Tag: divine healing

June 16 2020

Christian Healing: Gifts of Healing

A. Scott Ingram Christian Life, Christian Life and Gospel Leadership, Gospel Leadership, Physical Healing, Spiritual Gifts divine healing, healing anointing 0

In the last post, we discussed the “power gifts” of the Holy Spirit and how a person may receive those special anointings. Now, we will dig a little deeper into understanding the “gifts of healing,” which is one of the nine anointings or “manifestations” of the Holy Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12:

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
1 Corinthians 12:7-11

Healing Gifts

To understand the healing anointing, we must see that a person does not receive “a gift of healing.” Instead, the word gift is plural. The anointing is for “gifts of healing.”

This is an interesting distinction in how the gifting for healing has been viewed in the 20^th century where certain leaders claimed to carry the healing gift as though it is an official position. We have seen many famous evangelists take on the title of “divine healer” or “the man of power.” Unfortunately, there is not an office of healer in the New Testament.

There is Not an Office of Healer

The five spiritual “offices” given in the New Testament are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. This is often referred to as the fivefold ministry. The Bible says these are unique callings placed on certain people by Jesus Himself, rather than by the Holy Spirit as in 1 Corinthians.

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’ …And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers…”
Ephesians 4:7-8,11

These “offices” are directly tied to the long-term discipleship and empowerment of the church (see Ephesians 4:11-16), and should therefore should be considered as God-given job descriptions rather than hierarchical titles to go in front of our names.

Healing vs Prophecy

To better explain, let me divert from healing for a minute…

What you may notice in the two scriptures above is that there is a calling of Prophet given by Jesus in Ephesians and there is also the gift of prophecy given by the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians. These two things are not the same!

When Paul writes about the gift of prophecy and its use in the church, he says, “you can all prophesy one by one” (1 Corinthians 14:31). The implication is that every member of the church can, at times, give prophetic utterances from the Lord. That is the gift of prophecy from the Spirit. This does not mean that all believers were Prophets by calling/office.

Office Prophets have an assignment on their lives to lay the directional foundations of the church and nations (Ephesians 2:20). Their prophetic gift is constantly at work in Christ, and their revelation is often much deeper than an “occasional” gift of prophecy received when someone comes under the anointing.

The reason I divert to prophecy is because this distinction between giftings and offices is important in understanding how the gift of healing works. Contrary to prophecy, healing does NOT connect directly with a spiritual office given by Jesus. As I said before, there is not an office of healer (remember, we all have authority to heal!).

This becomes foundational to understanding why there are multiple “gifts” when the Holy Spirit brings His anointing for healing.

Various Types of Healings

As I have read the writings of various ministers, contemporary and historical, who are each recognized for their healing gifts, there are differing opinions for why the “gifts” are plural.

One explanation is because there are various types of healing which can be received, such as:

physical wounds like broken bones or open lesions,
bodily infirmities like HIV or diabetes,
mental illnesses like schizophrenia,
emotional illnesses like anxiety or depression,
soul sicknesses, such as issues coming from traumatic experiences or abuse
spiritual sickness, often coming from demonic strongholds and torments.

Another explanation is that there are various means by which God brings healing, such as:

The laying on of hands,
Anointing with oil
The word of command,
Anointed items such as Paul’s prayer cloths,
Anointed presence such as Peter’s shadow, or
Inspired human wisdom in medical professionals.

Every Healing is Another Gift

While those explanations are mere speculation, there may be a lot of truth to them, and they are very helpful observations. Still, I prefer a much simpler explanation.

I believe that the reason Paul uses the plural “gifts” when discussing healing, is because each healing that takes place is a distinct gift being given to the person healed.

That means that I, as the minister, do not receive the gift of healing. Instead, when operating in this anointing of the Holy Spirit, God uses me to deliver His gifts of healing to those in need.

If someone gets healed of cancer, that is their gift. If someone gets healed of three broken ribs, they have received three gifts of healing. Each sickness or condition God heals is another gift!

God’s Delivery Person

What I like about this understanding, too, is that it removes the pressure from me as the minister. I am not the one with controlling the gift, and therefore do not have to feel the pressure on me to perform.

Instead, I am simply acting as the delivery man, who gets to bring God’s gifts to people as He chooses to distribute them. It is His good pleasure and His timing; not mine! (Side note: this is why the gift of Word of Knowledge is often connected with healing.)

When someone is healed of anything, we give God all the praise. When someone is not healed, we learn to press in to Him more and more for His gifts!

Pursuing the Gift to Get the Anointing

As we said before, the gifts you receive will be determined in large part to how you are pursuing God and how you are seeking to love others. God seems to give healing anointing to those who are praying for the sick. (And unless you pray for the sick, you cannot know if the anointing is there in the first place!)

In the next post we will talk about how you can directly pursue this gift by stepping out and praying for the sick! Until then, I would love to hear your thoughts or questions in the comments below.

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May 9 2020

Christian Healing: Is It For Today?

A. Scott Ingram Christian Life, Christian Life and Gospel Leadership, Physical Healing, Spiritual Gifts Christianity, divine healing, faith healing 0

In the last post, I laid out the biblical foundation of Christian Healing from God’s revelation of Himself as Jehovah Rapha – “God Your Healer” – up to the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy that healing would be in the atonement of the coming Christ. Although I believe that biblically we can prove that Jesus’ healing gift was not relegated to the future consummation of His Kingdom, we are still left with the challenge of proving that it was Jesus’ intention for healing to continue throughout the church age, now.

We left off discussing the fact that Jesus healed every sick person that was brought to Him. No one who believes the Bible disputes that fact. However, in answering the question of whether that healing would continue today, we must face certain objections that are often raised against divine healing moving forward.

Objection: Jesus Was God! We are Not!

One common objection to God healing today is, “Jesus was God; of course He could heal everyone. We are not!” This objection, however, voluntarily overlooks the humanity of Jesus in the incarnation.

The bible clearly states that although Jesus is God in the flesh, He willingly left His divine attributes aside, and lived life as a human being (see Philippians 2:5-8). Jesus was the perfect example to us of what humanity looks like when we are filled with the Holy Spirit and fully submitted to God. Theologically we call this “Christus Exemplar” or “Christ Our Example.”

As He laid down His divine attributes, we must understand that Jesus was not healing people through His own power as God! He was healing people as man, through the power of God the Holy Spirit, who He then gave to the church as a gift. Through the Holy Spirit, our spiritual DNA is reformed to be just like His!

We see this in the fact that Jesus did not keep His authority to heal for Himself, but He commissioned His disciples to do the same thing:

Matthew 10 tells us:

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
Matthew 10:1

These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
Matthew 10:5-8

Jesus not only thought it was possible for human beings to heal the sick, but He gave them the authority and commanded it!

Objection: That Gift Was Only For The Apostles!

Again, the critic will argue that the supernatural gifts of the spirit were given only to those original 12 Apostles (or only for the Apostolic Age), in order to get Christianity started, but that the gifts did not continue past the death of the Apostles.

Yet, again, however, scripture itself overturns this argument as Jesus did not limit the transfer of His authority only to the Apostles:

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go, and He said to them…Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
Luke 10:1-2a,8-9

We clearly see Jesus Himself directing non-Apostles to heal the sick! And His healing ministry still doesn’t end there…

Should We Expect Healing Today?

In His final charge to His disciples before leaving earth, in Matthew 28:18-20, He commissions them to instruct the next generation of disciples to continue in everything He had taught and commanded them!

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I believe the “all” includes His command to heal the sick. In fact, in his presentation of this same “Great Commission,” Mark’s gospel says:

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Mark 16:15-18

The Great Commission, therefore, tells us that divine healing is intended to pass from one generation of believer to another. It would not stop!

So, should we expect healing today? YES! Not only is healing in the nature of God and the Atonement of Christ. It is also in the commission of the church!

I know many will still object to this fact by twisting minor verses in other places, but the truth is, you have to throw out a lot of scripture to conclude that Jesus does not heal today, through His church, and to believe that He is withholding that gift until His final return.

Objection: Why Are Some People Not Healed?

The short answer: I don’t know. Biblically you can point to many factors which might explain why some people do not get healed in prayer.

It can be my lack of faith as a pray-er (James 5:15).
It can be the person’s lack of faith as the one being prayed for (Luke 8:48, 17:19, 18:42).
It can be the existence of unconfessed sin.
It can be the presence of demonic strongholds.
It may even be a case of the sovereignty of God giving grace to the person, in which their sickness unto death spares them from a worse state (see Isaiah 57:1, with an example given in 1 Kings 14:12-13)
There are likely many other reasons people are not healed in the now.

I cannot give a definite answer as to why some people are healed now, supernaturally, and some are left in their state of sickness. All I can say for certain is that healing IS in the atonement of Jesus Christ, and that whether now or at His second coming, every person who trusts Him will be healed completely.

What we cannot do is to say that because some people do not get healed, that it invalidates any healing at all in Jesus’ name and by the power of the Holy Spirit or that we should not pursue God’s grace for healing today. In the atonement, Jesus paid the price for all sin, and yet for whatever reason some people still do not get saved. The fact that some people still die and go to hell does not nullify that Jesus is the Savior of the world.

A Scholarly Explanation

I don’t want to dwell long on this point, but I do appreciate how Sam Storms in his article “Divine Healing” speaks on this issue:

Everything we receive from God finds its ultimate source in what Christ did for us on the cross. Therefore, the question is not whether our bodies receive healing because of the atonement of Christ, but when. We are forgiven of our sins now because of Christ’s atoning death, but we await the consummation of our deliverance from the presence of sin when Christ returns. We experience fellowship with God now because of Christ’s atoning death, but we await the consummation of that blessed relationship when Christ returns. We profit immensely now from the Spirit’s work in our hearts, but who would dare suggest that what the Holy Spirit is doing in this age is all that he will ever do? There is a glorious harvest reserved in heaven for us of which the present ministry of the Holy Spirit is merely the first fruits!

In other words, it is a serious mistake for us to think that every blessing Christ secured through his redemptive suffering will be ours now in its consummate form. All such blessings shall indeed be ours, let there be no mistake about that. But let us not expect, far less demand, that we now experience fully those blessings which God has clearly reserved for heaven in the age to come…

He goes on to say:

To insist that this physical blessing is future is not to detract from the efficacy or value of Christ’s atoning work, nor to deny that God often heals (at times partially, at times wholly) now. It is simply to recognize, as Scripture does, that God’s timing is often different from ours.
Sam Storms, Divine Healing (Oklahoma City, OK: Sam Storms, 2006).

So What Do We Do?

I 100% believe that Jesus is Healer. I believe this from the Bible. I believe this from church history. And I believe it from many personal experiences with healing, today. Does everyone get healed? No. However, I am not discouraged by that to the point that I would stop praying for the sick, and going after the Lord for more!

We must pursue Jesus Christ to heal ALL of our diseases now, with full faith in His atoning work and an unending hope for His miraculous intervention immediately.

We do not need to pray, “Lord, if it is Your will, heal…” He has made it evident that it is His will to heal. We must learn to pray, instead, “Lord, let your Kingdom come; let your healing be done, on earth (now) as it is (now) in heaven.”

As many respected charismatic leaders have said concerning the “already but not yet: it is not a matter of “IF” we can see God’s Kingdom power now, it is only a matter of “HOW MUCH?” can we have on this side of eternity. To find out the answer, we must pursue Him for healing, in faith, for every sickness and disease we come across.

So what do we do? We lay hands on the sick, pray the prayer of faith, and believe God will be faithful to His promise. The rest is up to Him.

Hopefully this post and the last one have sparked something inside you to pursue the Lord for healing today! In the next post, we will begin to discuss the practical side of praying for the sick by looking at our authority to heal.

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May 7 2020

Christian Healing: Biblical Foundations

A. Scott Ingram Christian Life, Christian Life and Gospel Leadership, Gospel Leadership, Physical Healing, Spiritual Gifts authority to heal the sick, christian healing, command sickness to leave your body, divine healing, faith healing, Healing, Jehovah Rapha, Salvation, sozo 0

The topic of healing is one I tend to avoid discussing in theological debate settings. I have seen the power of God to heal on thousands of occasions, both in my own body, through my prayers for others, and through the many believers we have equipped to pray for the sick. To say that God still heals today is a foregone conclusion in my mind, and is therefore not a controversy I feel the need to engage in. My mind is settled, so I tend to leave it to more intellectual, “professional” theologians to debate over.

However, as I believe another healing revival is coming and begin discussing the topic on the blog, it is necessary to lay the biblical foundations for God’s healing work and to know from scripture if we can trust that God wants to heal today.

The Theological Divide

The major problem is that the bible holds God’s divine healing of human sicknesses in the tension of the “already but not yet” reality of the Kingdom of God. This is the idea that when Jesus was on earth He initiated God’s Kingdom with all it’s gifts and promises now (the already), and yet there is still more to come in the final consummation of all things at His second coming (the not yet).

This tension has too often created a dividing line between those believers who hold that God’s promise of healing is for today, and those who say that the promise of healing cannot be claimed for now; that we must wait for eternity when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

As each point of view digs in its heels, both sides, then, position themselves to make theological arguments to prove that God heals within their position’s time period. As I see it, the problem with taking sides on “when” God heals – now or in eternity – is that the Bible itself refuses to make either conclusion. The answer, biblically is “yes.”

Yes, God heals now AND Yes, God will heal everyone at His second coming. To lay this foundation, we must go back to the beginning of God’s redemptive work in humanity.

Jehovah Rapha

From the outset of God’s personal revelation of himself to the people of Israel, He has declared Himself to be Jehovah Rapha, meaning “I AM Healer” or “God Your Healer.” The Hebrew word “rapha” and it’s derivatives means “heal, cure, and restore.” It is used 86 times throughout the Old Testament, commonly used to describe God’s restorative work in Israel throughout the Old Testament, whether in directly healing His people from disease and afflictions, or in a larger sense of the rebuilding of the nation and cities at various points in their history.

Although space will not allow me to give a thorough overview of God’s restorative practices in the Old Testament and the surrounding requirements which are often attached (repentance, humility, etc.), the point I want us to grasp is that from the beginning, God has revealed Himself as Healer. It is part of His identity.

It is undeniably part of God’s nature to heal and restore, and history has proven that He is not waiting for the future. He has already been doing so throughout the world, in every generation, and we know that He does not change! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever!” (See Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8.)

If God has revealed Himself as Jehovah Rapha, then to disbelieve that He will heal His people is to break the Third Commandment given to Moses: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain…” To do so is to hear His revealed name — God Your Healer — and yet to empty it of it’s power and therefore sin by our disbelief.

Healing in Christ’s Atonement

As the Bible begins to point us to God’s promise of a Savior, who would, both, fully reveal and fully accomplish God’s redemptive plan, we learn that this coming Messiah would not only bring the forgiveness of sins, but would also pay the price to earn our healing. We see this in the prophetic revelation God gives concerning the Messiah, as well as in the expectation of those people who walked in relationship with God throughout the ages. Again, due to space, I will simply give two examples of this here, although many more could be listed:

The Prophetic Revelation from God

In Isaiah 53 we get what is, by many, considered to be the clearest picture of the Gospel in the Old Testament. Though I would encourage you to read the entire passage, I will simply share verse 5 for our purposes here:

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

Although many people try to spiritualize this as a metaphor for our brokenness and sinful nature, we will see shortly that this is not how the New Testament writers interpreted it.

The Expectation of God’s Human Friends

Not only did the prophets prophesy that healing would be in the atonement of Christ, but the expectation of those who knew God personally, viewed God’s promise of the healing of sickness and disease to be equal with His promise to forgive sin!

As King David writes in Psalm 103:2-3:

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases…

It is clear from these (and many other passages) that the Messiah would bring about God’s promise of healing, just as He would fulfill God’s promise to forgive sin and restore the creation!

Jesus Claims to Be The Fulfillment of God’s Messianic Promises!

In the New Testament, Jesus is baptized and then goes into the wilderness to fast and pray, and to be tempted by the devil. When He returns from the wilderness, we see the beginning of His public ministry, and in Luke 4:16-21, the first thing Jesus does is stand in the Synagoge in Nazareth and declare Himself to be the long-anticipated Messiah! He read from the prophet Isaiah, where it says,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then, as He finished and people were waiting on Him to teach, He says:

“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Included in this fulfillment declaration was the promise of healing, pictured in this passage as “the recovering of sight to the blind.” (This again is something some modern scholars try to spiritualize as being blind in our sin, yet the New Testament points to Jesus’ healing of blind eyes as validation of His Messiahship.)

It should be clear from the most basic reading of the Old Testament prophecies that healing was part of the atonement of the Messiah, because as sin is dealt with, so are its effects.

The Healing Ministry of Jesus

As we move to the New Testament, it is safe to say that Jesus’ healing ministry cannot be contained in a couple of short paragraphs. It spanned the entirety of His earthly ministry, and the gospel writers share many stories of physical healing. However, to give one highlight of His practice, in Matthew 8:16-17, we read this:

That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

It seems that Jesus, in His earthly ministry never left a sick person unhealed. He never prayed, “God if it is Your will, heal this person.” Instead, He took the promise of Isaiah 53 as a literal promise, that He would have authority over all sicknesses, and so he healed everyone who came to Him.

Just as the Old Testament prophesied and hoped that the Messiah would bring healing, Jesus became the fulfillment of that promise. While He was on earth, Jesus did not simply promise healing at the consummation of His Kingdom. He brought healing immediately!

From the beginning of God’s self-revelation as Jehovah Rapha to Jesus’ revelation as Emmanuel the Messiah, God has declared and proven Himself to be a healing God in the present tense! Physical healing was expected to be in the atonement of the Messiah, and Jesus proved the expectation to be true! We must begin to put our faith in who He says He is, and who He has proven Himself to be over and over again!

I believe there is a biblical basis (not just anecdotal) to believe that healing is not limited to the second coming of Jesus. However, there is still the issue of how healing would be carried on from Jesus’ earthly ministry to the modern day, and there are some objections we must face if we are to claim that Jesus is still healing now.

In This Series

In this series on Christian Healing, we will look at:

Continue Reading in Part 2

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