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Healing


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#1 Revdavid

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Posted 27 February 2012 - 02:09 PM

I was just wondering what the readers views are on the subject of healing?
When someone is sick or ill should we seek a combination of ways for healing?
Dr.'s, medicine, or simply pray and trust the Lord? Your thoughts would be appreciated.


In Christ our Healer,
Pastor David

#2 Gordy

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Posted 27 February 2012 - 09:05 PM

God is still in the healing business! He uses physicians as well as prayer. So Go to your doctor and pray as well.
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#3 Lambo

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Posted 03 March 2012 - 11:08 AM

I was just wondering what the readers views are on the subject of healing?
When someone is sick or ill should we seek a combination of ways for healing?
Dr.'s, medicine, or simply pray and trust the Lord? Your thoughts would be appreciated.



Hi David, (and everyone) I'm newly joined here...been reading the daily devotional for a long time though.

The topic of healing, as with nearly all topics on the Christian landscape, is attended by endless and differing opinions. I've been drawn to a couple of scripture passages in the last year or so that have very much shaped my thoughts on healing.

1. The woman in the press: LUKE 8:43-44. 43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. NKJV

Such a lovely scenario..and so enlightening. I find it amazing that the Holy Spirit chose to write such words through the hands of an actual physician.

2. The case of king Asa: 2 Chr 16:12-13. 12. And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.
13. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.

(KJV)

That's one to chew on I think.

I'm just pondering these things in my heart..not preaching (yet :) ), But, sorry to say, I think Gordy, above has it backwards when he writes: "So Go to your doctor and pray as well" Perhaps a better starting point would be:

....If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. Matt 9:21(KJV)

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#4 Dave Dagwell

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Posted 05 March 2012 - 05:45 AM

You have it in the right order Lambo, if one has faith. It's not throwing the "Hail Mary" as the last resort; it is calling on Yahweh Rophe, the Great Healer, first.
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#5 Travis Richey

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Posted 06 March 2012 - 04:58 PM

Hey Pastor David, Good to see you again. I've been pondering this since you asked it, and trying to figure out how to say what I'd like to say without having to write a book to say it. As has been stated, God is still in the business of healing. I've witnessed it first hand on more than one occassion, with two times standing out in my memories. One being my wife, and the other a friend of ours. I do believe our first course of action in any and all situations...not just healing needs, but everything...should be prayer. Now, having said that, if I have a broken leg or a sliced open artery...that praying will be taking place WHILE I'm calling 911 or getting to the hospital in short order. I believe there are times when time is important...and calling together the elders for an annointing of oil and a laying on of hands just doesn't make much sense.

However, there are times when our health concerns should be between us and God, before we think about taking them to men. There is clear teaching that our actions, and inactions, and our attitudes, and our spiritual condition can and do create and cause physical problems. Envy rots the bones, a cheerful heart is good medicine, etc. So it is important to seek God and His Word about our health. There are many good sound ministries out there who committ themselves to these teachings, and they can be of help.

I also believe that a relying upon medicine and doctors can in fact become a spiritual hinderance to us if we place that above God. Relying upon the medical community to the exclusion of God is in fact idolatry. So I believe it important to Ask, Seek and Knock and to expect answers...to ask for discernment to know what to do and when to do it. God has provided the knowledge to heal to men, and has gifted healers for that purpose. Jesus speaks of the sick needing doctors. But God is the Great and Ultimate Physician.
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Posted 08 March 2012 - 09:50 PM

You know, God might really do something with this, if we all look into all the passages of scripture that deal with healing, health, deliverance, etc. etc. and study them and pray about what God is currently speaking to us about what he wants to do as it pertains to healing....Just a thought!

#7 C. Kirby

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Posted 12 March 2012 - 05:29 AM

Well said, Travis. There are many distorted teachings about healing, and I appreciate the fact that you took time to meditate before posting. I latched on to your reference to Proverbs 17:22, A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. I was reminded, and convicted, that my attitude is the cause of some of my minor health issues, and I need to put into practice what Paul said in Philippians 4:4,6,11, Rejoice in the Lord always, present your requests to God with thanksgiving, and be content whatever the circumstances. Rejoice, be thankful, and be content; that is God's prescription for my current circumstance. Which brings me to a wonderful, and frustrating, aspect of following God. He does not have set formulas for everyone in every situation. God's word is living and active, and speaks personally to each of us in our circumstances, which means we need to still ourselves in his presence, so we can hear what he has to say to each of us. That is beautiful and comforting, but also frustrating to our fallen nature, which wants to be told the specific steps we should take to ensure the physical outcome we desire. God values our spiritual health more than our physical health, and when we have our priorities backwards, then we will be disappointed.

#8 JimmyS

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Posted 13 March 2012 - 10:17 AM

Healing is a huge topic. I think in an interesting way, and in an indirect way, everyone has brought out the fact that it is up to the Lord whether or not we just stay and pray for healing or go to the doctor. We ultimately win! We get to go to heaven, and so these sicknesses, trials, and healings are not just for our personal benefit, but for others too. Our trials and our healings encourage and strengthen other's faith as well as our own. I am currently being trained to be a Registered Nurse, and I can clearly see that God uses both. The medical world needs to see miracles as well, and sometimes the sick go there, and are miraculously healed and it blows everyone's mind.

I think that the key is to live by faith, and when we live by faith we can ask God for impossible things and he hears us. The problem is when our mind is already made up as to where we are going to run for comfort. Paul said "8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord(Rom 14:8)." Healing is wonderful and the power of God is available to us for healing. Medications work as well, but this is not the "cure all" for sickness. The way I look at it with medicine, is that God is merciful to everyone not just ones with faith ("He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous(Matthew5:45).")

Doctors are valuable too. I think a good thing to research would be something like the small pox vaccination and how that came about. Thousands of people were dying from this disease, and God used a natural means to cure it. Any way a lot of thoughts, and sorry if it seems fragmented. Just for the record I absolutely believe that the ultimate poer to heal is in Jesus Christ and there is power for us to be healed just like in the apostles time.

I think this verse sums it up "3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God (2 cor 1:3-4)."
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#9 Speilb

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Posted 19 March 2012 - 11:45 AM

I was just wondering what the readers views are on the subject of healing?
When someone is sick or ill should we seek a combination of ways for healing?
Dr.'s, medicine, or simply pray and trust the Lord? Your thoughts would be appreciated.


I have been blessed to witness many miracles in the past year. Many of which were not possible through modern medical practice. For a while we saw things like cancer, Hepatitis C, thyroid issues, extremely brittle bones, and many other things healed. Then we went through a time of about 6 months with nothing and now are starting to see healing happen again. One of the blessings of these healings was that Doctors were involved. We had doctors confirm that the healings were divine in nature.
One thing that was very unexpected about the healings we were watching was the negative reactions to them. In one meeting I called on a young believer to lay hand on a sick person. The person was healed but I was attacked for "not letting everyone participate" and for telling the believer to pray for something specific rather then to just lay hands on the person and say "be healed". It also seemed that people started to get in competition over who was a part of what healings (as if they were badges from God to validate prayers). It was also interesting that the miracles that happened immediately seemed to be among people in our addictions group but slowly among those who did not have addictions. I was also amazed at how little attention miracles recieved in the community outside of the addictions group.
Currently I am leading a men's group for older men and we are, I believe, at the beginnings of another time of witnessing God's hand at work. This time I am expecting even more backlash.
Sorry I got off the subject. I believe that we should ALWAYS look to God for healing and to him ALONE. However, we should also be very open to the idea that His means of healing might involve medical treatment.

#10 Charles Miles

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Posted 23 May 2012 - 06:57 AM

Great topic here! I am a physician and have been in practice for more years than I care to think about right now. Yes, I studied the human body from stem to stern for many years and passed a multitude of testing and hour upon hours of internship, residency, and on the job education, but I can`t say that I ever "healed" anyone. I can certainly help to a degree, but mainly I can make you feel better until God works. Each morning before I leave for the OR or rounds, I pray for the Lord to go with me and stand at my side....He always has. There are some things I can get done and then some things I can improve, but anyone who understands the complexity of the body can tell you that things on a cellular level are far to complex for the human mind to comprehend in their entirity. Anyone who thinks God isn`t involved in medicine and the healing arts just needs to be in the OR at say, 2:00 AM, with no other physicians in the hospital, and run into uncontrolled bleeding deep in the pelvis.
Some say they have never met an atheist in a foxhole, probably quite true, but I have never met an atheist in the OR when evrything that can go wrong does go wrong.
I will agree with the writers above who say to keep your prayer life up to date and your relationship with the Lord as close as possible all the time. Best to keep preventive maintenence current on cars and bodies with regular check ups with your physician. God often does use us physicians but it just might be a good idea to see who your physician depends on and to ask what his relationship is with the Lord.

Yours Inn Christ,

Charlie
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#11 chipped china

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Posted 24 May 2012 - 02:52 AM

This is a good topic and near to my heart right now since my brother in law is dying of prostate cancer. Yes, my sister and I have pretty much given up on His healing. Many many people has prayed diligently for this gentle servant of God for 2 years. He's one of those people that you just shake your head and say, Lord, why him? He serves you daily, he's been a good and faithful servant! He's lived life as well as the best, been prayed over, had excellent medical treatment/holistic treatment, to no avail.
As quoted above Matt. 5:45, I sort of get it but not quite, so this is how my little pea brain deals with it. This is childlike milk so please bare with me cuz I don't pretend to know God's mind. I believe that God wants us to love Him out of choice and if true believers prayers were always answered it would prove His existence. And if He allows us to die young then there are deeper lessons to be learned, a deepening of faith and a refocusing on Him to miraculously heal the deepest hurts.
The other thing I want to say is I do believe in miracles from our Lord, I've experienced some but whether our requests and desires are met is His decision and all outcomes are for His glory.