A Closer look at Healing Theology...

I've spent the past couple weeks ministering to people on a one-on-one basis, which is actually my preferred method (so if you have questions of any kind, feel free to e-mail me: Art@SupernaturalBlogger.com).

One particular person named Christynn (permission granted to use her real name and e-mails) has been asking some significant questions about physical healing that I thought would be good to publish. There is a lot of confusion about how God's healing power works, so I want to help clear things up with what the Bible actually says.

Christynn read my article about how the scars on my face were miraculously healed, and it struck a chord with her because of her own condition. The following are excerpts from our dialogue about her healing:

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Christynn writes:
The story about your scars is amazing! God is awesome. I'd like to talk to you about it; I've been standing in faith for Him to take mine as well. And I believe He has. Sometimes it gets hard to keep the faith. I'd like to know what you did. Please email me back.

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Art writes:
Great to hear from you! God can definitely heal your scars—I've met several people since I was healed who have also had scars miraculously disappear. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that the method is sort of irrelevant. Look through the Scriptures, and you'll see that Jesus never healed two blind people the same way, etc. I have yet to meet someone else who had a vision like mine and was then healed over a two or three week process as they laid hands on their scars and said, "Jesus, take the scars." (that's what I did, by the way).

Anyhow, the reason I say this is because what God longs for—more than anything else—is for you to trust Him and cultivate your relationship with Him. That's the one common thread I've found: people being healed as they draw near to the heart of God. So keep seeking His face more than you seek His hand—look for His presence more than His power, and the power will follow suit. The Lord once told me that the only thing necessary for a miracle to happen is the presence of God—so if we'll get into His presence and get to know His voice, everything will be in place. At that point, it's just a matter of talking to Him about your condition.

Also remember that faith is substance. It has a very real spiritual form. But faith is not merely "belief for the sake of believing"—that’s presumption. Real faith is relationship-based. If my fiancé, Robin, says she'll meet me somewhere, I have faith that she'll be there because I know her and trust her. I have faith in her. I could "believe" with all my might that she would be somewhere else, but that wouldn't be faith...it would be presumption. If she says she'll be somewhere, it takes faith to trust her. God is the same way. We don't change Him by merely believing something with all our might—but we can certainly touch His heart by drawing near to Him.

Psalm 107:20 says, "He sent forth His word and healed them." That's what happened to me—the Lord sent forth His word to me because I was desperate enough to cry out to Him and press in for a response. In my case, the Lord responded with a simple vision in my mind. For other people, they just receive an assurance that God has granted the healing, and they stand by it. For others, they may have some physical sensation. Whatever the case, the key ingredient is the fact that God Himself has spoken it, and so we grab onto that promise in faith. Until He speaks, we can "believe" all we want; but that is nothing but impersonal presumption—not faith. Faith is based on relationship.

So I don’t know where you're at right now, but check your heart. If you're struggling to see a healing manifest, think back and determine whether or not you've pressed into God's presence with persistent petition on this matter and actually received a word back from Him. If you haven't yet heard from Him, then you need to keep asking Him to heal you until there is some sort of response. Once that response comes, though, you can take it as an edict from the throne room of heaven and trust the word wholeheartedly! You can grab onto that word with full assurance that the Lord has spoken and it WILL happen! Apart from that word from God, your belief won’t accomplish much. But with that word from God, there is NOTHING that can stand in the way of your faith!

Remember: Romans 10:17 tells us that "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Listen for His spoken word regarding your healing, and your faith will genuinely be evidence of a hoped-for healing and the substance of your healing even when it is not yet seen (Hebrews 11:1). So spend some time in conversation with God. I don't know much about you from your e-mail, so if you'd like me to explain this further, just let me know—otherwise I'll assume that it makes sense to you.

Thanks for taking the time to e-mail. I’ll be praying for you!

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Christynn writes:
Yes, Art that all makes perfect sense. I appreciate you taking the time to reply. I'm 23 and married and saved and love God dearly. About 3 months ago my complexion started breaking out and not really scaring, but leaving marks behind. I've had skin issues since I was 12 and in the past few years it hasn't been too much of a problem, until recently.

The last few years I strayed far from Him. I did drugs, was addicted to porn, didn't go to church, and messed around with someone, other than my husband. I know God didn't put skin ailments/problems on me, only satan does that (John 10:10), but I think it happened to wake me up and realize I can't live without God.

I've turned my life around, got baptized and serve Him completely; at first it was to get Him to heal me, now I crave Him all the time. He spoke a word to me a while back as I was reading Gal. 3:13 and He said, "I became a curse for you, so you don't have to live with one." And back in Deuteronomy 28 it talks about the curse of the law and how skin ailments are part of that. I've been standing on that ever since. And I found the story of you and it gave me such hope that He cares for us so much that he wants to take away small ailments like acne/skin problems and scars. Things that aren't life or death, but things that bother His children.

I bought the little healing prayer book called, "God's creative power for healing" by Charles Capps and I read it everyday--2-3 times a day--and plea the Blood of Jesus, His Word, His holy healing power and faith into every pore of my complexion so there is no room for satan to infest it. Where God is, the devil can't be. I'm fully persuaded that He has healed me, but it's hard to look in the mirror or at people. But I know it's a lie from satan and it will soon reflect my new inner self.

It's hard to look my husband in the eye sometimes, but what you said, "…you can take it as an edict from the throne room of heaven and trust the word wholeheartedly! You can grab onto that word with full assurance that the Lord has spoken and it WILL happen! And with that word from God, there is NOTHING that can stand in the way of your faith!"

I want to know what you did when things looked hopeless while your scars where still there. Would you look in the mirror and still see them and get down? What did you do then?

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Art writes:
I didn't do a whole lot during those two or three weeks while the Lord was healing my scars. I didn't pretend they weren't there or believe they were already gone—some people call that "positive confession," but I personally feel like it's just "denial." The way I see it, it's one thing to believe that my healing is already purchased and certain; but it's another thing to act like it already happened when it still hasn't. If I had cancer, then it wouldn't do me any good to pretend I didn't have it—as a matter of fact, that would be dangerous!

So for two or three weeks, I looked in the mirror every morning and acknowledged my scars. I would sometimes speak to them: "You don’t belong here anymore." Then I would put my hands on my face and say, "Jesus, take the scars," because that was in line with the vision God gave me. In your case, you can ask Him to "take the curse" because that's how He spoke to you. Picture Him on the cross and remember that your condition was completely paid for there.

What matters is that you stay realistic. If you're "already healed," then why are you still asking for healing? On the other hand, if your healing is already paid for by Christ and you're not yet experiencing it, you have an awesome reason to be asking for it! You still have a skin condition that has not been healed even though Jesus Christ paid for it. That's an injustice! Call it what it is! Then go to the King of all creation and plead your case, asking for righteousness and justice to reign through your healing!

Don't be afraid to acknowledge earthly reality and command it to be subject to the superior reality of God's Kingdom. No one has skin conditions in heaven, and Jesus taught us to pray that our Father's Kingdom would come and that His will would be done on earth just as it is in heaven! The Kingdom of Heaven is a superior reality; but until it is manifested on earth, we need to be willing to acknowledge the earthly reality—otherwise we won't press in with prayer in the way we ought to.

Another thing is that I would purposefully look for even the slightest inkling of improvement and worship God for it. I remember the first time I noticed a little corner of one of my scars had some pigment in it—I immediately dropped to my knees and started thanking God. So try to maintain a heart of worship and adoration at all times.

In everything, remember that we need to also be content in all things. It's okay to settle in your heart the idea that whether you're healed or not, God is still worthy of all your adoration. Keep your focus more on Him than on your physical condition. I only dealt with asking for healing in the morning and spent the rest of my day focusing on Him, building our relationship, and praying for revival in my church. I didn't let my physical condition consume me. Be persistent in your prayers, but also keep your priorities set. If your physical healing begins to occupy all your prayer time, then the devil has won—keep your focus on matters of the kingdom and don't let yourself get wrapped up in one little thing.

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After this e-mail, Christynn and I spoke on the phone, and she recognized that she had been allowing her condition to occupy most of her prayer time. At the end of our conversation we prayed, and I sensed the Holy Spirit pointing to a root issue in her heart that immediately resonated with her. We prayed about her need to forgive herself, and here's what she wrote later that day:

Thank you Art, so much for your prayers and time; you have no idea how much that meant. I pray I'll be as good a witness to others as you were to me. We are only vessels to God. I looked in the mirror after we prayed and I saw some small improvement! Praise God! And praise Him for the complete manifestation!

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At this point, a couple days passed, and I received this e-mail:

Christynn writes:
Last night I found this church out in Dallas called the Healing School. I was curious and called them. I also sent those pictures of my face that I sent to you. The first thing they asked was how my marriage was. I told them it was fine, my husband doesn't go to church as often as he should, but he believes in Jesus and loves Him. He just is going through a hard time with questions about the church. (Thankfully God's putting people in his life to answer them.)

And the pastor basically told me that's why I'm not healed, because my husband is being disobedient. I asked him were in the Bible does it say that and he couldn't back it up. He just told me to read the whole New Testament with my husband and go to church every Sunday and tithe and then I'll be healed.

But I said back to him, in Isaiah 53:4 it says "He took up our infirmities and carried away our diseases." No where in there does it say, but only if you don't tell a lie or only if you make your husband go to church. No, it says point-blank He took them! In Titus 3:5 it says "He saved us, not because of any righteous things we have done, but because of His mercy." And I'm healed because of His merciful sacrifice! He also said that no one in the Bible got healed by Jesus until they repented and walked holy, even the woman with the blood disease. The way I read it is she only believed Jesus could heal her and He said her faith healed her, not anything else.

Now I know that one needs to confess their sins and ask for forgiveness like it says in James 5:16, and I have done that and have completely turned my life around for Him. And I'll tell ya Art, my skin is improving! Every morning I thank Him for taking the curse and even the slightest improvement I thank Him over and over. And people are noticing the difference and I say "Thank God, all glory to Him!"

My mom, who's a strong women of God, was listening to the conversation I was having with the pastor and she was shaking her head and said tell him goodbye. Then after I did, my mom, my dad and I all prayed and broke any spoken curses over me that that pastor said, and thanked God for healing my skin once again.

The thing I noticed that I told my mom was when I talked to you; you were encouraging and uplifting and prayed for me regardless of whatever. This pastor didn't pray for me, he just told me I was wrong and I couldn’t be healed unless whatever. I believe the more Christ you see in a person, the more Christ sees in us. Thank you Art for being Christ-like to me.

If you could give me some feed back on what this pastor said and your thoughts on the matter, I'd appreciate it. My mom told me a true story of a married couple, she was Christian and he was Muslim, and her prayers were getting answered and his were not. That's how he became saved to Jesus! So there, it doesn't matter what your spouse is going through, God's relationship with you is based on you, no one else. Praise God!

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Art writes:
Wow—yeah, your mom was completely right. As far as spouses go, I see two big issues with that pastor's logic and theology. #1, your husband does indeed believe in Christ—he just has questions and is going through a sort of "desert time" right now. That's totally normal, and many Christians experience this—I went through such a time myself. #2, even if he didn't believe in Christ, Paul said that "the unbelieving spouse is sanctified by the believing spouse." God's power is stronger than sin and cannot be limited in your life by someone else's condition. It's silly to think that God's power would be overcome by your husband not attending a weekly meeting. If we were made sick every time a relative questioned the church or "didn’t tithe," NO ONE would be healthy! Tithing, by the way, is another issue I have because it's a law that gets heaped on people and makes them feel unnecessarily guilty. Believe it or not, the Bible actually doesn't tell us to tithe, so that's not part of the problem either (you can read an article I wrote about tithing and how Christians should actually give titled The Truth about Tithing if you're interested).

The scriptures you quoted were absolutely right, and your discernment on the matter was right too. I sincerely believe that we already got to the root of the matter when we prayed about self-hatred and forgiving yourself. I felt the Holy Spirit was bringing it up, and it resonated with you right away; both of these are evidence that it was the right thing to address. So a big part of your continued healing will be continuing to walk in self-forgiveness and reminding yourself of your inner freedom through Christ. That, in my opinion, is the most important word you've received from God yet regarding your healing!

Let me know if you have further questions. I'm looking forward to your complete healing!

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Finally, we come to today's e-mail...

Christynn writes:
I hate to keep bothering you with questions. Sorry if I am. What do you think about me going to a doctor for my skin condition? I mean if God has healed me, should I go to one? And if I believe He is my healer and great physician, is it an insult to Him if I go and seek medical help for my skin?

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Art writes:
It's totally fine. Like I said on the phone, it's okay to use "crutches" while God is bringing the healing.

Remember when I told you how I threw my back out last year and couldn't walk for two weeks? Well, before God healed me, I was going to the doctor and to physical therapy for those two weeks. It wasn't accomplishing much—especially compared to the complete healing God gave me—but when I walked into PT the next week perfectly fine, I got to share my testimony with the Therapist, his assistant, and three people who had seen me barely moving for the past couple weeks. It was a tremendous opportunity to share the Gospel because the miracle was so obvious.

Likewise, my mom had a hysterectomy about six years ago—never actually received a divine healing, except that she is still cancer-free. Anyhow, she did everything she possibly could to have people pray for her and experience a healing before the surgery date, but nothing happened. Then, while she was in the hospital being prepped for surgery, she got to pray with two young ladies who couldn't believe how calm she was (they were also there to go through procedures). My mom prayed for the Holy Spirit to give them supernatural peace, and it worked! If my mom hadn't gone in for surgery, those two women might never have encountered the power and presence of God like that.

So seeking medical help is only a sin if you are "giving up on God" and leaving Him behind. But if, on the other hand, you are getting medical attention and welcoming God to come along with you, you are not in sin. It's just another opportunity to get around people who may never have heard the Gospel before. Look for opportunities to plant seeds in the waiting room, with the doctor, at the pharmacy—wherever! Just use it for the glory of God.

Lastly, I know many many people who have been healed of a condition for which they were presently seeing a doctor, so this obviously doesn't hinder a healing. The only way it slows you down is if you believe it will slow you down. But as long as you recognize that our Almighty God is not limited by us getting medical attention, and that He can still miraculously heal you, you have nothing to worry about. There's nothing in the Bible that says to avoid doctors—actually, Luke, who wrote the third Gospel and the book of Acts (all about miracles and healings) was a physician himself. And I've heard it taught that when James 5:14-15 says to have the elders of the church pray for you and anoint you with oil in the name of the Lord, the "anointing with oil" was culturally a medicinal practice rather than a spiritual one in this case. Notice how verse 15 says it is the prayer offered in faith that makes the sick person well; not the oil. If you have to take some sort of medicine, take it in the name of the Lord. Dedicate it to Christ's use. And keep trusting God to bring such a complete healing that you won't need the medicine anymore. He can do it, and I believe He will do it.

Don't feel bad about all the questions—this is my ministry, so I welcome it :-)

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Closing Thoughts:
When seeking to know what the Bible has to say about healing, it's important to consult the Bible first. There are hundreds and perhaps thousands of books out there with wacky ideas that are neither healthy nor true. A good book on healing is hard to come by. I've found that the people who understand healing theology the best are the ones who have been personally healed in the name of Jesus Christ several times (not just once) and have applied that faith to seeing others miraculously healed. The bizarre ideas come from people who were healed once many years ago because everything in the Bible gets interpreted through the filter of their one experience. When you've been healed several times, however, you discover that God never does it the same way twice!

We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus!

God bless!
--Art--