DOES FAITH REALLY HEAL?

"Dr. Lovett, I saw an evangelist on TV with lines of people coming to him for healing. Some seemed to be healed on the spot. Some claimed to hear, whereas before they were deaf. Others said pain left their bodies. Still more walked erect after being bent over for years. Here is my question:

'Is this stuff for real?'"

 The answer: SOME OF IT IS.

I SHOULD EXPLAIN

This subject has fascinated me for years. On one occasion I made an appointment with a cancer specialist in San Diego who was using an approach similar to that of the healing evangelist. And with good success, I might add. His first words grabbed my interest:

"I tell many who come to my office that they are going to get well. And guess what? 35% of them do! And don't think that they weren't sick in the first place, because they were. It seems that believing my words somehow caused them to get well."

Something about my expression must have made the doctor feel I wasn't taking him seriously:

"I'm serious about this," he insisted. "l have patients that when I  tell them they are going to get well—they do! At the same time, as a Christian, I know that 'with His stripes we are healed.' I'm also satisfied there is healing in the atonement."

NO ARGUMENT THERE

Of course healing flows from Calvary. "By His stripes we are healed," says Isaiah 53:5. The instant a man opens his heart to Jesus he is healed of all spiritual sickness. Spiritual healing is the AUTOMATIC by-product of faith in Christ. But what about physical healing? Does that AUTOMATICALLY flow from Calvary as well? Are people automatically healed of their physical illnesses when they accept the Lord? You know they're not. Our churches are loaded with sick Christians.

WHY ISN'T PHYSICAL HEALING AUTOMATIC?

See what this means? You and I are redeemed souls living in UNREDEEMED bodies. Our souls may be sitting in the "heavenlies in Christ," but our bodies remain part of this sin sick world (Eph. 2:6). What a perfect setup for sickness and we see plenty of it. Physical healing can never be AUTOMATIC until the Lord returns to REDEEM the physical creation. In that day, with the curse removed, sickness will be banished. You and I of course, will then have glorified bodies totally immune to sickness.

When you and I were saved, we were instantly transferred from Satan's kingdom into Christ's kingdom (Col. 1:13). That is, our SOULS were immediately redeemed and placed in God's family, "the body of Christ" (1 Cor. 12:13). If our souls are transferred, what about our bodies? Are they transferred? No. To this day our bodies remain unredeemed. The apostle Paul says the redemption of our bodies is a FUTURE EVENT (Rom. 8:23).

BUT UNTIL
THAT DAY
COMES

For the present, we must go on living in this sin-cursed world with no PHYSICAL healing AUTOMATICALLY flowing from the cross. But does that mean there is no healing available to us today? Of course not. Our Lord is Himself THE HEALER! He heals today, but in a very different way.

Your body and mine came into this world subject to the various sicknesses that plague mankind. And many of those we bring on ourselves by living contrary to the laws of health the Lord laid out for us in the Sermon on the Mount. Are you aware that more than 80% of the people in hospital beds put themselves there? They've been made ill through their own emotions and destructive feelings that ravage their bodies. Your doctor will confirm that statement.

Worry can produce ulcers, right? Did you know that anger and rage can also bring on heart disease, the number one killer? And further, that BITTERNESS AND UNFORGIVENESS permitted to smolder in one's spirit can bring on ARTHRITIS? Believers bring scores of diseases on themselves (including cancer) by indulging in sinful emotions. It's unthinkable that God would cancel the consequences of such folly with automatic healing. So if we want PHYSICAL HEALING TODAY, we must seek it on some basis other than expecting it to flow automatically from the cross. It cannot flow to an UNREDEEMED body that is part of the cursed creation.

Therefore, the Lord makes available to us DOCTORS and certain HEALING LAWS. If you see someone healed in a healing meeting, it will be because one or more of the HEALING LAWS was invoked, whether the minister was aware of it or not. However, you will NOT SEE arms and eyes replaced, nor will you see brand new hair grow on a bald head or bad teeth replaced by a new set. Healings of that sort don't belong to this age.

AH, BUT THERE IS BUILT-IN HEALING

When God designed these bodies He equipped them with massive powers of restoration. Our bodies are DYNAMOS OF CREATION! They generate more than TEN MILLION red cells every second and even more white cells! If there were an instrument capable of reading the body's power to KILL A DISEASE OR REPAIR AN ORGAN, the reading on the dial would bend the needle. That power is astonishing!

Here's how it works:

Did you know that our subconscious minds are SUBSTATIONS for the power of God? That's the control room for the body's healing power. It controls the healing process. But when we indulge in worry, anger, bitterness and jealousy, we are in effect, commanding our minds TO MAKE US SICK. That's the source of nearly all of our illnesses. When we become anxious or hateful or resentful, we turn the power of our own minds AGAINST our own bodies.

On the other hand, if we cooperate with the healing laws all that wondrous power can be harnessed to make us well. If you and I could SPEAK DIRECTLY to our subconscious, we could say..."Cancer disappear!" And it would be gone in a flash! There is more than enough power on hand in our bodies to do that.

WORKING WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

Working with the Holy Spirit is a subtle business and we have 10 healing laws that apply to this business. I am familiar with these 10 laws and there may be more. With these, about 80% of all illnesses can be healed. To give you an idea what they're about, here's one of the laws: What a person believes with his CONSCIOUS MIND, his subconscious accepts as a fact.

Let me illustrate:

We're on a mountain trail. Suddenly I say, "Don't move, there's a coiled  rattler behind you ready to strike!"  

If you believe me, a host of things happen in your body immediately...all regulated by your subconscious. Your pulse increases. Breathing becomes rapid. Adrenaline pours into your bloodstream. Entirely on its own, you body gears for fight or flight.

On the other hand, if you don't believe me, no changes occur at all. It all depends on what you believe. All that activity in your body was triggered by simply believing what I said. Consequently, the first Law is called the LAW OF BELIEF. Using this law, along with the other 9, gives Christians a powerful approach to healing. The subconscious is the Holy Spirit's primary tool for healing. No doctor can heal. No drug can heal. No evangelist can heal. All healing must flow through that POWERFUL SUBSTATION of the Holy Spirit-THE SUBCONSCIOUS.

IS THIS LEGITIMATE?

When a DOCTOR says, "You're going to get well," one tends to believe it. The same is true for the healing evangelist. Since he SPEAKS FOR GOD, people tend to believe him. With both speaking with authority, they tend to get the same results—35% success. That's right, they both get about the same results. The patient's BELIEF is in effect a COMMAND to the subconscious and healing power is triggered. When the evangelist does it we call it faith healing. When the doctor does it, it is viewed as psychosomatic medicine. Both are working with God-given healing laws, laws as valid as those of electricity or gravity. An evangelist can be totally ignorant of the healing laws and still produce healings. If he can stir up CONSCIOUS BELIEF, the laws will work for him.

For my part, I'm thrilled with the healing laws. I've used them often and been healed. What's more, many have written telling how they've been healed too. If you have an ailment that has not yielded to prayer or medical treatment, you owe it to yourself to learn God's healing laws.

JESUS WANTS YOU WELL

I feel I am doing a service by telling you about God's healing laws and showing you how to use them. That's what I've done with my book titled "JESUS WANTS YOU WELL." While the Lord uses sickness to refine His people, He finds no pleasure in their suffering. He'd much rather have them well, so as to do a better job of witnessing and serving Him. When a person's body feels good, his spirit feels much freer. It is SATAN who wants us sick, not the Lord. If you're not sick, why not share this article with someone who needs this help. I'm convinced that once you see how these laws work, you'll agree that...

FAITH HEALING IS FOR REAL!

This article is Copyright 2002 by Dr. C. S. Lovett and is found on www.cslovettbooks.com