Jesus came
and demonstrated God's mission to the world. He went about doing good and
healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him (Acts
10.38). He did not stop there. He trained others to go and do the same
and to teach others to go and do the same. Before Jesus left this earth,
he gave a Great Commission to the church. Included in that commission (co-mission,
working with God) was the outline of the power and work of the believer.
The last item stated concerning believers (those of faith) was "they shall
lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16.15-18). It goes
on in verse 20, jumping forward in history, telling how the Lord
worked with the believers confirming the word with signs following.
In addition
to a general commission given to believers, there are also gifts or manifestations
of the Spirit which include healing (1Corinthians 12.9), and there are
gifts of healing given to some people in particular (vss.28-31). Plus,
we learn in James 5.14-20 that if anyone is sick in the church, the elders
can minister to that person, and if they are humble before the Lord and
open to his revealing light, the sick will be healed (it did not say maybe).
God has abundantly provided that every person be healed.
One thing
we all must learn. We do not have to be perfect spiritually nor physically
in order for God to work through us in healing power. If we are waiting
to be perfect before we step out to minister healing to others, we will
never step out. We step out in the name of Jesus, with faith in his perfect
work and counting on his perfection of character and understanding. We
listen to the Holy Spirit and follow the word and pathway that he gives.
As we do these things, healing will flow. Because of the way God works
in this way, we can be instruments of healing to others while we ourselves
are in need of some healing.
The good
news of Jesus, the gospel, carries within itself, healing power. If we
are preaching the good news that Jesus bore our sins to reconcile us to
God, we are preaching healing for our relationship with God. This is based
on a prophecy in Isaiah 53.4,5. The same verse 5 goes on and states "with
his stripes we are healed." We could say this just referred to spiritual
healing, except Jesus himself quoted those same verses referring specifically
to physical healing (Matthew 8.16,17). So we see that to preach the gospel
the way Jesus and the early church preached it, we must preach that the
finished work of Jesus includes healing both spiritually and physically.
Jesus preached
the good news of the kingdom in which he demonstrated both spiritual and
physical healing. If we are going to properly represent the kingdom of
God, then we must of necessity preach healing for both the spirit and body.
It is God's
will to reconcile every person to himself. It is also God's will to heal
every person. There are no scriptural exceptions to this. Some say Job
didn't get healed, but he did. Some say Paul had a thorn in the flesh from
which he was never delivered, but he was. (See the message entitled "The
Sacred Cow Called God Allowed It".) Some try to support their theory
that it's not God's will to heal all by referring to Trophimus who was
left behind on an occasion because he was sick. The Bible never says we
are not going to have challenges. We are, but, in Christ there is provision
to overcome every challenge. There are few people who have never been sick.
Here's
the point of this message: I want our thinking to be renewed to the fact
that God has called every believer to be a healer. Just like every believer
is to be a witness of Jesus Christ in their own unique way, so is every
believer to be a healer in their own unique way.
Just as
forgiveness operates in our lives by faith, so healing operates in our
lives by faith. We hear the good news of what Jesus has done for us in
taking our sins away, we believe it, and it takes effect in our lives.
We hear the good news of what Jesus has done for us in healing our sicknesses,
we believe it, and it takes effect in our lives. It's that simple. When
we preach this to others, it can take effect in their lives. We all need
a little Forest Gump in us so that which God has done for us can take effect
by simple child-like faith.
So, in
conclusion, God's will is for us all to be faith healers. I'm a faith healer.
If you are a believer, you are called to be a faith healer,too. God knows,
this world needs more faith healers. It's a sick old world, but through
the name of Jesus we can be a blessing to many people if we will just rise
up into the calling God has placed on each one of us and step out in faith
just the way we are and trust God to confirm his word through us with signs
following. We don't have to be perfect, we just have to step out in faith.
God wants
us all to be faith healers.