True Bible Healing

I'm sure we've all seen the kind of "healing" that goes on in many Healingchurches and ministries today. But is this healing in accordance with biblical healing, the way Jesus and the apostles healed? We want to live in accordance to God's Word in the Bible right? Not just in some areas, but in all areas of life. So we should be looking to heal people in accordance with healing in the Bible. Now if there is a true way to heal someone, then there is also a false, wrong way to go about it. And I see a false healing movement that has been happening for years. You probably know what healing movement I'm talking about. This is where the church or tv ministry leader will say that they "feel" there is someone "out there" who has such and such wrong with them, and that God is going to give them healing. Let's have a quick think about this kind of healing for a moment.

Firstly, when did you ever read about Jesus or the apostles healing someone in this way? I've never read any kind of healing in the Bible that has happened in this way. Jesus or the apostles NEVER called out to someone who had a particular illness to come to them for healing. What happened instead? The people came and made themselves known to Jesus or the apostles, as we can read about in Matthew 8:5; Matthew 9:2; Matthew 9:18; Matthew 9:27; Matthew 15:22; Matthew 17:14; Matthew 20:30; and so on. Have a read of those Bible verses about healing, along with many others and you will see that the person who was ill always made themselves known to Jesus and the apostles, or a family member or friend would make them known to Jesus. Never do we see a case of Jesus or the apostles calling out and saying that they "feel" someone has some illness.

The other way we see this healing movement is people going up onto a church stage and the preacher will hover his hand over the ill persons head as if he has power in his hands, or even push the ill person over, and just say "receive the Holy Spirit". If you take a look at these "healing" sessions, you will see that there is great commotion with people falling all over the stage and then being dragged off by these bodyguard type men. There is no humility in these healing sessions. There is no convicting people of sin. There is no teaching to take up the cross of Christ. There is just lots of people looking to get a "quick fix".

Can some of these people really be getting healed? Yes, of course, after all Satan has the power to heal. And Bible prophecy in Revelation 13 tells us that the "beast" will perform signs and wonders and miracles to deceive the world into worshipping the beast. And with a great number of professing Christians basing their faith on "feelings" they will be deceived by these false miracles that Satan is to perform through his end time agents ... Revelation 13:14 ...'And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast.'

Satan always introduces a counterfeit to God's truth in the Bible, and this is what he has done with healing. Satan has caused these people to focus on outward feeling, rather than having a changed heart. Are these healings showing true faith in God? Well, we need to find out what is true Christian faith. Too many people are looking for the spectacular rather than a transformed life of walking away from sin and taking up your cross and following Jesus Christ. True revival isn't seeing people falling about laughing or being healed in the flesh. TRUE revival is repentance, transformed lives and HEALED HEARTS in Christ Jesus.

So do we have an example of healing in the Bible that we should follow? Yes, in the book of James we have that example to follow:

James 5:14-16 ...'Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.'

We have a number of points to follow in healing from these Bible verses.

Call for the Elders - If you are sick, YOU call for the elders of the church, they DO NOT already know of your illness. They do not call you out as many of these leaders of the false healing movement do, you call them. Like the woman in the crowd who reached out to Jesus. Christ didn't say, "there's a woman in the crowd who has this illness and God wants to heal you". No, she reached out to Him.

Elders Pray Over You - You are to be prayed over in faith.

Anointing with oil in the Name of the Lord - In the Old Testament you will find that the priests and the furniture of the tabernacle were covered with oil. Why? It was a symbol of being consecrated to God. In other words, they were being separated, set apart for holy use. So if we apply this to true Bible healing, we can see that the sick person is to be consecrated to God and they commit their lives to the Lord Jesus. Why "in the name of the Lord"? Because we do not COMMAND God to heal someone, like the leaders of this healing movement do. No, we ask for His will to be done and trust in His will, whether we are healed or not.

If he has Committed sins, they Shall be Forgiven - Here we can see that repentance is connected to healing. The sick person must confess their sins and be truly repentant of them, turning away from them and become set apart for holy use by Christ Jesus.

The sick person must also have faith. If you look at the times that Jesus healed, in many instances He actually said that it was the faith of the sick person that made them whole.

In genuine Bible healing, there is something more important than our actual healing, which is to bring glory to God. God MUST receive glory in ALL things, and if He can receive more glory in someone being healed over a period of time or even through their death, then that is what will happen. True outpouring of the Holy Spirit will cause people to come to their knees in repentance, and cause changed hearts and minds for Christ Jesus. Counterfeit outpouring of the Holy Spirit will lead to people being caught up in the sensational, emotional, outward "feelings" and ultimately deception.

Please study the Bible, the true Word of God and find out the truth about these things. Let's follow the example of healing in the Bible, and not get caught up in these fleshly sensational moments that we see in this counterfeit healing movement. Consecrate your life to Christ Jesus, and always trust in the will of God.

"I would rather die in the Lord than be healed by the devil." (Mark Finley)