumstances are distant. They have unique needs and are at different levels of comfort, mindset, knowledge, or understanding. Therefore, it is important to meet individuals at the level they are at and comfortable with when implementing these tools. After all, the end goal is not for you, the one who is administrating such gifts, to stand out. But it is your job to meet the healing and or deliverance needs of the individual who stands before you.

In addition to ensuring the attention is on the individual who is in need, we have to account for the individual’s uniqueness and level of maturity, understanding, knowledge, and wisdom toward deliverance and healing. For the individual will play an important part in obtaining what they need. And if we fail to consider these factor, the person will not receive what they desperately need.

Another factor we need to be aware of is that deliverance or healing can only take place at the level of faith of the person who is administrating it. But it is more important to weigh whether the administrator has the divine authority granted by Holy Spirit to administrate the required task. For instance, a person can believe and have strong faith in the healing process, but if GOD has not chosen, released, and authorized that person with the measure of grace that is needed in a specific area of healing or deliverance – possessing all the faith in the world will not matter and nothing will happen. We must understand that there are levels to this healing and deliverance ministry and not all ministers of GOD are granted equal access to the many different levels or types of disciplines involving the healing and deliverance aspects.  It is important that Christians are receptive and humble about this fact because people’s lives are at stake. So, with that being said, we have to remember concerning the healing and deliverance ministry – NO AUTHORITY, NO POWER, NO CHANGE.

Think about it this way. The medical field is a vast expanse and multifaceted operation. You just don’t become a doctor without meeting all requirements and following all protocols. One requirement is that every doctor must eventually select a specific area of medicine to specialize in. For instance, a doctor can practice in the fields of neurology, pediatrics, psychiatry, surgeon, cardiologist, etc. – you get the point. It would be considered medical malpractice if a family doctor who performs basic health care check-ups and exams to try to treat a heart patient or perform surgery without the assistance or direction of a cardiologist or a surgeon. The treatment of such type of patient requires a different set of doctors, nurses, and other medical staff. To properly care for a heart patient a specific set of training, exposure, knowledge, education, background, and understanding is required. Therefore, when caring for a heart patient, doctors understand that they must partner with certain medical specialists to provide these patients with the outcome that is desired. 
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So, the healing or deliverance service that ministers provide church members or the general public is no different than the example provided above. Unfortunately, this is where far too many churches and healing and deliverance ministries miss it. By missing it, they are failing its people and their respective communities because they are not humble enough about essential factors that directly influence their efforts to heal or deliver a person. But this next point is the key to their failing in their healing or deliverance ministry.

Far too many pastors are trying to be a one-stop shop for everything. I am not talking about the church or the members of the church. I’m talking about the pastor. He or she is trying to do it all and be it all to all people. And this is not scriptural. You won’t find such actions anywhere in the scripture and therefore, the Holy Bible does not support such behavior. Why? Because when pastors attempt to do everything for everyone, they lock out and prevent GOD from properly using other gifted, anointed, and authorized persons in HIS congregation. Resulting in authorized members of the Body of Christ being overlooked and not used. Resulting in people leaving the same way they came. (Remember - NO AUTHORITY, NO POWER, NO CHANGE). 
This is not how ministry is supposed to work from GOD’s perspective. 

all authority

​So, what is healing ministry and how is it different from deliverance ministry? Matthew chapter 4, verses 23 through 24 reads this way. 

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.
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Here is the reality that Christians, especially leaders must understand. As Jesus stood before his 11 disciples, he made this profound statement to them. “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth… (Matthew 28:18).

No other man or woman can make such a claim – that ‘all authority’ has been given to them. Not one. Only one man in the New Testament has been given such a great level of power and authority, and that is Jesus. Every man after and before him authority was limited and had to be shared with a community of people. (Compare to 1 Corinthians 12; Genesis 1:26-28). Nowhere will we find any statement in the scriptures that says all authority was given to Jack, Jill, your pastor, prophet, apostle, etc. NO! Instead, throughout the scriptures, we often see GOD establish a single head or leader to lead a mission or group and then GOD sets up a specific group of gifted and anointed men and women to assist that leader in implementing and achieving GOD’s mission in a given region in dealing with specific circumstances or situations (see 1 Corinthians 12:11; 12:27-28).

No pastor, church, or ministry can have an effective healing or deliverance ministry that is set up and directed by GOD if GOD is not the one authorizing and showing leaders the ones GOD wants in specific roles, positions, and managing over certain aspects of ministry. We cannot afford to be long rangers in ministry when operating the healing and deliverance because no scripture supports such a methodology. And we cannot rely on self-appointed ministers who have called themselves into roles that GOD has not authorized them to be. (Compare to Acts 19:14-16).

When we follow and turn to self-appointed ministries or ministers that man has appointed to fulfill specific roles in their operation, we are alienated from GOD, and people in need, and are unable to draw people from our respective community to the good news of Jesus Christ. More importantly, our operation has violent every Biblical protocol and principle Jesus Himself has set up for the Body of Christ to follow and obey. For the LORD has graced not some but each one of us according to a measure of Christ’s gift and authority. A measure. He has given to our congregants some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and some teachers. He did not give us a pastor and for the reminding of congregants to sit in the audience and watch a singular person lead a healing or deliverance performance. No! The LORD has blessed specific ministers to be gifted and authorized to operate in specific areas of the healing and deliverance ministry. One minister of GOD may be gifted and authorized to heal cancer, while another kidney disease, while another may specialize in dealing with a broken spirit, another with homosexuality, etc. Again, the purpose of a measure of authority is not to place a single person on a pedestal. But specific authority is given to specific areas to specific people for the sole purpose of equipping the saints for the work of ministry, and for edifying the Body of Christ so that the good news of GOD’s Kingdom is preached to the nations so that people are baptized and discipled to become genuine followers of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-12; Matthew 28:18-19).
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We have to be honest. If we are not following this protocol of Christ then our ministry is severely lacking or we don’t have a ministry at all. We simply have a social gathering of people led by men with no power or authority. 
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What is healing and deliverance

So, again, what is healing ministry, and how is the deliverance ministry different? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, healing means to restore health. That is, a minister provides a remedy, making a person wholesome, or alleviates or corrects specific problem areas for an individual. 

​​Do you see the similarity we spoke about earlier between a family doctor who provides routine care versus a specialist who provides a patient with a special treatment regiment? This is no different in ministry. We have certain individuals who are graced with a measure of authority to operate in a specific area in the Body of Christ. And yet, we as leaders in the Body of Christ are failing to make use of who GOD appoints as vessels for service. Therefore, you are, we are OUT OF ORDER and are in direct conflict with GOD’s mission and will. 

So, healing is to restore one to health. Deliverance is liberation – the freeing, rescuing, and saving from danger or evil. Both ministry tools can impact a person’s physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health and they should always be used together when it is required but they are not interchangeable practices. You cannot substitute the healing ministry application for the deliverance ministry or vice versa. Why?

Healing ministry primarily focuses on the physical or emotional state of a person. It is the process of making or becoming sound or healthy again (1 Peter 2:24; Exodus 15:26; Psalm 147:3; Psalm 34:18). Whereas deliverance ministry focuses on the casting out of demons – the act of people being set free from some form of demonic sorrowfulness, unhappiness, discouragement, or hopelessness. Healing is done through prayer while deliverance is done by casting out (which prayer could be incorporated).

The point behind deliverance ministry is to free a person from the influence of an evil spirit (Luke 8:26-39; 8:2; 9:37-42). This is when a demonic being takes over the will and actions of a person, while the healing ministry is the act of making a person whole (Luke 8:35-36). Now, in both cases, a person is experiencing a return to a proper state of being. This is why people use healing and deliverance interchangeably.
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There are special cases where you must sometimes cast out demons first before a person can be healed. (See Luke 8:42). Therefore, it is very important to know which or both needs to be applied, how it should be done, and who should be used because the need may vary depending on the individual’s level of maturity, understanding of the scriptures, their understanding of how GOD operates, as well as their standing with GOD. All these factors will impact whether they get healed or experience deliverance or not. And yes, whether a person is in good standing with GOD or not and whether they have genuinely repented from anything they need to repent from because it can impact, hinder, or impede their healing or deliverance process. You can’t say you want to be healed from cancer but still smoke two to three packs of cigarettes a day. There is a protocol you must meet to obtain your healing and or deliverance. 

The right authorization

This is why only Jesus can say ‘all authority was given to me’ at Matthew 28:18. And he backed that up at Matthew 4:23 when he proved he was able to heal ‘… all kinds of sickness and diseases…’ and freed demon-possessed people. Not some but all.

Not one of us can say that. Why? Because Jesus forces us to turn to our brothers and sisters in the faith who specialize in a specific ministry area, to help us to heal and or deliver a person that needs to be healed or set free (Isaiah 61:1).