Expanding our understand of healing

Expanding Our Understanding of Healing
By Rick Eastin
As Christians, we believe that salvation is for the whole man. Part of that includes our physical healing. Since the fall affects every area of our lives, when Jesus comes into one’s heart He wants to redeem every area for His glory. However, for many, this poses a problem, because to the best of their knowledge, they are right with God. Yet when they ask in faith for healing, they are not healed. In this short article I’d like to share some insight that by God’s grace will expand our understanding of healing.
Jesus came to establish the kingdom of God. Mark 16:17- 18 describes some of the principles of the kingdom Jesus established: "And these signs will accompany those who have believed in my name: they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;…they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover."
This is the "Conquering King" side of Jesus; the facet of His wonderful nature that steps into situations and changes them. This view of Jesus is strongly supported in Scripture, but the problem is that we live in a society that wants to do away with any and all circumstances that are uncomfortable. And, just as there is this tendency in secular society, as Christians we often reflect this attitude with an addition of using, or misusing, God’s Word to justify our position.
Three statements characterize our sometimes erroneous approach to people who have an affliction which does not seem to improve: 1.) The person is afflicted because of demonic activity. While this may be true in some cases it is by no means true of every situation that does not respond to the standard approaches. 2.) The person is not healed because of secret sin or lack of faith. 3.) The person who is not healed cannot bring as much glory to God as the one who is healed. This is a simplistic statement not supported by the Scriptures or history.
These statements often add to the burden of a person who has an impairment, as well as those who care for them. Such statements often reveal our hearts and our belief that the reason God has given us the gifts of His Spirit is to make us happy. In the final analysis, these kinds of statements can cause us to develop an unloving attitude toward those who are afflicted, while we should be extending our care for them in the love of Jesus.
There is another side of Jesus besides the "Conquering King." There is also the "Suffering Servant" side of our Lord. This is where He steps into a situation and doesn’t change it. He takes hold of it and turns it around to His glory. This is what happened with Jesus himself on the cross. God did not remove the cross, but rather turned it into defeat for sin and Satan.
In the same way, when God does not take away and impairment, He turns it around for His glory. This He does in two ways: 1.) He prompts His people to reach out to afflicted ones and affirm their value to Him and His church. In so doing, we foil the strategy of the enemy whose purpose is to devalue and destroy people. 2.) He uses the affliction to accomplish higher purposes than comfort or happiness. This He did in my own life by using a physically and mentally handicapped woman to call me into His service.
We know that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of Lights. Whether we help people by natural or supernatural means, we are establishing the Kingdom of God. Jesus used both means to reveal Himself. He is able, today, to reveal His glory through supernatural, miraculous ways, and through the afflictions that are part of the natural process of fallen life on this earth. He will be glorified one way or the other!