FOR THOSE IN A MINISTRY OF HEALING

FOR THOSE IN A MINISTRY OF HEALING

By Harold J. Sala, Ph.D.

If you should Google “The first doctor in the ancient world,” you would get a reference to Hippocrates (460-370 BCE) who lived on the island of Kos, a stone’s throw from Pergamum, on Turkey’s Aegean Coast. Should you visit the Middle-East, almost everywhere you travel you will find that someone once lived there who strived to alleviate human suffering by medicine. Go to Turkey and you will find that numerous ancient physicians practiced medicine there. Go to Greece and you will find the same thing. You will also find that hospitals, as we think of them, were also prevalent where medical practitioners attempted to alleviate human suffering. Wherever you go in the ancient world you will find that there was a correlation between the attempt to alleviate human suffering with some relationship to a belief in an ancient deity. About 1000 years before Jesus was born at Bethlehem, David, a shepherd lad who became king, wrote, “Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:3).

Jesus called 12 men to be His disciples and He began His ministry, healing the sick, doing what none other had done in all history. He ultimately sent out his twelve disciples instructing them to do the same thing. Matthew, summarized Jesus’ ministry saying, “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction” (Matthew 9:35). He healed sickness and restored health. Physical healing became a “hallmark” of the Gospel Jesus proclaimed, and the same mission was given to the church when He went back to heaven. In the letter that bears his name James, the half-brother of Jesus, instructs the sick to call for the elders of the church who were to anoint them with oil, pray for them, and be healed. Paul advised the early church that God granted a “gift of healing” that should operate in the body of Christ. When I wrote my book What Your Need to Know about Healing, I made contact with Dr. Dennis Cope, a personal friend, who at that time was the head of the U.C.L.A. teaching hospitals. I posed a question asking if in his many years as a physician, he had ever encountered a situation where there was no explanation for a recovery apart from God’s supernatural intervention. What he related became the introduction to my book, What You Need to Know About Healing .

CHALLENGES WE WHO SERVE OTHERS FACE

“Please try to explain why God heals some and chooses to take others home.” The simple answer is that what God has not revealed, we cannot always explain. I began my adult ministry serving as an Associate Pastor in one of America’s ten largest churches, and part of my responsibilities included hospital visitation. Never shall I forget visiting a retired veteran who was in a Government Hospital in serious condition. He turned to me, (then in my middle ‘20s) and asked, “Why? Why does God allow me to lie here and suffer? Why doesn’t He just let me die?” More than a few times I’ve had to respond to the question, Why? “Why can’t I conceive a baby when other girls are aborting theirs?” Why does God allow suffering? No one can better answer that question than Joni Eareckson Tada. The simple answer to the question of responding to some queries is “I cannot explain what God has not revealed.” In his book Why us?” Warren Wiersbe tells of visiting a woman who was suffering and said, “I want you to know we’re praying for you!” and she responded asking him to pray for one more thing. “What is that?” he asked, “Pray that I will not waste the suffering. For God’s children, He walks with us through the hard times and days. He will never leave or forsake His own!

You don’t have to have all the answers! But if those to whom you minister realize you genuinely care and that take your ministry of healing seriously, you will make a big difference. The grace of God is like a multi-faceted diamond. The Apostle Paul had all kinds of difficulties, yet he was convinced that God’s grace is sufficient. A smile, a gentle word of encouragement, a positive touch bring healing that medicine can’t accomplish. With God’s grace abounding, “We do not lose heart!”

FALL BACK ON THE WORD

Keep your relationship with the Lord vibrant and meaningful. My favorite hymn is an old one I first heard in Britain, the words of one verse which are, “My soul has found a resting place, not in device or creed, I trust the ever living one. His wounds for me shall plead. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me.”

You can email Harold at harold@guidelines.org