Healing

This morning I will be teaching on the gifts of healings, miracles, and discernment.

and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 

1 Corinthians 12:9-10

My heart this morning in this post is to share what I have learned from the Scriptures concerning healings.

First of all, does God heal?

Yes!

He most absolutely and positively does.

However, my heart breaks from one particular thought or belief or teaching that permeates through christendom. This teaching that the stripes of my Savior were meant to heal me of every physical ailment and that God is obligated to heal me here on earth simply because I claim it.

I can't claim what is not mine to claim. You see this life is no longer mine in Christ. He bought it at a price, a very high price. My life is His to do with as He pleases. I have no claim on it any longer. I don't want claim on it. This life that I live now in this flesh I live by faith in Christ, for I died, and I live only in and through Him.

Let us look at the root of this teaching that so concerns me. We find it rooted in the interpretation of a passage found in Isaiah 53.

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.

Isaiah 53:4-5

Precious one, let us let Scripture interpret Scripture:

When evening came,

they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed;

and He cast out the spirits with a word,

and healed all who were ill. 

This was to fulfill what was spoken

through Isaiah the prophet:

“HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES

AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES.”

Matthew 8:16-17

and He Himself bore our sins

in His body on the cross,

so that we might die to sin

and live to righteousness;

for by His wounds you were healed. 

For you were continually straying like sheep,

but now you have returned to the Shepherd

and Guardian of your souls.

1 Peter 2:24-25

The healings that Christ performed were to confirm His Diety. It was to confirm that He was indeed the Promised Seed, the Christ! They were to fulfill the Scriptures. The sickness that His wounds healed was our sin sickness. By His stripes we were healed of the leprous gangrene of sin. This terminal illness of sin is the one that we were promised deliverance from on and by that cross.

When we enter glory then we will be delivered from every affliction of this flesh... but until then:

strengthening the souls of the disciples,

encouraging them to continue in the faith,

and saying,

“Through many tribulations

we must enter the kingdom of God.”

Acts 14:22

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren,

as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged,

and the love of each one of you

toward one another grows ever greater; 

therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you

among the churches of God

for your perseverance and faith

in the midst of all your persecutions

and afflictions which you endure. 

This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment

so that you will be considered worthy

of the kingdom of God,

for which indeed you are suffering.

2 Thessalonians 1:3-5

For you have been called for this purpose,

since Christ also suffered for you,

leaving you an example

for you to follow in His steps

1 Peter 2:21

Can you praise God in your suffering?

Do you give more glory to God and praise Him more when he cures cancer or when He cures a sin sick to the point of dead heart?

Should we as the church give more credit over a deliverance from earthly pain than a deliverance from eternal hell?

Should we credit the stripes that our Savior bore to something as limited as earthly comfort? 

I am sorry but I have yet to find where God has promised me a life of wealth and comfort free from suffering, pain, illnesses, hurt, struggles, etc because of the cross.

No, what I read is that I am to take up my cross,
whatever that cross might be.

I am to walk by faith through whatever trials and toils that come my way and 

  “Though He slay me,
I will hope in Him. 

Job 13:15

Because this is truth.
Every suffering I go through God will use for His glory.
Nothing will be in vain.
I will look for His glory in suffering.
I will pray for mercy and ask for healing, but if that request is denied, I will know it was for God's greater glory. His grander will. His eternal purpose. And I will praise Him still.

Sometimes the purpose of an illness is in fact to bring us home... and why on earth would you not want to go home if your Father is calling?

When Elisha became sick with the illness

of which he was to die,...

Elisha died, and they buried him

2 Kings 13:14,20

Why do we fight death so hard if we have been delivered from its sting through the victorious cross of our Christ? Why had we rather fight to cling to this life then surrender to the will of God for final freedom? Why is not our first response to an illness to ask God if He is finally bringing us home... or if this illness is to serve another purpose?

I beg of you, brethren, become as I am,

for I also have become as you are.

You have done me no wrong; 

but you know that it was because of a bodily illness

that I preached the gospel to you the first time; 

and that which was a trial to you

in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe,

but you received me as an angel of God,

as Christ Jesus Himself.

Galatians 4:12-14

What?
Paul, who had the power in the name of Jesus to heal others was afflicted with a bodily illness and could not heal himself?

Did Paul lack faith?

Was the stripes of Christ and the wounds of our Saviour insufficient for Paul?

NO!

His illness served a greater purpose!

The furtherance of the gospel!

The eternal deliverance from death due to the sickness of sin for all who would believe in God's only begotten Son, the Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ!

Paul's bodily illness, his eathly discomfort, served a purpose in God's grander plan.

Greater Glory to God!

Was Paul healed from this illness?

Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,

for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself,

there was given me a thorn in the flesh,

a messenger of Satan to torment me—

to keep me from exalting myself!
2 Corinthians 12:7

Possibly not...

Did that lessen his faith?

Did this thorn cause him to shake his fist in the face of God and doubt Him?

Did you ever read of Paul saying, In the name of Jesus remove this thorn from me?

Greater Glory!

Greater Glory to God!

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven...

And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw,

and He knelt down and began to pray, 

saying,

“Father, if You are willing,

remove this cup from Me;

yet not My will,

but Yours be done.”

Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him,

strengthening Him.

 Luke 22:41-43

Are we to pray for healing?

Oh yes, precious one we are!

But when God says no...

Then we trust that He will send us all the help we need to go through whatever we must go through for His will and purpose to be accomplished in and through us.

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 

For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD,

OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? 

Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM

THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? 

For from Him and through Him and to Him

are all things.

To Him be the glory forever.

Amen.

Romans 11:33-36