Throughout this series, I am trying to establish a framework through which we can operate under so that we don't fall into presumption or sensational extremes. It's not "this is how you are to pray", but rather, when you pray or engage in spiritual warfare, keep these things in mind. These are boundary markers that God has given us to stay in his will.

Now, my chief Old Testament set of examples, has a counter-example within it. Joshua directs God! Could it be that we have power in and of ourselves? Could my whole argument, which attempts to be based securely on an exegetical reading of the Bible, be wrong?

Now I note two key things:

1. Joshua didn't command the sun and moon directly, this was taken as a prayer to God (v12)

2. The Lord heeded the voice of Joshua because Joshua's goal aligned with God's (v14)

So this is not carte blanche, do what you like. It is us working with God, when we're aligned together. It is still not an impersonal force, like as if we had to learn some formula to unlock this. At the end of the day, it's still a request to God to do something.

It's very interesting that this is in the context of the most relevant passage for "Directionalism". Presumptionism says we have power in and of ourselves: but Directionalism says only God has power, and we ask God for everything. Presumption says God will give us victory right here, right now. Directionalism never assumes assured victory. It assumes God knows best and may say "yes", but also may say "not yet", or even "no". Presumptionism says we as Christians today can just command whatever we want through the power that God gives us through the Spirit. Directionalism operates within God's will, first and foremost, and when operating from God's heart, can command things with the authority God's given us.

Now, take Jesus and the seventy-two whom he gives power to heal and drive out demons. Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

Notice some very similar points as with Joshua:

1. God gave them power to heal the sick and authority to drive out demons, not for anyone carte blanche, but to peace-loving people (v6-12). When our aim aligns with Jesus' aim, God will work through us. So, once again, we need to first find God's will and purpose, and then walk in that.

2. The power and authority comes from God, not themselves or a technique (v17-20). Jesus didn't have to teach them a specific technique, because he didn't give them a spell-book, he gave them part of himself: his Spirit.

3. They were not to glory (wallow) in their authority, but in their relationship with God (v20). Their relationship with God is much more important because that's where the power and authority comes from.

Getting God's direction is still a must. Even for the disciples in Acts, they are sometimes told to wait (until the Spirit is poured out, Acts 1:4-5), sometimes corrected in their whole approach (e.g. to outreach to Gentiles too, Acts 10), sometimes directed not to this city but to another (Acts 16:6-10).

Put more precisely:

1. We must align ourselves to God's general will, as revealed from Scripture. This is timeless.

2. We must align ourselves with God's general will for the believers you are with (your local church). This is at the level of the promise that Canaan was for the Israelites, or Jesus' desire to reach the Gentiles with the Gospel. This might the vision or mission for the year.

3. We must align ourselves with God's specific will, such as Joshua's seeking after God for each battle, and Jesus coming before the Father submitting his will to the cross. This is typically for that day, or that week.

4. In the moment, if like Joshua, we need more time to enact God's will, we have the authority to command it. If like Jesus, lots of people come for healing, we have the authority to heal. If like Paul, someone has a demonic spirit following them, they have the authority to tell it to leave. (This fourth point is the most tentative for me, but just reading Scripture that's what comes out. How it's normally expressed today is another matter.)

A modern example is in order. When parents give their kids to kid's church leaders, a certain amount of authority is given to those leaders. Not everything, but a certain amount. So the leaders will be directing the kids to certain activities, or to do something like read out a Scripture or answer a bible quiz question. They may need to exercise some authority to discipline, such as to shame them or take them to a naughty corner. But they don't have all authority. They don't have authority over what church the child should go to, or what they can and cannot eat, or what they should wear. If they chuck an excessive tantrum, they probably need their parents.

It seems to me that this is a picture of our authority under Christ. Jesus Christ is our parent, we are the teachers of God's kingdom, and the kids are those God has given us authority over to minister to—whether Christian or not. Now what authority do we have? Jesus said to the 72, and the 12, and to every generation of disciples thereafter, that he gives us authority to heal the sick, drive out demons, and preach the Gospel (Luke 10:1-20; Mark 16:15-18). He hasn't given us the power to actually save people, or to convict people of their sins.

So the argument that Pentecostals are making is that we don't have to ask whether God wants to heal, preach or deliver: he always wants to do these things! He's given us the authority to do heal, preach (but not save) and deliver.

But just because we can do something, doesn't mean we should. Just like the Israelites had the promise of the land, they still had a tendency to trust in their own military might. So God made them come to him continuously, and use things other than their military. So today, we may have the promise of the Holy Spirit, and the general direction from Jesus, but we still have a tendency to trust in things like our methodology. So God wants us to continuously come to him so that we always acknowledge and give glory to Him, and His name is made great: not ours. When people witness healings, we want them to turn to Jesus, not us.

It's notable that when Jesus says we can heal the sick and cast out demons in his name, that this presents no evidence that the way we are to do this is to command that. We read that in (we commit eisegesis). In fact, you can ask God to drive the demon in Jesus' name. You can ask God to heal a person in Jesus' name (James 5:13-16). I encourage you to read a contrary example by John Wesley, who was healing before modern Pentecostal teaching about commanding. He simply asked God. Whereas I am still queasy about commanding (I haven't seen a humble approach to it in practice), his approach is clearly biblical: and he saw a great many healings, salvations and exorcisms.

Historical example: John Wesley prays to God

While I am tentative about the prospect of commanding things, when I first heard about how John Wesley went about healings and exorcisms, I was immediately, without hesitation, ready to embrace and practice his 'method' (simply to ask God!).

John Wesley is actually the foundation out of which Pentecostal faith came about. Wesley was the first to teach about how we can become sinlessly perfect, a doctrine which is taught amongst Holiness Pentecostals. Other Pentecostals still have a strong emphasis on holiness. Wesley was an avowed Arminian, which Pentecostals readily take up. Wesley was the first to teach a two-phase salvation, with the first being salvation and the second a different kind of filling with the Spirit (now known as a baptism of the Spirit). (As Evangelical Charismatics, we don't subscribe to these doctrines, though that doesn't make us Calvinists by default either.)

So how John Wesley went about healings, being full of the Holy Spirit, would be really helpful and interesting. I found this example on a website, quoted from The Works of John Wesley Volume 19: Journal and Diaries II (1738-1743).

A man, Mr. Meyrick, was on his deathbed on December 25, 1742:

I went up and found them all crying about him, his legs being cold and (as it seemed) dead already. We all kneeled down and called upon God with strong cries and tears. He opened his eyes and called for me. And from that hour he continued to recover his strength, till he was restored to perfect health.Jamin Bradley, John Wesley and the Power of the Spirit, 12/05/2010, Jamin Bradley's Blog, https://newfangled.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/john-wesley-and-the-power-of-the-spirit/, quoting W. Reginald Ward, The Works of John Wesley Volume 19: Journal and Diaries II (1738-1743), 1990, Abingdon Press, 306.

Now look at this 'method', this 'technique'. A bunch of Christians asking God, on their knees in humility, strongly and continually until he opened his eyes and called out. This is just fervent prayer. And it is asking God—something modern Pentecostals say not to do (we should command healing, they say). So who are we listening to—man, or God?

My observation of the big names of Pentecostals who teach that we ought to command healing instead of ask God for healing, is that they cannot deal with failure. Those who don't get healed—and there are always plenty of them—apparently don't have enough faith, or are in sin, or don't know who they really are in Christ. This presumption that God always wants to heal is something we've already dealt with. In this example, I want to emphasise that asking God for healing makes it clear what's happening—or not, as the case may be.

When we ask God, we acknowledge the source of healing: God, not yourself, or your technique, or your method. That's helpful, and protective of your ongoing ministry, to continue with the right focus.

When we ask God, we understand much better why healing did not occur: it may have been a person's lack of faith, but it may well have been that God wanted to discipline that person, or teach them with something like Paul's thorn (2 Corinthians 12). God is sovereign, and has many reasons.

When we ask God, we have confidence, because we see that it's not our ability, or our prayerfulnes, or our power, and we don't have to feel right, or feel in the mood, to pray for someone.

When we ask God, we have the right focus, and we protect people against the extremely negative—but common—situations where the sick get blamed for their lack (of faith, of righteousness, of goodness). While there are certain situations where that can be true, it's usually quite obvious, and not seeing healing for many months or even years, despite fervent ongoing faith-filled prayer, is not a sign of unbelief (quite the opposite!).

When we ask God, and do what he tells us, he gets the glory, not us, nor our technique, nor our ministry. People looking to a particular preacher, ministry or technique are prone to growing in trust of that technique or preacher—not in God. While it may be possible to keep the right focus through a different technique, praying to God for healing is a very real help.

I also love how they bent their knee in prayer. This is a physical way of showing humility before God. It lines up so directly with my previous thoughts about how we cannot have faith without a corresponding strong dose of humility (Faith AND Humility).