Healing "Preliminaries"

We spent several lessons talking about things to give us confidence that it is God's will for us to pray for the sick and expect to see them healed. The Old Testament shows us God's will to heal the sick. The New Testament shows us that sickness and disease are works of the devil that Jesus came to destroy. When He died on Calvary, He did not only purchase our salvation, He also purchased our healing. And we learned that we are to pray for God's will in Heaven and His kingdom to manifest among us, and there is no sickness in Heaven. So when we pray for God's kingdom to come, we are also praying for God's healing to come.

Even in light of all of this, some people may still have a few unanswered questions. We looked at two of them in our last lesson: people in the bible who were sick and Paul's thorn in the flesh. Now let's address two more questions.

The Curse Of Death

But what about the curse of death? Is there going to be some frailties? Don't people lose health whenever they get old?

The truth is we know that we will die. And it is the grace of God as I talked about last week that we do die. God'd grace is the reason He put the angel in front of the garden was so that Adam and Eve could not go back and participate in the tree of life -- so that they would not have to live forever in their sin.

God does not want us to live forever in this body. He does not want us to live forever in our sin. He wants us to move to a place so we can be free from sin and He is going to give us that new body. And that is a part of the redemption that one day we will put on that new body.

1 Cor. 15:42-44 says this: "It is the same way for the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies, which die and decay, will be different when they are resurrected for they will never die. Our bodies now disappoint us," That's the truth! "... but when they are raised, they will be full of glory. They are weak now, but when they are raised, they will be full of power. They are natural human bodies now, but when they are raised, they will be spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, so there are spiritual bodies" (NLT) Now look at verse 48: "Every human being has an earthly body just like Adam's but our heavenly bodies will be just like Christ's."

So you want to know what it is going to look like? Read about Christ in His resurrected form. For our present earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. That is the fulfillment of the redemption from the curse of death.

But we will die in these bodies. Hebrews 9:27 makes that clear. It says, "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment." And because of that I recognize there are certain frailties that our bodies will experience based upon age. And I don't know that I have the right to ask God to undo the curse of death or the effects of age. The truth is that as this body gets older, it will sag and it will die and there are certain things I will suffer because of age. And it is the grace of God that we do die so that we don't live in sin forever.

However, when I pray, this is how I pray: I pray "Lord, give me the strength in this body until the day you take me." I say, "Lord, I would like to have the Caleb anointing on this body." Remember Caleb? Remember the twelve spies that were sent out? Two of them, Joshua and Caleb got to hang around and take the promised land. Jos 14:7-11 tells us Caleb's experience: "I was 40 years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadash Bornea to explore the land of Canaan. I returned and gave from my heart a good report. Now as you can see the Lord has kept me alive and well as He promised for all these 45 years since Moses made this promise, even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am 85 years old and I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey. And I can still travel and fight as well as I could then."

Now how many want to claim that particular promise? I think that is what we should pursue. It think that is what we should go after. I have another whole message on cooperating with the healing of God. I think it is not just a claim it, but like anything in the Christian life, you have to cooperate with the promises of God. I mean you have to cooperate with God for these things to take place. I think there is a sense of cooperation that we have to have with the promises of God. But for me, I am claiming that verse and I am pursuing that verse there.

Gradual Healings

There is another question for you: What about people who still have symptoms of the sickness after they have been prayed for? Can they be healed if they do not appear to be better? Does God do gradual healings, where the symptoms of the illness persist for a long time after the healing has begun?

Many times we have a misconception that healing is a right and automatic, and so we should automatically claim it. We think that we shouldn't have to work for anything. Along with that, we have a misconception that something is only a "valid healing" when God does a very quick healing. We expect it to be instantaneous. We expect that it will be immediate. And we say that it was God when it is instant and immediate.

But, what if God didn't choose to do it that way?

One thing you are going to learn about healing is this: A lot of times healing is like a seed and sometimes God gives us the seed of healing without the instant healing. It is still the same God and it is the same healing but some things we will have to work for, strive for, contend for, fight for.

My mother was healed of multiple sclerosis. We prayed for her, we anointed her with oil and there was not an immediate healing. But the seed of God was planted in her that was watered and it was nurtured and over time she was healed. She cooperated with that healing. She contended for that healing. She pursued that healing. And eventually that healing came about when she cooperated with the seed and that is just as much a powerful miraculous healing as if you got it instantaneously.

We are in God's army. At times healing is a battle in the war that must be fought for. Our belief must be the foundation that motivates us to fight the good fight. We must know and understand that it is the will of God for us to pray for the sick. And regardless if we get sick and regardless if those around us die of sickness, that will not stop us from pursuing that. The Word of God says that we are to pursue it. Because in pursuing it, we advance the kingdom of God.

Wrap Up

God loves it when we take initiative that lines up with what we know of His nature and of His character and of His written Word. John 14:12-14 makes it clear that Jesus expects us to do the same works that Jesus did when He walked on the earth. And that includes healing the sick! He desires for each of His people to obey His command, given in the great commission), to both proclaim and demonstrate the kingdom of God.

But before we can run, we must learn to walk. No matter where you are in your personal faith and anointing, the best place to start is with the obvious. If you are ready to pray for the sick -- wonderful. Go do it! But if your faith hasn't reached that point yet, then find the things in your life that are out of order and put them under God's order. It may be your relationships, it may be your finances, or it may be in how you run your household. Take initiative to line these areas up with God's will. Make Him Lord of every area of your life -- and start with wherever you are currently at. Begin to move with Him and you will see Him begin to move on your behalf.

And a part of moving with Him is proclaiming and demonstrating His kingdom. It is praying for the sick. I believe that is the will of God in Heaven. Jesus' atoning sacrifice paid the price for our healing. I believe that we can pray for physical healing based upon that sacrifice -- when Jesus took our sickness and disease. I believe that through the stripes of Jesus we can claim and pursue healing that was won in our behalf.

But I also don't think that healing is automatic. It doesn't always happen the first time you pray. It must be pursued and in some cases it must be contentiously fought for. Just like any of the other promises of God -- it must be claimed, it must be pursued, it must be cooperated with.

I believe that we are to pursue the greater anointing for healing -- and that it requires relentless pursuit. In light of that, I am going to change my behaviors and start praying with confidence that healing is God's will. I am going to stop praying "If it be Thy will..." God has already shown us that it is His will. So what I will pray instead is, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."