Dunamis: Healing Power in Christ

Sherry and I have been thinking a lot about healing lately. Several friends and family have a need for restored health and to overcome physical attacks. We too, are faced with such challenges as we grow older. What is God’s solution to these important needs?

We’ve Got What It Takes

Jesus made a simple promise shortly before he finished his earthly ministry. It has great importance to every part of our lives today.

John 14:12-14,16,17:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Notice the boldface truths here. Today, in Christ, we can do even greater works than he did during his earthly ministry. What were some of these works?

Matthew 8:16:
When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.

Jesus healed all that were sick. God didn’t have His Son “play favorites” or deny healing because people weren’t “good enough.” These weren’t even Christians. When people believed, they received. When Jesus sent out the twelve and the seventy, he gave them authority to do the same (Matthew 10:1; Luke 9:2; Luke 10:1,9).

John 14 says that whatsoever we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, he will do by the power of the holy spirit within us. This is the “spirit of truth” that Jesus said would be in them. That happened beginning at Pentecost, not long after he made this promise.

Any person who confesses that Jesus is Lord and believes God raised him from the dead is saved (Romans 10:9,10). They have eternal life and are filled with holy spirit, the promise of the Father, power from on high (Luke 24:49).

How are Christians to “show” this gift of holy spirit? How can spiritual power be manifested in our senses-based world?

I Corinthians 12:7-11:
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing [charismata iamatōn]
by the same Spirit;
To another the working of miracles [energēmata dunameōn]; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally [individually] as he will.

Using What We’ve Got—Witnesses for Christ

These Greek words in I Corinthians 12 show how simple healing should be. Healings are gifts, called charismata. These are gifts by God’s grace, and not earned by our own good works or efforts. Miraculous healing is an energizing [energēma] of power [dunamis]. These scriptures say that you can individually manifest this power as you will to do so. So, do you have this power that can be energized?

Acts 1:8:
But ye shall receive power [dunamis], after that the Holy Ghost [the Father’s gift of holy spirit] is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Just before ascending to the Father’s right hand, Jesus said that Christians would receive this spiritual power [dunamis] after the holy spirit came upon them. Then they could be witnesses for Jesus Christ. Part of that witness is healing. Here’s another record of Jesus speaking before he ascended.

Mark 16:17,18:
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
[If] They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Do It with Simplicty

When we have the gift of holy spirit, we can be witnesses unto Jesus Christ. How simple is it to lay hands on the sick and see them recover? There is just one requirement—we must believe. We have the faith of Jesus Christ to energize God’s dunamis within us. We should think soberly about what we have so that we use it every day.

Romans 12:3,6,8:
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, according to the proportion of faith.
…he that giveth [metadidōmi], let him do it with simplicity [haplotēs].

When we are convinced of our spiritual ability in Christ, and decide to give to bring God’s healing—we keep it simple. The Greek words are again important here. The word for “give” means to give across in order to make a change. The word for “simplicity” means single-minded trust. Our trust to use the dunamis we have is what Corinthians called “as we will.” That’s how we can bring a healing change for the better.

Jesus understood this single-minded focus in healing. He was focused on bringing healing to anyone who believed to see God’s dunamis energized in their lives. While en route to heal Jairus’s daughter, Jesus met a woman who was also single-minded on healing—her own!

Luke 8:43-46:
And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue [dunamis] is gone out of me.

This woman reminds me of many people that Sherry and I know. They spend all the money they’ve made on doctors, but are not healed of any. Mark 5:26 says this woman “had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.” That’s because although some medicine is based on the natural substances that God provided in the earth to help the body heal itself, much of modern medicine is limited.

Jesus understood that life is spiritual, and that God is the source of all true healing. He felt dunamis go out of him. Even though he wasn’t focused on this woman, she was focused on receive healing and Jesus was ready to heal all. The same is true today. God can work in us to bring healing to anyone who believes to receive it. That includes believing for good health ourselves.

Believing to Receive

Look at how amazingly great God’s power truly is.

Ephesians 3:20:
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power [dunamis] that worketh [energeō, is energized] in us.

God can do beyond anything we can even imagine. His mighty power is the same that raised Jesus Christ from the dead [Ephesians 1:19,20]. Yet even Jesus could not heal many people in his own town. Why? Matthew 13:58: “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” How many of God’s promises in Christ can we receive?

Matthew 21:22:
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Let’s go forth and bring healing as we trust in God’s work in Christ. When we believe, we will receive.