From the Bird Flu to SARS, to Mad Cow Disease and carcinogens leaking from our plastic water bottles, the fear of devastating illness is something we can never get away from.
Thousands of patients in Oklahoma learned that unsanitary practices at a local oral surgeon’s office had exposed them to possible hepatitis or HIV. These people were taking care of their health, or so they thought. Yet, without their knowledge, evil came their way.
Modern medicine is a wonderful thing. God has gifted doctors with skills that are beyond the comprehension of a century ago. Even so, we cannot leave behind what the Word tells us.
The Bible records numerous accounts of miraculous healing. Can we see the same today? The Scriptures give us three conditions that must be in place before God can unleash his healing power.
Condition 1: We must confess our faults.
God does not lavish his healing power upon the entire world. He reserves his special measure of healing for those who draw unto him.
James 5:16 instructs us to confess our faults one to another. Once we have cleared that out of the way, then we must pray one for another. These two steps are essential for healing to take place.
However, James encourages us with his final words. If our hearts are in tune with Christ, we have the right to come before the Lord, asking for healing for our brothers in him.
Condition 2: The state of our soul determines the level of our health.
We should not expect sparkling health if our soul is black with sin.
3 John 1:2 sets up the conditions for God’s people to have good health. In this verse we learn that our physical well-being is directly tied to the state of our soul. John says, “I wish that you may prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers.”
If we keep ourselves aligned with Jesus, and his desires are the desires of our hearts, then he will hear us when we come to him for healing.
Condition 3: We must be willing to share God’s healing power with those around us.
Humans are self-centered creatures. When all is right with us, then compassion for others tends to be shuffled to the background.
However, Matthew 10:8 instructs us otherwise. Jesus sends us to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils. Then he wraps up his instructions with one of his most compassionate phrases: Freely have you received; freely must you give.
Having God’s healing authority at our disposal is not a money-making opportunity, nor is it something that we can guard jealously as ours and ours alone. Jesus sent us into the world, and it is to the world that we minister.
If our hearts are right with the Lord, then we need have no fear for our health. God has the power to sustain our physical selves even as he sustains our spiritual ones.
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