Healing
Faith
A study by: Timothy M. Youngblood
Copyright © The
Master's Table
Our Holy Father and Jesus' purpose for mankind are salvation, health, wholeness, and happiness. Contrary to some beliefs, Jesus did not teach that disease was a punishment sent by God, but more a result of our failing to do what we should to remain healthy. Please don't misunderstand, God has and will send disease as we read in the book of Revelation and other prophecy, but this is for those that will not repent of their sins. During His ministry, Jesus was always concerned about healing the sick in body, and He also paid close attention to the mind and the spirit of those who suffered. Jesus taught that to live in obedience to the law of God would bring health, wholeness, and salvation.
Let's look at a scripture that show Jesus' attitude about our spiritual,
and physical health, and happiness. Matt 4:23. "And Jesus went about
all
Faith:
Some have come to think that faith only means we are to believe without
question, or without proving, and some teach that we must WORK UP our faith. Is
that what faith means? Let's deeply come to understand what it means so we can
have true faith in God, and deal with the troubles that come along in life. Although
to have faith demands it be necessary to believe that God exists, and that He
has all power in His hand; it's not just the belief that God exists, or that He
can do it, because we know that even the demons believe and tremble. James
2:19. We must remember, as stated above, that keeping His instruction
(commands) is part of having faith in Him. We MUST be obeying God or we will
lose contact with Him. In fact Jesus stated that if we love God we will keep
His words, and then they (The Holy Father, and Jesus) would come and dwell with
us. However, let's not misunderstand the point of this paper. We do need to go
by the clear instruction in James 5:14-16. "Is anyone among you sick? Let
him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing
him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick,
and the Lord will raise him up. And if
he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one
another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective,
fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." The true meaning of
faith the way Jesus meant it, is to "place your physical, and spiritual
well-being (Health, happiness, and prosperity) into the care of Jesus the Messiah, trusting Him to give you what is good for you. We must become like a
child in the care of their father, or mother, trusting with complete trust, but
never forgetting that we also must take responsibility for our actions. Some
have misunderstood that God will heal regardless of our attitude towards our health,
or sins that dominate our lives. God will heal, but He also wants us to take
responsibility for our health and actions. (See The Choices We Make.)
Most of the time God leads us to first understand what we need to quit doing which caused the sickness in the first place, and a good example is why would God continue to heal a person from lung problems that refuses to quit smoking? However, sometimes the sickness has not come upon the person that's sick because of what they did, but because of what someone else did. Even children are born sick because their mothers drank alcohol excessively, or took drugs while pregnant. If you are sick we need to find out what and why we are sick then God will, most of the time, show us what we can do to help ourselves. There are many herbs we can take as well for solutions such as drinking some kinds of vinegar or other herbs to flush the system. We are learning that most ailments in the body may be the result of a bacteria, or fungus. If that is the case we can do some research and find out what will kill the bacteria and then flush with good juices such as carrot with garlic, and about five to seven classes of lemonade a day for about three months. Because every case is different and needs to be directed by God through your prayers and searching, I'm not going to get into a great list of them here. What works for you, may not work for someone else, and please only offer help to others with that in mind.
I have what is called a fatty liver and it causes me a great deal of problems. God has not healed me at this time because, as I came to understand, He wanted me to learn to eat much more fruits and vegetables. If He had just healed me then I would have continued to eat the beef with pastas three times a day, thus continuing to need healing. However, I have prayed about other sickness with earnest prayer and He healed me at once. What does it mean? Did He heal because of the earnest prayer? Just because I asked, or because He wanted to prove that He loved me? I have also asked for healing many times with earnest prayer and He did not heal. I also have been anointed by an elder of the Church and was not healed. What is the answer? God is healing today, but contrary to some beliefs He is not using it at this time to point to someone as the one He is working with in an exclusive way, nor is He doing it to say that He will heal every time. The answer is that God heals whom He wants, when He wants, if He wants, and by whom He wants to use, if anyone at all. Healing is contingent on God's Love, Mercy, and Compassion and nothing else. Let's understand once and for all that true faith in God is accepting His will; following His lead, and understanding that He is trying to teach us the right way to go.
Doctors?
I also must address another point here for the sake of those whom have
been taught that it is a sin to go to a doctor. You will not sin by going
to a doctor! However, please understand that if we Believe in the doctor as the healer, then we are rejecting God as
our healer, and even stating that man can take care of himself without the
creator God. But to go to a doctor because he knows how to set a broken bone,
or has understanding of the illness realizing that God is the one who created
the healing process is not wrong. Those that teach its a lack of faith to
go to a doctor needs to consider some things about their beliefs. I would
like to ask them if they have ever had their eyes examined and bought glasses
so they could see better, or have they ever been to a dentist? We do however
need to be wise and realize that many doctors attitude towards healing is
not God 's ways. Their way is through science and most doctors have the mistaking
belief that they can heal people by either cutting, burning, or to poison
the disease. They very seldom know or teach about the root cause of your disease,
and therefore they miss out on the opportunity to understand real healing
knowledge. Most people don't realize it but the very text books the doctors
are taught from in college are written by the pharmaceutical industry so be wise when going to the doctor.
There is a balance, and we need to understand that doctors can help,
but they are not the healer, nor do they know it all. We can and should question
them and never let them just do whatever they want.
True Balance:
We do need to consider all the aspects of this subject and understand how
God views it as right or wrong in true balance. As an example: If you came
upon someone that were badly injured and bleeding should you stop the bleeding
or just stand by and wait for God to heal them? The truth is that they would
bleed to death and God would hold the one that did nothing responsible for
their death! This reminds me of the story of a man that was caught in a flood,
and cried out to God for help. It was not long when a log came near him, but
he refused to grab it. He then cried out to God again, and then in a while
a large door came by, and again he refused to grab it. A third time he cried
out to God for help, and again a tree trunk came by, but the man refused to
get on it because he wanted God to save him. Well the man drowned, and in
the resurrection we find him asking God why He did not save him because he
did have great faith in the power of God. The answer from God was, I sent
you a log, door, and a tree trunk so you could save yourself, but you rejected
my help.
Many preachers have taught that if you are ill then God is trying to show
you your sins. Please understand that even if God does not heal you, it does not
mean He is angry with you. Although it is possible your illness may have to do
with your spiritual life (Sinning) it is also possible that it may not have
anything to do with your spiritual life at all. It very well may have to do
with your genetic background, or the result of some bacteria that you
contracted from a septic tank that should have been covered. Yes, God does for
a fact reject healing because of our sins, however all we need to do is have a humble
attitude and repent and then God will in most cases respond. Yes, God could
heal every sickness, but He is not healing everyone at this time, because the
time of great healing and correcting will come when Jesus returns to rule. We
must remember that Satan is still in control until Jesus takes that control
from him and sets up the Kingdom which is what the Gospel is all about. The
point is that God is showing the difference between the ruling powers of man,
cut off from God, verses the ruling powers of God in the kingdom when all will
be made perfect and straight. Its sufficient to say that if we are just looking
for God to quickly perform a miracle, then it may be that all we really want is
to see a miracle. Maybe for proof that God loves us or that He exists or
whatever other reason us humans can come up with. Its very important to do some
deep and honest introspection before we go to God in prayer. If we fail to be
honest with God then we surly can lose contact with Him thus resulting in
unanswered prayer. Another thing we need to understand is the point Jesus was
teaching about forgiving others, and believing God. If you would like to read
more on this subject read the study titled "How to pray
with faith".
Worship:
What other reason could result, not only in the cause of disease, but
also the lack of healing from God? Do you believe that if you could come into
the direct presents of God you would become healed, and even forgiven of all
your sins so you could be perfect before Him? What would you truly do if an
angel came to you one night and said that he was sent from God to bring you
before Him? Would you come to the Most Holy Father half- asleep,
or smacking on some gum? Would you come with thoughts of what else you could
be doing instead of having to be there? Would you come as if you were bored
to the point you could not wait till you could leave, or would you be in great
awe? Would you feel reverence, admiration mixed with fear? Would you connect
with God in such a way that you would feel His great power and Holy Character?
Would you understand your frailty in His great presents? Would you understand
your great weakness and ignoble character in the presents of such strength
and Nobility? Would you know you were in the presents of GREATNESS, and the
very one that created the universe? The very one that holds life in His hands
with the great wisdom and love that makes up all that is fantastic. The God
of god's, the Lord of lord's, the King of all kings!
The question we all must ask ourselves is do we truly worship God? The word worship also means to reverence, or to adore. Think about what it truly means to adore, and do you truly adore God? Do you admire Him? Many people say they do, but in reality they only want Him in their lives on the day they attend church. Many professing Christians will not even bring up the subject unless someone else does. Many do not dwell or meditate on the wonderful things of God during the day. When we worship God we need to even feel the reverence that should come from within. We should sense all His goodness, love He has for not only us but also all His creation. We should be able to take time out every day to look around and appreciate all He has given in true love. The fresh air, the cool breeze on a hot day, a cool drink of water, the sight of a great snow capped mountain, the taste of our favorite food, or the smell of a rose, the smile of the ones we love when they see us coming to them. God has given us mush to appreciate and to see His mind and heart through.
When a man comes to love a woman does he just ask her to come over for supper because that is the thing to do, or is it because he feels the need to be close to her? When two people are in love they feel a need to spend time together, and to get to know each other more intimately. There is a desire to do this and if we truly love God and have come to see Him we will feel a need to be with Him, and a desire to know everything we can about Him. When we do come to know Him and get into His mind, we then desire to be like Him just like a child desires to become like the person they admire. Do you as a Christian admire God? Do you know Him? Is He your friend, or do you seek Him only when you want or need something? God is not, nor does He want to be, a genie that comes out when we call so we can ask for some gift, or to get us out of trouble. God wants a relationship with those that will come to Him. But we must never lose site of Who God is. We must never take Him for granted or come to think of Him on the same level as we are. God is as stated above The KING of all kings.
Satan's Desire:
Satan has successfully brought mankind down to the point that to have
a real love relationship with God is considered to be a freak. A freak is
something that is considered a strange deviation from what is normal, or what
is considered a monster. A person that truly loves God and has a close relationship
is called a religious freak, or a bible freak, or of all things &a Jesus
freak. What kind of message does this send others that might want to come
to Jesus and have a love relationship with a true friend? How did Satan get
this attitude spread around? Why is it that even many that profess to be a Christian does not worship God in the way they
should? Many Churches have lost the true worship and zeal for God because
the ministers have lost their zeal and love of God. Ministers can't preach
what they don't understand. They can't preach what they don't feel. Colleges
of so-called theology can teach their brand of doctrine, weather it's Baptist,
or Catholic, or whatever it is, but they can't teach a relationship with God!
That must come from God, and if God truly has called a person they will reject
the theology of men and embrace the love of God at all cost. They will seek
the truth of God and come to worship Him the way they should even keeping the commands of God. When the elders accept God the
way we have found in this study, and quit exercising rank over the brethren
in these hierarchical churches, and start accepting, and teaching the truth
of God, they will come to have compassion for the sick in the true
love of God and then maybe, just maybe, we will start seeing more healing
from God!
In Jesus' Service
Timothy M. Youngblood