Can Christians command healing?
Is it legitimate when Christians say, “I release the Holy Spirit”? We sing songs saying, “Fresh wind, fresh fire! “ and “Fill us up, Lord!” Do these words have the power to make reality, or are they suggestions or wishes thrown at heaven?
The disciples in Acts 4 prayed, “Master, look on their threats; and grant that we, your servants, may speak Your word with all boldness…” (Acts 4:29).
And again, Acts 4:31 says, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they boldly spoke the Word of God.”
Does God need us to speak His Word? Apparently, He does because He granted the disciple's request that they should do so. Of course, “need” is too strong of a word. God doesn't need us except that He made a world that requires our participation as an act of His desire. So, we can accurately say that God wants to need us.
The world was going in one particular direction when the disciples prayed, “Grant that we, Your servants, may speak Your word with all boldness.” The Bible says, “When they prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken…and they boldly spoke the word of God.” Acts 4:31. As a result of this prayer, a shift occurred, a shaking happened, and the world began to change. Prayers are words we say, and those words change things.
The disciple's prayer began a chain reaction of events: the disciples received boldness, the boldness increased the effectiveness of sharing the Word of God, and the increase of God’s Word, through the mouth of the disciples, increased the influence of the Kingdom of God. And all this began with the words from the disciple's mouth saying, in effect, “Fill us up, Lord.” God accomplishes His will through God’s people. God speaks through His people.
When we pray, “Fill us up, Lord,” it is not a request as though we must wait to hear what Jesus will say; it's a trigger that sets in motion the will of God. Jesus already told us what He approves: “Ask and it shall be given to you! Search and you will find! Knock and the door will be opened for you! Everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches finds.”
Matthew 7:7-8
When we pray prayers God already approves, it is like flying a fighter jet in combat with permission to engage the enemy. God already granted us the authority to release missiles at the enemy. All that is left to do is aim and pull the trigger.
Jesus told His disciples, “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Matthew 18:18
And Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue,And those who love it will eat its fruit.”
Being made in the image of God, we should not be surprised that our words carry the power to create new realities. We are not equal to God in authority or power, but we are endowed with God’s authority and power to be the vessels through which God accomplishes His purposes on earth. God spoke the world into order in the beginning; why shouldn't He speak the world into a new creation through image bearers? John describes Jesus as “the Word made flesh,” and Jesus shares this vocation with us.
Pastor Mike Signorelli said, “You don’t get better at casting out demons; you get more submitted to the Holy Spirit.”
The fact that Jesus endows our mouths with the power of God does not mean that every word we speak is accurate or that everything we say will come to pass. We must become like Jesus and “only do and say what (we) see the Father doing.” (John 5:19). But once we see what the Father is doing or saying, we must do it and say it. That is how God accomplishes His work on the earth.