Is Divine Healing For Today?
Why Are Some Healed and Others Are Not?
Many believers have been shaken to the core of their faith after passionately praying for divine healing and then watching a loved one pass into eternity. Emotions can range from a sudden loss of confidence in God to total devastation followed by a season of bitterness. Why? Why? Why didn’t God heal my child, spouse, or loved one?
During my 49-year journey with the Lord, I have witnessed the healing power of God touch not only myself and my family but other folks in the body of Christ. Cancer, brain injuries, cystic ovaries, respiratory failure, tumors, deadly infections, deafness, and many other miraculous healings were received as the sick were healed by the power of God. We shouted “praise the Lord” and “thank you Jesus” but no words can fully express our gratitude for the things God has done. However, I have also witnessed church congregations, pastors, elders, and nearly everyone in the church petition the Lord for divine healing for babies, toddlers, parents, and others facing life-threatening illnesses and death only to end up attending or officiating the funeral service.
The healing expected but never received causes many to desperately search for the reason why? Perhaps we are being punished for some past transgression? Is it that we just didn’t believe enough or had some hidden doubt? We want answers and unfortunately, there is always some misguided person to tell us it was our lack of faith or some unconfessed sin that blocked the healing. I remember on one occasion praying for a very sick child while some knucklehead relative was saying if the child dies it was due to a lack of faith.
The real problem with this type of thinking is that it disregards God’s will and hijacks His sovereignty. It was the Lord who said pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” and the apostle John that said, “if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” There are some teachings circulating in Christian circles that have imagined God as some kind of genie in a bottle that we command to do our bidding. They are often based on scriptural passages like John 14:14, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Jesus certainly meant what He said, but that’s not all that He said about asking and praying. As we study the entirety of God’s word we gain a greater understanding. All prayers are subject to God’s eternal will and sovereignty because God knows best even though we disagree with Him. Sometimes God says wait, not now, or no and this is not what we want to hear.
As much as we don’t want to hear this, it is not always God’s sovereign will to instantly or progressively heal someone and He seldom, if ever, tells us why. We walk by faith and not by sight. All our prayers for divine healing must be in accordance with God’s eternal plan for our lives. It is not always necessary that we fully understand why, but only that by faith we trust and accept His will and sovereign decisions for our lives no matter what comes our way which is easy to say but difficult to accept at times.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Mat. 6:10)
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. (1John 5:14-15)
Any study of divine healing must include the will and sovereignty of God. Divine healing is not received by the will of man but by the will of God. We humans cannot heal the sick, it is the Lord that heals! I can’t heal anyone. We are only His channels through which His power flows by the Holy Spirit.
Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalms 103:2-4)
In James’ epistle, we read that the sick, perhaps laying at home, were to call for the church elders to come and anoint them with oil and pray for them. The sick will be healed by the Lord.
Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. (James 5:14-15)
Jesus sent out the disciples and empowered them to perform miracles and heal every disease.
Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. (Matthew `10:1)
Today Christians are still laying their hands on the sick and praying for divine healing. Many testimonies of divine healing are shared at the local church, Bible study, and prayer meetings.
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” (Mark 16:17-18)
Another opportunity for divine healing is available through a Spirit-filled believer that the Holy Spirit has imparted “gifts of healing” as the Spirit wills. These anointed ministers of healing range from the traveling preacher to the ordinary Christian all operating under the Spirit’s power and administering healing in accordance with God’s will, not their own power.
…to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, (1 Cor. 12:9)
Thomas Trask, former General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God had this to say about divine healing:
The sovereignty of God is difficult to understand. Why does He heal some and not heal others? I do not know. But this is not for me to figure out or question. My responsibility is to do what I have been instructed to do as a minister of the gospel: pray for the sick, anoint them with oil, and leave the results in the hands of the Lord.
There are numerous testimonies of God’s divine healing in the church today. We are instructed to always pray for the sick and believe in God for divine healing. All outcomes are the responsibility of God, not man. If it is God’s will to call that person home instead of healing their body we must accept God’s will in such circumstances though it is sometimes difficult to endure. Certainly, they are in a better place having received the ultimate healing never to suffer again.
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