Showing posts with label Healing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healing. Show all posts

Friday, March 7, 2008

Faith Focuses on the Answer

“Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6)
People often focus more on the problem than they do the solution. Jesus went to the pool of Bethesda where a man who had been infirmed for thirty-eight years was waiting for the “moving of the water.” It was said that an angel would come down at a certain time and stir up the water, and whoever stepped into it first would be healed of whatever disease he had. So the man waited. When Jesus saw him lying there on his little pallet, and knowing how long he had been infirm, He asked him a very simple question: “Do you want to be made well?”

The man, however, had become so fixated on the problem (his infirmity) that he lost sight of the answer (healing), and he gave a terribly muddled answer: “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” This was not even the primary problem, but a secondary one associated with the particular way he desired to get the primary one solved. He did not have a clear picture of the solution he needed to his real problem, so he was unable to give a straightforward response to a Jesus’ simple question. His faith, like his reply, was confused.

Jesus addressed him again, taking his focus off the problem and onto the answer. He was simple and direct: “Rise. Take up your bed. Walk.” There was healing in those words. Now it was up to the man to believe and obey what Jesus said. Had he remained focused on the complexity of his problems, he might never have heard and believed — and received his healing. But once he focused on the answer, which is always going to be found in Jesus and the Scriptures, his primary problem was solved and the secondary one was no longer relevant. He rose, took up his bed and walked.

But now consider Bartimaeus, a blind beggar who cried out for mercy as Jesus passed by (Mark 10:46-52). Jesus called him over and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus did not whine and complain about his blindness or how hard it was to be a beggar. He did not hesitate, but immediately spoke out the solution he desired, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” He did not deny the problem. He fully recognized it, but his focus was on the answer — the One who could bring his healing to pass and restore his sight. Jesus answered, “Go your way; your faith has made you whole.” Bartimaeus immediately received his sight and followed Jesus. His faith was specific to the need, and by that faith he saw — and received — the solution to his problem.

Or remember the woman with the “issue of blood” (Matthew 9:20-22; also Luke 8:43-48). She had been hemorrhaging for twelve years, rendering her ceremonially unclean, unable to go into the temple or socialize freely with others. When Jesus passed by on His way to heal the daughter of Jairus, she saw her answer. She followed Him, watching for an opportunity to touch the tassels of His prayer shawl, the corners or “wings” of His garment (see Healing in His Corners). As she followed, she kept saying to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” She did not remind herself of what a terrible problem she had or how she had spent all her money on doctors to no avail. No, by her “self-talk” she kept herself focused on the solution: Jesus, the Son of God with “healing in His wings” (Malachi 4:2). When she finally touched His tassels, her hemorrhaging immediately stopped. Jesus discovered what she had done and, instead of being angry, commended her, saying, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” By the focus of her faith, expressed by her words and actions, she laid hold of the answer to her problem.

It is helpful to identify the problem and get a good diagnosis of it. But then having done that, we must keep the focus of our faith on the Answer.



Healing Scriptures and Prayers

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

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Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

South Florida Man Raised from the Dead

WSVN TV7 reported, on February 1, 2008, that Jeff Markin, a South Florida man, was raised from the dead by a Christian doctor, Dr. Chauncey Crandall, who prayed over him in the name of Jesus. Dr. Crandall said
If you come in with a problem into our service, we are definitely going to treat you with conventional medicine, but we are going to believe it too. We are going to attack it with conventional medicine, and we are going to attack it with prayer. The reason I pray for people is because I found, early in my trained practice, that there were miracles, unexplained healings....

As I entered the ER it was like a war zone. Here was this lifeless body on a stretcher. His face, his arms, his legs were pitch black with death. I said, "Let's just call the code, let's end it because there's no life left."

A voice told me to turn around and pray for that man. I looked down at the body, and I said, "Lord, what can I pray for this man? He's gone." All of a sudden these words came out, "Father God, I cry out for this man's soul, Lord. If he does not know You as his Lord and Savior, raise him from the dead now."

So that doctor came over with those paddles and blasted that man and, all of a sudden, instantly a perfect heartbeat came up on the monitor. The stomach started moving, the chest started moving. This man started breathing on his own, and I said, "This man has been prayed for, he has been brought back from the dead by prayer in the name of Jesus."

You are speaking to a scientist, a cardiologist, someone who loves medicine. I've never, ever seen this. There are always people that do not believe these events, and I will just tell them that it did happen. It was a real story, a real life that was restored.
God is still restoring the dead to life in the name of Jesus. Read the full report here (also includes video download near top of page).



Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the History of the Church
Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit
in the History of the Church

by Jeff Doles

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Saturday, February 9, 2008

Speaking to My Body and Overcoming Resistance

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” (Mark 11:22-23)
This past month I slowed my pace down a bit in order to give attention to a health issue that came up over Christmas. Early on December 26th I awoke with abdominal pain from what turned out to be a kidney stone. Praise God, the stone passed within a couple of days, and with relatively little pain. The stone was small, and remembering how Jesus said we could speak to mountains and expect to see them move, I figured I could speak to a small kidney stone and expect to get results. So I told it to break up and dissolve harmlessly away. And it did, breaking up into tiny fragments. Praise God.

This incident, however, alerted me to a larger issue. On that first morning when I was experiencing so much pain, Suzanne drove me to the walk-in clinic where the doctor did a few tests, including blood work. Well, one of the things the blood test showed was that I had a very high glucose level—and that ain’t good. So this past month I have been addressing that.

First, I repented for eating like a fool and abusing my body, especially my pancreas, with all the sweets and sugars I had been consuming (especially at Christmas). Then I began to apply the power of the name and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to the problem, claiming the promises of God and the healing Jesus came to bring us (according to Isaiah 53:4-5). Next, I asked God to give me wisdom concerning the changes in lifestyle I knew I would need to make in my eating habits, and also concerning exercise. I was not eating terribly poor, but I was not eating very well either, and I had become too sedentary—a bad combination.

The Lord led us to a good doctor who has more confidence in the natural foods designed by God than he does in prescribing medicines (though he does prescribe when necessary). He diagnosed the problem as hypoglycemia and recommended a diet with plenty of raw foods (vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains and fruit—light on the fruit) and regular exercise. The Lord also led me to a good book that helped me understand that the root problem is insulin resistance and gives me a good nutritional plan for overcoming it. The book is called The Insulin-Resistance Diet, by Hart and Grossman, and offers a simple plan for “linking and balancing” carbohydrates with proteins for managing metabolism and blood glucose.

I’ve started being kind to my pancreas. The Bible tells me that I am “accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). I believe that includes all of me, including my pancreas and the insulin it produces. So I am being kind and telling my body to quit resisting that insulin but to use it appropriately. I have also started to get regular exercise, right now mostly through walking, and using a mini-trampoline (which is harder than it looks) along with some other forms. I bought a blood glucose monitor and check myself every morning. I am happy to report that I am now getting normal readings—and I’m losing weight, too. Praise God for His faithfulness, and for His wisdom which is teaching me new habits for a long and healthy life.

So my focus in January was largely on those things, which is why I have not blogged as much lately. But as these new health disciplines become naturalized habits, I am ready to get back up to speed with teaching, writing and other ministry tasks.

It is good to know who we are in Jesus Christ, that we are accepted in the Beloved, and what we can do through faith in God and His Word.



Healing Scriptures and Prayers

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

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Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Healing at the Quantum Level

God commissioned mankind to “subdue” the earth, that is, to bring it into order. Experiments in quantum physics indicate that subatomic particles can be ordered by the presence of DNA.

From the Scriptures we know that the spiritual realm is the foundation for the physical realm. For God, who is Spirit, created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1; John 4:24), and that He framed the worlds by His Word (Hebrews 11:3). So whatever happens in the natural, physical realm is based on spiritual realities. But what might that interaction between the spiritual and the natural look like at the quantum level, say, in the matter of healing.

Take, for example, the account of the woman with the “issue of blood” who was healed when she touched the corner of Jesus' garment (Luke 8:43-48). This thing had plagued her for twelve years and the doctors could give her no relief (though they thoroughly depleted her funds). But when she touched Jesus, her body was instantly healed. Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”

Now, Jesus was (and is) fully divine, but He was (and is) also fully human, and His body was fully human. The apostle Peter tells us that the healing Jesus did, He did because He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, and God was with Him. So all the miracles He performed, He performed as one who was fully human, but in perfect alignment with God. His flesh, even His DNA contained divine healing power. He actually felt it when it went out of His body; the woman immediately experienced it in her body. And this effect transferred through the material of the garment which, being worn by Jesus, perhaps held some of His DNA in the form of epithelials (thank you, CSI).

So maybe at the quantum level the divinely saturated DNA of Jesus, who was perfectly aligned with the order of God, brought divine order to the chaos that existed in this woman's body and thus healed her. The anointing of the Holy Spirit and divine power interacted with the physical realm, and would have somehow done so even at the most basic level of physics — the quantum level.

We know that this did not happen only once, but happened many times in the ministry of Jesus:
When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well. (Matthew 14:34-36)
We see the same sort of effect in other places in the Bible:
  • Elisha the prophet carried a “double portion” of Elijah's divine anointing. But unlike Elijah, he had no one to pass it on to when he died, so it went with him to the grave. Second Kings 13:20-21 records that when a dead man was lowered into Elisha's grave, and his body touched the prophet's bones, the man came back to life.
  • In Acts 5:14-16, we find that the presence of the apostle Peter had such a powerful effect that people “brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them ... and they were all healed.” Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and yielded to the will of God; perhaps his DNA, soaked with divine power, began to restore order and healing to the bodies of those who were brought near.
  • In Acts 19:11-13, people brought the aprons and handkerchiefs that had been used by Paul (which would have been loaded with epithelials) to the sick, and diseases and evil spirits left their bodies.
God created us to bring the world into line with His divine order. Surely our DNA was created to bring glory to His name, even at the quantum level, and maybe even in healing.



Healing Scriptures and Prayers

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

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Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Everything is in the Atonement

Simply put, atonement is the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. The apostle Paul briefly describes how atonement comes about for you and me:
For God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
A great exchange has taken place. Jesus took all our sin upon Himself and nailed it to the cross. In its place, He has given us His righteousness — the righteousness of God Himself. We receive this great exchange through faith in Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Many Christians understand that forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God is part of the atonement. But they often do not realize the depth of what that entails: Everything that was lost to us in the fall when Adam rebelled against God is restored to us by cross when the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins and extended to us His righteousness. However, Jesus not only took our sins to the cross, He also took our sicknesses:
Surely he has borne our griefs [literally, sicknesses]
  And carried our sorrows [literally, pains]
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
  Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
  He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
  And by His stripes we are healed.
(Isaiah 53:4-5)
Healing, for our bodies as well as our souls, is included in the atonement. For sickness entered the world because of sin. But Jesus took both our sin and its consequences upon Himself and nailed it to the cross.

Because of the atonement, we are made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, so that whatever belongs to the righteous now belongs to us.

What belongs to the righteous? The blessings of Deuteronomy 28:1-14 give us a very good example. (You can hear what these blessings are in this special 5 minute MP3 presentation, Choosing Life, from our Healing Scriptures and Prayers CD Vol. 2.) Psalm 112 also describes the blessings that belong to the righteous (see Living in Awe of God). All of these blessings belong now to those who have been made righteous in Jesus Christ. They are all in the atonement.

All of heaven comes to us in the atonement, for in the atonement we have all the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus has been exalted to His throne in heaven (Ephesians 1:19-23), and we have been seated in the heavenlies in Him (Ephesians 2:6). Heaven belongs to us because of the cross, and we belong to heaven.

Even now, the kingdom of heaven is breaking into the world, even as the Lord Jesus taught us to pray, “Kingdom of God, come. Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:33). Because of the atonement, we are now of heaven — born from above by the spirit of God (John 3:3), so that our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20).

The atonement is the redemptive work of Jesus Christ at the cross on our behalf. In it, all the blessings of the righteous now belong to those who belong to Him. Everything you will ever need has already been provided for you in the atonement.



Healing Scriptures and Prayers

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Praying in Faith, Healing the Sick

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 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 of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. (James 5:13-5)
Is anyone troubled, afflicted, undergoing hardship? The appropriate response is to take it to the Lord in prayer. Peter said, “Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). God cares enough to do something about all the things that worry us. (See How to Cast Your Cares)

Is anyone happy, of good cheer, free from care? The appropriate response is to give thanks and praise, making melody to the Lord. Perhaps James has in mind the previous situation where someone was afflicted, but is now free from care because He cast it upon the Lord.

What if someone is sick, feeble, diseased, without strength? Then the appropriate response is for him to call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a one is, apparently, too sick to go to the elders; he must call for them to come to him.

Up until now, it might seem like James is simply suggesting ways to cope, to learn to live with adversity. But in the next verse we see that that is not his attitude at all. No, he actually expects to get results:
And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up! (v. 15)
There is no if about it. When you offer the prayer of faith over this fellow, he will recover; the Lord will raise him up from his sickbed.

The problem many people have when they pray for the sick is that they do not pray in faith; they pray in ifs: “If it be Thy will.” That sounds good and pious, but it is not how Jesus went about healing, nor is it how He taught His disciples to go about healing.

When He sent them out, is was not so they could go and pray if it was the Father’s will. He sent them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and cast out demons (Mark 3:14-15). And that is exactly what they did:
So they went out and preached that people should repent. And they cast our many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them. (Mark 6:13)
They understood the prayer of faith, that it is not about finding out if it is God’s will to heal, but that, yes, it is God’s will to heal, otherwise Jesus would not have sent them out.

The prayer of faith has no wavering to it. In the first chapter of his letter, James says,
But let him ask in faith, with not doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that ma suppose that he shall receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:6-8)
Then in chapter 5, he says this:
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. (James 5:16-17)
The Greek phrase translated “he prayed earnestly,” literally means he prayed prayer! In other words, he was able to accomplish what he did because he knew how to pray the prayer of faith. (See The Effective, Fervent Prayer of Elijah)

When we begin to understand that Jesus is the perfect expression of the Father’s will (John 5:19, 30; John 8:28,29); that He never turned away anyone who came to Him for healing, but healed them all (Matthew 9:35; Luke 6:17-19); that He bore our sicknesses and pains, and by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5; Matthew 8:16-17; 1 Peter 2:24) — then we will begin to heal as Jesus and His disciples did. Our prayer will not be if, but when. It will not be please, but thank You! That is the prayer of faith.



Healing Scriptures and Prayers

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Faith is a Conductor

Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.

And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”

When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”

But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from me.”

Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.

And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; you faith has made you well. Go in peace.” (Luke 8:43-48)
Faith is a conductor for the power of God. Many people must have brushed up against Jesus, as Peter suggested, but only one touched Him in faith. Matthew’s account records of this woman, “For she said to herself, ‘If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well’” (Matthew 9:21). This woman had faith and she knew how to release it: She called for what she desired, and believed in her heart that she would receive it. Then when she touched Jesus, she received what she believed.

When this woman released her faith, she received a great release of the power of God. She perceived this power when she realized that she had immediately been healed. Jesus Himself perceived that power had gone out of Him, and clearly said so. That is how He knew that someone had touched Him so distinctly in faith.

The Greek word for power is dunamis. It is the substance that went forth from Jesus’ body, through His garment and into the woman. It was the power of God, resident in the body of Jesus Christ, that healed this woman, but her faith was the conductor that laid hold of this mighty power and conveyed it from the body of Jesus into her own.

Now the power of God was available and more than sufficient for any and every need this woman might have had. It just so happens that, in her case, the great need was for healing. If her need had been different, her faith could have conducted the power of God in the same way to meet it. On a different occasion, Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23).

When you learn how to activate your faith (see Mark 11:22-25), it will be a strong conductor for releasing the power of God, not only to meet every need in your life, but also to minister it to the lives of others.



Healing Scriptures and Prayers

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Receive Your Healing

By “receive,” I don’t mean that you simply sit back and wait for somebody to hand it to you or wait for it to land in your lap. I mean that you welcome it, embrace it, lay hold of it, lay claim to it, appropriate it. I’m talking about an active receptivity, not a passive “wait and see.” We are to walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Many people want to have the manifestation of healing first, and then they will go ahead and receive. But that is backwards. First we receive, then comes the manifestation.

Remember the woman with the issue of blood (Luke 8:43-48). She was very receptive toward her healing. As she pursued Jesus through the crowd, she kept saying to herself, “If I can just touch the hem of His garment, I’ll be healed.” She was not waiting for the manifestation of her healing to come before she believed it. She received it by faith while she was waiting for the manifestation. The result is that, when she finally laid hands on the hem of Jesus’ robe, healing power went out from Him into her body and her healing manifested.

In another place, Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24). Notice the difference in tense between “receive” and “will have.” Receiving in present tense (actually, the NASB says, “believe you have received” — past tense). The having is future tense.

Notice what the woman with the issue of blood did. She believed she received her healing when she prayed (went to the Lord) for her healing. Jesus commended her for her faith: “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well” (Luke 8:48).

Jesus has already done everything that is necessary for you to have your healing. Isaiah tells us that Messiah (the Christ) came to bear your sicknesses as well as your sins. All you have to do is receive it. Receive your healing in Jesus’ name. Then watch for the manifestation.



Healing Scriptures and Prayers

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Thursday, October 6, 2005

Healing in the Atonement

Surely He has borne our griefs
  And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
  Smitten by God, and afflicted.

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
  He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
  And by His stripes we are healed.
(Isaiah 53:4-5)
Heard a bit of silliness on the radio tonight, as I rode down to Subway for dinner. Hank Hanegraaff was finishing up his broadcast (“The Bible Answer Man”) and, apparently, someone phoned in with a question about healing and the atonement (the work of Jesus on the cross).

Mr. Hanegraaff’s opinion is that healing is not guaranteed for us in this life. Though Isaiah 53:5 states, “By His stripes we are healed,” he maintains that this is not at all about physical, bodily healing, but solely about spiritual healing.

Isaiah 53 is a messianic passage. It foretells of the Messiah and the role He plays in God’s eternal plan. We understand this to be about Jesus. In verse five we see that “He was wounded for our transgressions and wounded for our iniquities.” In verse six, we learn that He was not simply wounded because of them, but that He actually bore them in our place: “The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Now, let’s turn our attention to verse 4 for a moment. It says that Messiah “has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” The Hebrew words behind “griefs” and “sorrows” literally mean “sicknesses” and “pains.” Clearly, this is a reference to bodily afflictions and illnesses.

Hanegraaff does acknowledge that this is so, and is wise to do so. It is hard to deny, especially when Matthew’s Gospel, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, attributes this verse to the healing ministry of Jesus:

When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast the spirits with a word, and healed al who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

“He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.”
(Matthew 8:16-17)
Isaiah 53:4 is undoubtedly about healing, including healing of the body. Christians who believe and teach that healing is included in the atonement often use this verse to show that. But more often than not, the reference to healing is made using verse 5, where it clearly states, “And by His stripes we are healed.” It is a good summary statement, and it is plain in the English text.

Hanegraaff finds that ironic. That is because he has convinced himself that verse 5 has absolutely nothing to do with bodily healing but is solely about spiritual healing. To his thinking, those of us who teach healing in the atonement might have reason to find bodily healing in verse 4, but since verse 5 is only about spiritual healing (to his way of thinking), it is totally off-base to use it to teach bodily healing.

That Hanegraaff would find that to be ironic struck me as silly and obtuse. What is truly ironic is that he would acknowledge bodily healing in verse 4 but totally deny it in verse 5.

He has somehow developed a disconnect between verses 4 and 5. He argues well how the healing in verse 5 is spiritual healing. But who denies that? No doubt, spiritual healing is included. But that does not mean that physical healing is thereby left out. To limit this verse to bodily healing would certainly be incorrect. But then, so is limiting it to spiritual healing.

Fortunately, we don’t have to choose between them — they are both present in the atonement. We don’t have to read bodily healing into that verse (which would be eisegesis). Rather, by exegesis, we discover that bodily healing is already present in that verse by its immediate context. Isaiah was not suddenly changing his topic to something completely different. No, he was simply expanding his topic.

It is perfectly within context to understand verse 5 as including bodily healing because it is specifically declared (in the Hebrew) in verse 4.

On the other hand, to deny that verse 5 includes bodily healing is to rip the verse from its context. You have to disconnect it from verse 4 to suppose that it has only to do with spiritual healing.

Bodily healing is just as much in the atonement as spiritual healing, and they both belong to all those who receive the Lord Jesus Christ.



Healing Scriptures and Prayers

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Healing in His Corners

But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings.
(Malachi 4:2)
This is a messianic prophecy. It tells us about the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. He is the light of the world, radiating with the glory of God’s rightness. And He has come with healing in His wings.

The Hebrew word for “wings” is very interesting. It is the word kanaph. What is interesting is that we find this word in another place where it means “corners.”

Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners [kanaph] of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners [kanaph]. (Numbers 15:37-38)

This is the garment that came to be known as the tallit, a prayer shawl. It was a rectangle of cloth with tassels at each corner (kanaph). Each tassel contained a ribbon of blue (a color symbolic of heaven). It was a symbol of the covenant, a reminder of the commandments of God. In Hebrew, it is called a tzitzit and refers to a fringe, a tassel, a lock (such as a lock of hair) — a wing-like projection (see Strong’s number H6734).

The word kanaph means corner, border, margin, edge, and it is often to a garment. It also refers, in a number of Scriptures to the farthest reaches of the earth, the “four corners.” And in many places, it is translated as “wing.”

The Sun of Righteousness rises with healing in His kanaph.

Perhaps you remember the story of the woman with the flow of blood, who pressed after Jesus so that she might touch Him and be healed.
Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. (Luke 8:43-44)
Jesus was an observant Jew, which meant that He wore the garment God prescribed in Numbers 15, which was meant to be worn “throughout the generations.” And on each corner was the requisite tassel.

This woman, desperately in need of healing, pursued Jesus through the crowd, crouching to touch this garment, which in those days extended almost to the ground. She was not simply reaching for the garment in general, she was specifically going after the “border.” The Greek word used here is kraspedon, and means “fringe” or “tassel.”

In Matthew’s account of this incident, we learn that she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well” (Mathew 9:21). She pursued with great focus and intent, reaching for that part of the garment which was given to remind the wearer of the covenant God made with His people, a covenant that included healing.

She pressed through until she grasped the tassel — the wing-like projection on the corner (kanaph) of His garment. The Greek word for “touch” does not mean that she merely brushed up against the tassel, but that she attached to it. With that very purposeful touch she released her faith and immediately she was healed — and knew it. Jesus also knew it. He wheeled around and said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me” (Luke 8:46). Her faith had laid hold of the covenant promise of God and released the healing power of the Messiah into her body.

This woman was not the only one who experience healing in the “wings” of Jesus. Many others came:
When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem [kraspedon] of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well. (Matthew 14:34-36)
Jesus is the Messiah, the Sun of Righteousness risen with healing in His “wings.” If you need healing, lay hold of Him now by faith and receive His healing power into your body.



Healing Scriptures and Prayers

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Friday, August 19, 2005

Rethinking Basic Discipleship

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature … And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. (Mark 16:15-18)
The Lord Jesus gave this commission to His disciples, and it is all part and parcel of preaching the Gospel — the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Notice first that there signs which will follow those who believe. Notice also that these signs will not merely follow the disciples, but will actually be performed by the disciples in the name of Jesus.

Jesus said, In My name they (those who believe) will:
  • Cast out demons.
  • Speak with new tongues.
  • Experience divine protection.*
  • Lay hands on the sick, and the sick will recover.
[*The bit about taking up serpents and drinking anything deadly is not a command to perform, but a promise of protection in case those things should happen. On the island of Malta, while Paul was collecting wood for the fire, he was accidentally bitten by a deadly snake. He should have immediately fallen ill and died — but he didn’t, and this increased his credibility with the islanders (Acts 28:3-6). Early Church history records the incident of a Christian leader who was deliberately poisoned but was not harmed by it.]

If these things are to follow those who believe the Gospel, how is it that so often they do not. We can trace the history of when and how these things began to fall away from the mainstream Church (Francis MacNutt does a good job of this in The Healing Reawakening: Reclaiming Our Lost Inheritance).

A lot of it was given up when the church developed the clergy/laity distinction (readily found in tradition, but not in the Bible). Only a special class of Christian was considered fit to pursue these ministries, and they pursued the less and less. When pride set in, they were not able to perform them even when they tried.

So there was a drought of these signs, but not a complete absence. They still turned up in many times and places in the history of the church. The attitudes of the institutionalized Church carried over into the Reformed and Evangelical Church and the signs were absent in these churches as well, not altogether, but to a significant degree.

Another reason for the lack is that the Gospel has often been limited, in modern Reformed and Evangelical churches, to salvation from sin. But Jesus never did this. Everywhere He went, He was always teaching and preaching the kingdom of God, casting out demons and healing all kinds of sickness and disease. Even His death on the cross was not limited to forgiveness of sin. The meaning of “salvation” in Scripture is much broader than that. The Greek and Hebrew words refer to deliverance, healing, wholeness, prosperity, and being rescued from whatever you need to be rescued from. And the name of Jesus in Hebrew, Yeshua, is actually the Hebrew word for salvation, so even His name includes healing and deliverance.

Is it any wonder then that whenever the Gospel is preached and believed, we should see people healed and delivered from demonic affliction? No, what we really ought to wonder about is when we don’t see those things.

Because of many of the traditions of the Church and the limiting of the Gospel to nothing more than the forgiveness of sins, many Christians have not been taught to expect these signs to follow. In fact, they have been taught to NOT expect them, even to reject the idea that they should happen at all.

Consequently, there is a big hole in their discipleship. For if these things — casting out demons, speaking in tongues, experiencing divine protection, and healing through the laying on of hands — are supposed to follow those who believe, then out not the basic instruction of new believers include how to minister and walk in these things?

Let that percolate a while (or if you prefer — Selah).

The need for these things has not disappeared. The Church has just largely forgotten how to minister them. Isn’t it time to rethink basic discipleship?



Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the History of the Church
Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit
in the History of the Church

by Jeff Doles

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Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Sunday, August 7, 2005

God’s Desire for You

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. (3 John 2)
This verse perfectly expresses God’s will and desire for you. It was written by the Apostle John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34), that is, He is ready to show equal favor to all who come to Him. That includes me and you.

In this verse, we see three things God desires to bring forth in your life:

1. Prosperity of soul. This is key, for out of it flows everything else. The Bible says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

2. Prosperity in all things. Not just spiritual things, not just physical things, not just financial things, and not in everything except finances — but in all things.. Listen to what the Lord says about those who delight in His Word and make it their constant meditation: “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper” (Psalm 1:3).

3. Health. Not just healing, but health. The Greek words means wellness, soundness, wholeness. Some Christians try to make a deal with God: “Heal me of cancer, Lord, and I’ll keep the diabetes.” That misses God’s will — He wants to heal us of everything, not just some thing, so that we can walk in divine health. God has identified Himself to us as “The LORD Who Heals You” (Exodus 15:26).

Wow! Consider what this means:
  • God does not want you to be soul-sick: full of anger, envy, jealousy, bitterness, unforgiveness, fear and doubt. Instead, He wants you to be full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control (the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23).
  • God does not want you to be broke. Poverty and lack do not come from Him. His plan for you is just the opposite — full provision and prosperity. Paul said, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8, study this passage and carefully note the financial context).
  • God does not want you to be afflicted with sickness or disease. He does not send them to punish you, teach you or humble you. In fact, they do not come from Him at all. He can certainly teach you in the midst of sickness, to help you overcome by faith, but He does not send them to you.
Now, some Christians (especially those afflicted with a religious spirit) are so blown away by these promises that they feel they have to explain them away. “Oh, that’s John’s way of greeting people. He doesn’t really mean all that.” Or, “John simply means spiritual blessing, nothing more” (as if the spiritual realm has nothing to do with the natural realm — see The Connection Between Spiritual and Natural). Or “It is just John’s wish, not God’s will.” They are not ready to give themselves fully to the abundance of God’s grace.

But the Holy Spirit does not use words lightly. Neither does John. John’s prayer is given to us precisely because it reflects the heart of God for His people. You and I might say, in a very perfunctory manner, “Hi, how are you? Hope you’re doing well,” and not really be thinking about what we’re saying. But God is not like that. He does not use words lightly — what He says, He means. He will do all that He promises, and if we are willing to believe, we shall receive it.

John much more than spiritual prosperity in mind. He covers that aspect under “just as your soul prospers.” The health he prays for is the health of the body. Prosperity in all things includes physical, financial, family, business, ministry and every other kind of prosperity — in addition to prosperity of soul. As we have already seen, prosperity in all other things is actually based upon prosperity of soul.

Of course, there are many Christians who do not experience prosperity in all things, in their bodies, or even prosperity in their souls. That is because, although God desires to bring these things forth in their lives, they are not automatic. We must receive them by faith and resist the devil. You see, it is the devil, not God, who sends sickness, lack and failure into your life. But the Bible says that, if you submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee from you (James 4:7).

You submit to God by believing His promises and obeying His Word. You resist the devil by refusing to accept sickness, lack and inner turmoil in your life. This does not mean that you deny their reality, but that you deny their right to be in your life. If you have somehow given those things a right to afflict you, you can deal with that by repenting, confessing and renouncing whatever has given the devil a place in you. God is faithful both to forgive and to cleanse you from all everything that is not right in your life (1 John 1:9). Then keep speaking the promises of God over lack, sickness and confusion. The devil will flee and the abundance of God will begin to come forth.

God’s desire is for you to prosper in all things and be in health, even as your soul prospers. So submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you, taking his afflictions with him.



Healing Scriptures and Prayers

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Friday, April 29, 2005

The Blessing or the Curse ~ No In-Between

I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)
There is only blessing or cursing. There is nothing else — no middle ground, no neutral zone. If you are not under the blessing, you are under the curse. Just as darkness is nothing more than the absence of light, and evil is nothing more than the absence of good, so the curse is nothing more than the absence of blessing.

The blessing corresponds to life, the cursing to death. These affect, not only ourselves, but our families, our children, our descendants. The Bible says that the iniquity of the fathers who hate the Lord haunts the children to the third and fourth generations (Deuteronomy 5:9). But those who love the Lord and keep His commandments enjoy His blessing for a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 5:9, 7:9).

Although there is only blessing and cursing, and no in-between, many people experience both blessing and cursing. If there is blessing in your life, it may well relate back to someone, or many, in your family tree who honored the Lord, even thousand generations ago. Likewise, if there is cursing in your life, it may also relate back to previous generations. Which one will you ratify?

God gives you the choice — life or death, blessing or cursing. HINT: Choose life!

If you have blessing in your family history, praise God and get into agreement with it. Add to it by turning to the Lord and honoring Him through faith and love. If you have cursing in your family history (and who doesn’t?), know that the Lord Jesus Christ came to free you from it. Understand, also, that you can be the one who introduces blessing into you generations:
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13-14)
Not only the removal of the curse, but the impartation of blessing comes through faith in Jesus Christ. There is no other way, no in-between. Which will you choose for you and your children?

Listen to Choosing Life (in MP3), one of the tracks from Healing Scriptures & Prayers Volume 2: New Testament. This album, available in MP3 as well as CD, features readings by Jeff Doles from his book, Healing Scriptures and Prayers, along with relaxing background music to help you meditate on the healing promises of God.



Healing Scriptures and Prayers

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

The Nearly Perfect Crime

The Nearly Perfect Crime
How the Church Almost Killed the Ministry of Healing
by Francis MacNutt

Francis MacNutt has written an insightful book about how the ministry of healing has been greatly diminished in the Church for centuries (almost 1600 hundred years!). Healing was a major part of the ministry of Jesus and His disciples, the record of which takes up about a third of the Gospels, not to mention the book of Acts. Throughout, MacNutt emphasizes the importance of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, not just for healing ministry, but for every ministry.

MacNutt shows how healing ministry flourished for the first three centuries, and was then sidelined by nominal Christianity beginning with the Constantinian era. He details how ecclesiastical structures and the developing clergy/laity distinction quickly began to remove healing ministry from the hands of the people — it became a work for the “super-spiritual,” and few could qualify to perform it (some of the Desert Fathers, for example). Healing shortly became the province of relics and shrines — and the clergy no longer had to deal with embarrassing questions when healings did not occur at their hands.

He also talks about how the purpose of God’s love and compassion in healing had been severely neglected in the intervening centuries. Healing ministry became viewed strictly as a validation of truth, but was no longer necessary for faith. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” became the watchword, and interest in the display of God’s love through healing fell by the way.

MacNutt discusses how the Platonic split between body and soul, and the severe doctrines of the Manichees (i.e. the intrinsic evil of the flesh, and especially of sexuality) further eviscerated the ministry of healing. During the middle ages, the development of the “divine right of kings” generated “the Royal Touch,” and healing ministry was limited, by law, to the monarchs of England and France.

Although a committed Roman Catholic, MacNutt believes that the Reformation did not extend far enough in its scope — the Reformers continued to ignore the reality of healing ministry. Oh, they recognized that there had once been such a thing in Jesus’ day, but now that time was past, and the ministry had ceased. So much for reformation!

But all along the way, there have been healing ministers and ministries among the people, arising in times of revival and when people were desperate for a healing touch from God. In the last 300 hundred years there have been some glimpses of healing ministry arising again, then faltering. Then it began trending upward in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, mostly among the pentecostally inclined. These came to include the charismatic and “third wave” movements late in the mid-to-late 1900s, about which MacNutt writes from personal experience (the appendix is a testimony of how he received the baptism, or “release” of the Holy Spirit, into his life and ministry).

In all, Francis MacNutt brings us understanding about the decline of healing ministry, but also a hope and a challenge to welcome the release of the Holy Spirit and healing ministry back into the Western Church  — just as it has been increasingly been experienced in the Third Word Church.

The Nearly Perfect Crime (now available at Amazon.com)

Thursday, January 6, 2005

The Worship / Healing Connection

Just received an email from a friend who is a worship leader. She expressed her desire to explore more deeply the connection between worship and healing.

Indeed, there is a connection, a very powerful one. Its about prosperity of soul, a matter of the heart. The Apostle John revealed this key when he prayed for his friend Gaius:
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. (3 John 2)
The prosperity of the soul, the inward being, has much to do with the health of the body and the prosperity of the outer man. Simply put, prosperity is success and well-being. The well-being of a person’s soul is a determining factor in the well-being of their life.

A person who walks in prosperity of soul can expect also to experience good health and success in all their affairs. Conversely, if success is lacking and health is failing, perhaps there is something in their inner life which needs their attention.

Worship is an activity that tends to bring the soul into well-being. One reason is that worship is not self-centered (although some Christians approach worship in a way that is very nearly self-centered). The soul that focuses on itself is a soul that is withering on the vine, cut off from its source. True worship is an antidote because it focuses the heart on God alone — and that is the road to soul prosperity.

That’s just one connection between worship and healing. Another connection is what happens when we gather in Jesus’ name, which is what we do in worship. Jesus said that where two or more gather in His name, He is there in the midst of them.

To gather in the name of Jesus means, again, that it is all about Him. The focus is not on us, its on Him. We are there for His purposes, to bring forth His will, to express His heart, to do His works. That is how His presence gets manifested.

When Jesus is in our midst, He is there to do what He has always done, because He never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. So just as, in His earthly ministry, Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, so it is today as He gathers in our midst. He is ready to heal and set free all who come to Him — the worship/healing connection.

Baptism and the Lord’s Table are also signs of His presence. They are a revelation of who He is and what He came to do. Historically, from the very early days of the Church, the celebrations of these sacraments* have been occasions for healing.
In worship, we pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Worship is a revelation of heaven, where there is no sickness or disease. When we understand that, we begin to see that the will of God being done on earth will include the healing of those who are sick.

There are certainly other connections we can find between worship and healing, but meditate on these for now.

The Bible says that God is looking for those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. So ask the Holy Spirit to show you Jesus, who is the Truth. For it is the role of the Holy Spirit to take the things of Jesus and reveal them to us. When you come into that place of worship, you will find it to be a place of healing.

* A sacrament is an outward, visible sign of an inward, spiritual reality.



Healing Scriptures and Prayers

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Saturday, November 6, 2004

Developing a Bountiful Eye

God has always placed a premium on helping the poor. Let the following passages soak in a bit.

Blessed is he who considers the poor;
The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive,
And he will be blessed on the earth;
You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
The LORD will strengthen him on his bed of illness;
You will sustain him on his sickbed.
(Psalm 41:1-3)
The blessing of the Lord — deliverance, preservation, strength and healing — belongs to those who help the poor.
“He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD,
And He will pay back what he has given.” (Proverbs 19:17)
When we give to the poor, we are lending to the Lord. How we treat others bears a direct relationship to how our heart is toward the Lord. Remember the dividing of the sheep and goat nations in Matthew 25:31-46? How we treat Jesus’ brethren is exactly how we are treating Him.

The Apostle John said, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21).

Whenever we give to the poor, it is the Lord who will repay, and He always pays back with interest — good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over (Luke 6:38).
He who has a bountiful eye will be blessed,
For he gives of his bread to the poor. (Proverbs 22:9)
Develop a bountiful heart. If you sow bountifully, you will also reap bountifully. You see, there is a flow to blessing. The more you let it flow through you to others, the more you will experience its energizing current. It is the love of God in action.
He who gives to the poor will not lack,
But he who hides his eyes will have many curses.(Proverbs 28:27)
You do not come out a loser when you give to the poor, only when you turn away from them. Give to the poor and you will not lack, for God will take care of you.

Faith point: Faith works through love (Galatians 5:6). The NIV says, “faith expressing itself through love.” Or as the Amplified Bible has it: “faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love." Remember the poor by your faith expressing itself through love.



Healing Scriptures and Prayers

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.