Sections:
1. Healing and the Will of God2. Healing In The New Testament
3. God's Will Is For Us To Be Healthy
4. Wholeness For the Whole Person
5. Sickness Is An Enemy Of The Will Of God
Healing and the Will of God
When we started in ministry some forty years ago, we used to pray for the sick "Lord heal this person. If it be thy will." Then we would cover ourselves by adding "If it be not thy will, please do not make the funeral too expensive..." If the sick person died, it was "the will of God." If the person recovered, it was "the will of God." We covered all our bases!!
The trouble was, that I could not find this kind of prayer in the bible!
This kind of prayer required very little faith and the Lord Jesus seemed to heal by word of prophetic command rather than by this method. For instance, the Lord would say to the sick, "Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way"(Mark 10:52).
One night in Newry, Northern Ireland, I was faced with a crisis. Violent men came into the meeting, intent on doing mischief. There was a little girl there, who suffered from loss of sight, and she wanted God to do a miracle in her life. I knew that if I did not get an instant miracle, I would be in serious trouble. One of our team, a pig farmer, suddenly found divine oil appear on his hands. He felt the power of God was present to heal, so he boldly went up to the girl and commanded her to be made well "in the Name of Jesus." God healed her instantly. This immediate miracle led not only to our deliverance from violence, but caused one hundred and twenty people to find salvation in Christ!
This experience forced me to come to this important conclusion: Jesus healed the sick, rather than just pray for them! Jesus did it by prophetic revelation, depending on the Father to show Him what to do. The word spoken in God's power, not only showed a state of affairs, but could also produce creative results.
For instance He only covered one of the three thousand waiting to be healed at the Pool of Siloam. When asked why He did this, he explained it in terms of His dependence on prophetic vision. John 5:19 says, "Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."
Immediately however, I was faced with another problem. People in many churches were being taught that they should not seek God's supernatural healing. This was because they believed illness to be "God's chastening." I pondered this problem and I had a surprising observation about the people who held to this theology. They were told not pray and seek God for healing, but at the same time, they were advised to call the doctor to make them better! They did not seem aware of the apparent conflict built into this. How could the sick be told to go to a doctor instead of God when the sickness was deemed to be God's chastening? How did the sick know that they were not fighting God in seeking a doctor? Why shouldn't they pray for God to give them more sickness since they valued it as God's touch on their lives?
I decided to study what the bible taught about God's will in healing, since prophecy and divine healing must operate under the guidance of the Scripture. I believe that better understanding of the bible gives us a real basis for the prayer of faith that can heal the sick (James 5:15). Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." That is why I turned to God's word to see what He had to say on this subject. And the word of God was very clear on it. Both the Old and New Testaments made it clear that God is a healing God.
The Old Testament Shows God As A Healer
In the Old Testament I found there is a definite promise to those trusting God. Psalms 91:10 states, "There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." The late Rees Howells proved this in Africa during the 1918 flu plague, when everybody in his compound under the protection of God, was safe from the flu epidemic. But at the same time, the heathen were dying like flies all around.
I also noticed that health, and not sickness, is normal for those who seek God. Those who are actively seeking God and chastening themselves by fasting were promised health, not sickness. Isa. 58:8 says, "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward."
In fact it was part of God's nature to heal and forgive those that obeyed Him, not to make them sick. This seemed to be conclusive proof that God wanted His people to be healed! Psalms 103:2-3 tells us, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases."
Furthermore, when His people were sick in the Old Testament, they seemed to pray with evident expectation of healing from God. I found this to be true, even in those prophets who were open to depression, like Jeremiah: "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise" (Jer. 17:14).
Not only that -- God promised healing for the whole nation of Israel, when they had been delivered from Egypt, as long as they obeyed Him! This was done on the basis of God's name and nature as a healer! We see this in Exodus 15:26, "And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee."
My mother read this promise, when my brother was in the hospital due to have brain surgery for hydrocephalus. That caused her to immediately sign him out of the hospital instead of letting him go through surgery, because she believed God spoke to her to do so. Two men died subsequently in that hospital under the same operation. But my bother was healed by the power of God! In fact, he has recently retired from teaching Art in Canada. This healing has lasted over forty years!!
Health and healing are a covenant promise which God has no intention of breaking. The bible clearly sets this out for all people obeying God who come under the blessings which He promised to King David and his descendants. Psalms 89:33, "Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." And Psalms 89:34 promises, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips."
If this was true under the old covenant (Old Testament) how much more under the new covenant (New Testament) which has better promises (Hebrews 8:6)? In fact, even in the Old Testament, God healed many like Naaman, who were by not even in any sort of covenant relationship to Him. We see Naaman's story starting in 2 Kings 5:1-2, "Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife."
I noticed in this story the positive attitude of the little maid that had been hurt and captured by Naaman. I also saw her great statement of faith in God's prophet, when nobody in Israel had actually been healed of this disease (Luke 4:27) according to the comment of the Lord Jesus himself on this incident. One individual child of God may, even then have tied prophetic healing therefore, to attitudes of forgiveness and faith!
Some Bible Scholars Have Objections To Healing
After seeing these things however, I was immediately challenged by some bible teachers, that some Old Testament teaching did not fit this picture. Let me share two of them with you.
WHAT ABOUT JOB?
They suggested that God had made Job sick, in order to chasten him and do a spiritual work in his life. When I read the bible more carefully, however, I came up with some amazing conclusions:
First, Job's sickness was the work of the devil, not the work of God. We see this in Job 2:6, "And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life." In other words, God allowed his sickness, but it was instigated by the Devil, who accused Job of only serving God for what he got out from Him. God, who knew Job better than Satan, allowed this test to reveal what was already in Job's heart, not to change his character! Those believers who only serve God for what they get out of Him will not respond to these difficult tests in the positive way that Job did!
Second, Job's sickness is called "a captivity" in Job 42:10: "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before."
Notice that sickness is not called "a blessing" even under the Old Testament! In fact, the main blessings for the Nation of Israel were quite the opposite. Israel's salvation and deliverance included deliverance not only from Egypt, but also from all sickness and feebleness among the tribes. Psalms 105:37 tells us, "He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes."
This would seem to mean that not only did God deliver and heal the Nation, but that He was able to keep them healthy! In the case of Job, he died an old and healthy man (Job 42:17)! The Epistle of James exhorts us to hang on to this most important fact (James 5:11).
WHY DOES GOD WOUND AS WELL AS HEAL?
To be fair, however, the Old Testament talks of God "wounding" as well as healing (Deut. 32:39). Here we need a careful balance of what the bible teaches: wounding is from disobedience and going after other gods. For instance, Deut. 32:37-38 says, "And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you, and be your protection."
Sickness can come in where sin has taken place. The bible teaches that God is ultimately responsible for everything. Even the Devil can only do what God permits! Some people teach that "God is good" and the "devil is bad." This may be accurate ... but it also leaves room for a thought that both are equal as well as opposite. This I have seen as a danger over the last forty years of global ministry, because many people are left with "two gods" instead of One! Be careful of the dichotomy of good God and bad devil equal in power. God can use the devil to make people sick but He is still on the throne of Heaven!
Healing In The New Testament
In our last lesson, we looked at how the Old Testament shows God to be a healing God. What might we conclude from this Old Testament study?
First, sickness is not the usual work of God. Isaiah 28:21 tells us, "For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon-- that He may do His work, His awesome work, and bring to pass His act, His unusual act." Normally a person can expect God to heal. It takes special prophetic revelation for the contrary to happen -- where all too often, the contrary has been taught to explain why healings do not take place. In point of fact, healing power was not lost to the Church because God is withdrawing it. Rather it is lost through disobedience to His laws and holiness.
Second, we conclude that those who fear His name will have healing. Malachi 4:2 tells us, "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall." I had a believer friend who was a framer in Co Fermanagh, Ireland. He read this promise when he was in the hospital with tuberculosis (TB). He felt a prophetic anointing on these words, so he signed himself out of hospital. Two days later, on the back of a horse on his own farm, the disease left him, and it has never come back in the last thirty years!
Third, we conclude that God demonstrates His will to heal by healing which comes through His prophetic words, not merely through their prayer. Proverbs 4:22, "For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh."
The New Testament Shows Christ As A Healer
As I studied healing in the life of Jesus, I came to an amazing realization: Jesus did not pray for the sick, He healed them through His word!
The Gospels reveal God's will is "healing in Christ" in the New Testament. In this context, I discovered that Christ, the living Word, perfectly reveals God's will. If it were not God's will to heal all, why do we read that Christ went throughout Israel healing all? Matthew 4:23-24 says, "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And His fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them."
Christ linked His work with the Old Testament revelation of God as the Healer. Matthew 8:16-17 says, "When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils: and He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 'Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.'" The New Testament verse quotes Isaiah 53:4, which says, "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." We see this same theme repeated in 1 Peter 2:24, "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."
A woman came into one of our meetings in Northern Ireland. She walked out of the hall, before I had finished teaching. "Why are you leaving?" I called out. "I have just realized," she replied, "that if He carried my sickness as well as my sins on the Cross, then I do not have to carry them as well. I immediately found that my legs were healed and now I am able to walk without pain ..." (That is one way to avoid long sermons and appeals for offerings!)
In fact, reading the New Testament again, found there are more references to Christ healing the sick, than His forgiving sinners. This brings a tremendous challenge to a Church which limits itself to "preaching the Gospel" including only deliverance from sin! "He Himself" implies that healing the sick is more demanding of faith in that it provides visible proof of forgiveness. We see this demonstrated in Matthew 9:5-8, "For whether is easier, to say, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee'; or to say, 'Arise, and walk?' But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith He to the sick of the palsy), arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose, and departed to his house. But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men."
Christ never avoided the challenge to demonstrate this power. Should we avoid this challenge today? Is God just interested in saving souls from Hell and not rescuing bodies from sickness? Is there anything too hard for Him? Are there limits to what He can do through His followers today?
Christ revealed God's will by healing all classes of disease. Let's look at a few examples from the book of Matthew:
Matt. 9:35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.Matt. 12:15 But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew Himself from thence: and great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all;
Matt. 14:35 And when the men of that place had knowledge of Him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto Him all that were diseased;
Matt. 14:36 And besought Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.
Do we believe every word of the bible is true? If so, then see Him as our model, because everyone on whom He laid His hands was healed! Luke 4:40 tells us, "Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them."
This does not conflict with doctors, who are pledged by Hippocratic oath, to heal all of the sick. In fact Luke was a doctor! Luke the doctor, records that there was a power that went out of Him and healed people. Luke 6:19, "And the whole multitude sought to touch Him: for there went virtue out of Him, and healed them all."
The Greek word for virtue was "dunamis," and it is found also in Acts 10:38. This must follow logically from what the bible teaches: If God did not want all healed, Christ would have disobeyed Him by doing general healing.
Was this practice follow by New Testament Apostles and Prophets?
New Testament Preachers Revealed God As Healer
Some brief examples make this clear. For instance, Peter preached healing under the leading of the Spirit and he practiced it as well. Look at Acts 3:2-8, "And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, 'Look on us.' Then Peter said, 'Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.' And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God." The effect of this healing on the people is recorded in Acts 3:10, "And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him."
Notice the prophetic word of command was followed by immediate results. This also led to a general expectation of miracles in the community (which is sometimes lacking today, in my experience, except in the poorer countries in which we minister around the world). Here is an example of that type of expectancy, and the results it yields, in Acts 5:16, "There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits; and they were healed every one."
New Testament evangelism included greater healing than the local witch doctors could perform. We see this in the Book of Acts in Samaria. Is not this the way to challenge the modern occult revival? Phillip preached God's will in Samaria and had results that even amazed the witch doctor in Acts 8:5-13. "Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city. But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, 'This man is the great power of God.' And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done."
Here is one important fact that emerges. Divine healing is bigger than faith healing and it draws attention to Christ -- and not to the healer or the faith of the person being healed.
What about the writers of the Epistles?
Paul practiced and preached healing. We see His prophetic insights and power in action at Lystra in Acts 14:9-10. "The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Said with a loud voice, 'Stand upright on thy feet.' And he leaped and walked."
James wrote of healing for all in James 5:14-15. "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." Notice that this type of healing included the practice of confessing our sin and was done in the context of local elders doing the healing.
John expressed the same teaching from God in his prayer for the readers of his epistle, 3 John 1:2, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." Given this therefore, we conclude that the New Testament teaches us that healing is the perfect will of God, applied by the Spirit.
God's Will Is For Us To Be Healthy
Healing Is The Perfect Will Of God, Applied By The Spirit
Jesus reveals perfectly the will of God when He says "Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me), to do thy will, O God" (Hebrews 10:7). That was the reason for His coming ... to do God's will. Jesus tells us, in John 6:38, "For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me."
The only time He was ever asked whether it was God's will for healing, Christ replied that it was. This is recorded in Mark 1:40-41, "And there came a leper to Him, beseeching Him, and kneeling down to Him, and saying unto Him, 'If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.' And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth His hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, 'I will; be thou clean.'"
Jesus not only healed the sick Himself, He also taught that all believers would lay hands on the sick and they would recover. Mark 16:17-18, "And these signs shall follow them that believe: in My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
With this background laid, remember that the Lord does not change and does not have respect of persons. Malachi 3:6 tells us, "For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Romans 2:11 tells us, "For there is no respect of persons with God." So if you are one of Jesus' followers, and Jesus said that His followers can heal the sick, guess what? You can heal the sick through the power of God!
Sickness Is An Enemy Of God's Will
We have seen that God continues to do today what He did in the bible. And in the bible, there were many times where God healed people ... bodies were made well. In fact, sickness is the exception and God's general rule is healing. The bible shows healing for all.
Believers need to get rid of guilty fear when they come to the subject of healing. They should do this through faith in a loving Father, rather than fear of One who puts cancer on them to discipline them!
Two of our friends have a child who has difficulties in obedience. One day when he refused to eat prunes with his dessert, Mum and Dad sent him up to his bedroom in disgrace for not eating the fruit, with the threat, "God will punish naughty boys." Imagine their dismay, when a short time later, a terrible electric storm hit the house. They crept up stairs, only to find their son in front of the window, gazing up at the flashing thunder and lightning. He was heard to remark aloud: "God, such a fuss about two prunes!" This story illustrates that our orientation affects how we perceive things. If we see sickness, we can often find a sin to "link" it back to, even though that link exists only in our imagination. In the vast majority of the cases, God does not want to make you sick to punish you, He wants you to be well and healthy.
In this lesson, we show that God positively is concerned in fighting sickness in order to set His people free and merely using it to threaten the disobedient! Let us first establish the emphasis that sickness is an enemy of God's will to make people whole. God's will in the Garden of Eden was to have them healthy and happy, and Heaven will not contain sickness.
God's Will Is Wholeness For Each Believer Today!
God wants us to remain whole (1 Thessalonians 5:24-25). Jesus died not only to save your soul, but to redeem your body from the power of the devil (Acts 10:38 and 1 John 3:8). In John 10:10, the Lord Jesus Himself stated, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
Sickness is not "abundant life!" God offers abundant life to us in both the Old and New Covenants. God offers "material prosperity" to His obedient servants (Joshua 1:5-9). In this connection however, we need to make a few observations:
First, avoid the motive of simply serving God for what you get out of Him, even though God does promise years of pleasure to those serving Him in truth (Job 36:11).
Second, Satan was allowed to test Job to show he was not serving God merely for these benefits. When Job passed this test, and showed that he served God simply out of pure love, Job was healed and later died a healthy and wealthy man. Look at what the bible says about Job in Job 42, verses 10, 12, 16-17:
* And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.* So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
* After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations.
* So Job died, being old and full of days.
Third, David teaches the same truth in the Psalms. Psalms 1:1,3 tells us, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful ... he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
Finally, Jesus made the same promise in the New Testament to every sincere seeker. He said, in Matthew 7:11, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?"
Therefore, our first priority is not to merely seek healing, but to seek God's kingdom and the blessing of others, as per Matthew 6:33. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
God Promises Bodily Healing For The Obedient
God promises 'bodily healing' for the obedient. God desires to give us the gift of health. It is God's nature to bring healing and to be One Who takes care of His servants. Exodus 15:26 tells us, "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee."
Psalm 91 has a lot to say about God taking care of His own. Look at verses 2, 3, 5-7, 9-11 and 15: "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust." "Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence." "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee." "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." "He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him."
God promises healing also to the repentant sinner in Psalms 103:3, "Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases." Let me share a story to illustrate this point. We had a man who had trouble in his eyesight. When he confessed a wrong attitude to his wife, and we prayed, he was able to see several miles across the Belfast Lough from our front door in Holywood, Northern Ireland! His sickness did not come back and we still have the white stick he used, when he was short of sight! How often we need a space for confession of sin before the prayer of faith is offered for healing!! (James 5:15 - 16) The basis for this fact, is that the Lord Jesus carried both sin and sickness on Calvary. Isaiah 53:4-5 tells us, "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed."
Wholeness For the Whole Person
Soul Salvation Follows Divine Healing
"Soul salvation" often follows divine healing. And this is the reason why unbelievers sometimes appear to often be healed quicker than Christians. This is because God wants to lead them deeper with Himself! This does not reflect on His promises to heal believers. But it may reflect the lack of knowledge and trust in God which demands a more immediate miracle to help their faith.
There is a place of covenant relationship with God that brings health as well as healing. Romans 4:3-8 shows that as we trust in God and demonstrate obedience, this releases God's power on our behalf. Also, Romans 1:16 tells us, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."
Abraham had to trust God against the evidence of his own body, in having a son after he was "too old." Believers must see that their relationship with God can go beyond the limits of their natural age or experience. This must be the attitude of faith for forgiveness and healing. It is based on faith, not feeling. It shows up in the birth of Isaac when Abraham and Sarah were both elderly! Romans 4:18-20 describes it this way, that Abraham, "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, 'So shall thy seed be.' And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God."
Remember that the same principles work for forgiveness of sin as for healing miracles. The Greek word (sozo) to "save" is the same as "to heal." Those sent by God to bring salvation (from Abraham onwards) had miracle healing ministries. Abraham had a healing ministry as a prophet, when his own lies and sin had led the heathen into sickness. Genesis 20:7 records God's instructions to the heathen king. "Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine."
The early Christian teachers relied on miracles to bring in converts. They did not rely on some man-made program! Romans 15:17-19 tells us, "I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed. Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ."
Along that same line, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:4, "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Galatians 3:5 says, "He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" And Hebrews 2:3-4 says, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will?"
God's healing ministry is meant to apply to both body and soul! But others may object, saying "Sickness can prove a blessing." Why not simply accept it as the 'Chastening of the Lord'?" The main reason not to accept is because the bible does not teach that folk become better people because of sickness, but in spite of it! Sickness is named "captivity" by God (not "blessing"). Job 42:10, "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before." Job was a "saint" in spite of his sickness, not because of it!!
Jesus Had A Healing Ministry
Christ called his own healing ministry "deliverance" in Luke 4:18. He said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because he hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."
Jesus saw sickness is a bondage, not as a merit! Look at Luke 13:16, which says, "And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath BOUND, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?"
Christ directly attacked sickness by His words. He did not pray for grace for the person to carry it! Instead He removed the sickness from them. Luke 4:39 gives one example: "And He stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them."
Divine healing must be done with authority through the prophetic word! There must be an expectation of something immediately happening as a result. Sometimes I ask people to do on the spot, what they have not been able to do before. But I only do this when I discern the power of God is working in that way.
Unfortunately the faith is often lacking in many churches, that anything at all will happen! Don't fall prey to that mindset -- expect the healing process to begin now!
There is a mindset or theology about suffering that goes like this: There is a merit can only come through voluntary suffering (e.g., suffering which can be avoided). Logically, there is no merit in carrying something (like sickness) which you cannot get rid of! The scripture that is used to support this thinking is the one that says, "Taking up our cross." Proponents of this thinking tells us that taking up our cross is referring to choosing sickness. But that's not what it is talking about. It covers severing of ties with worldly connections and lusts by the disciples of Christ, as per Galatians 5:24, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."
This character refinement/merit in sickness theology is a wrong mindset. Christ carried the cross voluntarily on behalf of others, but He was in charge of the process from beginning to end! If you carry what Christ carried for you, this does not honor what God has done when He died for your sickness!! (cf. 1 Pet 2:24.)
In fact, scripture teaches that sickness is the curse and chastening of the law, carried by Christ. (The curse is detailed in Deuteronomy 15:15-45.) Christ took all these curses on the cross so that you could be free!! This is clearly stated in Galatians 3:13!
In fact, the details of the crucifixion are significant! He carried every known effect of disease by:
- Bruising of His Body: Isaiah 53:5 cf. Matthew 26:67.
- His Flesh Broken: Psalms 129:1-2 cf. Matthew 26:67.
- Christ bore Penetrating Wounds: Isaiah 53:12 cf. Matthew 27:29.
- His Body was Perforated: Psalms 22:16 "they pierced My hands and My feet." cf. Matthew 27:35.
- His flesh bore incisions: Zechariah 12:10, John 19:33 -- blood and water gushed through as heart stopped and pericardium was pierced so that the Lord Jesus literally died of a broken heart!
Christ crucified by Romans also shows the curse of the "defeat of Jews" while His "body stripped of all" showed the curse of poverty! Stand in this liberty and be made whole!
Let me summarize why sickness is an enemy of God's will.
First, God's will for us is wholeness. 1 Thessalonians 5:24-25 tells us that God wants us to remain whole. Acts 10:38 tells us that Jesus died to redeem us from the devil. God offers man property in both the Old and New Testament covenants (Job 42, Psalm 1, Matthew 7:7-11).
Next, God promises bodily healing for the obedient in Exodus 15:26. It is part of God's nature to heal us (Psalm 91:2-15), and God promises healing to the repentant (Psalm 103:3).
Both soul salvation and body salvation (e.g., healing) come after repentance and faith. Under both covenants, trust in God releases power (Romans 4:3-8). Abraham trusted God against evidence of own body (Romans 4:18-20) and his received a supernatural impartation that allowed a 100 year old man to have an infant son. The same principles work for forgiveness and healing (Matthew 8:25). And when God sends someone to proclaim salvation, God also gives them the ability to bring physical healing (Genesis 20:7). We see that today as well. Some prophetic people, like John G. Lake, were actually so full of the power of God, that germs died as they touched their hands!
God does not call sickness a blessing, He calls it a "captivity" (Job 42:10). Christ called His healing ministry "deliverance." God wants His people free from sickness and disease and the oppression of the devil.
Is it possible to live in the Spirit, under the anointing of God in such a way as not to be sick?
We will see that in our next lesson.
Sickness Is An Enemy Of The Will Of God
In our earlier lessons, we saw that God's will is wholeness. God wants us to remain whole
(1 Thessalonians 5:24-25). Jesus died to redeem us from the devil (Acts 10:38). Man is offered prosperity in both the Old and New Testaments (Psalm 1 and Matt 7:7-11). Now we come to another important truth.
The Will Of God Is Health
One of the greatest human problems is man's search for "health." Millions are spent each year on hospitals and on new equipment, but the patients' waiting lists just keep getting longer and longer. Many are asking Jeremiah's question, (Jeremiah 8:22), "Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?"
Why are people sick? Why isn't there a medicine to heal all diseases? Why do doctors fail?
Unfortunately, this is not a new or modern-day problem. It has been plaguing mankind for centuries. Remember the woman who had blood trouble in Mark 5:26? "She had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse."
Sickness Is Not Meant To Be Our Normal State
The bible shows us that God does not intend sickness to be our normal state. God intends for our normal state to be one of holiness and health. God created mankind with excellent health. Sickness entered the world through sin. When we are disobedient, Satan is in a position to inflict disease with God's permission. Deuteronomy 28:27 tells us, "... whereof thou canst not be healed."
Doctors are good but may fail because a patient should first have sought the Lord. King Asa is a case in point: (2 Chronicles 16:12) "And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians." He died for not getting right with God as well as seeking medical help.
This has led me to see in our global ministry that any known sin should be confessed before the healing prayer is offered. James 5:15-16 tells us, "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
It is not enough to simply have vision for healing, you must also pray it through and get rid of all known sins. One man for whom I was in prayer, refused to admit his own responsibility when I asked him about a certain sin in his life. My son Michael saw the angel of death enter his room, as I left it.
You will be healthy if you live a holy life! "Sound" doctrine in the Greek is "health giving" teaching, not merely balanced or acceptable theology!!
Daily Reading And Accepting Of God's Word Leads To Life
I have enjoyed real health over the last forty years, despite flying ten times around the world, because I have been in the word daily. God's words bring health to us (Proverbs 3:22; 4:10).
Did you know that God has a plan of health for us? (Psalms 119:49-50). We learn to understand His plan when we read His word, so that we can follow His plan and reap the "reward" of good health. Memorize His promises! Do not throw out the Old Testament "food laws" for health! They may not save your soul, but the right food and Sabbath rest can surely keep your body healthy! We will explore this in more detail shortly.
God's words are the way to life ... if you allow the Spirit to anoint His word to you! (John 6:63). Allow me to illustrate with a story from my own family history. We had a missionary in our family, a woman of God. She had been diagnosed with cancer that had permeated so much of her body. The doctors told her there was no hope for her. But she read and believed God's promise in John 11:4 that said, "Jesus said, 'This sickness will not end in death.' She did not die as the doctor predicted. When we buried her twenty-five years later, the post mortem found no trace of cancer in her body! She had lived and been healed by that anointed Word from God!
The Lord Jesus affirmed the Old Testament principle of the importance of God's written word after His anointing by the Spirit. He used it to defeat the devil, as well as fasting the prayer. (Matt 4:4)
God led us to being own healing ministry after a 40 day fast, similar to how Jesus' started (Luke 6:40). And the global healing ministry of evangelists like T. L. Osborne has demonstrated the power of simple people believing Scripture. The bible actually promises that obedience to God's word brings physical health. Proverbs 3:8 says, "It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." There is a specific promise of health made to those who study God's word in Proverbs 4:22, "For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh."
Against this background, I believe it is vital to read God's word daily!
God's "Law Of Health" As Revealed In His Word
There is a law of health in God's Word, which should not be ignored. We reap what we sow. Therefore it is vital to sow to the Spirit because Galatians 6:7 tells us, "For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." In other words, sins in the flesh will eventually catch up to the sinner. This will often reflect in our health.
God wants us to be partakers of His eternal nature through His Word. 2 Peter 1:3-4 says, "For as you know Him better, He will give you, through His great power, everything you need for living a truly good life; He even shares His own glory and His own goodness with us! And by that same mighty power He has given us all the other rich and wonderful blessings He promised; for instance, the promise to save us from the lust and rottenness all around us, and to give us His own character" (The Living Bible).
God wants us to share the very nature of Christ. Ephesians 5:30 tells us, "For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones."
Ignorance can be hurtful. But knowledge that gets rid of ignorance is not a protection from the effects of a wrong lifestyle based on smoking, alcohol, etc. Doctors themselves know this, but often lack the power to get the victory. Let me share some of God's laws, which God has put in His Word, that still apply today. God put these guidelines in place to guard our health, because He wants us well.
- Rest one day in seven even if it is not a Sunday (Exodus 20:10)!
- Cleanliness of linen and clothes (Leviticus 15:7).
- Diet set out in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. Twenty-five thousand
suffer from trichinosis in pork in the USA annually! Somebody asked
me if a person that eats pork will get to Heaven. My reply is "They
may get there sooner than they expect! And they may have a lot of
problems in the process!!" - Positive thinking cuts out worry and bitterness (Proverbs 23:7). In
the realm of counseling and healing of the mind, the Holy Spirit alone
can reveal sins of the past that have not yet been dealt with and
covered by the blood. Revelation gifts and Scripture are the safe way
to bring mind healing that does not dredge up things from the past,
which have been covered by the blood of Jesus through previous ministry
by Him in your life! Godly and prophetic counseling is essential to
healthy thinking! - Emphasis on sanitation, diet and thinking may be new to medicine, but
it can be found in the bible from the beginning. This is proof of
Divine inspiration of the Book, which makes it worth reading and
following. The whole bible is still relevant today, when it comes to
bodily health!
Divine healing is just as important as medical healing, but divine health may be even more important! It is better to never be sick, than to keep on being healed! This health is promised to those living holy lives (Psalms 43:5). Moses proved this when he died at 120 years old (Deuteronomy 34:7).
Genuine healing can be lost by disobedience or folly. Jesus healed those who He saw His father healing. But he cautioned one person in John 5:14: "Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, 'Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee'."
A lady came to us in Belfast, and was instantly healed of middle ear deafness and delivered from a spirit of fear. Next day, when the symptoms returned, she stood on 1 Peter 2:23. As she repeated "By His stripes I am healed" she took a stand that she would not be robbed of her miracle by giving attention to what she felt, rather than the word of God. The symptoms then left for several years, until she left the Church where healing was taught in a positive way. Within a year, her old condition returned! Healing may be secured by faith in God's promises; but it is kept by discipline of mind, body and soul. In the Rwanda Revival they had constant health, as believers walked in holiness, confessing sin and wrong attitudes.
The power for this health is provided by the Holy Spirit in our present body (Romans 8:11). You need a constant filling with the Spirit!
Finally, right partaking of the Lord's Supper can also be a secret of health ... if it is done in the atmosphere of love and not division! Otherwise you may fall sick and even die. First Corinthians 11:29-30 tells us, "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep."
At Watford, near London, England, a lady returned to the Lord and her whole back was healed. She could touch her toes for the first time in eleven years!
A man asked me to his house to pray for "hardened arteries." "I cannot pray" I replied, "God has shown me you have a hard heart!" The pastor told me afterwards, that he had bitterly fought another brother in the middle of a Communion service in their Church, and had a severe heart attack just one month later! We must learn to discern our relationship with every Christian as part of the body of Christ! I have seen even major healing ministries fail because they began to attack others!