I am finding it challenging to summarize each section of the book I put together, but it has been valuable for me. It reinforces the simplicity of what I believe. I should be able to make it succinct. I realize that none of this will have any import to readers who do not believe that the Bible is the infallible word of God. That is my premise. If biblical truths aren't your thing, check out some other blogs!! What follows is the second reason why I stand in faith for healing.
Before my cancer, I had never wondered about God as a divine healer. Jesus as Savior was what I knew. When I accepted the free gift of salvation through grace alone, I was saved from a life in hell. That gift was everything I needed. I didn’t have any reason to look further into God’s different “roles.” But the desperation of an incurable illness produces desperate searches. In it, I found a second solid reason to hold fast to God for divine healing.
In the Old Testament, God established Himself as Israel
He revealed this to the Israelites after they crossed the Red Sea . Exodus 15:26 says, I am the Lord who heals you. It is confirmed in Psalm 105:37 which says, No feeble person came forth (from the passage through the sea) from the tribes. Bible scholars estimate that there were up to 3 million Israelites at that time. They were all healed of disease and infirmity.
Jesus established Himself as healer in the New Testament. Of the 56 individual events mentioned in the gospels during a 2-year period in His Galilean ministry, 19 of them are healings! One-third of that ministry window was spent healing the sick!
Great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Matthew 12:15
When the sun went down, everyone who had anyone sick with some
ailment or other brought them to him. One by one he placed his hands
on them and healed them. Luke 4:40
The gospels are rich with stories of Jesus’ miraculous cures for people who came to him in faith for healing.
What I was now able to do was tie some truths together. First, Jesus came to do God’s will on earth.
Lo, I come to do your will, O God. Hebrews 10:7
I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of Him
who sent me. John 6:38
If healing was not God’s will, then Jesus would have been robbing His Father of all that glory by making people well.
Secondly, Jesus was bringing glory to His Father by healing the sick.
I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave
me to do. John 17:4
The One who sent Me is with me; He has not left me alone, for I always
do what pleases Him. John 8:29
I found NO place in the Bible where disease brought God glory, but there are plenty of verses about healing bringing God glory.
My pursuit led me to a simple algebraic formula which answered my question of whether the Creator of the universe was willing to heal me. If A= B and B=C, then A=C. If Jesus was on earth to do His Father’s will, and if He was healing all who asked as part of that work on earth, then healing was God’s will!
All the dots were connecting for me!
Skeptics will say, “But that was then, this is now. The day of divine miracles is over.” WRONG. God does not and has not changed.
I am God. I change not. Malachi 3:6
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13:8
God is still healer today. I can come to Him in faith for healing and know that His will is for me to be well, and that my healing would bring God the Father glory!
One side note here: When I came to believe that God still divinely heals today, I also found confirmation about my first discovery (that disease is not from God). These are two of many verses verifying God's stand on this:
The reason the Son of Man appeared on earth was to destroy
the devil’s work! 1 John 3:8
Ought not this woman (referring to the woman with bleeding),
whom Satan has bound for 18 long years, be loosed from the bond? Luke 13:16
If Jesus came to destroy the devil’s work on earth (and it is vast), and He healed all who asked Him for healing, then the devil’s work has to be disease and illness.
Once again, by a simple biblical connect-the-dots, I had a verification that my first revelation was spot-on. God does not put disease on us, and Scripture is clear that disease is Satan’s handiwork.
My arsenal of faith for healing was getting stronger.
My 3rd reason, coming up: Jesus bore my diseases on the cross just as He bore my sins. This may be the most compelling and surprising truth I found. I’m excited to share it with you next.
1 comment:
I think the way you've "simplified it" for the blog is fantastic!!
The facts still make me cry with gratefulness! That Jesus not only bore the cross for our sins, but suffered horribly so we could be healed by His stripes is cause to celebrate with joy and thanksgiving! =)
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