I’m not against ‘healing’, because James says, “the prayer of faith shall save the sick”, and I do agree that often people are sick, and just leave it at that without praying sincerely to be delivered.

However, I am against this idea that if someone is sick, then it’s always due to a lack of faith.

Yes, Peter and John raised a man to his feet, who was lame all his life. Paul raised the dead. But, at times God’s people have to suffer, like Job and Epaphroditus.

I also despise the over-emphasis on healing as the main ministry of the ‘Church’. The ministry of the church is to edify other believers, and reach lost souls. What good is it if a person is healed, but goes to Hell?

People like Benny Hinn have polluted the thinking of genuine believers, making them feel like failures just because of their sickness. God will judge such.

Armen’s last blog post..The Christian Sabbath

I have to agree with GermWorks. In my study Bible it has an article that says the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit were just for the first century Church so they would have authority. HOGWASH! If there is one thing the Church (the body of Christ, not any denomination) is in need of these days it is authority. I believe this to be a clear example of Satan being at work within the Church.
Anyone who reads the Bible will see that “Saints” are those who have accepted Christ as their savior and are saints by the will of God, not the determination of man.
As far as Jesus’ healing you have to look at the motivation. Jesus always spoke to the spirit and the things that he did were spiritually motivated because he knew that the spirit is eternal while this life is temporal. Therefore we know that Jesus healed the physical body to save the soul and not just for the sake of the physical body, in other words, he healed to reach lost souls. Armen is right about the ministry of the Church, but healing can be a sign of The Lord’s presence within a ministry.

I’m a reluctant recipient of the Gift of Healing. God has revealed Himself through deeds I’ve performed in a miraculous way. I know that this may not be easily perceived by many, but God picks and chooses His people. I kick myself and restrain myself, but His love always comes through.
Last Sunday I was moved to pray for someone with arthritic hands. I didn’t plan it nor preconceive it…it just happened. In that prayer there was a power. There was a mighty power that we all stood in amazement of. It was God healing. Tonight I heard a testimony from that woman that God had made her hands better. I was awed…as I hope all reading this would be. Awed because God entered into this situation and made His presence known. Isn’t that what this is all about?
In the name of Jesus I say…God is good, always.

martys last blog post..The Joy of Healing Prayer

Germworks and Chuck you both have very good points and I like how that you state that the ‘bible says’. As it is very important when refering to healing to refer people back to the bible -as no one can say that its not true if its in the word of God.

Thank you for a very good article. I hope that more people like me are inspired by this article

Marty Glad to hear that you are stepping out in faith in what God has for you.

Hi Jermayn,

You write some interesting and thought-provoking things. My first read of your post seemed to read like this: These are the reasons why we don’t see healing today: 1. Suffering is God’s will, Supernatural ability of the Saints, Doctrine, etc etc. I’m sure that you are not intending to say it like this. I believe that the reasons why we don’t see healing today are complex, and cannot be easily boiled down to a formula. If you look at healing in the Bible, and at the accounts of Jesus healing people, it was never the same – there were different approaches for different people.

You said that “Suffering is God’s will”, and that nowhere in the bible is this mentioned. However, in 2 Cor 12:7 there is an account of Paul being given a “thorn in the flesh”, a “messenger of Satan” to torment him. In this particular case, Paul pleaded with God for it to be taken away, but God said “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. In this case, God’s grace is more powerful than the enemy’s torment. In our own lives, we live in the consequences of the choices that we have made, and while I agree with you that God doesn’t inflict suffering on us, He uses suffering to teach us humility, grace, patience etc.

You said that “Mary was a hooker”. Just to be clear – this is Mary Magdalene, not Mary the mother of Jesus. Also remember, that it’s not the people that heal, it’s God that heals and we act as a conduit through which God’s power flows.

You said that Doctrine was a reason why miracles stopped in the third century. Some denominations developed doctrines that taught such things (like “when the perfect comes, the imperfect disappears”, referring to when the Bible was compiled and accepted – an indication that the apostolic age had ended), but I think if you look at the statement of faith of these denominations, they don’t preclude the supernatural intervention of God, nor do they deny his power. Churches like the Foursquare church which have a Pentecostal basis readily acknowledge the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit in our lives today. So you can’t say that all churches teach that healing doesn’t happen today.

You said that lack of faith is a rather obvious reason. To tell a story or two: John Wimber, who founded the Vineyard movement (which is an evangelical charismatic movement), prayed for healing for people for over seven years before he finally saw results. Do you think this is lack of faith, or more that God is sovereign, and He does whatever HE wants.

In his book “The Growing Up Pains of Adrian Plass”, Adrian writes of a good friend of his Philip Illot, who was diagnosed with MS. They appeared regularly on a TV programme called “Company”. One night, a viewer had asked why Philip just didn’t “pray the prayer of faith”, and step out of his wheelchair and walk, to which he replied “Madam, every morning I say the ‘prayer of faith’!”. Is this lack of faith, or God’s sovereignty? To quote from the book:

“Philip had a dream. This time he dreamed that he found a key at the foot of the cross of Jesus. Choosing to pick up the key, he was then faced with a very low door, over which the word BEWARE was written in large letters. Using the key, he unlocked the door and passing through in his wheelchair, discovered a vast crowd of troubled and broken people, waiting for the special kind of ministry that a man broken in body, but not in spirit, could offer. The dream is now a reality. Philip is in constant demand as a counsellor, a speaker, and a leader of missions. What little strength he has is poured out for others, often in ordinary ministry, but sometimes with strange and amazing effects, one of which, too private to record yet gave me a greater sense of the absolute reality of God than anything I had experienced before.” In Philip’s life, there is a bigger picture – would he have the chance to touch other broken people’s lives if he had been healed??

The point I’m making is this – God is not a slot machine. We can’t just pray A, B, C and get result D. Not everyone in Jesus’ time was healed. Even when people were pressing in on him, only the woman with the issue of blood was healed. Why? I don’t know – that’s something we’ll have to ask God when we see Him in heaven. I think the key is this – Jesus only ever did what he saw the Father doing. That means, He looked to God and then only did what God directed him to do. I think we need to do the same thing. When we are wanting to pray for people, let’s look to God to see what He wants to do in the situation, and then pray along those lines.

You say that Doctor is easier and safer. Are you implying that Doctors, and conventional healthcare is not of God? Where do you think the healthcare system came from? It originated in the early church. Its only in our modern times that government has taken over healthcare. To tell another story: The worship team in my old church were meeting, and one of the ladies said that she had a headache. Two people said in unison: “Would you like some panadol”, and “Would you like some prayer”. To which she replied “actually, I would like both!” I believe that modern medicines and doctors are a gift from God. That doesn’t mean we don’t have faith

You say that Jesus did more healing the sick than any other part of his ministry, and that He always healed when he taught. However, when Jesus gave the sermon on the mount, I don’t see any accounts of healing happening there. Also, he spent considerable time with the disciples, teaching them, and there are no accounts of Jesus healing then either. Please be careful making blanket statements, because blanket statements will always be proven false.

You said that we need to look at the great commission in Mark 16:15-18. In my bible, it says “the most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do have Mark 16:9-20″. However, if you line this up with the rest of Scripture, it still says that we still have a commission to preach, teach, heal and deliver, and I believe we need to do this.

Marty, I thnk that you are a very humble man, and I’m sure thats why God is able to work through you. Its only as we decrease that he can increase. God bless you Marty, and may you always keep that humble spirit

Today in church during the time when we lift up praises and concerns I was moved to reflect that it isn’t about the faith of anyone healed, and isn’t about the faith of those praying, rather, it is about God wanting to reveal His glory in any given situation. There is a member of our church who has had to undergo surgery and followup care…and to the amazement of the medical personnel associated with his treatment, he went directly from surgery to a private room. They had predicted that he would have to stay in ICU for at least three days. No…the procedure was done and he responded an unpredicted manner. We all attributed it to him being prayed for by all of us.
Foolish? I think not. Making a coincidence out of God’s intervention…I think not. We all agreed, it was God’s hand at work…because of our prayers.
Those who have prayed for this man were immediately moved to praise God. As was I….being one who prayed for him as well.
The god we worship does, indeed, reveal Himself when we let him take center stage. I chuckle at the mystified medical staff who relegated him to normal recovery. No, it isn’t “luck of the draw”…it is the living God we worship at work in the lives of believers…nothing less.

martys last blog post.."Oh (chuckle chuckle) So YOU Heal People? Ha!

Jermayn, I do not think that Marty was saying that faith has no part; but rather that God does not move according to the ‘volume’ or ‘intensity’ of their faith. God will do what He will do. Our faith is important only in as much that we know Him as God and trust in His promises to us. (I hope I am not putting words in your mouth marty. Apologies if I have.)
I am sorry, Jermayn, if I did misunderstand you. However, you did say ‘Why would God save our souls yet let us live in agony of our illness? Now that is not a loving God!’ It would seem to me that you think that if God does not heal us, then he does not love us. Or, to put it another way, if we are living a live of ‘agony’ it is evidence that God is in some way displeased with us.
Prehaps you could clarify?

None of us will be able to live a ‘whole life’ in this lifetime. We still have issues of sin, and although Jesus has fully payed the price, that has not been fully realised yet. This is one of the paradoxes in which we live as christians- the transendance and immenance of the Kingdom of God. We know that sin has been defeated in our lives once we turn to Christ, yet we still struggle with sin and temptation. Living a whole and complete life is indeed what God wants to happen, but it will not until we have been fully perfected, after Christ’s second coming.
I praise the Lord for your healing Jermayn, but I do not think that you were healed in order for you to live. We will all die someday, so any healing will not be totally complete, in that sense. However, I do belive that healing comes for a reason; and that is to glorify Jesus. In all of the healing accounts in the bible, the emphasis was not on the healed person living a better life (although that is there too) but rather on the power of Christ to heal. The point was on the power of Christ and His authority over disease and demons. This authority was proof that Jesus was who he said he was and not some crack-pot.
Similarly in our day when someone is healed through the power of Christ it validates the message of the vessal which Christ uses. For example, if Jesus were to use me to heal someone, that healing is the proof of the message which I preach (which also means that the Gospel should be being preached at some point when healing is sought). Whenever Jesus healed, there was the Gospel also.
If I am seeking healing only for that persons well-being, we are missing the purpose and meaning of healing.
In terms of believers being healed, then that healing then becomes a testimony, however in the case of believers not being healed, then it could be due to the fact that God wants to use that persons weakness to minister to others (as in the story which Paul wrote of earlier). In both cases the focus of the healing is Jesus, not the persons well-being.

Healing never died – our faith in God did

I hear what you’re saying. I mentioned John Wimber in my previous comment – a man with a real anointing for healing. While I can’t find an online reference to it, I’m fairly sure that Wimber died as a result of cancer, or complications to it. I know that people around the world prayed for his healing, and yet he still died. Why? I don’t know.

I grieve with you over the loss of your friend. Maybe it’s in times like this that we as a church come alongside these people and become the extended family that I believe God wants us to be.

My sister-in-law was killed in an industrial accident. It was so sudden and unannounced, and to say it left us all shocked was an understatement. My brother asked me to put together a CD of songs that were special to them, and I included a song by Eli, called “God weeps too”. There lyrics have given me comfort over the years too:

This is for the man who never learned to read or write
he worked two jobs instead of going to school
I know it hurt you as a child, please remember all the while
That God weeps too

This is for the widow who now must sleep alone
When the memory of a kiss will have to do
Every night when she lays down you can almost hear the sound
when God weeps too

God weeps too, God weeps too
Though we question Him for all that we go through
still it helps me to believe and my faith it does relieve
Just to think that God weeps too

For every survivor of the wickedness of man
whether a black man or a Jew
some people kill in Jesus name
He is not the one to blame
cause even God weeps too

God weeps too, God weeps too
though we question Him for all that we go through
still it helps me to believe and my pain it does relieve
just to think that God weeps too