Sam Storms | “On Healing”
Speaker:
Sam Storms
Scripture:
John 4:46-5:17, John 5:20, John 14:11, 2 kings 5:14, John 5:19, James 5:14-16, Romans 11:33, Isaiah 9
What to Believe:
What Jesus declares is what is. There is nothing that can stand against the Word of the Lord
God's ways are not formulative. God is mysterious and He is also sovereign. We will never fully know what He will do. He will always do what is good and holy, but we cannot predict what that will look like.
God gifts healing to whom He will. No one person has a gift of healing. We are subject to the acts of God and the will of Him who knows all.
A desire for sign and wonders are very good, they are even a sign of God being with us, but our faith is in God, the faith should not be withheld if a sign or wonder doesn’t happen.
There is a distinction between choosing to believe only if there is a sign or wonder, and recognizing how God has moved through a sign and wonder and believing because of the love God showed in that gift of a sign or wonder.
Distance is no barrier to the healing power of the Lord.
God may choose to heal someone independently of them asking for it, and other times they seek Him out.
In the Word sometimes it is because of faith of one asking to be healed for themselves, sometimes it is because of the faith of one who prayed on another’s behalf, and sometimes it is because of the removal of sin, other times it has nothing to do with sin.
There is not always a cause and effect with sin and sickness.
The miracles of the Lord can lead to salvation, sometimes for many..
Jesus is compassionate and caring. He cares about the sick and the hurting. He is also sovereign, He does not do things simply because we believe He should. He will always and only do as the Father wills. It is not according to our say so or our formula. It is only according to His sovereignty.
“Whatever the Father does, so the Son does likewise.”
How to Obey:
Sometimes you will feel the need/urge to argue with what God says, but submit whether or not you understand. His way is the only way.
We will never have all the answers. Give God the room to be God outside of your expectations or understanding. We like to think we can control God by reducing healing to a formula but we can’t.
Jesus said that he only says and does what he sees the Father doing and saying, and even he healed in a variety of ways that can seem strange to us:
spitting into mud and rubbing it a man’s eye,
sometimes he healed in person and sometimes at a distance,
sometimes he said the person’s faith healed them but sometimes they didn’t even ask him for it,
sometimes the healing was instant and sometimes it was gradual,
sometime a person’s healing can lead to one’s salvation and sometimes not,
sometime’s a person’s sin can be a cause for their condition and sometimes not.
You are not categorized by a specific gift. Even if you don’t have the “gift of healing” pray for the healing of the sick. God wants us to partner with Him in His work. If it is His intent to heal someone, do not remove yourself from that work because you do not have a particular gifting. The gifting is not yours, the gifting is God’s to bestow upon those He will, through those He will.
Before praying for healing, ask for forgiveness. Many times the power of the Lord for healing comes quickly after confession and repentance. This isn’t necessarily formulative, but we are called to confess our sins and then we may be healed, as it says in James 5.
How to Walk Intimately with God:
Making room for God to be God and trusting that He alone can do the signs and wonders that would please Him is such an incredible stance. Getting out of God's way, by submitting your own way will honor God beyond your understanding