This session in our series about the ministry of healing is called “Religious Traditions That Weaken Biblical Faith.” Is sickness your "cross to bear" – or is it something to resist? We talk about faith and the ingrained religious ideas that can short-circuit it.
Class notes are available here as a PDF.
If you like, you can also watch on my YouTube channel.
EXCERPT: If a physical affliction was the only way to bring a person to God in repentance, then of course it’s better to have physical suffering now, rather than to be lost for an eternity without God. We can read how Paul excommunicated someone from the Church, handing them over to Satan, as he said, for the destruction of their flesh so that their spirit might be saved. (See 1 Corinthians 5:1ff.) That’s not the kind of thing we’re talking about here.
When people believe that they must welcome their sickness without even seeking God for healing, that is something I would want to talk through with them. I would want to talk to them about God’s heart for healing. Sickness is an enemy. It came in through the Fall, and one day it will no longer be able to touch us, praise God. (In the age to come, the leaves of the tree of life will be for the healing of the nations. This tells me much about the heart of God for healing!)
But I never want to assume or quickly agree with someone that God is placing sickness on them, or that they must simply see it as their “cross to bear.” I want to continue to pray, fast, seek God, and resist sickness. I want to take healing as the norm, because that is the picture the Bible gives us.
