Understanding God’S Divine Healing: How You May Be Healed

Contents

Part I.

Healing Is Established on a Firm Foundation

Foreword

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Part II.

Where Are We Today?

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Part III.

Healing Doctrines and Principles of Faith

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Part IV.

Healing through God’s Word

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Part V.

How to Receive Healing

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Part VI.

Biblical Examples of Healing Taken from God’s Word

Introduction

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

To Adelaide, my wife, without whose love, patience, and support, and also my son, Whit Harris, whose technical skill this work would not have been possible.

Part I.

Healing Is Established on a Firm Foundation

Foreword

When we read the Bible, it doesn’t take us long to see that Jesus spent a large portion of His time healing the sick and ministering to people, and today people all over the world are continuing this ministry. His intent and purpose was that we, too, are to carry on His ministry of healing with signs following (John 14:12). When we pray, we should experience the same results as He did; our prayers shouldn’t be a hit-or-miss situation. In writing this healing manual my purpose was not to reveal only a glimmer of light at the end of a dark tunnel, but rather for it to be a hands-on guide that expresses God’s desire for all His people to live their lives without sickness or disease. If you are sick, this manual will help you receive God’s promise of divine healing. For quite some time, my prayer has been that the body of Christ would reclaim the power, zeal, and ministry that our Lord Jesus gave us in Mark 16:15–18, the Great Commission. For several reasons, it seems we have not walked in the fullness of what our Lord has provided, but now, in these times, we are beginning to rediscover the blessings Christ has provided us.

Statistics show that the majority of people in North America and Europe claim to be Christians, but less than 10 percent attend church regularly. Did you know that in the United States, more than 97 percent of Christians are not healed when they pray for healing? But think about how Christianity started, when the 120 men and women came down from the Upper Room on that first Whitsunday or Pentecost Day. Three thousand were added that very day, and within a generation, Christianity had spread to well over twelve countries. Within two hundred years, it had become the largest body of believers in the civilized world. All of this happened in spite of hardships, poor transportation, persecution, and language problems. But today, since the Reformation, with all the technological, transportation, and electronic advances that have been made, we still fail to compare to the zeal of the early church. How did they do it? It was because every believer—not just the apostles, pastors, and elders, but everyone in the whole church—demonstrated a living faith through signs, wonders, healings, and miracles. This is what attracts people and gets their attention, because every one of us, everywhere, since the beginning of time, is endowed with a yearning to be with God, and when people see the power of a loving God demonstrated through healing, signs, wonders, and prophesy, they recognize that this is the real thing and not an organization controlled by man. Then revival begins.

My prayer is that the church would return to its roots and, like the early church, make salvation and healing its main purpose and calling. Wouldn’t it be great to see the church, the body of Christ, return to the place where the whole person—spirit, soul, and body—is ministered to, with signs following? For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 1:5). We have the ability, the resources, and the wherewithal, but it seems we’re either too busy or have lost interest. But how can we be Christians and lose interest? We lose our first love and become dull and unresponsive to the Holy Spirit’s leading. We all know Jesus came to do the will of the Father, but did you know that there is no other doctrine in all the Bible that is more clearly taught than that it is God’s will to save the lost and heal the sick?

I feel God is calling us back to the basics because it appears we’ve been asleep far too long. With all the many problems around the world, I believe we can agree that the world is approaching its most difficult time. Because of the way the world and church are changing, the rapture grows nearer, which places greater urgency on us to be about His business.

I have endeavored in this book to be scripturally accurate and honest about the divine healing that God through Jesus Christ has provided. My prayer is that this manual will provide you with information that might be helpful when you step out in faith and begin laying hands on the sick or praying for your own healing. Always keep in mind that God may reveal something new to you, and if He does, be like the Bereans and check these things against the Bible (Acts 17:11). Don’t blindly believe what others say or what I say or the things your traditions have taught. Always let the Word of God be the authority in what you believe, because God’s Word is truth and never fails. Also, please understand that God will heal you if you believe Him and put your faith in His promises. This is one of the central truths of the Bible. It is more important to have God’s Word than anything, because to believe is to be saved, and to be healed is to be free.

If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes (Mark 9:23). It has been said that religion is man’s attempt to reach God, while Jesus Christ is God’s way to reach mankind.

I want you to understand that no one has any special ability to heal anyone. No one has any special anointing, other than what we all possess as Spirit-filled believers. It’s all Jesus. He’s the healer and author and finisher of your faith if you are a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian. I say this because Jesus told us in Acts 1:8, You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. This is the power Jesus said you need in order to heal the sick in His name. You don’t need me or anything I have or could give you, because when you step out in faith and begin laying hands on the sick, you will probably see healing miracles with your own eyes. The New Testament never says it is God’s will for us to be sick or remain sick, injured, or disabled; in fact, He tells us just the opposite, because His will is to heal all His people.

What you will see when you read this manual is that healing and health are God’s will for us. This does not mean that everyone will be healed, but the more we understand what the Bible and especially the New Testament says about healing, the more likely we’ll receive the healing we need.

Chapter 1

The Beginnings

Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

Numbers 23:19

Did you know that everything you need in the spiritual realm already belongs to you? That is, if you belong to Him. But the problem with most people today is that when they have a need and pray and don’t receive an answer, it’s usually because they lack understanding of who and what they are in Christ. Now I’m not talking about salvation, because all born-again believers should be able to say from their heart, I know I’m a new creation. I have God’s life, His nature, and His Word in me. But healing, well, that’s another issue. It appears that over the years, we have taken His healing, this free gift He has given the church, and we’ve made it so complicated that only a few are healed today. This was never God’s intent; in fact, He has told us time and again that we are to believe Him, His Word, and His promises and walk in them, allowing His nature to dominate us. How do we do that? By knowing the things His Word tells us, especially about healing, and then acting on them. Remember, there’s no faith without action, and all believers must come to the point where they can say, Greater is He who is in me than any circumstance that is before me. That’s when God will work those things you need for His glory. Philippians 2:13 tells us that it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Almost every time Jesus ministered, He told the people who were healed that it was their faith that healed them, but it seems today that we have taken faith and complicated it to the point where we don’t know if we have faith or not. Some of us are at the point where we’re not sure if we ever had faith or even know how to obtain it, but it’s so simple. First, understand that faith comes from hearing God’s Word. Second, forget what you’ve been taught about faith, because it’s probably wrong, legalistic or confusing. Third, understand that faith is simply believing and trusting. We are to believe Jesus and trust in His promises. It’s that simple. Once you do that, just receive your healing.

In order for us to properly understand healing, we must have a clear knowledge and understanding of who Jesus is, what He did, and how He obtained healing for us, because not only did He purchase our salvation, but through His atonement, He also provided our healing and our peace of mind. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). But it seems today when we pray, we find it very difficult, if not impossible, to receive anything from God because we’re not sure of what He offers or how to receive them. Then, as we grow in His Word, we find that His blessings are received only when we know His will and begin to act upon it by faith. This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him (1 John 5:14, 15). We all know that Christianity never lost its quickening, its power, and its vitality of God. His Word has not changed; it is just as relevant, just as powerful today as it was when it was written, so we can’t be ignorant of what God’s doing or desires to do today.

When God sent His only Son, He began something new, and the world would never be the same again. After God created Adam, Satan came and enticed him; he willingly and knowingly sinned, and as we know, his sin was transferred to all his descendants, and mankind began its downward descent. But when the time had come, God sent forth His Son (Galatians 4:4).

Because sin takes life, life is required to repay sin’s debts. Man couldn’t do it because he was the one who had sinned, and neither could an angel, or bulls, or goats—only God could satisfy the requirements and take away our sin. And, as we know, God in the form of man gave His life, in blood, to satisfy all of mankind’s sins and debts in order to restore Covenant Peace between God and man. When Jesus came, something new was done, and it will never be repeated. But before we go any further, lets go back and see how the Abrahamic Covenant came to an end and how the New Messianic Covenant of Grace came about. Let’s began with the disciples just before Jesus went to the cross. This small group of men had left everything—their wives, families, jobs—and followed Jesus. They ate what He ate, lived the way He lived, and shared what they had with Him. They heard every word He spoke and witnessed every miracle He performed, but at the end, they could not fully comprehend who He was and why He came. They did not know what happened at the cross and why; in fact, they didn’t know there was a resurrection until Mary Magdalene told them.

Even when all the disciples (except John) cowered at a distance from the cross and fearfully watched His death, they still didn’t know He was Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They did not understand that the Hebrew Priesthood was crucifying the blood covenant partner of Abraham. Even after Jesus’ resurrection, when He commanded them to tarry until the Holy Spirit came, they did not understand what was going to happen or who the Holy Spirit was. They had followed Him and were obedient to Him; yet who He was, why He came, what He was to suffer, and what they were to gain by His suffering, death, and resurrection was unknown to them. They did not know what happened during those six hours on the cross or those three days and nights before His resurrection, but we must know because this is the thing that will build our faith.

Even today, not everyone who calls themselves a Christian understands who Jesus is or why He came and what He accomplished. Nor do they understand what our position, standing, and privileges are now because of who He is and what He did. But if you could set aside for a moment the things that keep you so busy and imagine that you’ve gone back in time and are standing by the cross that dreadful, wonderful, and remarkable day, I think you might appreciate what Paul received from God after the Holy Spirit blinded him and knocked him off his horse on that road to Damascus. If your desire is to become a knowledgeable and complete Christian, then you must know when Christ came on this earth, He came to save the whole man, his spirit, soul, and body, because this was what was lost when Adam committed his dreadful act of sin. We tend to stop at salvation because that’s what the majority of believers are satisfied with, and there’s nothing wrong with that—but there’s more.

Chapter 2

The Incarnation

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9:6

The birth of Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Covenant promise God made to His people to send the Messiah, but the question still remained, how could anyone be born completely pure and without sin, take on the sin of the world, receive every sickness and disease of man, die on the cross, go to the pit of hell, and then be raised from the dead and stand in the presence of God the Father, pure and holy without guilt or inferiority? This is the miracle of Christ and His Incarnation.

As we know, God chose Mary, a virgin from the tribe of Judah, to be the mother of our Lord. Because she was of the line of David, she had all the genealogical credentials to qualify. And the life that was imparted to her was directly from God the Holy Spirit.

Please understand, Jesus did not (and never will) share in the life of fallen man, who had carried the sin of the world since Adam. Also know that Jesus Christ is the essence of God, His own Son. He was always God’s Son and will continue to be throughout eternity. He is called the second Adam because when He came as man, He was born in the flesh, and as He always was, He was without sin because that seed which Mary received from the Holy Spirit carried the quintessence of God.

When Jesus was born, just think, He gave Mary the greatest joy a woman could have. Not only did she give birth to Jesus, but she too was sanctified through her faith and obedience. God not only restored her to the position Eve had before the fall, but He redeemed for all women, through her Son, the crown womanhood had lost in the garden when they receive Christ as their Lord and Savior and are born again. Just think, when God took woman from man, she was created to be man’s helpmate, but after the fall she became subservient to him (and still occupies that position in many parts of the world today). But by and through Mary’s son, Jesus restored woman’s position to an even higher and greater plane than she had ever held before. He gave her equality, He gave her hope, and He gave her position. The Holy Spirit proclaimed in Galatians 3:28 that there is no longer male or female, Jew or Greek, slave or free in God’s new creation; we all one, united in His Body, where He is the head.

The Old Testament tells us that the blood, spirit, and soul are in some way united, and the life of the flesh is in the blood. And when we are born again, our spirit is re-created and we become partakers of the Divine Nature of God. What happens in some miraculous way is that there is a union of the spirit, soul, and blood that makes us a new creation. Our blood is cleansed of the sin we inherited and were born with, and we become a new creation. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is the only way we could enter heaven.

The supernatural birth of Jesus lays the foundation for the most essential truth of all—that Jesus was and is the God-man. He was man as though He were not God and God as though He were not man. His body was not only mortal but divine because He was born through His heavenly Father’s seed, and just as the Father is eternal, Jesus is eternal. By so doing, a new order was established that had never before existed nor will ever exist again. God our Father caused the Word to enter the womb of Mary and become a seed, and at that moment, the Word became flesh (John 1:1–3). With men this is impossible but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

He did not become mortal or subject to death, until the Father put our sin on Him when He was on the cross, and at that moment He became sin and His body became mortal. This was the only way He could die, and when this happened, We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death … that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9). For Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit (1 Peter 3:18). What this meant was that through His resurrection God can now give man His own divine nature. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us, He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might become the rightness of God in Him. What had been impossible before has now become possible. It is important that we understand this because now we can see and understand how Jesus had dominion over the laws of nature, over the winds of the sea, over the fish of the sea, over life and death, over sickness and disease, even the forces of darkness. He did the things only God could do because He is God. We must also understand that Jesus had to come as man because only one born into humanity and having the nature of man could be a high priest, and only a high priest could purge or make purification for the people’s sins, and He now sits at the right hand of God the Father as our high priest. Jesus is God of very God.

I believe that even before creation, the Father in His infinite knowledge and understanding, knew Adam was going to sin, and by sinning, the nature of Satan would enter into his blood and be passed on to each and every generation of mankind throughout the world. And the Father knew that humanity could not redeem himself, that Deity must assume the liability for the fall of man, and Jesus, knowing this, said, Here I am, send Me (Isaiah 6:8). It was in this, that the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him (1 John 4:9). Jesus knew He would physically and legally take man’s place and He would suffer what humanity should suffer, and by paying the price and satisfying every requirement on behalf of fallen man, even providing a way for man to be redeemed in a way that would satisfy a Holy God, man would be vindicated. An angel could not fulfill these demands. No man could do it. Only God Himself could fulfill these requirements, and the only way possible was the Incarnation of Deity into humanity.

The Gospel of Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and she conceived in her womb that Holy Thing (Luke 1:35). Please understand, Jesus did not share in His mother’s character or nature; she simply clothed Him with sinless flesh. Because He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, He possessed a body similar to the one Adam had in the garden before the fall. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in the appearance as man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5–8).

God had come and thrust Himself upon the Jewish nation and especially upon the Jewish priesthood, but they did not realize that the God they had been offering sacrifices to was at last among them. Jesus, God in the flesh, had come into their midst clothed as a man, and He only revealed Himself through His love, His knowledge, and His miracles, but they could not recognize Him because Satan had blinded their eyes. Just think, their Jehovah was in their midst, but they did not recognize Him, and in the same sense, do we recognize Him today or even acknowledge the Holy Spirit for all the things that has been provided and made available for us? Has Jesus, through His sacrifice, changed your life to where you can say, He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4)?

He came with a single purpose, to redeem mankind from the bondage of selfishness, self-centeredness, and sins, where Satan ruled as prince. Not once did He reveal that He was the One who brought their fathers out of Egypt. In Matthew 22:31–32, Jesus, speaking to the Sadducees, said, But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead but of the living. Also understand that He did not try to prove His Deity by the many miracles, signs, and wonders He did, because all His actions were motivated by love, and love always wants to alleviate suffering, agony, pain, and grief. Love is the very nature of God, for God is love (1 John 4:8).

Jehovah had taken on human form, and not once did He reveal who He was or why He came. Why? Because He told them