What does the Bible say about miraculous healing? Are you ill or healthy, young or old? Whatever walk you are on in life, you can place certainty and trust in God.

<p>What does the Bible say about miraculous healing? Are you ill or healthy, young or old? Whatever walk you are on in life, you can place certainty and trust in God.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

HopeLives365

Mark Finley

Miraculous Healing From God


Isn't it at times life strange? Some prayers seem to be answered, some prayers not seem to be answered. What does the Bible teach us about miraculous healing? What does the Bible teach us about praying for the sick? And why is it that some are healed and some are not?

The young wife trembled with fear as she looked at her husband writhing with fever upon the bed. The doctors did not give him much hope at all. She invited people around the world to begin to pray for him. Thousands actually were praying. She was fasting and praying.

But then she got word after he had been taken to the hospital and she hadn't seen him for a day or so. She was not allowed to go in to visit him. She got word that he had died. Where was God? Did God let her down?

Did God close up the doors of heaven and not answer the prayers of that woman? Think of how many times husbands have prayed for wives dying of cancer and they've died. Think of how many times mothers have prayed for their sons being sent off to war and the boys never came back. They died with bullets through their chest in some bloody battlefield. Think about those times.

Where is God during those times? What does the Bible teach about miraculous healing? But then you look at the opposite side of that coin. Here's a father that's praying for a dying daughter and it doesn't look like she's got much hope, but she's miraculously healed. Here is a mother praying for her son and he's caught in a vicious crossfire at the enemy lines and for some reason their reinforcements come and he's delivered right at that time.

Isn't it at times life strange? Some prayers seem to be answered, some prayers not seem to be answered. What does the Bible teach us about miraculous healing? What does the Bible teach us about praying for the sick? And why is it that some are healed and some are not?

Let's look at it in scripture. We're looking at Mark chapter 1. It had been a busy day in the life of Christ. He was worshipping in the morning in the synagogue on the Sabbath. A man came in, demon possessed, Christ cast the demon out.

Then, later in the day, he went to eat a meal with Peter, there in Capernaum, Peter's mother-in-law was sick, Jesus reached out and healed her. As evening came, people heard that Christ was in town. And so they came, not by 1 or twos, but they came by scores of people came. And the Bible says in Mark chapter 1 verse 32, Now at evening, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick, and those who were demon possessed. And the whole city gathered together at the door.

And Jesus healed many who were sick and various diseases, cast them out, and he wouldn't allow the demons to speak. So here a city comes, and Christ is performing Miracle after miracle after miracle of healing. Well, the next morning, Jesus is up very early, goes out to pray. His disciples see crowds coming because they had heard the miracles that had taken place the night before. And as they did, they now wanted to be healed too.

You'd expect Christ to come off that mountain and begin touching them and healing them like he did the day before. But the Bible says that Jesus speaks up and Simon says to Christ, Simon and those that were with him search for him. When they found him, they said, everybody's looking for you. I mean, if I knew that people were healed the night before and I had sick relatives, I'd have brought them too, right? And then it says, But Jesus said to them, let us go to the next town so that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I've come forth.

And he was preaching in their synagogues and all galley and casting out demons." Now here you have a vital principle. The main reason why Jesus came, the main reason was not to heal sick bodies but to heal sin sick souls. The main reason Jesus came was to give us forgiveness, peace, freedom from worry and anxiety over the guilt of our past, to give us strength and power over the temptations of Satan. Every miracle of Christ reveals God's love. Every miracle of Christ reveals God's goodness.

But his prime goal was not physical healing because although Jesus healed those people that day, he knew that they would get sick and die again. So if Christ only wanted physical healing, his work would have been half complete because he may have restored the body, but those people would have died. So Christ's ultimate goal was to lead people to a faith, belief in his heavenly Father's love and grace. So when we see Jesus touch the eyes of the blind, we see him touch the ears of the deaf, We see him heal the withered arm and heal legs that were crooked and palsied. When we see him do that, that's what God is like.

God is like that. So Jesus came to reveal the love of the Father and he does that through miraculous healings. But Jesus does not heal everybody that's sick. If you look for example at the Apostle Paul, he prays 3 times. The Apostle Paul prays 3 times that Christ would heal him.

1 Corinthians chapter 12. So Paul evidently ever since that time on Damascus Road when he has this bright light shining in his eyes and he has loses eyesight, he gets it restored but it's not fully restored evidently. Or 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7, 8, and 9. And lest I should be exalted among measure by the abundance of revelations, I had a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. That's a key point.

Sickness, suffering, heartache, death never come from Jesus. They come from Satan. This is a thorn in the flesh. So Christ is the Christ of health, the Christ of abundant life, the Christ of healing. Satan gave Paul a thorn in the flesh, which Paul says is a measure of Satan, lest I be exalted above measure.

In other words, to keep him in this trusting relationship with God. Verse 8, concerning this thing, that is this thorn in the flesh, this affliction of the flesh. I pleaded with the Lord 3 times that it might depart. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may be upon me." So Jesus says to Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. Christ does not promise that he will heal every sickness. He does promise that he's with us in sickness. He's by our side when we suffer. He's giving us strength to bear whatever we have to bear.

So there are times in the grace of God, in this divine drama of destiny, in a mystery only known to God, that he reaches down, he touches, and he heals miraculously. God performs those miraculous healings. But there are other times that he allows believers to die in faith, to hang on in trust at the time of sickness or suffering. You think about the martyrs, for example. John Hus burned at the stake.

Hugh Ridley and Latimer, the English reformers, burned at the stake. You think of those great men and women of God down through the ages that have been martyred for him. Why? Because as they were martyred, they had greater trust in God, because as they're martyred, God is strengthening them. He's saying, my strength is sufficient for you.

And it's recorded that many of them went to their death singing the hymns of heaven. Tertullian, an early Christian writer, said this, he said, The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the gospel. So there are times in the grace of God, miraculously, God will reach out and touch and heal. There are other times that God does not heal but men and women go to sleep in Jesus, trusting Jesus with strength and that's a witness to other people around them. The Bible is very clear that we should call for the elders of the church, the church leadership at times of sickness and we should do that in faith.

Notice this is not some mass healing meeting that the Bible calls for, not at all. But it says in James chapter 5, Is anybody sick among you? Verse 14, Let him call for the elders of the church. We pause there. So if somebody's sick, they call for the elders.

Why? Because this is a private service that's a spiritual service where the hearts and minds and strength of men and women are coming together. It says, is anybody sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church. 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 will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven." Notice it says the Lord of Faith shall save the sick. The New Testament is written in the Greek language. The word for save there is an interesting word.

It's zozo. And what does this zozo mean in the Greek language? It means a complete healing, a physical, mental, emotional, spiritual healing. So as the elders of the church come, As this individual opens his heart to God, as the oil is placed upon their forehead, there is a healing that takes place of soul and body and mind. Now, it's very interesting as we look at that passage.

First we might ask, why oil? Somebody says oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. It is. But why not water? That's a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

Why not air? That's a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Oil was a special symbol of the Holy Spirit in 3 ways. 1, oil was a symbol of consecration. In the sanctuary of old, when the sanctuary was inaugurated, the high priest was anointed with oil.

So oil on the forehead, oil is a symbol of consecration. So this person is saying, Lord, I'm consecrating my life to you. Lord, whatever happens to me, my life is in your hands. Why on the forehead? The forehead is a symbol where conscience, reason, and judgment take place.

They weren't anointed on the... God didn't say anoint them on the hands, on the stomach, on the feet. It's a symbol where the thinking process. And so an oil on the forehead indicates that deep within the inner recesses of my mind, all I want to do is trust God. So the first reason for oil, it's a symbol of consecration.

The second reason for oil, it is a symbol of healing. You remember when the Good Samaritan was passed by by the priest in Levite and the traveler was passed by by the priest in Levite and the Good Samaritan came knelt by his side. He bathed him with what? Oil and wine. Why wine?

It was an antiseptic. It would kill germs. Why oil? It's healing. So when you're anointed with oil on the forehead, it means, Lord, oil is a symbol of consecration, like the priest in the Old Testament.

I'm consecrating my life to you. Oil is a symbol of healing. Lord, I know that you are the 1 that can heal me. You can heal my mind so that anger and bitterness are gone. You can heal my mind so selfishness is gone.

You can heal my body, Lord. I want that healing. So it's a physical, it's a mental healing. The other thing about oil that was interesting is that in Zacharias vision, oil flowed through the olive trees, through the golden pipes to the lamps, to light the lamps. So oil was a symbol of light or witness.

So in this very sacred service of consecration, this very sacred service of healing, we come. We come with our sickness. We come with our disease. As the elders come to our home and put the oil upon our forehead, we're saying, Jesus, I want to be totally consecrated to you. Jesus, you are the great healer.

I am the 1 who comes to you to trust that you'll heal me emotionally, you'll heal me physically, you'll heal me spiritually, you'll do a healing work in my heart and mind. And God, I want my sickness to be a witness for you, Just like the oil lit the oil lamps in Zachariah's vision, I want the oil of the Spirit to light my life. I have had seen God work incredible, incredible miracles of healing. There was an occasion where a young man was at a youth meeting, and this young man was stricken with a very strange stroke and disease, paralyzed, brought into the hospital. I met with the physicians, 3 attending physicians.

They said he may never walk again, he may never function well again. And we anointed him. And we saw the miracle power of God come down. And he began to improve. It was just before Christmas.

And by Christmas Day, his mom called me, Christmas Eve, and she said, Pastor Mark, you're not going to believe this. He's getting up. He's getting around. And that young man is totally healed today. We saw that miracle of God.

I remember he was at a large camp meeting, and a lady was in a trailer and a motorhome, wanted to be a missionary, had cancer, never thought she could get off her bed. We anointed her and God miraculously healed her. I remember another occasion at a large meeting where a wife was dying of cancer and they called me for the anointing and we gathered around and as I took out the oil I said to the husband, is there anything anybody wants to say here? And the husband spoke up and he said, you know, I haven't been the godly husband. I haven't been having family worship, I haven't been praying, I haven't been a godly husband.

He began to weep and ask his wife to forgive him. I saw that family come together. She died, but died in the hope of the resurrection. But her very death and that anointing had a great impact on that family. The Bible teaches that as we pray in faith, every person will be healed.

But it does not say that they'll be healed on our timetable. They'll be healed on God's. God may heal people immediately. I've seen that happen in my ministry. When the Spirit of God comes down and people are healed.

God may heal people gradually. Through natural methods or through modern science. Or God may heal people after they die and raise them up in the resurrection. So he may heal us today, may heal us gradually, it may be resurrection morning. But every single 1 of us will receive the new body in Christ.

I love the way 1 Corinthians chapter 15 puts it. We need not wonder. God is not going to leave us in the grave. Sickness will not have the last word, Christ will. Disease will not have the last word, Christ will.

Cancer will not have the last word. Heart disease will not have the last word. COVID, SARS, COVID-2 will not have the last word. Diabetes will not have the last word. Neither will Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, dementia.

Christ will have the last word. Look, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Behold, I show you a mystery. We're not going to all sleep. We're all going to be changed.

Even if I am healed now, it's only a temporary healing. If Christ doesn't come, I'm still going into the grave. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We're not all sleep, but we shall be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump.

For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, will be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible is put on incorruption, this mortal is put on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass the saying, death is swallowed up in victory. Death will only be swallowed up in victory.

Death will totally be swallowed up in victory. Death will be completely swallowed up in victory. When Jesus Christ comes again, What does the Bible teach about miraculous healing? It teaches that God does reach down and touch some now and miraculously heal them so they can be a witness. The Bible teaches that sometimes Christ lets us go to sleep in death So that as we show our faith, even in those difficult times, it will be a witness for Christ.

Christ can heal, Christ does heal, but Christ does not always heal on our timetable. Sometimes He heals instantly, sometimes He heals gradually, sometimes it will be in the resurrection. But whatever God desires to do, we can say, Lord, your grace is sufficient for me. Lord, your grace is sufficient for me. Lord, I give this body to you.

As the Apostle Paul says, I beseech you, Romans 12, verse 1, I beseech you, therefore, brethren and sisters, by the mercies of God that you present your body as a living sacrifice unto God, holy, acceptable, which is your reasonable service. I invite you just now. Whether you are sick or well, whether you are young or old, whether your body is afflicted or you're in the flower of health, to trust the 1 who holds your life in His hands. Let's pray, Father in Heaven, thank You that our lives are in Your hands. Thank You that whatever comes to us in life, we can trust You.

Today, tomorrow, forever, until the day You come, In Christ's name, amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about Audioverse, or if you

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Miraculous Healing From God

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