[Biblemat] Divine Healing

[Robert Waters]

Greetings to all,
This subject has been being discussed on the new Yahoogroups list, Contend
For the Faith.  It has been a "tame" and profitable discussion.





*Divine Healing*

by Robert Waters



I believe in divine healing.  Actually, all healing is divine just as all
life comes from God. Without God there would be no life and no healing.



*When Does Healing Occur?*

Healing takes place as a direct result of prayer by God's intervention.

Healing takes place naturally i.e., through natural means.



*Healing and Prayer*

God heals in direct response to prayer, but onlyin cases where He
chooses.  There
are Bible examples that show us that not all who ask for healing are healed,
including Paul and Timothy (2 Cor. 12:7-9; 1Tim. 5:23).



Prayer may be helpful to some simply because of the fact of putting faith in
something.  It has a psychological affect.  This would explain why people
who are not true Christians (in Christ; Gal. 3:27; 1Cor. 12:13) see results
from prayer.  Prayer is a spiritual blessing for those in Christ (Eph. 1:3).




*Healing Naturally*

God created our body to be able to heal itself.  For the body to function
well in healing itself it needs all of the essential nutrients, and there
are about 70 in number.  Some respected physicians have reported that over
900 diseases are due to nutrient deficiencies.  Thus, we can avoid many
diseases simply by eating good food and taking food supplements to assure we
are getting enough nutrients – to include proteins, fats, minerals and
vitamins.  (And, many diseases can be cured by simply providing the body
with the things that are deficient.)  Plants cannot produce minerals.
Therefore,
if the soil on which the food you eat does not have certain essential
minerals you will be deficient in them, unless you use food
supplements.  Farmers
only put Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium back into the soil.  These are
all the nutrients needed to make their crop grow.  Selenium is important to
good health, but is not found in most of our souls in our country.  Also,
many of us don't eat enough of certain foods to get many of the nutrients we
need.  Thus, it is important that we take supplements.



The best course of action is PREVENTION.  Build up your immune system by
giving your body what it needs. Also,avoid the bad stuff such as: smoking,
soft drinks, sugar, burnt animal fats, trans-fats, etc.



There are many things involved in healing.  One's attitude is
important.  Certainly
guilt can be a cause for illness.  Just having a positive attitude can be
helpful.  Also, one's spine can be out of alignment, perhaps due to injury,
and this can cause illnesses that may be "cured" by a simple chiropractic
adjustment.



*Miraculous Divine Healing*

Those who believe the Bible believe that God has done miracles to heal the
sick.  There is ample evidence in the scriptures for us to believe that God
heals the sick today in answer to prayer.  Unfortunately, some among us do
not seem to think that God can heal other than through medicine or
alternatives to medicine.  James said *"The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much"* (James 5:16b).  Thus, if we don't believe God
can do anything to heal us, other than just let nature take its course, then
we don't have the faith in God that is needed to convince Him to do
anything.  Thus, our prayers would bevain.



*Can We Expect a Miracle?*

God heals those He chooses to heal.  We all must die.  Illness and death are
to be expected.  Often when bad things happen it turns out for good (Rom.
8:28; Ps 119:67,7; 1 Jer 31:18,19; Heb 12:11).  Thus, we cannot always be
assured that God will heal in answer to prayer.



If we were living in the days of miracles we could be certain the prayer of
the faith would result in instantaneous healing.  There would not only be
healings from illnesses, but we would also see the lame (men who had never
walked) instantly made whole, the blind made to see, and even the dead
raised.  Occasionally, we see or hear of a healing, after prayers, that
amazed the doctors.  The incident may well have been answer to prayer, but
it was not a *miracle*.  We may not even know for sure that God had a hand
in it (Es. 4:14). We need to understand that the purpose of miracles was to
confirm the word of God, and that miracles would cease (Mark 16:20; 1 Cor.
13:8-13).  It seems that many want to define *miracle* as *an amazing thing
that God has directly caused in answer to prayer*.  But God can cause
amazing things to happen and they not meet the definition of a miracle.  True
miracles were instantaneous and were things that defied the laws of nature:
water to wine, the parting of the Red Sea, raising of the dead, healing the
blind, etc.  The so-called "faith healers" of our day can do NONE of these
things, nor can anyone else.  If there were true miracles being done today
they would be recorded and we could witness them.  Sure, people make
astonishing recoveries from illnesses, and we can be reasonably confident
that God had a hand in some of them, but show me a miracle.



*Does God only Heal the Faithful?*

First, even atheists often have good health.  Many of them have learned to
eat good foods, to supplement their diet as needed and to avoid the things
that are harmful to them.When they get sick they often get well at about the
same rate that Christiansdo.  But we must not forget that we are God's
children and thatthe *"effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much."* Indeed, God can today cause things to happen to bring about His
will, which may be influenced by our prayers.



Brotherly

Robert Waters
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