Why I Believe Jesus Heals – Sarah Bowling
Why I Believe Jesus Heals
by Sarah Bowling
The topic of healing can be a very touchy subject. Perhaps you have heard some of the following positions in relation to healing.
1. It’s not God’s will to heal all the time. He makes you sick to teach you a lesson.
2. Healing died out with the apostles.
3. I prayed for someone, and that person didn’t get healed.
4. Healing is too far out—it borders on being supernaturally “spooky.”
I want to examine these various positions scripturally—not to fuel a debate—but to challenge and encourage you in your faith.
If someone says, “It’s not always God’s will to heal. He makes you sick to teach you a lesson,” we can look at Jesus’ ministry on earth. In John 5:19-20 and John 8:28-29, we see that Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing, and only said what the Father taught Him to say. In all of His ministry, He never made anyone sick.
However, there are many examples that show Jesus healing people. The one instance where He didn’t heal (Matthew 13:58) was due to the people’s lack of faith, not because it wasn’t His will.
A second reason sometimes cited for not believing in healing is that “Healing died out with the apostles.” Hebrews 13:8 states, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.” To believe He has stopped healing is contrary to the Word. He is the Healer today, as in New Testament times.
Some people stop believing in healing because they prayed for someone and that person wasn’t healed. This is particularly difficult to explain. When I was young, my dog broke his back. I prayed earnestly and fervently for him to be healed, but he wasn’t. I have a friend who died of cancer despite believing that God would heal her. I wish I knew why it is that not everyone who is prayed for gets healed. Many evangelists would also like to know the answer to that question.
Even Kathryn Kuhlman, who had a world-famous, Spirit-filled healing ministry, didn’t understand it. However, despite the fact that not everyone was healed in her meetings, Kathryn didn’t stop praying for healings.
Sometimes people refuse to pray for a healing on the premise that the person might not be healed. If you pray for someone and he isn’t healed, at least you prayed and exercised your faith–and we know that faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6).
What if the person is miraculously healed and becomes a walking testimony of God’s healing power? Would you forego that possibility on the chance that a healing might not happen? If I pray for someone and they aren’t healed, at least it’s not due to my lack of faith.
Finally, some don’t believe in healing because they think it is too far out—it borders on being supernaturally “spooky.” When people don’t understand something, often they choose not to believe in it. There’s too much in the world that we don’t understand for us to be this narrow-minded.
Who can completely explain the unseen force of gravity that acts upon us our entire lives? If I believe the Bible, I must embrace all of it, even if it’s difficult for me. Let me encourage you: Jesus can help your unbelief! In Mark 9:24, we see a man crying out to Jesus to heal his boy from seizures. The father brings the son to Jesus, Who says, “Everything is possible for him who believes.” The father then asks Jesus to cure his unbelief. May God give us the grace to overcome our unbelief.
In conclusion, we see that faith, necessary for healing, is important because faith pleases God. That is the bottom line. We need to stand as strong in our faith as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they faced the fiery furnace in Daniel 3:16-18.
Confronted by the king, they exclaimed, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
That is an example of “faith beyond the whys?” and it saved the lives of those three faithful servants. Put faith to work in your life, and you will be similarly rewarded!
COPYRIGHT © 1999 MARILYN HICKEY MINISTRIES
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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