Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, May 23rd. Today we explore the often confusing subject of God's promise to heal as our series on the promises of God continues. I can think about in my own life, early in life, that the first time that I ever remember an issue about healing. Walked into the bedroom one day and my mother was lying there and she could hardly breathe. She said, I can't breathe very well. And what I heard as a little boy is I can't breathe, period. I didn't know what to do.
I didn't know who to talk to. The only thing I knew to do was to get on my knees and pray. Now listen, this is the same mom for whom I cannot even begin to tell you when she started kneeling by the bedside with me, not teaching me how to pray as such, but so praying she taught me how to pray.
And here at this point, I was less than twelve years old, probably ten or eleven, somewhere thereabouts. Now I'm down with the bed praying for her. Would I ever forget that?
Never on your life. And I think oftentimes God is so willing to answer our prayer. I prayed for her as a kid. I don't know what I prayed. I just knew that my heart was hurt and that I was scared and that the only person I knew to talk to about it was God. I prayed and my mom was well.
She got up the next day and to my knowledge, I never saw her in that position again. God hears the prayers of His children, whether they're little children or big children. He's listening no matter what. And I think about how God does heal. He heals in different ways.
And sometimes we're critical of people because we don't understand. I remember I had an aunt, her name was Dora, and she'd been sick for quite some time and the bed couldn't even get out of the bed. And so, she was listening to the radio one day and she called my mother and she said, I've been listening to the radio and you know how sick I've been. And the preacher, he said, if you'll put your hand on the radio and ask God to heal you and believe Him for healing, God will heal you today.
Well, in her desperation, that's exactly what she did. She put her hand on the radio and she prayed for God to heal her. And that afternoon she got healed. She called my mom.
She said, I'm out of the bed. I'm healed. Well, that got my attention. Somebody says, well, do you think He healed your aunt?
No, indeed. There's only one healer. But the Bible speaks of the gifts of healing, that God heals people as a gift. And what happens is He raises up His servants who have the faith to believe that God will give a gift of healing to this person or that or whoever it might be. Jesus didn't heal everybody.
And in fact, the truth is no man other than God has ever healed anybody. But He uses His servants to stimulate the faith for people to believe that God is who He says He is. So, let's look at the apostles for a moment. And in Acts, that third chapter, turn there for a moment. And you remember that Peter and John are going up to the temple early to pray and so forth. And they meet this man lying at the temple entrance there.
And so, the Scripture says in the third chapter, A man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to sit down every day at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, in order to beg arms of those who were entering the temple. And so, when he saw them, he thought, well, here's an opportunity for me to get a little something more. He looked at Peter and he said he wanted something.
And Peter said to him, I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene. Walk. I command, walk.
Then I love this. Naturally, the guy was probably shocked. What do you mean, walk?
I can't even stand up, let alone walk. The Bible says, And Peter seized him by the right hand, and he raised him up immediately at his feet, and his ankles were strengthened. And he leaped up and started dancing around, went in the temple dancing around. So, Peter realized that at that moment, watch this, he said to him, Get up, stand up.
He knew what he was feeling. All he needed was a little encouragement and a little help. And I think sometimes when I read that passage, I think about how many people just need a little help. Trust God, encourage them.
Encourage them to do what God wants them to do, to be what God wants them to be. And this is what's happening. And so, when I think about the fact that Peter's reputation was such, they said, He's coming and you don't even have to touch Him. All you need to do is let His shadow fall on you, and you'll be healed. And so, healing was a major, major issue in those days. Philip, for example, when he was called to the Lord, he began to preach and to teach and people began to be healed.
God began to work. And so, healing was God's way of getting the attention of the world of that day and focusing it upon Jesus and upon the early church because those things continue to happen. Now, it's interesting that the apostle Paul, you would think the apostle Paul would be the healer of all healers. In the book of Acts, there is only one occurrence in which the apostle Paul heals anybody. And you have to turn all the way to the last chapter of the book of Acts, the twenty-eighth chapter. And to this point, Paul hasn't healed anybody, any evidence of it. And if you'll notice in this twenty-eighth chapter and the seven to the ninth verse, Scripture says, Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us courteously three days.
And it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed, afflicted with recurrent fever and dysentery. And Paul went in to see him, and after he had prayed, he laid his hands on him and healed him. And he said, Well, I'm going to give you the answer. And Paul said, Well, I'm going to give you the answer. Now, watch this. Only instance.
So now wait a minute. If he was following Jesus, why wasn't he, surely if he healed this man, why wasn't he healing these other people? Well, he gives us the answer in First Corinthians chapter one. And as Paul writes these Corinthians and explains to them in First Corinthians, it says, Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.
So, here's what he's really saying. God didn't call him to baptize. He called him to teach the truth of the Word of God.
Neither did he call him to heal. Imagine what would have happened if Paul had had a healing ministry. Well, first of all, he probably would have stayed out of jail, number one.
Number two, we probably wouldn't have the epistles. Paul began to teach the truth. Paul's ministry to the world. Paul explained the life of Jesus Christ, the purpose of Jesus Christ, the plan of Jesus Christ. In other words, he explained the life of Jesus. Jesus did many things, but Paul's explanation, his theology, the whole idea of predestination and the whole idea of salvation and sanctification, the whole idea of the indwelling Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit.
In other words, if you eliminate the epistles from the New Testament, we would be lacking greatly. But the apostle Paul, think about it, he ended up in one prison after the other. He suffered. In other words, no Roman prison was like a prison today, for example, television, all the things we know they didn't have.
But it was a place of suffering. But what did he do? He spent his time, he utilized his time doing what? Writing down what he knew God was teaching him so that others would know. And so, when I look at the apostle Paul and how God worked in his life, listen, the only time he talks about healing, if you'll turn to First Corinthians again, and go to the twelfth chapter. The twelfth chapter is Paul's explanation about spiritual gifts. And he talks about gifts, for example, ministry gifts of different sorts, knowledge and faith and so forth. But look, if you will, in this ninth verse. And to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by one Spirit. Now watch this carefully. Listen and say, Amen.
Watch this. He speaks of gifts of healing. No one has the gift of healing. God gives gifts of healing. For example, let's say that you pray for one of your friends and God heals them. Did God give you the gift of healing?
No. He gave that other person a gift of healing through you. And so, there are many people, for example, who have great faith. And they can pray for other people and they're healed. Somebody else is just as righteous, just as holy, just as godly, just as good, just as committed as this other person.
They don't have that. In other words, sometimes God gives people a gift of faith that is a result of their relationship to Him. And through that person, He gives gifts of healing. Heals that person, that's a gift. That person, that's a gift.
That person, that's a gift. This person, he doesn't heal them. I remember my grandfather told me when I was seventeen and I was visiting him. He told me, he said, now, at that time he was probably close to alien, maybe somewhere thereabouts. He'd never been to the doctor in his life. He said, I've never been to the doctor. I've always asked God to heal me.
He's healed me in every situation. He said, now don't you do that. I'm glad he told me that. Because I would have probably felt guilty the first time I went to the doctor thinking, oh God, you're going to strike me dead right here. And so, he never went to the doctor. But he said, don't you do that. Because he knew that that wouldn't work in my life. And so, God can use you, listen, to give somebody else a gift of healing.
It's not that you have the gift. You don't have to be a speaker and know the Word of God from cover to cover. God can heal other people through you. Not one of us is adequate within ourselves to do what God has called us to do.
We need other people's prayers. And if you look at the Apostle Paul, he didn't spend his time healing. In fact, he says, for example, in Second Timothy chapter four, that he left one of his friends.
Listen, here's what he says. Greet Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus, listen, remained at Corinth, but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus. If he'd have had a gift of healing and some sort, he would have left him sick. And besides that, how does Paul describe Luke? He describes beloved Luke. Luke was a physician, and on one occasion, he's with him in prison. Why do you think Luke went along with the Apostle Paul? Because he knew the Apostle Paul had some ailments. And of course, you remember that the Apostle Paul talked about this thorn in his flesh, and everybody in the theological world tried to figure out what that was. And I've heard everything from asthma to a nagging wife to all kind of things that Paul had. Nobody knows what he had. Let me tell you why God, do you know why God didn't tell us?
Here's why. Suppose, for example, Paul had asthma. Here's what would happen. If you had a big dose of asthma, you'd say, well, you know, I have the same problem Paul had.
You'd be bragging about it instead of complaining about it. He didn't tell us. And so, but here's what else I want you to see. God didn't heal him of it. And probably he had eye trouble. It's one of his problems because he talks about writing one of his epistles in large letters.
And on one occasion, he talks about large letters as his indication that he wrote it. Probably had eye problems. Listen, the same Jesus that said to Bartimaeus, what do you want me to do? And he said, Lord, that I might receive my sight. I'm sure Paul asked him to heal his sight.
Didn't do it. And what about that thorn or whatever that was? Let's say it was some physical thing and God didn't heal that either. Now, watch this. This is the key. You don't stop praying because God doesn't heal something when you ask Him to.
You ask Him, what does He have in mind? Why aren't you healing me? What's the issue here? And here's what Paul said. Paul said many times he went to the Lord and fasted and prayed. God didn't heal him. He said, here's the reason.
Maybe you should turn to this because maybe you're dealing with something like that. Look at that passage in Second Corinthians twelve and listen to what he says. Now, I want you to read it because he says he asked the Lord several times. Verse seven, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelation, for this reason to keep me from exalting myself that was giving me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself.
Concerning this, I implore the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions, difficulties, for Christ's sake. But when I'm weak, then I'm strong. You and I would not have the epistles we have if Paul had been healed instantly by Jesus.
He says, I've learned to be content in whatever state I'm in. And he was in a bad situation, circumstances, physical body, and in different ways. So, when sickness comes and there's no healing, then what we have to ask is, God, what are You up to? Does it mean God doesn't love us?
No. Does it mean that there's sin in your life? Not necessarily. It means that God has something He wants to do, something He wants to say, something He wants to change in our life, whatever it might be.
We have to be open to that. And so, when you look at the life of the Apostle Paul, he was God's choice servant to explain who God is and what He is like. And his whole redemptive plan. What about justification and sanctification? What about the atonement?
What about reconciliation? All these big words that Paul described and there's the essence of his whole redemptive plan. He wasn't a man who was healing anybody. He was a man who was suffering.
And the great healer strengthened him, enlightened him, blessed him, lifted him up, exalted him, and made every single one of us blessed as a result of it. So, you might ask the question, well, how does that affect me? Well, first of all, I'd simply say this. Next time you have something come along that bothers you physically, first response ought to be, Father, show me how I'm to respond to this. He may say to you, I want you to trust me. Or he may say to you, I want you to go to the doctor.
I would never tell anybody what to do about going to the doctor and not going, not opposed to doctors. God called them, many of them I'm sure. And so, the issue is I want to be God conscious. I want to be conscious that the Christ who saved me is still in the business of helping me walk through this life in the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. I want my mind to be oriented toward Him.
And whatever He does is fine. But we need to get our mind out of this worldly attitude. We run to the doctor quickly or we just help. We're not helpless. We're depending upon God. And so, you say, well, what about my children? Every mother and dad wants their children to be taken care of.
And that may be the thing you should do. I'm just saying as an adult, as a parent or whatever, that our thinking ought to be Jesus is my Savior, my Lord, my Master, and my Healer. He hasn't changed.
It's an expression of His love. So, I pray the Holy Spirit will speak to your heart and get your mind on Him. If you watch the television and all the ads about this solution and that solution, this medicine, that medicine, this tablet, and that capsule, and after they give you two reasons why you should take it and thirteen reasons why it could kill you. You know it's true, don't you?
Absolutely. Don't you think it's wiser to go to God first? And you see, we're being indoctrinated and don't even realize it. Our Heavenly Father has not changed.
He's still in the healing business. Amen? Now, if you're one of those persons who's never trusted Jesus as your Savior, you say, Well, how do I fit in all that?
You don't. You have no right to claim anything from Almighty God. He is a holy God.
You only have a right to claim something from Him when first of all, you accept Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son as your Savior, His death on the cross paying your sin dead and full. Once you're willing to ask Him to forgive you of your sins, surrender your life to Him, yield your life to Him, then you have the privilege, the authority, and the right to ask Him to heal you or whatever else may be going on. And He will do in answer to your prayer what He knows is best for you and His will in your life. It's the wisest decision you ever make in life. I pray that you'll do it. Thank you for listening to The Promise to Heal. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
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