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“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” quote by Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (1788 – 1860)

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For decades- my real problem with healing problem was thinking I knew enough about healing. The fact was (looking back) I was all messed.

 

Here are a list of some of my misconceptions:

 

1. I thought I needed to have a word of wisdom (like a 'go sign' that God was going to heal).

 

2. I believed a few really important people (like John G. Lake and Smith Wigglesworth ) had special faith for healing.

 

3. I believed that (unlike Wigglesworth) I'd never achieve such heights. I'd never see as many people healed in my lifetime as they had.

4. I thought maybe God was using sickness or injury to teach some mysterious part of His will

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a. did Jesus EVER say anything like that to His disciples? NO!

 

b. what is it the Word of God tells us has been sent to teach and guide us? The Holy Spirit! NOT sickness!

 

c. sickness is not what The Father has benevolently given His children to teach them lessons. My earthly Father was far from perfect but he would never have imagined giving me brain cancer to teach me a lesson.

 

 

5. I thought maybe I (or someone else) sinned and sickness was either God or the evil one's punishment for sins.

 

a. again, did Jesus EVER say anything like that to His disciples? ANSWER: NO!

 

b. in fact, in the many MASS healing events he had the Word of God simply and plainly says " HE healed them all" It does not say all the healings were instant but it says they were all healed. Jesus NEVER told anyone they had to confess all their sins and become fully whole in mind and thought before He would heal them! Healing is Jesus and God's idea. And they unilaterally CHOSE to heal us despite our faults and failings. ]

 

c. From time to time a demon may be blocking someone's ability to receive healing (or even causing the healing like a lying sign or wonder...) in that case- we need not despair- because Jesus simply 'cast out the spirits with a Word!" In addition,  although we may not have faith to assist someone in receiving healing or for a demon to go TODAY - we may very well tomorrow. a good record here is the TEN lepers. Jesus did not do 'triage' (saying now YOU - the one with the lost foot -can be healed today BUT YOU- with the missing nose and right ear- The Father knows of some sins YOU must repent of and Then- after you've worked all that out' come back and I'll be willing to heal you. 

 

 

6. I thought maybe I (or another person) was not good enough to deserve healing.

 

a. again, did Jesus EVER say anything like that to His disciples? ANSWER: NO!

 

b. This misconception (interestingly enough) is commonly found among people who serve or have served The Lord and the One True God for years. The evil one seems to like to pile on the condemnation in this area- to keep the believer of a 'double mind' thinking “maybe God wants to heal me…but MAYBE maybe maybe….” that type of crud…

 

c. keeping in mind that healing was God's idea –(not ours) we need not approach God like a beggar. Did you know that Jesus never stopped to pray before healing anyone? Why? He KNEW God’s will was always to heal.

 

 

7. I thought I'd be healed if I had more people praying for me.

caveat: since Jesus said "be it unto you according to your believing" and since "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" and a couple other verses you may be ‘rolodexing’ in your mind--it should go without saying- people can and often do 'get healed' as people pray for them.

 

a. WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW THOUGH: Jesus referred to 'distance healing' as the exception to the rule. Jesus commended the centurion with 'great faith'. This record is in Matthew 8: 5-13. Here is (Matthew 6-8 -E.S.V). “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. What does this mean as we consider ALL the healing events? Distance healing was NOT Jesus' every day way of healing. (NASV - Mark 5:23) "My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her,…" ie. the synagogue ruler had either witnessed or heard that Jesus' ordinary way of ministering healing was to lay hands on someone.

caveat: while on this topic of 'laying hands'  I think it is important to interject.

Through the years, I've heard someone referring to themselves as “God's heavy duty power cord'. What? Jesus referred to healing as "the works of God" These finer points have to be worked through and it is not a short process but I will abbreviate...

 

We are not power cords used by God for healing. We have no power in ourselves or in our hands to heal.  I can not heal a hangnail. Neither can you.

 

b. Using simple logic, think back to the people you’ve known who had a "prayer chain" of people praying for them. Did they all make it? If not, why? The simple answer is again :

 

c. did Jesus EVER say anything like that to His disciples?

ANSWER: NO!

If Jesus HAD taught about prayer chains, it may have gone something like this..." You guys need to go into ALL the towns and find LOTS of believers to pray for the guy with the mashed up hand & make sure some of them take night shifts praying- so there is constant 24 hour round the clock prayer going on because that is what The Father told me HE wants” this amounts to the idea that IF we can rassle up enough people to pray maybe we can twist God's arm to heal because maybe God is not as interested in healing as WE ARE!.

 

 

8. I had the idea that maybe I missed some secret sin or some 'open door' (which I was unaware of)- and that was why I (or someone else) was not being healed.

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a. again, did Jesus EVER say anything like that to His disciples? NO!

 

b. If and when an evil spirit was responsible for sickness Jesus simply cast the spirit out. In fact, Jesus treated all healing basically the same whether the sickness was caused by injury or heredity or an evil spirit.

Let's consider this passage. (K.J.V. Matthew 8:16-17.)  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: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

Jesus was fulfilling part of the prophesied mission The Father had for Him by doing these ‘works of the Father” (healing and deliverance). We are able to simply receive the deliverance HE purchased by his life death and resurrection.  If we are wrapped up in some concept of ‘leaving a door open for the evil one” then once again we are not FOCUSING ON Jesus. It is by focusing on Him and what HE did for us that we get healed. (more on that in the final part of this teaching…)

 

 

9. If I look at the Jesus of the Gospels (as my healer) I am looking at Jesus in his earthly body and the Bible warns against that.

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a. Hebrews 13:8 (NKJV) "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever".

 

b. The reader might say "but that is written to The Hebrews." to which I say - then please consider: (Acts 8: 4-7) "Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there.  When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.  For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. "

 

 

10. I thought if I said “I am helping people receive healing” (or anything similar to that) that I was being presumptuous and stealing God’s Glory.

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a. Please look at this verse (K.J.V. Acts 2:22) Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: This verse shows that God does the healing. God likes to work through the body of Christ to ‘get this stuff done’ though. And our human cooperation is often the human side of the equation that is missing and why people do not get healed. I personally like to say I am ‘ministering healing’ but God does all the work.