Someone has said that error is truth out of proportion. Balanced truth takes into account the great biblical doctrines of Creation, the Fall, Redemption, the Holy Spirit, the Church, and the End. . . . I offer seven biblical perspectives on divine healing -- charting a scriptural course, I believe, between some extremes often heard today.
This is an appeal to Christians across the board to restore the ancient and biblical practice of healing prayer in the name of the Risen Savior Jesus Christ. Such prayer . . . may be marked by a powerful sense of expectancy and the presence of the Lord Jesus by his Spirit.
A gracEmail reader asks why God heals some people but not others, some instantly while others gradually, and some directly but others through the ministry of physicians, psychologists, naturalists, praying believers or a variety of other caregivers.
A gracEmail subscriber writes that during a private Bible study with a young couple, the young lady suddenly broke down in tears, stating she had been sexually molested by her stepfather from age four to 11. "Why would a loving, all-powerful God allow this to happen?" she asked. The questioner asks how I would answer her.
I felt the warmth of their presence last Sunday morning [Feb. 1998] as they gathered round me and placed their hands on my body. I love and trust these elders of my local church . . . . "Edward, we anoint you with oil and claim God's promise of healing," the presider said, dipping his finger in oil and making a sign of the cross on my forehead.
We just received word that our dear friend Vicki Curtis has been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. Vicki's husband Joe . . . is a pastor of Seven Mile Post Road Church in Limestone County, Ala., . . . where he and Vicki are known and loved for their Christian witness, godly enthusiasm and good works. "Why me?" she asks herself. . . . "But why not me?" she quickly added.
At some point in life, we all encounter and experience suffering -- physical pain, emotional loss, the death of someone we love. During such times we inevitably ask, "Where is God? Does he cause this? Does he allow it? Why does he do either, if he loves me and could prevent this?"
A gracEmail subscriber writes that his father suffers from cancer. . . . and "an outside source" has presented a list of Scriptures to be read repeatedly each day, substituting the sick father's name in place of the person named in the Scriptures. The son asks whether this prescription is valid.
"Bless the LORD," invites the Psalmist, "who heals all your diseases." . . . How grateful I am for God's healing at times in my own life -- notably after several years of troublesome respiratory disease that included asthma, sinus polyps and constant coughing. . . . I ask God daily to heal . . . my . . . Parkinson's disease. . . . I believe in God who heals. Yet all healing now is temporary.
A gracEmail subscriber knows a Christian lady who remains seriously ill although she prays continually for healing and has sought anointing with oil and prayer by a believing elder in the church. Does this lady's ongoing sickness mean that she lacks faith to be healed?
A gracEmail subscriber recently learned that her husband has sexually molested their daughters for several years. . . . She has mixed feelings toward him -- of anger, betrayal and disgust but also of pity and even of love. She asks my help in "sorting this out."
to the father of a palsied child
A brother whose small child has cerebral palsy writes in tears. He believes that God is able to heal but he hesitates to expect that God will heal his little son, lest such confidence, if unfulfilled, might diminish his faith.
A gracEmail subscriber writes, "Would you please comment on the purpose of prayer. If God is in control, as I believe he is, should we make specific requests of him? Is it arrogant of us to suggest to the Creator what he should do? I have struggled with this for a very long time."
A gracEmail subscriber writes, "I have just completed The Sound of His Voice and enjoyed it very much. I especially found meaningful your sharing of Psalm 115:3 regarding God doing as he pleases. In light of that, would you please comment on the purpose of prayer. If God is in control, as I believe he is, should we make specific requests of him? "
Blessed Lord Jesus, Who, with contagious wholeness, touched the lepers . . . .
A gracEmail subscriber writes: "Recently my dad died at age 62. A month later, my best friend died at age 37. . . . It seems like God has an appointed day for our deaths. If so, what good does it do to pray?"
hearing the master's voice (two gracEmails)
I had the pleasure this past weekend [January 1997] of attending a series of spiritual renewal meetings led by Dr. Jack Deere (author of Surprised by the Power of the Spirit and Surprised by the Voice of God), at St. John the Divine Episcopal Church here in Houston.
healing prayer and trusting God
A gracEmail subscriber in the U.S. Southwest writes that he prays fervently for God to restore a loved one who is ill, believing that God will mercifully heal but humbly entrusting the matter to his sovereign will.