WRITTEN BY JOSEPH HERRIN (10-22-2009)

The Example Of The Apostles

Let us look at the example of the apostles to see if the doctrine of universal healing for all Christians holds up. The apostle Paul was a man of great faith. He was used of the Lord to perform spectacular healings.

Acts 19:11-12
And God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.

Notice here who it says was doing the miracles. “God was performing extraordinary miracles.” Paul was simply God’s hands in performing the work. Paul was directed by God in these activities, and what the Spirit revealed to him he did in like manner. It is evident that Paul did not subscribe to an universal healing doctrine based upon a perceived Biblical promise. He only healed when Yahweh revealed it was His will to do so, and in the manner revealed to him. There were times when Yahweh gave Paul no revelation for the healing of an individual.

II Timothy 4:20
Trophimus I left sick at Miletus.

How is it that a man with the spiritual maturity of the apostle Paul left an associate behind due to sickness? Didn’t Paul know that there was an universal promise of healing for all, and the prayer of faith would raise them up?

It is perplexing to many people that Paul could heal everyone at one point in his ministry, and at other times he could not even heal his closest associates. How are we to understand this mystery? I do not believe Paul’s faith or spiritual life was any less at one time than the other. It is simply a manifestation of the will of the Father. He chooses when His power will be present to heal.

It is the Father who determines whether His power will be present to heal at a particular time and place. Knowing that Yahweh is the One who decides when His power will be manifest to heal, we should find ourselves driven into His presence to petition Him for this healing when it is needed. We find Paul doing this very thing. There were times when Paul experienced profound illness.

Galatians 4:13-15
But you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time; and that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Yahshua Himself. Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I bear you witness, that if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.

By Paul’s own confession he had a loathsome condition that afflicted his eyes. This was a prolonged condition, for trouble with his eyes is mentioned frequently.

Galatians 6:11
See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.

Because Paul was nearly blind, he often dictated his letters and only signed his name at the end of them.

Romans 16:22
I, Tertius, who write this letter, greet you in the Lord.

I Corinthians 16:21
The greeting is in my own hand – Paul.

How did Paul respond to this bodily affliction? Did he claim a blanket promise of healing perceived in the Scriptures, such as “by His stripes we are healed”? No! Paul sought the Lord concerning the matter.

II Corinthians 12:8-9
Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

I believe this loathsome affliction to his eyes may well have been Paul’s thorn in the flesh, for he often makes reference to it. Of this affliction he says he prayed to God three times “entreating” the Lord to remove it. Paul entreated. He did not claim some general promise. Paul sought the Lord’s mind, and when the Lord revealed it was His will for the affliction to remain, Paul accepted it.

Paul’s actions lend no support to the faith healing doctrines that suggest God will heal all who have faith and repentance. Clearly this is not the case. God did not remove Paul’s sore affliction of his eyes. Will men suggest this was due to Paul being deficient in faith, or having unconfessed sin in his life?

We find the apostle Paul giving the following instructions to Timothy.

I Timothy 5:23
No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.

What is interesting to note here is that Paul did not do anything that the erroneous faith healing doctrine would suggest. He did not tell Timothy to stand on promises of healing found in the word of God. He did not tell Timothy to rebuke the devil. Paul did not even suggest that Timothy call for the elders of the church, for Paul was Timothy’s elder. Paul discerned that Timothy should drink a little wine for his stomach and his frequent ailments, and this is what Paul recommended to him.

As Christians we must be discerning of the Father’s thoughts for us. He does not choose to heal every person anymore than He chooses to make everyone financially prosperous. Though, just like this doctrine that suggests universal health is promised in the Bible, many faith teachers today say there are a multitude of promises of universal wealth to all who will believe. Yet God chooses to subject His children to lean times financially as well as physically. Through these means He is able to reduce the strength of the outer man in order that the fragrant aroma of the life of Christ might be released through us. Concerning Paul’s physical affliction, he understood the following:

II Corinthians 12:7
To keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh…

I was born with a hereditary bone disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or Brittle Bone Disease. From the age of seven to the age of thirteen I broke multiples bones and had numerous surgeries to repair these injuries. Looking back I can see the Lord’s purpose in this. Had I been a physically strong person I would have had a tendency toward pride and independence that would have been very destructive. Yahweh wanted to produce a son who was humble and who looked to Him at all times. To accomplish this He gave me a body that was easily broken. The strength of the natural man provides a barrier to walking in humility before God. Yahweh will often choose to subject His children to some affliction, or weakness in order to produce sons in His image.

I Corinthians 1:26-29
For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God.

God will choose to afflict His children in various ways for the sake of their own conformity to Christ. As we receive some weakness, or affliction Yahweh has chosen for us, He provides a more abundant grace that the life of Christ might be revealed in us.

II Corinthians 12:9
Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

God will not choose to heal all sickness, disease and affliction for He has chosen some to bear these things for their perfecting as saints. Though you stand and claim healing Scriptures from dawn to dusk, God will not change His mind concerning His will for your life.

I have been much impressed from the time of my youth with the testimony of Joni Eareckson Tada. As a teenager she experienced a diving accident that left her paralyzed from the neck down. She prayed for healing, and many others prayed for her, yet it was not God’s will to remove the paralysis.

As Joni came to accept the brokenness of her body, the fragrant aroma of Christ within her began to manifest more and more. Her compassion, tenderness, patience, and joy are of an unusual degree among the saints of Christ. She has subsequently been enabled to impact the lives of millions through the testimony of Christ’s sufficiency in her weakness. She considers her wheelchair not to be a prison that holds her captive, but a throne upon which the Son of God can be manifest.

I read the book Joni when I was a teenager. In it she shared how some well meaning believers told her that if she just had enough faith God would heal her. This was like kicking a person when they are down. God revealed to Joni that it was His will that she endure this condition, and His grace has truly been sufficient. His power has been made manifest through her weakness.

My Experiences Of Divine Healing

The Father has done some tremendous things in my family. He has performed miraculous things for which only He can get the credit. My son Josiah was also born with the hereditary bone disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta. By the time he was seven years old he had already broken thirteen bones and had two surgeries to correct fractures. My wife and I had some years earlier applied for government SSI benefits on him and he had been accepted. This provided us with free medical benefits for Josiah and a monthly stipend of between $300-$400 a month. These things gave me no satisfaction, for I desired for my son to be healed.

I began to pray in earnest, asking God to heal my son. I was distressed over his condition. He was spending so much time in casts that his muscles and bones were not able to grow stronger. This exacerbated his condition, making him more prone to have fractures. As I was petitioning the Father one day concerning my son, the Lord spoke to me and told me that He would heal my Josiah. The Spirit made known to me that the Father required that I cancel the SSI benefits on him in order to receive this healing. The Lord demanded that I exercise faith before I would see His provision.

Observe in this how the Spirit of Christ who dwells in us is able to reveal the mind of the Father in a much greater substance and precision than the Law was able to do. There is nothing written in Scriptures that would tell me that God would heal my son if I canceled his SSI benefits and Medicaid. The Spirit is able to make know the will of the Father with great specificity. Christ said:

John 10:27
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me…”

To natural sight and reason, the revealed will of God appeared very foolish. My son was freshly out of a cast and had broken two bones that year. Medical treatment was very expensive and many people fought long and hard battles, even hiring lawyers, to attain the benefits we were receiving. I considered, however, that it would be much better for my son to be healed and to have no more fractures, than to have the government pick up the tab each time he broke a bone. I wanted my son to be able to run and play and do all the things that other boys did.

I shared with my wife what the Lord had spoken to me, and we decided to follow the Lord in obedience, to cancel the benefits we were receiving on our son, and to trust the Lord to heal him. When we called the government agency to ask them to cancel our benefits, they did not understand why we would make such a request. They tried to get us to reconsider, but we told them that we no longer wanted the benefits they offered.

The Lord told me to not baby my son. I was instructed by the Spirit to allow Josiah to ride bikes, skateboard, play on trampolines, roughhouse with other kids, and do all the things other boys were doing. Yahweh promised that He would protect him. Over the course of the next seven years my son never broke another bone, though this was the prime period in which most boys with his condition would have experienced the most fractures. God preserved him. I saw my son take some tremendous spills off of his bicycle that would have left him shattered prior to God’s healing, and he came away only with scrapes and bruises. His bones were not broken.

I had heard God speak, and therefore faith had a solid foundation upon which to rest. I did not decide for myself that I would cancel all medical benefits on my son and believe that God would heal him. I pressed into God in prayer, and when I heard from Him faith resulted. This is ever the pattern for faith.

A year after God led me to trust Him for the health of my son, He spoke to me again and told me that He now wanted me to trust Him for the health of our entire family. I was working as a computer professional at a local hospital and they had excellent medical benefits at a reasonable cost. I was serving as a minister at a local church at the same time, and the Father was calling me to steps of faith as an example to the body. I knew I had heard from God again, and I shared what I had heard with my wife. This caused her much fear, and she opposed this decision initially, but later she came to agreement with me in the matter.

When I went to the office at work to cancel my health insurance, I was informed that changes to benefits could only be made during a two week period that occurred in December. This was some months away, so I determined then that in obedience to God I would cancel health insurance on my entire family when that date arrived.

Several weeks before the date that I could drop my insurance I began to manifest symptoms of diabetes. I began experiencing dry cottony mouth and constant thirst. I had extremely frequent urination, even having to get up 5 or 6 times a night to use the bathroom and get another drink of water. I experienced blurred vision and occasional dizziness. One day while at work I became dizzy and, being right there in the emergency room, I asked them to run some tests on me and they checked my blood sugar and it was about 370 when it should be no higher than 120. The attending doctor told me I was diabetic and that I needed to go see my family physician and get started on a diabetic regimen for treatment.

I knew what God had spoken to me about trusting Him for our health. His instructions were for me to cancel my health insurance. The timing of this physical attack, just weeks before I could cancel this insurance seemed more than coincidental. I knew it was a test.

The pressure was poured on even more. Some nurses I knew at the hospital had heard about my case and they dealt with diabetic education and treatment. They began telling me regularly that I needed to see a doctor quickly. They gave me brochures about diabetes and they told me horror stories of amputated limbs, blindness, organ failure, and other effects of leaving diabetes untreated. They told me that they had patients in the hospital at that moment whose blood sugar was no worse than mine, and these patients were on intravenous insulin drips.

In my thoughts I struggled greatly during the next weeks and my symptoms persisted. I became nervous and distracted by all that was coming against me. I had great pressure from family to not cancel insurance. We will often find that there are obstacles to obeying God, and this is where our faith is exercised. Faith is not exercised when we have received no direction from God. It is exercised after we have heard.

I have great sympathy for those Christians who have not understood this. I have watched many wrestle to trust God in some matter in which they have received no revelation by His Spirit. The torment is great, and there is little ability to stand. At times, the results are very tragic.

As I considered my situation, the greatest contributing factor that weighed in my choice to trust God came when I considered what life would be like if God could not be trusted. I considered what the years ahead would be like if I devoted my life to serving a God who would not do what He said when I followed Him in obedience. The prospect appeared horrendous to me. I decided that I would rather risk dying of diabetes than to spend the rest of my life doubting God’s faithfulness.

Life did not appear to be worth living if God could not be trusted. The only fulfillment and satisfaction I could envision in life was in entrusting myself to a heavenly Father who genuinely cared for me and who would not abandon me when I placed my life in His hands. How unbearable it seemed to me to spend the rest of my life serving a God I could not trust.

With some trepidation, I went to the office at work during the allotted time and I asked them to cancel health insurance for myself and my family. I rejected the advice of the emergency room doctor and nurses, to go and see a family physician to begin treatment. I cast myself wholly over onto Yahweh for healing. Over the next weeks I began to lose weight, when all of my previous efforts to do so had failed. I lost about fifty pounds and all of the symptoms of diabetes disappeared. Within 1-2 months I experienced complete healing, and to this date, now more than eleven years later, I have had no reoccurrence of any of the symptoms.

The pattern was shown in my life, that the word of God precedes faith. I had heard the Lord tell me that He wanted me to cancel health insurance on our family. It would have been an easy enough thing to do if we had all been in great health. Yet He allowed me to be tested by asking me to do this thing when I was suffering from a serious condition and was being advised to seek medical attention quickly. Praise Yahweh! He is faithful!

The Prayer Of Faith

James’ instructions to the elders of the church of Christ include directions for dealing with sickness.

James 5:14-15
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.

To understand this we must keep in mind what we have already seen. Faith must include revelation and a trusting response. Many people call for the elders to pray for them today and they are not healed. This passage is often quoted in many churches, but there is very seldom any healing that takes place. Why is this so?

James states that not just any prayer will restore the one who is sick. What is required is the prayer of faith. There must be revelation and a trusting response. Why are so many prayers of the elders ineffective? Because there is no revelation from God before they pray. Many simply pray some formulaic prayer, citing verses of Scripture that speak of healing, or saying “Lord, if it is Your will, let this person be healed.” Is this a prayer of faith? Absolutely not.

James states that if the person has sinned his sins will be forgiven him. How is it to be determined if sickness is the result of sin? This knowledge comes through revelation of the Spirit of God. The position of elder is a spiritual duty, providing oversight for the souls of the saints. The elder is to be one who is Spirit filled. They should be capable of discerning such matters as they wait before God for direction.

Even after having heard God instruct me to trust Him for the health of my family, I encountered situations in others’ lives where I needed to know what to do. I could not tell them God would heal them, apart from a specific word for their circumstance.

One day my wife and a close friend went out to pick some peaches. When they got back her friend said she was feeling very poorly. Her breathing became affected and she was experiencing numbness and tingling throughout her body. I was quite concerned, and began praying. I told the Father that I did not know what to do, and I asked Him to reveal what should be done. A few moments later a lady from the community dropped by and she took a look at this lady and discerned immediately that she was having an allergic reaction due to pesticides that had been sprayed on the peach trees just before they picked peaches. This woman had some Benadryl in her purse and gave one to my wife’s friend and she quickly felt better. In less than 30 minutes she was able to get up, eat a meal, and resume her normal activities.

I know Yahweh sent this woman to our home at that precise moment in answer to my prayer. There are times when Yahweh chooses to use some natural remedy, or treatment to affect healing. There are times when He uses medication and doctors. We must not assume that He will not work through these means. We must remain open to hear from Him at all times, and to obey that which He reveals.

I believe there is good reason that God did not give the church a blank check regarding healing. If God had told the church that all they needed to do was embrace a principle, or stand on certain scriptures, then the church would in effect become independent of Him. God wants His children to be intimate with Him. God wants His children to seek Him diligently and develop ears to discern the still, small voice of the Spirit. God wants communion with His children.

I will close this teaching by sharing one more insight from the Scriptures.

John 20:21-22
Yahshua therefore said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Yahshua is commissioning His disciples. He is sending them forth as the Father had sent Him. How did the Father send Him? Christ began His ministry when the Spirit descended upon Him at the Jordan. His life is a an example of one Who was Spirit led in all things.

Christ would not direct His disciples to function in a way that was contrary to His own experience. They were to walk as He walked. The words Christ spoke to His disciples above would not lead them to independence from God. He did not hand them an instruction book, nor tell them to develop principles of kingdom life to apply to every circumstance. He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost. From that moment forward we observe the disciples moving by the direction, and in the power, of the Holy Spirit. We too are to live in like manner.

You will rightfully conclude that you must be able to discern God’s voice to live in this manner. To hear His voice you must walk uprightly. You must submit yourself wholly to be led of Him, committing yourself to go wherever He says go, and do whatever He says do.

Many Christians are unable to clearly discern God’s voice today because they have made no commitment to obey God in all things. Should God make His will known to those who have not committed themselves to obey Him? Why should He waste His breath? I would not continue to give directions to someone who constantly ignores my words. I will go to one who hears and obeys. So too does God.

The people of God have been bought at a great price. They are no longer their own. We are called to be a people of the Spirit. If you would like to read more concerning the principle of being led of the Spirit in all of our activities and ways, I would recommend to you the book Sabbath. It can be downloaded and read for free here: https://heart4god.ws/sabbath/.

If you would like to read how the Spirit of Christ has led this son of His to an experience of dependence upon God, manifesting His hand in healing and miracles of provision, I would recommend to you the book Evidence of Things Unseen. It too can be downloaded and read for free here: https://heart4god.ws/evidence-of-things-unseen/

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days.

Joseph Herrin