I know many do not believe that healings occur today. Well some believe it is possible, but it is not something that can be controlled or done consistently. Many believe it is all a scam. Some believe that healing is the work of Satan and that by being healed, he is tricking you. Others believe that once the disciples died, those miracles do not happen anymore or it is only by chance or some rare exception.
There is another group of people who say that healing still occurs today. These people are actively laying their hands on people in stores, malls and out on the streets.
I personally believe that healing occurs because of what Jesus did for me on the cross. He saved me from all sin and also took away my illness and sickness. I don't need to see videos or read testimonies of healings to know it to be true, but they are out there if you want to see them. I also know a woman who had POTS that was cured when a man layed his hands on her and prayed. It's been over a year now and she is still completely healed! Praise God!!
What becomes difficult is trying to understand why we all aren't healed instantly. I've had a few people lay hands on me, but nothing happened. I don't know why it happens the first time for some and doesn't for others. However I'm not about to start making excuses and questioning my faith.
Failures in healing are why people begin to build theologies around why God does and does not heal certain people. If you've been sick for an extended period of time, I'm sure you've heard things like this...
"You must have sin in your life"
"You must need to forgive someone"
"Your faith must not be very strong"
"You must have opened the wrong door"
"Satan has a hold of you"
"God must be angry at you"
"God must be teaching you a lesson"
"It's not your time to be healed"
"If God wanted it, then you would have been healed. God must want to keep you sick"
Being a sick Christian is tough...Many blame you for being sick.
All of the statements above are excuses. When a healing is seen, the church, rejoices and praises God (as they should). However when someone is not healed, it's much easier to blame and pass the problem off on the sick person. The church or ministry never has to feel uncomfortable about it.
The problem I have with this, is that the sick person is still sick. In addition to having to endure their sickness, now they are being told it is their fault? Huh?
Jesus did not make any excuses. He would have healed you, today. This very moment.
Sadly, I find healthy people are usually the ones who go around saying these things to sick people. They have this belief that they have somehow been spared of sickness because of their faith. Therefore if someone has sickness, then they must have done something to bring it upon themselves. Sometimes bad stuff and accidents happen. Sometimes people are born with disease. Does it really matter how or why we became sick? Isn't all sickness equally bad?
Instead of having love and compassion for the sick person, people start to question the sick person's faith....This happens ALL THE TIME. There are entire websites dedicated to explaining all the reasons why people aren't healed... By creating and having these elaborate theories for why it does not happen, I find it interesting that it must be happening often enough, that they have dedicated so much time to it. They don't have faith in the healings, therefore it does not happen...It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
These types of theologies can end up being dangerous and actually steer people away from God.
When everything is going fine, these people believe God is happy with them. However the moment something goes wrong, they get the idea they must have done something to anger God. These people begin to question God and their faith. "God if I was a faithful servant, why did you let my child die? Give me cancer? Let my wife leave me? Make me lose my job?" The moment things get rough, people who believe in this kind of theology, believe it is God doing it to them.
That is why I reject all theologies like this. It is a slippery slope.
God is NOT in the business of giving us disease and making bad things happen to us. It is as if the Devil and God have switched roles. If you believe that God is doing any of these things to teach you a lesson, then you have been deceived in my opinion. I used to be taught this and thought it was totally normal...hah!
If you build a theology where people with illness deserve it for some reason, then you go from being a person full of love and compassion, to a judging, self-righteous person based upon a self-written theology. :"You don't have enough faith". "You don't this. "You don't that". None of these reasons are based upon anything in the Bible. Websites like to pick and choose verses from the Bible, but I don't see anywhere where Jesus let someone suffer.
Jesus healed sickness from everyone. No exceptions were ever given in the Bible. Why are we expecting any less and making excuses?
A great story in the Bible is in the Gospel of Matthew. When the disciples could not heal an epileptic boy, Jesus was angry and told them exactly why they could not cast it out. It was their faith.
Matthew 17: 14-20
17:14 When they came
to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, 17:15 and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son,
because he is epileptic and suffers terribly, for he often falls into
the fire and into the water. 17:16 I
brought him to your disciples, but they were not able to heal him.” 17:17 Jesus answered, “You unbelieving and
perverse generation! How much longer must I be with you? How much
longer must I endure you? Bring him here to me.” 17:18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon and it came
out of him, and the boy was healed from that moment. 17:19 Then the disciples came to Jesus
privately and said, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” 17:20 He told them, “It was because of your
little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith the size of a
mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’
and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.”
It is quite clear that Jesus did not blame the epileptic boy for not being healed. He blamed his own disciples for having little faith.
Perhaps this is why certain people or certain ministries see more healings than others. The idea of it being based upon the faith of those healing, would make sense.
Why am I still sick? I do not know. I know it is nothing I have or have not done. I will continue to seek prayer from those who are willing to pray for me. I have already been sick for at least 12 years of my life, it is time for this to go. Praise God when it does!!!
3 comments:
Dana, thank you for visiting my blog Spiritual Journey Of A Lightworker recently. I appreciate your comment that you left there.
I have a healer friend that lives in another town that takes copies of my blog articles that I send him and he shares them with several of his patients. One of those patients is an incest survivor.
Earlier this year, as a thank you from her to me for sharing my blog and my healing journey from incest, she sent me a copy of the book Where is God When It Hurts? written by Philip Yancey. His book deals with the subject of why everyone isn't healed from illness.
I had heard of Mr. Yancey but not read any of his books. I knew he was a Christian writer but knew nothing else about him. I suggest, if possible, that you get a copy of the book. He tells us that rather than being judgmental, we should always have compassion for those who are sick and hurting. I think you would like his book. I do. He talks about so-called Christians (my words, not his) that condemn the ill and how wrong they are to judge.
Jesus Heals the Man Born Blind
…2and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.
KEEP YOUR HEAD UP
Post a Comment