What If I Didn't Get Healed? (Or Stay Healed?)

A few months ago Trinity Church hosted a guest speaker who led a weekend of healing services. There were some amazing reports of miraculous healings. Many of those who were healed are enjoying their new freedom. Praise the Lord for that!

But some people received prayer and didn't get healed. And others had their symptoms disappear, only to have them return again.

What's going on?

Some people say this kind of thing proves God doesn't really heal, it's all in people's heads. Others say it proves God is capricious or arbitrary or he plays favorites. Some say if you didn't get healed, you don't have enough faith, or the person praying didn't have enough faith, or the church doesn't have enough faith. Some say if something doesn't work every time, it isn't scientific, so forget it.

I don't buy any of that.

People don't get healed every time they go to a doctor. Does that mean all medicine is a fake?

People who do find relief through medicine sometimes find their symptoms returning. Does that mean we should forget the whole thing?

I believe God wants us well. The Bible refers to Christians as the children of God, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, and the army of God. What loving Father wants his children sick? What head wants its body sick? What groom wants his bride sick? What general wants the army sick?

God so much wants us to be well that he has given us numerous redundant systems to make it happen.

In the natural realm, God put healing in our bodies through an incredible immune system. He gives us medicines, surgery, nutrition, exercise, and alternative therapies.

In the supernatural, the Bible describes a wide range of ways in which miraculous healings are ministered. I have seen people healed in many of these ways.

For a long time I didn't pay a lot of attention to the subject of healing, though I always believed in it and prayed for it and from time to time would see miracles.

Recently, though, God has brought this much more to my attention. In fact, I'm currently working on a book about what I believe are some neglected aspects of the subject. I appreciate your prayers for this project.

The ultimate healing, of course, comes after the death of this mortal body. That's when we receive our new resurrection bodies, fit for eternity. But God wants us well in this life.

God's will is not always done on earth as it is in heaven - that's why Jesus told us, in the Lord's Prayer, to pray for that to happen more. So sometimes people are not well. But that doesn't mean sickness is God's will.

To paraphrase Dr. Robert Tuttle, it's not a sin to be sick and die. But it is a sin to allow someone to be sick and die without doing everything we can to alleviate it.
That includes physical and spiritual remedies.

So I'm learning what I can, and doing what I can. I don't think any of us can do less.

P.S. I always appreciate comments, but I would really like to hear from you about this subject, especially if you have stories or questions.