Love in Action

Daily Devotional

Health and healing.

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 John 2

As a volunteer chaplain working in a major hospital in Michigan, I was privy to patients who underwent medical procedures that would have been unthinkable ten or twenty years ago. Doctors are using genetic profiles to make more effective medications. They are performing operations in clinics using less invasive procedures which result in less pain, a shorter hospital stay, and fewer complications. They have been able to send cameras through the human digestive system that are swallowed like a pill. While at the hospitals I recognize that I am in a place of science where faith is tolerated but is usually looked upon as an aid to scientific procedures.

The truth is that many in the medical profession have experienced phenomena that they cannot understand or explain. So while they may not have seen or acknowledged miracles, they are respectful of the power of prayer and faith to aid in the healing process. The bottom line is, that if someone gets healed at the hospital, everyone is happy. That is what they are there to accomplish.
On the other hand, I am familiar with Christian ministers who have sought to discredit or disprove divine healing. By divine, I mean miraculous healing, since all healing is divine. When your skin is cut, scraped, or punctured, you usually start to bleed. Within minutes or even seconds, blood cells start to clump together and clot, protecting the wound and preventing further blood loss. The Doctor can operate but they can not make the body recover from the operation, that is God’s work. There are Christians who will go so far as to proclaim that if someone was healed it was the devil who did it since miracles and healings have passed away with the apostles. Based on experience and the scriptures I can tell you that God is concerned with the health and well-being of all of His children.  

The scriptures declare “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil for God was with Him.” The devil is the oppressor and God is the healer. If we are to receive health and healing from God we must know in our hearts that it is God’s will. Once we know that God wants us to be healthy, we should pursue it with all of our hearts and not let anyone dissuade us. Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.