Does God Want to Heal You?

Lately, I've been hearing this a lot:

"Christ's death on the cross is also for your physical healing here on earth"

No. No. No. No. No!

Does God heal? Yes.

Does God still do miracles? Absolutely.

Does God want His children freed? For sure!

But does that mean that here, on earth, it is always God's will for Christians to be healed, and if they aren't, it is because they don't have enough faith or because they are living in sin? No. Negative. False!

If every single Christian on this earth is supposed to be healed if they are right with God, then how do you deal with Paul? 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 says:

    ...to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. 

We don't know what Paul's weakness was. It could have been physical- stomach ulcers, cancer, Lyme disease, gout, etc. It also could have been mental- depression, mental torment, fear, etc. But regardless, Paul was not healed. Paul was not perfect, but he was one of the ultimate servants of the Lord. If God's true purpose was for Paul to be healed on earth, God would have done it. But instead, God saw that His glory would prevail more fully through Paul's weakness. Not through a miraculous healing.

Does God miraculously, instantaneously heal? I believe He does. I believe that still happens in our time. Some disagree with me on that. That's ok. It doesn't have to separate us. But was does separate, and what does get me really angry, is when people claim that Christ's death for our sins was just as much a death for our physical, earthly healing. The bible never says that. That is a name-it-claim-it, prosperity gospel.

I know of a high school student who's mom was struggling with an on-going illness. Throughout her mother's illness, her church constantly reinforced the idea that if she just prayed hard enough, and with enough faith, her mom would be healed. It was God's will that her mother be healed, and the only reason she wouldn't be is if her family didn't pray in faith.

So they prayed, and prayed, and prayed. And guess what... the mother died.
This high school girl went to a small Christian school where guest chaplains would come in and reiterate that same idea: God will heal. Just have faith.
The girl would leave chapel crying, feeling like it was her fault her mom died. And feeling angry at God that He didn't heal her mom.
That girl has now dropped out of high-school and left the faith (to my knowledge anyway).

Why did this happen? All because of the false-teaching that "if you are a Christian, a good Christian with the right amount of faith, then you are supposed to be healed".

Does your friend or family member have cancer? I am so, so sorry. And seriously, pray for their healing. God wants you to pray for them in complete faith. And He may very well heal them. There's no reason to think He won't. He is certainly the Great Physician and the Great Healer! Yes! Pray in faith! But God also wants you to understand that what He does is always best. If you pray with full faith that your loved one (or you) will be healed and God doesn't heal them, rest assured that God saw the bigger picture. He saw what you couldn't- that His glory would be better shown through that person not being healed. That your ultimate good, yes, even that, would come from that person not being healed. Do we have to like it? No, not really. I want everyone to be healed of everything right now. But God knows best, and sometimes, He chooses suffering and weakness, and yes, sickness, to bring about His glory and our good.


What do you think about this issue? Have you thought about it before?
This is a tough issue. Though I have strong views about it, I understand that it is tough. It's tough for me too. Let's talk about it!

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