In the middle of October, we hosted a healing conference here at Vineyard Columbus. A Vineyard pastor from Northern Ireland, named Alan Scott, led the conference. More than four dozen people took the time to write a brief testimony of healing that either they or a family member personally experienced. Here are a few of those stories.
My wife has had breast cancer twice. She had a tumor on the right side of her chest. Obviously we were concerned. She went up for prayer, escorted by our grandson. Following the prayer time, the tumor disappeared. Thank God.
My daughter had been having seizures on a regular basis since May despite all the treatments we have tried. At the [healing] conference, my family and I stayed up in the prayer area during ministry time and probably had 8-10 different people pray for us over the course of about 45 minutes. The last seizure my daughter had was that morning. In the time that has followed, she has not had any. We ask that you would continue to pray for her full healing.
I was healed of a back issue that was the result of an injury I suffered working on a car in 1979. I had this for 39 years, either stiffness or pain all of the time. Not Now! God is so good. My back is now as it was before this happened.
Friday night I had a powerful experience. I received complete healing from the chronic neck pain I've suffered with for almost 15 years. My neck was full of arthritis and the pain that I've experienced has prevented me from even driving. Friday night as I drove into the parking lot, my neck was locked up and I was in incredible pain. God healed me during the first call for healing on Friday night. I'm still amazed by God's incredible grace over me and still find myself surprised at his goodness! Crazy good!
In order to recover a healing ministry, we need to answer two questions. First, does God want to heal the sick? And second, why does God want to heal the sick?
Most people who believe in God believe that God can heal, but many are not sure thatGod wants to heal. Sometimes we reason: "Since God is all powerful, sickness must be God's will. Otherwise, how do you explain the fact that it exists?" But for those of us who believe the Bible, we can never say, "Everything that exists exists the way God wants it to be." Jesus entered the world precisely because the world was not functioning in the way that God wanted the world to function.
The will of God is described to us by the phrase, "the kingdom of God." The kingdom of God is life under the dynamic rule of God. The kingdom of God is the way life would be, if only God's will were done as opposed to the will of sinful men and women, or the will of Satan and his followers. The kingdom of God is characterized by peace, justice and mercy. The kingdom of God looks like the addicted being set free from their addictions, the hungry being fed, the immigrant being welcomed, the oppressed being liberated and the sick being healed.
Again, it is important to understand that poverty, oppression, sickness and injustice arenot the will of God. Because some people kill does not mean that murder is God's will; in fact, God has commanded us to not kill.
Does God want to heal? When we pray for the sick, we are not trying to change God's mind. God's mind has been revealed to us in Christ. When we pray for the sick, we're trying to receive what God has for us in that moment, which is often healing!
Why does God heal? There are several reasons that the Bible gives for why Christ healed. First, the Gospel writers frequently note that Jesus healed because he was motivated bycompassion and pity for the sick. We read about Jesus' pity toward two blind beggars in Matthew 20:34, "Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him." Likewise, we are told that Jesus had compassion on crowds of sick people.
The word "compassion" is the English translation of the Greek "splanchna," which refers to the inward parts, the entrails; we would say, "a person's guts." Jesus heals because of a gut feeling of pity and sympathy. Jesus sees crying human need and his heart goes out to people who are suffering and in pain.
Why does Jesus heal? Because healing restores people to the family of God. In Jesus' day, many people were excluded from being full members of Israel's worshipping community because of their sickness. Lepers were ritually unclean; so were the blind, the lame, the deaf and those who had bodily discharges. When a sick person got well because of Jesus, not only did they receive physical healing, but also they were welcomed back into the community of God's people.
So it is today! We no longer have categories of ritually unclean people, but it is the tragic case that the sick are often cut off from the church. Folks who suffer physically can find it too difficult to sit through a church service. The deaf can't participate in many conversations. Those who have seizures are not permitted to drive. The bottom line is that sickness cuts people off from community and healing restores fellowship.
Jesus healed to demonstrate that the kingdom of God had come and that God's promises to Israel were being fulfilled. The kingdom of God is the dynamic reign of God. Jews in Jesus' day looked forward to the time when "the blind would receive their sight, the lame would walk, those who had leprosy would be cleansed, the deaf would hear, the dead would be raised, and good news would be preached to the poor." Jesus healed to demonstrate the truth of his message that the kingdom of God had broken in through his coming into the world.
Jesus heals for the same reason today: so that people would know that through Jesus Christ, God's dynamic reign has entered the world; that the world is not the same as it was before Christ, but instead a new power has come; that faith in Jesus is not just another belief system in the marketplace of religions, but rather an experience of bringing one's whole life under the true God's powerful reign.
Never doubt that God wants to heal. He is compassionate. He is welcoming. And the kingdom of God has broken into this world through the Messianic King, Jesus of Nazareth.