20 Thoughts About Biblical Divine Healings
20 Thoughts About Biblical Divine Healing
(Initially was only 8 points, but I added on)
1. Who initiated healing? Is it God or us?
Who more wants healing to manifest, is it God or us?
If God doesn't want all to be healed, why Jesus as the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15) always healed people and there's no instance He didn't heal?
Acts 10:38
"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all (not some) that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."What is God's heart for our wellness when you see Jesus of the Bible?
The truth is God wants us well more than we want to be well
https://identitasbarudalamkristus.blogspot.com/2022/08/how-do-we-know-gods-will-about-healing-1.html
2. If God doesn't want healing to flow freely for us, why He made Jesus born all our pain & sicknesses upon Himself?
Why He paid something for us if He doesn't us to enjoy it? Any parents paid for something for their beloved children & yet don't want the children to have it?
Isaiah 53 (Young Literal Translation)
4 Surely (not maybe) our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains -- he hath carried them, And we -- we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 And he is pierced for our transgressions, Bruised for our iniquities, The chastisement of our peace [is] on him, And by his bruise there is healing to us.
The devil will try to lend his symptoms to people hoping that they would believe that what they feel is their sickness. When we don't know the truth that our sicknesses have been borne by the Lord we might believe we suffer of our own sicknesses. The devil the master of deception, the father of lie.
This idea might strange to you if you haven't really learn about your identity in Christ. All of Paul's letters explain about your new identity in Christ so you may have faith in Christ to be against what the devil works through your feeling & carnal mind.
It might take some time to study this, this is just the beginning to show you what God's word says through Isaiah 53:4-5, even the word "Surely" is there for you to believe, because all your feeling & experience might tell you otherwise.
Isaiah 53:1 even more profound, "Who has believed our report?" - God's truth is accessible by faith, the devil works through flesh in the carnal mind (not necessarily about sin) & feeling.
In this writing I'm not explaining in details about "flesh vs spirit", because it can be very deep. My intention here is to explain that God's will is in His word, not in what our experience as sometimes what we experience is not necessarily His will.
3. If someone already prayed for healing & it doesn't seem to manifest, don't you think it's not God's will?
Let's see the story in Matthew 17:14-21
This is when the Lord with Peter, John & James came down from a mountain where He was transfigured.
(14) And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, (15) “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. (16) So I brought him to Your disciples (9 powerful disciples under Jesus' ministry Himself), but they could not cure him.”
Shouldn't Jesus answer him, "If they already prayed in My name & nothing happens it means it's not God's will. It's up to Him if He wants to heal or not, it's called the sovereignty of God. You cannot ask Him to do things He doesn't want." - and this is the theology I believed back then, taught by Bible scholars.
Watch what Jesus did :
17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon (that caused the epilepsy), and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.
I really thank God that Jesus is consistent. God's word broke the "sacred cow" I used to believe that if we prayed but nothing happens it means it might not God's will for healing to take place (you may mediate on question 1 & 2 again).
And the lesson doesn't stop there...
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind ("this kind" of unbelief, it doesn't refer to "this kind" of demon) does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
It's about faith, unlike what I was taught in the past, faith here is not just about believe Christ to go to heaven, but about knowing God's will by faith though what you see seemingly impossible. If we are not sure what God will is, the power of the world will prevail in making us doubting it.
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" - faith is the contrary to how we live naturally, which is by what we see, hear, smell, feel & taste. Faith is based on the spiritual truth that eventually manifest in the physical realm too.
Hebrews 11:3 "By faith we understand that the worlds (physical) were framed by the word of God (spiritual), so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible (but by the invisible thing)."
Faith in God's word is needed as time to time our experience, thought & feeling fuelled by worldly wisdoms, science, other people's experience can speak loudly to us in contrary to God's word. This is to make us doubt the truth. Our relationship with God's word is required to stay in truth & have a personal relationship with Himself.
And here is the learning of faith begins (not by sight) - instead of learning to trust what God's word said back then I was taught to be offended when something/someone make me realised that I didn't have faith, not realising even Jesus rebuked His disciples due to their lack of faith in verse 17 & 20. It's not to be offensive, He loves us & He wants us to learn. I have many music students & they benefit a lot when I correct them, they trust me, it's not to offend them.
And there's always room for improvement. We are at the good company of Jesus' disciples too. When we pray for the sick & nothing seemingly to happen, it doesn't prove that it's not His will to heal, it's just a prove that we are still in a learning journey to trust Him more & more (rather than trusting our own perception).
4. I'm not sure if that's God's will for today, and we are not Jesus....
Why He said “Most assuredly (not maybe), I (Jesus Himself) say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father" if He didn't mean what He said?
What are the works He meant? It cannot be the redemptive work as in dying on the cross, this is only Him could do & He did it perfectly, it refers to miracles.
"because I go to My Father" shows the completion of His redemptive work on the cross that enables the Holy Spirit (Jesus unlimited) dwells in us - there's power in Him. It is He in us who does great exploits when we cooperate with Him.
He Himself has given us the authority. Take a look to what He said in Matthew 28
(18) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (19) Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you (is it exclude "healing" or include "healing"?); and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
If He has given us authority to execute His will, is it right to doubt His will as if it's like "we don't if He wants to heal or not"? Regardless what we experience & our carnal mind says, what does God's word say about healing?
If a soldier given the authority to kill the enemies who want to enslave his country, isn't it funny if in a great war he's not sure about the will of his own general just because the enemy refused to back down?
How do you have confident faith to command the sicknesses to go away like what the Lord said in Matthew 17:20 above?
In the midst of the opposing natural reality we have to be firm in God's will, and this is only possible by the renewing of mind (our spirit is new when we received Christ, but renewal of mind is ongoing) through His word - don't think like the world think (don't be limited by natural). Only by this we prove His will.
Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
I wrote about the 2 seemingly contradicting doctrines when I grew up, but after quite some time I realised they stem from the same thing :
Most of us in one way or another grew up in the wisdom of the world that works well with the flesh, we all need renewal of mind. Study God's will from His words. You may study from your heroes of faith, but know that they also have their own limitation. The Lord keeps revealing the depth of His will from His word until today, He didn't stop with Martin Luther & John Calvin.
5. Divine healing was only during Jesus on earth
Let's read what christians say as "the great commission"in Matthew 28
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you (is it exclude "healing" or include "healing"?); and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
If He has given us authority to execute His will, is it right to doubt His will as if it's like "we don't if He wants to heal or not"? Regardless what we experience & our carnal mind says, what does God's word say about healing?
If a soldier given the authority to kill the enemies who want to enslave his country, isn't it funny if in a great war he's not sure about the will of his own general just because the enemy refused to back down?
How do you have confident faith to command the sicknesses to go away like what the Lord said in Matthew 17:20 above?
6. Perhaps only some people given the authority of healing
Let's read the great commission in Mark account, Mark 16
17 And these signs will follow those who believe (is it "who believe" or only pastors, teachers, the gifted ones? - do we believe what He said?): In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they (the sick) will recover.”
Cessationist (one of the false believes in Christianity) believes that the supernatural moves of God has ceased with Jesus' apostles. They don't believe that the words of God above are true & applicable until today.
They take 1 Corinthians 13:10 out of context, "But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away." - they out of no where interpret the "perfect" one as the canonised Bible. But look at the context, let's read verse 12, "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face" - the perfection only comes when we face to face with the Lord, this is when we no longer need prophecies, tongues, not even faith & hopes - faith has become sight in that moment. For now as we live here in our body we need them all. This topic is to explain that love is an eternal things, even now until when the perfection comes, love is always there. (13) And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
The ruler of the world (John 12:31) will always try to make you powerless & weak. He infiltrates even the doctrines that seemingly true with christian attribute, even the name of God & Jesus to make us believe other than Bible truth. It doesn't mean the teachers are not saved, their spirit is saved as long as they have received Christ as their Lord & personal saviour. But they don't really walk out His will here.
Btw it's not about "days of miracles", but about "God of miracles", and Jesus is the same yesterday, today, forever.
2 Timothy 3:5
having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
1 Thessalonians 1:15
For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.
Christianity is not just a form of "religion" without power, it's about a loving & powerful Jesus Christ, our Lord & saviour. It must have the divine touch of Jesus more than a regular social club because it is His will & power - we learn to agree with Him through His words & let Him be Who He is, it is His power anyway, not our human strength.
Now when He's given you the authority to release His power it means it is now in your hand, you're the body of Christ. When you want to release healing is in your authority, you have to practice to believe this truth.
When you want to turn on your TV at home you don't call the electricity company saying, "I want to watch TV but now it's off as it doesn't have any power flowing in it. By your mercy & sovereignty please give your power flows in it at your timing. I hope you are willing". You just don't realise that the company is already willing to & the power is already given to you, all the infrastructures are already installed at your home, it's up to you when you want to turn it on & off.
The Lord has made the healing available about 2000 years back, and know you're waiting for Him to move while He's given you the authority on His behalf, He's the one Who's waiting for you to move & execute His authority on earth. Who delays the manifestation?
7. "I don't really care about divine healing, as long as I'm saved and going to heaven"
I used to believe this too, I had depression & insomnia for very long & I thought it's better to me to just meet the Lord face to face as I thought He was only after my heavenly salvation. I thought I was noble by daring to die, I didn't realise I was being self-centred & neglected what Jesus has made it available for me. I thought as long as I'm once saved always saved I could care-less about healing, let's just go to heaven quickly & forget about being a channel of blessing here.
From the Bible we read that 2/3 of what Jesus doing on earth is about healing. And when we read Isaiah 53 about Jesus' sacrifice, He really took all the trouble bearing all our pain & sicknesses on His own body. Should we appreciate Him? Can we at least imagine how painful it must have been for Him to do that? It's not just for fun. And He endured it (Hebrews 12:2) because He believes what it would do for us. He paid healing by sacrificing His own life, it's only the devil who wants us to diminish what He's done for us.
Primary reason why He wants you well & has long satisfied life (Psalm 91:16) is because He loves you, secondly when you are sick you become less effective in doing God's work.
The Lord loves His children so much (you & I), back then it confused me when I heard doctrine like "Sometimes He heals sometimes He doesn't" while I read the Bible everyone was healed by the Lord.
8. You need to be "holy" to receive healing or even better to do divine healing
Well, it depends on your perception of being "holy". Being "holy" just means "set apart", it's not by our own conduct as we still make mistakes, but we're made holy by Christ's redemption. His righteousness is a gift we receive, it's not our achievement.
All Jesus' disciples were sinners yet they were given the authority to heal the sick too even before Jesus shed His blood, how much more we, we're born again believers (new covenant).
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
9. Be careful of miracle worker, the devil also can heal people
Somehow what I caught from the old teaching I believed that God allowed sicknesses & miracle healings were from the devil.
It is true that there are many fake miracles but our faith must not be based on those kind of things, our faith must be based on what God's word says even you haven't experienced or see or do divine healing yet.
Many use Matthew 7:22-23 to suspect christian who practice Mark 16:17-18 - Matthew 7:22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Now, we have to really know that people are saved is by receiving Christ, not by lying saying that they have prophesied in Jesus' name, etc. They are not Christian. A lot of people they are not saved by not doing miracles either.
We have to see what the Bible says in balance, not just believe what was taught by the teacher without checking further from the Bible (I use to use Matthew 7:22-23 to judge christians who did miracles too).
Let's read the verse before, Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."
So what is the will of the Father?
Let's get the answer from the Bible, not from self-perception
John 6:39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
This is how we put things in context.
Now when I think back, it's kinda funny if the devil has miracles & God's children don't have His miracles. Can you see how the Lord worked greater miracles through Moses & Aaron than the Pharaoh's witches (Exodus 7:12)? How Daniel's wisdom was greater than all the Babylon's magicians (Daniel 1:20), how David won over Goliath? etc.
After all the role of the Lord, the devil, and human are written in Acts 10:38 "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."
Who's oppressed? Who's oppressing? Who heals?
What the Lord has authorised you to do? Is it healing? If so, is it of the devil?
The devil will never heal, he only steals, kills & destroys (John 10:10), but Jesus is for abundant life. The devil only can seemingly heal but he will take something out of you, where else the Lord gave Himself for you.
10. "Let's see where God's will bring us to"
This thought is ok in certain contexts. Let's say you're applying a job with some options, A, B or C, and given all the healthy consideration they are eligible, then you may say that quote.
Nevertheless upon fighting against health challenge (or any other clear wills of God in the Bible) you should know what God's will is from the Bible. The enemy is always trying to detour you from God's will and yet using the name of God. You can read how the old serpent deceived Eve in Genesis 3:4-5 “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Imagine a father gave his son a new house for him, the father needs to respect his given authority to his son. Once it's given then it's that house is under the son's authority, not of the father anymore. How he wants to manage his house is not under the authority of the father anymore & the father needs to respect that.
When mankind's been given the authority by God to rule it it means mankind's the one that has to do it, but our captain (Adam) fell so he used his given authority to open up to the devil's deception - that's where sin & death entered the world.
Jesus was born as man to represent mankind to get back the authority that once lost. That's why He said what He said in the "great commission" & has given us His authority. If we don't use our given authority to release the reality of heaven on our earthly reality then nothing of God's will would happen here & the will of the devil would still be freely manifesting.
Why do you think Jesus gave the believer the keys of the kingdom of heaven In Matthew 16:19?
And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
If you read carefully, Jesus said this to Peter as he was the one who confessed that He's the Christ, the Son of the living God. So to whoever confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, they have the same keys. Use them wisely, know what heavenly stuffs are. Is sicknesses heavenly? Is life & health heavenly? Read again Isaiah 53:4-5, what was Jesus intention to suffer & die on the cross?
Proverbs 18:22
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit
From the verse above, what God wants you to believe & confess? What the enemy wants you to believe & confess?
We have to remember not everything happens according to His will, He's not a dictator, He gave us free will that makes us capable to love Him back (but He first loves us). And there are spirits of the enemy too, Adam & Eve fell certainly was not God's will, His will was for them not to partake from the forbidden tree.
Not even what commonly quoted & natural things that usually happen in people are always necessarily His will.
11. I have tried to pray for healing, but nothing happen
I heard this a lot from christians friends. The thing is like this, there's a different between prayer out of doubt /fear & out of faith. A lot of children of God prays like begging their father to do something, because of their challenging circumstances & false doctrine they don't believe that their father is actually wanting them well more than they want to be well.
It is easier to get result when your faith is in agreement with His will. It is very important to feed on the truth that God loves us unconditionally. We need to have this confident in the midst of life challenges.
Our Bible is full of miracles, it's supernatural book. Challenges that seemingly impossible to conquer but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26)
12. "I observed some people that talk about divine healing but they failed too. They are false prophets"
We need to know that life is about learning process. When a new pastor first time preached he also makes mistakes, not necessarily that he is a false preacher though his materials is just way off the Bible and led many christians in bondage (including me in the past).
Even Peter sinked when he walked on water, and Jesus disciples failed to heal an epileptic boy. Does it mean they are false apostles?
Let's not judge other people. If you're an architect, no one judge you just because you haven't build a grand building in New York City. This kind of judgement is out of flesh. I'm a musician, but it doesn't mean I could do all kind of genre well or all kind of instruments. And just because wrong notes then I'm not a musician. Just because a doctor failed in medicating his patient it's not necessarily he's a fake doctor. We learn to be wise, to comfort each other, to help each other to point to Jesus & encourage each other from God's words, rather than judging each other & condemn each other (with/without God's words).
Mistakes are just part of process & behind every failures there are always great lessons to glean to make us trust the Lord even more, we all have flesh to conquer anyway. A lot of time we have to take risk in practicing faith. Think about how Peter left the boat in the stormy wave to come to Jesus, how the Israelites felt being chased by the Egyptians soldier while Red sea was in front of them? Etc.
When the Lord shows you something, it doesn't mean that you have to achieve it immediately. He just wants to show you what His will is, and for you to trust Him in your life journey as it is He Who does all these things when you allow Him (use your authority to invite Him & let Him).
13. The Lord is only interested in spiritual things, not in physical thing
A lot of christians say, "Don't expect healing from the Lord, but be faithful to Him". I had this impression in the past too, but I also read in the Bible that Jesus always healed, so I thought my teachers were right & Bible was wrong. Anyway they studied Bible & know the Bible, I was just a layman. I started having a change mind when I heard a preacher preached according to the Bible, that was good news for me, the real gospel.
Let's see God's heart in the Bible by seeing Jesus & think for yourself if He just cares about spiritual things :
Matthew 9
35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
Matthew 14:14 And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
Mark 1:40-41
Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed."
Luke 7:13-15
When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.
A conversation between a blind man with Jesus in Luke 18:41-43
...saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
And a lot more in the Bible....
This is Jesus of the Bible, it's not what some modern preachers that preach different Jesus & represent God's will wrongly.
14. "I don't deserve to be healed" or "he doesn't deserve to be healed"
Don't believe that lie that keeps you in bondage of the sickness. No one deserves to be healed nor saved. But Jesus came for the undeserved, He always forgives & heals. In fact Jesus was a friend of sinners.
Matthew 9:2-7
Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” And he arose and departed to his house.
15. God uses sicknesses to glorify Himself or teach you a lesson
I've ever heard this statement & I used to believe it, that kept me in fear. I had a very long period of insomnia & I had a thought that maybe it's God's will to glorify Himself. How to fall in love with God? It ended up it's like obeying Him out of fear though I may not express it that way. How to trust His goodness if I saw God like this?
Now I think it's very weird to think back what I used to believe, how come I thought God gave sicknesses & suspect healing is of the devil?
I didn't know about the truth of Acts 10:38 back then. All preachings I heard was about something to make me be good in characters & conducts only, but it didn't make me grow in faith in trusting God. Christianity is rooted on God's goodness, not human goodness.
Logically if the sicknesses were from God then don't try to be healed, because it means trying to remove God's will.
Let's see Jesus' heart in John 9:1-7
Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
While Jesus' disciples were busy focusing on finding the reason of why that man was born blind Jesus took that opportunity to focus on healing him. The phrase "the work of God should be revealed in Him" is healing, Jesus didn't let him be blind.
This might be hard to believe, but not just because the fact that there's trace of sickness in someone's life since his early life or even since he was born it means that's the will of God. We need to know that there might be traces of the fallenness since Adam fell, sins & death entered the world. We are called to see this truth as Jesus' greater than all of these things & it's still His will to manifest Himself as the ultimate healer.
Yes, we sympathise with human emotion & respect them, but it's also not right just point to God as the cause of the sicknesses. He's the One Who gives life, in fact He sacrificed Himself & borne all our pain & sicknesses (Isaiah 53:4-5). We have to know His characters, the devil is the one who wants us to think He's schizo - read Genesis 3 about how the devil represented God to Adam & Eve wrongly.
The same as the Lord's disciples, we all are learning. Not everything we could understand in some point, but we learn to treasure & nurture what He's revealed, and if we don't know we could simply admit that "we don't know yet" without representing His will wrongly.
God introduced Himself as Yahweh Rafa (God the healer, God is the healing) in Exodus 15:26), it means it is Who He is, that's His nature & His will. Imagine water, water is wet. Can you touch water & the water choose not to make you wet? Can you touch God & He choose not to make you healed & whole?
We have to understand about the difference of old covenant & new covenant, there's purpose of those two. Nevertheless if you want to see how God is like, see Jesus' life. He is the clearer image of how God is like.
John 14:9-10
9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?
16. If God's will is for no sicknesses why there are medical practitioners & hospitals?
Again, His will is in His word. We cannot say just because there are policemen, judges and jails it means it is God's will to have crime. Just because there are nets for the circus flying trapeze it doesn't mean that it's the circus will for the flyer to keep on falling. Just because there is toddler tricycle it doesn't mean that it's not the parent's will for the child to ride a bicycle.
We need to yield to God's will, to give consent to Him for Him to manifest His life for us, in us & through us. Remember that He's been given the authority, do we use it to invite & collaborate with His will? Do we trust Him?
On the way of learning to fly the trapeze the flyer might fall, at least there're some nets underneath. On the way of learning bicycle toddlers use tricycle first. While the Lord prepares natural solutions (good gifts - James 1:17) for people of different faith, His children also can use them as they might need help in their faith learning journey. Matthew 5:45 "...for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."
On the other hand, just because there's a tricycle, don't stop there & not learning the bicycle. Just because natural solutions are there doesn't mean we don't need to practice our faith. Natural/creation has fallen in Genesis 3, then after that another work of God is redemption & He succeeded.
No wonder natural is limited, and He personally came all the way to provide you supernatural solution under His redemptive plan by sacrificing His own life. Mark 5:25 "Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” 29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.
17. "Even the great apostle Paul is not healed"
This is one of the greatest deceptive teaching I personally heard in my youth back then. Once we believe this we empower the stronghold of the enemy in our life & we can't fight the symptoms with the truth.
2 Corinthians 12:
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
The teacher in the meeting explained that Paul had some epileptic condition (thorn in the flesh) and he asked the Lord to heal him but He didn't. He used this story to explain God's sovereignty.
Now, we can't just bypass other truths of the Bible just because we want to say what we want to say. And don't create another theology to excuse our failure when we don't see the healing manifest yet. Let not our understanding & experience interpret God's word, instead let God's word later on interpret our understanding (renew our mind) & experience.
Why do we interpret Bible with our own understanding? Let Bible interprets Bible. "Thorn in the flesh" is Hebraism, it's like saying "pain in the neck". Let's see the comparison with Joshua 23:13 "know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you."
Do those "phrases" mean sicknesses? Read the context again, it's actually the Lord forbid them to marry the nations who had other gods (verse 12).
Read also Number 33:55
But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell.
Doesn't Bible already say that the "thorn in the flesh" is "a messenger (angelos) of satan"? Then it's not of God. What a confusing teaching it was, is God working together with satan or what?? What kind of coalition was that? It's a simply weird doctrine. No wonder I had difficulty to trust God back then.
And here's the interesting part, when the teacher explained that "thrice Paul asked the Lord to heal him but He didn't", I believed him. When the Lord said to Paul "My grace is sufficient for you" it means it's indeed sufficient, it's a reminder to Paul that His grace is greater than Paul's problem, settle it with His grace, not by Paul's effort - nothing in the Bible saying that the Lord refused in helping Paul, so Paul won't be prideful. You see how the enemy twisted the goodness of God into his own deceptive version. In fact in that verse we read that God's will is for the power of Christ may rest upon Paul (verse 9). Because when he's weak (realising that he can depend on his own effort) then he's strong (realising that it's only by the grace of God) - God's grace is always sufficient. It's a beautiful loving reminder from the Lord to Paul about what he's got, it's His grace.
I could associate this misinterpretation with human way when I caught myself remember how I gave money to beggars. Let's say I gave $10 to a beggar, then he said, "Thank you, but this is not enough, I need to buy things for my family, bla bla bla". The way I refused giving more is by saying, "My gift is sufficient for you", that really means I'm not giving more. But God is not like me, when He said sufficient it means it's sufficient, not insufficient.
Romans 8:32
"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Some might bring up Galatians 4:13 "You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first."
You need to know that back then Paul was in the recovery as he was just stoned. Read Acts 14:19 "But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up (it's a miracle) and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe (a territory in Galatia)."
There's danger of interpreting God's will/word using our humanly perception, we all have some part of fallen culture hence we have to learn to let Bible interpret Bible. Again, I have to renew my mind & learn to think like Him to understand Him. Learn His language, His language is faith. The reason we couldn't hear Him clearly is because we don't learn His language yet, we believe the sound of the circumstances more (this would make fear is greater than faith).
The implication for us : sometimes the flesh highlights to us the greatness of overwhelming trials, but the Lord wants us to see by faith that His grace is always sufficient, not lacking. We are called to magnify the truth in our conscience so that reality can manifest in our physical realm & become a blessing to many (including ourselves), the flesh is always in opposite direction.
"For when I'm weak, then I'm strong" speaks of the supernatural life of God who lived Paul's life when he depended on God's life. So you cannot picture Paul was a fragile man. How come a divinely strong man like him weak & had sicknesses? It's because someone interpret the Bible based on his carnal experience & spread it.
Which interpretation is more congruent to Paul's teaching, and in fact to the whole theme of the Bible?
Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Galatians 2:20 (Young's Literal Translation) "with Christ I have been crucified, and live no more do I, and Christ doth live in me; and that which I now live in the flesh -- in the faith I live of the Son of God, who did love me and did give himself for me;"
Proverbs 3: 5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
And all Bible theme is about "trusting God instead of yourself".
18. Divine healing is not Biblical
This is just a weird statement from people who have different Bible.
You yourself should check what I've been sharing with the Bible
Some Christians try to minister divine healings & they didn't see the result, so they came out with their theology to justify their experience, it includes reinterpreting God's word according to their own. experience & perceptions. There's no need to rewrite the Bible.
God's word is the standard of truth, it's because our experience is not there yet we don't lower the standard & we don't feel guilty too as we're in the learning process. Learn from Christians brothers/sisters who's got Biblical revelations & have some track records in this - take note that they're also in their learning process, but at least they're more advance than us. Nevertheless, the truth is still the truth.
Watch Dan Mohler & Todd White in this video :
19. Don't promise healing lest people be disappointed
This statement comes from fear, and we try to save our own reputation (at least I did, that's why I know). It's just to prove we don't fully believe yet.
Don't sacrifice the truth in favour of people's reaction, the truth is in God's words regardless how people react. Even when the Lord Himself shared the truth about His flesh & His blood His 70 disciples left Him, only remained the 12 (John 6:60-71). Did He worry because of that? In the practical way, yes we need wisdom, but the truth is not determined by people's reaction. We need to be bold & loving in proclaiming the truth (instead of compromising the truth).
In the middle of the old teaching I didn't get healed, no one preached God's will to heal, hence I had no faith in healing. Once I heard someone proclaimed the gospel (about what Jesus has done) boldly without fear, I got healed.
20. I'm afraid nothing happen when I pray
When I'm approaching the sick to bring God's healing, there's a thought saying, "How if the person don't get healed? You will be shameful". And I used to play safe & think it's a wisdom, but it was fear disguised as wisdom. And that voice is actually "flesh". I learned from Bill Johnson, tell the flesh, "How if the person get healed?"
Off course in many other areas of study, we need to study Biblically about this God's will. And thankfully there are many good resources available. It's also helpful (though not necessary) when someone can guide/train you in practicing this, somehow this would boost your faith too in the initiation/activation process (moral support), though later on you still need to study & it's going to be your journey with the Lord Himself
My sharing is not mean to be a detail guide lines, it's just to show the Biblical stand of God's will about your well being.
Regardless the condition you're in right now, the truth is God wants you well. If you "happen" to read this, don't loose heart, your challenges are not beyond His grace. I pray that the Lord opens every of our spiritual eyes to know who we truly are in Christ what our inheritance is in Him
Ephesians 1
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power (not our own power) 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead (the same power works in us, for us & through us) and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come..
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The intention I wrote this blog to encourage the reader (if you've received Christ) to create a Biblical critical thinking so that we all could check the doctrine we're believing if it's Biblical or not. Renewal of mind & growing in our new identity in Christ are very crucial in our daily life. Somehow familiarity has brought us into believing tradition of man rather than the Bible truth itself. There are many other subjects I couldn't write here, or else it won't be so focused.
In anyway your identity's not found in your experience, not in what your doctrine says, but in what the Lord says in His words. I didn't see a lot of supernatural manifestation of the Lord when I believed wrong doctrine, but I see more and more when I trust His words. It is always His will to do it so, I don't say it, but Paul did, let's read Galatians 3:5
"Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"
There's also an enemy who doesn't like us to trust God's words since the beginning of creation. He's a master of deception, he uses our carnal minds & feelings to confuse & distract us from God's word which is only accessible by faith, not by feeling nor perception. In fact feeling & carnal mind (that's where the spiritual warfare is) can be a strong faith breaker if we are not grounded in His word.
I'm not sharing this to prove "I'm holier than though" as we all (the redeemed ones) are His beloved, His own body. My intention is to prove that your Daddy God loves you so much and He's provided more than what you think it's available for you. It's just we all need to learn & practice to grow our faith. As Jesus you read from God's words I shared the Lord has authorised you with His love & power, He equips & supplies you.
It's like an ambassador who represents his country, his supply & resources is from the country he's representing (the country he belongs too), not from the country he's representing to - we are in the world we are not of the world (John 17:16), in fact we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6).
Like what Paul said in Philippians 4:19 "And my God (not your boss/clients/etc) shall (not maybe) supply all (not some) your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (not according to natural resources)."
What I've been sharing here is just God's words as at the end of the day His opinion is the truth, not your opinion or even mine, and it's not in human's sentiments too (it is the Lord Who has true compassion to us, He even sacrificed His own Son). We need to perceive the truth of His word (John 17:17) by faith instead of by feeling nor natural mind. His truth is still & always relevant for our daily life (though unconsciously the flesh through feeling & carnal mind translates it as irrelevant). Without really knowing the truth & daily communion with God feeling & natural mind can be "faith breakers".
We just need to "sow" God's words in our heart by keep on reading, listening & meditating upon it, it's life. Later on His life is manifesting in our life, it's no longer our self-effort that manifest.
Romans 10:17 (Amplified Bible)
So faith comes from hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the [preaching of the] message concerning Christ.
What message have we been hearing? Is it concerning Christ (what he's done - Christ-centred) or concerning what you need to do (self-effort, self-centered)?
Video of practicing Mark 16:17-18
Another christian brother that has been practicing is Pastor Andi Simon. I don't know him personally, but his journey of trusting the Lord is very inspiring. With the understanding of Who works in him (which is Christ), for him & through him he becomes a great blessing for all people in Indonesia, especially his city in Balikpapan.
As it's a life long journey, I have been having a lot of questions in discovering my identity in Christ, some are already beautifully answered based on Bible revelation, but a lot more are yet to be answered. Nevertheless it's been a beautiful journey with the Lord. It's impossible to share what the Lord has been teaching me as a revelation of His words in one writing/sharing. A lot of more old "sacred cows" being destroyed by the Bible truths.
When we have some "theory", it's good to check it in the lens of Bible truth lest it would become wrong strong-hold in our life. At the end of the day the truth is God's opinion, not our opinion, and that truth sets us free (John 8:32).
It's an interesting journey that includes "how to doubt my doubt", "how to deal with the unbelief of the flesh", "how if I don't see result", and other things. These are ongoing things that I need to bring them to the Lord.
As in all learning journey, failures are inevitable, even Peter started sinking when he walked on water. Just because he started sinking it doesn't mean it's not God's will for him to walk on water at the first place. It's just because there are many failures in my journey it doesn't mean the things I learn is not God's will. We are not defined by the failures, we are define by His love. My music students don't get it right what I teach them, and they need years to refine it. We all fell when we started learning how to walk when we were babies.
I hope this encourage you to take step of faith to trust God's words & feed on it everyday as part of our daily need as there's life in it. John 6:63: Jesus states, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you—they are spirit and they are life".
I will share some Christ/Bible-centred teachers that I learn from, and you may benefit from them too (and don't forget to check with the Bible yourself whenever you hear any teaching, let Bible interpret Bible, let not your perception interpret Bible), and let's not judge people based on what others/internet say or based on your personal subjective sentiment :
1. Pastor Joseph Prince : to understand about God's unconditional love for you & which covenant you are now under, the gift of righteousness, grace vs law
2. Andrew Wommack Ministry & Charis Bible College's materials : to understand God's unconditional love for you, strengthening your identity in Christ that result in divine health & healing
A lot of healing testimonials, even the long term sicknesses are healed under Andrew Wommack's ministry
3. Ministries that come from Charis Bible College : Mike Hoesch, Barry Bennet, Jeremiah Klaas, and many of them
4. Curry Blake (John G Lake Ministry) : very strong Biblical understanding of healing
5. Chad Gonsalez : identity in Christ & healings
6. Bill Johnson & Bethel Church materials : intimate relationship with the Lord, prophecy (according to Bible), healings
7. Todd White : the love of God, street healing & prophecy
8. Dan Mohler : strong identity in Christ
9. Pete Cabrera Jr : about identity in Christ : spirit vs flesh
10. Study about men in faith in the past : Smith Wigglesworth, John G Lake, Kenneth Hagin, etc.
11. Others Bible-centred teachers
If you've received Christ, I thank you for your eternal salvation. I pray that the Lord put you in a journey to manifest who you truly are (Christ is now your true identity) for your benefit & be a channel of blessing for others.
If you haven't received Christ, I pray that you will know that your God wants to have an intimate relationship with you now & forever (eternal life) but He couldn't do it due to your sins. As He is a just God, He needs to punish all sins (yours & mine, and everyone else). The only way is He Himself needed to be a perfect human to be the payment for our sin & He's done it on the cross - 2 Corinthians 5:21:
"For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God"
Once you've received Him He imputed His righteousness to you. He's got so much good things in store for you, He's for you & not against you. I pray that you'll have an encounter with Him & out of your willingness you may receive Him as your personal saviour.
Jesus loves you dearly,
Daniel Purnomo
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