Faith And Healing

This is Part 2 of my article on healing…

A few months ago, and in an effort to share the truth about God’s healing through faith with an associate, I shared a testimony of how the Lord used me to bring complete healing to someone. The following is his response, which caused me to write a series of teachings to counter this man’s “perverted theology” concerning healing. I will deal with his statements, dividing them into four articles. As I mentioned in the beginning of this article, it is sad to say that the vast majority of Christians today have the same theology, which is why we aren’t seeing people being healed as they should.

“Thanks for sharing the testimony of the guy God chose to heal. We also know that God can heal miraculously and instantaneously, and we’ve had stories of that taking place on the mission field. It doesn’t always happen - God is sovereign and may have another purpose in mind for the sickness - but it is always good to ask, repeatedly, and in faith.”

• We also know that God can heal miraculously and instantaneously, and we’ve had stories of that taking place on the mission field.

The basic belief in God infers the truth that God certainly can do anything. However, where the differences lie are in whether it is God’s will to release His power on a person’s behalf. Many Christians will quote from Ephesians 3:20 that says, Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think… to support this truth. I have witnessed prayers, especially for healing, asking God to release His power that go something like this, “Oh God, Grandma is sick with cancer and she’s gonna die if You don’t move and heal her. Please, Lord, we ask You to heal her… if it be Your will.”

It grieves me whenever I hear this kind of prayer because it tells me three things: 1. This person is clueless about God’s will concerning healing. 2. They have been influenced (infected is a better word) by incorrect religious teaching. 3. They have absolutely no concept of what Jesus endured and suffered on our behalf.

The problem with this kind of prayer is that whatever faith that caused them to even seek God for healing is made null and void by such a disclaimer like, “If it be Your will.” That’s not faith in action—that’s unbelief, which is why people who pray those prayers don’t get any results. And to make matters worse, the statement, “If it be Your will…” places the responsibility back on the Lord to choose instead of where it rightly belongs—with us. Remember… God has set before us life and death, blessing and cursing, and even tells us His will (to choose life), but ultimately it up to us to choose (Deuteronomy 30:19). Again, I challenge you to let the Bible get in the way of your theology before your theology destroys you (Matthew 24:4-5; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Colossians 2:8; Ephesians 4:12-15; 1 John 4:1-3).

We have an instance in the ministry of Jesus where this same thing occurred and we can learn a lot from it. In Mark 9, Jesus took three of His disciples (Peter, John, and James) up to the Mount of Transfiguration. Upon returning, they saw a crowd of people and out of the crowd a man approached Jesus, saying, Master, I have brought unto you my son, which has a dumb spirit. And wheresoever he takes him, he tears him; and he foams, and gnashes with his teeth, and pines away. And I spoke unto your disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answered him and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tore him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it has cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said unto him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes. [Mark 9:17-23]

The father of this boy was seeking God’s help, but questioned God’s willingness to release His power and help them. He had mistakenly placed the responsibility upon Jesus to affect this cure, and Jesus corrected him by saying, “No, it’s not up to me. I know what I can do and My will is to do it. If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

And just as the statement, “We also know that God can heal miraculously and instantaneously…” acknowledges God’s ability to bring forth healing, it is incomplete and reveals a total misunderstanding of how healing takes place. I quoted the passage from Ephesians 3:20, but I left out an important part that confirms this truth: Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. (Note that it does NOT say, “according to whether God chooses or not”) God’s will is clear as reflected in the ministry of Jesus who said, For I am come from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. [John 6:38]

The last piece of the puzzle concerning the appropriation of God’s power has been conveniently omitted in order to shirk our responsibility to believe and receive, which again, is why folks who cling to this false teaching get little or no results.

If you were to go back through the gospels and examine the healing ministry of Jesus, you will see that with each and every healing there was faith on the part of another person present, which activated the power of God. It wasn’t just up to God to heal. He needed someone to cooperate with His ministry in order for His power to be released. This is the essence of the power of agreement that Jesus taught, Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. [Matthew 18:19-20]

Here are some examples from the mouth of Jesus in support of this principle:

• Your faith has made you whole. [Mark 4:34]
• As you have believed… [Matthew 8:13]
• According to your faith… [Matthew 9:28-29]

And just as a side note to this incident… when Jesus heard that His disciples could not help this boy, the Lord’s reaction was not, “Oh well, you tried. It’s going to be okay now.” Rather, Jesus scolded His disciples, O faithless and perverse generation. How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?

The Lord was not pleased with His disciples’ inability to affect this cure. Because they were not representing His Father correctly, Jesus called them perverse. If you look in a thesaurus, you will see that the word perverse means contrary. I truly believe the Lord is speaking these very same words to those who are not willing or seeking to represent Him the way He wants to be represented in this earth. O faithless and perverse generation! To their credit, at least the disciples made an effort and afterward asked why they couldn’t cast out the demon, to which Jesus replied, Because of your unbelief. [Matthew 17:20] Notice that Jesus did NOT say, “Because it was not God’s will” or even “Because of your little faith…”. It was evident they were operating in faith because they would not have even tried to help the boy, and certainly would not have asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast out the demon (Mark 9:28).

[For lack of space I encourage you to read the following passages of Scripture that prove that God has given us the power to heal all sickness and diseases through Jesus and faith in His name: Matthew 10:1, 7-8; Mark 6:13, Mark 16:17-18; Luke 9:1-6; Luke 10:9; John 14:12; Acts 2:43; Acts 3:6, 12; Acts 4:33; Acts 5:15-16; Acts 6:8; Acts 8:5-7, 13; Romans 15:19; 1 Corinthians 2:4; Ephesians 1:19-20; Ephesians 3:20; James 5:14-15.]

Today we have so-called disciples of Jesus Christ who wouldn’t even attempt to minister healing to a person; and even if they did pray for God to heal, they are not surprised at all when it doesn’t come to pass—because “after all, it’s up to God. God may choose NOT to heal.” The reason most Christians are so amazed when they witness the power of God in manifestation and not surprised to see it NOT happen is because they are not expecting God’s power to be released. And then, when healing doesn’t happen, they put the responsibility upon God, saying, “It must not have been His will.” If they were truly believing for it to happen, they would be shocked that it didn’t.

God is faithful to His word and NOT slack concerning His promises as some men count slackness. In fact, He has magnified His word above all His name (Psalm 138:2); and even hastens His word to perform it or see it fulfilled (Jeremiah 1:12). Here’s another passage that supports God’s faithfulness to His word: God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent. Has he said, and shall he not do it? Or has he spoken, and shall he not make it good? [Numbers 23:19]

A grave mistake is that we relate God’s faithfulness to our own. That way of thinking is a disaster waiting to happen; and even though no one would admit it outright, this is what they are saying. They are saying that God is not faithful to His word—that He is schizophrenic, fickle, and apt to change His mind like the wind. The bottom line is: GOD IS FAITHFUL! And this is true regardless of whether you believe it or not.

Here are a few passages of Scripture that come to mind concerning the knowledge of God’s will:

• Be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. [Ephesians 5:17]
• My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. [Hosea 4:6]
• Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God. [Romans 12:2]
• Brethren, be not children in understanding. Howbeit in malice be children, but in understanding be men. [1 Corinthians 14:20]

Here’s the truth that is revealed from the ministry of Jesus Christ—He NEVER refused to minister healing to anyone. It is so clear from the Scripture that it was always God’s will—and always has been His will—for people to be healed of sickness and to live lives free from disease. It has always been man’s choice to rebel against the will of God—first through sin and all the death sin brought, which was by man (Romans 5:12). Death, sickness, and every other byproduct of sin were NOT in God’s plan for us. Jesus said several times that He had come not to do His will, but the will of His Father. He also said that what He was doing always pleased His Father (John 5:17; John 6:38; John 8:20) Therefore, if Jesus healed, then we know that is God’s will to heal. The only alternative to this is to call Jesus a liar to say such things. I will deal with the expected objections to this statement in the next section.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS