Peter Gammons Ministries International
Together: Reaching Multitudes Touching Nations
40 Common Questions regarding Healing
My son, give attention to My Words; incline your ear to My sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Proverbs 4:20—22
QUESTION 1
Doesn’t God send sickness on people?
Some people quote Exodus 15:26: ‘If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight and give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I have brought upon the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.’
In a similar way, some versions translate Isaiah 45:7, ‘I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things’.
Yet we know that God does not create evil. Evil does not proceed from God. Though He permits evil, He does not initiate it. Nor does He cause sickness. Dr Robert Young, the author of Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible, an outstanding Hebrew and Greek scholar, states in his book, ‘Hints and Helps to Biblical Interpretation’ that in Exodus 15:26 the literal Hebrew reads ‘I will permit to be put upon thee none of the diseases which I have permitted to be brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee.’
It is here that we see the mis-translation in some versions of the Bible. The active verb in the Hebrew has been translated in the causative sense whereas it should have been translated in the permissive sense. We must not be confused between permission and commission. God permits people to steal and kill but He certainly does not commission it. There is a vast difference between what God allows and what God actively causes. God does not cause sickness.
QUESTION 2
Is sickness redemptive? I heard it preached that when we suffer pain and illness we are joined to Christ in His suffering for the salvation of the world. Is this true?
No, it is not. Jesus’ death on the cross was all-sufficient for our salvation. Our own suffering cannot add to the wonderful work of Calvary, neither does it need any adding to.
It is also worth noting that when Jesus talks about suffering for the Gospel’s sake, He was not talking about sickness and disease, but concerning the persecution that may come to those who live godly lives. Jesus never encouraged anyone to just accept their sickness as a gift from God. Whenever He encountered illness and disease he regarded them as enemies from which people should be set free.
I have heard this objection to this passage before. One preacher even suggested that the Epistle is written for the Jews of the tribulation period. He declared that the word translated ‘Church’ in James 5:14 should read ‘synagogue’, yet this is not so. The word used is ekklésia, Church, not sunagógé for synagogue. The word ekklésia comes from ek ‘out of’ and kaleo ‘to call’. It is ‘those called to Christ out of the world’, a term used in the Bible for ‘believers’.
James also addresses the epistle to ‘my beloved (agapetoi) brethren’, (James 1:16,19; 2:5) a term used in the New Testament, only (and without exception) when referring to Christians.
James’ use of the word shows us without doubt that his epistle is written for Christian believers today. The reference to the twelve tribes scattered abroad was a reference to Christian Jews who had become a part of the Church (ekklesia).
QUESTION 4
Why do we not see as many miracles in the West as in Africa and Asia?
Having worked for many years in Africa and Asia, I believe a number of significant reasons stand out. Firstly, we do not have their simple faith in God’s Word. When we find a promise of God, we so often question, ‘I wonder what He really meant?’, rather than taking God at His Word.
There is a dependence on God that we in the West know very little of. As one Asian man recently said to me, ‘When your people are sick they go straight to the doctors. It would cost me eight years’ wages to be treated for my condition. If God does not heal me, I am dead’. So often we turn to God only when the doctors give up! Often it is then out of fear and desperation we pray, rather than out of faith. Also we are so rational. From early on in life we are taught that north is always up and we form equally strong opinions on most other areas of life too. We have been taught to categorise the spirit world along with fairies and elves. This adversely affects us so that, even when we witness a miracle, there can be something inside us that says, ‘there must be a natural explanation’.
As children we are taught that ‘seeing is believing’. So, if you can see it, then it exists, but if you cannot see it, then it does not. We make a few exceptions of course, for things like radio waves. Why? Because scientists tell us that they exist and explain that this is where the sounds on our radios come from. It is amazing how most western Christians will far more readily accept the word of scientists than the Word of God. Receiving healing by faith, before we see immediate evidence, goes against our rational mind-set. Thus we often miss God’s blessings which are received by faith.
Another problem is that we are so materialistic; everything revolves around this life. Most Christians believe that the acquiring of earthly possessions takes a higher priority than investing in the eternal and ‘laying up treasures in heaven’. Our actions show this. Yet for many African and Asian believers they have little else in life but their faith in God.
We are also so humanistic, believing that human accomplishment is the real solution to the world’s problems. For years preachers taught that with the advancement of medical science miracles were no longer required.
When encountering illness, most western Christians think of doctors and medicine before prayer. God is there when medicine fails!
I rejoice at all the great strides that medical science has made in its efforts to alleviate human suffering, yet isn’t it amazing that with all our achievements we still have not found a cure for the common cold! Untold thousands are still not beyond the reach of a miracle. Man is not God.
It is sad that many Christians who have seen others healed and perhaps have received healing themselves, still find that they fight scepticism and unbelief. How we need to learn from the simple faith of our precious African and Asian brothers and sisters.
This unbelief must be dealt with before we can see a breakthrough of the miraculous.
However, things are changing. More and more, as we are standing on the Word of God, we are seeing miracles taking place in our land. I was recently speaking to a gathering of over 3,000 Christians in London and asked how many had ever received a miracle of healing from the Lord. Over three- quarters of the people raised their hand to say that they had.
QUESTION 5
But it’s not scientific to believe in the miraculous, is it?
In the mid-seventeenth century, René Descartes introduced a mathematical concept of life that changed man’s thinking in Europe. His teaching that ‘all reality resulted from a mechanical cause and effect and could be explained scientifically’ was radical. Descartes firmly believed in God and emphasised that it was impossible for God not to exist. Yet it was not long before his philosophy was adopted and God excluded.
Hence, we live in a society where God’s existence is either denied or seen as largely insignificant. The world is viewed as a closed system, governed by the causes and effects of natural laws. Sadly, even in many churches, things are so well organised that we wouldn’t notice if God hadn’t turned up.
But in reality there is no tension between Christianity and science. Many of the greatest scientists have been convinced Christians. Faith and science are in fact complementary. In order for scientific discoveries to be made, many years of faith in a theory often precede any concrete evidence to convince anyone else. Science is often an exercise in faith. But ultimately we only believe what we want to.
A girl in America was healed of epilepsy, from which she had suffered for twenty years. During that time, drugs had been prescribed to control her symptoms. In addition to this brain ‘defect’, she had suffered from migraine headaches which no amount of medication had relieved. They had been so bad that she had missed months of schooling and been unable to hold down a regular job. As she was prayed for, she felt something happen. The next week E.C.G. tests to monitor her brain activity showed no signs of disturbance. The doctor concluded that the machine was malfunctioning and arranged another test.
The second test showed no signs of the previous illness either and so her medication was reduced. Further tests two weeks later showed no evidence of epilepsy and so her medication was discontinued.
After two years, with no further seizures or headaches, her doctors were still puzzled. The amazing thing is that they refused to believe her testimony that God had healed her. Their western view-point ruled out the possibility of Divine intervention. Rather, they concluded that she must have been mis-diagnosed and mistreated for the past twenty years. These conscientious doctors would rather risk being sued for malpractice, than admit the possibility of God having intervened!
QUESTION 6
What about the sceptics?
The sceptical Pharisees requested a sign as proof of Jesus’ identity, while ignoring the numerous signs that were already evident around them (Matthew 16:1-4).
Some will always refuse to believe. This should not surprise us. It was true even in Jesus’ day. As one sceptical doctor put it on television recently, ‘If after research I could find no explanation for the claimed miracle I would just conclude that the condition had been mis-diagnosed in the first place.’
We will never convince every sceptic. Even Jesus could not do that! If our philosophy of life excludes the miraculous, whatever God does we will refuse to acknowledge it.
Isn’t it amazing that when Jesus healed a blind man, the Pharisees, rather than change their thinking, sought to kill the blind man to get rid of the evidence?
God’s moving does not always make a preacher popular. During the 1970s, here in Britain, I was told by some pastors, ‘We would support your evangelistic crusades if you would renounce praying for the sick.’ Yet healing is a vital and inseparable part of the gospel which we have been sent to proclaim.
Jesus said; ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.. and these signs will follow them that believe; in My name they will cast out demons.. they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover’ (Mark 16:15—18).
In Mark’s gospel, where Jesus’ full commissioning is recorded, we see that laying hands on the sick, is included in Jesus’ Great Commission before His ascension.
The accounts of the miracles shared in this book have all been confirmed by the crusade organisers before they were shared in print. It is not our desire to share sensational stories, but genuine testimonies of what God has done. Honesty and integrity are vital, as I do not take lightly the blessing and favour of God on this ministry.
Yet, no matter how much care one takes, there will always be those who think that they can explain away what God has done. When things do not fit in with our philosophy or theology, rather than change our beliefs, we try to destroy the evidence.
Sometimes, of course, we have to take people’s word that they have been healed, though the excitement and tears that usually flow are a sure indication that God has done something. People often write to us weeks, months and sometimes years later, confirming that a genuine miracle has taken place.
Those who regularly receive our Newsletters will know that the testimonies from our crusades around the world usually say that those whose eyesight had been healed (for example), testified that they had been blind but now could see. It is not our claiming that they were healed, it is their coming and telling us what God has done.
On some occasions, like when a blind beggar was healed in Tanzania, I have asked, ‘How many knew this man and knew that he had been blind?’ Every hand in the crowd went up.
The same happened in Zimbabwe, where a deaf child was healed and a large group of his friends confirmed that he previously could not hear. Usually there are friends, neighbours and family members present to confirm the healings.
On one occasion I encouraged a husband to whisper ‘I love you’, in his wife’s ear. She had been deaf in that ear since birth. The joy and tears that flowed as she threw her arms around him, saying, ‘I love you too,’ was proof enough that a miracle had taken place.
As one Muslim nurse recently put it after attending one of our missions, ‘I didn’t believe the reports I had heard. I did not believe these things could ever happen. But now I have seen it with my own eyes, I have to believe’.
This is one of the reasons that we try to video our crusades overseas. Many in our own land have never seen the blind receive their sight, the deaf hear and the lame walk. If we are to see such miracles here, we need to lift our faith.
Videos capture something of the excitement of what God is doing. Many sceptics have gone away convinced after attending our crusades.
An increasing number of Westerners are beginning to doubt the sufficiency of materialism and logic. There is a rapid rise of interest in the occult and in New Age religion. If the Church fails to bring its believing into line with the Word of God and experience God’s miraculous power, we may well miss reaching this spiritually-hungry generation.
QUESTION 7
I received prayer but have not been healed.
Why? People often ask, ‘Why was I not healed?’ Without divine revelation, of course, we cannot give a specific reason. There could be many hindrances and so it is good to search our hearts asking the Holy Spirit to show us if there are any. Past occult involvement can hinder receiving our healing, so can areas of sin in our life. Fear, anxiety and resentment can block the flow of God’s healing too. If we are honest, unbelief often hinders the answers to our prayers. It is not for us to go around accusing others of unbelief, but it is good to search own heart.
Some dear saints are not healed because of false teaching. Many believe that sickness and pain are sent by God to chasten them or to make them submissive to His will. So, amazingly, they have prayed for patience to be submissive to God’s will instead of for healing. The irony is that many have immediately called a doctor to give them medication. Is that submission to God’s will? You will never be healed as long as you think that God wants you to be sick. Many precious saints cannot pray the prayer of faith to be healed, because they believe that it is God’s will that they should be sick. With such false teaching having been so prevalent in the Church, it should not surprise us that many are not healed. However, things are changing and as we continue to stand on God’s Word we will see more and more miracles.
Sometimes, however, after searching our heart to ensure that there is no sin or personal blockage to receiving healing we just have to hold on in faith. As we have seen, not everyone is healed instantly. In my own experience, most of the miracles I have received have been as I have stood on the promises of God and held on in faith until I have been completely healed.
QUESTION 8
How does unbelief hinder answered prayer?
I believe that the major hindrance to seeing miracles today is unbelief. Jesus said, ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away’ (Matthew 24:35). Yet Christians still so often doubt the Word of God and His promises. Unbelief limited God moving in Jesus’ own town: ‘Jesus did not do many mighty miracles there because of their unbelief’ (Matthew 13:58).
Mark s Gospel tells us ‘He could not do any miracles there except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith’ (Mark 6:5,6). Isn’t it astonishing that the Bible tells us that there are things that the Son of God ‘could not’ do? If a preacher had said that, he would have been accused of being a heretic. But it is the Word of God that says it. Our unbelief hinders God moving.
God, of course, can do anything. He is a sovereign God. But in His sovereignty He has chosen to work in response to faith. As a sovereign God he has every right to do that. Years of preaching that God does not perform miracles today or that we cannot expect Him to work miracles, has left an atmosphere of unbelief in our land which so often stops our prayers breaking through. The Word of God is clear. Jesus’ miracles were not just God’s sovereign intervention, doing whatever He liked. He responded to faith. Faith in the promises of God’s Word is vital to receiving answers to our prayers (Mark 11:2, Matthew 21:21, Mark 9:23, Matthew 9:29). When Jesus’ disciples asked why they had been unable to cast the demon out of the child, Jesus said, ‘because of your unbelief’ (Matthew 17:20).
It is a waste of time praying for healing to ‘see if it works’. The Bible tells us to ‘ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord’ (James 1:6,7).
For those who believe that the day of miracles is past, it is past. For Jesus said ‘according to your faith let it be to you’ (Matthew 9:29). Signs follow ‘them that believe’ (Mark 16:16-20). There is an atmosphere of unbelief in many lands and churches which hinders our seeing the dynamic and supernatural move of God which, I believe, He wants us to see. It is time to see that our unbelief is sin. Unbelief calls God a liar. It says, ‘I know that you have said that you will do these things, but I do not believe that you will.’ The only solution for sin is repentance. Then we can prayerfully go to God’s Word, that faith might come to receive our healing.
Sometimes few are healed, because pastors pray for the sick, but they do not preach boldly about Christ’s healing power to build up people’s faith to receive a miracle. I am sometimes asked by pastors, ‘How do I start praying for the sick?’ I usually reply, ‘You don’t. You start preaching to the sick. There is a very important principle here. Thousands were healed in the meetings of F. F. Bosworth. During his lifetime he received over 220,000 written testimonies from those who were miraculously healed. They used to take the wheelchairs and crutches away from his meetings by the truckload. Yet, during his crusades, he would preach for the first three days to build up people’s faith before he would pray for anyone. He saw the necessity of dealing with people’s unbelief and wrong beliefs (which led to their unbelief) first. He dealt with their nagging doubts about why they might not get healed before he prayed for any. He felt that otherwise they would come for prayer in unbelief and just go home disappointed, unhealed and blaming God.
Many pastors are fearful of boldly preaching God’s Word on this subject. However, there has been so much negative preaching against miracles and healing, that if we do not destroy these wrong beliefs by preaching the positive truths of God’s Word, we may as well not pray. It is the prayer of faith that saves the sick, not just prayer (James 5:15). We are told that the Lord confirms the Word with signs following (Mark 16:20). The Word must come first.
As the Word of God is preached on this subject and the people believe it, so faith comes to receive their healing. We must preach the Word of God in simplicity. If God says it, then He means it! The promises of God do not need interpreting, they need believing. The Bible was not written by learned theologians, nor was it written for theologians, it was written by simple believers, for simple believers.
I have a friend who has been mightily used by God all over the world in seeing tens of thousands saved and healed. Yet, before this fruitful ministry began, he had been a missionary who had not seen anyone won for Christ. One day God spoke to him and said, ‘Why don’t you preach My Word?’ He said, ‘Lord, I do preach Your Word. Every Sunday I preach Your Word’. God said, ‘No you do not. You explain My Word, you talk about My Word, you interpret My Word. Why don’t you just preach My Word?’ He began to boldly preach it, just as it is written, If He read; ‘anything you ask in My Name I will do,’ He began to preach that. Soon miracles began to happen and many started coming to Christ. The Lord has used him and his wife all around the world since then to see tens of thousands saved and healed.
Lots of Christians, when they are sick, head straight for the first healing line. Yet on most occasions in the New Testament, before Jesus healed people, most of them had heard Him preach. The usual pattern was to preach the Word and then to heal the sick. It is no use praying for people until their faith has been built up. Many Christians, instead of saying ‘Pray for me’, should first say ‘Teach me God’s Word so that I can co-operate with God to receive a miracle’. Before the Lord healed Lazarus, He said, ‘Take away the stone’ (John 11:38). That big round stone was like a giant full stop. ‘Lazarus is dead - full stop). Jesus said ‘roll away the stone’. Notice Jesus did not take the stone away. It is our responsibility to get rid of our unbelief. We put it there by the books we have read and by the people and preachers that we have listened to, so we must get rid of it. Then, once the stone of unbelief has been rolled away, we can receive a miracle.
We need to recognise that unbelief is sin. It calls God a liar. It says ‘I know that you have said that you will do these things, but I do not believe that you really will.’ There is only one answer for sin and that is repentance. We need to ask God to forgive us for our unbelief and to start to believe His Word. However, on a positive note, things are changing. As the
QUESTION 10
Doesn’t the Bible warn against the possibility of counterfeit miracles?
Yes, it does. That is one of the reasons why we need to look at the doctrines of those ministering. Does the minister encourage you to put your faith in Jesus? Does he encourage you to believe and to study the Word of God? Are his teachings clear from reading the Word of God or do you need the preacher’s ‘special revelations’ to maintain belief? Does he present Jesus as the healer or does he claim to have healing power of his own? The enemy is coming in like a flood and we must re-emphasise the centrality of Bible-based teaching. Pharaoh’s magicians were able to produce some miraculous demonstrations similar to those God performed through Moses. Therefore, any ministry that diverges from such foundational truths as the divinity of Christ, the all - sufficient sacrifice of
For example, spiritism is a counterfeit of true healing in Jesus’ Name. The Bible clearly condemns attempts at contacting the dead (Deuteronomy 18:9—13). People go to spiritists looking for physical healing and end up spiritually bound. If you have ever been to a spiritist healer you need to repent and ask the Lord to set you free from the effects in Jesus’ Name. There is only one true healer and His Name is Jesus. Do not look to a man or woman to heal you. That is why Christians do not use the term ‘faith healing’. It is ‘divine healing’ we believe in, for Jesus is the healer.
No, it rather reveals humanity’s intense desire to know the reality of the unseen God. God’s purpose and plan for humanity from the beginning was for people to have fellowship with Him. Created in God’s image, men and women can never find full satisfaction without Him. Human beings instinctively seek God, whether or not they admit it or are even conscious of it. Human life has divine purpose and until that purpose is discovered, there is a vacuum, an emptiness. Being the offspring of a miraculous God, people have an inborn hunger to experience miracles. This yearning for the miraculous is deep-seated in each human being regardless of nationality or background. Jesus attracted the multitudes by miracles and wherever miracles are wrought in His Name today, He continues to attract the multitudes.
What is your reaction to this? Not everyone who comes for prayer is healed instantly. We often have to hold on by faith before we receive. So, it would be foolish to judge the miraculous solely on the immediate results. Also, let us not forget that doctors ‘disappoint’ millions every day. Nearly everyone in the graveyard has been to a doctor first! Some ministers who object to divine healing because some are not healed, do not minister to the sick themselves at all. That leaves everyone unhealed! Where is compassion or obedience to the scriptures in that? A lot more are healed when we minister to the sick than when we do not!
3 John 2 tells us: ‘Beloved, I desire above all things that you might prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.’ God has even designed our bodies to be on the side of health. As soon as a germ enters our bodies, nature begins to repel it. When we break a bone or cut a finger, as long as our body is working properly, it does its utmost to heal and usually succeeds. Has God commanded our bodies to rebel against His will? If sickness were the will of God, then every doctor would be in rebellion against Him and every nurse would be defying the Almighty. Every hospital would be a house of rebellion instead of a place of mercy. If sickness is the will of God then instead of supporting hospitals we should be seeking to close them down! But I believe that the Scriptures are clear that God is on the side of health.
QUESTION 14
Shouldn’t we accept our sickness as a gift from God?
Such a fatalistic attitude can be found in Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and many other world religions, but not in the Bible. Nowhere in Scripture do we find Jesus encouraging people to ‘accept their sickness as a gift from God’ or to ‘bear it for His glory’. Nowhere do we find Jesus exalting ‘the finer qualities’ that can be developed through suffering illness. Jesus never met sickness passively. He never regarded sickness as a friend to be welcomed, but as an enemy to be defeated. Jesus saw sickness as oppression by the devil and healed all who came in faith. ‘God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him’ (Acts 10:38).
QUESTION 15
Jesus didn’t heal all the sick in Israel, did He?
It is true that Jesus did not heal all of the sick in
Doesn’t God sometimes use sickness to discipline us?
Sickness can result from our having sinned, but, when it does, it should last only as long as the sin continues. Paul made it clear in the case of the sickness and death visited upon some of the Corinthian Church, that this was as a result of their sin (1 Corinthians 11:27—31). However, God’s intention was not that the Corinthians should passively accept their sickness, but rather that they should stop sinning and be healed. It was not God’s will that these people were sick and had even died. It was His will that they should judge themselves, seek His forgiveness and receive healing.
Neither was it God that had caused the sickness. Paul spoke of them as being ‘handed over to Satan’ for the destruction of their bodies that their souls might be saved. When we choose to walk in disobedience, we come out from under God’s protective hand and place ourselves open to the attack of the enemy who is out to kill, to steal and to destroy. When Jesus encountered the paralytic he did not tell him that this was God’s discipline or preach a long accusing sermon about the man’s sins. Instead He forgave the man and told Him to rise up and walk. To the man at the Pool of Bethesda Jesus said, ‘Go and sin no more lest anything worse come to you’ (John 5:14).
Some have taught that sickness is God’s discipline in our lives, but a parent’s discipline is only of value if the child knows what it is for. To repeatedly strike a child without explanation has no educational value but turns the child against the parent. It is unreasonable to suggest that chronic illness is a form of discipline for a believer who, having searched his heart, honest1y believes before God that there is no area of disobedience in his life. What many Christians have called ‘a blessing from God’, would in the human family, be called child abuse. What mother or father would put cancer on their son or daughter to tame their pride? Sickness is not from God.
The preachers who try to comfort the sick by telling them to accept their illness as a blessing from God, or say that God is trying to teach them a lesson, offer no consolation and certainly did not get this concept of sickness from Jesus!
What do you think is the root of the concept that sickness is good for us and has a sanctifying effect?
Roman persecution of the church stopped during the time of
Soon the notion of the sanctifying effect of sickness became firmly rooted in the Church. No longer was sickness seen as an enemy which should be defeated as it was in the practice of Jesus and His early disciples. Rather, the possible benefits of the sickness were emphasised. So much so that such commands as James 5:13 —18 which encouraged prayer and the anointing of the sick that they might be made well, were exchanged for ‘last rites’! Instead of prayer being made that the sick person might be made well (James 5:15), it was seen that the ‘healing’ required was of the soul, in preparation for death.
In the sixteenth century the Church of England included these words in the office of visitation of the sick: ‘Wherefore, whatsoever your sickness is, know you certainly that it is God’s visitation’. So engrained was this unbiblical concept that many of the New England Puritans opposed precautions against smallpox on the grounds that sickness was in God’s providence and that to prevent it would thwart the will of God. This unbiblical concept still continues for many in the Church today. It produces the common situation whereby Christians decline prayer for healing when they are sick concluding that it must be God’s will that they are ill. Yet they still visit doctors and surgeons.
Doesn’t the New Testament teach us that suffering is inevitable for the believer?
The Bible teaches that faithful believers may well suffer persecution for his or her faith but suffering for the faith and physical sickness are never equated in the New Testament. In the New Testament suffering always refers to persecution inflicted by people or demons. The Greek word translated in our English Bibles ‘suffering’ is pascho. There are sixty-five appearances of this word in the New Testament. On no occasion was it used in reference to sickness. The only reference to suffering in the context of anything physical is that of the epileptic, where the condition is attributed to a demon (Matthew 17:15). When it is used in Mark 5:26, ‘the woman suffered many things’, the term refers not to the woman’s illness but to her treatment by the doctors!
Persecution may come to those who boldly proclaim Christ (Acts 4:1—22, 5:40—42, 7:54, 8:3,14:19—20). This does not mean that we should not pray for deliverance from persecution; even the early Church did that (Acts 12:5). On occasions individuals were miraculously delivered, at other times they were not and endured their suffering with joy, rejoicing because ‘they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for His Name’ (Acts 5:41).
Although the English word ‘suffer’ may include the concept of sickness, in New Testament times it did not. Suffering and sickness were seen as very different from each other. Nowhere in the teaching or practice of Jesus did He promote sickness or counsel anyone that it was inevitable or profitable.
Nowhere did Jesus inflict sickness on anyone to accomplish some higher good, though He healed people for that reason (eg John chapter 9). To Jesus sickness was an enemy not a friend. His response was to heal.
QUESTION 19
Should a Christian use doctors?
I thank God for the medical profession. A number of my friends and supporters are doctors. Although several occult- rooted practices have recently crept in, like hypnotism and acupuncture, which are unacceptable for the believer, I am grateful to God for most of the medical discoveries man has made. Doctors and nurses are on the side of health just as God is. ‘Jesus answering said unto them, they that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick’ (Luke 5:31). God heals in many ways, including through the treatment by doctors. I appreciate doctors because they believe in healing and that people should be well. Doctors are against disease, just as I believe God is. There are some sad and tragic stories of Christians who have taken a total stand against using medical science. I see no conflict between God’s healing power through faith and prayer and the doctor’s efforts to bring healing.
QUESTION 20
Should I give up my tablets now that I have been prayed for?
Only the Lord can give that kind of directive. Ultimately, when you are physically well again you will not need them. The fact that you ask the question is perhaps an indication that this is not the right time to do so. The time to take such action is when you have complete peace in you heart that this is what God wants you to do, not when you have doubts about it. To do so without a clear directive from the Lord would be unwise. When the Lord is directing you to do something, you will have complete peace about it. It is the devil who tries to get us to do something out of condemnation. Although we want to take steps of faith, we also want to get our timing right and not to do anything that would damage our testimony. If the drugs are for a serious illness or have been taken for a prolonged period of time, it is good, if possible, to seek the counsel of a Christian doctor. As you seek the Lord, He can show you what is best, both for you and for His glory. It is just as exciting when a person has been healed and they find that they are getting a negative reaction from taking their medication or further medical tests show that their tablets are no longer required.
QUESTION 21
On what basis do some suggest that miracles and healing passed away on the death of the early apostles or on completion of the scriptures?
Having read books that object to the ministry of healing, I have not found one scriptural argument or one verse of scripture mentioned that even suggests that miracles and hea1ing would cease. The only verse that some have used to suggest that certain of the spiritual gifts would pass away is I Corinthians 13:8 where we read: ‘Whether there are prophesies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away’. Are we suggesting that knowledge has passed away? verse 12 goes on to say; ‘Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood’. Has this happened yet? Some suggest that this was a reference to the completion of the Canon of Scripture, yet at the time of writing Paul was unaware that at some future date his writings would be compiled with others to make the Scriptures. He was not referring to some prophetic event but to an event of which the Corinthian believers would be aware; a time when all the secrets of their hearts would be revealed and they would be seen and understood, as only God sees and understands. This is a verse which most believers see as a clear reference to the return of Jesus Christ. Then, we will no longer need prophecy, which is for exhortation, edification and comfort (1 Corinthians 14:3). Encouraging, challenging and comforting will be a thing of the past. They are only required in this world of discouragement, apathy and pain. They will not be needed when we are with the Lord. They are however, vitally needed until then.
When Jesus comes, we will no longer need encouraging, exhorting and comforting. We will no longer need the gift of tongues (God’s gift for wandering thoughts, mind blocks, uncertainty about how to pray, etc.) whereby we are enabled to pray beyond the limitations of our earthly language. Prayer will be replaced with praise for eternity. Then all our questions and disagreements within the body of Christ will be answered and we will know in full, in a way that we do not at this present time. Nevertheless, even if this verse had meant that prophecy, tongues and knowledge would pass away prematurely, miracles and healing are not included in the list of those things that would pass away. This takes away the only verse that could be construed to imply an end to certain miraculous gifts. There is not one verse of scripture that even implies miracles or healing would cease.
Two streams of blessing flowed through the ministry of Jesus, a stream of forgiveness and a stream of healing. He came not just to save souls but to save people. He brought healing for the body and for the soul. These same two streams flowed side by side throughout the Book of Acts and on through Church history, with those who believed. Why should we suppose that one should run on until the Lord returns and the others fade away? There is no scripture to support such a concept. As we have already seen, church leaders like Irenaeus, Luther, Zinzendorf, Wesley and Whitefield saw miracles of healing through their ministries. To suggest that miracles and healings stopped after the death of the early Church leaders or on completion of the Canon of Scripture is to dismiss the ministry of these great leaders. If miracles have ceased, then we are all lost; for the greatest miracle that ever happens is when someone is born again. It was not miracles that passed away but faith in God’s power. When we stop preaching salvation, people do not get saved—when we stop preaching Christ’s healing power, miracles cease. Today, however, when we will take God at His Word, we still see God’s miracle power manifest.
Jesus said, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My Name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover’ (Mark 16:15—18). This was our Lord’s commission. Therefore, what right have we to preach only forgiveness and to withhold healing? What right have we to go to our world and demand acceptance of our message without signs following?
QUESTION 22
In your crusades, after prayer, you often encourage people to do what they could not do before. Why is this?
Faith without works is dead. Jesus told the blind man to ‘go and wash in the pool of Siloam’ (John 9:7). He encouraged the man to put actions behind his faith. The man was not healed until he did so. In the same way the Lord sent the ten lepers to show themselves to the priest. It was as they went that they were cleansed. None of them was healed at the point that they left Jesus. In Acts chapter 3 we read that the lame man’s feet and ank1es were strengthened ‘as he stood’, not before he stood. He did not say ‘I’m a lame man, I cannot stand!’ He did not wait until he felt that something had happened. Many others, like that lame man, have received their healing as they have taken a step of faith and done what they could not do before.
QUESTION 23
Can psychological problems affect us physically?
One prominent doctor recently said, ‘four out of five times I would find out what was wrong sooner if I started by examining the patient’s homelife, his job and his bank account instead of his heart, his digestive system and his kidneys’. Dr Paul Tournier, the famous Swiss Physician has often shared his belief that spiritual unrest, emotional trauma and damaged relationships lie behind most serious illnesses.
This should not surprise us, as the Bible frequently mentions the relationship between our body, mind and spirit (Psalm 38:3, Proverbs 3:5—8; 14:30). What goes on in one affects the others. When a person is prayed for and does not receive healing, it is often good to sit down and talk through with him or her whether there might be a root cause to their condition. It might be natural, spiritual, relational or emotional. Discovering when the problem first started, whether there were any traumatic experiences around that time and whether sin or relational stress is a contributing factor can be helpful. Learn to listen to God and to listen between the lines to what those you are counselling say. Many hurting people may know more about their problem than they are willing to admit, so gently encourage them to open up. When there has been resentment or bitterness, forgiving the one who has offended often precedes healing. The Bible links God’s forgiveness of me with my forgiveness of others (Matthew 18:35; Luke 11:4). Often relationships need to be healed before our bodies can be healed. I have seen many people instantly healed when they have forgiven others. It might also be worth mentioning that Jesus once asked a man the question, ‘Do you want to be healed?’ This may seem like a strange question to someone who is sick. Yet, many sick people while appearing to moan about their sickness, at the same time hold onto it. Their sickness brings them the support and attention which they cannot face being without. Negative attitudes, criticism and worry can ruin our health. Stress is a major killer in our society; it often leads to heart attacks, ulcers, high blood pressure and mental break downs. Jesus said, ‘Never be troubled about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself’ (Matthew 6:34). He told us not to worry (Matthew 6:25,34). Yet, how many Christians ruin their health through fear, overworking and constant worrying? If we want to live in health, we need to learn to entrust our life and future, and the lives of our loved ones to the Lord. Divine healing is more than just ‘getting well’. It includes the healing of our emotions and a total healing of our relationships with God and with one another.
QUESTION 24
Should we not just pray ‘Thy will be done?’
It seems absurd to teach that, when it comes to areas of healing, Christians should pray as Christ prayed in the garden, ‘Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done.’ Jesus did not pray this prayer because He had any doubt concerning God’s will. He never had a doubt about the matter. He prayed, ‘If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will’ (Matthew 26:39). This was his reaction in His humanity, to the awful prospect of the agony of the cross, to draw back. However, He knew that it was God’s will that He should die for us in this way. James 5:15 tells us ‘the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him’. It does not say ‘and the prayer of faith shall save the sick if it be the Lord’s will!’ Since God does not insert this proviso when giving us this command to pray, why should we insert it? There is a proper time and place to insert ‘if it be thy will’ when we pray. James 4:13,15 tells us, ‘Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.. . Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills we will live and do this or that”.’ It is in the area of our future plans for which there is no clear scriptural directive that we are told to add ‘if the Lord wills’. It is such plans as whether to move, to take certain business opportunities, etc., that we ought to pray and say, ‘Lord, I only want to do what you want me to do’. It is in such human plans, where there is uncertainty of God’s will, that such a prayer has its rightful place, not in the areas where God’s Word is clear concerning His will. When we inject the proviso ‘if it be thy will’ concerning healing, it is an acknowledgement that we are not praying the prayer of faith but that we have doubts in our own hearts. James warns us to ‘Ask in faith without doubting. For he that doubts is like the waves driven and tossed about. Let not that man suppose that he should receive anything from the Lord’ (James 1:7). When we pray in faith Jesus tells us to believe that we have already received that for which we have prayed. Such a prayer cannot be offered unless we are first convinced from God’s Word that it is His will to heal us.
QUESTION 25
If it is God’s Will to heal me, won’t it just happen?
If someone said to you, ‘I don’t need to give my life to Christ. God knows whether I am going to be saved or lost anyway,’ you would call this fatalism not faith. You would explain to him that to be saved he must meet God’s condition for salvation by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the same way, when we pray for the sick inserting the words ‘if it be thy will’ we are placing all of the responsibility for that healing on to God and assuming none for ourselves. The scriptures, however, place the responsibility on our shoulders. Jesus said, ‘And all things, whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive’ (Matthew 21:22). In Mark 9:22 the father of a demon possessed boy said to Jesus ‘If You can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us’. Christ replied, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes’. The father then replied, ‘Lord, I believe: help Thou my unbelief’. Christ let the father know that the ‘if’, the responsibility for healing, did not lie with God but with the father himself. God puts the responsibility for answered prayer on us. ‘And Jesus answering said unto them, “Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whoever shall say unto this mountain be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he sayeth shall come to pass: he shall have whatever he sayeth. Therefore I say unto you, whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them” (Mark 11:22—24). To the blind men Jesus said, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this? According to your faith be it done unto you’ (Matthew 9:29). To the centurion, Jesus said, ‘Go your way and as you have believed, so it will be done unto you’ (Matthew 8:13). To the woman with the issue of blood Jesus said, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you whole; go in peace and be whole of your plague’ (Mark 5:34). To Jairus who came on behalf of his little daughter, Jesus said, ‘Be not afraid, only believe’ (Mark 5:36). It was when Jesus ‘saw their faith’ that He healed the paralytic carried to Him by the man’s friends.
QUESTION 26
Are there not spiritual benefits from being sick?
Some have had ‘deep spiritual experiences’ during times of confinement, for which we can praise God. But, should it be necessary to experience such things to draw us closer to the Lord? For every believer who speaks of having had such a ‘deep ‘spiritua1 encounter’, there are many more who have been constantly occupied with themselves, with careful eating, with taking their tablets on time, with ensuring that they receive sufficient visitors, etc. There are many beneficial lessons that we can learn as we hold on in faith for our healing. However, a common problem with the view expressed in the question is that sickness is spiritualised, which stops many believers from reaching out to receive healing from Christ. If there are the benefits that many suggest, then why didn’t Jesus counsel people to stay sick? Why did He heal everyone who came to Him in faith?
QUESTION 27
Why do we need healing services?
I have found God’s presence to be very evident at such gatherings, when believers unite together in expectant faith. It is there that many are healed. For lots of people, such services have been among the greatest spiritual events that they have ever attended. Secondly, there are too many people needing healing to try and minister to them all one by one. Jesus frequently healed en masse. Thirdly, there is the public witness value of a large healing meeting. In an age when many doubt the power of prayer for healing, it is vital to have such visible healing meetings. On almost every occasion Christ preached and healed in public (ie Matthew 8:16; 9:35; Mark 1 & 2). He also told His disciples to preach and to heal in public (Matthew 10:6—8; Luke 10:1—12). This continued throughout the Book of Acts. The mighty miracles that took place, were the reason that the crowds gathered. It was the miracles which caused the people to follow Christ and which led to most of the growth of the early Church. We cannot improve on Jesus’ way of ministering. I believe that much of the failure on the mission fields in reaching those of other religions, has been the lack of evidence of God’s power. Paul said, ‘My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God’ (1 Corinthians 2:4,5). Multitudes turn to Christ in our crusades around the world on seeing the miracles of those that are healed.
QUESTION 28
Why do you often pray for people en masse in your crusades?
I find that ministering in this way encourages people to look to the Lord Jesus to heal them instead of looking to me. Jesus said of believers: ‘They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.’ I often encourage the believers to lay their own hands on the ailing area of their body. Both at home and abroad I have found this to be one of the most effective ways of ministering healing. I personally could pray individually for around 100 sick people in an evening after ministering the Word. On the other hand by praying from the platform I can pray for thousands at the same time and see many hundreds healed.QUESTION 29
Do you often ask the congregation to lay hands on one another?
Rarely. Though I want to encourage Christians to step out in ministry, often I have felt that it has been very unwise when the leadership of a gathering has encouraged all the Christians to turn around and start laying hands on one another. Personally I am very cautious whom I allow to lay hands on me. Just as healing and wholeness can be imparted through the prayer of faith from the servant of God, so I believe that negative things can be imparted, for example, from one who has never repented of past occult involvement, if the one who is prayed for is not walking in faith and holiness. At one event I was involved in, I noticed two women present who were laying hands on everyone they could, at every opportunity they could. I discerned that something was not right. It became evident a few nights later when one of the ladies brought a ‘prophecy’ that the Lord would be returning in September! When the ‘prophecy’ was corrected the woman became very angry, and informed us that she was God’s prophet. When I spoke to her later she claimed to regularly contact the dead. A few weeks later she ran off with another woman’s husband. In large gatherings, how can we be sure that there are not witches, spiritists or members of the cults present? In such free gatherings there are liable to be many who lay hands on others and pray in doubt or make fleshly requests. Leaders need to protect the flock. Let me add, having shared this caution that we do want to see the body of Christ mobilised and that wonderful things do happen when Christians pray for one another. This is where training others in ministry is so vital.
QUESTION 30
What about those who come with high expectations and leave in the same state of ill-health in which they came?
Let me first say that such meetings are still vital for those who are healed. Also, if handled wisely by the preacher, everyone can go home having met with the Lord afresh, rather than disappointed. Enthusiastic preaching is vital at such services. However, wisdom and integrity are also needed from the preacher, so as not to suggest to the people that everyone who comes for prayer will be healed instantly. This kind of preaching can leave any who are not healed, either feeling resentful against God or guilty that it is solely because of their unbelief. We have seen that even in the Bible not everyone was healed instantly. Sometimes we just have to hold on in faith for our healing. This needs saying to encourage those who are in that position. We cannot say, ‘Everyone who comes for prayer tonight will be instantly healed.’ We have already seen that Jesus was hindered by unbelief. Every meeting I have attended in the West has included those with a lot of faith, those with a lot of unbelief and those in between. Nevertheless, I would rather major on the positive side of faith.
Most of us have been present at gatherings where one of the ministers present wanted to inject ‘reason’ and ‘balance’ into the occasion. Yet his theological discourses just flattened the occasion. Faith-filled preaching is vital. If the preacher has the right spirit and wisdom, he can lead everyone in the congregation to blessing at some level, including healing. I would also add that we must never despise those who have not yet received their healing. Unfortunately I have heard people say critically to very sick or disabled Christians, ‘If you had faith you would have been healed.’ On several occasions I have turned to those people and said, ‘Why don’t you use your faith to get them healed?’ The gospel is ‘good news’. The message of healing brings hope. We must ensure that we share these truths to lift people’s faith and not to condemn them.
Back in the early 1970s when the Lord filled me with the Holy Spirit it was not that common in
Apart from the challenge of standing on God’s promises, there is something powerful and important in having faith and expectation. The devil wants us to give up fighting our sickness. When a person gives up hope it is very rare that they recover. I once read an article by a leading cancer researcher and surgeon where he said, ‘I do not like to perform surgery on someone who is low in their spirit. I know that a person with an attitude like that has a much more difficult time surviving surgery and takes a much longer time in recovery.’ When our faith is high the devil finds it far more difficult to attack us. A negative attitude will destroy our faith.
QUESTION 31
Why do you say that a negative attitude will destroy our faith?
God has given faith to everyone (Romans 12:3). Unbelief, along with negative thinking and speaking are not the results of a lack of faith. Rather they are using the faith that God has given us to believe for negative things to happen or to believe that God will not heal us and that his promises are unreliable. Faith is believing that God tells the truth and will do what He says He will do. We need to see that a negative attitude is not a lack of faith, but it is wrong believing. Some people say, ‘Its January, I’m bound to get a cold, I always do’, or ‘Arthritis (or any other disease) runs in the family. My mother had it, so I guess I will get it too.’ Others say, ‘My father died of cancer (or had a weak heart), so I probably will.’ They believe that negative things will happen and in fact use their capacity for faith to get sick. If you have had those kind of attitudes, ask God to forgive you for wrong believing and stop entertaining such thoughts. They are things the devil wants you to expect and to believe. Such believing will pull you down and paralyse you spiritually. In faith, cut yourself off from the effects of all hereditary diseases. Stand against them in Jesus’ Name.
QUESTION 32
Were miracles limited to the apostles?
No, Stephen and Philip were involved in the practical responsibilities of the Church (Acts 6:1—7). Yet we read, ‘Stephen a man full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people’ (Acts 6:8). Of Philip we read, ‘The multitude with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed: and many who were paralysed were healed’ (Acts 8:6,7). Philip and Stephen were as gloriously used as Peter and John. 1 Corinthians 12:9 speaks of ‘the gifts of healings’, given as endowments to the church and there is no implication that these gifts would cease. James wrote at a time when many of the apostles had already lost their lives: ‘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: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him (James 5:14,15). Notice to whom he commits this directive — not just to apostles or to a few men and women of rare gifts. but to the church elders, to those most likely to be within reach of every sufferer.
Jesus simply said of all believers, ‘These signs will follow them that believe; in My Name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues. . . they will lay their hands on the sick and they will recover’ (Mark 16:17,18).
The thing that initially held me back from praying for the sick was the nagging doubt that nothing might happen. People did not begin to be healed until I decided that even if nothing happened, I was going to be obedient to my Lord. Rather than limit these things to a few apostles, Jesus says of everyone who has faith, ‘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’ (John 14:12 NIV).
QUESTION 33
I am a pastor. How do I start praying for the sick to be healed?
First, start to preach on Christ’s healing power and then offer at the close of the service to pray for people. I first started praying for the sick because it is a command of Christ and not because people got healed. Most of us were praying for the sick for a while before we saw miracles take place. So, don’t get discouraged. As you lift people’s faith, more and more will be healed.
Invite preachers to your church who are used by the Lord to see the sick healed, both to support what you are sharing and to help lift people’s faith. Read faith-building books and attend conferences and meetings where the sick are being healed to lift your own faith.
We read in 2 Corinthians 1:20, ‘For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him amen, to the glory of God through us.’ If we find a promise in God’s Word it is ‘yes’. We do not have to ask God whether He means it. He has already said ‘yes’. Let us not be frightened of the Bible or to preach God’s Word boldly. When Jesus said of those who believe that we would do greater things than He did, we might say, ‘Well it’s not happening in my experience.’ Yet, does that mean that the Word of God is wrong? No, it means that our experience needs to change. We must start to take God at His Word, for God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18). God is not unscriptural. Jesus said that ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away’ (Matthew 24:35). Unbelief says, ‘I know you promised it, but I don’t think you will do it.’ As we learn to stand on God’s promises, so our faith will rise and we will see more miracles. So, keep holding on and standing on the promises. Begin to take steps of faith.
QUESTION 34
What is my responsibility when it comes to living a healthy life?
While focusing on God’s ability to heal, we must not forget our own responsibility in caring for the body which God has entrusted to us.
God expects us to take care of our body. A good balanced diet, exercise, avoiding over-eating, learning to relax and getting sufficient sleep, are vital to living in health. Rest and relaxation are also important. As one doctor put it, ‘In the treatment of nervous disease, we are now constantly compelled to prescribe periods of rest. Such periods are, I think, only Sundays in arrears.’
Often during my Crusades in
Many of the Old Testament laws related to hygiene and were to keep
We know that being grossly overweight can cause all kinds of physical problems and illnesses. Continually living under stress and anxiety or being controlled by competitiveness makes us prone to heart problems and heart attacks. Living with deliberate sin in our lives puts us under a psychological pressure that will often lead to sickness too. Some doctors have told us that resentment can destroy the body’s natural fluids and lead to arthritis. Because we are made up of body, soul and spirit, what goes on in my soul (my mind, my will and my emotions) will automatically affect my body.
Sometimes when we are sick we need to stop and to view our lifestyle to see if there is any disorder in our lives. Our bodies can sometimes work as an early warning system. Yet, with God’s help we can change wrong lifestyle patterns and live in health.
QUESTION 35
Can I be prayed for again for the same condition, as I’ve been prayed for before?
There is encouragement in the account of Jesus ministering to one blind man, for he was not instantly healed (Mark 8:22—26). There was an improvement, but he basically said, ‘I can see clearer; I can see men, but they are like trees walking’. His eyesight was still blurred. So Jesus ministered to him a second time and he was made completely whole.
If there was an occasion when Jesus needed to minister a second time to someone, then how much more on occasions with us. The important thing is that those who receive further ministry come not, ‘to see if it works this time,’ but because their faith has been renewed for healing.
There is a time, as in Jesus’ parable of the importunate widow, when we should keep asking and knocking in faith until we receive. As we are sensitive to the Lord’s voice, He will show us when to keep asking and when to stop asking and to rest and receive by faith.
QUESTION 36
I thought I was healed, but my former symptoms have started to return. What should I do?
On occasions, after a period of enjoying health, the first symptoms have appeared to return. It is then that many Christians move into unbelief. ‘I thought I was healed’, they say, ‘I guess I must have been wrong.’ Don’t accept anything that the devil uses to attack you. Don’t allow unbelief to open the door for the devil. Just because God has healed you does not mean that the devil will leave you alone. He will still try to put sickness on us, in the same way that he still tempts us after we have experienced God’s victory in some area of our life.
One big problem is that some Christians receive healing on the faith of others (for example, the preacher’s) but do not themselves have a foundation of faith in God’s Word. So when those other people are not around to hold them up, they begin to doubt and to get into unbelief.
Often the devil tries to take people’s healing. Instead of rising up and standing against him, they give in and say ‘I guess God didn’t heal me’, because they have no foundation in the Scriptures.
We must learn to stand in faith on the Word of God. The Bible tells us, ‘Above all take the shield of faith.’ Just as new converts need to be established in the Word if they are to go on, so those who are healed need to be established in the Word. Many Christians come for prayer for healing and almost as soon as they leave the meeting, they begin talking about their sickness as if they had not received ministry.
Often I have found that as I have continued to stand in faith, the devil gives up after a while, knowing that he cannot win! The Bible tells us to resist the devil and that he will flee (James 4:7). Some Christians seem to be waiting until a red fellow with a long tail and horns appears. The devil is more subtle than that, he comes in the form of doubt, fear, temptation, sickness and disease. It is these fears, doubts and sicknesses that we must resist in Jesus’ Name. Jesus warned us that the devil is out to steal, but don’t let him. Don’t fall back into unbelief. Keep holding on!
QUESTION 37
Sometimes people use the word of knowledge to share details of people present that the Lord wishes to heal. Why is that?
When someone receives a word of knowledge for another about their condition, their faith rises to receive the word. It not that God is more willing to heal them than others but, just an encouragement to their faith. Many times in meetings, I have noticed that there are sick people who do not come for prayer, mainly because they have no real conviction that God is going to heal them. Those are the ones that I usually get words of knowledge for. After receiving the word, their faith is released that God does want to do something, It is biblical, for Ananias received a word concerning Paul’s need of healing (Acts 9:10—19) and even the address at which he was staying. It is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit recorded in 1 Corinthians 12:4—11.
QUESTION 38
My pastor says that certain parts of the Bible are not for today. Is that so?
Who are we to decide which parts are for today and which parts are not? If God has changed His mind concerning healing, could He not have changed His mind about Heaven? To question one part of God’s Word puts a question mark over it all. The Bible gives a very clear warning against adding to or taking from God’s Word. If certain parts are not for today, you may as well get your scissors and cut them out. Why waste your time reading them? The problem is that some Christians would be left with very little more than the cover and the maps!
The truth is that God is unchanging and so is His Word. Heaven and earth will pass away but God’s Word will never pass away (Matthew 24:35).
QUESTION 39
Do we first need to receive our miracle by faith before we see it?
Before Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb He prayed: ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me’ (John 11:41). We can receive things by faith before the answer becomes visible. ‘Faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the certainty of things not seen’ (Hebrews 11:1). The Word of God tells us that faith receives from God, before anything visible is manifested.
Jesus tell us to believe that we have ‘received’ and then we will have our request (Mark 11:24).
Long before Sarah became pregnant, God said to Abram, ‘The Father of many nations I have made you’ (Genesis 17:5). Notice God was speaking in the past tense ‘I have made’. In the same way Abram acted by faith, taking on his new name ‘Abraham’, which means the father of a multitude, even prior to Isaac’s birth.
In receiving healing, faith rejoices and says ‘it is written’, before there is any physical change. It stands on the Word of God. Faith ceases to be anxious about the condition of our body, because we have committed it to the Lord and believe that He has heard. Many Christians, for example, have been healed after reading the words ‘by his stripes we are healed’ in Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24. Suddenly they have seen the past tense of this promise and declared, ‘Lord, you said I am healed. I am going to believe it’. Our feelings often have to catch up with our faith.
In the period between God’s promise to Abraham and its fulfilment, Abraham did not watch his symptoms and cast away his confidence because there was nothing visible to encourage him. He did the exact opposite and looking at the promise of God, ‘he did not waiver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God’ (Romans 4:20).
For twenty-five years he stood on the Word of God before he received his son. Many have been healed by standing on the promises of God concerning healing, in the same way that millions of sinners have been saved by standing on the promises of God’s Word concerning forgiveness.
QUESTION 40
What about those who prayed in faith and yet did not recover and some that have even died?
Although we recognise God’s limitless power, we still live in a fallen world where the whole of creation, including the human body, is ‘subject to decay’ (Romans 8:21). It will continue to be so until we receive our resurrection bodies (8:23). Although we enjoy the blessings of all that Jesus has accomplished on the cross, the full manifestation of Christ’s victory will be seen when He returns.
When our prayers are not answered in the way that we had hoped they would be, we should not look for someone to accuse, rather we should remember that hope stands alongside faith. As Thomas Smail puts it in his book Reflected Glory, ‘Hope has to do with God’s promises that are still future and hidden, just as faith has to do with God’s promises that are here and now. To the person who has believed for today, but has not seen the answer come today, comes the call of hope. Hope says, ‘tomorrow is also God’s. Enough has happened already to assure you that the rest is on the way’.
We believe that Jesus is coming again and that in Heaven there will be no more suffering, pain, sorrow or dying. Until then we live in the situation where, even though Jesus raised people from the dead, they still later died. Yet for the believer, death is not the end and is in fact ultimate healing.
It would be foolish for those of us involved in healing ministries to speak as though there was never a time when people died. Let us not forget that even people like Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, eventually died. The glorious truth for the believer is that death is not the end but is just passing into the full presence of Jesus. The apostle Paul wrote, ‘We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord’ (2 Corinthians 5:8). To the believer death is promotion not defeat. Even before the doctor has signed our death certificate, the King of Kings has taken us into God’s presence.
One of the precious old saints at the turn of the century was J. C. Bevington. He once wrote; ‘A man said to me some time ago, “Well, Brother Bevington, I suppose, from your teaching, that you are never going to die, as you say that God heals and that He answers prayer. So all that you have to do is pray, and He heals you.” I reminded him of an incident that occurred while I was working at the carpenter trade near
Any message on healing which cannot bring comfort at the death bed is not the good news of Jesus Christ. To the Christian, death is not defeat, but ultimate victory. Thus, we continue to pray in faith and can be confident that even when our prayer is not answered the way that we had hoped and expected it to be, resurrection bodies await all those who die in Christ. Because of Christ’s victory at
We still await Christ’s return. The battle against the forces of darkness still continues. One day soon however, we will receive our resurrection bodies (see 1 Corinthians 15). Until then our command and commission is as real today ‘to preach the
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