The Rev. G. David Henderson: Biblical possibilities that you were not healed after church authorities ministered to you

Published 5:02 pm Thursday, July 5, 2018

I preached the following in one of our worship services at Temple of the Lord here in Dalton where I pastor. This devotional is about divine healing. Such means an afflicted person being healed only by prayer and faith without any other sources, even without the aid of medical or psychological science.

The reason for this devotional is I feel so sorry for pitifully-afflicted people who, after church leaders pray for their healing in the presence of the congregation, and the afflicted people aren’t healed, the ministering faith minister wrongfully and cruelly publicly blames the afflicted people for not having enough faith for their healing.

This devotional presents the following Scripture references that the problem of the lack of authentic, Christ-like healing in our generation could be the minister or ministers who prayed for the afflicted to be healed, as seen in Matthew 17:4-16, 19-20.

In those Scriptures Jesus blamed the healing ministers for their afflicted people not being healed, even though Jesus gave the healing ministers the power to heal. Jesus exposed that it was the healing ministers’ lack of faith for the afflicted not being healed, not the lack of faith of the afflicted people. The same can also be true in our generation.

Romans 10:17 warns that another main reason for an afflicted person not being healed is the lack of Bible study as seen in the phrase “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” If the afflicted people hate or neglect reading the Bible for any reason, rather than loving to read the Bible, such can easily be the reason for their lack of answered prayer or their faith not working to heal them.

Another possible reason people in the Bible didn’t receive their healing and miracle is they let the wrong person minister to them. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 warns that not every pastor, evangelist, lay minister has the power to heal. God gives us ministers the ministering ability he wants each individual minister to have. Since such is scripturally true, it is not the minister’s fault, nor the fault of the afflicted person being powerless to heal, that is, if Jesus didn’t give such ministers healing and miracle powers.

One of the most important truths about authentic, Christ-like healings and miracles is found first in Romans 12:6-8 (ministering gifts from God); Ephesians 4:11 (ministering gifts from Jesus); and I Corinthians 12:7-11 (ministering gifts from the Holy Spirit).

Those Scriptures in the above paragraph teach that not every minister has the same ministerial powers. Our only ministering abilities are according to the ministering gifts God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit give each individual minister.

Possibly one of the greatest reasons some people weren’t healed is their healing didn’t happen according to the timing they demanded Jesus to heal them and they stopped believing for their miracle. Luke 17:4-10 reveals 10 lepers that Jesus ministered for their healing were not instantly healed the moment Jesus ministered to them. They were healed after they left Jesus’ presence.

Such biblical story above reveals God never promised our healings would be instant at the moment we demand God. The time of our healings are according only to God’s timing. If your prayers have not been answered, don’t give up believing! Delay is not God’s denial.

The apostle Paul revealed in 2 Corinthians 12:7 that if God doesn’t heal us as we asked him, it’s only for the purpose that he will use our afflictions as our ministering powers, as demonstrated in this devotional. This devotional came from my mind that has been afflicted with Alzheimer’s and post-polio syndrome for 10 years.

The Rev. G. David Henderson is the pastor of Temple of the Lord at 611 S. Green St. in Dalton. You can reach him at angelsfood@optilink.us. His column appears on the first Friday of the month.