Expect Your Healing… Today!

It was 1989, and my wife and I and our three children were living in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, to study Spanish. We arrived in Guatemala in January and would be transitioning to a ministry in Chile in November.

At some point in September, we made a trip to a mountain village to share the gospel. We were invited to eat a meal while there and the environment was very rustic. A few days after that trip I began to feel sick and weak. This lasted several days until finally one morning I looked in the mirror and noticed my eyeballs were yellow! I went to my wife and asked if she noticed anything, and she immediately said, “Oh Barry, you have hepatitis!”

I went to a local doctor who ran some blood tests and confirmed that I had a very serious case and that I would need to be in bed on a strict diet for four months. I didn’t have four months left in the country, so I was not happy.

A missionary friend stopped by with a box of books and tapes about faith and healing for me to study. I was already a believer in healing and could teach the principles of healing to some extent. I didn’t need to be convinced, but I did need to be healed.

I spent hours a day for the next four weeks reading, listening to tapes, and praying. One day while my family was at the market, I shuffled out of my bedroom “quarantine” and sat down in our kitchen area. I was praying and meditating on all I had been studying, and suddenly I “heard” God say to me, “Barry, by My stripes you were healed.” I knew that, but suddenly I KNEW it! God had spoken to me in a similar way several years earlier and had given me a revelation of righteousness. This was now the second time that a revelation of truth changed me.

A Revelation of Truth

Suddenly I knew I was healed! There was not a doubt in my mind or heart. I asked myself, What would a healed person do right now? I got up, got dressed, and left the house for the first time in four weeks, and I took a walk up and down the street. I had lost a lot of weight and I was still yellow, but I was healed. I went back to a normal diet, normal activities, and never looked back. I have never had a liver problem since. Whether or not my body would have recovered naturally over time isn’t really the point of this story. The real point is that we can hear God and that healing is an accomplished part of our redemption. In God’s eyes, I was always healed. It just took me four weeks to believe it. The sooner we see it and believe it, the sooner sickness will lose its grip on our lives.

Some would say that healing passed away with the last of the apostles or healing passed away when the New Testament Scriptures were completed. Many won’t deny that God can heal if He wants to, but they believe healing isn’t something that we can count on. They view healing as one of the mysteries of God and that some are healed but many are not.

Have healing and the other gifts of the Spirit passed away? Let’s look at some reasons that confirm that the gifts of the Spirit and healing remain alive in the church today.

And He [Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:15-18).

In Mark 16:15-18, the command to the disciples and by extension to the church, is to go into all the world and preach the gospel. We can see that this command is not just for the original apostles of the Lord since it was physically impossible for them to accomplish this commission within their lifetimes. Not only were they limited by the length of their earthly lives, they were limited by the lack of available transportation to reach every tribe and nation on earth. Either the gospel is for every nation and every human or it isn’t.

To All Who Believe

Jesus’ commission wasn’t just to the apostles therefore, but to the entire church. If not, then we are not called to preach the gospel today because that commission died with the last apostle. This is a serious point. Are we or are we not called to reach the nations with the gospel? Was this command only to the apostles of the Lord? If the command is viable and active for us today, then what follows is also pertinent.

In Mark 16:16, Jesus said, “He who believes,” which refers to those of the nations who become believers at the preaching of the gospel. In verse 17, He continues, “And these signs will follow those who believe.” This is a promise to those same new believers. The new believers of verse 16 are the same believers who have signs following them in verse 17.

What signs will follow these new believers? They shall cast out demons, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents—as in the case of Paul on the island, when one bit him and he suffered no harm (Acts 28:3-6)—if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them, and they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.

When the disciples received this commission, Mark continues: “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs” (Mark 16:20).

The Lord was working with them, confirming the Word with signs. The Lord is still working with those who believe and still confirms the Word with signs—healings and miracles—following.

If the preaching of the gospel is meant for all nations, then the signs that follow that preaching are still valid. And those who respond to that preaching will also have signs follow. Logic dictates that the apostles of the Lord couldn’t be around generation after generation to lay hands on each new believer for them to receive the power of the Spirit. The power wasn’t the apostle’s power, it is the Lord’s power and confirms the gospel. It still does.

The Father’s Promise

Let us now consider the promise of the Father that was received by the 120 on the day of Pentecost and was preached by Peter on that same day. The “gift of the Holy Spirit” was announced as being for “as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:38-39).

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call (Acts 2:38-39).

There is no expiration date on this promise! The gift of the Holy Spirit is promised to all whom the Lord calls—and He has called all! He is “not willing that any should perish”! (See 2 Peter 3:9.)

Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49)

And being assembled together with them, Jesus commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me’” (Acts 1:4).

Why would the disciples need to be endued with power?

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8).

The power was in order to be a witness of the Lord to the end of the earth! Again, the original apostles were not going to finish the job of reaching the ends of the earth. But I believe most would agree that reaching the lost is still the heart of God. Are we to reach the lost and be witnesses with power or with no power? If the commission to go into all the world remains valid, the power to accomplish God’s will must remain valid as well.

The Gifts of the Spirit

Now, let’s consider God’s plan concerning the gifts of the Spirit.

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29).

The Greek word for gifts is charisma and is the same word used to refer to the gifts of the Spirit described in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12.

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4).

Paul declares that the gifts, charisma, of God are irrevocable and there are a diversity of charisma. What does irrevocable mean?

The Greek word for irrevocable is ametameletos, meaning not to be repented of. In other words, God will not change His mind about the role of the Holy Spirit in the affairs of mankind and in the preaching of the gospel to the nations.

These irrevocable, charisma gifts are described in 1 Corinthians 12:

For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:8-10).

These gifts are the charisma that are irrevocable and follow the preaching of the gospel. These gifts are part of the great commission to reach all nations. Healing is part of the gospel message to all people. Thus far we have the witness of three: 1)The Great Commission to all nations with signs following; 2) the Promise of the Father of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (endued with power from on high, choose your favorite term), which is for all who come to the Lord; and 3) the gifts of God that are irrevocable.

We can add to that Paul’s clear statement in 1 Corinthians chapter 1: “So that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:7).

The word “gift” is once again the Greek word charisma. Paul’s understanding was that the gifts of the Spirit would be in operation until the coming of the Lord. We can confirm this with the famous quote of Jesus in Acts 1:8:

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

This promise is for the power that we need to reach the nations with the gospel of God’s love. Until that commission is completed, the power is here and available to those who believe.

Jesus declared:

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14).

Once this gospel is preached to all the world as a witness (Acts 1:8), then the power, the signs, the tongues, and other gifts will have fulfilled their purpose. There will be no more need. But as long as the Great Commission is in effect, the power, the gifts, and the signs are irrevocable.

Healing is Available Today

Healing is available today. It is available to you. As we open our hearts to the truths of God’s Word, it will awaken our hope and build our faith to expect healing. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). It is not reasonable to suggest that Jesus would heal all who came to Him, and that all who came to the first church in Jerusalem were healed, but now God’s attitude toward human suffering has somehow changed. If you had lived 2,000 years ago and had sought out Jesus, or had made your way to the first church, you would have been healed. Why not now? Could it be that our expectations are too low?

Healing should be as expected today as it was in the gospels and the book of Acts. I hope that I have shed some much-needed light to the subject and encourage your heart to hear Him and be healed (Luke 5:15).

Healing Prayer

Father, open my heart to truly hear Your Word and know Your heart for my life. I agree with Your promise of abundant life! Amen!