HealingAll through the Bible God made it clear he wanted his people to be healed from sickness and kept healthy. Jesus, and then his followers, exercised a ministry of healing. Nowhere in scripture did YHVH, the eternal I AM, indicate that he changed his mind about being our healer. |
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This page has been produced, with the assistance of one who exercises a healing ministry. The author regrets that he has never yet ministered healing to anyone, but is convinced that we should be seeking this manifestation of the Power of God in these days.
The Jewish Rabbis, recommend taking Psalm 91 seven times a day. This should build a healthy faith, sufficient to fight off ill health and terror. Check it out.
Exodus 15:26
If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his sight, and will listen to and obey his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases of Egypt upon you for I am YHVH Rapha who heals you. I am the LORD your physician.
Exodus 23:25
And you shall serve [worship] the LORD your God and He shall bless thy bread, and thy water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
Deuteronomy 7:15
The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but He will inflict them on all who hate you.
The cautionary story of King Asa speaks of God's desire to be the healer of His people. 2 Chronicles 16 v11-13, "The events of Asa's reign, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians. Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his fathers."
Note: A Miracle is something stupendous and instant, while Healing is a process of time, but is just as real. The process of healing can be considered to be like planting a seed.
We tend to read and marvel at all the healings which Jesus performed, and say, "Yes but that was Jesus, and He is no longer performing His earthly ministry." But Jesus said in John 14 (v12-13), "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father."
Remember the story of the woman who was healed when she touched the edge of Jesus' cloak saying to herself (Matt 9v20) , "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." (NIV) But David Stern translates this that she touched the tzittzit (tassels) on his robe. These tassels are worn on the corners of garments in accordance with Numbers 15 v38-39, "`Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them" The Hebrew word for "corners" is Kanav - the same word used for "wings", which is quite stunning when you think on Malachi 4 v2, "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings"
(Interestingly, both the man healed of leprosy and the woman healed of the hemorrhage were cleansed from ritual uncleanness by being healed. )Consider what Yeshua / Jesus achieved at the Cross (The Exchange at the Cross).
The prophecies about Jesus in Isaiah 53 v5 say, But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.". Jesus' suffering not only accomplished salvation for our souls, but healing for our bodies. (Incidentally Christine Darg has pointed out that the 39 "stripes", as the Authorised Version has the end of that verse, were administered thirteen across the chest and then twenty six across the back. This could be 13 for the tribes of Israel (counting the two half tribes of Joseph; Manasseh and Ephraim) and 26 for the Gentiles ( goyim, meaning nations )
Jesus told the people they would have no life if they did not eat his flesh and drink his blood, and Paul told the Corinthians (1 Cor 12 27-32) that the reason some were sick or had died concerned their taking of the body and blood of Jesus in a wrong manner. Clearly, looking at the converse, we have health and life in the body and blood of Jesus. Christine Darg pointed out at a recent healing seminar that every Christian, on a certain day, trusted his or her soul to Jesus for salvation. Therefore we should also make a similar commitment to trust him for the health of our bodies.
Just check out all the accounts of healing in the book of Acts. These healings were performed through the agency of simple men who had only recently been empowered by the Holy Spirit. What did they have that we do not have? They had Faith in ( Trusted in ) the name of Yeshua of Nazareth.
Notice the association of healing with speaking the word with boldness (See Acts 4, after the Apostles had been threatened...... v24 "When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: `Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One". Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus." After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. The non believers around us are very blasé about all sorts of religions but need to see a God who works.
We need faith/trust to exercise healing but the intended recipient also needs the faith to believe he/she can be healed. Note also the number of healings which Jesus performed, having first enquired of the sick person something to the effect of "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus did not assume the sick person wanted to be healed. Do we really want to be healed or do we just want a bit of sympathy? Do we want to hold on to our complaint? What if the blind or lame folk Jesus met had actually preferred to continue begging rather than be made whole so they could get employment to keep themselves?
Notice also, in Acts 14 v9, "In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk."
If you still feel that healing was only an apostolic gift, there is still James 5:14-16, 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 will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another, that you might be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Notice that the sick person is still required to exercise his (Believing) faith in asking the elders to minister. Notice also the connection to sins; not an assertion that the sickness must be caused by sin, but a reminder that we should not ask for healing whilst remaining unrepentant over some sin.
If we suffer doubt and fear about our health, perhaps we should take one saint's advice and, "Talk to ourselves more and listen to ourselves less". Certainly Christine Darg warns those who have received healing at meetings that their continued health relies on their own faith, and that they may have to rebuke any counterfeit symptoms which Satan may send to convince them that they are not healed.
We find faith for healing much harder than for salvation. Some folk ask for healing with the proviso, "if it is God's will.", but what was Jesus' response to such a request? ( Luke 5 v12) While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him. Why should it not be his will to make us whole? Perhaps we think of Paul, who asked in vain that "a thorn in his flesh" be taken away, but perhaps it was necessary to keep the great apostle humble. Not many of us are in the great apostle bracket!
Consider what Paul taught the churches, in his letter to the Corinthians, chapter 12, ( v7 to 11 )Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. This teaching is followed by an explanation of how the body (the Church / Messianic Community ) is made up of different members, having different functions. And, as the chapter ends, ( v29-31) Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts.
Clearly Paul viewed the gift of Healing as one of the ministries that formed the functioning of the whole body of Christ on earth. Not all will exercise healing, but some should. Notice also that it is a gift, not a badge of super-Christianity. Like all God's gifts, it is of grace and not obtained by works; but we are exhorted to desire the greater gifts. Is the Holy Spirit giving you this gift, or the desire for this gift?
Obviously we need to believe these promises that we can be healed. God works in different ways for different people, but it is never a casual thing. We need to seek God, to know his way; when we should go with the doctors and when just trust in Him. Ask God for a word. Healing is one of the greatest walks of faith. You must believe and not rely on feelings. You can't experiment with healing.
What do we do once we believe? Some people receive healing at Healing Meetings, but this is not essential since Jesus did all that was necessary for us to receive healing. What did he say we are to do?
Jesus said in Matthew 17 v20, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, `Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." . Notice that he said we are to say to the mountain - not ask God to move the mountain! This comes as something really strange and alien to us today but we need to get our heads round it. If you have a sickness that is a mountain in your life, you are to tell it to be gone. Explain to it why it has no business to be in your body now that Jesus has become your healer. One can almost imagine God getting frustrated that we keep asking him to heal us when he has told us what to do. There are testimonies of people who have spoken regularly to their illnesses, tumours etc until they have gone. Healing is a process; we should not necessarily expect an instant miracle. Some have been healed straight away, some in a week and some in a year.
Consider also the number of times healing involved taking a stand of faith out loud.
Think of the disciples who were sent out to heal. One day, for the first time, they had to stand before people and declare healing for someone - not having any doubt that their declaration would be honoured. This could be you or me - are we willing to face the challenge?
Is Healing something that is never talked about in your church ? Just consider the story of the invalid by the Pool of Bethesda, John 5 v2-6, "Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie- the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. It wasn't the place / the institution that really mattered. The religious institution had failed to meet the man's need. What mattered was that Jesus met the man and healed him. If you believe Jesus heals, don't wait for your church to start healing services, "go for it", seek Jesus, whose blood heals us.
God even heals through the medium of
Satellite TV broadcasting. The team on CBN's "700
Club" have a regular slot to pray and receive a "word of
knowledge" of healing that God is administering to viewers as the programme
is being aired. This healing works regardless of differing
transmission times or even repeats. In the UK, the "700
Club" can be found on Sky Digital on the God channel and TBN (channels
around 671-676) www.cbn.com
Giving testimony to what God has done is essential after healing; giving God the glory whether at the time or later, even writing to a minister who helped you via a tape or broadcast. Remember the ten lepers healed by Jesus?
We should be warned to be on our guard after receiving healing. It could be that the agent of Satan assigned to your case will hit you with doubts or symptoms of the complaint from which you were healed in order to shake your faith: you will have to stand up to him in your own faith, and refuse to accept his attack!
Seek out Christine Darg's teaching if you want to know about healing for yourself. Go to www.olivetree.org and look for her video "You can be Healed".