by André Kruger
Pastor of Shofar East London
I recently spoke to a Christian man who has been visiting our church for a month or two. He told me that he was blown away by the faith he experienced with us, that we would believe God to heal people miraculously in our church services. He shared with me that he has a church background, but that he has never experienced anything like this. I was encouraged by his testimony, for Christians are also called “believers” for a reason. We should believe! It sometimes leads to a misunderstanding when people hear that we expect God to heal individuals miraculously. They sometimes think that this means we reject the medical field and the healing that can come through the help of medical professionals – which is far from the truth.
We love medical professionals. We love what they do and the sacrifices they make to help hurting people. Their careers are often a calling, something that they do at great cost to themselves. Their role will always be important, and they have been given talents and skills by God to help people. We celebrate that. The human body is an incredibly complex biological machine that was created by God with profound self-healing capabilities. Medical professionals don’t heal people, they simply assist the body’s self-healing processes, created and placed there by God, so that the body and mind of the individual can be healthy. These are natural methods which help the body heal naturally. There are limits to what can be done by physical means. When practical medical care is not available (as in many places) or is unable to help the body recover sufficiently, then supernatural means are needed. Supernatural intervention is also God’s way of revealing the love of God to someone and pointing them to Jesus. Every miracle is a sign that points to Jesus.
We are not promoting supernatural physical healing at the expense of the medical profession. We believe there is a powerful partnership between the two. The nurse who reveals the love of Christ to a sick person by being kind and caring points the patient to Jesus and brings glory to God. It’s not a second-rate healing when someone was blind, but now after surgery has their sight restored. To the patient, it is a precious gift and as good as a miracle from heaven. It’s also a great honour for the surgeon to use his natural God-given skills and the laws of biology to help the patient in such a beautiful way. God created the natural world and uses the natural processes and laws of this world to help people. God is also a supernatural being able to transcend the physical laws so that people can discover who He is and how much He loves them. Jesus died for every human being, from the least to the greatest. Every person is infinitely valuable to God and deserves the best love and care we can give them. We believe that God the Holy Spirit wants to help the medical professional through supernatural wisdom, insight and know-how, to provide the best possible medical care. We encourage every professional to ask for God’s leading, to maximise their natural skills and abilities to help hurting people. As believers, we are called to follow Jesus and to live as He lived. To serve people with practical service, as Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, and with supernatural ministry by healing the sick as His disciples did.
Whether it be by natural means or supernatural means, let’s bring glory to Jesus.
Taken from www.heavensflow.org