When I was a young girl, I saw God do many miracles of healings. Every Sunday, people would go to the altar desperately hoping that God would heal them. I remember a woman who was told she couldn’t have children, a young man dying of cancer who was told he had 3 weeks to live and another man dying from full blown HIV, pleading for God to spare his life. All healed in the name of Jesus.
As a teenager, I saw early on how fragile life is. I also saw the supernatural power of God often enough that hearing testimonies of healings became of no surprise to me. It was easy for me to believe healing is in the atonement (Isaiah 53:5). Some say, “I’ll believe it when I see it”, but I can say, “I’ve seen it so I believe it”. Either way, as children of God, we need to renew our thinking and “Walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Co 5:7). It would be foolish to adjust our theology to match our life experience over the written Word of God.
It always astounds me how little children believe everything their parents tell them. With wide eyes of wonder, sometimes gasps of excitement, children have a tendency to believe in the silliest things when told to them by their parents. Jesus said we must “become as children” (Mat 18:2) in order to enter the Kingdom of God, which is “in your midst” (Luke 17:21 NIV). What is our Heavenly Father telling us? “Do not be weakened in your faith and do not waiver in the promise of God (Ro 4)”, and “I will take sickness away from the midst of you” (Ex 23:25). Does hearing this make your eyes widen and fill you with excitement?
Believing this is easier said than done when we are suffering with disease and in pain. I have never been bed ridden for more than 4 days and can’t imagine what I would feel or think if I had to endure prolonged physical suffering. I can imagine feelings of isolation, betrayal from our body, and even abandonment from God can creep in. These things distract us from setting our minds on things above (Col 3:2). They rob us from thinking of things that are true, right and pure (Phil 4:8). Ultimately, they block us from that childlike faith, and fill us with doubt that we will be healed.
Going to the altar and having believers pray over you for healing can be a matter of life or death, as it was for the three mentioned earlier. In the book of James 5, we are taught that the elders of the church are to pray for the sick, anoint them with oil and that the prayer of faith will save the sick. And in Mark 16, believers are instructed to lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
Sickness and disease take such a toll on our faith and is a battle not to be faced alone. Jesus is interceding in Heaven on your behalf (Ro 8:34) and your church family is interceding at the altar on your behalf. Don't go it alone!
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