The ministry of Jesus was multi-faceted to say the least. He touched every area of society and truly made an impact everywhere he went. But it seems whatever the occasion, He was always healing the sick. Healing sick people was a priority of our Lord. “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” (Matthew 9:35)
Healing has been one of the most misused and misunderstood doctrines of the Bible for as long as I remember. From the total deniers who say healing is not available today to the “I am healed and can never be sick” crowd, so many have missed the mark and led people to false doctrine. It seems this is a classic example of what the devil does to keep us from the truth.
I grew up in an environment where the subject of healing was commonplace. I’ve often said it seemed every Sunday night in the church I attended – at some point in every service – healing would be mentioned. We prayed for the sick. We sent anointed prayer cloths to the sick folks who couldn’t be in the service. The doctrine of healing was front and center in everything we did.
Unfortunately, we have arrived at a time when healing has been deemphasized by many. While some churches still preach and practice praying for the sick; others never bring up the subject. A large segment of the population who attend church every week have no idea about the 39 stripes brutally placed on the back of our Lord before His crucifixion allowing us to claim I Peter 2:24, “…by whose stripes you were healed.” This is information that does not need to be ignored – it needs to be shouted from the rooftops!
In my spirit I hear the Lord saying now is the time to take the message of divine healing from the back of the paper and return it to the front page. I believe as the church begins to make its way out of its time of reset, a mighty move of the Spirit is in our near future. It just keeps coming to me over and over, this season of revival will be a time of multiplied miracles. I fully expect the power of God to be manifested among us in ways unprecedented in our lifetime. I really believe this!
But as we enter this fresh season of New Testament power, I believe there are two things that must be clearly understood and taught: 1.) God heals for His glory and 2.) Our God is absolutely sovereign.
God heals for His glory. God is not interested in making us famous – whereas our testimony is important, He will not allow our star to be brighter than His. This may sound harsh, but his emphasis is not even on making the sick well. Everything He does is for His Kingdom and He wants all the glory. Our attitude must be that of John the Baptist – we must decrease so that He might increase. (John 3:30) We will see a huge upsurge in healing when the attention leaves the one praying and the one being prayed for and goes completely to God.
Our God is absolutely sovereign. This means God has the absolute right to do all things according to His own good pleasure (Easton’s Bible Dictionary). While we pray about what is happening now; God will answer with eternity in mind. He works with the big picture – not just what we see and feel in the present. Praying in faith is not just believing we will have our prayer answered; it is putting the issue totally in the hands of God for Him to do what is best for us and the Kingdom. This is not a tool to help us save face for when we pray for healing and it doesn’t come; it is putting our complete trust in a good God. Like Job, we are able to say, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 3:15)
When we accept these two basic tenets of faith we are able to go boldly to the throne of God and pray for healing. We are able to trust the hand and heart of God knowing He loves us and has a good plan for us. We can believe this even when the outward evidence does not speak of physical healing for sometimes God’s plan is a glorified body and not a healed physical body. At this time, we stand firmly on II Corinthians 4:16-18, “ Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen…”
The healing for which I just referred was purchased for us on the cross. Jesus died so eternal life could be experienced by those who believe on Him. This life lived in the eternal realm is beautiful with no sickness or suffering of any kind. People who die in the faith absolutely lay down a body that may have been ravaged by disease and take on one that will never feel another pain. This is the ultimate healing of which all believers will be rewarded one day.
But, please hear me, death is not the only means to healing. When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the price for eternal life which entitles us to live with Him forever in a glorified body. If there was nothing more, it seems to me the scourging (whipping) He took before He got to the cross was not necessary. But it was necessary! For at the whipping post – with leather straps embedded with bone and lead lashed across his back – He bought divine healing for us! Thirty nine hateful and excruciating stripes were placed on His back so that we would be healed.
Healing must be very important to our Lord if He was willing to endure such intense and agonizing pain to pay for it. Since He went through all this torture for healing to be available to His children, He must want me to have it. I can only conclude from this, it is my right as a child of God to pray for healing and believe Him to do it. I can know Him as the Savior of my soul and the healer of my body.
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