Miraculous Healing from God

Guest (Male): 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.
Guest (Female): This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: Miraculous Healing from God. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to HopeLives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: Isn't it at times life strange? Some prayers seem to be answered, and some prayers do 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?
Guest (Male): 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 and 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 is 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, reinforcements come and he's delivered right at that time. Isn't it at times life strange? Some prayers seem to be answered, and some prayers do 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 one. 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, and 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, and Jesus reached out and healed her. As evening came, people heard that Christ was in the town, and so they came. Not by ones or twos, but they came by scores. People came, and the Bible says in Mark chapter one, 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. The next morning, Jesus is up very early and goes out to pray. His disciples see crowds coming because they had heard the miracles that had taken place the night before. 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 searched for him. When they found him, they said, 'Everybody's looking for you.'" 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 Galilee and casting out demons. Now, here you have a vital principle. The main reason why Jesus came was not to heal sick bodies, but to heal sin-sick souls. The main reason Jesus came was to give us forgiveness, peace, and 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. 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 the legs that were crooked and palsied. When we see him do that, he said, "That's what God is like. God is like that." 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 three times. The Apostle Paul prays three times that Christ would heal him. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 12, Paul, evidently, ever since that time on Damascus road where he has this bright light shine in his eyes and he loses eyesight, he gets it restored, but it's not fully restored, evidently. 2nd Corinthians chapter 12, verse seven, eight, and nine: "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, and death never come from Jesus. They come from Satan. This is a thorn in the flesh. 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 messenger of Satan, lest I be exalted above measure. In other words, to keep him in this trusting relationship with God. Verse eight: "Concerning this thing, that is this thorn in the flesh, this affliction of the flesh, I pleaded with the Lord three 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." Jesus says to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you." Christ does not promise that he'll 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. 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 and 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 Huss, 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, "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, verse 14, "Is anybody sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church." We pause there. Somebody's sick, and 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's committed sins, they'll be forgiven." Notice it says the prayer of faith shall save the sick. The New Testament is written in the Greek language. The word for "save" there is an interesting word, *sozo*. And what does this *sozo* mean in the Greek language? It means a complete healing of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual healing. So as the elders of the church come, as this individual opens his heart to God, and 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 three ways. One, 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 is a symbol of consecration. 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 hands, on the stomach, or on the feet. It's a symbol where the thinking process is. 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 is that it's a symbol of consecration. The second reason for oil is that it is a symbol of healing. You remember when the traveler was passed by by the priest and Levite, and the good Samaritan came and 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. When you're anointed with oil on the forehead, it means, "Lord, oil is a symbol of consecration. Like the priests in the Old Testament, I'm consecrating my life to you. Oil is a symbol of healing. Lord, I know that you are the one 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." It's a physical and mental healing. The other thing about oil that was interesting is that in Zechariah's 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. In this very sacred service of consecration and 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 one 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 Zechariah's vision. I want the oil of the Spirit to light my life." I have 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. He was paralyzed and brought into the hospital. I met with the physicians, three attending physicians. They said he may never walk again; he may never function well again. We anointed him, and we saw the miracle power of God come down. He began to improve. It was just before Christmas, and by Christmas Eve, his mom called me and she said, "Pastor Mark, you're not going to believe this. He's getting up, he's getting around." That young man is totally healed today. We saw that miracle of God. I remember I was at a large camp meeting and a lady was in a motor home. She wanted to be a missionary but had cancer and never thought she'd 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. We gathered around, and as I took out the oil, I said to the husband, "Is there anything anybody wants to say here?" The husband spoke up and he said, "I haven't been the godly husband. I haven't been having family worship, haven't been praying, haven't been a godly husband." He began to weep and ask his wife to forgive him, and I saw that family come together. She died, but she died in the hope of the resurrection. 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 where 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. He may heal us today, he may heal us gradually, or it may be resurrection morning. But every single one of us will receive the new body in Christ. I love the way 1st 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-CoV-2 will not have the last word. Diabetes will not have the last word. Neither will Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, or dementia. Christ will have the last word. Look at 1st 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 shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has 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—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'll 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, and sometimes it'll be in the resurrection. But whatever God desires to do, we can say, "Lord, your grace is sufficient for me." Lord, I give this body to you. As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 12:1, "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." Here is a precious statement. You may not have access to it, so I will read it in its entirety. It's from the book *The Call to Medical Evangelism*, page 35. I'll read it slowly because it's so powerful. "Many have expected that God would keep them from sickness merely because they have asked him to do so." Wow. Is prayer not enough? Many have expected that God would keep them from sickness merely because they have asked him to do so. But God did not respond to their prayers. Did they pray for health? Yes. Did they expect God to do something? Yes. Did he do it? No. Why not? We continue: "Because their faith was not made perfect by their works. God will not work a miracle to keep those from sickness who have no care for themselves, but who are continually violating the laws of health and make no efforts to prevent disease." Wow. "When we do all we can on our part to have health, then we may expect that the blessed results will follow, and we can ask God in faith to bless our efforts for the preservation of our health. He will then answer our prayers if his name can be glorified thereby." What is the biblical pattern for healing? How can I summarize our class today? Here is the biblical pattern for healing. I recognize that God is a compassionate God, that he loves me more than I can imagine, and that sickness and disease are not part of his plan. I choose by faith to cooperate with him and keep my body in the best health possible. When I see that my body has broken down through either my ignorance because I may not be aware of some laws of health, or because of my lack of following them, or because of genetic or environmental practices, when I see it's broken down, I recognize that I am no less dear to the heart of God and that he loves me with an incredible love. I tell him that I have one desire in my life, and that is to glorify him. If it will bring immediate glory to him to heal me instantly, I long for that. That's my choice. But if through this sickness I can bring glory to his name by him strengthening me and me being a powerful witness to others, I will accept that. I'm not going to tell him what to do. I know that healing is a gift that he has given me, and that by faith I grasp the healing today, even if the healing comes in the future. As the book of Romans says, I accept things not as they are; I accept things that will be. I accept by faith what he is going to do as a present reality. I believe that he can heal me instantly today if it brings glory to him, but there's something more important than my body, and that's his glory. As we anoint, we put oil on a person's forehead and they are set aside. They are consecrated for holy use. They are a priest of God to witness for him. Their body is a temple set aside to follow the basic principles and outlines of his laws. Now we look here at James chapter 5. Notice what we've studied in James 5 so far. "Let him call." Where does the initiative come from, everybody? The person. "Let them pray." What kind of prayer is this? Corporate prayer. There's power in group prayer. "Let them anoint with oil." The anointing with oil is the setting aside, the consecration, the dedication, and the commitment of the individual. It is the setting aside of their body as the temple of God. Now we pray in the name of the Lord. In the name of the Lord. Can you remember in the Old Testament the phrase "the name of the Lord"? If I am anointing in the name of the Lord, it is associated with his glory.
Guest (Female): You've been listening to HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at HopeLives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to HopeLives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.
Mark Finley: 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 one 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.