In my personal experience, I have observed that there are two camps of belief regarding divine healing in the Bible. There are those who believe that divine healing is for today and those who don’t. Both groups can find scripture verses to support their agendas. So, what one thinks about divine healing is in great part influenced by what one is taught! Those who don’t believe that healing is for today will overlook the preponderance of Bible verses that talk or witness about healing. However, there is another group of people who are taught about healing but are skeptical about healing. They are skeptical because it doesn’t make sense or line up with their experience. Finally, they have never witnessed supernatural healing for themselves! Show More
Since divine healing is such an essential part of the Gospel, I want to take the time to share my testimony. My testimony takes me from when I was essentially an atheist to believing in God, accepting Jesus as my savior, and finally believing that healing is for today. It was a journey from skepticism to faith in all that God has provided for us today. I’ve learned that you cannot pick and choose what you will believe from the Bible! Either all of it is true, or none of it is true, and the only way to know the truth is to embrace all the Word of God and walk by faith in it.
I hope my testimony will somehow connect or relate to your personal experience and your walk with the Lord. As I share my testimony, I will be witnessing as to what Jesus Christ has done in my life and giving him all the glory.
After coming to the Lord in 1978, I started going to a church that did not believe that divine healing was for today. As a matter of fact, the church was more interested in developing a fellowship around social interactions. By that, I mean having gatherings for fellowship and “potluck dinners” but never talking about Jesus. As a matter of fact, they seemed uncomfortable about the supernatural ministry of Jesus Christ. They were “Cessationists”; they believed that miracles stopped after the Apostles passed away. However, as I pointed out in my last post, Jesus had many more disciples than the 12 that he called apostles. Those disciples moved in the power of the Holy Spirit, and I believe that what was true then is also true for us today. Also, keep in mind that there has been no shortage of miracles, signs, and wonders throughout church history.
At that time, instead of searching the Bible and seeking the truth for myself, I simply believed what I was taught in the church I attended. But then I began to associate with other Christians who believed a little bit differently, they believed in miracles, and they believed that miracles could take place today. These Christians pointed me to the Bible verses that spoke of how to know that the Kingdom of God was present, and it was through signs, wonders, and miracles. Most practically healing the body, mind, and emotions.
So, at that point, I was being pulled in two directions about miracles, signs, and wonders. The big question for me was, is divine healing and miracles for today? I had heard about people being healed, but I never witnessed a miracle for myself! So, I was very skeptical. What made it more difficult for me was that my background was in chemistry and biology, and science teaches that only what can be measured or seen is real. And, of course, the supernatural can’t be measured or seen with our natural eyes. So here I am a relatively new Christian trying to understand with my mind if supernatural healing was possible for today? I know now that the mind cannot fully comprehend the spiritual realm or the mind of the Lord.
The Healing Miracle
Now let me introduce my father-in-law. My father-in-law came to live with us after having suffered a stroke. He was paralyzed on the right side, his right arm hung limply by his side, he was unable to use his right arm, and of course, he walked with a cane because he had limited control over his right leg. It never occurred to me to pray for him, for healing, because healing wasn’t what I was taught.
My father-in-law had heard about a healing service about four hours away from where we lived. He decided to go with a group of friends, and I, of course, wished him well but did not expect anything to happen. He left my house in the morning crippled, and he returned home that night totally healed! He could now walk without a cane. He was able to shake my hand for the first time in many years, and he was so proud that he could finally write with his right hand again. He was so excited about what Jesus had done, and he spent all his days telling everyone about the healing miracle he received. And, he would say, “if God could heal me, then God could heal anyone!”
Now the story doesn’t end there. You may be thinking that my father-in-law is the one who received the miracle, but in fact, I was the one who received the miracle. Because from that moment, I went from being a cessationist, that is, believing that healing was not for today, to a Believer without any doubts that healing was for today. From that day to the present, I pray for people to receive miraculous healings, anytime and anywhere, and have seen the Lord do marvelous things.
You see, that is the key to the Kingdom of God, believe with your heart, that is faith, and then lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. But you say what if they are not healed? Let me share with you an important truth, you are not the healer Jesus is! I mean that whether the healing takes place at that time or not is the Lord’s business. Your responsibility is to lay hands on the sick and, in faith, pray for them.
Andrew Womack Ministry
I recently came across an article by Andrew Womack Ministries that clearly speaks to the issue at hand, is healing for today. This is what he had to say, and I quote:
“One of the main reasons I think Christians don’t believe that it’s always God’s will to heal is that it is convenient to believe that way. Instead of making their experiences match God’s Word, many seek to make God’s Word match their experiences. It is obvious that not everyone gets healed, not even all those who desire healing receive it. To deal with this dilemma, the doctrine that it’s not always God’s will to heal has arisen. That’s convenient. That makes it God’s fault and not ours if things don’t go right. That is not what the Word of God teaches.
The prophet Malachi said in Malachi 4:2, “But unto you, that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” This was not just a metaphor for spiritual healing and health. The same thing was spoken by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53:4, which says, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”
There has been a great effort by many theologians to spiritualize this to say that the healing provided in Christ’s atonement was only spiritual and emotional, not physical, but that is not true to God’s Word.
Isaiah’s prophecy about Jesus bearing our grief and carrying our sorrows was quoted by Matthew in the New Testament in relation to Jesus healing every single one. Matthew quoted Isaiah 53:4 this way in Matthew 8:17: “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias [Isaiah] the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”
Matthew, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, substituted the words “infirmities” and “sicknesses” for Isaiah’s words “griefs” and “sorrows.” Indeed, a study of the Hebrew words in Isaiah 53:4 will reveal that they were always speaking of physical healing. The following verse, Isaiah 53:5, makes it very clear that this was speaking of physical healing when Isaiah said, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
Couple this with the example of Jesus healing every single person who came to Him for healing, and the truth that healing is a part of Christ’s atonement is undeniable. Jesus said that He did exactly what He saw His Father do (John 8:28). If God is the author of sickness, as some teach today, then Jesus failed to follow His Father’s example. He never made one person sick, and He never failed to heal a single person who believed. As Peter put it in Acts 10:38 (emphasis mine), “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing ALL that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”
Notice the word “ALL” (emphasis mine) in that verse; and also notice that those who were sick were oppressed of the devil, not God. The Lord would no more put sickness on someone than He would make a person sin. We’ve been redeemed from both.
Am I saying that since healing is a part of the atonement, Christians don’t get sick? No, not any more than those who have received forgiveness of sins never sin again. Freedom from sickness and disease has been provided just like the freedom from sin, but Christians still sin, and they still get sick — not because God wills it but because of other reasons.”
Andrew Womack
In closing, let’s take a look at why some Christians get sick?
One reason is our own personal sin. God doesn’t “punish us” when we sin. We punish ourselves because of the principle of sowing and reaping, Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” An alcoholic gets dementia or liver disease; a drug addict gets blood-borne diseases; an adulterer or the promiscuous get sexually transmitted infections. You see, it is not because God is punishing him, but because he did it to himself. There are always consequences for sin.
Second, don’t ever forget that as a Christian, you have an enemy, the devil. He uses lust, fear, doubt, and confusion to lead us into all kinds of problems in life. Satan’s goal is to draw you away from the Lord, to doubt the Lord, and destroy your faith in the Lord and His Word! Satan will use whatever influence to try and bring you down. However, remember as a Born-again Christian, the Holy Spirit of God lives in you, and 1 John 4:4 states, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” Of course, never forget the following in James 4:7, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
The third reason for sickness is that it is often a result of living in a fallen world. When the Lord created the earth and all its inhabitants, there was no sickness or disease. In Genesis, the Lord said of His creation, “it is good.”, but sin entered the world through the Fall of Adam and Eve, and we have had to deal with the consequences ever since.
Conclusion
Salvation is available through the grace of Jesus Christ. There are Christians, both those who believe in divine healing and those who don’t, who will spend eternity in Heaven with our Lord. However, we can avail ourselves of a little bit of Heaven on earth by embracing ALL that Jesus provided at the cross of Calvary. By His resurrection, we are assured of our resurrection one day, and by His stripes, we are assured that we are healed. Jesus is the healer of our minds, emotions, and our bodies. Amen.
