When you read the stories of Jesus as found in the Gospels, one of the things that stands out to the reader is just how much of Jesus’ life and ministry was highlighted by healings and miracles. In fact, this was a major part of the ministry of Jesus. Matthew writes, “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness” (Matthew 9:35). The ministry of Jesus is three-fold: preaching, teaching and healing. Jesus healed because it was an integral part of His ministry. One cannot separate Jesus and healing, for it marked His ministry, and the Bible emphasizes that point. Nearly 20% of the Gospels are devoted to healing and deliverance. Of the 3,779 verses in the Gospels, 727 of them are stories about healing and deliverance. The Bible clearly shows the ministry of Jesus as a ministry of healing.
Not only do we observe that Jesus was a healer when He walked the earth, but we believe that Jesus has not changed and that He is the “same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Thus, we should expect that Jesus will still do the same things today that He did while He walked the earth, including healing and miracles. Well friends, I can confirm that the Bible is correct—Jesus has not changed, and He is still doing miracles today!
I just returned from an amazing crusade in a Hindu country in south Asia. The city in which we were ministering was a very unreached city that had never had a crusade or major Christian event like this before. It was so rural that there was not a hotel in that city—we had to stay in a hotel in a different city. But these are the places we like to go—the places where no one else has gone. These people are so hungry for the Gospel and Jesus is so ready to meet them and their needs. And Jesus did exactly what He did while walking the Israeli ground two thousand years ago: He healed.
Throughout the course of the week, we were witness to dozens of testimonies of people who experienced physical healing in their bodies. There were a number who were partially blind who were healed. One such woman (pictured) could barely see the stage standing at the front of the crowd. When she experienced her healing, she wanted to confirm it, so she walked to the back of the crusade grounds and could see the stage perfectly.
There were many who were healed of body pains, arthritis and even paralysis that caused them to be unable to walk. One man came to the crusade having been unable to walk properly in over 3 years. He came on stage and walked across it without issue. There were many others like him too. A number of women came on stage to testify that Jesus had healed them so that they could not only walk but they could dance, and they demonstrated this by dancing across the stage with me!
But the miracles that were most notable were four separate women who came to the crusade with cancer but testified that they had been healed! Now, while I certainly believe that Jesus can and does heal cancer, I did want to know how these women knew that they had been healed of cancer. It isn’t usually as easy to confirm a healing of cancer like it is blindness where you can immediately tell if you can see when you could not before. So I asked these women how they knew that they were healed. Beside the fact that each of them said they felt something happen in their body as I prayed, each of them had noticeable tumors on their body that immediately dissolved when we prayed for healing. These women experienced this miraculous healing in their bodies as their cancerous tumors disappeared before their very eyes!
While these testimonies are remarkable, I often hear confusion and even exasperation from people who wonder why those sorts of biblical miracles take place overseas but not in North America. But I want to tell you that that isn’t true. Jesus is the same God of power in North America as He is in Asia. Two weeks before traveling to Asia I was ministering at a great church in Clarksville, Indiana. I preached about Jesus the Healer there just like I do overseas, and I saw the same sorts of miracles that I saw in Asia a couple weeks later. One woman who had had knee surgery more than three years earlier had never since knelt down on her knee, but that day she wept as she knelt before the Lord completely healed. A fifteen-year-old boy who had been almost completely blind in one eye since birth put his faith in Jesus and his eye was supernaturally healed! These were just a couple of dozens of healings that took place that day in Indiana.
I say this to demonstrate the truth that Jesus’ ability to heal is not bound by distance or location or a time period. Jesus is the same today in North America as He was in Asia last month or as He was when He walked the dirt roads in Galilee two thousand years ago—Jesus is the same. Today, if you are in need of a miracle, put your faith in Jesus and believe that He can do what only He can do. And if you need prayer for healing or miracles in your life, please let us know so we can pray and agree with you.
Now, of all the miracles that took place in Asia the last month, the greatest miracle of all is the miracle of salvation, and I am thrilled to report that at our crusade in south Asia 8,200 people publicly accepted Christ and made a decision to leave Hinduism and Islam to follow Jesus! For all of these many miracles we thank you for your partnership—in prayer and finances—in making these testimonies possible!
For the King,
Joshua Wagner