Healed by God

Prayer for the sick Mount Hagen - Papua New Guinea

Jesus said: "...and these signs shall follow them that believe... they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover" (Mark 16:15-20).

The God of the Bible is a healing God; His very nature is to restore and make whole. Even in the Old Testament God presented Himself to His people as the healer of their bodies. To them He was Jehovah-Rapha the physician, the healer; and often we read of the provision made for the physical well-being of those who followed - and believed.

To Israel God declared: "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight and wilt give ear to His commandments, I will put (literally permit) none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought (allowed) upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee" (Exodus 15:26).

Said the Psalmist (Psalm 105:37): "He brought them forth also with silver and gold and there was not one feeble person among their tribes." And, "He sent His word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction" (Psalm 107).

Countless Scriptures tell of the healing power of God and of the way His word held power and deliverance for those who dared accept God's promises. Is it not then logical to find our Lord Jesus Christ appearing as the Lord made flesh, working wonderful miracles of healing and deliverance?

SICKNESS CALLED A CURSE

Paul wrote: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us..." (Galatians 3:13). This promise is thrilling when we realise that the Old Testament curse included every kind of sickness known to man.

In Deuteronomy 28 we find a comprehensive list of blessings for the obedient, but also a similar list of cursings for the disobedient. Note the curses to come upon the human race: sicknesses that ravage our communities today all over the world. Note particularly verse 28, with its "madness" (mental diseases), blindness and "astonishment of heart", diseases that strike swiftly and suddenly into millions of families each year. Thank God we are delivered from these shocking curses by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God that the sin and sickness question was dealt with at the Cross, and that the ministry of healing was not only manifested by our Lord when He came but passed on to the believing church of the Bible.

HEALING THROUGH THE CROSS

Peter wrote of Jesus: "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree .. by whose stripes ye were healed" (1 Peter 2:24). It is true He saves and He heals. No matter what the unbelieving religious organisations might doubt or deny, the power of God is in the hands of the true believers in Jesus Christ. Yes, by His stripes we were and are healed. He was, we read, smitten and scourged, and when the lash was laid upon his shoulders disease was dealt with for all time. Isaiah also spoke of this event, saying: "I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair" (Isaiah 50:6). And again: "He was wounded for our transgressions (sins)... and with His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

Read again the thrilling accounts of those who were healed by faith in God: "When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils: and He cast out the spirits with His word and healed all that were sick" (Matthew 8:16).

What a contrast to the ineffectual religions of today - through unbelief, these great and mighty promises lie stagnant while so many suffer the curse of the law.

HEALING IN THE GOSPEL

Of course one of the great gifts God has set in the Church is that of healing (1 Corinthians 12:9), Throughout the book of Acts the disciples brought the Power of God to the un-saved through the preaching of the Gospel and the healing of the sick.

"Then Philip went to Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. An all the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed (Acts 8:5-7).

HEALING FOR THE CHURCH

James writes of the provision of our Lord to work through the Church: "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save (make whole) the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up... " (James 5;14-15). Note the invitation. "Is any sick?" The invitation, just as with the call to repentance, is to all.

"Let him call for the elders of the church" - not a man-made, powerless, modernistic organisation, but the Spirit-filled, Bible-believing church of Scripture. The results are assured and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is glorified.

To read more amazing testimonies about how God is working in the lives of people all around the world - check out the Revival Fellowship OneMission website.