It has to be said that if we believe anything it must be based on God's Word and not on people's experiences. If no one ever got healed yet God's Word teaches it, I will believe God's Word above people's experiences. And so, many people have experienced healing and many have not that is a fact. So it is our choice how we are going to believe on this subject of healing based on the Bible, not how much we see people experiencing the truth of God's Word. It can't be on that kind of flimsy foundation. It has to be on the foundation of the Bible.
There are a whole bunch of Believers in Christ who teach from the Bible that there is healing in the atonement. And there are a whole bunch of Believers in Christ who teach from the Bible there is no physical healing in the atonement. I did not know what the Bible said about healing since our church didn't believe or preach it. So therefore it never concerned me since it was always believed God sent this thorn and a Christians is to accept from God what He sends and suffer willingly. Now since hearing about healing in the Bible I see it differently.
Another point of view about healing...
One of the most elementary principles in God's Word is given in James 4:7. It says,
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
This verse clearly teaches that some things are of God, and some things are of the devil. Notice it doesn't present a third category: from God through the devil. No! Sickness has nothing to do with God! Submit to the things of God, and resist the things of the devil. It's that simple. To believe that God allows or approves of Satan's actions defies the logic of James 4:7. It eliminates our responsibility to resist and places ultimate responsibility for everything back on God.
The widely-accepted doctrine that God controls everything is a deception. If Satan can confuse and deceive you on that issue, he's got you! Why? Because you'll stop resisting. No one wants to resist God's will, and if you think that God is behind your sickness, you'll submit to it. That violates the instruction of James 4:7, it won't get you healed, and it lets Satan have his way in your life.
You must believe God always wants you healed. It's so simple, it takes help to misunderstand. But sadly, most Christians receive plenty of help from religion in misunderstanding this. Look at it this way: If God wanted you sick, for whatever reason, then why visit the doctor or take medication? It would seem more logical to allow the sickness to run its course so God's purpose could be accomplished. Of course I think that's foolish, and hopefully, so do you.
What's the bottom line on God's will for our healing? His Word reveals that to us in 3 John 2, which says,
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."
John was writing a letter to believers under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He revealed that the Lord wants us healthy just as much as He wants us to prosper emotionally and mentally.
When Peter preached the Gospel to Cornelius in Acts 10:38, he summarized the ministry of Jesus by saying,
"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."
Today some preachers are saying that healing is of the devil, but that's not the message Peter gave. Notice what Peter said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Not only was Jesus doing good when He healed people, but He healed all that were oppressed of the devil, not of God. That scripture clearly proves that sickness is not from God.
Isaiah 53 should end all debate. It was written prophetically about Jesus, the Messiah. Isaiah 53:4-5 says,
"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
These verses reveal that physical healing is a part of the atonement of Christ. The Lord redeemed us from sickness just as much as He redeemed us from sin. He would no more want us to be sick than He would want us to sin. Those are radical statements to many Christians because we've been taught that forgiveness of sins is what salvation is all about. Well that's certainly a vital part of salvation, but that's not all that Jesus accomplished. We were also healed by His stripes. Sickness is not of God just as sin is not of God. Thank You, Jesus!
Just in case anyone might be thinking that the healing spoken of in Isaiah 53:4-5 is not physical but only emotional, the Bible gives a commentary on Isaiah's prophecy. In Matthew 8:16 Jesus healed all the sick people brought to Him, and verse 17 says this was done…
"That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses."
Therefore, Scripture comments on itself and makes it very clear that the healing spoken of by Isaiah is referring to physical infirmities and sicknesses. If Jesus bore our sicknesses, then we don't have to.
You may be asking yourself, "What about Paul's thorn in the flesh?" I wish I had space to answer that in this article because those scriptures are not talking about a sickness of Paul's that the Lord would not heal. However, I do have an entire teaching revealing what Paul's thorn in the flesh was. That teaching is the second in a four-part series I have entitled God Wants You Well. The first teaching in that series deals with healing as a part of Christ's atonement, the second deals with Paul's thorn in the flesh, the third reveals reasons why people are not healed, and the fourth teaches that healing is governed by laws and reveals some of those laws. I encourage you to take advantage of these resources we are offering on healing.
