40 Question 3

It is evident from the scriptures that the Lord can do whatever He desires to do.  Psalms 115:3 says, “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.”  The Lord talks to us about the power of prayer in healing.  James 5:14-15 says, “Is any sick among you? 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 shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”  The instruction of the Lord in His word is that we pray for our sicknesses, involving others in prayer for us, that we may be healed.

Does this mean that the Lord will heal us each time we ask?  Not really.  Look at the words of Paul in his second letter to Timothy.  2 Timothy 4:20 says, “Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.”  I’m sure Paul must have prayed for the healing of Trophimus, but when Paul left him, Trophimus was still sick.  Paul even instructed Timothy about taking care of his sicknesses.  In 1 Timothy 5:23 Paul told Timothy to, “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.”  Obviously Timothy was a man that was often sick.  Paul encouraged him to take preventative measures to keep from getting sick.  Paul himself also suffered from physical infirmities as we read in Galatians 4:13-14 which says, “Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.”

Realizing that the Apostle Paul had to leave Trophimus sick, and encouraged Timothy to take care of himself, I urge you to be very cautious about those that claim to be able to heal at any time.  There are some today that take advantage of people by holding healing crusades.  Money is taken from people who are hoping to be healed of their sicknesses and diseases.  So many of these so-called healers are just using the name of the Lord to gain money.  If Paul could not heal everyone, why would we think that these so-callers healers can?  Even though they continue to fail in healing others, these people still thrive.  Usually, they will blame the one with the disease if they are not healed by saying they did not have enough faith to be healed.  According to what we have read in James 5:14-15 it is the prayer and faith of others that will save the sick.

So, we can see that the Lord can do whatever He desires to do.  He encourages us to pray, and to request the prayers of others when we are sick.  We also see that the Lord does not always heal.  Because there is sin in the world, we are all subject to sickness and death.  If the Lord does not come soon, each one of us will die, either through sickness or accident.  Let’s not forget that the spiritual healing is so much more important than the physical healing.  It is the Lord’s desire that all men be saved.  In Acts 17:30 we see that the Lord, “…commandeth all men every where to repent.”  If, today, you bow your knee to the Lord and accept Him as your savior and Lord, He will heal you from spiritual sickness.  He will make you brand new as we read in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  (40.3)