Chapter
5 -
Receiving healing
As the subject in the
previous chapter was that the will of God is to heal people and the fact that
the congregation has been given this gift, the subject of this chapter is
receiving healing. The purpose is explain this issue, what do the promises of
God mean, and what matters generally should be considered. Even though we
cannot determine when healing will take place - in a minute, in a day or in a
month - it is worthwhile to search and
examine the promises of God regarding this issue, because many may have been
healed simply by faith and by hearing or reading the message. They may have
been healed merely by reading about the promises of healing from the Bible or
hearing a sermon or by seeing others being healed. Good examples are the
following cases:
Their activity in Bradford
was successful, and they had to rent larger and larger assembly rooms. Finally,
they got a fairly spacious building on Bowland Street. A picture of a scroll
was drawn behind the pulpit on the wall with the following letters on it:
"I am the Lord, who heals you." Over the years, many shared how they had
been healed by the inspiration they got from those words. (1)
Almost daily, we get to hear
in our awakening meetings testimonies about how the Lord has healed sick people
when they were sitting in their chairs and listening to the Gospel. (…)
It is the Word of
God that creates faith in healing. We have had the joy of witnessing hundreds
of people being healed when they have listened to the truth of God regarding
healing. Others have been healed after reading our printed instructions that
answered their questions and removed the barriers to their faith. (2)
On our Gospel crusades around
the world, I have seen tens of thousands of people who have suffered from
illnesses being completely healed in our meetings while listening to the
sermon.
The preached word
always bears faith when it is received in faith. (3)
One time, we arranged a series
of meetings in a vacation area. The last evening many had high faith in God
because they had seen miracles take place all week. That evening, the Holy
Spirit whispered quietly to me, "Let them know that this evening all people who
are sitting in wheelchairs will rise and start to walk!"
When I KNOW that I
have heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, I become very enthusiastic. Therefore,
I told the hearers in advance what would take place. When the Holy Spirit told
me "Now!", I simply said, "I command each wheelchair patient to rise right now
and to walk here to the front of the hall in the name of Jesus!"
The next sixty seconds
were probably the longest sixty seconds of my life because nobody moved!
Finally, when to me it felt like an hour had passed, a woman who sat in a
wheelchair closest to the stage rose and started to walk towards us. She had
taken only two or three steps when faith arose in the man who was sitting
behind her, and he also rose and started to walk!
One after another
all those who had sat in wheelchairs rose and started to walk that evening,
seven people in all! Then a young girl who had foot supports came to us. When
Charles and I laid our hands on her, her mother took the supports off and the
girl started to walk normally!
When we are
sensitive to the Holy Spirit, we will get to see many exciting things happen,
for example, a whole series of miracles! Hallelujah! (…)
This was the
crippled child who had never before walked without foot supports!
The
gift of faith was not only given, but ALL also received it! (4)
FACT, FAITH, AND EMOTION
When seeking healing, it is
good to remember that there are three things that are closely connected
together: fact, faith, and emotion. If these are not put in the right order,
the outcome is usually stumbling, as the next example told by Watchman Nee
shows. Stumbling can take place especially when faith starts to follow emotion
paying no heed to the preceding fact:
"For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Cor
5:7). Perhaps you know the story of fact, faith, and experience walking high up
on a wall. Fact went faithfully forward, not looking right, left, or behind.
Faith followed, and all went well, as long as faith fixed his eyes on fact. But
when faith turned around and looked to see if experience was following, it
stumbled and dropped from the wall together with poor old experience. (5)
1. Fact
- (Matt 4:7) Jesus said to him, It is written again, You
shall not tempt the Lord your God.
- (1 John 2:14) I have written to you,
fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I have written
to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God stays in you,
and you have overcome the wicked one.
The first phase in seeking healing
is fact, which naturally means the word of God. From the Word, we can search
for the promises of healing and what Jesus has done for us. For the word of
God, which is the truth (John 17:17: Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth.), is the most
important criterion in this area and we should agree with it. It is difficult
to believe in healing and to expect it if there is no foundation for it. Only
from the word of the Bible and from its many promises can we find this
foundation.
Therefore, the
next verses speak of faith and how it comes from hearing and through the word
of Christ. It is a question of saving but also of healing, because also here
our faith can increase when reading promises from the word of God:
- (Rom 10:14,17) How then shall they call
on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of
whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
17 So then faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Some of the facts concerning
healing were already mentioned in the previous chapter. The most important of
them is the fact that in addition to our sins,
Jesus carried our illnesses on the cross and by his wounds we can be
healed:
- (Isa 53:4) Surely he has borne
our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted.
- (Isa 53:5) But he was wounded for
our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
peace was on him; and with his stripes we are healed.
- (Isa 53:10) Yet it pleased
the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his
seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in
his hand.
- (Matt 8:16-17) When the even was come,
they brought to him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the
spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:
17 That it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our
infirmities, and bore our sicknesses.
- (1 Peter 2:24) Who his own self bore
our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live
to righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed.
Another as important matter in
healing is that the will of God is to heal the sick. For as Jesus, who is "the same yesterday, and to day, and
for ever" (Hebrews 13:8), wanted to heal sick people on Earth, we can
expect this from Him also now. We must only turn to Him and to expect it from
Him just as the people expected it in His time:
- (Matt 8:5-7) And when Jesus was
entered into Capernaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching him,
6 And saying,
Lord, my servant lies at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
7 And Jesus said
to him, I will come and heal him.
- (Mark 1:40-42) And there came a leper
to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying to him, If you
will, you can make me clean.
41 And Jesus,
moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and said to him, I
will; be you clean.
42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed
from him, and he was cleansed.
2. Faith
The second important factor
when searching for healing is faith. Faith should be based on the fact above:
the Lord is our healer (Ex. 15:26) and on other healing promises found in the
Bible.
Generally,
problems occur when we overlook the facts, or the word, and start to look at
ourself - "Do I have enough faith?" - or wonder whether any improvement
has occurred. In other words, we may continue to study the third phase, emotion
and healing, even though we should keep to the facts written in the Bible.
In any case,
when God answers to our faith in the area of healing as well, it is important
to understand fully what it is and what it is not. For instance:
The opposite of emotions and seeing
- (Hebr 11:1) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
- (2 Cor 5:7) For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Firstly, it is good to
understand that faith is always the opposite of emotion and seeing. They can
never be simultaneously valid, as the verses above indicate. Faith is not
needed when something has changed into seeing and emotion; faith is needed when
emotions and symptoms indicate just the opposite. We should, therefore,
understand that they are always opposites and this is how it should be when we
are seeking healing.
A good example
of this is "the father of faith", Abraham. He did not pay any attention to
his body, which was deteriorating all the time, and neither did he pay
attention to Sarah, whose womb was already dead. Instead, he paid attention to
the stars and the promise of God therein.
In the same way,
if we are seeking for healing now, we should not pay attention to our five
senses and emotions, but to the word of God. If we do this, we can surely
expect more healing from God:
- (Gen 15:5,6) And he brought
him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars,
if you be able to number them: and he said to him, So shall your seed be.
6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for
righteousness.He took him outside and said,
- (Rom 4:18-19) Who against hope believed
in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according
to that which was spoken, So shall your seed be.
19 And being not
weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was
about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb:
No effort
The second point that is
important to understand about faith, is that it is not about effort, work, and
squeezing faith from ourselves: it is receiving. When through Jesus healing has
already been earned, there is no need to try and earn it or work for it: we can
just receive it. It is a like a gift: if we do not reject it but agree to
receive it, it will be given to us. It is true that we can never know when
healing will come, but we can receive this gift from God because of the
fulfilled work of Jesus:
- (John 19:30) When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he
said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
The promises of God
The third important point is
that we cannot trust our own prospects, but God and Jesus who will keep their
promises. We trust, for example, in the coming of Jesus, or that He is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John
14:6), and the same goes for healing: we also believe that the will of God is
to heal people because His word says so.
Healing is also
very similar to a mother promising her little girl a new coat and the girl
rejoicing over it already before the fact. She is happy about the coat even
before they actually go shopping, because she deems her mother's promise
reliable and has no doubt. Therefore, she believes, in the same way as we can
believe the word of God and His promises also as comes to healing:
One person who didn't
understand faith, told me, "It looks like I don't have enough faith to be
healed." I asked, "Do you trust God to keep His promises to you?"
"Of
course," he assured.
"It is
faith," I assured him and added, "Isn't it simple?" And so he was
healed. (6)
- (Gen 15:5,6) And he brought
him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you
be able to number them: and he said to him, So shall your seed be.
6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to
him for righteousness.He took him outside and said,
- (Num 23:19) 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?
- (1 King 8:56) Blessed be the LORD,
that has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there
has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the
hand of Moses his servant.
- (Acts 27:25) Why, sirs, be of good
cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
- (Rom 4:20,21) He staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
21 And being
fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
- (Hebr 11:11) Through faith also Sara herself received strength to
conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she
judged him faithful who had promised.
- (Gal 3:6) Even as Abraham believed God, and it was
accounted to him for righteousness.
3. Emotion or healing
As mentioned above, the third
phase when seeking for healing is emotion. In this phase, we are dependent on
God, knowing that we can never determine the moment of healing. Sometimes
healing may take a day, sometimes a week, sometimes a month or longer.
It is good to
notice that Abraham did not either receive the promise of God immediately: he
had to wait for it for a some time. However, he finally got what had been
promised:
- (Hebr 6:13-15) For when God made
promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,
14 Saying, Surely
blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.
15 And so,
after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
DO NOT LOOK AT YOURSELF!
When we want to receive healing, it
is important that we do not look at our symptoms and at ourselves - the same
goes for salvation. Very often, we observe
ourselves and our emotions instead of always throwing "the anchor of the
ship" to Christ, to His fulfilled work and to His promises. If the latter
does not take place, it is impossible for us to believe in the promises of the
Word as comes to healing and salvation.
What then can help us with
self-observation? There is no other means than to turn our heart again to Jesus
Christ and recognize what He has done for us. We should keep in mind that when
Moses made the bronze snake in the desert, people had to look at it in order to
be healed from snakebites. They were not able to simultaneously look at
their symptoms; they only looked at the bronze snake and they were healed.
Therefore, when
we look at "the serpent" of the New
Covenant (John 3:14-15) or Jesus Christ, we can also expect to be healed. It
may take a while for healing to occur, but it will occur, if we have given up
our life to Christ and look at Him as our healer:
- (Num 21:9) And Moses made a serpent
of brass, and put it on a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had
bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
This same issue is well
illustrated by the two examples below. They show how healing can come when it
is expected from God:
Linda Graaf-Bergling: I remember
suffering from a rheumatic ache for many years. Occasionally, it was so hard
for me that I couldn't rise from the chair I was sitting on. My knees and arms
swelled so that I could hardly walk. I experienced such continuous and wasting
pain, and often I had to fight against melancholy and worry.
This was about seven years ago. I had started to get some teaching about
how through faith I can receive the healing on grounds of what Jesus already
has done for me on the Calvary. I remember the moment when I knelt and received
the healing power of God. I didn't feel anything in my body. The ache was still
there. The devil laughed at me and brought to my mind all kinds of pictures he
had invented from my illness. He wanted to steal the assurance of my heart of
healing. But I turned my eyes away from the symptoms. With the mind's eye, I
formed a new picture concerning the future instead of the picture of illness. I
saw myself healthy. I said to myself when the pain came back, "The power
of God affects in me. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead and that
is stronger than the power of the illness." When I praised and thanked God for
my healing - which I have not yet experienced - health was slowly but surely
freed in my body. I was already healed IN MY HEART, even though there were
still symptoms in my body. Inside, I saw the promises of God as if fulfilled. I
don't even remember exactly the day when all the symptoms were gone and I had
completely recovered. (7)
Joyce Meyer: One day, when I
was reading a book on my bed, a sudden pain struck my foot. I have an inflamed
bunion, and now and then it starts acting up. When the pain struck my foot I
said, "I scold this pain in the name of Jesus. Through his wounds, I have been
healed. Through the power of his blood, I have been made healthy and I don't
have this pain."
Another wave of
pain immediately struck my foot and I said again, "In the name of Jesus, I have
been healed and I am healthy."
It was like a
duel. I quoted something positive from the word of God, and the pain struck
again after it. I thought to myself, "I don't care even if I have to lay here
all day long repeating these words, for in any case I am going to win."
Then I said
aloud, "I have healed through the wounds of Jesus. This pain must end."
I lay on my bed
and whenever the pain struck, I struck Satan with the word of God. Quite soon the
pain ended, and I was fully in peace for the rest of the day. (8)
EXPECT HEALING!
When we are seeking for
healing, it is important to expect it as well. Because if we pray for healing
never expecting anything to happen, is there no sense in praying? Are we not
just saying the words in vain?
Let's study this issue in the light of the next examples. These
two examples - "Receiving the seed of healing" and "Health to a man's whole
body" show how after receiving
healing, there can be a time of waiting that God alone knows:
Receiving the
seed of healing
- (Luke 8:11) Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of
God.
- (Ps 107:20) He sent his word,
and healed them, and delivered them
from their destructions.
Firstly, a good way to describe
how healing can be delayed, is by a woman receiving a seed from a man to her
ovum. Even though she receives this seed and is expecting a baby, she cannot
tell when the baby will actually be born. However, normally she believes
strongly that one day the child will be born and that her belief will change
into seeing, even though she does not know the exact moment. Also, she may
already in advance rejoice over this matter and be grateful.
One good example
of this kind of an attitude is Mary. She too rejoiced in advance and thanked
God for making the promised issue true. She deemed it a sure thing and
glorified God for it:
- (Luke 2:19) But Mary kept all
these things, and pondered them in her heart.
- (Luke 1:45,46) And blessed is
she that believed: for there shall
be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
46 And Mary said,
My soul does magnify the Lord,
Therefore, when you receive
"the seed of healing", hold onto it and expect for it to "be born"
and produce fruit at some moment in the future. Wait for it to come out some
day that only God knows.
Health to a man's whole body
In the previous paragraph, we
talked about how a seed can have its own time of germination before anything is
produced. The same also applied when we have taken ordinary medicine. It will
take some time for the medicine to penetrate our body and have an effect on us.
The word of God
can also be this kind of "medicine" or "health to a man's whole
body". When it is received, the duration of action can vary. Sometimes
healing takes place quite soon and sometimes after a longer time. However, if
this medicine has been received, we can have faith in its effects:
- (Pro 4:20-22) My son, attend to my
words; incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not
depart from your eyes; keep them in the middle of your heart.
22 For they are
life to those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
When it is a question of the
ten lepers, "the medicine" didn't heal either them immediately at
that moment, but they went away as lepers and were cleansed only after a while.
Their health was not restored immediately, but later:
- (Luke 17:12-14) And as he entered
into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood
afar off:
13 And they
lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
14 And when he
saw them, he said to them, Go show yourselves to the priests. And it came
to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
THE MEANS AND THE TIME OF THE
HEALING
Expecting healing can be
compared to a seed that has been planted but cannot be immediately harvested.
It is a bit like planting a potato into the ground: the potato
will not grow in a moment, it takes a few weeks. During this time, we can do
nothing but wait that "God that gives the increase" (1 Cor 3:7) will bring
about the fruit.
On the other
hand, when we receive "the seed of healing" from God, we can use
different kinds of means to assist us in receiving healing. When we study the
texts of the New Testament, we can see that these aids of healing were laying
hands on people, anointing with oil, and using prayer linen. All of these were
used to help people heal:
- (Mark 6:5) And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid
his hands on a few sick folk, and healed them.
- (Luke 4:40) Now when the sun was
setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them to him; and
he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.
- (Mark 16:17,18) And these signs
shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they
shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall
take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
- (Mark 6:12,13) And they went out, and
preached that men should repent.
13 And they cast
out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed
them.
- (Jam 5:14,15) 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:
15 And the prayer
of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have
committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
- (Acts 19:11,12) And God worked
special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from
his body were brought to the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases
departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
It is important to realize
that each of us can use these same means. We can lay your hand on the sick
point or anoint it with oil, because God does not show favouritism (Romans
2:11). If you therefore do this, you can observe the point in time when you
believe to have received "the seed of healing".
The next quote
proves well how many have received healing later:
I often encourage people to
look at their watch when I lay my hands on them, no matter what they feel at
the moment, and to believe that they have received. I have seen how people have
been healed from long-term cancer and other difficult illnesses. Even though
they may not have felt anything at that moment, they have simply looked at
their watch and said, "Praise to the Lord, I receive my healing at this
instant." And later, the healing appeared also in their bodies. (9)
YOU CAN ALSO THANK!
When we receive something
from God, we should thank Him for all that we receive from Him - also when we
have not yet received it concretely; like the child who rejoices and thanks in
advance for a coat that her mother has promised her. She rejoices over it,
because she deems the word of her mother reliable and does not doubt it at all.
That is why she can also thank her mother in advance for what has already been
promised to her.
However, it is
important to note that there is no power in our words by themselves and we
cannot earn anything but we thank because we deem the promises of God reliable.
It is actually a question of repeating what God says in His word. We confirm it
with our words:
- (Ps 107:20) He sent his word,
and healed them, and delivered them
from their destructions.
- (Ps 103:1-3) Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy
name.
2 Bless the
LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
3 Who forgives
all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases;
Thanks can also be compared
to how God changed Abram's name to Abraham - in other words the father of many
nations - already long before Sarah was pregnant and before there was any hope
of descendants. Abraham received this name when the promise had not yet been
fulfilled in practice.
So, you too can
in a way "change your name": rejoice and thank God already before
healing has taken place. You can see yourself as healthy (for example running)
and thank God that this really will come true. It is true that we cannot always
know the precise moment of healing, such as Abraham did not, in the beginning,
know the moment when Isaac would finally be born:
- (Gen 17:5) Neither shall your name
any more be called Abram, but your
name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made you.