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God's Healing Series #1
Fred R. Coulter
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What is God's will concerning healing? When we read the accounts in the New Testament, we find that Jesus did a lot of healing. We also find that the Apostles performed a lot of miracles. Let's come to Acts the 5th chapter and let's see that.
Let me just say this: In the years of my ministry, we have seen people healed of cancer—terminal cancer! I remember a woman who had breast cancer, and she was really getting low. It was right at the point that when I walked into the house—we had the whole church fasting about it and praying about it; this was back in probably 1966 or 1967—you could smell the smell of death. I know that when I anointed her she was so thin, weak and emaciated that the only thing I could say was, 'God, You know!If it is your will to heal her, please do so. If it is not your will to heal her, end the pain and take her quickly.' She did a lot of things with herbs, cleansings, and teas. The women from the church were there helping her; and within 10 days she was totally healed!
I've seen others where we've anointed them, and they weren't healed. It's not a matter that the anointing is one time good and another time not good. I think that it is that we place everything in God's hands, looking to Him to do His will. I think that today we have so many things wrong with the food supply, with the water we drink and with the air we breathe, that we are really confounded with a lot of difficulties and problems.
Acts 5:12: "And many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch; and none of the others dared to join them, but the people magnified them; and believers were added all the more to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.) insomuch that the people were bringing out the sick into the streets and putting them on beds and stretchers, so that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. And a multitude from the cities round about also came together to Jerusalem, bringing sick ones and those beset by unclean spirits; and they were all healed" (vs 12-16).
We know that the Apostle Paul performed miracles. We know that there were those who were raised up by the hand of the Apostle Paul. We also know that miracles, the kind we have read about here in Acts 5, are for the purpose of a witness to people, especially at that time in the Jewish society. However, they did not have these miracles all the way through the apostolic era. Even the Apostle Paul had a 'difficulty,' and God did not heal him. God did not intervene, and we'll see why.
What we have to do is, hopefully, look at the whole picture. Let me just encourage all of you. I'm sure that we have an awful lot to do to take care of our bodies. That is a very important thing! We have so many things in the food supply, to say nothing of the genetic engineering; you have all the additives, you have the chemicals, you have all of those things. Plus, we're living in a time when we are susceptible to parasites like no other society has been in a long, long time. A lot of sickness and disease is caused by parasites. That's why God doesn't want us to eat the unclean foods; but there's more to health than just clean and unclean foods.
There was a time when there weren't miracles; the Apostle Paul was writing here in Philippians 2:19: "Now I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon that I may also be encouraged when I know your state of affairs; for I have no one who is likeminded, who has genuine concern for you. For all are seeking their own things, not the things of Christ Jesus. But you know the proof of him, that as a child with a father, he served with me in the Gospel. Therefore, I hope to send him to you as soon as I see how my situation turns out" (vs 19-23).
"Now I have confidence in the Lord that I myself also shall come soon; but I felt it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and soldier, but your messenger and minister for my need, since he was longing after all of you, and was deeply depressed because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick, and close to death… [No miracle! I imagine that Paul prayed for him several times.] …but God had mercy on him; and not on him alone, but also on me, so that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow" (vs 24-27).
We have a situation where here was a person sick unto death whom God raised up in a merciful way. So, when we're confronted with situations like that, the only thing we can do is put it in God's hands, and say:
- God, You know!
- You understand!
- You have the power to do everything!
We can't come to God and be mad.
- We come to God and ask for His mercy.
- We come to God and ask for His healing.
That's how we need to approach these things.
Verse 28: "Therefore, I have sent him with great care so that you might rejoice when you see him again and I might be less sorrowful. So then, receive him in the Lord with all joy, and hold such in honor; because for the sake of the work of Christ he came near to death, having disregarded his own life, so that he might fill up the deficiency of your service toward me" (vs 28-30).
2-Corinthians 12:6: "But even if I choose to boast, I shall not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. However, I will forbear, lest anyone think of me above what he sees me to be, or what he hears from me." Paul didn't want to get people following him, looking him up, and the whole thing of the respecter of persons.
Verse 7: "But in order that I might not be exalted by the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh… [we don't know exactly what this 'thorn in the flesh' was] …an angel of Satan to buffet me, so that I might not be exalted. I besought the Lord three times for this, that it might depart from me; but He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you; for My power is made perfect in weakness'" (vs 7-9). If a person is at the point of death but is faithful and believing in the promises of Christ, we have to understand that it is God's will that we die in the faith. Is that not true? Some sooner! Some later! God knows all these things anyway, and if a person dies in the faith, then they have nothing to look forward to except:
- great glory
- the resurrection
- being with Christ
- being with all the saints
That's what's important, brethren. Some of us are going to live longer than others. I know of a person up in Waco whose mother died at 93. She lived a long life. Every circumstance is different. God knows what He's doing!
We also have to say that it's not God's will to come down and heal everybody of everything. We've seen that, too. We would all like to have more healings; we would all like to have more miracles; but all of that is totally in God's hands. I've seen some spectacular healings. I've seen where there wasn't healing; but, nevertheless, it's all in God's hands.
I've seen where God intervenes and helps people who need the assistance of a doctor. As in my case with my hips; I was the cause of the problem with my hips. I had a lower back problem and I didn't get a chiropractor to help keep it in. He never told me that if I exercised properly that the muscles would hold my lower back in. So, I did my own home remedy. I put on an elastic, lower-back brace and it restricted the blood supply to my hips. Then over a period of years—because I wore it for years—it restricted the blood supply to my hips. I've had the operations for them. God has seen me through it; I'm thankful that He has. I've learned a lesson from it; which is this: Fred, you better take care of your body. You better realize that God has allowed this for discipline so that you are going to take care of yourself. I accept it at that level. Different people have different things.
When we're in a situation like this, or like the Apostle Paul here in 2-Corinthians 12:9—God said: "…'My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, most gladly will I boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For this reason, I take pleasure in weaknesses… [The Apostle Paul had to really be converted and filled with the Spirit of God to say: '…I take pleasure in weaknesses…' Most of us complain—don't we?] …in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong" (vs 9-10). Because if you're weak physically but you're strong in the Lord, there can be nothing greater than that; because that's what God wants!
The only thing I can say in these situations is—and I wish that we did have a good report of the lady referred to earlier, and I do hope and pray that God will intervene, raise her up at the last minute, if it's His will—that in her situation, if she passes on in the faith, then she's got it made. The rest of us have to stay here and work. When we look at Paul's situation here, sometimes God lets these things come upon us so that we'll learn to trust God! Especially when we're in situations where we have suffering and we have pain, we learn to trust God; and God intervenes and helps us, and sees us through to the end. Then that's a good thing.
Remember, Israel got old and blind. Paul had his problems. Every one of us have our problems. Psalm 116:15: "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints".
When someone dies, we personally have a loss. It makes it very difficult. I know when one of the brethren's wife died, a year ago in January, it was a great loss. They were married 45 years. She was in the hospital and she entered into her rest on the Sabbath. The doctors were coming in and getting everybody out because they wanted to check on her, and she said, 'Well, he can stay. This is my sweetheart.' Then she just turned, looked away, and died. She died in the faith. God says that's precious!
How many people are alive and apparently well but giving up on God? You have a whole different situation that way—don't you?In cases like that I pray for those people; that they will live and not die in a situation where they may forsake God. So, if we look at this way:
- for healing
- for living
- for dying
Romans 14—this is what we have to resolve in our minds. None of us, except through the broad outline of prophecy, know exactly, specifically, what is going to happen—do we?I think that 9/11 really proved that—didn't it?What we have to resolve in our minds and:
- this is all a part of conversion
- this is all a part of loving God
- this is all a part of the determination that we make
We don't follow God when the times are just good. We have to follow God even when the times are not good. We know the time is coming when this nation is going to go through literal hell!You know it's coming because we're all big, fat, and sassy—aren't we?For us living in this society, we don't want to get caught up in that. We have to determine in our mind this thing:
Romans 14:7: "For no one among us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we should live unto the Lord; and if we die, we should die unto the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's" (vs 7-8). That's the resolve we have to have! Within that, then, we have the things concerning healing. I hope and pray, and it's my prayer every day, that God would intervene and help those, and heal those who are sick. He's raised up a great many people, others He hasn't.
We just found out about a minister down in Meridian, Mississippi, 61-years-old. They were driving home, he had a heart attack; died. You always ask: If he took better care of himself, could this, perhaps, have been avoided? We don't know! We've also had other ministers from Worldwide who have died: Bill McDowell, Raymond Cole, Hugh Mark, Herbert Armstrong. There will be others who will die!All of that is in God's provision; in God's Plan. We don't know when it may befall any of us. I do a lot of flying on the plane and I ask God to put His angels about the plane; I appreciate that. The plane has always landed with both wings and the wheels. I appreciate that and thankful God can work it out that way.
There are other things that situations like this do. They help us to share the burden with each other and pray for each other; that we're not all-consumed in ourselves, in our problems, and the things that we're afflicted with. It's like the story: I was complaining because I didn't have shoes until I saw a man who didn't have feet!
What we have to do with this is that we also have to have the mind of Christ, and look at it the way God looks at it. What did God do for us but die—correct? Yes! He didn't deserve one bit of it—did He? He did not sin!He did it because He loved us! The Father sent Him because the Father loves us! Through the whole process of everything that we go through, here's what God wants out of it: not to focus on the suffering, not to focus on the things that don't go the way that we may think, but to use every one of these things as an opportunity to grow in grace, and knowledge, and love; even though there may be sorrow along the way.
Philippians 2:1: "Now then, if there be any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any deep inner affections and compassions, fulfill my joy, that you be of the same mind…" (vs 1-2). Out of all these tragedies and difficulties that come along, this is what God wants us to do.
"…having the same love, being joined together in soul, minding the one thing. Let nothing be done through contention or vainglory, but in humility, each esteeming the others above himself. Let each one look not only after his own things, but let each one also consider the things of others" (vs 2-4).
This is what God wants us to do when we have difficulties and problems like that! There are always going to be people who are in pain and suffering. They are there so they can grow in faith, in spite of the pain and suffering; that we can pray for them, and not look to our own things. Because too many times, when we pray, it's all: me, myself and I. So, that's why we have it.
Verse 5: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." All of these things are to let the mind of Christ come into us through the power of the Holy Spirit; rather than question God. It's not wrong to question God and say, 'Why, God?' But don't let it come to the point like Job did, that he accused God. Let the mind of Christ be in you so that you can understand, as these things come, so that we can grow in grace and knowledge, and have faith. That's what it's all for, if we can keep that in the mind.
Look what Christ gave up, v 6: "Who, although He existed in the form of God…[Existing as God! He was God!] …did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. But emptied Himself, and was made in the likeness of men, and took the form of a servant; and being found in the manner of man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death… [that's what we need to do] …even the death of the cross" (vs 6-8). I hope this gives us a little better understanding.
Many times God lets us stay sick so we figure out what we've done that's wrong. Other times He'll be merciful and heal us and raise us up immediately. We have the full range of everything. I also know this, that if all of a sudden everyone who had a terminal sickness within the Church of God was healed, there'd be so many people running to us to be healed. Like the 5,000 who were fed. They wanted to make Christ king so that they could have free food. Likewise, there will be people who will just come to be healed. Whether they will follow God after that or not is another thing. I hope this helps us keep all of these things in perspective.
One other thing, You look around on all of us, and I include myself in it, God has called a pretty motley crew—hasn't He? Well, that's true! So, in calling us, God has already had mercy on us to begin with—right? God does things the opposite of what human beings do. We've just seen the Olympics. They want:
- the strongest
- the toughest
- the most precise
- the most daring
- the most handsome
- the most beautiful
That doesn't apply to any of us—does it?
1-Corinthians 1:26: "For you see your calling, brethren, that there are not many who are wise according to the flesh…" That's another reason why we have so many problems, because we're not very smart, and I include myself in there. I know this, that everything I have has come from God, whether it's physical or whether it's spiritual. If we always keep that in mind then we're not going to be lifted up and exalted that we're some great thing. Always remember, 'He who exalts himself shall be abased.' With this kind of calling, we can't get too high on ourselves—can we?
"…not many who are powerful… [no, we're weak] …not many who are high-born… [aristocrats or important people in the society] …among you. Rather, God has chosen the foolish things of the world…" (vs 26-27). That's why we make so many mistakes. Sometimes we make dumb decisions—don't we?Well, that's because He's chosen the foolish, so that we can learn. He's done this for a purpose. He has done this to confound the wise! That is the wise, the rich, and the important of the world. They wouldn't look upon us; we're just riff-raff. That's why God has called us. That's why it's so important to grow in grace and knowledge, because God is giving us greater riches, a greater calling. That's why it's so important to keep our minds focused on the goal: to be in the Kingdom of God, to attain to the resurrection of the dead.
"…so that He might put to shame those who are wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world so that He might put to shame the strong things. And the low-born of the world, and the despised… [that's us, brethren] …has God chosen—even the things that are counted as nothing—… [He's going to do something through us] …in order that He might bring to nothing the things that are" (vs 27-28).
I'm sure that with George W. Bush, that if he saw any of us he would think that we're certainly unqualified to rule the world. At this point, in the flesh, we are. When we are made spirit beings, we will be well qualified; for God will give us the ability.
Here's the whole purpose of all of it, v 29: "So that no flesh should glory in His presence." Job tried that. Remember that? Job tried that—didn't he? We'll look at that in just a minute and see what God told him.
Here's a key, v 30: "But you are of Him in Christ Jesus, Who was made to us wisdom from God—even righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." Those are all the things God is doing—working with us so that we will always look to God and trust in Christ—so that no flesh glories in His presence. He that glories let him glory in the Lord!
There was a time in his discussion with his friends and his arguments with them that Job said—because he looked at himself as being so righteous—'I wish there were an umpire betweenme and God; that he could put his hand on both of our shoulders and settle this issue.' God let him know even in all of the suffering and affliction that he went through, that he still exalted himself—didn't he? Yes, he did!
Job 40:1: "And the LORD answered Job and said, 'Shall he who contends with the Almighty instruct Him? He who reproves God, let him answer it'" (vs 1-2). We always end up somewhere or other in our lives that it's very easy to say that God's not fair. That's literally what Job was doing. 'God's not fair to bring this upon me. After all, I don't deserve it.' He was correcting God. So God says, 'You answer it.'
Verse 3: "And Job answered the LORD and said, 'Behold, I am vile!.... [now he's getting the point] ...What shall I answer You? I will lay my hand on my mouth.... [Oops! I'm going to shut up!] ...Once I have spoken; but I will not answer, yea, twice, but I will proceed no further'" (vs 3-5). It's about time!
Verse 6: "And the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 'Gird up your loins now like a man. I will demand you, and you declare unto Me. Will you even annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me so that you may be righteous?" (vs 6-8). Those are pretty powerful words—aren't they?
Verse 9: "And have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?.… [He says, 'Okay, Job, I'll give you a proposition.'] ...Deck yourself now with majesty and excellency..." (vs 9-10). That is 'let's see your glory.' You think you're greater than God—show us.
"…and array yourself with glory and beauty. Cast abroad the rage of your wrath; and behold everyone who is proud, and abase him. Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in darkness. Then I will also confess to you that your own right hand can save you"' (vs 10-14).
And, yes, Job repented. He said, 'I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye see You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes'
All of these things, brethren—when we combine it together and put it together is to draw us closer to God, and to increase our faith, love, and belief in God, regardlessof what the circumstances may be. Sometimes it's very difficult. That's why we need to pray for each other and just ask God to intervene. That's about the best I can do.
Speaking of Paul when God said, 'My grace is sufficient for you,' how did God talk to Paul? Probably through the power of the Holy Spirit He let it be known! After all, he was an apostle! I can't say God has spoken to me. A lot of ministers say, 'God spoke to me.' Read the Bible!God doesn't speak to everyone. He's spoken to very few people in the whole history of the world!
When Christ was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and He was praying so fervently and in agony that His sweat was like great drops of blood falling to the ground, He accepted the death that He was going to go through.
Whatever comes, that's all we can say. We would wish and hope:
- that everything would be fine and smooth and no problems
- that every sickness and every disease would be healed instantly
- that God would perform miracles whenever we needed it
All of those are physical things and God wants our spiritual perfection! If we go through things like this and we are spiritually perfected,that's a greater glory! That's a greater accomplishment! That's what God wants us to have in those things.
(go to the next track)
Look what Christ had to go through. Whenever we get to feeling sorry for ourselves and we get that 'picked-on' feeling; I've had that; you have probably all had that. Why Lord?I'll tell you what, Christ didn't deserve any of it—did He? He did it willingly.
Hebrews 5:7: "Who, in the days of His flesh, offered up both prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him Who was able to save Him from death... [Christ's life in the flesh was difficult] ...and was heard because He feared God. Although He was a Son, yet He learned obedience from the things that He suffered" (vs 7-8). When we have suffering, we need to learn. Christ learned! As a matter of fact, through becoming a human being, God was perfected—not that God was not ever perfect; but through what He did, He was perfected even more.
Verse 9: "And having been perfected... [through all that He went through] ...He became the Author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him." I hope this will:
- help us
- encourage us
- let us know that we're doing what God wants
Let the things come the way that they come; then the only thing we can say is, 'Your will be done, God!'
All Scripture from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter
Scriptural References:
- Acts 5:12-16
- Philippians 2:19-30
- 2-Corinthians 12:6-10
- Psalms 116:15
- Romans 14:7-8
- Philippians 2:1-8
- 1-Corinthinans 1:26-30
- Job 40:1-14
- Hebrews 5:7-9
