There are numerous accounts of miraculous healings in the Bible. We are familiar with the stories of Jesus restoring blind men’s eyesight, healing the paralytic who was lowered into the synagogue on a pallet, curing the woman with the issue of blood, and even restoring the literal lives of Lazarus and the centurion’s servant.
After Jesus rose from the grave and ascended to heaven, the Bible recounts continued healings, prominently performed through Peter and Paul. The book of Acts recounts Peter’s shadow falling upon some sick (Acts 5), and Paul’s aprons and handkerchiefs lain on others (Acts 19), and those people being healed. The night He was betrayed, Jesus told his disciples they would do even greater things than He had done (John 14). What? Greater than He did? Sounds like blasphemy, if it hadn’t come from Jesus himself.
This month on the World Race, I’ve been challenged to consider where I stand on the subject of miraculous healings in today’s time. Do I believe God still works that way? Do I believe He can work through me, like He did through Peter and Paul, to heal someone? What role does healing play in His work here on earth? How does physical healing we receive on earth reinforce the promise we have of eternity with Him?
The debate about “cessationism” has been ongoing for centuries. It’s the question about whether miraculous gifts ceased once the Bible was canonized. I’m no Bible scholar, but the way I understand it, it’s the idea that miraculous gifts were no longer needed to reassure people of the power of Jesus’ name once the Bible was complete because the world could read the Biblical accounts of those miracles. Because we have the Bible to tell us about them, we no longer need to see them in action to believe in Jesus Christ. The Word itself says, “but these have been written so that you may believe Jesus is the Christ” and “Blessed is he that believes and has not seen” (John 20). Seems logical to me; I can understand how that line of reasoning developed.
However, opposite of cessationism is the belief that miraculous works still occur, and God still uses his disciples on earth to accomplish them. I’ve heard numerous stories of people being healed inexplicably. Doctors being unable to explain how cancer disappeared, how deformed organs were suddenly made normal and healthy. I’ve heard stories about believers praying in the name of Jesus for the pain of another to leave, and in that moment pain was gone. A pastor we stayed with last month told a story of a village elder that was unconscious and dying from illness. When the pastor arrived, the village witch doctors were attempting to heal the elder. The pastor told the village leaders to send the witch doctors away because they wouldn’t be able to heal him. The leaders, a little taken aback, agreed to send them away but vowed the pastor would never leave their village if his God did not heal their elder. So the pastor prayed all day and into the night, petitioning God to heal him in Jesus’ name. Sometime that night, the elder awoke after days of unconsciousness and said he no longer had any illness.
While I cannot deny the testimony of another, I, like Doubting Thomas, have often struggled to believe such stories, wondering if I can trust the words of another. I always wonder how much embellishing may have been involved, and what may motivate someone to tell something other than the truth. Often, I’ve used my reality to test whether I thought someone was feeding me B.S. or not. Last month, God decided to broaden my perspective in that area.
My team and I were leading a church service and a teammate was bringing the message to a close. He told the congregation that he sensed the Lord wanted to heal some who were there, and asked for anyone suffering from pain to stand up. He explained that the World Race team would pray with anyone wanting healing. It caught me off guard that he was putting me, as his team member, on the spot like that, because we hadn’t discussed if we were all comfortable doing that. But, immediately people in the congregation started standing up to be prayed with. I breathed deep and made my way over to one man who had risen. On my way there I thought, “Lord, your Word says not to ask with any doubt, so please help me not to doubt as I pray with this man. We receive healing from You for him tonight.” When I got there, I didn’t want to know what the guy was suffering from. I was just going to pray with him and leave the results between him and God because I still wasn’t 100% confident he was going to be healed. So I just asked if I could pray with him, and started praying. I thanked God for allowing us to bring our audacious requests before Him, and for loving us so much. I thanked Him for being the Great Physician and Restorer of all things. Then I asked Him to pour out His love on the man beside me and heal whatever was hurting in him. I prayed for his feet and ankles, then legs and knees, back, shoulders, arms, neck, head, and chest. Yeah, his chest. I felt that pretty well covered it all, so I stopped there, thanked the Lord in Jesus’ name and said amen. The man shook my hand and sat down. I made my way over to pray with someone else.
When we finished praying with all who were standing, my teammate asked the congregation if anyone had received healing. There was the typical hearty “amen!”, but then he asked if anyone would be willing to come to the front and tell about it. My heart sank when the guy I prayed with stood up and headed toward the podium. As he took the microphone, he began weeping, and with a quavering voice said his stomach had been hurting for several days. But, he said, the moment I prayed with him the pain had vanished. Whoa…hallelujah! But…his stomach??? The one thing I didn’t pray for??? Okay, haha, good one, God!
The man was a welder and a fisherman by trade. The type of guy well acquainted with hard labor, scuffed knuckles, smashed fingers, burns, bruises, and how to tough it out through the healing process. Yet there he was crying in front of the church saying God had miraculously healed his stomach through prayer just moments earlier.
At first I was blown away that God had actually allowed me to witness healing like that, but then the Enemy started throwing all kinds of doubts at me. Was he telling the truth? Was this actually some kind response that had been carried away by emotion? Is there some back story I’m not aware of driving this man’s behavior? But then I thought, what would motivate a man like this to stand before a church in tears and with a weak voice and say anything other than the truth?
I’ll never know if he was telling the truth. All I have is his word that God healed him in that moment, and choosing not to believe his statement of God’s work in his life is like rejecting God’s power in any other circumstance. At least for me it is.
I’ve always believed God COULD heal miraculously like that, I just wasn’t sure I believed He DOES heal people like that. I mean, I believed he healed on very rare occasions, just not on a daily basis or with a simple prayer like mine. I assumed that healing was usually preceded by a time of fervent prayer with fasting; only then might God consider healing someone. Like my level of worship of Him would dictate His desire to provide healing. For the most part, I believed we live in a fallen broken world that has natural consequences and a natural healing process. God was kind enough to give us amazing bodies that can at least sometimes heal when injuries and illness occur. And the promise of heaven was our hope to endure the temporary trials we face on earth.
But now I can say even I have prayed with someone and they said God healed them in that moment. I’m not God, so I’ll never know the truth on the subject of cessationism. However I think God used that moment to meet me where I was and invite me to regard His omnipotence with a little more reverence. I think He’s also challenging me to exchange my faith in what has been my reality for faith in who He is; a God far bigger than I will ever know. I don’t ever want to put Him to the test with my prayers, but I do want to walk in all of His power that is available to me.
I don’t believe He heals every time we ask, but I think I’m beginning to see His desire for us to share His love with others by praying with them. It wasn’t a super spiritual thing. There was no hotness, or cold chills, tingling, or weakness, or any kind of exchange between us. Or at least none that I felt. Just one brother praying with another brother for God’s love and mercy to remove pain.
I hope God continues to pour out His love on him. And I’m thankful God let me be a part of his healing.
