A lady came into my office who was suffering from chronic sickness. She asked me if God’s healing is for everyone. I assured her it is. We had a good discussion about spiritual warfare, the differences between Heaven (where God’s perfect will is fully demonstrated) and Earth (where various influences impact our lives). In that discussion, though, I told her that understanding that God is for her is fundamental to our faith. After she left, I thought a glimpse into our discussion might be meaningful to you in the form of a blog. So here is what I told her.
- Read the Will
If we want to know what is in a person’s will, we read their will. If we want to know God’s will on any subject, we read his will. The Bible contains God’s will in which he bequeaths to us all of his blessings of redemption.
But unless we ensure that a will is carried out, other influences might prevent it’s fulfillment. I see that happen to people every day. God has provided great benefits for them, but they either don’t know about them, or don’t know how to obtain them, and are therefore missing out on the benefits that God intended for them.
So the first thing we all need to do is read the Bible, God’s will, and grow in an understanding of God’s will.
I told the woman in my office that I have read the Bible, for myself, and regularly attended church all of my adult life. Then I described for her our one-hour, discussion format Bible study that meets every Wednesday night. I emphasized that I always learn from these studies, and so do the others who attend. I told her that this one-hour investment in learning the Bible each week would give her rich dividends. She agreed to start attending.
- Determine what God’s will is for YOU!
Once we know God’s will as revealed in the Bible, we have to determine what portions of it apply to us. The Bible describes several instances where Jesus healed everyone present, but we must determine if these accounts revealed his will for those particular situations, or if they are a revelation of God’s will for us.
Hebrews 10:7, Jesus is quoted as saying, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God— as is written about me in the Scriptures.’
And John 6:38 quotes Jesus saying, “For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.”
Jesus demonstrated that God’s will for us is clear.
Matthew 12:15 says, . . . many people followed him. He healed all the sick among them,
Matthew 14:36 says, They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed.
Luke 6:19 says, Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.
And, Hebrews 13:8 says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Mark 1 gives us an account of a leper coming to Jesus for healing wondering if it was his will to heal him. Mark 1:40-42 says,
A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed.
Here we see God’s will at work. And this healing didn’t stop happening when Jesus ascended to the Father. The Book of Acts gives us numerous examples of people being healed in the church. And James states in James 5:14-15,
Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well . . .”
God’s will is healing. Earth’s reality is sickness and disease.
In Heaven, everyone is well. And since we have become God’s people, no longer of this Earth, our prayer is,
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Jesus never made people sick or diseased. Instead, he healed them. Now, as a reflection of God’s character and will, the church also heals people. We as a church hate what sickness and disease do to people, and we delight is seeing people well.
Just as God is against people having to pay the price for their own sins, so God is against disease and sickness being part of our lives. When it comes to the benefits of God’s will, they are available to us in a variety of ways. God wants us well, and he uses a variety of methods and channels to help us get well.
He is still “willing” to heal as he was with the man with leprosy and the multitudes who followed him.
- Pursue what God has for you, and resist everything else.
Matthew 8:16-17 says, That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick. This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said,
“He took our sicknesses
and removed our diseases.”
That was God’s will then, and it continues to be his will today.
God is against sickness and disease, and we are too. God is for all of us being as healthy and strong as possible, and we are too. As a result, Christians have done more to fight disease than any other single group in the world. We resist sickness, disease, emotional suffering as well as spiritual darkness everywhere we have influence. We build hospitals and provide health care all over the world with an emphasis on resisting every kind of ailment. We encourage research and promote innovative techniques that prevent disease, heal, and improve nutrition. And, of course, we pray for the sick, believing God’s will is that they be healed. Certainly we know from our Christian experience that not all are healed this side of heaven today. Nonetheless, we know it is God’s will that all would be healed, so we keep praying and doing all we can to encourage healing as we represent him on the earth.
This and other blogs by Pastor Ted Haggard are available at http://www.tedhaggardblog.com as a ministry of St. James Church. If you would like to strengthen the ministry of St. James Church and Pastor Ted Haggard by giving, please use the “give” tab at http://www.saintjameschurch.com.
8 replies on “Is Healing for Everyone?”
Dear Pastor Ted.
I just read your latest blog on “is healing for everyone?”. Thank you for addressing the subject of healing and God’s will.
I think the answer to our dilemma about healing is mixed in with the concept of a “fallen” earth, and the devil’s authority on earth. Currently my emphasis is on learning about our authority as a believer in Jesus. I believe I am safe in saying that Jesus has given us powerful authority privileges, and we should be using that authority.
I agree 100%. Learning our position of authority and using it is THE way God’s will is manifested in our lives. That, plus using everything the Lord has shown us gives us the best possible earthly life. God is good!
Good Stuff!
Come, let us reason together. As a former Baptist minister, I have always found the “God always wants you well” confusing and many time detrimental to believers. Do I believe God can heal and still heals? Yes. Do I believe it is “always” God’s will to heal. No! From what I read in both Old and New Testaments, God not only permits sickness in certain situations but causes it as well. If it was God’s will in the past, why would it not be God’s will in the present? Exodus 4:11 – “And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, sighted or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” Did Moses hear God wrongly? Let’s not forget Job whom God “permitted” Satan to bring sickness upon him. And no, Job was not in sin as some “faith teachers” have taught since God said he was “a blameless and upright man, feared God and turns from evil.” (Job 1:8) Throughout the Old Testament we see that God afflicted people – yes, His people – with sickness. But, that was because of their sin or rebellion or rejection or lack of faith, right? Yes, but it was still a tool that God used at times. In the New Testament, even the Apostles could not or would not “heal” or help those sick find healing. Were they in sin? I think not. In II Timothy 4:20, Paul left Trophimus sick in Miletus. In Phil. 2:25-27 – Ephaproditus was ill unto death…” Paul tells Timothy in I Timothy 5:23 to “use wine…for his FREQUENT ailments.” Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” – whatever it was – was not taken away although he begged God to do so. Why does God allow sickness in believers? Costi Hinn, the nephew of Benny Hinn, says: “..sometimes He will glorify Himself through your suffering, your sickness, and even your death.” According to the great faith chapter in Hebrew 11:35-38, God will not always deliver His saints here on earth from sufferings. We will not be totally free from the “curse of the law” (the decaying body is part of it) until heaven. This takes pressure off of all believers knowing that God can heal and we should seek healing (James 5:14-15) and that He will heal if it is in His perfect will to do so. The above article implies that it is always God’s perfect will to do so. So, after the article assures believers that it is always God’s will to heal, we read: “Certainly we know from our Christian experience that not all are healed this side of heaven today.” WHY? This causes undue questioning, shame and guilting, Then the circular argument continues, “Nonetheless, we know it is God’s will that all would be healed.” The reality of all of this is: Only when we get to heaven.
Excellent material to explains so much. Thank you for writing today.
Interesting discussion for sure. I understand why we don’t want to bring undue questioning, shame and guilting to any believer who is struggling and asking for a healing. Nobody would want to be guilty of that. But I do disagree with the presentation above and I think it is a general misunderstanding of the church in general. Mind you, mine is just an opinion… I’m not trying to cause any problems here. 🙂 Just maybe another way to look at things.
There is a camp that says that whatever God said in the OT, He means it all forever and is the same in the NT and now, because God never changes right? (Malachi 3:6) But I’d like to propose that this thinking that ‘God never changes the way He works or does something’ is taking Malachi 3:6 out of context. God was speaking specifically to a group of people about HIS OWN HEART and saying that His heart never changes…. which is why they weren’t destroyed. So if HIS HEART never changes, he might actually have to change the way He deals with people (i.e. an old vs a new covenant) to stay consistent with His heart. His heart intended from the beginning to provide a redeemer and He knew that Jesus was coming. But He dealt with people one way BEFORE the Redeemer and another way after the Redeemer. THE LAWS & THE WAY HE WORKED DID CHANGE, HIS HEART DID NOT. He may have permitted sickness (as suggested above as a tool) but it was always to bring people to repentance. Today, the new covenant provides new rules but His heart is still the same, to bring us to repentance (Romans 2:4….his kindness leads us to repentance).
The author of Hebrews declared that Christ’s death on the cross instituted a new priestly order and that “when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law” (Hebrews7:12). He also described the new covenant as “superior to the old one” and pointed out from Jeremiah 31:31–34 that “by calling this covenant ‘new,’ God has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear” (Hebrews 8:6, 13). So God made some changes, yet His heart has never changed. So now we have to ask, what is His position on healing now that we have a new covenant?
Read your New Testament. What was Jesus response EVERY time someone came to him for healing? It was always, “I will.” He never once… never, ever, ever said “no.” Other New Testament scriptures tell us that “by His stripes we are healed.” That means He paid the price so that we can be healed. This tells me that it is always His will to heal.
So why isn’t everyone healed? EVERYTHING PASTOR TED SAID ABOVE.
But the real highlight that I want to make is that God isn’t seeing you from a mixed Old Testament/New Testament viewpoint and deciding to not heal you so that it brings you to repentance or something. He isn’t picking and choosing and healing Fred but not healing Nancy. He desires that Fred AND Nancy be healed, but there is more to it than Him reaching down from heaven and touching you or not.
If His will is to heal you, and not everyone gets healed…. there must be other factors at work in fallen and broken earth we live in. (Like Pastor Ted mentioned above).
I’ve been studying on my own and have come to think that the church is just in INFANCY in it’s understanding of what Jesus really bought for us and what is available. Do some study on what it means to be seated in the heavenlies with Christ and to be seated in high places with Him. We have some responsibility in standing our ground against the enemy and holding fast to the promises to see broken earth bend and bow it’s knee when called upon from higher authorities to do so. And Jesus is the highest of authorities. We are called kings and priests. Instead of pleading with God and asking for healing, I believe we need to know that He already says YES, and that there is a process of meeting with Him in prayer and asking, then we stand on the scriptural promises – worshiping in the meantime until we see the earth (including our broken bodies) and circumstances turn and line up with the Word. This always includes emotional upheaval if we don’t learn to rest and lean and trust. And sometimes we will win, and other times we won’t…. and it doesn’t mean we are a failure if we don’t win because ultimately there IS healing when we get to heaven. But sometimes we DO win…
But we didn’t give up thinking that maybe God didn’t want to heal us, because we know He already said He does. There is just more to it than asking and waiting and hoping. We need to know it’s His will first.
Excellent Wendy! Thank you!!!!
Praise GOD Brother Haggard I know that GOD has never left your side, you are truly an inspiration. May GOD continue to do HIS great work in you.
GODS BLESSINGS ALWAYS,
Sister Camille 🙏🏾