What Jesus Desires

Jesus desires to save, to heal, and to deliver souls from Satan. Jesus also desires us to carry out the "work of an evangelist" (Second Timothy 4:5) and the work of the evangelist is to preach the gospel, heal the sick, and to cast out demons. Simply put, it is the ministry of Jesus, found in Luke 4:18.

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, 
       Because He has anointed Me 
       To preach the gospel to the poor; 
       He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, 
       To proclaim liberty to the captives 
       And recovery of sight to the blind, 
       To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 
       To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."

Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, preached the gospel, healed, and set at liberty those who are oppressed. As evangelists we should emulate Jesus. Too often I hear of those doing evangelistic work forgetting the healing and delivering aspects, they simply preach the gospel. I praise God for at least the preaching of the gospel but Jesus is calling us to do more, much more.

"Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.

They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them" (Mark 6:7, 12-13, emphasis mine).

"When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Luke 9:1-2, emphasis mine).

The early disciples were commissioned by the Lord Jesus to preach, to cast out evil spirits and to heal the sick. This is the ministry I have been involved in for many years as we have seen many miracles of salvations, healings, and deliverances. We have seen thousands call upon the name of the Lord in public gatherings; we have cast out hundreds of demons, and have seen people healed of cancer, MS, sexually transmitted diseases, tumors, cysts, severe pain, blindness, muteness, dumbness and a host of other physical afflictions. Too often those involved in evangelism are simply preaching the gospel while forgetting to carry out the other works of Jesus. Thank God the evangelist Philip carried out the ministry of Jesus as seen in Acts 8.

"Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city."

Not only did the evangelist Philip "proclaimed the Christ" he carried out the miraculous ministry of healing and deliverance which resulted in "great joy in that city." When endeavoring to carry out the evangelistic ministry, make sure you are open to allowing the Holy Spirit to use you not only in preaching the gospel but also to heal and deliver souls bound by demons.

When an evangelist operates in the miraculous God can use the miracles of healing and deliverance as a means to confirm His Word. We have seen this many times throughout the world.

"Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it" (Mark 16:20).

God wants to use you my friend in the work of evangelism-to preach the gospel, to heal the sick, and to cast out demons. But as Jesus once said, the workers are so "few." However, I believe if you are reading this, you are one of those few whom Jesus wants to use to reach lost humanity with His love. Time is short and people need to know Jesus saves. Take this opportunity to pray with me, to commit to doing the work of an evangelist, to the glory of God.

"Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus, I come before you as your servant. I acknowledge your call upon my life to carry out the work of an evangelist. I surrender to your will. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and your holy power so that many miracles of salvations, healing, and deliverances may occur for your glory and honor. In Christ name I pray. Amen."