why isn’t everybody healed?...

james 5.16a (msg), make this your common practice: confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed.

we are a whole – physical, emotional, spiritual.  when the SPIRITual is out of kilter it affects your emotions.  when your emotions are out of kilter it affects your body.  we talk about psychosomatic illnesses.  they are real but they come from within ourselves.

why isn’t everybody healed?  i don’t know.  GOD has the power but it isn’t his purpose in different situations.  it is always in GOD’s power to heal but it is not always in GOD’s purpose to heal.  a clear example of this is paul, in 1 corinthians.  it said paul prayed three times for GOD to heal a problem in his life but three times GOD said “no, I’ve got a better plan for you, Paul.”

so what’s the condition for healing?  confess.  we’d rather conceal and camouflage our sins, than confess them.  it is a liberating experience to confess your sins and get them out and share them, not just with the LORD but with each other.  revealing your feeling is the beginning of healing. 

many people come for counseling and begin by saying, “i’ve never told this to anyone else in the world.”  once they say that, i know that something great is going to happen.  i know what a relief it is to not carry a burden anymore, to get it out and share it with somebody else so you can be loved and accepted for who you are without having to pretend you’re perfect and wear a mask.

“confess to each other” – does that mean i get up and confess to the whole church?  there is a principle of the circle of confession.  only confess as widely as it involves other people.

if i’ve got a private sin, just between me and the LORD, then i ought to just confess it to the LORD.  if it’s a personal sin, between me and you, then i need to come to you.  if it’s a public sin, then i need to apologize to the whole church.  he says confess your sins, not broadcast them.  if it involves somebody else you ought to go to somebody else.  there ought to be at least one person – husband, wife, pastor, friend – you have that you can share everything with and know you’ll be loved and accepted unconditionally. 

just a thought from the front porch…

what about sickness and sin?…

when i’m hurting spiritually, james says we are to pray.

james 5.16a (msg), make this your common practice: confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed.

in JESUS’ day and in many places today it is taught that all sickness is a result of sin. if you are ill, then supposedly you had some hidden sin in your life.  if you confessed and still were sick then you still had some other hidden sin.  JESUS blew that idea out of the water in john 9 where HE said to the man who had been born blind that nobody sinned. 

i think this is a very unfair concept.  you think of babies being born with birth defects – obviously that baby hasn’t sinned.  we live in a fallen world and part of that problem is there are hurts and problems.

on the other hand, JESUS did teach that a lot of the sickness we bring on our lives we do bring upon ourselves.  if i don’t follow GOD’s principles, my body is going to find out about it.  if i don’t take care of my body, eat right, sleep right, exercise right, then all kinds of ailments will come upon me. 

if i don’t listen to GOD’s word where it says, don’t be anxious about anything, but pray about everything and i worry, fret, get anxious and i get an ulcer, then i’m to blame for it.  if i allow resentment to build up in my life... doctors say it’s not so much what you eat but what’s eating you that makes the difference ... resentment can take its toll in your life and it makes a big difference.  if i don't trust GOD and i allow these things to come into my life there will be sin. 

confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed.

many years ago a pastor was invited to see a man who was paralyzed from the waist down and had not been in church for about nine months.  the pastor began to talk with him and he was a very bitter man, just filled with resentment.  a cow had kicked him in the back and paralyzed him.  he was bitter against members who hadn’t visited him, bitter against the insurance company for not paying off, bitter against the doctor for not figuring out how to make him walk, bitter against the cow, bitter against GOD.  he was very resentful. 

the pastor said, “GOD may want to heal you and restore you to full health, but HE will not heal you until first you get rid of that resentment in your life.”  the pastor said, he remembered the man bowing his head and he began to weep, almost uncontrollably, deep sobs, “GOD, i have been so bitter.  just flush all the anger and hate from me.”  he wept for about 10 minutes. 

the pastor then prayed with him and he left.  the next day the man came to church, in a wheelchair, the first time he'd been in church in nine months.  at the end of the service the pastor gave a “come forward” invitation to people who wanted to come and pray.  the man got up out of his wheelchair and walked down to the front and recommitted his life to the LORD. 

what happened?  there was a block in his life that was keeping GOD from doing what HE wanted to do in his life.  when he got his SPIRITual act together, the other fell into place.

just a thought from the front porch… 

five different attitudes toward healing…

now there are approximately five different attitudes toward healing.  there are a lot of different divisions about healing. 

1.  the sensationalist.  these are the guys you see on tv.  they come into town and hold giant meetings in large auditoriums, advertising miracles.  there’s bright lights, tv cameras rolling. often the healer is flamboyant.  he shouts at the people, slaps them on the head.  it is often a highly charged emotional atmosphere. 

i don’t see JESUS doing this.  HE did the exact opposite in his healing.  in all of JESUS’ healing HE took them aside from the crowd, where they are out of the glare of the public, talked with them on a one on one basis, healed them there and then it was reported to the crowd.  JESUS never manipulated people and never used them for show.  HE always cared about their needs more than HE did about making an impression on the crowds.  HE healed people quietly.

by the way, just because something is a miracle doesn’t mean it’s from GOD.  JESUS said in matthew 7, many will come in that day and say, “LORD, LORD didn’t we do many miracles in your name?”  JESUS will say, “i didn't even know you.”

2.  the confessionalists.   the confessionalists say that it is always GOD’s will for everybody to be healed.  this is the name it and claim it group.  sickness is a result of sin and all you need to do is claim your healing and GOD will heal.  if you’re not healed you lack faith.  the result of that is if there’s no healing there's an awful lot of guilt.  “maybe i just didn't believe enough.”  false doctrine always creates false guilt.  always. 

these confessionalists say it’s just the way you talk, you’ll get it.  i claim i have a cadillac and i get a cadillac.  the problem with this is, it makes GOD a genie.  all of a sudden GOD is serving me, my needs, my whims rather than me serving HIM.

what about the verse in i peter 5.19 (niv), those who suffer according to the will of GOD.  sometimes suffering is the will of GOD.

3.  dispensationalists.  the dispensationalists are those who say the gifts of healing were only for new testament times and they’re no longer around anymore.  don’t bother looking for those gifts.  it was great back in those days but they're not here. 

i have a problem with that view because hebrews 13.8 (niv) says, JESUS CHRIST is the same yesterday, today and forever.   i believe that HE is.

4.  rationalists.  these are the people who say it’s just all in your mind.  if you’re ill it’s because you think you’re ill.  just deny it and you’ll be ok.  this is the CHRISTian science cult among others.  just deny it’s happening and it will go away.

5.  i think james would be a realist.  this recognizes two facts.  one, the fact that GOD still does heal.  HE does heal but not everybody gets healed.  that is also a fact of life.  GOD does heal people today, but two, HE doesn't heal everybody.  i think life is an example of that.

just a thought from the front porch… 

three different kinds of sickness…

james here in chapter 5 says we should pray when we are hurting physically.  verses 14-15 (msg), are you sick? call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the master. believing-prayer will heal you, and JESUS will put you on your feet. and if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven—healed inside and out.

now the word “sick” in greek, literally means “without strength”.   you are totally wasted, fatigued, bedridden, unable to work.  not just acid indigestion or postnasal drip.  this guy has a serious illness here that is keeping him from actually working.  it’s the word most frequently used for illness.  he’s talking about a serious illness here.

when you’re beyond the help of a doctor, you pray.  the elders of the church are to come and pray over him and anoint him with oil.

the scripture teaches that there are three different kinds of sickness.

first there is the sickness for death.  it’s covered in 1 john 5.16, john 11.4.  that kind of sickness GOD allows to take us on home to be with HIM.  there will be an illness someday that you will never recover from because GOD doesn’t want you to live indefinitely.  if every sickness could be healed by faith then anybody who had a lot of faith would never die.  there is a sickness for the purpose of taking you on home. 

then there’s a sickness for discipline.  the purpose for a sickness for discipline, which is covered in 1 corinthians 11.28-32 where they were abusing the LORD’s supper.  paul said, because they were abusing the LORD’s supper was the reason some of them were sick.  the LORD is disciplining you because you’re out of the will of GOD.  when we sin it does bring sickness into our lives. 

the third kind of sickness is sickness for the glory of GOD. the sickness for the glory of GOD is a sickness that GOD has allowed in your life simply because HE wants to heal you of it and let it be a testimony to the world. 

john 11.4 a man came to JESUS who was ill and blind.  the disciples said, “LORD, who’s sinned, him or his parents?”  JESUS said, “nobody’s sinned, this is a sickness for the glory of GOD.”  then HE healed the guy and it brought glory to GOD.

there are three kinds of sickness:  sickness for death, sickness for discipline, sickness for the glory of GOD.  the last is the kind GOD wants to heal. 

just a thought from the front porch…

wrestling and healing…

and more than wrestling, jacob finds a healing. 

remember JESUS CHRIST is the great physician.  HE knew all about healing.  HE knew what it was to take a man who was paralyzed from birth and to touch him and pray for him and say, “now arise and walk.”  and HE took his mat and walked.  JESUS knew all about healing but this was a healing of a very different kind.  in this healing HE’s going to cripple a man in order to heal his soul.  HE’s going to bring a limp into his life in order to bring a new dependence upon GOD.  it’s important to see that jacob was wrestling with GOD. 

i don’t know what you’re wrestling over but you can understand the concept of wrestling.  maybe it’s over an unanswered prayer.  maybe it’s over a character change you just can’t see happening in your life.  maybe it’s over a habit that you’re struggling with.  maybe it’s over the way you feel GOD wants to mange your relationships and you don’t think they should be managed that way.  maybe it’s over a decision.

whatever you’re wrestling with, the real question is – whether it’s a real wrestling match with two people out on a mat at high school or it’s a wrestling match in your soul with GOD – the question in wrestling is who is in control.  who’s on top?  in a wrestling match with GOD, who’s going to be in control? 

ron dunn in his book when heaven is silent said jacob had prayed for protection from esau but what he really needed was protection from GOD.  esau was not his problem.  GOD was his problem.  and GOD was his solution.

jacob is wrestling with GOD not satan, not his enemies, not evil society, not even his own self will.  he’s wrestling with GOD’s will in his life.  believer in JESUS CHRIST, we all come to those points in our lives where we wrestle with GOD’s will in our lives. 

just a thought from the front porch…