There are a lot of "faith healers" with little or no faith. Before we examine the false actions of some people, let's make it clear that I am not against Divine Healing.
Far from it, in fact, since all good things come from God, all healing has God as its source.
Some false "faith healers" believe God only heals through their prayers. If a person takes medicine, they believe something or someone besides God is the source. They are the ones who reject most of the healing God does.
But first, what should a person do when he is sick? It is simple. Let's take a key scripture to answer that question.
We first need to have the proper attitude and the right priorities. Serving Jesus must be more important than being healed. Our service for Him must be more important to us than our health. We should love God and other people more than we love ourselves. Then we are ready to proceed.
JAMES 5:13-16, "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? 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 offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."
1.Call the church elders.
2.Let them pray.
3.Let them treat the sick.
To accomplish this, I recommend that the local church set up a prayer chain. Of course, the scripture doesn't describe a prayer chain, and if you have a better way, use it. But without an organized method to make sure all of the elders of the church are notified, how can you be sure it is getting done? Those who are on the prayer chain are those older (elder) Christians who are sincere in their desire to help sick. Make whatever rules may be necessary to insure the prayer chain is not a gossip line.
I believe if you have doctors among your local church family, they should be the ones to treat the sick with medicine (oil). Other Christians can, and should, under the doctor's orders, help the sick person in whatever way they can. And of course most of the time the sickness is not serious enough for a doctor's attention, but should be treated by Dr "Mom" or other Christians showing the same TLC.
James 2:14-26, Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use of saying you have faith if you don’t prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can’t save anyone. {15} Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, {16} and you say, "Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well"—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? {17} So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all—it is dead and useless. {18} Now someone may argue, "Some people have faith; others have good deeds." I say, "I can’t see your faith if you don’t have good deeds, but I will show you my faith through my good deeds." {19} Do you still think it’s enough just to believe that there is one God? Well, even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror! {20} Fool! When will you ever learn that faith that does not result in good deeds is useless? {21} Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was declared right with God because of what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? {22} You see, he was trusting God so much that he was willing to do whatever God told him to do. His faith was made complete by what he did—by his actions. {23} And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: "Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous." He was even called "the friend of God." {24} So you see, we are made right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. {25} Rahab the prostitute is another example of this. She was made right with God by her actions—when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. {26} Just as the body is dead without a spirit, so also faith is dead without good deeds.
Faith is useless if it does not result in action. If we really believe something - we act like it. Works also show how strong the faith is. If we move on in spite of obstacles, our faith is great. If any little obstruction hinders our action - our faith is small or nonexistent.
How can a person know he has faith, if he never has to face troubles? It is in the testing that our faith stands out. Anyone can act when there is encouragement and no opposition. It takes great faith to remain on course when all of the winds are blowing against us.
James 1:2-8, Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. {3} For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. {4} So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything. {5} If you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. {6} But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. {7} People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. {8} They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.
The old man was carnal. That means he was selfish, everything was judged and evaluated by how it benefited him. The new man is to have the attitude of Christ. That means putting others first.
John 15:12-13, I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you. {13} And here is how to measure it—the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.
When we face troubles of any kind, the enemy is not those troubles. It is the devil. He will try to use those troubles to make us put our eyes on ourselves. He wins if we become selfish and take our eyes off God and the needs of others.
Whether the trouble remains or not, satan is defeated if we continue to work for God in spite of problems. This follows the example of the Hebrew men in Babylon.
Dan 3:12-18, But there are some Jews—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—whom you have put in charge of the province of Babylon. They have defied Your Majesty by refusing to serve your gods or to worship the gold statue you have set up." {13} Then Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be brought before him. When they were brought in, {14} Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you refuse to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I have set up? {15} I will give you one more chance. If you bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments, all will be well. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. What god will be able to rescue you from my power then?" {16} Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. {17} If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. {18} But even if he doesn’t, Your Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up."
The devil was beaten before the fourth man appeared in the fire.
Those who serve God in spite of personal obstacles, or pain, show the greatest faith. It is a greater thing to succeed in spite of the mountains than it is to move mountains.
God heals people, but even in times of sickness, we need to keep our eyes on Him. If the most important thing in our lives becomes our needs - satan has won. Satan does not like people doing good - and he knows the best example of all is when they do good in tough times. So he is willing to allow them to have better times at the cost of their witness.
They act to destroy the faith of the sick
They act to make the sick care more about themselves
They set a goal of prosperity in this world
They act in a way to help people who follow them and reject people who don't. The ultimate for them is for the sick to get healed and for them to get the credit. If they can not get the credit, they want the sick to suffer. This results in:
They teach people to not use medicine.
They reject the sick if the sick don't get well.
God has promised not to put more on us than we can bear.
1 Cor 10:13 But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.
So when our faith is at its smallest, He often has to rescue us with a miracle. But it would be better if our faith was strong enough to do the right thing in the face of adversity.
Many faith healers know this, so they go about trying to tear down the faith of the sick. They will condemn them for not having enough faith to get healed. The opposite is the truth. They even try to substitute other things like cloths or oil for real faith in God.
Mat 17:14-21, When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, a huge crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, {15} "Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. {16} So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him." {17} Jesus replied, "You stubborn, faithless people! How long must I be with you until you believe? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." {18} Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well. {19} Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, "Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?" {20} "You didn’t have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." {21} <"But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.">
Prayer and fasting like Jesus is calling for require doing without - accepting troubles.
Their impatience showed a lack of faith. When the answer to prayer comes quickly little faith is required, but when we don't get what we ask for and faith and fasting is required we need more faith.
Luke 17:5-10, One day the apostles said to the Lord, "We need more faith; tell us how to get it." {6} "Even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed," the Lord answered, "you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May God uproot you and throw you into the sea,’ and it would obey you! {7} "When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, he doesn’t just sit down and eat. {8} He must first prepare his master’s meal and serve him his supper before eating his own. {9} And the servant is not even thanked, because he is merely doing what he is supposed to do. {10} In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are not worthy of praise. We are servants who have simply done our duty.’"
Real service to God requires humility and the willingness to face any trouble. The average faith healer is arrogant and demands that God do what he wants. He has no willingness to seek God's will.
Mat 14:22-32, Immediately after this, Jesus made his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he sent the people home. {23} Afterward he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. {24} Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. {25} About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came to them, walking on the water. {26} When the disciples saw him, they screamed in terror, thinking he was a ghost. {27} But Jesus spoke to them at once. "It’s all right," he said. "I am here! Don’t be afraid." {28} Then Peter called to him, "Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you by walking on water." {29} "All right, come," Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. {30} But when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted. {31} Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. "You don’t have much faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?" {32} And when they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.
Jesus only said Peter's faith was small - not that of the other disciples. Their faith was strong enough to obey Jesus by calming down and staying in the boat.
Great faith required that the disciples remain in the midst of their troubles - in the boat on the sea. Peter's lack of faith prevented him from staying in the boat.
People often try to portray one with small faith as one with great faith. They think Peter's faith was strong while he walked on the water. But if his faith had been strong he wouldn't have had to walk on the water - he would have stayed in the boat.
Philip Yancey defines faith as: "Believing in advance in something that will only seem logical when seen in reverse."
Unbelief puts our circumstance between us and God, but faith puts God between us and our circumstances. (F.B. Meyer)
Luke 12:22-31, Then turning to his disciples, Jesus said, "So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or clothes to wear. {23} For life consists of far more than food and clothing. {24} Look at the ravens. They don’t need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! {25} Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not! {26} And if worry can’t do little things like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things? {27} "Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. {28} And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you? You have so little faith! {29} And don’t worry about food—what to eat and drink. Don’t worry whether God will provide it for you. {30} These things dominate the thoughts of most people, but your Father already knows your needs. {31} He will give you all you need from day to day if you make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.
When our eyes are on ourselves and our desires, they are filled with small, unimportant things. Only when our eyes are on Jesus can we put all things in proper perspective. We need to work on things that are really important - not just go by what things feel like.
1 Pet 1:6-9, So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. {7} These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. {8} You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy. {9} Your reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
"For sickness is an election, a decision. It is the choice of weakness, the mistaken conviction that it is strength."
2 Cor 12:9-10, Each time he said, "My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. {10} Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite content with my weaknesses and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
These people are more concerned about their reputation than the health of people. If the person they pray for don't get well - they blame that person - they never consider that it was "their" prayers that were not answered. If a person doesn't get well they will work to make sure the person is not around them if possible. They will never stick with them through the trouble. They do not have enough faith to endure tough times.
They condemn people who believe God can make good come from pain and suffering. Again they miss the scriptures that are familiar to most people.
Rom 8:17-28, And since we are his children, we will share his treasures—for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. {18} Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. {19} For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. {20} Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God’s curse. {21} All creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. {22} For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. {23} And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. {24} Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don’t need to hope for it. {25} But if we look forward to something we don’t have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently. {26} And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. {27} And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. {28} And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
MAT 8:5 And when He had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, entreating Him, 6 and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering great pain." 7 And He said to him, "I will come and heal him." 8 But the centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 "For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it." 10 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled, and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. 11 "And I say to you, that many shall come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; 12 but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 13 And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; let it be done to you as you have believed." And the servant was healed that very hour.
The faith of this centurion was not in believing that Jesus could heal - but in coming to Jesus in spite of the obstacles he would face in doing so.
It was very hard for a man who was a Roman leader to humble himself to a man who was a Jew. Think of what his people would say about him. He had the faith to act on what he knew to be right and out of the concern for the sick in spite of great opposition.
MAT 9:19-22 And Jesus rose and began to follow him, and so did His disciples. And behold, a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; for she was saying to herself, "If I only touch His garment, I shall get well." But Jesus turning and seeing her said, "Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well." And at once the woman was made well.
Again, the great faith is in being able to act in spite of great obstacles.
MAT 15:22-28 And behold, a Canaanite woman came out from that region, and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed." But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came to Him and kept asking Him, saying, "Send her away, for she is shouting out after us." But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help me!" And He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." But she said, "Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed at once.
The Canaannite women over come obstacles to come to Jesus. She humbled herself to a Jewish man.
LUK 17:11 And it came about while He was on the way to Jerusalem, that He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as He entered a certain village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; 13 and they raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" 14 And when He saw them, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And it came about that as they were going, they were cleansed. 15 Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, 16 and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine-- where are they? 18 "Was no one found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?" 19 And He said to him, "Rise, and go your way; your faith has made you well."
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