A person who is sick or injured can get a miracle 1 of 2 ways, either through a miraculous moment or through the medical profession. As Christians we are very familiar with stories of miraculous happenings, that extraordinary moment where God intercedes on our behalf and does something wonderous. For the purposes of this message we are going to focus on healing, whether physical or mental, the health and well being of people is important and important to God. There are other miraculous moments in the Bible, fire coming down from Heaven, metallic axe head floating to the surface of water, thousands of people being fed from a tiny portion of food… the list goes on, I’ll let you search for these an many more examples.
One of the main things that was corrupted in the very beginning when sin entered into the world was our bodies and the health of the world. Decay and destruction of the body, mind and human spirit. We started to age and become frail, disease came in and our thoughts fractured and negative ones were allowed to prevail. Our mental facilities also declined. This is all part of the world we live in and some are inevitable in our lives. Thankfully though we still have a pure and loving God, one who does not suffer from restrictions or any type of demise. God sees our problems and our needs and He steps into help in the ways He sees as the right thing for us. The bible talks about God as a loving father, a parent to those in the world, it intimately says that God knows us as He knit us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139 v 13-14). With this level of care and attention to our unique details, we can say that God is not happy that disease, death and decay are in the world.
God therefore looks to step in to try and help us in our struggling time of need but the way He does depends largely on how we live with the condition, search or seek for help or potentially the level of faith we have. These things matter to God as He is not a pushy parent who demands to tell you what’s right and wrong because He knows better, but instead looks to work with us to help us in our time of need. Now I would like to say something here, the bible talks about us getting our hearts desires when we trust and believe in God and while that is true, it is not what God will always do as with any good parent all our desires are not in our best interest. There is something else as well and that is God will always do what’s best for the Kingdom of Heaven and the glory of His name. Why? This is because the group is always more important than the individual in the Kingdom. The bible teaches that we are the church, the body of Christ and the church is the people (collective) who believe in God in all His fullness and that Jesus sacrificed Himself so we ALL may be saved from our sin and have everlasting life (without disease, decay and ageing faculties).
So in this we may not see the miraculous healing we want, as what we have can give us a connection to other people with the same condition or circumstances as us and in those moments we can be a witness to them of how good Jesus is. This helps us fulfil the verse that asks us to go out into all the earth and make disciples of all the nations – what we call the great commission.
So with everything this post talks about, please be aware that things may happen in different ways from what we expect or you may not be healed and it is not because of your sin, nor is it to do with your level or lack of faith but it could be because of your unique situation that you are able to help someone discover Christ and get to know Jesus and your story/example is the perfect tool for the job (in Gods hands), you can be the one who helps someone get saved and gain eternal life.
So let’s look at healing. Healing is defined as the process of making or becoming sound or healthy again. As I said before we were not meant to get into a into a place where healing was needed, however thanks to the laws of this world and because of the things we as humans do to each other, we are in a place where healing is very much desired and sought after. For the world this is done through scientific enhancements, the science and medical communities has done so much in the way of advancement of treatments and the eradication of certain diseases. This is an incredible achievement and so good to see.
Christians often hear the word healing and naturally pick out stories from the bible, like a paralysed man being told to stand up and walk (and he does), Jesus healing blind people, people suffering from leprosy and being restored and healed to full health. For any of the stories you can simply search them into any search engine and they will provide you with the passages for you to read. There are also many miracles that happen today of people being restored from injuries, severe diseases like HIV/Aids and cancer, in fact just the other Sunday there was someone who had torn their ACL tendon in a skiing accident a few months previous, this was confirmed by doctors and scans, yet when they went to repair the tendon in an operation they found the ligament had healed. In Africa my wife has witnessed people being healed from the illnesses I have mentioned. These things happen in ordinary lives around the world and it helps to reaffirm our faith in a very real, loving and just God.
Quite often throughout history right up until today one community has overlooked the other, or it has been thought maybe even taught that the other is wrong / doesn’t work. In a more modern wealthier society more people rely on doctors and medicines to help them out because the results are often there to see, previously experienced or it is part of the culture. I live in the UK, I am British and for my entire life if there was anything wrong, you can always see a doctor free of charge. The UK has an incredible promise to look after its people without burdening them with the full costs. Over time there has been some charges that come in for subscriptions for example and part of our taxes go towards the costs of the service. However all this is a small price to pay seen as if I was ever to get severely ill or need a medical procedure, I have no fear of getting this done or staying in hospital without a huge bill at the end of it, or potentially a large monthly subscription to a health insurance that I may rarely need to use. Because of this it is easy for Christians to rely on the health service rather than God to make sure they are healthy and well.
But there comes a time when medical professionals cannot deal with the circumstances in front of them, not because they do not want to, more for the fact they don’t have the tools at hand to deal with the situation. I was born in the 1980’s and during my mums pregnancy the doctors suspected that I had spina bifida. There was nothing they could do and the test was to inject a large needle into my mothers womb and take some of the amniotic fluid to see if the diagnosis was correct. So at great risk to me and as my mum didn’t have a choice, this was done, the nurse had an ultra sound to see where I was and to direct the needle. During this time my parents and those in their church were praying to God that I would be fine. For those that do not know spina bifida is where there is incomplete closing of the spine and membranes around the spinal cord. Depending on the severity of the condition there could have been an array of complications, particularly with movement. On one occasion whilst praying with people from their church someone had a vision of me running in a play area perfectly normally. In fact if you ask me today what my best attribute has been my entire life, I would say that it is has always been my physical activity/ability. So you see in that worrying time for me and my family God made sure that when He was putting me together in my mothers womb, He knit me perfectly, and if you notice the best thing about me is what was the biggest concern when I was forming in the womb.
Now my point here is not to say that doctors and he health service is wrong and as Christians we should only trust God. But despite all of the great things they can do, there is nothing compared to the healing power of God. Where we gain or lack certain abilities, God has always had them and will continue to do so. This is why people trusted Him so much in biblical times, it is why poorer people in countries all over the world where they struggle to receive the right healthcare that they are entitled to, turn to God in their time of crisis. We turn to God for things and ask for them in His sons name (Jesus) because we trust that it will be given to us.
There is something I would like us as people and believers to think about though, which is why I have titled this post as God decides the miracle. I have touched on this twice now, firstly its due to the circumstances we are in, who is God trying to reach out to? What are the circumstances of the person who is ill? Where do they live and what healthcare do they have? And what is their knowledge of or their relationship like with Jesus? Secondly I want you to think about this… What about the person who has prayed all their life, to get into the right schools, for the right financial support to help them through their education, to help keep them going through the good and difficult times all so they could be a doctor and fulfil what is on their heart, to help the sick and those who need help and restoration. What about the person who believes they can make a difference for God in this world by being His hands in an operating theatre, or on a trip to an impoverished or remote area? Yes God can miraculously heal you but how, will always determine the greatest impact for His Kingdom. Whether that’s rewarding the faith of the person who became a doctor, or whether it is to reach out to someone who is suffering from a serious disease or mental ill health and bringing light and peace into their dark situation. It may be even to boost the Kingdom by reaffirming us just how almighty and awesome our powerful God truly is and what He can still do for all of us in this world.
The fact here is that God decides the miracle that we are to receive and that it is up to us to trust Him and be prepared even in our darkest and hardest times, that this too may help Jesus reach someone and help bring them to salvation.
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