Get Inspired Into Healing

The Real Good News

There was a season in my walk with the Holy Spirit during which God told me to share the good news of God (AKA gospel) with numerous Christians who already had believed in Yeshua as the son of God and received the deposit of the Holy Spirit within them (AKA they were “saved”). It took me a little while to figure out why God was having me do this but I figured out in the end that it was because the gospel message they had heard—“believe in Jesus, go to Heaven after you die”—was not the gospel message that Jesus himself had preached. God wanted these loyal Christians to hear the real gospel.

These awkward conversation would go something like this:

  • Me: Are you a believer in Jesus Christ?
  • Them: Yes, I am.
  • Me: When did you get saved?
  • Them: 50 years ago, when I was 10. I’ve been going to church ever since. I teach Vacation Bible School and serve as an elder in my church.
  • Me: Wow, that’s great! You sound like a very loyal believer. (Pauses, asks the Holy Spirit for guidance.) I can’t wait to be a follower for 50 years like you are. I imagine that by then I’ll be able to do most of the miracles, signs and wonders Jesus told Christians to do in the Bible. Have you been able to achieve some of those miracles in your own walk?
  • Them: (Awkward silence as they try to figure out if I’m some new age hippie, but they can’t deny what I’m saying is in the Bible.) No, but I read the Bible once a year and I fund an orphanage in Africa.
  • Me: Oh, Africa? You must really have a heart to see the Kingdom of God spread around the world! Africa is certainly a place where they know about the spiritual realm that the Bible talks about. My African friends tell me it’s common to see witch-doctors amongst the tribes and I am told they often demonstrate the power of their gods through signs and wonders; but we know their gods are just little demons, not like our God. Africa is certainly a place where believers need to be able to demonstrate the power of God according to the scriptures. But Africa is not the only place! Americans need to know God is still alive and powerful, too! I mean, most of the people I have led to the Lord were not open to God until I prayed for them and the Holy Spirit set them free of demons, sickness, addictions, or tormenting thoughts. (The Bible tells us many of those are caused by demons sending darts into the battlefield of our minds—our conscious thoughts.) Once they got set free, I shared the gospel with them by saying, “If I prayed for you and you got set free or healed, then the Kingdom of God has come over you. How do you feel right now?” and they often say, “I feel peace” or “I feel love”. Then, I tell them, “You can feel this way more and more if you welcome this Kingdom into your heart. God gave us access to this Kingdom by sending his son Yeshua to Earth to live as a human being. After 30 years of life, he got baptized in water and in the spirit, and began doing miracles just as I have done for you now. After 3 years of doing that, he went to the cross to take into his own body everything that hurts us. When I sent away the spirits hurting you, I sent them to the cross in Yeshua’s name. When he died, he locked them up in hell, came back to life fully clean, and went back up to Heaven. Then, Yeshua sent down his Holy Spirit to help his followers do all that he did and more.” That’s when they welcome the Holy Spirit into their heart and ask God to transform them from the inside out.

Here’s the interesting thing: I have only once ever shared the real gospel with a veteran believer and that person responded with great joy and hope and excitement that they could “level up” in their following of Yeshua. Instead, almost all (except one—and he became my husband) respond with suspicion or simply brain-dump everything I just said because it doesn’t fit their understanding. Even if God did a miracle for them right then and there, they would probably refute the invitation of the real gospel.

This lack of faith—often established by incorrect doctrines taught by loyal but misguided believers—is an obstacle to their spiritual growth so that although they may get to Heaven after they die, they sure won’t be able to bring Heaven to Earth in any powerful way while they live. These are often the same believers or leaders who wonder, “Why are people in my church not maturing?” or “Why is God not answering our prayers?” or “Why is Christianity so boring?” God didn’t design it to be boring; the real gospel is wondrous and awe-inspiring and powerful!

“…although they may get to Heaven after they die, they sure won’t be able to bring Heaven to Earth… while they live.”

Tenay Benes, tenaybenes.com

What do you think? If you could learn how to do one sign, wonder, or miracle from the Bible, what would it be and why? How might that make people open to Yeshua in a way that preaching-only may not?

Discover more from Tenay Benes

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading