HEALING
   

WE WILL LOOK AT  DIVINE HEALING AS A LIFE STYLE THAT GOD HAS ORDAINED FOR ALL CHRISTIANS.

DIVINE HEALING AS A LIFE-STYLE

by Ronny D. Thomason, Thd.

Introduction: 

Divine Healing is more than a doctrine, it is the very life of God flowing to His people.

Sickness and disease are the workings of death that seeks to steal health, kill life and destroy all that is good.  Healing is the instrument of God.  Sickness, disease and death are instruments of Satan.  Divine Healing is what happens when the supernatural God intervenes in nature to bring about healing apart from the natural processes of healing or human medicine.  Man’s medicine needs God’s help for healing to occur.  God needs no help in order to heal.  Healing is well within the scope of God’s love and ability to perform.  In these pages we will show how the One True God is and has always been, a Healer.  We will see how the ministry of Jesus Christ was deeply involved in the healing of the sick.  We will show also how the Church Of The Lord Jesus Christ is committed to a life-style of healing. 

I.  Our God, Always The Healer.

The Living True God is by nature, a Healing God.  From the earliest writings of Scripture, He is proclaimed to be the God who heals.  The earliest case of God healing someone is Job.  His sickness and healing is fully detailed in the Scripture.  We learn by reading the Book of Job that first of all,  the sickness came from Satan.  It was brought on by Job’s fear, which is a perversion of faith. [1]“For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.” (Job 3:25).  The fact that God knew of Satan’s scheme and did not prevent it, does not mean that God willed for Job to become sick just so He could win some contest with Satan.  It merely points out that God has placed some control over what happens to man into man’s hands.  His faith (or fear) affects his health.  God used Job’s sickness to bring about correction in Job’s heart.  Once this correction was made and Job repented, God stepped into the situation and brought complete restoration to Job, including the healing of his physical body.  Job’s sickness did not sanctify him, but only led to his deeper understanding of his own self-righteousness.  Sickness does not purify anyone, although it may lead us to see our need of holiness and cause us to turn to God who alone can provide that need met.  To say that God brought the sickness to Job is to say that God betrayed His own character.  The fact is clear that in Job’s case, the sickness came from Satan as did Job’s other problems.  God is shown to be the salvation of Job and the One who restored him to health. “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.”  (Job 42.10).  The healing of Job came when God revealed Himself to him.  When Job understood that God was not his problem, repented of his self-righteousness and forgave his friends, healing came.  The same is true with us today.  Blaming God for our sickness gets us no where.  Once we understand that God is the Source of Healing and the solution to our problems, we can call upon Him and receive healing from Him.  Job is our first example of someone being healed by God in terms of the chronological writing of the Scriptures.

Moses was the next writer of Scripture to reveal that God is a healing God.

[2]He uses the Hebrew verb rapha meaning: To cure, heal, repair, mend, restore health.  Its participial form rophe, “one who heals,” is the Hebrew word for doctor.  The main idea of the verb rapha is physical healing.  Some have tried to explain away the biblical teaching of divine healing, but all can see that this verse speaks of physical diseases and their divine cure.  The first mention of rapha in the Bible (Genesis 20:17) refers unquestionably to the cure of a physical condition, as do references to healing from leprosy and boils (Leviticus 13:18; 14:3).  Scripture affirms, “I am Yahweh your physician.” (Exodus 15:26). 

God revealed Himself to the people of Israel after the greatest demonstration of healing ever to occur in human history, the first Passover.  In this incident, every single person of Israel who participated in the Passover Supper, was healed.  There remained not one sick person in the whole camp of Israel.  After they crossed the Red Sea the Israelites traveled for three days without water to an Oasis called Marah.  The water at Marah was so bitter they could not drink it.  The people began to complain against Moses and against the Lord.  When Moses cried out to God, He showed Him a healing tree whose branches, when cast into the bitter waters, sweetened the water.  God’s revealed remedy healed the water.  It was in this setting that God spoke to Moses and revealed Himself as “Yahweh-Rophe’” or “The Lord Your Healer."  Then God led the Israelites to Elim where there were twelve wells of good water and seventy palm trees for them to camp under.  This experience taught the Israelites to look to God for their healing.  It is quite obvious that God wants us to know Him as the Healing God.  We also know that the experience at Marah was one of God making a Covenant Promise to His people to be their Healer.  It was God who called Himself by the name of Healer.  It was God who wanted the people to expect healing from Him.

The Healing God also took the time to teach Israel in the wilderness that sickness comes as the result of sin. In Numbers 21, they murmured and complained against God which was sin.  As a result, serpents came into the camp and bit them.  Many died and others would have if God had not given them a remedy.  His remedy was for Moses to erect a brass serpent on an uplifted post in the center of the camp.  Everyone who looked upon that brazen serpent was instantly healed of the snake bite.  This is a type of Christ being lifted up on the Cross to bear our sins as our substitute.  Just as the healing came to the Israelites by looking upon the brazen serpent, so our healing can occur from sickness that is brought on by our sinful condition.  Here the connection is made between sin and sickness.  God comes down on the side of the cure.  Sin is judged and the penalty paid through Jesus Christ.  The result is forgiveness and cleansing from sin, but also healing from all the sickness and disease brought on by the sin being present in our lives.  God does not only remove the evil that causes the sickness, but He removes the sickness from us as well.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:14-16).  Jesus relates the salvation of the soul to the healing of the body by comparing what He came to accomplish on our behalf to Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness.  Jesus Himself indicates that the God who healed in the wilderness is the same God that sent Him to die on the Cross for the salvation of  whoever would look to Him.  Included in that salvation is healing for the physical body.  How could Jesus who is the anti-type of the serpent in the wilderness do any less than what was done for the Israelites?  They were forgiven and healed.  We are also forgiven and healed. 

All of the above situations occurred before the Law of Moses was given.  In all of these situations, we see God revealing Himself as the Healer of His people.  Once the Mosaic Law was given, God continued to be their chief source of life and health.  Healing is a part of who God is, not just what He does.  So as time passed and God’s dealings with His people took different form and shape, He still healed.  We see this in the Scriptural testimonies of the healings of  Miriam being healed of leprosy in Numbers 12; Naaman in 2 Kings 5; and Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20.  We also see how King Asa angered the Lord by not coming to Him for healing when he was diseased in his feet (2 Chronicles 16:12-13).  He went to the physicians and not to God.  God was not pleased with Asa because God still saw Himself as their Healer.  The account in 2 Chronicles clearly reveals God’s jealousy over being Asa’s rophe, or Doctor.

While the Old Testament is chiefly a looking forward to Christ, we can see how God was active in the role of Healer throughout His dealings with people from the very beginning.  The coming of Jesus Christ only punctuates the healing characteristic of God.

II.  Jesus Proclaims The Healer God.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18-19).

How 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.  (Acts 10:38).

No one can seriously look at the Jesus of the Bible without seeing Him heal the sick. When He first stood up to read from the Scriptures in Luke 4, Jesus made it very understood that healing the sick would be a hallmark of His ministry.  From that day on, Jesus healed all manner of sickness and disease.  No one who came to him for healing was ever disappointed.  He was famous for the healings and the miracles which He did.  The significance of this cannot be overstated.  Jesus healed because God the Father is the Healing God.  Jesus taught His disciples that the works which He did came from the Father; “but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" (John 10:32).  Also, “Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." (John 10:37-38).  Jesus gives the Heavenly Father credit for all the miracles and healings which were done.  The Father in Heaven was healing the sick through the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is plain for anyone to see, that Jesus was on a mission for the Father and that mission included healing as many sick people as He could. 

Jesus healed multitudes of people before He was crucified. This is significant because not one single one of them was born again when He healed them.  Healing was offered to the sick on the basis of God’s love and compassion for their need.  It had nothing to do with works of their own righteousness, race or religion.  It is true that Jesus told the Syrophenician woman that healing was the “children’s bread”, but the fact still remains that he gave her what she came for, the healing and deliverance of her daughter.  Healing was the most often used method Jesus employed to demonstrate God’s love for people and God’s willingness to forgive their sins.  On one occasion Jesus equated forgiveness of sins with healing for the physical body; “For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose, and departed to his house.” (Matthew 9:5-7). 

A non-biased person following Jesus around during His earthly ministry would come to the conclusion that His ministry was all about healing and forgiveness.  What makes this even more exciting is that Jesus Christ was representing how God is! 

Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

            (John 14:9-14).

In this passage, Jesus reveals some very powerful truths concerning the works that He did.  First of all, the very works that Jesus did (including healing the sick) He attributed to the Heavenly Father.  Secondly, Jesus tells us that if we have seen Jesus we have seen the Father.  This means that He accurately portrayed what the Father is like; in attitude, power, love, and exactly what He thinks about sickness and disease. Then Jesus says that every one who believes in Him will do the same works that He did and greater works because He was going to the Father.  He would send forth the Holy Spirit of God into every believer so they could do the works of God.  The works of God that Jesus is referring to include the healing of the sick. 

What we are seeing in this is that Jesus Christ and the Heavenly Father are very much interested in healing the sick and they fully intend for us as disciples to carry on the ministry of healing today.  Really, to not heal the sick would be a betrayal of the Godly pattern.  To deny that healing exists today for people who are sick is to say that God has changed and that He no longer cares about suffering people.  This is inconceivable.

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 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 16:15-18).

Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, made healing the sick part of our commission to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.  The Gospel included the ministry of healing the sick.  Jesus said this would be part of our credentials.  No self respecting representative of Jesus Christ in the beginning would have eliminated healing the sick from their ministry.  Jesus made it a ministry calling card.  We alluded earlier to the fact that the people Jesus healed in His three and one half years of earthly ministry were not born again people.  Jesus utilized the healing of the sick to preach the Word of God to people.  Healing got their attention.  It still does!

III.  Divine Healing As A Matter of Christian Life-Style

In the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, we see healing flow out of His life in a very real and natural way.  He made healing the sick seem to be the normal expression of God’s love and mercy for people. 

Jesus used the healings to demonstrate forgiveness of sins;

Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

(John 5:14)

Jesus used healings to demonstrate the compassionate heart of God for people’s needs:

And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. (Matthew 14:14).

And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. (Mark 1:40-42).

Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. (Luke 7:12-15).

Jesus used healings to retaliate against the work of His enemies:

And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. (Matthew 14:10-14).

Jesus used healings to bring glory to God while helping people:

And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. (Luke 17:17-19).

When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. (John 11:4).

And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. (Luke 13:12-13).

And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. (John 9:2-3)

These examples of the healing ministry of Jesus reveal the wide use that He made of healing the sick.  Not only did He heal the sick, but He also empowered His representatives, the Apostles and other disciples, to go forth in His name to heal the sick as a way of announcing the Gospel to those who had not heard it.

And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:7-8)

Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.  And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. (Luke 9:1-2).

And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. (Luke 10:8-9).

The ministry of healing the sick was not something done through special arrangements or through having big campaigns designed strictly for that purpose.  It was rather a normal outflow of their Christian ministry of the Gospel.  Jesus and His followers were as comfortable healing the individuals on a one-on-one level as they were having mass healing meetings.  Healing the sick was the right thing to do and they did it with great frequency.

Healing the sick was such an accepted practice of Jesus and His ministry team that He gave commandment to continue this practice in all future ministry.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. (Matthew 28:19-20).

[3]This states what we are to teach all nations to the end of this age--ALL THINGS whatsoever I have commanded you.  No man or no church as a right to qualify or limit, or to add to or take from any of the original teachings and practices of Christ and the apostles.  This means that every jot and tittle of the New Testament from Matthew 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 is the contract we are now under and all of it must be taught and practiced by Christians.

This note on The Great Commission by Finis Dake underscores the necessity for what was common practice among Jesus and His disciples being continued as common practice by we, today’s disciples of Jesus.  This includes the practice of healing the sick.  We are not only to go into all the world preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but it must be demonstrated by the power of the Holy Spirit through healings and miracles being wrought in the Name of Jesus according to Mark 16; Acts 1:8; and John 14:12, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”

Peter and the other apostles were very comfortable with the concept of Divine Healing in Gospel ministry.  To them, healing the sick was as normal as attending prayer meetings or any other activity of the church.  On their way into a prayer meeting at the Temple, they stopped and ministered healing to the lame man sitting at the Temple gate:

Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: (Acts 3:1-9).

This miracle healing was notable in that everyone knew this man and thus there could be no denial that a notable miracle had occurred.  When Peter and John were called into account for themselves concerning the healing of the lame man, Peter spoke of the healing without apology and without amazement.  He basically informed the Council that Jesus is alive, this miracle occurred through faith in His name, and we are not going to stop.  The presence of Divine Healing in the Early Church gave them credibility as genuine representatives of the Healing Jesus.  In Acts 1:8, Jesus had told His followers that once they were baptized with the Holy Spirit, they would be witnesses unto Him.  They were to be “proofs” of His resurrection by doing the works that He did (John 14:12) in the power of the Holy Spirit.  The works include healing the sick in a very prominent way.  The absence of healings would indicate a departure from the ministry style that Jesus began in His own ministry.  The presence of healings and miracles is a sign that Jesus is present and very much alive!

T.L. Osborn writes about this, [4]For nearly four decades, my wife, Daisy, and I have talked about the miracles and love of God to multitudes of twenty, fifty or a hundred thousand people at one time.  We’ve proven, thousands of times, that God is what He says He is; that He will do what He says He will do; that the Bible is real and that what it says is true.

The Christian religion is bogged down in theological complexities.  Society has almost relegated God and miracles to legend and superstition. 

Instead of relating God and faith to people and their needs, many related Him only to church sanctuaries.

We have witnessed abundant proof that God is real, that Jesus Christ is alive, and that His miracle-working power is unchanged today.  Wherever His promises can be planted in receptive hearts and minds, they produce wonders in human lives.

We see God at work every time we see cancers healed, paralytics walk, blind and deaf people restored, every time we see unhappy lives transformed, or defeated poverty-level families discover God’s abundant living and prosperity.  We see the miracle of His seeds reproducing of their kind in the lives of those who believe in Him.

What T.L. and Daisy Osborn discovered is that Gospel ministry apart from healings and miracles is not believable.  There is a contradiction between preaching the Love of God and an absence of God’s presence to heal the sick.  In the Osborn’s experience as missionaries to India they were without converts until they were able to make healings and miracles a part of their life-style of evangelism.

[5]When Daisy and I went to India as missionaries, we were very young.  We wanted to share God’s big love-plan with those who had not yet heard about Him.  We had not yet learned the secrets of simple faith in God, so there were no miracles to give proof of what we taught.

But as a result of this experience, our own lives were transformed.  The Lord Jesus Christ appeared to me in our bedroom.  That experience made me know that He is more than a religion, that He is alive.  The Bible became a living book.

We discovered the principles of God’s love-plan and how His miracles are all contained in the seeds of the promises He has given us to plant in human lives.

We have bee reliving the gospels of Christ during most of our lives.

Every day our mail contains exciting testimonies of miracles and of changed lives that come to us from all over the world.  It makes us want to tell everybody about God’s big love-plan.

To say that a life lived in the midst of healings and miracles is exciting is a great understatement.  How are we to expect anyone to accept our message if it is less than helpful to them in their area of need.  Diving Healing as a ministry life-style will produce converts to Christ much more quickly than a life-less, proof-less set of religious beliefs that have been stripped of their power.  Paul the Apostle said that the religious leaders of His day had “a form of godliness, but denied the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5).   This could be said of many Christians today.  Healing the Sick should be as common among us as any other discipline of the Christian faith.  Divine Healing is God’s way of doing the work of the ministry.

The examples of  Divine Healing in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, the example of the apostles who founded the Christian Church, the examples given in the New Testament of healings continuing to have a prominent role in world evangelism, and the countless millions of testimonies of healings having occurred throughout the history of the Church until this very day, have not been enough to convince many in the Church that Divine Healing is a reality and one to be experienced by us all. 

[6]In spite of all of our scientific advancements, in spite of our ability to have hurled a man over five hundred thousand miles round trip to the surface of the moon and that man stepping forth from an earth-made vehicle and walking across the plains of the moon, the human race is still decimated with sickness and disease.  Even in the ranks of Christians there are vast numbers who are, at this very moment, in bodily pain, misery, and affliction.  They do not know, for sure, if it is God’s will for them to be healed.

It is fair to ask the question, “How come Divine Healing has not become well known and widely accepted by now, especially among Christians?”  It could be largely due to the fact that the practice of divine healing has moved from the individual believers who experienced God’s healing power daily in their lives as witnesses for Jesus, to a more sensational form of ministry held by a relative few “healers” in large auditoriums and well advertised campaigns.  It is almost like the average Christian has been taught that he cannot expect to see the sick being healed through his own life and personal witness, but the sick must somehow make their way to crowded auditoriums and churches to get a “professional” to pray for their healing.  This is far from the example of the early Christians who just simply believed that healing was for anyone who needed to be healed, at any time, in any place.  Divine Healing for them was a way of life.  It was in most cases, the only way to stay alive.  For example, the Apostle Paul was dragged out of Lystra and stoned (possibly to death).  His fellow believers gathered around his lifeless form:

And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. (Acts 14:19-20).

Paul “rose up” because he was encircled by believers who prayed for Him and expected Him to be healed and possibly made alive by the Power of God.  This stoning was the direct result of a healing that occurred to a lame man, for which the heathen mobs desired to worship Paul as a god.  When he objected they stoned him.  What is abundantly clear here is that the followers of Paul believed in and expected Divine Healing to happen in Paul when they circled him and prayed.

This level of expectation where healing is concerned should be restored to the Christian Church and has been in several places.   But it cannot be held up in the hands of the leadership elite if the work of Christ is to be completed in the world.  Divine healing must be released throughout the Body of Christ so that “these signs shall follow (all) them that believe...in my name they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover”.  (Mark 16:18).  This means little girls and boys praying for the sick.  This means new converts, old established believers, teenagers, etc.  Any one who knows the Lord should be experiencing a healing ministry as they go about their daily lives as Christians. 

Charles and Francis Hunter of Houston, Texas were older members of John Osteen’s church, Lakewood Church.  They began to study and learn of God’s healing power.  After experiencing healing in their own sick bodies, they began to share their testimony with others.  Many were healed and received miracles through the prayers of this unassuming couple.  Then one day the Lord called them to begin to teach others that they can minister healing too.  They would demonstrate how to pray for the sick.  The sick were being healed all around.  Then they turn to the onlookers and say, “If God can use a couple of old people like us to heal the sick, He can use you also”.  As a result of their travels around the world with this message, literally hundreds of thousand of Christians have had the joy of bringing healing to the sick and diseased in the power of the Name of Jesus.  Average, every-day normal people who love God and know Jesus, going about everywhere healing the sick and winning the lost to Jesus!  Could this be what Jesus had in mind all along? 

Perhaps we as full time ministers need to re-examine our function to the church:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (Ephesians 4:11-12).

[7]The word perfection used here is: 2677. katartismos, kat-ar-tis-mos'; from G2675; complete furnishing (obj.):--perfecting.  The indication is that the five-fold ministers mentioned in verse eleven are for the purpose of furnishing the saints with the equipment needed for the work of the ministry.   The actual work of the ministry is what occurs through the life-style of each individual member of the Body of Christ as they go about their life of witness for Jesus.  Divine Healing is part of this equipping.  The Saints of God are to be equipped with the knowledge of and skill for effective ministry to the sick and diseased and infirm people that they run across in daily life.  Diving healing was not intended to be kept inside the four walls of the church and used only sparingly for the “holiest of saints”.  This precious gift that the Church received through the Holy Spirit is to be freely used to meet the need of hurting people.

“And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”

(Matthew 10:7-8).  Jesus told his disciples to “go, preach” and as they did they were to also, “heal the sick”.  Just in case they thought this was to be done in a limited fashion, He said, “freely give”.   I believe that the Lord Jesus will not be satisfied that we have done what He wanted until Divine Healing is being freely administered to sick people wherever we go in our daily walk. 

The role of  apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers is not to do all the work of the ministry, but rather to prepare and equip every believer entrusted to us by the Lord Jesus with the understanding, training, and anointing to go about their world and do the works that Jesus did, which includes in a large way, healing the sick.

Conclusion:  We are living in what the Bible calls, “perilous times”.  These are doubtless the last days before the second coming of the Lord Jesus.  Between now and the Day of His Appearing, the Scriptures are very clear that trouble will face everyone who lives on earth.  Even now, new diseases never seen before are frightening earth’s population with their deadly powers and our total inability to treat them.  Diseases like aides, the ebola virus, flesh eating bacteria’s, are ravaging great numbers of people.  Modern science is baffled.  They have no remedies.  Add to that the constant threat of terrorism by germ warfare, bombings, sabotage of water supplies,  wars and rumors of war and we see that never before in the history of the modern church has there ever been a greater need for God’s people to be equipped with faith in God and the ability to utilize the gifts of the Holy Spirit.   Divine healing is not a luxury but a necessity!  Modern medicine cannot keep up with the sick and dying.  Insurance costs have become so expensive that for many medical care is out of reach.  We as the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Healer, are going to be looked upon more and more to demonstrate what we have been saying all along about Jesus.  We are called to the “kingdom for such a time as this” to bring healing to the hurting and hope to the dying.  They will listen to us if we have the goods.  If we cannot show by our works of mercy and power, that Jesus is real, they will not believe our rhetoric.  Words alone will not convince this generation of God’s love for them, they must experience His mighty power coming through the hot hands of a Holy Ghost filled believer who has the faith for their healing and deliverance.  Healing the sick opens up doors of opportunity to preach the Gospel that otherwise will never open to us.

Acts 28:7  There was an estate nearby that belonged to Pueblos, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and for three days entertained us hospitably.

His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. They honored us in many ways and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.

(Acts 28:7-10). 

The healing of one man caused a whole island nation to come to Jesus.  People are hurting all around us.  It is God’s nature and will to heal them.  Healing the sick should become the normal out-flow of our time spent in God’s presence so that the people He loves and desires to save can be won through this great attribute of God.  Jesus is the Healer.  Through faith in His name, many will stand before the world being made whole and give witness to the reality of God.

Bibliography

Hayford, Jack.  God’s Way to Wholeness, Divine Healing by the Power of the       Holy Spirit.  Nashville, Tn. Thomas Nelson Publishers.  1993.

Dake, Finis.  Dake’s Annotated Reference Study Bible.  Lawrenceville, Ga.    Dake Bible Sales.  1961.

Osborn, T.L.  God’s Big Love Plan.  Tulsa, Ok.   OSFO Book Publishers.             1984.

Price, Frederick K.C.  Is Healing For All?  Tulsa, Ok.   Harrison House             Publishers.  1976.

Vine, W.E.  The Expanded Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.  Minneapolis, Mn.   Bethany House Publishers.  1984.

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