Especially if he doesn't even know what WoF is...lol
Speaking what you were taught isn't quite the same thing as speaking truth.
Speaking what you were taught isn't quite the same thing as speaking truth.
Rose,
Hi Ben,
I'd like for you to tell Paul that who was told no. And tell Timothy that as well who wasn't healed of his frequent illnesses and his stomach problems.
And there was also a guy who was doing missionary work - can't remember his name, but Paul left him off at home because he was sick. Once he was well he rejoined Paul.
Especially if he doesn't even know what WoF is...lol
Hi Ben,
I'd like for you to tell Paul that who was told no. And tell Timothy that as well who wasn't healed of his frequent illnesses and his stomach problems.
And there was also a guy who was doing missionary work - can't remember his name, but Paul left him off at home because he was sick. Once he was well he rejoined Paul.
Paul's thorn in the flesh was not a physical illness, it says it plainly what it was. "A messenger of satan." You couldn't be any clearer, and if you go to the original language "messenger" means angel (ἄγγελος).
2 Corinthians 12:7 King James Version (KJV)
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
What was wrong with what I said? Is there not a difference between hope and faith? Can not I hope for something and yet not have faith? You may hope you win the lottery as you play it, but you may only have faith if God has told you that you'll one day win. Faith is closely related to knowing God's will, for in knowing His will you then can place faith in Him for its attainment.
I was just making a distinction between faith and hope. For people who claim God can heal them, thats a good starting place. Acknowledging His capability is good, but lets now move onto faith. Will He heal? What is His will? This one should seek out. People sought Jesus believing that He would heal them, or if they even touched His garment they would be healed. They believed, they expected, and they had faith (with hope). Their question was, "Are you willing?" They knew He was capable.
In this case, one must ask, "Is God willing to heal me?" Look no further than God's Son and what is said in Isaiah 53:4 (and check out Matthew 8:16-17 for confirmation its about healing). Far too often you'll see believers hoping for what is already theirs in Christ. You just need a person with understanding to simply lay hands, or command healing.
Now, I'm not trying to over simplify it. I understand that God has His timing and purposes. While healing is available there can be a time table to its occurrence. This I know from experience, as God healed me of an auto-immune disease. He eventually healed me, thank God, and He even told me that He was using me to build the other person's faith. So where I thought God used that person for me, God was instead using me for them. He heard my prayer/desire, but even beyond just healing me He "killed two birds with one stone" as it were. Healed me and built another's faith.
So don't think I am blaming the sick person. I am simply making a distinction between faith and hope. I am clarifying that God does have His timing and purposes. Over all I'm not saying anything controversial. Its biblical.
Rose,
As it happens, you're arguments are my arguments too, and for the same reason. Since we have the same arguments, but you seem to have forgotten Trophimus' name, I hereby bequeath to you a blog I posted (as my last incarnation on this site -- AtWhatCost) about the three blames people give those of us who haven't been healed strictly so you can have quick notes when you can't remember a name. (Save it somewhere so you can flick to it quickly next time.)
And, oh yeah, also good for everyone else who is either blaming the disabled/sick for daring to be not-healed or for the disabled as a refresher course on why blamers don't really need to be listened to.
Thorn in the Flesh
Yes I understand all about the thorn in the flesh, but Paul was having serious eye trouble in Galatia to the point where the Galatians were wanting to give Paul their own eyes. So either that's a separate event and he wasn't healed, or it was a part of the thorn in the flesh incident and he wasn't healed. Either way, he wasn't healed.
You haven't address, Timothy or Trophimus either.
So we have Paul, Timothy and Trophimus who were not healed.
What's wrong with what you said? I'll address this comment. What if instead of thinking God can heal you, you think it is God's will to heal you now? Then you can have faith, because you expect the healing. You do not only hope to be healed, and believe in His capabilities but you also expect God to heal you because He has revealed in His word that that is His very will (through Jesus Christ).
You are saying if we aren't healed we only have hope and that if we had faith we could command it to be so and we would be healed.
This is not written in my bible anywhere. I believe you mean well, but this is simply more condemnation poured out upon the poor soul who's not healed. It's the person's fault.
Ben, I mean this question with all due respect. Why are you wearing eyeglasses?
Especially if he doesn't even know what WoF is...lol
Could you imagine someone starting a healing revival with that statement? "Hello ladies and gentlemen! God is a magnificent and merciful God. Believe and you will be healed, but keep in mind that most of you won't be healed in this life. He'll take care of you after you die." Who then will come forward in faith? You just cut the amount of miracles in half simply by speaking doubt instead of faith and life.
No one died from healthiness.
Is that true? Because Jesus did heal right away.
He healed me right away once. So right away, I didn't even get the expected reaction. I'm allergic to bees. The first time I found this out, I stepped on one. My foot and leg swelled so much, it wouldn't even let me walk on it. (I would think it would, but it would hurt to do so, but I didn't even get that. For some reason, I couldn't even hobble on it.) Three weeks before I could walk again.
So the next time, I was stung in the hand, I did my usual calm and collected thing -- freaked completely -- and my soon-to-be husband calmed me enough to lay hands and pray for it. Nothing happened. Not even that looks-like-a-mosquito-bite thing people who aren't allergic to bees get. Instant healing.
The chronic UTI thing took longer, but mostly because we simply didn't think to pray about it since antibiotics worked. But when it hit, yet again, one night, hubby did lay hands and pray. Instant healing yet again. (I feel so dumb for forgetting to ask for two years. lol)
Gallstones? Nothing. God didn't heal me of the gallstones, and after the operation, when I was pulled off the operating table, they pinched a nerve in my back that directly relates to pain around my waist. Prayed for that one for years. (Doctors wouldn't tell me it was back damage, so I couldn't sue the surgeon, until the statute of limitations was over for a long time. THEN they suddenly knew what was wrong with me.)
I figure God's not healing me of this one, since it has gotten worse, and now it's all of my spine. As often as I've prayed for it, I've gotten NO clearly by now.
Will I be healed? Nope. Instead I get new, incorruptible body later on.
What you call "doubt," we call "experience."
I'd say the majority of people on this site are on this site because they've got that kind of time. And we have that kind of time, because most of us aren't healed of something for whatever reason God has for us not to be healed. And yet, most of us can also say that God has and can heal us.
Meanwhile, you're stuck waiting for your healing before you resume your life again.
That's not on us or God.
Why does that sound strange to you? You just said...
You're really not leaving any room for Joni Eareckson Tada, are you?
We were promised healing and got it. We have been healed from the sin nature by his stripes.
To spend your life hiding behind your doors until God heals you does NOT work, unless your goal is to remain a recluse. Considering that's not God's goal for you, don't count that working for you but for so long. Even Jonah got shade when he was pouting, but when God had enough of Jonah's pouting, he killed the shade.
I really do get you're trying to convince yourself God will do a miracle for you. He may. He might not. Either way he expects you to follow him actively, not try to convince everyone else you are right to deserve your healing.
We were promised healing and got it. We have been healed from the sin nature by his stripes.
Saved is not "healed." If it were, there would be no need to have two different words.
If Jesus healed everyone, Luke would have said so. Luke was a physician. The purpose for his gospel was to proclaim God's healing practices. He was a physician, so he really got into who Jesus healed.