The Healing Ministry of Jesus
November 2nd, 2009 by Todd Johnson“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 4:23 ESV
The following is taken from John Stott and I hope will serve as a base for some healthy discussion on the topic of miraculous healing today.
“The Gospel writers describe Jesus’ ministry as threefold: teaching, preaching, and healing. Teaching and preaching are not hard to grasp or to imitate, but how are we to understand the ministry of healing?
Perhaps the place to begin is to affirm the goodness of God’s creation. That is to say, disease was no part of God’s original intention for the world, and it will be no part of his ultimate purpose either. In the new universe there will be neither sickness nor pain nor death nor tears (Rev. 21:4). Since, then, disease and death are alien intrusions into God’s good world, doctors and nurses are right to wage war against them. Moreover, all healing is divine healing, since God has put into the human body remarkable therapeutic processes. For example, no sooner has an infection appeared than antibodies are created to fight it. It is this conviction that led Ambroise Pare, the Huguenot physician, to say, “I dressed the wound, but God healed it.” The words are inscribed on a wall of the Ecole de Medicine in Paris.
The Gospels make it plain, however, that the healing ministry of Jesus belonged to a different order. Like changing water into wine, multiplying loaves and fishes, and walking on water, Jesus’ healings were supernatural demonstrations of the kingdom of God.
In trying to understand them, we will be wise to avoid opposite extremes. On the one hand, it would be absurd to put the Creator in a straightjacket and declare that miracles can’t and don’t happen. On the other hand, we have no liberty to say (as some do) that performing miracles is the normal Christian life. For however we define miracles, they certainly belong not to the normal but to the abnormal. If we claim to be able to heal the sick like Jesus, we need to remember that he healed without the use of medical or surgical means, without delay, degree, or remission, but immediately, completely, and permanently, and that even hostile witnesses said, “We cannot deny it” (Acts 4:16).”
The above post, though somewhat incomplete, is meant to be a primer for a discussion on healing today.
The reason I posted it is because (A) As we study the Gospel of Mark on Sundays we are confronted with the miraculous ministry of Jesus on every page, (2) As many study the Book of Acts, the ministry of the Apostles was accompanied by undeniable signs and wonders, and (3) we don’t see the same happening today, at least not in “Biblical proportions”.
So some of the questions that might be raised are:
1. Why not?
2. Does God work in one era in ways He doesn’t in another?
3. Is the church deficient and quenching the Holy Spirit?
4. Was the ministry of the Apostles a unique and unrepeatable ministry?
5. What is the church to think about these matters today?
Let’s talk about it…
Not a theologian by any means, but I’ve always seen the miracles as being specific and purposeful; that is, they always happened to make a point that otherwise would have been difficult to make (Acts 3&4 gives a great example – with the healing of the lame man, Peter has the audience with all who witnessed the act). They needed the miracles in order to point them to the message.
I’ve always felt that the absence of miracles today is based on an absence of need. That is, we have the inspired scriptures, we have the Holy Spirit, and we have churches and missionaries around the globe (not to mention God’s general revelation through creation, conscience, etc.). The unbeliever has all he/she needs to know God.
Looking forward to hearing from others on the subject.
GOD DOES HEAL… I think He doesn’t heal everyone the same way. Consider Acts 9;32-43 We know that God wants to ease our suffering. And, in our healings, He’s also letting us see a little of the future… our future restoration. With our healings, we see that God wants to reveal himself to us. I know that God wants me to pray for healing. And when I’m healed, God uses that healing to build my faith. I think God is more concerned with my faith, heart and devotion, than my physical healing. It’s my faith that God wants to build. God wants to do more than heal me physically.
I DO NOT believe that people today, have the gift of healing. In this age, ONLY GOD DOES.
Blessings…
I know that God can and does do miraculous healings today but nothing like what happened in the book of Acts. 5:16 says that they were ALL being healed. There are a couple points that I would like to add to this discussion. First, even a miraculous healing from God is at best temporary. All those people who were healed in the book of Acts later died of something. The most important real healing is a spiritual one. Second, as much as I would love to see the unmistakable supernatural healing, I remember the words of Jesus to Thomas, “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” John20:29 I agree with TW, our faith is more important than our physical condition. Having said that, James 4:2 comes to mind, “You do not have because you do not ask.” I think it is good to ask God for the healing and then trust Him to do the very best for us.
I believe in the “sign” gifts, but don’t think they’re as available to the Church today. People like to say that it’s our faith, our sin, etc that keep them from happening, but the early Church was full of sin and unbelief and God worked miracles among them. (Consider Peter being released from prison by the angel. The praying church didn’t believe it was him! Obviously, they had faith-issues.) So, for whatever reason, God isn’t gracing the Church with constant healing, signs, etc. right now. It sounds like he does in some areas, mostly with missionarries, but it’s not happening here. This isn’t unusual; Hundreds of years went by between miracles in the Old Testemant as well, huge spans of time between Moses and Elijah, and then to Jesus. There was prophecy, but not miraculous ministry.
I keep thinking about healing, and how it, and some other signs (miraculous delivery from imprimsonment, casting out of demons) followed the Apostles. Mostly healing ministry, though. It’s interesting that this is the main miracle of Jesus that they repeated… You never see them multiplying the bread or walking on water, nor the transfiguration. I’m not trying to make a point, it’s just interesting.
It’s always seemed odd to me that Christians pray so much for healing, I don’t know why. I know we’re commanded to in James, but it seems like that verse is suggesting that there’s some pattern of sin that needs to be prayed for as well, not just that we should all be healthy.
One thing I’ve noticed, though, miracles don’t really cause people to believe. Look at Jesus–the people who were fed in the multitude were still digesting the bread and fish as they walked away. I’ve never known one person who came to faith because of a healing. In fact, if anything, I’ve seen the opposite. People seem to turn to God when they suffer.
This is all just out-loud thinking, I’m not trying to defend a doctrine that I hold to. This is one of those areas I’m pretty soft on.
Michele, I like your out-loud thinking. Here is one more thought to throw into your comment that we never see the apostles walking on water etc. We also never see anyone drop dead at Jesus feet! In looking at the healing ministry of Jesus, I’ve noticed that He never seemed to heal the same way each time. I think it can be said that God does what He wants to do when He wants to do it. I imagine that He is getting quite a chuckle out of all our attempts to figure Him out. I mean that in a good way, like a loving father who enjoys seeing his kids stretch their brains.
Pastor Todd has asked some very thought provoking questions that have challenged my thinking on healing. He asked why we don’t see the signs and wonders of the early church today. I have come to believe that at the beginning God anointed the apostles with these gifts to confirm the gospel that it was from God. So in that era God used signs and wonders to establish the church so that we could have the Word in this era. Is the church quenching the Holy Spirit today? In the late sixties and seventies (I was born again in 1967) there seemed to be a greater presence and anointing of the Spirit in church. I can remember going to the afterglows at Calvary Costa Mesa when some gifts of the Spirit were in operation. Lonnie Frisbee had an anointing that I don’t see in churches today. I think the charismatic movement produced more feelings than faith. Chuck Smith and John Wimber are a good example of this when John broke from Calvary to start Vineyards church. We hear from missionaries in third world countries tell of mighty wonders and Gods supernatural power happening to confirm the gospel so in some countries God is still working like He did in the early church. There have been mighty revivals across the globe in the last 200 years where signs and wonders have happened. What does all this mean? I don’t really know. At times I wonder if the Holy Spirit will be poured out once more or has the latter rain already taken place in our generation.
I shared that my thinking on healing is challenged. I am taking a second look at some of the scriptures we used in talking about healing. The ones that are quoted most often are “by his stripes we are healed” Isa. 53:5 and 1Peter 2:24 . The context of these scriptures deal with sin and restored righteousness, not physical healing as I always thought. In reading the Greek from 1 Peter 2:24 it seems to confirm spiritual healing also. My past thinking was formed from years in the charismatic movement where physical healing is a distinctive. Does anyone have thoughts have this?
I think healing was seen in different light back in the day. I don’t think miracles have the same impact on our society, thus God uses other means. Could it be that a witness today (by a sincere Christian) is more impactful than a healing miracle that our information/science rich society can “explain” via science or worldly knowledge?
Mikey- GREAT to see ya in here. It sure is fun coaching with your brother. Great post too, btw.
Todd- GREAT thread. I’m waiting (trying something new).
I too have heard of miracles, healings and casting out of demons in modern times happening mostly in third world countries. My guess as to why we are not seeing these types of events in our society is this… people would “explain” them away instead of recognizing them for what they really are. The theory of evolution is a very good example of this. So God has to reach us in different ways. Perhaps I’m wrong on this. But it’s my best guess. Btw Todd, I LOVE these deep and thought-provoking threads!
DConrad- I agree that people explain away miracles today. With all the special effects in movies, tv, video games, ect. you can’t belive your eyes anymore. The word of God penentrating the hard hearts of today is a miracle in itself.
OK, enough wait.
DConrad- you’re probably on to something there.
Another potential downside to a physically blind man physically seeing (or any other unmistakable physical miracle) is the potential for us as silly weak sinners to somehow lose sight of The Heal-er, and begin to place our faith in the heal-ing miracle itself. Grace comes by faith- faith in Jesus, faith in His Word, and faith in His work on the Cross. Condemnation does not come for lack of faith itself; condemnation comes to the one whose faith is in ANYTHING else. Heaven forbid (and I believe sometimes does forbid) our fickle shallow shortsightedness result in our faith being placed in ANYTHING else, even when that anything else is something good (miraculous physical healing). We ARE that silly. I, too, could be wrong about this, but I think this is the flip side of the coin DCon is spending in post #11.
Also (as Mrs. Action pointed out to me a bit earlier), to the self-righteous (the Pharisees) Jesus said, “a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign”- are we in America this type of generation or society? Yeah. Is this so much the case in impoverished 3rd-world countries? Not near as much. Where are these miracles most often occurring in the world today (according to quite a few posts on here)?
Maybe Jesus’ statement applies still.
Scumblebum- Exactly….
I say show me a wheelchair discarded as result of a very real and Divine miracle, and I’ll show you hundreds of lives at Crossroads Church in which the Divine is working just as miraculously through His Word right now.
Todd- Again, nice thread.
Also- probably no one should post a comment as lengthy as the one above (#13) other than Todd himself (it is his blog, after all). My many apologies to the many ToddBlog readers for that. My bad.
I do agree with both Scumblebum and T. Chavez Action. In a narcissistic (sp?) society such as ours, people are much more inclined to NOT give credit to the ACTUAL source of the miracle. I have never seen the walking on water type of miracle (at least so far
), but I do see miracles every day that God so graciously does for us. I believe we need to praise Him for His constant presence in our lives and all that He does for us even when we turn a blind eye. God is good!
These last few posts bring up a controversial point. There are so many who believe, “If I just have enough faith, healing will occur.” And this is backed up by the many times that Jesus looked at someone and said, “Your faith has made you well” He didn’t say, “I have made you well,” or even “Your faith in Me has made you well.” He said, “Your faith has made you well.”
But there is a flip side to this. I’ve known too many people who put their faith in their faith, thinking that if they just have enough faith they can move God to do anything. My concern is two-fold in this case: 1) Too much of the credit for the miracle comes to the one whose faith is strong enough, not to the One who made it strong; and 2) What if it is just not in God’s will to heal? What if God has some other divine purpose for not healing? Can my faith ever be strong enough to get God to change His plans according to my wishes. This conflicts with the core of Jesus’ prayer – “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
Oops – another long post. Sorry. Guess I should try to follow the Twitter rule – 140 characters!
I have a story that illustrates some of what is being said here. Tues. afternoon, my husband came home from work early feeling terrible from head to toe. I went off to bible study and at prayer request time mentioned my sick husband. I must admit that I didn’t really expect anything. When I got home he was upstairs playing his drums. Not exactly jumping and leaping but praising God! I must also admit, and to my own shame, that my first thought was not WOW God answered our prayers, but maybe he was not that sick after all! What is wrong with me? Here I am discussing healing on Todd’s blog and studying about healing in the book of Acts and I don’t even see a healing when it is right there in front of me. God is truly good and let me add patient as well!
Hey all… EXCELLENT stuff contributed here, I’ve enjoyed your thoughts and insights greatly.
Jeff – Twitter rules don’t apply here, write all you want. Faith in faith is all too common these days. I have recently had individuals tell me that “your will be done” is a faithless prayer. In reality it is the most FAITHFUL prayer one can pray, as Jesus both prayed it AND taught us to pray it. If God wants to heal me, I’m all for it. I believe He CAN heal & DOES heal whenever He so desires and whomever He so chooses. But I don’t believe that all are healed, and the condition is faith. Such belief deifies man and diminishes the sovereignty of God. Paul didn’t have that experience nor did he teach it, and the history of the church and present day experience confirm it.
Jeff- The word count should probably ONLY be enforced on MY POSTS (like post #13).
Todd asked~ “Is the church deficient and quenching the Holy Spirit?”
My thoughts on this particular question are, yes.
We all come from different backgrounds and we usually tend to carry some spiritual baggage and fears regarding the “moving” of the Holy Spirit, (to coin the common phrase.)
I am compelled to return to scripture after I hear so many diverse comments and ask myself, “What does scripture really say about this ?”
I think we can agree that in Acts the Spirit came down in an unprecedented way.(Term the experience what you want). I think an honest prayer asking the Holy Spirit to fill us for HIS purposes is a prayer seriously heard and answered by God.
I want nothing less in my life…I need nothing more.
As the Holy Spirit goes forth transforming wretched sinners into new creations, He parallels the spiritual healing with physical healing. I like to think of it as “fruit.” I think physical healing is revealed through many channels.
Healing in human bodies
Healing in human minds
Healing in broken culture
Healing in broken government
Healing in broken ethics and morality
Healing in broken ideological systems
Healing in broken theological systems
This is not an exhaustive list but you can understand my train of thought.
Were ever the Holy Spirit goes, the fruit of the Spirit follows. Regeneration and life will bloom were the working of the Holy Spirit is in the lives of people.
I think He is at work in the church today. Creating life in hearts as well as in bodies. The severe focus today of always looking at physical healings, is a by product of the church allowing the prosperity gospel to take root in the hearts of believers. The idea that God “always” heals with enough faith is false. God does heal cancer! God also causes cancer! Both He does for His own purpose and His own Glory.
Ken said “I think we can agree that in Acts the Spirit came down in an unprecedented way.(Term the experience what you want). I think an honest prayer asking the Holy Spirit to fill us for HIS purposes is a prayer seriously heard and answered by God.”
Amen!
Mike..#21… I don’t think God ever causes things. (cancer, etc.) He allows it. Maybe a better word? Yes, no, maybe so!
Blessings..
Uh-oh, little innocent TW has summoned the Sleeping Calvinist Giant!
TW- I once wished what your saying was true but was convinced otherwise by scripture. Love you sis.
Exodus 4:11 “Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?”
Isaiah 45:7 “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.”
Isaiah 30:20 “And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.”
Isaiah 48:10 “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.”
John 9:1-3 “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
2Thes 1:6 “since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you”
Lamentations 1:5 “Her foes have become the head; her enemies prosper, because the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions”
Lamentations 1:13-14 “13 “From on high he sent fire; into my bones he made it descend; he spread a net for my feet; he turned me back; he has left me stunned, faint all the day long. 14 “My transgressions were bound into a yoke; by his hand they were fastened together; they were set upon my neck; he caused my strength to fail; the Lord gave me into the hands
of those whom I cannot withstand.”
Psalm 88 (Please read entire chapter, pay close attention to verses 8 and 18)
88:1 O Lord, God of my salvation;
I cry out day and night before you.
2 Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!
3 For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am a man who has no strength,
5 like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.
6 You have put me in the depths of the pit,
in the regions dark and deep.
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah
8 You have caused my companions to shun me;
you have made me a horror [2] to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9 my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O Lord;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your wonders known in the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But I, O Lord, cry to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?
Why do you hide your face from me?
15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. [3]
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your dreadful assaults destroy me.
17 They surround me like a flood all day long;
they close in on me together.
18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness.
Mike Smith-….or until your INTERPRETATION of said Scriptures convicted you otherwise. Um, love ya too, bro.
Are we really going to go here? Is there a hidden agenda? Please children, lets get along and play nice.
SB- No hidden agenda there in #26. I’m not saying I agree or disagree with how those 30 verses are being interpreted in post #25. We (the Todd-bloggers) have gotten off on a semantics tangent over whether or not God “causes things” like “cancer”. The prompt from Todd at the very top never asks this question- this thread is about “The Healing Ministry of Jesus” and how it looks or maybe ought to look today in contrast to how it looked in the apostolic days. The “Does God Give Cancer” thread, though related to this thread, is related at a distance (like, 3rd cousins)- and this thread itself has so much to it that we’d probably be best to stick to it and avoid the temptation to semantically tangent. This is all simply my opinion, of course, so I could def stand for some correction if I am off base in these observations. I do apologize for not playing as nice as I should, tho.
+ T. Chavez Action.
+ Everybody else who plays nicer.
Now, back to this thread….
Thank you post #28. Very well stated
Michele, “One thing I’ve noticed, though, miracles don’t really cause people to believe. Look at Jesus–the people who were fed in the multitude were still digesting the bread and fish as they walked away. I’ve never known one person who came to faith because of a healing. In fact, if anything, I’ve seen the opposite. People seem to turn to God when they suffer.”
So true. I enjoyed the thought process you provoked right there.
A couple of you have mentioned the “supernatural” healing going on in third-world countries….what does that mean exactly? does anyone have any factual details? just curious. how do we know if it’s miraculous or just our bodies doing what God designed them to do…like fighting off disease. i personally tend to dive for facts and scientific meanings before blindly believing what someone calls a miracle – is that bad? to me, it’s more about trying to take a peek at a fraction of God’s amazing design and just being in total awe.
then again, there are those moments of healing that cannot be explained…that don’t make sense….i know that happens in my own life. just the other day, i was totally overcome by sadness, anger, selfishness, and doubt – it felt completely out of my control…but when i cried out to God (not even really believing that would do anything) to help me, He did…and that totally didn’t make sense to me. there was no scientific reason that i felt at peace shortly after crying out to Him….that was a miraculous healing to me
Healing, was thinking of that coming home Wednesday night. Sometimes like a tornado or fire. Why this house and skipped over this one and spared it. Over simplified, but how my brain works. Pat married 20 years husband sick 17 all that can be done medically has been done. Now her 17 year old has the same genetic illness and future. Prayer becomes very difficult when your child is looking at surgery #15.
And yet a friend had advanced breast cancer and fought it, then a brain tumor and fought, when it went into her spine, she said no more. Took a trip to visit family. A church in the mid-west asked to do a laying on of hands and to pray for her, she agreed. Later at home and going to doctor…no cancer
I cared for my father 20 years a paraplegic towards the end many physical things for him became difficult to watch and see. Yet in his dying I found blessings..I got to feed him and see him smile, see his graciousness with Hospice workers who came to tend to his wounds etc. I could not understand why a loving God would allow this gentle loving man to suffer so long. Someone told me I was not ready to let go. He was given two weeks and lived another four months no one knew why. In those four months I became ready to let him go. He told me once that he did not want me to be sad when he past away, I had always been his “baby girl”. He died what I would like to think was a Christian death that I would not have missed for anything. He was able to hear us, and his eyes became brown and clear like when he was young and he could see us. I told him he could go be with Jesus and his family, he nodded yes. I told him his love stayed with us and ours would go with him, he nodded yes. His eyes got very wide and he smiled as tho he saw something, looked and smiled one last time at my mom and was gone. And it was okay. He never lost his faith in God. He had waited, God had allowed him to wait for his family to be ready to let him go. That in its self I believe is a miracle.
And yet sometimes there is none
Sometimes I feel a bit like Moses in the desert 40 years. Twenty years with an alcoholic etc. husband who just one day quit without my help when I got out of God’s way. Twenty years with my father dying. Like whoa! didn’t see that coming. And throw in a 15 year wait for a miracle baby at 40.
I guess I have learned that it is God’s timing not mine and that sometimes like when I had a lung removed and the doctors thought I had cancer and a baby 18 mo old…I looked for the blessings. I think that sometimes in illness and death the small blessings if we are watchful are the miracles. Look for the blessings, a nurse that comes in and washes your hair and feet while your hooked up to chest tubes and oxygen, named Esther, when your in a Bible study group on the book of Esther. Only saw Esther the nurse one time. hum. When a friend calls moments before they pull one of the chest tubes out and she says look at the clock and think of the hands etc. on the clock as Jesus on the cross. Sure enough and how much more did Jesus suffer than I did. (Like having a piece of foot long garden hose removed from your chest then stitches with out pain meds) The beautiful hospice people I met who cared for my dad. The strangers that helped my husband overcome addiction. Blessings…miracles Sometimes we aren’t looking
Great post Shauna, I so relate to what you are saying. As I read this discussion about healing the question comes to mind, “So just what should I expect when I pray for a healing?” I think that as a reaction to the false teaching that everyone is healed every time if they only have enough faith, I tend to go the extreme of expecting nothing. That takes no faith at all! What I am hearing from the Lord is that when I pray I should expect that He hears me, that He will answer me, and that His answer will be very very good. I can expect an answer based on His character.
I read in James 2:5, “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith?” The thought occurred to me that in some cases poverty could be a gift. And if that is true maybe other suffering is a gift as well. I think that I have ventured out on shaky ground and unfortunately come back to the discussion of God sending or causing suffering. This is a very real practical topic that affects the way we pray. I must say that I’ve been tossed to and fro many a time over this idea and would love to hear what y’all think.
Debbie and I must have been writing at the same time as I didn’t see her post until I sent mine. Thank you Debbie, you seem to be thinking about some of the same things.
Debbie~ That was really beautiful and really causes me to reflect. God is always good…sometimes, (often times), we just are not on the same page with Him.
Thanks. I am certain your words will bring a different kind of healing to those that doubt and are discouraged.
Debbie- Reading the account of your last days with your father spoke to me of a future I will have. My grandmother, Lyllian, is one of the most beautiful, godly, women I will ever know. Her influence in my life can’t be measured. Being with her in her last days is going to be a gloriously grieving. I am sometimes unsure of what I will say and how I will act, yet reading your words gave me hope for the future.
Terriann said “The thought occurred to me that in some cases poverty could be a gift. And if that is true maybe other suffering is a gift as well. I think that I have ventured out on shaky ground and unfortunately come back to the discussion of God sending or causing suffering. This is a very real practical topic that affects the way we pray. I must say that I’ve been tossed to and fro many a time over this idea and would love to hear what y’all think.”
I do believe, what we believe, effects how we pray. I have struggled with this same question myself. Its maddening to think about sometimes. Our world view, or our theological view, will affect not only our prayers, but every aspect of our lives. Most of us are not learned, studied, theologians. Yet most of us have a desire, deep within us, to understand the greatest mysteries of the God we love! The question of suffering, and who “causes” it, is quite a profound mystery. Are we wrong to ponder these things? Is it foolish? What are we fearful of?
I personally love discussing theology. I suppose its not for everyone, yet I wish it was. I understand people much better when they discuss idea’s with me. Especially when they discuss idea’s in humility, and with well reasoned arguments. Why does it continuously have to divide? Who wants division anyway? I certainly don’t. I say no more! Lets discuss in humility, keeping the glory of the cross in view of every typed word.
Thanks to you all for the challenging discussion. Facing the issue over the years, I totally see Debbie’s testimony to be common. God is sovereign, merciful and despite being unpredictable is very knowable.
Side light: Moses’ miracles were mimicked by pharaoh’s magicians. Modern medicine trains its physicians to use the placebo effect, instructing MDs to say, “tell the patient this pill will do such and such and at least the 40% belief factor will give it a chance even if wrong choice.”
I believe that is called sorcery by giving to the doctor and his pill something that really belongs to the Lord.
In Him all things hold together–Colossians 1:16-17
I read this today.. and agree with it..
“If God wants you home, no doctor can keep you here and if God wants you here, no disease can take you home” ~Piper
Miracles happen..
God heals..
God doesn’t always heal..
God knows why..
God is ALWAYS in control.
I don’t think there is a lack of miracles today. I think there is a lack of seeing them. Like the man in the flood praying for help, a boat comes and a helicopter and each time he does not go, says he is waiting for God. He drowns and he asks God, why didn’t you help me. The answer, I sent a boat and a helicopter…
In ’92 all the doctors believed I had lung cancer. I never believed it. Had an 18mo old. Lost a section of lung to an infection. The blessings during that time, amazing. Miracles.
A gal I knew had advanced breast cancer, then a brain tumor, then in her spine. With the spine she said she was done. Went to visit family in the mid-states. A church gathered around her and prayed for her, laying hands on her. She came back to California and the last I heard, they couldn’t find any cancer.
My father’s death was a miracle, a blessing. He had a Christian death and I am so grateful. It was the 20 years of dying that were difficult,
Why a miracle one place and no miracle for someone else. I just do not know. I know that you have to look for the blessings, look for the miracles. Sometimes they are small. Sometimes for me if I have a day or a week where I can breath well, that is a blessing for me. I have to be aware and appreciate that time that I have when I can do things.
Thanks for letting me babble, again, guess already posted to this blog…oops! maybe added somethin in there new.