Divine Healing

What We Believe

Divine Healing

John 5:1-15

When we look at the people around us what do we see? While people are adept at putting on faces and putting up fronts, the truth is that we see people who are hurting. We see people who are troubled and in need of peace. We see lonely people in need of relationship, people without hope in desperate need of hope, and sick people in need of healing.

People are hurting in many different ways. They may be financially in debt, or emotionally scarred because of some past trauma. They may have a physically ailment due to disease or illness, or have suffered the loss of someone dear to them. Their family relationship may be strained to the breaking point, or they may be discouraged and exhausted due to living in this crazy mixed up world.

But there is hope. Jesus said,

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV)

Now, let me just say that Jesus may not heal every problem, hurt, or need. In fact, Jesus promised that in this world we will have these sorts of trials, but also that He has overcome this world, which should bring great joy to our hearts (John 16:33). God can heal us immediately and miraculously, but He may also give us the power to endure the difficultly, problem, and triumph over it even while we’re still in it.

Divine healing is all about becoming well, but healing in the Bible isn’t becoming what we were, rather it is becoming what God intends for us to be. This is probably the most important thing for us to understand, because maybe that illness or problem is God working within us His divine purpose, and thus, His divine healing.

Today, I’d like to talk with you about Jesus’s healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda and how it applies to our healing. And then I’d like to look at what the Bible says about God’s provision for healing. So let’s begin with the healing of the lame man

Read John 5:1-15

1. Identify the Need

“When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’” (John 5:6 NKJV)

Jesus asked, “Do you want to get well?” Sounds absurd doesn’t it. Of course this man wants to get well! You wouldn’t ask a starving man, “Do you want food?”

But actually, it was a very valid question, for there are people who, if given an opportunity for healing, might actually choose to remain sick.

People have become comfortable in their sickness, and any healing will change their environment if not their whole way of life. They’ve developed relationships through their illness, and when healed they will have to learn how to deal with life and others in a completely different way. And this is what scares people.

In other words, if we’re healed our life will do a complete reversal. Are we ready for that change? And so the first thing we need to get settled in our minds and hearts is “Do we really want to be healed?”

The second part of this question is “What do we want?” They say the first step in gaining anything is to want it.

If we want it then we have to stop saying that we can’t have it. We have to move from our doubts to belief, and from our fears to faith. So instead of saying, “I can’t,” what we should be saying is what the Apostle Paul found out for his life, a life filled with pain.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13 NKJV)

And so, the first thing we need to do is to identify what we need and want.

2. Quit Blaming Others

After Jesus asked if the lame man wanted to be healed, the lame man replied,

“Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” (John 5:7 NKJV)

It’s so easy to blame other people for our problems. This has been humanity’s scapegoat from the beginning.

• When God asked Adam why he disobeyed, Adam replied, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12). Not only was Adam placing the blame on Eve, but also upon God who gave her to him.