Let me begin by saying I believe that miraculous healings occur today in the Church just as they did in that early Church. When I lost my wife to leukemia, i prayed for her healing with a strong belief that she would be healed. Of course she is healed now and with Jesus, but that left me with a lot of questions. I knew the answer had something to do with prayer, and I began a journey to find some answers. Only three years earlier I had experienced a miraculous healing in my own life. Why does God seem to act at some times and not at others? The answer, of course, is that God is always working. Sometimes we just don't quite see His agenda.
I have learned that there are two key components that are a part of this miraculous healing whenever it occurs. The first component, compassion, was a critical aspect of every healing Jesus did. There was no exception. I have seen instant healing when I was praying for a sick person when I was so drenched in compassion that their hurt became my hurt; i.e., I took on their pain. Conversely, I have seen others praying for me in which my healing took place instantaneously when my hurt became their own hurt.
The second component, desperation, must also be present. Not so much a desperation for the healing, but a desperation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Those of us who have traveled the world have seen first-hand where God is breaking through and the entire transformation of cities and regions is taking place. George Otis, Jr., who is documenting much of this, ofen is asked why this is not happening in America. The answer is quite simple - we aren't despirate enough.
Don McGavran, the noted Christian researcher that has had a major role in charting new concepts of missions, believed that the growth of the Church was very much connected the ability of the Church to respond in healing to the needs about it. The concept of salvation, as preached by Christ, did not distinguish between physical and spiritual healing. In was the same Greek word.
"Research is carried on in order to find ways which God is currently blessing the liberation of the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, and the acceptance of the good news by the poor. Consequently research should be concentrated on growing churches and growing denominations to find out why they are growing."
Don McGavran
As a third point: When I am praying for someone's healing, I know it is never Carl that does the healing. The healing is ALWAYS in the name of Christ, and I always claim the authority of Christ in the healing. The healing is a very humbling experience. When you try so hard to pray the healing and be the hero, to finally let go because you hurt to much for them - and then you see the healing happen instantaneously as you give it to Jesus. That is pretty awesome.
And a fourth point: the healing is always given for the Church. The don't know the name of that lame man that was healed back there at the temple gate. What we do know, however, is that the Church grew by 5000 that day. McGavran was right.
How
is healing done now in the medical profession? In as recently as
200 years
ago,
most
people
died
from
complications
from
a
simple
ailment
or some
type
of
acute
infection.
As we
learned about
antibiotics
and vaccinations, we find today these acute diseases no longer rule as
a major cause of death. Instead, we have found our lives today generally
claimed
in
death by circulatory diseases , cancer, and other diseases that progress
in our body over a long time period that are not caught in their early
and preventive
stage. We only go to the doctor when we are sick, and by then it is too
late. And the doctors (as well as medical establishment and drug
companies) make
the most money when we are sick, not when we are well. Something has
gone very wrong.
I’ve noticed that the better doctors always ask me questions about
my job, my church life, and even the women I date. All of this is related
to my
physical well-being. One doctor told me over 85% of his patients that come
to him have stress-related problems. To begin their healing, he needs to
know the cause of this stress. Doctors now say that if you are depressed,
you are
more likely to have a heart attack. The converse is also true. If the doctor
says you are in danger of a heart attack, you will be depressed. You set
yourself up for a heart attack from your emotional paradigm.
Scientists are making remarkable conclusions as they study the human
genes. Genes are not, they have discovered, some immutable things handed
down
from our parents like Moses’ stone tablets, but are active participants
in our lives, designed to take their cues from everything that happens
to us from
the moment of conception. Nothing is hard-wired. Learning and education
expands our capacity to choose our own path.
As the Israelites began their journey from slavery to a freedom, God
gave certain rules for healthy living to them through Moses (see None
of These
Diseases).
At that point there was no scientific basis for any of this. It was
just that this healthy living was to be a part of their new freedom.
The laws
involved
washing their hands before meals, burying their excrement outside the
camp, circumcision, sex practices, and more.
As the Israelite nation left the Red Sea, they went for three days
without water. That’s realistically the limit of human endurance without
water. Then they came to the springs of Marah, which were bitter. Imagine
traveling
for days in the wilderness without water and then trying to suddenly drinking
water that was like Milk of Magnesia because of its high magnesium content.
It would have thrown their stomachs inside out. Here is Moses, who had
lived 40 years in the desert. Those forty years had been a wilderness experience
for him. He now is able to see it as a seminary training course to rescue
this nation. He popped a limb from a nearby tree, put the limb in the water,
and
the magnesium precipitated out, and the water became sweet. This experienced
purged the stomachs of the Israelites from the rich Egyptian food and prepared
them for their coming diet of manna. And God gave them a command at Marah:
The analogy is also seen between the rod put into the water here and the rod of God that is put into our own bitter waters to make them sweet.There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you."
Ex 15:26 NKJV
I believe, as Dr. Paul Tournier did, that healing is always an experience of the whole person and involves the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of or being. To experience the reality of this, we need to know the purpose of what God is doing in our life. That doesn’t mean God caused the suffering. Man did that when he failed God in the Garden. Our purpose and healing can only be discovered through a deep intimacy with Him. The whole struggle for the healing process is really a journey on our part to get back to that intimacy lost in Eden long, long ago. God wants us there, so He is willing to help us in this journey. And we still need our technology. The doctors have saved my life more than once, and I praise God for their hands.
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Copyright 2005-2009, Carl Townsend
