How Did God Heal in the Bible? Aug.7th 2023
- Steve Ferguson
- Aug 12, 2023
- 9 min read
(Wisdom Revelation)
What is Wisdom?
Websters def - The right use or exercise of knowledge; wisdom is the exercise of sound judgment either in avoiding evils or attempting good
"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom"
In the first definition, Wisdom is human or worldly, practical even. But there is a wisdom which is from above, so one will have to differentiate as to the application and the results you desire. Notice the word insight which is defined as sight inside, or revelation. The reason revelation is involved is because wisdom is something we don't have already and God will have to reveal to us spiritually on a case by case basis.
"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy."
It appears that wisdom can be found to put on your socks in the morning or to fly a jet aircraft. An improvement or upgrade is available just for the asking of the Godly wisdom package which comes with free consultation.
"If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him."
Wouldn't you know it, there is a catch! One has to admit his deficiency and then ask for the wisdom they need. God doesn't ask us, "Hey do you need some wisdom?"
The word wisdom is used in association with every member of the Godhead, Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit.
"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him."
1 Corinthians 1:24 "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."
"These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual."
Daniel 2:20-23
"Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His. 21 And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.22 He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him.23 “I thank You and praise You, O God of my father's; You have given me wisdom and might, And have now made known to me what we asked of You, For You have made known to us the king’s demand.”
Revelation is also mentioned along with wisdom in many places.
Note, if you ask God for wisdom, there is an element of receiving by faith. Sometimes it is not revealed as a word from God but as a walking out of a situation in faith and seeing the desired result in the process. An answer is an answer.
Now that we have an understanding of Wisdom to take us through the month of August, we can begin today's topic, How did God Heal in the Bible?
Big question, many answers. We have to let the Word of God speak on this topic so we get clear understanding and not just opinion.
In a personal study of how many healings Jesus did for individuals In the Gospels, I counted about 16; which did not account for deliverances, raisings from the dead, cleansing of lepers, or crowds, multitudes, or groups of more than 2. These personal ministry sessions gave us much insight into how God healed and therefore how He will heal today.
My first observation looking at the big picture was that there were many whom didn't receive from Jesus who did in the book of Acts. Possibly they just had not enough information to trust Jesus until they became born again and Holy Spirit filled at Pentecost. They may have sided with the religious crowd and just listened to the media hype of the day which slighted Jesus' person. Or they just never crossed paths, etc. The picture I paint in the next pages hopefully will bring personal revelation as to how but also why He was able to heal. In John 14:9-10 Jesus said," He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works." If Jesus "healed" someone then the Father was the one doing the works. If you and I "heal" someone in the name of Jesus then the Father still gets the credit. If we assume credit then we would be wrong. The Father is the one who was restoring man's authority which he lost in the Garden of Eden. We could say, " Jesus has restored my authority and I am using it on His behalf." You see, He wants you well.
Was There Faith on the Earth?
Looks to me like there was potential. Scripture up until that point had talked about Abraham praying for the Lord to heal Abimelech, Moses leading the children of Israel out of Egypt with none feeble among them. Moses made up a bronze serpent, so that all who looked upon it were healed of the fiery snake bites. Then there was Naaman the Syrian, healed of leprosy. Job was restored to health after all his trouble. Then there were the prophets of old.. Jeremiah 30:17 spoke, "For I will restore health to you And heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord." Psalm 103:3 says, "Who forgives all of your iniquities and heals all of your diseases." Psalm 107:20 said, "He sent His Word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions." Isaiah 53:5 says, …"and by His stripes we are healed." Hosea14:4 proclaimed, "I will heal their backsliding."Malachi 4:2 "But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings." There was at least belief in the old testament scriptures which spoke of supernatural healing of the nation of Israel and healing of individuals. So belief existed but most who were alive at the time Jesus came into public ministry had not seen this phenomena.
The Ministry of Jesus
Next we walk into the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, of whom the prophets spoke, but not many knew yet. 11 times in Matthew's Gospel he mentions Jesus teaching. 35 times he tells of Jesus healing. Matthew 9:35 "And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction." Luke was next with 33 mentions of healing, then Mark with 17, and John of 11. So healing was mentioned 96 times in the 4 Gospels and teaching 39 times.
Now if we consider Jesus continuing Ministry after He went to heaven there are untold millions. Even if we had the exact amounts from all the known evangelists, healers, and deliverance ministries, we would still have to take into account all who listened to their teachings and received faith to be healed on their own. I am sure Heaven holds records of all of this!
But for our purposes we are trying to gain understanding as to how to operate Jesus' Ministry through our lives and fulfill our part in this mission. Mark 16:15-20 “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]"
We are the continuing Ministry of Jesus in the earth. Even if all we can do is tell someone about what God has done for us. Most of us can't say we were blind and now we see. But we do have a story either long or short which can convey the gospel message through us. The rest we learn along the path of life as He still teaches and shows us how to follow Him.
Ok by now you are ready for the "how did He do that" section of this talk.
As I studied the individual stories of Jesus healing, I saw that there were differences in His way of dealing and healing. Everyone say, "dealing and healing" which all seemed to have the same outcome. Do we deal with people first or pray first? That’s right, we deal with them. This means talking with them to find out what the need is and then discern a course of action. Hold that thought. Let's see if Jesus did that.
Luke 13:10- 12 "Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” 13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. "
What was the sequence? - verse 12 When Jesus saw her, (He instantly knew that God wanted to heal her. Could have known beforehand.) Course of action -He called her over, (knowing He would lay hands on her,) and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your disability.” He laid His hands on her and immediately she was made straight and she glorified God. Watch for this pattern when you are in the process of ministering to people.
Let's look at one more in Mark 3:1-5 "Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.3 And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” and then, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored."
Jesus again called a person to come to Him. I believe this time that Jesus wanted him to focus on His face and not the angry synagogue people so that he could effectively deal with him. Once He had his full attention, Jesus said to him, "Stretch out your hand." In other words, "It's healed, just stretch it out!
How does this apply? Sometimes folks come into the ministry for prayer and are discouraged, doubtful, they may have lost hope, received a negative health report, or are with the attitude that, "I've already been to 7 other more popular ministries and they didn't help me, what can you do for me?"
First thing is to give them a smile and say God is here, He will help you.
We've seen God help people in similar situations. Can you tell us about yours? So there are at least 2 people on the team so one can talk to the person and the other can intercede.
Jesus' goal always seemed to be to draw out faith when He saw belief of some kind. It was as simple as, What do you want me to do for you? Or "Do you want to be healed?" The Canaanite Woman of Matthew 15:22-28 came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly!
Another pattern is that Jesus, after seeing or asking what they wanted, said to them, "Your faith has made you well!" This happened to blind Bartimaeus and the woman with the issue of blood. The reason is these 2 examples had a transformation of heart from hearing and meditating on the reports of Jesus from those who witnessed or heard about Jesus' miracles. Such an honor! Another is the centurion with the sick servant. These are examples of faith in action from which we can learn.
What we are attempting to do when praying for someone is to be sensitive enough to the Holy Spirit voice within us to be effective. (And I know you all are.) Each time we engage in ministry we need also to be sensitive to the persons belief to know how to deal with them. Are they in belief or faith?
If belief, then Jesus wants to draw them out into faith. If faith, then it's time to command miracles to come because they are ready to receive. Part of leading them into faith might involve the Holy Spirit 's presence as you encourage them with scripture, or your own faith. They might cry, or express fear, they might have doubts, but those are all things that can be dealt with. The Holy Spirit within you will lead us in the path to help each individual to receive as we lead them to faith and Jesus. Of course we do not ever want to push someone as that can deter them receiving. I have confidence that the knowing and revelation of Wisdom will be with us as we go out in faith to continue the Ministry of Jesus in this day and age.
Matthew 15:31 when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.
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