Divine Healing

I have not yet figured out how to look up archived subjects so forgive me if this has already been discussed. There is much debate on the issue of divine healing. Having been brought up with a Baptist background I have very little knowledge on the subject. When the issue was brought up it was always in a negative light. I know what I am "supposed" to say concerning the questions I will ask. I wish to see a different point of view or perhaps I hold the correct view and it just needs to be pointed out. For the most part Baptists are taught to pray and if God wills a person will be healed in His own good time. After reading the Scriptures it looks like laying on of hands and anointing with oil should also play a part but since their significance has always been downplayed or eliminated I do not understand their place.
Second issue is that most of the extrabiblical books I have seen on the subject are from Hagin, Capps, etc. I am not a word of faith adherent and feel that if there is some truth in these writings there is to much danger of error to pursue the answer through them.
1. So question number one. What place does the laying on of hands and anointing with oil have in the church today? Is it for every sickness or just life threatening ones?
2. Who can practice healing? Is it a spiritual gift given to some or a spiritual authority given to all God's children? Pastors and elders?
3. Lastly how is this divine healing manifested? Is it instantaneous? Always? How is it procured? Is there anything beyond the prayer of faith, laying on of hands, and the oil that I have missed?

I ask these things not to cause debate but rather because I have had moderate to severe health troubles for more than half my life. The doctors can't find the problem and yet it is there. I have asked for the people I know for James 5 actions but they just say they will pray. I do appreciate this but are we missing out on a blessing because we do not follow the whole teaching of the Word? I have prayed and have learned to cope with the pain and weakness. I know perhaps this could be a lifelong thorn in the flesh but why suffer if there is a way to escape? Just some answers to the above questions would be great. Maybe some Scriptures to back them up. Any testimonies of healing would be a great encouragement as well.

I ask the moderators to remove the thread quickly if it causes undue strife. Thanks to all who participate.

After reading the Scriptures it looks like laying on of hands and anointing with oil should also play a part but since their significance has always been downplayed or eliminated I do not understand their place.

It's not up to us anyway (whoever is doing the praying), it's up to God to do the healing. Period! We should be humble enough to obey God and then step back giving Him all the glory and praise.

If they don't get healed, that is no reason to give up. Keep pressing into the Kingdom. I don't think there is a full set of healing manuals that works for everyone EXCEPT to believe, be sincere and be humble before your God.

God bless you brother,
Lisa

Thank you Lysa for your response. Obedience to His will is of highest priority. I will obey the Scriptures as they are written then and not as interpreted by man. God bless all who respond.

If you will do a pretty in depth study of Isaiah 53 and verses in the New Testament that serve as commentary on Isaiah 53 I believe you will learn much on the subject. I agree with the previous posts that study of the Word is the best way to get information on the issue.

Divine healing simply means healing by way of God's (the divine's) power. I guess simply put it means being healed by God and I believe the Bible pretty clearly points to the fact that God wants to heal us.

One suggestion I do have. F.F. Bosworth wrote a great little book near the turn of the century that you might find helpful. It is old enough that you can find several places on line where there are free copies for download. It is called "Christ the Healer".

This is a subject that has come up to me very recently. My response was, I am not into healing, prophesying on and on. I am sincerely into Jesus alone. Spending time with Him, getting to know Him, hearing His voice, loving Him and allowing Him to love me back. Quick to repent and ask for His help because I cant do anything without His help.

This is me and my relationship with my Savior. I belong totally to Him, He saved me, bought me and I am not my own any longer. My whole goal in life is to stay close to Him.

Then if and when He chooses to use me I am ready, to prophesy, to lay hands on and heal etc. It is totally up to Him and it is totally up to me to seek His face and know Him and to obey.

Example. There was a very young and new "born again" Christian, not raised in a Church. Her and her Pastor husband were in a bank at the teller. Then a man in the middle of the bank was flat on his back all of a sudden.

The wife said to the husband to go over and pray for him. But the husband wouldn't and just kept doing his business. The Holy Spirit came upon this young Christian to go over and pray for him. She bent down and said, I am here to pray for you. She looked up and there were several bankers etc. in suits looking down. The young lady looked at them and said, we are going to pray for him. And all those men closed their eyes when she prayed. The man on the floor was so happy for the prayer. He was a Christian.

I dont know if he was healed or what. That is God's business. The young girls business was to obey the Holy Spirit and she did.

My point is this, make your focus on getting so close to Jesus in His Word, in prayer, spending time with Him, repenting of anything the Holy Spirit is convicting you of and God will use you to do His work because you will be ready. Glory to God. He is the Author & Finisher of our faith. He and He alone.

I pray this along with what the others have said helps. Even one part. And if not please forgive me.

Our God Reigns!

Hyperfaith, WOF say that we are to never be sick. That is not Scriptural at all. Paul told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach sake and his frequent infirmities.

I've been unfortunate enough to hear the same trash, spoken from pulpits nonetheless. Next time you hear this teaching ask the person why the Father gave us an immune system? It will confuse them greatly, lol. We get a smidgen of sickness, our immune system takes over and we are then stronger as the result, it's a glorious thing that the Lord has done.

What's worse is when their dogma doesn't work they rationalize that since the person is not being healed, they are in some kind of hidden sin. Wonderful, huh? NOT. Now the person is sick, and being accused and treated like a sinner, ouch!

I believe 100% in divine healing, even though it may not manifest in my life. Abraham went to the grave without seeing the promise of being "the father of many nations". Sometimes you see the manifestation, some times you don't but one thing is for certain, the Father loves us and His grace is always sufficient for us! :-)

Thanks for posting!

In Christ,
Earl J

1. So question number one. What place does the laying on of hands and anointing with oil have in the church today? Is it for every sickness or just life threatening ones?
2. Who can practice healing? Is it a spiritual gift given to some or a spiritual authority given to all God's children? Pastors and elders?
3. Lastly how is this divine healing manifested? Is it instantaneous? Always? How is it procured? Is there anything beyond the prayer of faith, laying on of hands, and the oil that I have missed?

Dear Brother ,

These are all good questions that you asked, and they should not be a source of contention or strife because we can go straight to the Word of God and all of these questions can be answered.

It is very basic that we have a belief that the teachings in the Word of God concerning healing did not pass away and are no longer for today. That teaching is without scriptural basis or from church history.

I never had a problem believing in healing because early on in my Christian life after I was baptized in the Holy Spirit I attended churches that believed in healing. I was healed back in the early 70's of a stomach ailment that was causing me great pain. John Osteen, who by the way is Joel Osteen's father and preached the full gospel, unlike Joel who preaches a "feel good" message, was in Lake Charles Louisiana ministering in the early 70's. He had a word of knowledge concerning the stomach problems that I had been experiencing, and called me out of the crowd. Everything that he told me was of the Lord, and he didn't know me from the man in the moon. He laid hands on me, and I was instantly healed. I have not only been healed but have prayed for others that have received healing. Yet the human vessel can never take any credit, because all healing comes from God and flows through men.

One does not have to be an ordained minister to pray for the sick for the Word of God says that "believers shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." (Mark 16:18). Believers laying hands on the sick was never intended for a special class of Christian but was to be one of the signs that followed them that believe.

God the Father reveals His will concerning healing through the ministry of His Son on the earth. "And Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and HEALING ALL MANNER OF SICKNESS AND ALL MANNER OF DISEASE among the people." (Matt. 4:23).

God revealed that He is a healer in the Old Testament. One of the redemptive names of God is JEHOVAH RAPHA, which is translated: "I am the Lord thy Physician," or "I am the Lord that healeth thee." Young's translation of Isaiah 53:4. "Surely our sickness (choli) he hath borne, and our pains (makob) he hath carried them, and we - we have esteemed Him plagued, smitten of God and afflicted." There is strong evidence from the scriptures that healing is in the atonement. In the gospel of Matthew when Jesus went about healing all that were sick in Matt. 8:16, the next verse indicates that it was on the basis of the atonement that the sick were healed: "He… healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esais the prophet, saying: Himself took our infirmities and bare our diseases." (Matt. 8:17).

The scriptures clearly indicate that it is the will of God to heal the sick, and any believer can believe and appropriate the promises of God concerning healing. There are many instances in the New Testament in which Jesus healed the sick and said "be it done unto you according to your faith" or "your faith hath made you whole". When do we believe that we are healed? Not when the manifestation of the healing takes place, but when we pray. "Therefore I say unto you. What things soever ye desire when you pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.: (Mark 11:24).

Most healings that take place are not instantaneous, but take place over a period of time. An instantaneous healing would be considered to be miracle, and of course when Jesus prayed for the sick, in most instances the healing was immediate which constituted a miracle. Most healings that we receive are gradual and progressive.

In the epistle of James, the apostle says: "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the Church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." (James 5:14,15).

There is power in the living Word of God to heal the sick. Jesus performed many healings by speaking the Word of God. "He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them, from all of their destructions." (Psalms 107:20). Proverbs 4:20-24 exhorts us to attend to the Word of God, keeping them before our eyes, and in our hearts, "for they are life unto those that find them, and health (medicine) to all their flesh." (Proverbs 4:22).

The Spirit of God that dwells within the believer quickens or gives life to these bodies of ours. This is not only in the future when we shall receive our glorified bodies but right now in the here and now when we are in need of healing. "But if the Spirit of Him that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." (Romans 8:11).

Healing is also listed as one of the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:9. The gifts of the Spirit are gifts of grace that are given to various members of the Body as the Spirit wills, but these gifts are only to be used for the glory of God. The one being used by God can never take any credit for someone being healed, and the Church should always seek the healer (Jesus Christ) and not exalt the instrument that the healing is working through. All of the gifts are for the benefit of the Body, that the Church may be edified and Christ be exalted.

Mike