Brothers and sisters, understand today that I am in no way criticizing you, or condemning you, or judging you. I want to help you.
There is no more obvious sign of the church's weakness and lack of faith than the chronic sickness and disease found in so many of its members. Even just among you, and your immediate families, it's remarkable how many of how you have persistent, serious physical problems. Heart disease, chronic exhaustion, lupus, dementia, allergies, physical problems that make walking difficult-- and running impossible. Arthritis. Depression. Migraines. If it's not you personally, it's your wife. It's your kids. Your parents. Your in-laws.
And what do you do about it? You go to doctors who can treat your symptoms. Who can cut out the damaged part of you, or do surgery to try to put you back together the best they can. You exercise. You eat right. You take medicine. You take supplements. You delay the inevitable as long as you can. You make your condition as tolerable as you can. Mostly what you do, though, is suffer. Life is hard. Life doesn't look the way it should.
Why do you accept this? Why don't you believe that God will help you? I think there's probably three main reasons:
(1) You don't know if God wants to heal you.
(2) You have a modern, scientific worldview. There's no room for God in the practical, physical part of reality. You just rely on yourself and doctors.
(3) You lack faith.
(1) You don't know if God wants to heal you.
Most Christians genuinely worry about this. You're sick, and you think to yourself, "Maybe this is God's will." Or, you take out the "maybe." You just assume, "This is God's will. Nothing happens unless God wants it to happen. God's will always happens on earth, just as it does in heaven. I'm supposed to suffer."
Why does God want you to be sick? Why does he want you to suffer? You're not sure. But when you pray for healing, you pray, "Father, if it's your will, please heal me. If it's your will, please heal my wife, my kids, my parents."
Or, you don't even bother praying. You assume that if you're suffering, it's because God wants you to suffer. So you think your job is simply to endure, and gut it out.
Now, let me ask you two questions: (1) Where in the Bible did you get the idea that this world looks exactly how God wants it to look? (2) And Where did you get the idea that God desires for you to have sickness and disease?
The truth is that God desires to heal you. God doesn't want you to suffer. Let's turn to Matthew 8:1-3:
"8 After he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. 2 And a leper approached, and bowed low before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 He stretched out his hand and touched him saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
The leper knew Jesus could make him clean. His question was, would Jesus be willing to make him clean. And Jesus was. He healed the leper.
And when we read the rest of Matthew, what we find is that Jesus was always willing and able to heal:
Matthew 4:23:
And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
Matt. 8:14-17:
14 And when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. 16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”
Matthew 9:35
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
Jesus healed everyone who came to him with faith. No one was too sick, or too old, or too young, or too unimportant to be healed. Jesus didn't tell anyone that God wanted them to suffer or that they had to accept their disease. Jesus' will-- his desire-- was that everyone would be healed.
And why was this?
Luke 4:16-19:
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
The Father sent Jesus to the world, and gave Jesus his Holy Spirit, so that Jesus would make people whole. To make people whole spiritually, and to make them whole physically. To free them from everything that held them captive.
So I say, for not the first time to many of you, that you need to stop worrying about whether or not it's God's will to heal you. God's will-- his desire-- is to heal you. God desires to heal you, and to heal your family. And the proof of this, is that God healed everyone, through Jesus, through the Spirit, who came to Jesus. No exceptions.
(2) You have a modern, scientific worldview. There's no room for God in practical, physical part of reality. You just rely on yourself and doctors.
When you get a headache, what do you do? Do you pray? Probably not. You just reach for advil, right? When you get a stomach ache, what do you do? You just grab Tums, right? If the problem persists, you go to the doctor.
And if it turns out at that point that your headache is a brain tumor, you freak out. Then, you maybe pray. But you still don't expect God to answer your prayer. You pray because you should. But mostly, you set up an appointment for a surgeon to do horrible things to your head.
In truth, the only time we find ourselves really praying hard-- or what we think is praying hard-- is when everything else has failed. Prayer is our last-ditch, Hail Mary when nothing else worked. But at this point, we aren't really praying with faith.
When you live this way, you are missing opportunities to learn to trust God. If you wait to place your faith in God until you have cancer, or a diabetes, you're going to have a very hard time believing God can heal you. Those are big, scary things. It's hard to start praying with faith for things like this.
But a headache? I'm guessing you think God can heal headaches. A headache isn't too big for God, right? It's not asking too much? It's not too difficult for God?
So consider doing this: next time you get a headache, or a fever, don't take anything. Ask God to heal you.
Determine, in your heart, that you won't take medicine. You will rely on God. And give God the opportunity to show his love and his power to you. And if you find yourself struggling with a lack of faith, even in something this small-- well, a headache won't kill you, if God doesn't heal you. But resolve that you will rely only on God for this.
So pray for healing, in Jesus' name. Rebuke the headache in Jesus' name, because headaches obey the name of Jesus. "Headache, in Jesus' name, go!" Then-- and this is important-- thank God for healing you. Thank God for showing his love and power to you. And then you wait, in faith, for a few minutes usually, because healings often/usually aren't instantaneous. Go on in life, in faith, and you'll realize 20 minutes later (or whenever) that God healed you.
At that point, you'll find yourself playing mind games. You'll say, "Well, my headache, or fever, or back pain, or knee pain, or whatever, would've gone away anyway." Don't do this. Fight this. Apologize to God for this. Believe that God healed you. And thank him a second time.
If/when you learn to pray in faith, what you will find is that God is faithful. God loves you; God is committed to you. And when you ask him to heal you, and you rely on him alone, God will heal you. And as you do this more and more, you will find your faith suddenly grows exponentially. Because you will realize that God can be trusted. And you'll find yourself praying for bigger and bigger things, and God will answer that as well. And that's when you will realize, that whatever you ask for, believe you have received it, and it will be yours (Mark 11:20-25). The things that are big and scary for you, are no more difficult for God to heal than a headache.
And it's at that point, that the world will look completely different. You'll be at work, and someone is sick or injured. Or you'll be at a Verizon store, and you see an employee-- a total stranger-- who is hobbled from a wrestling injury. And you will realize, this is an opportunity for you to show God's love and power to them. This is an opportunity to practice power evangelism--- to share the good news with the power it was meant to be shared with. And so you will ask your coworker, or the employee, "Can I pray for you?" You will share the good news about Jesus with power. Or you will kick yourself, and ask God for forgiveness, because you didn't take advantage of that opportunity.
(3) You lack faith.
This is related to #2. But it can have a different feel.
Some of you had an experience, at some point in your life, where you prayed very hard for someone, and that person died. And that was a shattering experience for you. It made you question everything you thought you knew about God, and about the world.
And at that point, what you started doing was taking comfort in the fact that this life isn't all that there is. You know that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and we will live with God forever on the new earth. And what you started doing was just accepting that sometimes-- most of the time, really-- our healing won't come until the other side of death, when we get our new heavenly bodies. Because it seems like people just keep dying. And no one is ever healed.
If this is you, I think your basic problem is that you don't understand the authority Jesus has given you.
Not only did Jesus heal every disease, but he also gave his disciples authority to do the same. Matthew 10:1:
10 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
Maybe you think, well, the 12 were pretty special. But we aren't like the 12.
I would say, the point of the Great Commission, is that we are expected to do everything the 12 did (Matt. 28:18-20).
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[b] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Anything Jesus commanded his disciples, he expects us to obey as well. And Jesus commanded his disciples to cast out demons and heal all diseases.
If you don't like this-- if this doesn't persuade you-- let's turn to Luke 10:1-12 (which comes after 9:1-2):
10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
Jesus not only sends out the 12 (Luke 9:1ff). He also sends out the 72. And he asks the 72 to pray for even more laborers to do the same work, because the harvest is so large. There are many people who need to hear the gospel. They are many people who need to be healed. And Jesus gives his authority to all of his disciples, so that they can do meet the need of the harvest.
The bottom line is that Jesus has given you authority over diseases and illnesses. When you rebuke them in the name of Jesus, they will flee. Luke 4:38-39:
38 And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house. Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a Luke 4:38-39
high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. 39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.
There are people in your life, who you prayed for very hard, who have died. Or who remain sick to this day. And maybe you've been telling yourself that the problem lies with God. You tell yourself you prayed with faith; you did what you were supposed to do. You tell yourself God will make them whole on the other side of death.
I would urge you to be cautious in blaming God for the lack of healing, or assuming this is what God wants, when the problem is far more likely with us.
The truth is that we are very good at praying in a way that sounds like we have faith. But at no point when we pray, do we actually think God answered. Mark 11:20-24:
20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received[c] it, and it will be yours.
The easiest way to tell if you prayed in faith comes on the next day. When you prayed for healing one day, how do you pray the next? Do you pray again for the same thing, assuming God didn't grant your request? Or do you thank God for answering your prayer?
Healings usually take time. It's common for the full effects of healing to take days, or weeks, or even months. When Brother Ferrin prayed for me, that God would heal me of my allergies, and when he rebuked my allergies in the name of Jesus, I felt the most pleasant, warm, tingling sensation in my sinus cavity. The sensation covered my sinuses exactly-- no less, no more. I knew God healed me. I knew the Holy Spirit flowed from Brother Ferrin's body and spirit, into my body and spirit, and I knew I was healed. I will always cherish that moment.
But the full effects of that healing took place over a couple months. At first, I quit my allergy medicines cold turkey. I didn't really understand how healings work. And I completely fell apart after a couple days. I was miserable. I was scary driving at work. I couldn't worship God or pray while driving; I couldn't serve God. I was a mess. And so I started the medicines back up again, explaining to God (apologizing, really) that I believed He healed me, but I would serve him better back on them. But then, I gradually dropped from 3 medicines, to 2, to 1, to one every other day. At some steps, this was deliberate. It was an act of faith. At others, I'd realize I'd forgotten my medicine that day, and I did okay, so I just stopped taking that one.
But the bottom line was, the full effects of the healing took a while. And that's normal. And so what you do, is you thank God every day for healing you, or whoever you prayed for, while you wait to see the full effects. You know you received healing, and you know it will be yours.
The most common reason people aren't healed is because they lack faith. Matthew 13:53-58:
53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, 54 and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.
The gospel of Mark puts it even more baldly.
6 He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” 5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief.
If we take Mark 6 at face value, as Scripture, we end up saying something like this: God can't do mighty works through his people in this church so long as they lack faith. You won't see God's power, so long as you persist in your unbelief. This is why the Western church is filled with weak and sick people. Because few of us have faith that God is the Healer.
So what's the truth? What does the Bible actually teach about sickness, and healing?
(1) The truth is that, as a rule, illness and disease is demonic oppression. Acts 10:37-38:
37 You yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
(2) The truth is that Jesus has all authority over diseases, and illnesses, and demons.
(3) The truth is that God sent Jesus to free people from everything that holds them captive, including diseases, and illnesses, and demons (Luke 4:14-21).
(4) The truth is that Jesus has given this mission, and this authority, to his church (Matt. 10; 28:18-20; Luke 9; 10).
(5) The truth is that you and your loved ones can be healed. You don't need to accept your suffering. You don't need to try to embrace it. You don't have to suffer.
[Invitation to Healing]
