It is shameful to think that Job's sufferings did not include health. What do you call sitting in an ash heap scraping the sores off of his body??
I was not referring to Job's suffering, but that which you believe Christians should suffer for Christ. Sickness is not for the glory of God, nor is it uplifting to anyone who is sick. What it may do is cause a person to look to God for comfort.
God is allowed to test us, and shape and mold us any way he wants! It is an insult to Christians who are ill and suffering to claim that God cannot bless us through suffering.
It is an insult to God to tell Him that He is a liar and that the things Jesus did on the cross, that is to set you free from sickness, which is one of the works of the devil, were worthless or without power.
I'm not trying to tear anyone down, nor am I trying to offend, but sometimes the truth hurts, yet it still needs to be known if the person wants healing and/or deliverance. People may not like it to hear that God heals when they are not, but I'm not the one who started saying this...God is.
If you chose to be sick, have at it, more power and sickness to you. If that is your good news gospel, and that is where your faith is, then that is exactly what you will have. I'm sorry you and others are sick or have some disease, but I refuse to believe something because I failed to get healed or because of other's experiences. Experience tells me that most people don't know what their rights are in Christ Jesus, nor how to obtain it. Experience also tells me that if a person does not want to hear something, whether it be truth or lie, the same is rejected along with the messenger.
Besides my own experiences with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis, I am a chaplain in long term care. I have met more people who are blessed with the joy of the Lord, in spite of multiple illnesses like cancer, polio and stroke. When you come face to face with pain and your own mortality, it helps you draw closer to the Lord than any false gospel about God giving us all our wants, and that includes a healthy life. When you get sick, I pray it will not draw you away from God, full of disappointment that God has not healed you. Instead, count it all joy!
I didn't say people couldn't turn a sour situation around for the glory of God. But being sick or having a disease of whatever, does not glorify God or His Son.
If what I am saying is false, then God would not back up that which I believe, for God would not back up or support a lie. Right? But if I get the things I pray for because of the promises of God that I am standing on, then why, or should I ask, how can you condemn it? Don't you know that it is according to your faith? If a congregation is taught that Jesus only saves but does not heal, you will see people getting saved and very few getting healed. But start teach the same congregation about healing and you will start seeing more getting healed.
I have been sick before, and sometimes I got my healing and sometimes, not. But you can chose to believe experiences or the word of God. What you base your faith in will be your foundation. I chose to put my foundation deep in the rock.
