written by Josh Kim
HEALING ROOM ORIGINS
Just two months ago in May, Pursuit NYC launched and hosted our very first Healing Room service where we worshiped in His presence and went after physical, spiritual, emotional, and relational healing. It was an amazing time of worshiping and contending for God’s healing in people’s lives.
For us as a team, it was a very special moment because we were finally seeing one of our dreams come to life. When our team was dreaming about Pursuit NYC back in 2013, and everything God wants to do in this region, one of the things on our list of dreams was contending for healing, especially physical healing. We wanted to be passionate about God’s healing because we simply believe that God is Healer (“…for I am the LORD, who heals you.” – Exodus 15:26) and He wants to heal people today. That is the heart behind the Healing Room services – nothing more and nothing less. We believe that God is who He says He is, good and powerful, and He’ll do what He says He’ll do.
We believe that God is who He says He is, good & powerful, and He’ll do what He says He’ll do Click To Tweet
GOD IS WILLING TO HEAL TODAY
There are many people in our lives and in our world who are suffering from all types of diseases, illnesses, and injuries. I, myself, grew up with and still deal with sun-allergies. As I was growing up with this skin condition of being allergic to the sun, I questioned the nature and character of God, particularly His goodness and power. As much as I wanted to believe that God was both good and powerful, I could not reconcile those two characteristics together. Either God was good but not powerful, or God was powerful but not good. Either He actually cared about all my pain and suffering, but was not powerful enough to heal me from anything, or God was capable of healing me from anything, but He was not willing to for whatever reason He thought best. And I believe that’s the struggle that most people, believers and non-believers, all have a hard time reconciling.
But in Luke 5, a leprous man falls before Jesus begging Him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean” (Luke 5:12). Jesus responds to the leprous man by replying back, “I am willing! Be clean.” (Luke 5:13). The leprosy left the man and the man was healed. God’s goodness and power comes shining through Jesus’ healing touch of a leprous man. Not only does Jesus show his power and ability to heal, but Jesus also shows that He wants, desires, and is willing to heal. And you know that Jesus was willing because out of all the different ways Jesus could have healed this leprous man, Jesus specifically chose to touch him. If you think about it, Jesus’ healing touch is a big deal because this man wasn’t touched by anyone most of his life due to the unclean, unholy, and infectious skin condition. Therefore, Jesus not only heals him, but He touches him. I believe that God wants to do the same in our day and age today. He wants to reveal Himself as both willing and able, good and powerful. It isn’t “either/or” but “both/and”.
He wants to reveal Himself as both willing and able, good and powerful. Click To Tweet
OUTRAGEOUS PRAYERS
Therefore, we just want to take a step of faith and risk to contend for God’s healing and His nature/character through these Healing Room services because we believe it’s part of contending for revival in this region. If God is Healer as He says He is, then it’s time that we act and respond in faith and bring whatever diseases, illnesses, and injuries before the feet of Jesus and declare that Jesus’ death and resurrection overcame all things.
In Joshua 10, Joshua leads the Israelite army to Gibeon to protect the Gibeonites from the five Amorite kings. Joshua and the Israelites are having tremendous victory over the Amorite armies as they chase and slay them throughout the entire day. However, the sun starts to set and the night is approaching. Joshua, as a general, understands that once it gets somewhat dark, his army will have to halt their pursuit of the Amorite armies until the next day. He knows that some of the Amorite men will escape and that the Israelites will lose their chance to completely destroy the Amorite armies. So Joshua prays one of the most, if not the most, outrageous prayers of all time. He asked the LORD for the sun to stand still! How crazy is that!
If God is Healer as He says He is, then it’s time that we act and respond in faith Click To Tweet
If I was Joshua, I would have thought the Israelite army did more than enough. I would have given my men rest and just finish the job tomorrow. But Joshua did not want to settle. He knew what was at stake. If he did not finish the job that day, some of the Amorite army would escape. Therefore, of all prayers and requests he could have made, Joshua asked the LORD to make the sun stand still because he had so much faith in his God. Joshua 10:13-14 says that, “the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being.”
Photo from our May Healing Room service
And that’s what we are contending for with these healing rooms! We’re praying outrageous prayers to see God move powerfully and compassionately! We’re praying that people will be healed of all illnesses and diseases. We’re praying for broken wrists and arms to be miraculously and supernaturally healed on the spot; that doctors would have no explanation of how fast everything healed. We’re even praying that cancer will no longer cause fear but that it would bow down at the mention of Jesus’ name and cause no more pain in people’s lives.
Some might say that our prayers are too outrageous. But we’re believing that if God is who He says is, just like Joshua. Then it’s time to respond and act in faith to see God move powerfully through healing in our lives. It’s time for diseases and illnesses to no longer cause pain in our lives. It’s time for cancer to no longer stomp its feet and sow fear in our lives. It’s time for death to no longer have the final say.
It’s time for us to contend for healing. It’s time for us to believe God is Healer. It’s time for us to see God move in a powerful way through our outrageous prayers like Joshua.
—