So, How do you feel when you hear Bethany’s story? Do you believe she was miraculously healed by God? Or does your mind immediately begin to search for other answers?
Maybe she was misdiagnosed to start with?
If she was healed, it was a fluke…one of those weird things that just happens every once in a while…we may not know the explanation, but there must be an explanation…fluke? maybe…but a miracle?
There are many kinds of healing…“Rob taught on the miracle of Relational healing a few weeks ago, there is “Spiritual” healing which we will deal with next week…ALL from God, all Miraculous and no one more spectacular than another, but this week, we are dealing specifically with Jesus teachings and commands concerning miraculous PHYSICAL healing of injuries, illness and disease.
Does the topic of miraculous Physical healing make you a little nervous, a little uncomfortable? Well get ready because I fully expect in the next 30 minutes God is going have just about all of us squirming in our seats as He challenges us on what we really believe and live in terms of Physical healing.
Have you experienced a Miraculous Healing? Some of you have, many…maybe most have not …because of this many of us are “Skeptics” when it comes to Physical healing.
I had lunch with 2 friends just last week. One had been through many serious health issues. He stated that everything continue to go downhill until the Elders and some friends got together, anointed him and prayed for him.
But then he added…”maybe the medicine just finally kicked in”
I am not picking on my friend, he just expressed what so many of us struggle with.
Poor God, even when He does act He does not seem to get credit.
And I want to challenge you right off the bat to not take the easy way out and blame God for our lack of belief…”I would believe more if I saw more”. History says this is simply not true…History seems to indicate that we have very short memories.
Numbers 14:11 (NIV)
11 The LORD said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them.
It seems to me that History proves that we often respond to a movement of God in our lives with a short memory followed by “what have you done for me lately God?”
“For most Moderns, seeing is no longer believing”…C.S. Lewis
Recently a secular humanist who believes it is the “religious” who pose the greatest threat to human values and freedom wrote that those who believe differently no longer need to be concerned about us Christians. He gave many reasons…but the two that cut me to the core were these.
1. They are now more influenced BY the Culture than they ever influence the Culture.
And then one we will be dealing directly with today…
2. They have lost the belief in the Mysterious and the Supernatural.
That one actually brought tears to my eyes…have we lost our power and influence because we have lost our belief in the miraculous?
In his book “Authority to Heal” the author Ken Blue writes a disturbing observation…
The author concluded that for the most part proclaimed Christian’s of today seem to live a life of believing…
GOD MOVED BEFORE!
GOD WILL MOVE AGAIN!
BUT GOD IS NOT MOVING RIGHT NOW!
His conclusion was this….
that we Christians today are largely…Intellectual “theist’s”- In our minds we believe in an all knowing all powerful God.
But we live our day to day lives as “Secularists”- dependent on everything except God.
It was only disturbing because I could not come up with a good argument against it…and the statistics of our lives that Dave has shared from Barna’s research only confirms it.
This week I am asking myself and you a hard question…Do we believe in a miraculous God?...and if we don’t then do we really believe in God at all?
I have a request of you…will you for the next 25 minutes or so suspend your Skepticism and open your heart to God? Will you allow for the possibility of a Faith that is real and miraculous, a faith that is so real you can see and taste it. Will you allow for the possibility that in the next 25 minutes God wants to “re-introduce” you to belief in the miraculous and to a deeper Faith in Him?
I will acknowledge up front that Healing is a Difficult and Mysterious topic without any easy or formulaic answers…
When I am in a difficult and confusing life situation I try to find some “absolutes” things that amidst the confusion I can push into the “absolutely true” column. I find that even though I may never have all my answers, looking at the absolutes, looking at what I DO KNOW allows me to draw a reasonable path for moving forward.
So while Healing is indeed a Mystery without easy or complete answers, we do have some absolutes that we can isolate that I think give us a great direction in our understanding of Healing.
The first absolute is the Bible is filled with miraculous Healings.
A leper is healed, a widow’s only son is raised from the Dead- God miraculously healed people in the Old Testament
That Healing continued through Jesus in the New Testament…
49 The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies." 50 Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour." 53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.. John 4:46-53
Matthew 8:14-15
4 When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. 16
About 1/3 of the Synoptic Gospels are tied to some kind of miracle. Many, many of the encounters of Jesus were accompanied by a healing, so much so that we learn that eventually Jesus could not even go into the cities because of being overwhelmed by requests for healing.
So we have our 1st absolute…Throughout the Old Testament and the New The bible records God doing miraculous Healings.…
But it wasn’t just God and Jesus…
The 2nd absolute is that the Bible teaches the Disciples of Jesus miraculously healed people…
Mark 6:12-13 (NASB)
12 They went out and preached that men should repent.
13 And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.
But those (2) absolutes are relatively easy…now it gets a little closer to home and it starts getting a little more uncomfortable.
An absolute we tend to forget or push aside….
3rd Absolute Jesus Commands His Disciples his followers to Heal people…
Luke 9:1-2 (NASB)
1 And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. 2 And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing.
Matthew records Jesus commanding his followers to Heal the sick and raise the Dead!
And the healing was not to stop with the disciples…
James 5:13-14 (NASB)
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
Jesus confirmed that his followers would do even greater things than he did,
John 14:12 (NIV)
12 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.
probably meaning in greater scope because he was limited to one body…we would have Millions!
And that leads us to the 4th Absolute and perhaps the toughest one…
Followers of Jesus ARE bringing and experiencing this miraculous healing all around the world TODAY!
We started with Brittany’s story
Heidi- Christianity Today just did a story on …and they drew some pretty challenging conclusions… Heidi slide- Christianity today cover
IU Study “detected statistically significant improvements in hearing and vision” –published in the Southern Medical Journal
Brother Andrew
Brothers and Sisters in Romania, Africa, Haiti and yes right here in Broad Ripple are seeing God do miraculous healings today!
And my skepticism pops ups and whispers… really…come on???
But these are men and women who I have trusted in every other area of their lives. Men and women who bare tremendous fruit in every part of their lives and I am forced to acknowledge that in every other area of their lives I acknowledge their integrity. Why in this one area do I doubt what they say?
And it is not one or two reporting miraculous healings…thousands and thousands of followers all over the world are giving testimony to miraculous healings by God….are they all deluded? Are they all liars?
The answer is NO…they can’t all be liars, but it reveals a hindrance to me and my belief in healing….and that is my Arrogance.
I have to admit that for many years I had an attitude that if I had not seen a miraculous healing, then miraculous healing did not happen.
Ugly…but true, but maybe I am the only one who struggles with that.
When I really dug deep and examined the realities, the proof and my own weaknesses I was able to finally, and convincingly move Healing into the “Absolute” column.
I believe without any doubt that Followers of Jesus ARE bringing and experiencing miraculous healing all around the world TODAY!
After all my years of Doubting, after all my years of Skepticism and after all my years of ignoring or minimizing miraculous Physical Healing, all of these ABSOLUTES led me to one very challenging conclusion…
We can’t believe in the God of the Bible without believing IN, Longing after and with Faith praying for Physical healing
We can’t be the Disciple of Jesus we are called to be without believing IN, longing after and with faith praying for Physical healing.
So…God Heals, He did before Jesus, He did with Jesus and now He heals through the followers of Jesus today…but HOW?...How exactly does Healing work?
I will tell you right off the bat that the HOW is much less “absolute” and in fact is not absolute at all.
First let’s handle what is probably the main question Is healing tied to Faith?
Answer…the Scriptures point to a strong connection between Faith and Healing.
The fact is that most of Jesus Healings were in response to Faith.
We also see Miracles somehow limited when Jesus was in a place where there was limited or a lack of Faith.
Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth and finds strong resistance…
Matthew 13:57-58 (NASB)
57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household." 58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
And I believe that the Bible allows for the possibility that we are missing some healing because of our lack of faith,
but I think it is very possible that the issue is more of a “communal” lack of faith as a hindrance for healing more than lack of Faith by an individual.
In other words we can become “Nazareth” all over again and our lack of faith as the Body of Christ could possibly be “squelching some of the healing God would love to bring but He does not because we do not believe and we do not ask.
So there is a relationship to Faith and the Healing power and movement of God.
Does that mean there a “Faith Formula”? it would be stated something like this
“The belief that divine blessings such as health and prosperity, are constantly and fully available to every and any child of God, may be instantly appropriated, provided the individual Christian knows enough and believes enough.”
In regards to healing, it is the belief that if you or a loved one are sick or suffering with a disease and you have prayed and yet there is not healing…it is because you lack faith.
No, there is not absolute “causal” connection where Faith guarantees healing!
There is a family who’s child got meningitis. They determined not to get medical help and instead trusted in God alone to heal their child. Tragically the child died.
A man named Abraham trusted his only son to God and we honor this as one of the greatest acts of faith. I honor this family in the same way….I may take issue with their thought process, or even their theology, but I will not take issue with their faith.
Trusting your child to God alone for healing, I can think of no other greater act of faith and yet their child died.
Some healing recorded in the Bible was due to faith, some healing preceded Faith, in some cases Faith seemed to neither precede nor even follow the healing, people saw healing miracles and yet continued not to have Faith.
Great Faith certainly seems to help…but does not guarantee Healing.
A lack of Faith may hinder, but it does not automatically preclude Healing.
Of the Books on healing I have read and all the people I have spoken to who have experienced lots of healing miracles first hand and on many occasions. Not one claimed to have any “formula” and in fact all were at a loss to know or to understand why God healed some while other prayers for healing seemed unanswered.
Somewhere Between________________ and the “Not Yet” of God’s Kingdom.
The truth is that the Healing movement of God is a Mystery and probably always will be…but it IS REAL.
Here is the good news,We are not asked to Explain Healing, we are just asked to believe in and ask for Healing!
If you are struggling with an illness, or if you have a loved one who has been stricken with a disease. You will not get any easy answers from us, and neither I nor anyone else here can promise that God will heal. But here is what you will get here…
Love and NOT Judgment- we will encourage you to greater faith as we encourage ourselves to greater faith but we will NEVER judge your faith!
You will receive Faith filled Prayer for Healing with the belief that God still moves and still does miracles, Prayer believing that in the act of asking alone God WILL indeed move. In asking in faith we know we will get more of Him and that alone is a miracle.
And we will be a people who persevere in seeking Healing…not one and done prayers, but deep, longing, consistent and persistent prayer for healing believing all the while God is moving as we pray.
Does God Heal Miraculously- YES!- in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, today…all over the world God is miraculously healing people.
How God heals is and probably always will be a bit of a Mystery.. Faith impacts healing but there is no formula to assure when healing will take place or who will be healed, but there is a miracle every time in the asking. God does not always Heal, but He ALWAYS draws near and that IS a miracle.
Why is it important that we, God’s people, we the Disciples of Jesus Christ believe in, long for, and with Faith pray for and seek Healing?
The importance is highlighted in an event recorded in the Gospel of Luke.
Jesus sends His Disciples out …and his warnings to them are pretty stark….it will not be easy, expect a battle and in verse 9 He gives them their role and their message…
Luke 10:9 (NIV)
9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'
And they do it! And they are amazed and comeback” high fiving” all over the place and they tell Jesus…
Luke 10:17 (NASB)
17 …. "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."
Jesus was not surprised at all V18…
Luke 10:18 (NIV)
18 He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Why is it so critical that we believe in Healing, that we pursue healing and that we bring healing?
Because Illness, disease and suffering is one of the battlegrounds of the Kingdom of God!
Because Healing is an assault on the current kingdom of injustice, sorrow, suffering and pain…and Healing is an assault on the current false King…and we the followers of Jesus Christ are charged to bring that assault!
Healing is proof that the real Kingdom has come…and so has the real King!...
That’s why we as Disciples of Christ must believe in, long after, and in Faith pray for physical healing!
After looking at all the absolutes and all the teachings and all the proof and the conclusion is real and challenging…
We can’t believe in the God of the Bible without believing IN, Longing after and with Faith praying for Physical healing
We can’t be the Disciple of Jesus we are called to be without believing IN, longing after and with faith praying for Physical healing.
And The Kingdom of God will not come to that extent that it CAN come until we, the followers of Jesus Believe IN, Long after and with Faith pray for Physical Healing.
So What is the practical Application?
That’s simple…not easy but Simple we have to consistently, persistently, and without shame pray for physical healing… But I am talking about really getting after it…
Someone at work has an injury or an illness- ask if you can pray for them
Someone in the school carpool line tells you of an issue- ask permission, then reach in the car, lay hands on them and pray for them…
Ask the Holy Spirit to prompt you about praying for people you work with, or people you work out with, or people who wait on you, you will be shocked at how much prompting you will get and how receptive they will be.
And when you pray…
Ask if there is anything else in their life that might be causing their issues…Linda recently prayed for a young girl who while only in her 20’s was having mini strokes and was grieving and scared for what the rest of her life would hold. God did not heal her in that prayer but instead revealed through the prayer that the girl has other issues in her life and the young girl felt God confirmed that when those other issues ended so would her strokes. Although God did not heal her instantly, the prayer gave her hope and for her that was a miracle.
Are you Afraid? Let’s address some of those Fears…
Afraid it will not work- Your not responsible for the results…only to pray!
Afraid you will embarrass the person you ask to pray for?
“In 25 years I have never had someone get angry for asking to pray for them”
I am afraid what the person will think of God if there is no healing.
I know that sounds ridiculous, but I often used protecting God’s reputation as an excuse not to pray boldly for healing- I have determined God is a big boy and can probably take care of Himself.
Feel like a Fool praying for people…let me settle that right now…YOU ARE!!
We have come to the point in our series where Jesus starts getting real serious about laying out the roles of His followers and don’t think for a minute it is easy or without risk…wait until you hear what is coming next week!
Paul when challenge about his radical faith by other proclaimed followers said this…
1 Corinthians 4:10 (NASB)
10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ…
“Wise”, “measured”, “careful”…and that was NOT a compliment!
I love how one man experienced in Healing put it…
“I am perpetually walking on the brink of a disaster and on the verge of a miracle- Jim Glennon.
We give a lot of thought and concern and fear to what might happen if we DO pray more faithfully and boldy for healing, will we offend, will we be embarrassed?
I think we need to dwell more on what might happen if we DON’T pray more faithfully and boldly for healing.
A dying man was boldly and persistently by people with tremendous faith in God and tremendous heart for healing…He said this to them…
“Even if your prayers do not work, this experience has been more than worth it. For the first time I have experienced God’s love. If I die, I will die alive!
Sadly, the man died…but he died alive….what if they had not prayed?
You want guarantees and complete clarity on healing? Well I cannot offer you either, but I do know our mandate from Jesus…and I do know the Kingdom God is waiting on us to be the People of God.
I struggled with a profound way to end this message…and instead I think the answer is in simplicity.
A young girl was asked a healing conference to explain why she thought God used her to heal people. She responded…
“I am a17 year old single Mom who has been following Jesus for a year. I work at Sears and I cast out Demons and Heal the sick. I just love Jesus back and do what he says, my pastor says that is OK…so I keep doing it.”
So there is the application to this message…Let’s all commit to loving Jesus back and just going out and doing it!