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Unfortunately, healing is not even in the forefront of the minds of most Christians. The subject has been relegated to medical doctors and considered to be the false work of religious charlatans posing as TV evangelists. It seems like most people have given up the hope or expectation of God’s healing, and apart from a quick and simple prayer pertaining to “if it’s Gods will,” nothing much is expected of God as Healer.

Often mainstream theologies claim that God makes us sick for His purpose to be fulfilled in our lives, and we are to be thankful and pray, “If it’s Your will, then heal me.” No one stops to think. No one even examines the biblical veracity of this belief in healing. It seems that the second most popular way to pray for the sick is to pray for wisdom for the doctors. Is there anyone in the Bible that prayed this way? It sounds good, but is it biblical; is it the most effective prayer that can be prayed? It is so thoroughly ingrained in many that it is unthinkable to question this line of thought. The second most popular approach is the opposing view—that it is God’s will for all to be healed and that all one needs is more faith and speaking the Word of God over and over until it is realized.

The problem with both of these views is that they have just enough truth to be dangerous. Now is not the time to expound upon this, but let me initiate a challenge to anyone who wants to debate the subject of divine healing. First of all, read every passage in Scripture regarding healing, disease, sickness, doctors, or any other related topic. Some of this valuable material is included in the Appendix. The material I have provided for you is, no doubt, missing some passages, though I have sought to be extensive in my research. The reason I say it is missing some passages is that the more I poured into the study of the subject, the more I found. Even after writing most of the book, I was made aware that the Hebrew word shalom holds in its definition divine health, welfare, and prosperity. The word saved¹ in the New Testament is sozo in the Greek, and it means “wholeness,” “healing,” and so much more than we tend to mean when we use the word. In order to be absolutely thorough, I would have to examine every use of every one of these words and many more, which I have not done here.

I trust as you read the pages of this book you will be as amazed as I was at how much God has revealed Himself to be Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. Writing this book has helped me to know my Father better. I have a deeper grasp of the depth of His love and care for me. May you, too, gain a deeper grasp of His love for you as you read.

I have a totally new perspective on sin and God’s loving grace. God hates sin because sin destroys us. He wants us to obey Him because He loves us and hates to watch us experience the consequences that sin brings with it.

My heart is deeply grieved by the conversations I have with students and professors of supposedly mainline theology. Somehow the entire subject of healing for many Christians is relegated to Charismatic theology. The first two points they want to address are almost invariably tongues and/or apostolic succession. If these terms are unfamiliar and their relevance to the subject makes you wonder, don’t worry; these issues won’t be discussed here. (I would consider myself a student of theology, and I end up scratching my head at the relevance of these topics to healing as well.) What amazes me is how easily we can be sidetracked from walking in and experiencing the abundant Christian life as Jesus intended and taught. I’m

reminded of the various religious groups from Jesus’ day who were tripping over truths while Truth Himself walked in their very midst undetected because He didn’t fit within their nice little theological framework. I urge you, please, to set aside any preconceived ideas you have about this subject and take some time to prayerfully study this subject in light of God’s Word. See if there might be something of value through this examination.

Richard Mull, Lord Heal Me.

[thelordwhohealsyou]

THE SELF REVELATION OF GOD AS HEALER

In the book of Exodus, God reveals His covenant keeping name, Jehovah-Rapha which means “the Lord who heals.” At the beginning of the wilderness wanderings that lasted forty years, we see that God makes a covenant with the children of Israel. He says that if they walk in obedience, and do everything that He instructs, then none of the diseases which were allowed on the Egyptians will be allowed on them. God wanted to establish this early in their wanderings because He wanted them to know His provision of health and healing as they were going to be out in the wilderness for such a long period of time.

In Exodus 15:26b, the Lord says, “…for I am the Lord, who heals you.” God is a God whose disclosure of Himself is as a God of healing. The name Jehovah-Rapha indicates that healing flows out from the nature of God. It is the very personality of God to bring healing and health to His covenant keeping people. It is God’s heart to heal because that is who He is. We cannot separate healing from God. When something is part of our nature – then it is part of us. We cannot separate our nature from ourselves – our nature is who we are. It is our personality. The same is true with God: you cannot separate who He is from what He does. You cannot separate His healing from who He is. He is a God who heals His people. Healing is His nature. You can’t take that away from Him.

Biblical Basis for Healing by Randy Clark.

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According to YOUR FAITH be it done unto you!

One of the biggest barriers to receiving healing from God is the wrong idea that your healing is up to God. That is no different from saying that your salvation from hell is up to God. In both cases, God has made a provision for you through Christ's atonement, and in both cases it is up to you to believe this and receive what Jesus died to give you. Suppose that you thought your salvation were up to God. "If God wants me to be saved, he will save me; if not, it must be his good pleasure that I remain unsaved." This is no less absurd than saying, "If God wants me to be healed, he will heal me; if not, it must be his good pleasure that I remain sick." God's will for you concerning both your salvation and your healing are clear from his Word. He wants you to have both, and you receive them both the same way -- through your faith. Many who are prayed for think that the preacher's faith is supposed to get them healed. This is not what Jesus taught. He never said, "My faith has made you whole." In many cases, he told the healed person, "Your faith has made you whole." It was up to the person receiving the healing. Take the case of the woman with the issue of blood. Jesus was not conducting any kind of healing service when she touched him. He was on his way to take care of another healing matter at the time. He had no idea that this woman was coming to him for healing. He had to ask who had touched him! The disciples were amazed because everyone was bumping against him, but Jesus wanted to know who had touched him in faith. He felt power go out of him and knew that someone had touched him in faith, but he did not know who it was. Therefore, this healing could not have had anything to do with Jesus or his faith. This healing was brought about solely by the woman's faith. Jesus told her that her faith had healed her. Where did she get this faith? The same way you do -- by hearing the gospel. The woman went and got her healing "when she had heard of Jesus." Someone must have told her the good news. You will find the following statements in the New Testament (the Scripture references in context are below): "As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee." "And Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy..." "Thy faith hath made thee whole." (This phrase appears 5 times!) "According to your faith be it unto you." "Great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt." "And perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet." For your clicking-and-reading enjoyment, here are the passages of Scripture where Jesus (or in one case, Luke) said that the person's faith (or a household member's faith) was responsible for the healing: The centurion's son -- Matthew 8:5-13 The paralytic -- Matthew 9:2-8, Luke 5:17-26 The woman with the issue of blood -- Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, Luke 8:43-48 Two blind men -- Matthew 9:27-30 The Canaanite woman -- Matthew 15:22-28 Blind Bartimaeus -- Mark 10:46-52, Luke 18:35-43 A leper -- Luke 17:12-19 The lame man at Lystra -- Acts 14:7-10 Now let's look at what happened in a place where the people did not have faith: Matthew 13:54-58 Mark 6:1-6 The Bible does not say that Jesus refused to do many mighty works. It says that Jesus could not do them at Nazareth, and that he marveled at their unbelief. Consider this: Jesus himself, the best preacher ever to walk the earth, could not get many people in the congregation healed because of their unbelief. Here we see the opposite side of the cases where people's faith got them healed. How unfair for unbelieving congregations today to point the finger at the preacher when no signs and wonders occur. Yes, the preacher must believe also, but even if he does, not much will happen in a congregation with a hostile and unbelieving attitude. If Jesus himself could not get results where there was such unbelief, no other preacher can, because the servant is not greater than his master. It is not that God did not want to heal every disease at Nazareth. We know that he did from Psalm 103:1-5 and elsewhere. The same preacher (Jesus) was healing multitudes in other cities. Jesus did not change from one place to another. What the people received depended more upon their faith or their unbelief than it did on Jesus! If that was true then, that is still true today. It is not all up to Jesus. It's not up to God who gets saved or healed; it's up to us. "Whosoever will" can receive salvation and healing. Read the account of the man with the demon-possessed boy in these verses: Matthew 17:14-21 Mark 9:17-29 Luke 9:38-42 Jesus attributed the disciples' failure to their lack of faith. He had already given them power and authority over all devils (Luke 9:1-2), so power was not the issue. They had the power! The issue was not what Jesus could do, but what they could believe. Then the man asked Jesus to do something "if you can do anything." Jesus again made it clear that the issue was not what Jesus could do, but what the man could believe. His answer was: "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." We know that with God nothing shall be impossible (Luke 1:37), but it's not solely an issue of what God or Jesus can do. It's also an issue of what you can believe. In Mark 11:24, Jesus made it clear that you can have whatsoever you desire if you believe that you receive it when you pray. It depends on your faith, not Jesus' faith. This is not a popular teaching these days because many Christians are lazy and do not want to take responsibility for anything. It's so easy just to say that whatever happens is the will of God, and to let the will of Satan be done in your body while saying that it must be God. If it's solely up to God's will, you have no responsibility. Yet Jesus made it clear throughout his ministry that it is up to you, not him, to do something. God is not responsible for any man's failure to receive something that is available to all. This is especially true now that healing has been permanently provided "by his stripes" (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus has done everything he needs to do about your healing. Whether you receive the healing he paid for in his atonement is completely up to you. God can heal you, and God wants to heal you. The only issue is, can you believe it? You can be healed in God's mercy by the gifts of the Spirit operating through another believer. But the best way (and only sure way) to get healed and stay healed is to believe for yourself. Ultimately, it is according to your faith that it will be done unto you!

[thelordwhohealsyou]

Healing in Romans

The Epistles are the letters written to the early churches by apostles. Paul is the author of most of these letters, but others were written by John, Peter, and James. The author of some letters are unknown, such as the book of Hebrews, which has been attributed to various individuals. Some see the Bible as progressive revelation and believe the Epistles are the pinnacle of God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is like reading a novel—you cannot wait to get to the end to see what happens. If you start a novel by reading the ending, as many do, then the suspense is taken away. If all you do is focus on the end, then you miss the journey and you cannot interpret what is happening.

I’ll never forget walking into the movie First Knight with my wife and another couple. It is a movie about King Arthur, a favorite historical character of mine. We came in during the trial scene at the very end of the movie when Prince Malagant tries to take over Camelot. It is a powerful finish to a great movie, but we were left wondering so much. There is no way we could have understood what was happening without coming back to watch the entire movie. The ending had to be interpreted in light of the entirety. The end did not nullify anything that came before, but rather brought conclusion to much of what had taken place. As with many movies, I was left begging for a sequel. What happens to Lancelot and Guinevere? What happens to Camelot? There may have never been a kingdom in history to rival Camelot with respect to honor and nobility, but that is not to say that there cannot be another. Many have sought to learn how to bring unity to a team from Arthur’s humble servant leadership. Some of the most successful corporations today use the same concepts of shared leadership and vision that made Camelot great. Camelot may be fact or it may be fiction. The Bible, on the other hand, is true. Its stories are true. We must learn to replicate it in every facet of our lives.

It is also essential to understand that the Epistles were all written in the context of the book of Acts. This is critical to understanding the teachings of any of the writers. Throughout my training as a student of God’s Word, it was drilled into me that context is king. This means that every passage must be interpreted within its context, including the passages around it, the historical setting, the geographical setting, as well as the rest of Scripture. In the last chapter, we saw much of what was happening in the apostle Paul’s life as he wrote these letters to the churches. He was healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, taking the gospel to the Gentiles, teaching and preaching, and facing many trials in the midst of this journey.

Some would say that Paul didn’t spend much time teaching about healing and, therefore, it either must not have been important or it must not have been something that he wanted to pass along to others. If healing is something that you pursue, in ministry or in the study of Scripture, your understanding of the subject will climax and crystallize under the teachings of Paul, who was able to do the extraordinary miracles. Passages that I had read dozens, if not a hundred times, came alive in such a new dimension as I began to learn that today our ministry casts out evil spirits and sees the sick healed. As I begin the task before me of unveiling the mystery of healing in the Epistles, I am aware that the task is greater than my human ability. I am in desperate need of divine anointing and understanding to lead me. Maybe this is what a director faces when he is producing a great scene like the one just described in First Knight. May I bring honor to the Lord and exceed my human frailties. May our eyes be opened as the story climaxes in the writings of the apostle to truly grasp the masterpiece within them. Amen.

We cannot help but bring our experience—or lack thereof—into our interpretation of Scripture. This was the ruler I used before I experienced the power of God operating in my life: to demean all who would say they believed in the miraculous because they had experienced it. As a student of God’s Word, I had not experienced these things, though I had read and prayed faithfully, served God, and followed Him my entire life. The foundation of this belief was Scripture, and therefore I, as well as the other students like me, could not accept anything anyone said just because of an experience. The one thing we failed to realize was that we were interpreting Scripture through the lens of what we had not experienced. It was like, “We won’t believe until we have seen it with our own eyes.” This is the opposite of faith. It is unbelief, and it was exactly what kept the religious people of Jesus’ day from recognizing the Messiah. They couldn’t do what He did and the disciples did, yet they considered themselves righteous guardians of the truth; therefore they considered the apostles to be heretics.

If our experience does not line up with Scripture, we are not to interpret the Word of God through what we have seen or experienced. Now that I have experienced the power of God, healing, miracles, and signs, I understand the same dilemma from another vantage point. Thanks to my training, I want to find everything in Scripture. There are things that I could not see before because it was difficult for me to see something about healing, since it was like a foreign language to me. Now that it has become my pursuit to understand what the Bible teaches about healing, I have had firsthand experience with this topic that makes it easier to see what I could not see before. It was there all the time; I just couldn’t see it.

Every day, science allows experience to change its belief about the natural world. If you observe something over and over again, even if it goes against your theory or belief system, it will shape your interpretation. “The world is flat.” That was considered an established fact at one time. Everyone knew it. All you had to do was look at the ground around you to know that. Now we know that what was once thought to be fact was incorrect, because the experience that informed that theory was gathered from a weak vantage point. Similarly, many said man could not fly. People had tried and failed. It seemed like there was especially no way that hundreds of people could sit on tons of metal, plastic, wires, and gears to fly for hours across oceans. The possibilities had always been there but were yet undiscovered. Can you imagine when years later someone who had flown a plane reached people who had never flown or even heard it was possible? Can you imagine how hard it would be to convince them of what he had done? Could those same skeptics ever convince the one who had flown that he hadn’t flown? Never! He knew it, even if he couldn’t explain it.

Paul starts the first letter, now the book of Romans, with a powerful passage that interprets for us much of the world around us in light of the chaos and destruction. It fits perfectly with our previous understanding of sickness and its roots. We learn that the gospel is the answer to this chaos when Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’” (Rom. 1:16–17). He is summarizing here much of what we will see ahead. As we understand the gospel, faith, righteousness, the power of God, and salvation, we will understand more of the fulfillment of the Father’s heart and desire. Jesus is our climax, the pinnacle of our faith.

Paul goes on to reveal a very dark picture, the picture of reality. This is the picture I wish movies would paint today. It is very real. It is the true result of sin. He shows the downward spiral that sin and a life separated from God, His Word, and His ways leads to.

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. —ROMANS 1:18

This statement summarizes what Paul is about to say. God loves man; but He hates sin, and sin has consequences. Otherwise, our world would be in even greater shambles. Notice where God’s anger is centered. Is it centered on the men or their deeds? The men are simply guilty of suppressing the truth and participating in the unrighteousness and, therefore, they get in the way of God’s wrath. If it isn’t totally clear already, it will become even clearer that God’s love is overwhelming. He wants men to get out of the way of His wrath and get into His love and protection so much that He sent His only Son for this. But if you participate in unrighteousness you will get in the way of the consequences He has put in motion. That doesn’t mean God hates you, is angry with you, or that He doesn’t love you. Lying is my enemy, and when my kids lie it makes me angry. I love them and don’t for one second stop loving them, but I’m upset with lying and long to separate them from the sin of lying because it will destroy them. I want to stop it; therefore, I give my kids consequences for lying so they will learn to hate lying as much as I do.

In the verses that follow, Paul is helping us to see, that no one is without guilt. God has been speaking to man from the beginning of time. Creation is a letter from God. His divine attributes, His love, and His goodness are all revealed in nature. You can see it in the sunset, all the colors of the birds, the marvel of a rose, the majesty of the mountains, and the splendor of the ocean. This is why Paul says all of us are “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). We see things degenerate from bad to worse. It starts with knowing God but not glorifying Him as God; or being thankful, yet developing futile thoughts and foolish hearts that become darkened. Then it moves on further to professing oneself to be wise, which is really foolishness, and then on to taking the image of God and changing it to make God like us or like nature. Rather than seeing God in nature, some have come to see nature as God. The difference is as vast as the ocean is wide. It is like seeing a person as a pen. You might learn something about the person by looking at his pen, but the pen is totally distinct from the person. It is crazy to make creation, nature, animals, or mankind a god (Rom. 1:19–22).

The result of this foolishness is described in Romans 1:24, “God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lust of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.” God allowed us—you and me and everyone around us—to choose. He allowed us the freedom to follow His perfect way or to choose another, and we have, all throughout our lives, chosen another way many times. When we pursue any lustful desire apart from God’s order, God allows us to choose—knowing what we will experience. Every parent faces that time in our lives when we have to let go. We hope and pray that our children listen to our counsel and make wise choices. Even some of the greatest parents have had to watch a son or daughter learn very difficult lessons the hard way. All of us have tested those lessons from our moms and dads and ended up at some point wishing we had just listened and obeyed. God is willing to parent us, guide us, and protect us, but when we move out, we can choose to follow Him or not. If we do not, then we will certainly face the consequences of our own decisions.

In Romans 1:25, we see that people “exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” Today society calls truth a lie, and lies are our truth. In an age of relativism, the rules have been rewritten so that if you believe it, then it’s true for you. Next we see mankind worshipping creation rather than the Creator. There are those who worship money, cars, sex, women, men, drugs, and other created things. All these things fail us. Again God allows us to keep going, keep running away. He has allowed mankind to go after vile passions like homosexuality, lesbianism, and every other form of unnatural sex. God says that as we do that, we receive the penalty that is due us. A judge may love the person standing in front of him on trial. If the judge is a good judge, however, he will give the same penalty to any guilty person, whether friend, foe, or the unfamiliar.

Then we see things get even worse: “Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting” (Rom. 1:28). Last night a friend who was facing the possible breakup of his marriage told how he had been blinded by his own depression and lust, keeping him from realizing the destructive path he was taking. We had just prayed together the week before, and he didn’t want ministry or counsel. He was infatuated with another woman, who desired to leave her husband and kids just as my friend would leave his wife and kids. Praise the Lord, he said that his eyes were opened one day as he saw the devastation that this would bring, and he now wants help to deal with his issues. He has stopped blaming everything on his wife. My friend didn’t want counsel for a while. He knew the truth, but wanted to forget it, thinking there might be a better way. His story illustrates exactly what the apostle Paul described in Romans 1 except that he woke up in the midst of the downward spiral and turned back to God.

We then read a long, though not exhaustive, list of lies that people are filled with that separate them from God:

God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. —ROMANS 1:28–32

Would you dare take the time to circle the ones that pertain to you? Are you proud that you don’t have any of those? If so, then you probably struggle with pride. Many of these have so permeated our culture that often we cannot even recognize them in ourselves or our friends. Most people who come for ministry, when asked if they hold unforgiveness, say they don’t have any. As we teach or discuss their life, they often become aware of a list of people whom they are holding unforgiveness toward.

Look at the conclusion to this chapter: “Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Rom. 1:32). Here we see that our unrighteousness deserves death. It even states that this is something people instinctively know within themselves. If we do these things or anything else that is not according to God’s way, then we deserve the penalty (Rom. 1:27). If all we eat are bonbons all day, everyday, then we deserve to have our teeth fall out and suffer all the other physical illnesses that a diet of bonbons would cause. In the same way, sin has consequences. God has established our bodies to work in certain ways. He didn’t create them to be bitter, so when someone is bitter, his body doesn’t function as well. If you are a worrier, then your faith in God is not what it should be (a nice way of stating that you are committing the sin of unbelief). Your body was not designed to operate with the chemical reactions that worry, stress, and fear produce within you. Science can give you a pill to deal with the symptoms, but the worry continues, unless you take a pill to numb your senses. There is a better way than treating the symptoms. It is dealing with the root cause.

We have excuses for and give other names to our sin. When our bodies start to shut down, we don’t want to hear if sin is at the root. But we also don’t want the consequences, so we ask God to heal us and then doubt Him when He doesn’t. Or we make God like us—we cannot do anything about sickness, therefore God doesn’t do anything about sickness. We assume it can’t be our sin, since we don’t have any sin because we accepted Jesus. We think to ourselves, “The consequences of my fear, unbelief, bitterness, pride, and greed won’t touch me because I’m a Christian.” The Greek word for that is hogwash. If I drive into a brick wall at 90 miles an hour, the fact that I’m a Christian doesn’t mean it won’t hurt me. I may end up in heaven, but I won’t walk away from that crash barring an extraordinary miracle.

Sin has consequences. Have we heard that before? Does sin have consequences in a Christian’s life? Yes! Does sin affect our bodies? Yes! Has God done anything about that and does His Word teach us about this? Yes! Now it gets really good.

In Romans 2:5–11 we find greater clarity. Through our hard and unrepentant hearts, we store up God’s anger and righteous judgment. God is right to be angry and to judge our sins. It is right that sin has consequences. God’s heart is to give us life, and even abundant life. That is His heart for His children. The writer Paul points out that God is not at all partial. If you are a believer and you sin, the consequences are the same for you as for an unbeliever. If an unbeliever does right, then he will receive the reward of that. If an unbeliever forgives others; eats a healthy diet; doesn’t get fearful, anxious, or worried about life; stays away from the occult; and avoids harmful drugs, he will receive the benefits of those things and can live a relatively peaceful and even joyful life. Someone goes to church every week, asks Jesus to come into his life, and reads his Bible daily will still suffer the consequences of his actions if he harbors unforgiveness; is filled with greed; or gives in to lust, addictions, and gossip. If we don’t trust God and if we worry, stress out, and fear, we will see the effect these things have upon our body. The passage isn’t teaching salvation by works—the belief that by doing enough good, or at least more good than bad, will get a person into heaven. It simply says that no matter who you are, following God’s way works, whether you know God or you don’t. Following God has rewards. Disobedience has consequences. These consequences can even affect our physical bodies.

Medicine can show a direct correlation between our thoughts, attitudes and actions, and our medical well-being. The American Medical Association says that 80 percent of illnesses have no physical root, but are instead caused by psychosomatic sources. In The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person, Dr. McLaughlin of the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia is quoted that 80 percent of illnesses have a spiritual root.1 Medical research has tied many of these illnesses to things like stress, fear, bitterness, hatred, and other factors that we know to be spiritual. Christ can set us free from the sins that we prefer to call “conditions.” We need spiritual answers more than psychological answers. The church has wrongly looked to psychology because they became inept at operating in God’s power and being led by the Holy Spirit to provide spiritual answers to spiritual problems.

Romans 2:13–15 makes it clear that it is not those who hear and know the laws of God—religious people—but those who obey His laws who will be justified. Many people are doing the right things without even knowing they are obeying God. They are simply forgiving because they know it is the right thing to do. They have learned to deal with stress. They may not have a clear understanding of faith; but they have learned how to love others and not hate themselves, to forgive and to be at peace, and therefore they receive the reward of living in accordance with God’s commands, as opposed to someone who knows the truth but does not apply it. Though this passage talks specifically about justification, the same is true of those who have not even studied God’s Word but are doing what is right. They will experience the blessings of God.

Romans 3 powerfully expresses God’s divine strategy for salvation. Let me remind you that the word salvation comes from the Greek word sozo, which means so much more than I ever realized. The word means “whole, healed, and delivered.” It is translated “to be made whole, healed and saved.”2 God is interested in making the entire person whole. Romans 3:9– 20 paints a bleak picture of the scope of human sin. It is totally pervasive. Everyone has been infected by sin; the consequences are all over us. It has led to misery and despair in our lives. The fruit of sin is all around us, and sickness is just one of the many results that abound. There is divorce, murder, lust, rage, envy, greed, violence, hatred, bitterness, and more. Sickness, disease, wars, addictions, depression, suicide, and worse abound as a result.

Then we find the answer to all of this. In the Father’s infinite love, a plan was devised that could turn everything around. Adam and Eve were the only ones to experience a world free from sin and its devastating effects. Once they sinned, the consequences came, and all men have sinned and reaped both the present consequences of sin, as well as the eternal consequences. God the Father made a way to restore righteousness through the greatest act of love ever demonstrated. By God’s amazing grace, He gave Jesus Christ, His only Son, to become a sacrifice that was worthy to cover all our sin and to deal with the devastating consequences of sin. This is why Jesus could forgive men for their sins. He had come to be that onceand-for-all sacrifice. The devastating truth that all of us have sinned and, therefore, are receiving our just punishment has been eclipsed by a greater truth—God loves us and has given the ultimate sacrifice so the effects of our sins can be removed and God’s blessings, both temporal as well as eternal, can be restored. We can be saved, made whole, healed, and set free because of the gift of Jesus’ precious life. Does this have bearing on our healing? You bet it does! This fits the entire theme of Scripture. Take all the benefits; they are all free.

The book of Romans is written to help us understand the Gospels to a greater degree. This book is a rich explanation of the message preached by the New Testament church. We learn the key behind having our sins forgiven. Quoting from the Psalms, we read, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin” (Rom. 4:7–8). The author makes it clear in verse 9 that the key is faith, “For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness” (Rom. 4:9). Chapter 3 made it clear that everyone has sinned and turned from God’s way. Our faith in the finished work of Jesus cleanses us of our sin and restores our righteousness. There is healing in the atonement. Salvation means healing. Did I say that before? I’m repeating it for emphasis. Get it into your thinking. If you say, Jesus saved me, you are saying He has made you whole, healed you, and set you free. If you are not experiencing that fully, it is not because Christ’s death did not provide for your complete salvation, wholeness, healing, and eternal reward. There are many things that Christ has made available to us that we have not appropriated.

This theme is repeated, explained, and emphasized throughout the book of Romans.

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. —ROMANS 5:9–10

Paul’s healing ministry was based upon the truth that the death of Jesus made a way for our sins to be forgiven and for us to be healed, made whole, and saved. In Romans 5:21 we read, “So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Eternal life starts when you receive Jesus. Salvation leads to life, whereas sin leads to death. Jesus reversed the curse by becoming a curse for us. Again, we must appropriate this blessing. It is not automatic.

We go on to learn that once we were slaves of sin that led ultimately to death, but now in Christ we have become servants of righteousness (Rom. 6:16–18). As servants of God, through faith we begin to experience the fruit of righteousness. All the fruit of God’s love and His kingdom come through the channel of our faith in what Christ has done. The ultimate fulfillment of this is eternal life, but part of the atonement is life here and now that is abundant. All the fruit, the fulfilled promises of God, come as a result of placing our faith in Jesus’ finished work of redemption.

There is a daily battle that everyone faces between walking in accordance with God’s will and disobedience to God. Romans 7 paints this honest, real-life picture so well. It is clear in this passage that God’s law is not the problem, but the fact that we fall short of God’s law and sin takes over. Since we face this constant battle of sin, we are constantly faced with the consequences of our sin. Romans 7:24 puts it like this, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” The answer comes in verse 25, “I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Romans 8 is clearly a pinnacle in the expression of how glorious our salvation is. But again, salvation is so much more than just a future provision. The picture we see in Romans 8 is one of a transformation that is both spiritual and physical, coming out of our faith in Christ. Just look at the language of a man who was used to dealing with physical healing, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom. 8:11). Paul is talking about a salvation that is both eternal and present. We in the West tend to think only of eternal salvation. Salvation begins now. It begins with a whole body, mind, and spirit that culminates ultimately in a glorified body.

For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” —ROMANS 8:13–15

The Hebrew word Abba is like our English word “daddy.” Your Daddy wants to bring life to you—body, soul, and spirit. He has adopted you through Christ’s finished work into His family, and within that family your inheritance includes all of the blessings of God. No more bondage, no more fear. Now the Lord has come to bring us life, a wholeness that will transform us now and bring us home one day to ultimate wholeness.

One overriding theme of Romans is our great salvation. Paul expresses his longing for the salvation of the Jews in Romans 10 as he says they have a zeal for God that is not based upon correct knowledge of God, but upon their own righteousness. Paul’s heart is broken for his people. This passage reminds me of when Jesus was surrounded by the religious zealots of His day. They couldn’t receive their healing and forgiveness or recognize the truth when it stared them in the face. They were spiritually blind, selfrighteous, and missed God’s redemptive plan available for them. Salvation —wholeness—is a wonderful gift that we cannot obtain through our own righteousness. It comes “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (Rom. 10:9, NIV).

Read Romans 10:9 again, substituting the phrase made whole for the word saved. It would read, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be made whole. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are made whole.” Or change the translation to read healed. Why not? If this fits what we know of the Father, why isn’t Paul applying the truth of salvation to a broader context of our wholeness of body, mind, and spirit now? Do we struggle with this because our experience tells us that most Christians are not experiencing this wholeness in their entire being?

Well, let’s ask how many Christians are living what Romans 12:1–2 teaches us. Have we offered our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God? Or have we been conformed to this world? Have we been transformed by renewing our mind? I thought that I had been renewed in my mind, and I had never learned about what Jesus taught the disciples in regard to healing or casting out evil spirits. In Romans 12:9–21 we find a higher standard than the Law. If we apply the principles of love stated in these verses, we would experience so much healing. We see devotion, honor, brotherly love, spiritual fervor, joyful hope, patience in affliction, faithful prayer, benevolence, hospitality, and then it really gets interesting. Beginning in verse 14 we read, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (NIV). In just the last week I had a Christian wife tell me there was no way she could bless her husband because of how he spends money. I once heard a pastor say he would throw up if he had to bless his mother. How can we be whole if we can’t live the Christian life? Was Paul being facetious and asking us to do something that was impossible so that God’s grace and forgiveness could be more evident? Or did he mean literally what he said? Further on we read, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil . . . .If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink” (Rom. 12:17, 20, NIV). We think that our enemies are those who hate God. Most of the time the person who we treat as an enemy is the wife we blame for our misery or a parent who has wounded us or our next door neighbors who play their music too loud. Our enemy can be anyone who upsets us, knowingly or unknowingly. Forgiveness is only the first step. If we cannot take the step of forgiving those who have hurt us and fail to bless them, serve them, or pray for them, we won’t receive the blessings God wants to give us. If we do the things written in these verses, we will find that God hears our prayers, our spirit will soar, and our bodies will experience the fruit of God’s kingdom.

In Romans 13 this theme continues with the admonition to honor and submit to those in authority over us. If we fail to do this, we are told we will bring judgment on ourselves (Rom. 13:2). Who brings on the judgment? We do, by our sin. What is God’s way? “‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:9–10). Love is the key to fulfilling God’s Law, and everyone in Paul’s audience is aware of all the blessing attached to obedience. God’s blessings are what the Father has desired to give us from the beginning of time. Christ has made the blessings possible for us who believe. Belief and faith are evidenced by our work. If we do the works of the Father, then we show that we believe.

As Paul moves on toward the close of his letter to the Romans, he reminds us of the context of all He has said: “By the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. . . . It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known (Rom. 15:19– 20, NIV). Paul sets the foundation for the validity of His ministry—the power of signs and miracles. Paul imitated Jesus in message and ministry and called others to imitate him as he imitated Christ. The power of God validated his ministry. It is this context that adds to our understanding of his teaching. Paul in no way stated that He alone has this as a sign of his ministry. He in no way anywhere stated that these factors that validated his ministry were unique to him or his era, which would end. He was simply stating that these miracles were a validation of his ministry.

If this were a standard of our imitation of Christ or of our ministry, where would you rate? This is not intended to condemn, but to motivate. If it is possible to find the keys and apply them like Paul in order to see the same results today, shouldn’t we press on? If our ministry doesn’t meet this standard, is it right to then develop a theology that makes us more comfortable with our mediocrity? Isn’t that what we have done? Out of a lack of experience, have we sought explanations and developed belief systems that actually work against a biblical faith and ministry? Could it be that a greater understanding of the fullness of the gospel and our salvation would lead to greater faith and, thus, greater miracles, signs, and wonders? I believe that every miracle and sign we see from Paul related to either someone being healed or an evil spirit being cast out. Some would try to spiritualize and say that Paul is really referring here to souls, but nothing in all of God’s Word would support that.

One final note that leapt from this letter to the Romans is in Paul’s closing comments to individuals, where we read, “Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles” (Rom. 16:7, NIV). It would seem that there are two other apostles whom we know nothing about. Who are these two and what made them great among the apostles? If these two are mentioned as apostles, how many more like them are never spoken of? I bring this up because some have argued that the miracles ceased with the death of the last apostles. But if new apostles kept springing up, when was the last one alive? That is a ridiculous question. No one can point to a passage where we are told that any of the gifts will end or did end. In the next chapter, we will address the one passage in 1 Corinthians 13 that some falsely use to say the gifts have ceased.

Summary

Praise God that He has not stopped loving us as a daddy. God the Father is our loving Father and Daddy, who delights to do miracles, heal our infirmities, and cleanse us of all our sin. He has provided all of this through Jesus’ death on the cross. If we live with less, it is not His fault. The greatest sacrifice of all time came at a high price and is more valuable than any of us could ever imagine. Our inheritance is just waiting for us to receive it and walk in it. You can be whole in body, soul, and spirit.

The atonement is the foundation for effective healing ministry. Healing is part of the blessing of God that was lost as a result of our sin. Christ came to destroy the curse and paid the highest price to bring the blessing of God to bear in our lives. Just as to receive salvation one must confess his or her sins, repent, and place faith in Jesus Christ, so our healing comes when we recognize our sin, take responsibility for it, confess it, repent, and call to God by faith. Paul masterfully expresses the wonder of God’s atonement in the context of a ministry that was filled with healing, signs, and wonders. Generational curses are broken, the curse of our own sin is broken, our sins can be washed away, and all of the blessings of God are at our disposal. In fact, your Father loves you and longs to lavish that love upon you.

Questions

In Romans 1:28–32 what in the list of sins would you say is rampant in the church today?

Does sin have consequences in a Christian’s life? Does sin affect our bodies? Has God done anything about that, and does His Word teach us about it?

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (Rom. 12:14, NIV). How can we be whole if we can’t live the Christian life? Was Paul being facetious and asking us to do something that was impossible so that God’s grace and forgiveness could be more evident? Or did he mean literally what he said?

“By the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. . . . It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known” (Rom. 15:19–20, NIV). If it is possible to find the keys and apply them like Paul in order to see the same results today, shouldn’t we press on? If our ministry doesn’t meet this standard, is it right to then develop a theology that makes us more comfortable with our mediocrity? Isn’t that what we have done?

Out of a lack of experience, have we sought explanations and developed belief systems that actually work against a biblical faith and ministry?

Could it be that a greater understanding of the fullness of the gospel and our salvation would lead to greater faith and, thus, greater miracles, signs, and wonders?

[thelordwhohealsyou]

James on Healing

James 5:14–16 (NIV) gives us the closest thing to a ministry plan when he says:

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up; If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

From this passage, we can build an outline to follow when ministering to the sick:

Call the elders of the church to pray over the sick person and anoint him or her with oil. This doesn’t limit prayer ministry to elders since there is nowhere else in scripture that puts this as a limitation.

Pray in faith—praying isn’t enough; our prayer must be from a position of faith. I don’t want an elder to lay hands on me who doesn’t have faith for healing.

Have the person confess his or her sin. This is not easy for anyone to do in a group or even to an individual, but it can be the key for someone’s healing.

Pray for the sick. Prayer is mentioned for a third time here. Do you think Paul is making a point that we need to be praying for the sick?

Many of the keys of healing are in this one passage. First, we see unity in prayer as elders come together to pray. Notice he didn’t say to gather apostles to pray. Is Paul limiting this ministry to elders? Many elders in many churches have no understanding of healing, but hold a position because of their financial well-being or their business sense. Many people with spiritual anointing are passed over by churches in the selection of eldership. James wasn’t limiting this to elders. He was suggesting that true elders should be the most qualified to pray for the sick. What qualifies us to pray for and receive healing is Christ’s finished work.

There is power in the corporate anointing. Nearly every healing required someone to pray for another who was sick. Prayer is vital to one’s healing, and faith is a vital ingredient in effective prayer ministry. The oil James instructed us to use when we pray represented the Holy Spirit, as well as served as a healing ointment. Sin must be dealt with, though it is not always the root. Any one of these elements that is missing can affect the outcome of the prayer ministry. It is helpful to have a ministry plan and a model. Lord, Heal Me, vol. 2, will contain some helpful models. The best model is the one Jesus used.

The tenor of Scripture is not to give us formulas, and even this one set out by James lacks some of the keys that permeate the Word of God. The bottom line is that we must learn to abide in the Father, hear His voice, and do what the Father tells us to do. If the person you are praying for is holding unresolved sin, then God may not hear his or her prayer. If there isn’t enough faith, then the healing won’t come. What if there is a spirit of infirmity that is never cast out of a person? One key James doesn’t list here is an element which Jesus found vital in one-half of the healing encounters in the Gospels: casting out evil spirits.

[thelordwhohealsyou]

Paul’s Infirmity

The passage in Galatians 4:12–16 has led to much speculation as to what the apostle Paul’s infirmity was. How could the great healer be sick? He healed others, but he could not pray for himself? Paul writes to the Galatians, asking, “You have done me no wrong. As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. What has happened to all your joy? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (NIV).

It is important to understanding this passage to look at the meaning of the word used for illness which is asyeneia or astheneia, which comes from the root word asyenhv or asthenes, which means “weak.”2 Paul is actually talking about a weakness. One possibility is that he has an illness, but it is not at all necessary for this to be the translation. This interpretation of the word would be more consistent with a theme that Paul has addressed numerous times previously—boasting of his weakness and using it as a mark of strength that God can use him in his weakness. (See 1 Corinthians 2:3; 4:10; 9:22; 2 Corinthians 10:10; 11:21, 29; 12:9–10; 13:4, 9.) The same word is translated differently in another passage.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. — 2 CORINTHIANS 12:9–10, EMPHASIS ADDED

The normal theme of Paul’s expression of this word seems to be regarding weakness as opposed to infirmity, or illness. Paul is using the same word, but the translators are switching from infirmities to weakness. 1 Paul wasn’t boasting in being sick. He was boasting in the power that operated in his life in spite of the fact that he was weak and frail within himself. This was a humble man who was used mightily of God, letting other weak and frail people know that it wasn’t him who was powerful; it was Christ within him.

As we examine the events of Paul’s life, we see that he could have come to Galatia in need of recovery. As we saw earlier, Paul faced stoning, beatings of various kinds, and much more suffering for the gospel’s sake. It is likely that whatever was ailing Paul, whether it was just his natural human weakness or a real infirmity, had something to do with physical impairment. It is also likely that whatever this impairment was, it had come at the hands of an enemy of the gospel. It would seem that when you add up all that Paul went through, he had to have experienced divine healing to be able to go on in ministry. Not all sickness has a spiritual root.

Not all sickness is tied to a demon. Not all healing is tied to faith. There is no doubt that Paul had great faith. Whatever this weakness or illness was, it was not healed at this point. Many have suggested that Paul’s reference to their willingness to pluck out their own eye and give it to him was a reference to his illness having to do with his eyes (Gal. 4:12–16). This could be a likely explanation, as an eye injury would be a potential outcome from one of the beatings and stonings Paul suffered. We all have scars from accidents or injuries, whether from our own hand, that of a friend, or of an enemy. Nearly all of the apostles died at the hands of the enemies of the gospel. Jesus died at the hands of those who hated the truth. God doesn’t always heal those wounds or protect us from others. In fact, He promised we would face those types of troubles.

[thelordwhohealsyou]

What About Job?

In the case of Job, we see a unique situation. As we know, Satan came before God and asked permission to afflict Job. Job faced more devastation than anyone I’ve ever heard of. He was a righteous man, yet all the devastation of the curses came on his entire family, as well as his own body. Job’s friends believed the curses were brought on by Job’s sin. His wife wanted him to curse God and die (Job 2:9). God was silent for a long time. When God finally did respond to Job’s questioning of why all the awful things had happened, God answered Job with His own amazing set of questions, which highlight the fact that God’s ways are not our ways. He is high above us, and He is good, just, and right. The great news in Job’s case is that everything was restored to Job, and then some. The only thing that wasn’t restored was the children he had lost. He was given new children, but any parent knows you can’t replace a child. As believers, we do know he saw all his children again.

Fear is powerful. Job 3:25 has led some to believe fear is what opened the door of opportunity for Satan to attack Job: “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me.” This highlights the fact that Job had great fear and dread. Was this Job’s sin? God didn’t highlight it when He had a chance. Fear is a worthy subject in the study of healing, but we cannot make any firm conclusions from the book of Job regarding the effects of his fear on his condition, especially because his was a unique situation. What is clear is that fear is powerful, and often what we fear comes upon us as a result of our fear. It has massive effects upon our bodies. It keeps us from so much.

Fear, which is a sin, is the opposite of faith. Fear works powerfully against us, but the Lord gives us the resources to be rid of fear and its effects. First John 4:18 tells us: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”

It is critical that I take a moment to clarify something here which needs to be said. Although the overwhelming majority of Scripture links sickness, disease, and infirmity with our sin, this is not always the case. In the case of Job, the Lord was more upset with Job’s friends, who continued to insinuate that some sin of Job’s was the root of His problems, than He was with Job. We know that in the case of Job, Satan came before God and asked for permission to test Job. What many teach is that God allows these things into our lives to teach us and to strengthen us. They say we need to be thankful for our illnesses and accept them from God. However, so far in our reading about healing in the Old Testament, we have not found that to be true, nor will we find it in scriptures to come.

The difficulty with that line of reasoning comes with those who, like the blind man in John 9, did not sin, nor did their parents sin, and yet they have the effects of the curse operating in their lives. Jesus still healed the blind man, just as God restored Job. What do we do with the myriad of people around the world who are injured or have some other debilitating condition they were born with? There are some famous people whom God has used powerfully as a result of an accident and overcoming their physical adversity. Does Scripture suggest that they are less spiritual because they have not been healed? No! Nor does it teach us to accept our infirmity as a gift from God. My heart breaks for all those who have come to accept infirmities that God wants to heal. Many people take all kinds of medicine and pay tens of thousands of dollars to doctors but will not seek their healing from God. I’m shocked how often people insinuate that giving someone hope is cruel. The reason they feel that way is that they believe it is false hope. Many have been taught that God has brought illness into their lives for His purpose and that He is using it to teach them something. God can use anything and continually teaches us through everything. What I believe God is trying to teach us is that if we deal with the root causes of our illness we will be well. Yes, that builds character, but God didn’t give us the sickness in order to build character. In many instances it is our lack of character that opened the doorway to the sickness, and only God’s work in us will bring wholeness and close the doorway to the enemy. For Job and for some today this is not the case. Job appears to represent a special circumstance through which God is teaching us as much about His sovereignty and His trust in Job, as He is about healing—regardless of whether or not his troubles were caused by something he did or didn’t do.

Sickness, pain, and all the other curses were not part of God’s original design. They all came as a result of the Fall. Christ, as we will see in the New Testament, has done everything necessary to destroy the curses. Sometimes the answers are not easy and not readily discernable. Why do some suffer, and why are they not all healed? One reason is that those who are praying for them have not learned how to use God’s keys as found in Scripture that bring healing. Another is that they have not learned how to pray effective healing prayers. That may sound accusatory, but it is not. I cannot rebuild a carburetor, because no one has ever taught me. I’m sure I could learn how if I wanted to. Don’t come to me if you need your carburetor repaired. Does that mean I’m not really saved or not as spiritual as someone else? No. Just because I’m born again and know how to pray doesn’t mean I know how to repair a carburetor. Just because someone is saved and can pray doesn’t mean they are effective or knowledgeable when it comes to praying for the sick. We can all learn and become more effective with our prayers. It takes humility to admit, “I don’t know how to pray for sick people effectively. But let’s learn how!”

Sometimes God doesn’t heal, and no one can tell you all the reasons why. God answers Job’s questions with more questions than Job asked. Find your answers in the Bible or trust the Lord that He is faithful and the answers will come when you see Him face to face. I encourage people to not give up on their miracle. Don’t just accept your condition. If you’ve been prayed for by ten people don’t stop! The eleventh person might have the key to unlock your healing.

Also, don’t just chase everything out there. Many people have unknowingly tried occult medical treatments, not knowing that they were of occultist origin. The occult opens the door to Satan. Much of holistic and homeopathic medicine has occultist origins. Instead, seek healing from the Lord, His Word, and people who have experience in biblical healing. If you cannot find the healing method in Scripture then be very cautious. Many have unknowingly opened the doorway to evil, even in Christian circles, by getting involved in healing methods that were actually occult-based.

[thelordwhohealsyou]

Pagan Spiritualist Prescription for Healing

In 1 Samuel 6:3 we find that even the Philistines had learned that Jehovah was the healer. The Philistines had stolen the ark of the covenant, and as a result they had tumors, believed to be a form of the bubonic plague, along with an infestation of rats. It was their own pagan priests and diviners who told them about the God of Israel: “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty; but by all means return it to Him with a trespass offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.” These pagan kings knew where their infirmity had come from and who could heal it. They had more faith in the God of the Bible than many people today. They believed that they would be healed only if He were appeased. In their own way they sought to repent and ask for forgiveness. They made a sacrifice to God, placed it into the ark, and sent the ark back to Israel. After they did this, the Philistines were healed. It would seem that even when a pagan is willing to turn from the sin that is leading to his illness and repent, healing is possible.

Richard Mull, Lord Heal Me: A Biblical Foundation for Modern Healing Ministry; Creation House (2008).

[thelordwhohealsyou]

Healing of Hannah’s Womb

Samuel’s birth to Hannah confirmed the miraculous healing of her womb. In 1 Samuel 1 the story is told of Hannah’s plight. We are not told why Hannah could not have children, only that the Lord had closed up her womb. As a result of this condition, Peninnah, Elkanah’s other wife, mocked Hannah and grieved her to the point that she was depressed and couldn’t eat. In her desperation for healing, Hannah went to the temple year after year and fasted and prayed to God for her womb to be healed and for God to give her a son. Eli the priest thought she was drunk since he was not accustomed to seeing prayers of desperation like Hannah’s. She was making a vow to God to dedicate her son to God for his entire life when Eli came into the temple. After learning of her request from God, Eli told Hannah to go in peace because the Lord had heard her cry for help.

Here we see the role of desperate prayer and fasting in healing. Hannah also displayed perseverance in prayer. We often try praying and figure that if God wanted to answer it we would only need to pray a quick prayer. This doesn’t line up with biblical prayers that avail much. God is looking for faith. Hannah was exercising her faith. She was praying without ceasing. God pays attention to desperation. So often our prayers lack fervency, urgency, and determination to never give up. God more readily answers prayers like the prayers of Hannah, which were filled with holy desperation and a faith that believes God is the only answer.

Richard Mull, Lord Heal Me: A Biblical Foundation for Modern Healing Ministry; Creation House (2008).

[thelordwhohealsyou]

A certain Reformed celebrity once said, “The greatest blessing of the gospel is salvation. If you want to get rich, go to work.” Rather than being hailed as one of the brightest and most godly minds in Christendom, such a man should be removed from the ministry for preaching two gods. For him, we must turn to God for salvation and turn to work to get rich. But to place work as a source of wealth that sustains itself apart from the gospel, that is, from God’s gracious covenant, is to affirm dualism.

— André de Mattos Duarte, Whatever You Do: Outlining a True Biblical Theology of Material Prosperity.

[thelordwhohealsyou]

“There is no record of someone who came to Jesus in faith and failed to receive. Everyone who asked in faith was healed. On the other hand, the Bible says that when there was unbelief, Jesus did not do many miracles (Matthew 13:58, Mark 6:5-6). If the main purpose of miracles was to prove himself, then he should have done more miracles when there was unbelief. But the opposite happened. God performs most miracles in response to faith, not in response to desperation or skepticism.”

— Vincent Cheung, Cessationism: Worse than Nazareth.

[thelordwhohealsyou]

Healing and Discipline

The issue of biblical healing is related to several areas of Christian life that are not immediately obvious, such as ecclesiastical discipline.

Paul says that the excommunicated is “delivered to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh”. By declaring that a member of the church is a pagan, we are formally withdrawing him from the government and the privileges of God’s grace and returning him to the devil's domain, which is where it came from. And what happens with this “deported” is that, under Satan, he suffers the “destruction of the flesh”. This is what we see throughout the New Testament: demonic possession or oppression causing illness, injury and widespread degradation ( Luke 13.16; Acts 10.38 ).

The purpose of this deportation is for the soul of the excommunicated to be saved. Suffering the effects of Satan's power, he may come to repent and return to Christ, and thus be received into the church again.

Now, it only makes sense if the church is an environment of miraculous healing. It only makes sense if submission to Christ’s government is notoriously healthier, more lucid and with far fewer illnesses. Otherwise, what difference would it make to hand someone over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, if destruction was already normal in the church itself? If illness, depression and premature death are as normal in the church as in the world, then what changes with excommunication? Of course, you can claim that there are several other benefits to being in the church and not outside it, but we are specifically dealing with Paul’s argument here in 1 Corinthians 5.

If the excommunicated was already destroyed in the church and seeing everyone around him destroyed, then what difference does it make for him to return to the ever sinful lifestyle? Why would he miss the Christian life? Perhaps he feels much more relieved that he no longer has to listen about how the disease is a blessing, or how noble it is to suffer and suffer for any reason. Exclusion from supper? Oh really? Will the mundane be led to regret because of the lack of a dry bread crumb and 5ml of grape juice? Let there be illusion…

The church is the home of spiritual, mental and physical healing for all nations. There should be much more healing in churches than there is in hospitals, clinics and offices. If there is no cure, then the excommunicated will not remember a Jesus who heals, and his spirit will not be saved on the Lord’s Day. His blood will be on the hands of those who “have disciplined.”

— André de Mattos Duarte

[thelordwhohealsyou]

Jumping off a building would be tempting God, as Jesus indicated. But eating all kinds of food is not tempting God. Paul himself said that all that God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if received with thanksgiving. He is not talking about health there, but spiritual cleanliness, but it is still true that it would not be to tempt God to eat all kinds of food, or Paul would not be able to say this. Now that does not mean we should deliberate eat what we think is poison -- that would be tempting God. But if in the process of eating all kinds of food, we ingest something that we do not know is usually poison, we have a right to expect protection, even health benefits from it. Because no object has inherent properties apart from God, but each thing is what God makes of it at the moment. He is usually consistent in what he makes each item do, but he is not required to make each item act the same way in every instance.

Watch out for presumption -- I mean assuming that you have faith when you don't, or acting a certain way because of excitement over a teaching before you actually have the faith to live that way. However, it is indeed possible to override. Consider the example I gave of the preacher who became immune to poison ivy: [https://www.vincentcheung.com/2016/05/25/the-extreme-faith-teacher/][https_www.vincentcheung.com_2016_05_25_the-extreme-faith-teacher]. Presumption is a real problem in some people, and sometime they end up being disappointed or even bring shame to the teachings of Christ. So make sure that you grow your faith to your level of excitement and expectation.

If we are not even talking about deliberately eating poison or jumping off a cliff, but only freely eating what we want? Even that is tempting God? No, that's just stupid. In fact, Paul calls that the doctrine of demons. See 1 Timothy 4.

— Vincent Cheung. From email.

[thelordwhohealsyou]

I visited a woman who had been suffering for many years. She was all twisted up with rheumatism and had been two years in bed. I said to her, “What makes you lie here?” She said, “I’ve come to the conclusion that I have a thorn in the flesh.” I said, “To what wonderful degree of righteousness have you attained that you have to have a thorn in the flesh? Have you had such an abundance of divine revelations that there is danger of your being exalted above measure?” She said, “I believe it is the Lord who is causing me to suffer.” I said, “You believe it is the Lord’s will for you to suffer, and you are trying to get out of it as quickly as you can. There are doctor’s bottles all over the place. Get out of your hiding place and confess that you are a sinner. If you’ll get rid of your self-righteousness, God will do something for you. Drop the idea that you are so holy that God has got to afflict you. Sin is the cause of your sickness and not righteousness. Disease is not caused by righteousness, but by sin.”

There is healing through the blood of Christ and deliverance for every captive. God never intended His children to live in misery because of some affliction that comes directly from the devil. A perfect atonement was made at Calvary. I believe that Jesus bore my sins, and I am free from them all. I am justified from all things if I dare believe. He Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses; and if I dare believe, I can be healed.

— Smith Wigglesworth, On Prayer, Power, and Miracles (2006) compiled by Roberts Liardon. 1st ed. p. 188.

[thelordwhohealsyou]

Faith never waits to see before it believes. It "cometh by hearing" about "things not seen as yet." It "is the evidence of things not seen." All that a man of faith needs is to know that God has spoken. This imparts perfect certainty to the soul. "Thus saith the Lord" settles everything. "It is written" is all that faith needs.

Faith always blows the ram's horn before, not after, the walls are down. Faith never judges according to the sight of the eyes. It is the evidence of things not seen but promised. Faith rests on far more solid ground than the evidence of the senses. It is the Word of God, which "abideth forever." Our senses may deceive us, but God's Word never!

— F. F. Bosworth. Christ the Healer. Baker Books House, 2000, pgs. 93-94.

[thelordwhohealsyou]

When people say to me, "I do not know that it is God's will to heal me," I ask them, "Is it God's will to keep His promise?" It is not, Have I faith enough? but, Is God honest? It is not a question of how we feel, but what the facts are. Should the little girl get sick the next day, and feel badly, it has nothing to do with her mother buying her the new dress on Saturday The Scriptures say, "If we ask anything according to his will he heareth us." Is this true or not?

Does God answer prayer? If you will steadfastly "believe that ye receive" (Mark 11:24) the answer to your prayer, and act your faith, every one of you will be healed, though not always instantly.

God always moves after our move. This is the acting out of a "full assurance" produced alone by His promise before we see the answer to our prayer. Since healing is by faith, and "faith without works is dead," it is when we begin to act our faith that God begins to heal.

— F. F. Bosworth, Christ the Healer. Baker Books House, 2000, pgs. 98-99.

[thelordwhohealsyou]

Now, in Mark 11:24, Jesus tells us exactly how to appropriate any of the blessings purchased for us by His death. Having promised all that we need, He says, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray." This does not mean after you pray for twenty years. It is not after you get well, but while you are sick. "When ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." The condition of receiving what we ask from God is to believe that He answers our prayers when we pray and that we "shall recover" according to His promise.

When you pray for healing, Christ authorizes you to consider your prayer answered. It is the same as when He stood at the grave of Lazarus and said, "I thank thee, Father, that thou hast heard me," before He saw Lazarus come forth from the grave. When we ask for healing, Christ bids us say, with faith, "I thank Thee, Father, that Thou hast heard me," before we have yet seen the answer to our prayer.

Faith is when God's Word alone is our reason for believing that our prayer is answered, before we see or feel.

F. F. Bosworth, Christ the Healer. Baker Books House, 2000, p. 97.