Healing Otago

It is possible that some people are healed of psychosomatic illnesses by suggestion. I do not question that this occurs. But this is not always the case.

We have come across many instances where people were not present when prayer was offered and yet they were healed instantly when a word of knowledge went forth. I know of one man who went to bed blind. A prayer was offered on his behalf. Whether he heard it or not, I do not know. but I do know that when he woke up, he could see.

There also have been instances where little babies have had their legs straightened out and have been healed of various diseases. Suggestion could not have been responsible for these healings.

I believe that medical science is a gift from God. The skill that doctors have is, without question, a blessing that God has given us for our own good. However, we must all understand that all healing comes from God. Medicines can help, but they only speed up the natural process of healing. Abroise Pare, the 16th century father of modern surgery, often said, "I dressed his wounds: God healed him."
I believe God heals through prayer, through rest and nutrition, through medicine, and through doctors. It is God's will that those who are sick be made whole.

People often have problems with the purposes of God. They say things like, "God may be using this sickness to...teach me a lesson,...make me holy,...bring me closer to Him." The problem with this kind of thinking is: Jesus does not ever teach that. He does not model it. Scripture does not indicate that - ever. In fact, Jesus consistently treats sickness as an enemy. A good book on this topic is God at War, by Gregory Boyd.
People say, "Well, what about the sufferings of Job?" Two things about the sufferings of Job.

1. God did not make Job sick
2. At the end of the story, God made him well.

The problem we encounter when considering God's purpose is complex thinking and complex theology. Complex theology says that if God is allowing something, He must want it. This is a fallacy. God is allowing people to die without Christ, but Scripture says, "God is not willing that any shall perish." God does not people to go to hell. The truth is, someone or something is thwarting God's will. Abortion, abuse, torture, orphans, these are not God's will.

The ministry of Christ does not reveal that God wills some people to be sick. Seventeen different times in the New Testament, it says that Jesus heals all, even when there were multitudes of people gathered. This indicates no partiality and no favoritism. Healing is not just a thing God does. It is His nature. Scripture calls Him Jehovah Rapha. This means God our Healer. If He is God our Healer, He is not God our sickener, or the god who makes us sick. I cannot have faith in a God Who won't do what He said He will do. God is faithful and will always do what He said He will do. Hebrews, chapter 1:1 tells us that in these last days God has spoken with completeness and finality in His son Jesus. This means that if you want to know anything about healing, look at Jesus. Was there ever a time when Jesus declined to heal anyone? No. In fact, if anyone came to Jesus with even a question about healing, they not only did they have their question answered but they had their bodies healed as well. Jesus consistently treated sickness as an enemy. 

It is possible to lose a healing. I remember one woman who had terrible vision. She was virtually blind. After prayer, her sight improved dramatically. But as she looked around, she thought, "I can see, but I am not supposed to see!" Her healing just went away. There was no way we could get it back. It just left.

This is what happened to Peter when he saw the Lord walking on water. Peter wanted to walk on the water as he saw Jesus doing. Jesus said, "Come on out." So Peter got on the side of the boat, put his feet on the water and started walking. But then Peter began to look around and became frightened. He thought, "I am not supposed to be walking on water!" The minute he started to think that, he started to sink. Today, there are people who receive a healing and then think, "I am not supposed to have this," and then they lose it. The devil has a way of coming to people and saying, "You are not really healed. You really still have that disease, and you had better go back and take your medicine and put your braces back on."

I know of one instance involving a man who was healed of multiple sclerosis. The doctors said he had a remission, but he knew it was a healing in answer to prayer. For a year, he had no evidence of the disease. Then one weekend, the entire force of mulitple sclerosis began to come upon him. All the symptoms started to come back, and for an entire weekend he wrestled against it, saying, "Satan I will not accept this." In the name of Jesus, he continually proclaimed that he was well. When that weekend of struggle was over, the symptoms left him. He has not been troubled since. But if he had given in to those symptoms, he would have once again had multiple sclerosis, and probably would have died from it.

In John 14:12, Jesus says two extraordinary things. First, those who believe in Him will also do the works ("works" equals miracles throughout the Gospel of John) that He did. The works/miracles that Jesus had done to this point in the Fourth Gospel include turning water into wine (John 2), the healing of an official's son by simply speaking a word (John 4), the curing of a man long crippled and helpless (John 5), the feeding of the five thousand (John 6), the giving of sight to a man born blind (John 9), and climactically the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11). Miracles in the believers' life accordingly would include everything from turning water into wine to raising the dead-and all in-between (as recorded not only in the Book of John but also in the Synoptics).

Now this, to say the least, is a startling promise by Christ: those who believe in Him will do (not may do or may possibly do) His works, His miracles. All miracles that Christ did in His earthly ministry will be done by those who believe in Him.

Second, and far more startling, is the further declaration that those who believe in Him will also do greater works than Christ did. This unmistakably means works beyond everything mentioned in the Gospels! Whatever miracles Jesus did on earth will be transcended by the miraculous works of those who believe in Him. How is such an astonishing thing possible? The answer is given in Jesus' own words: "because I go to the Father." Jesus in heaven will have power and authority far beyond what He had during His earthly ministry, and thereby He will enable those who believe in Him to do greater works than even the greatest that He had done within the confines of His own earthly existence.

In summary: not only will miracles continue after Jesus' earthly ministry, but they will be even greater. And they will be done not only by apostles, prophets, and the like, but also by others who believe in Him. This accords well with Mark 16:7 that begins: "And these signs [i.e., miracles] will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues…." Those who believe will do Christ's earthly works and even more through the entire age of the proclamation of the gospel.