Greg Ford - God Is A Healer
Before I start to even open the Bible and get into it, I want to just introduce the complexity of the conversation of God is a healer. I’m here to tell you today, I don’t have the answer as to the massive question, as to why and when does Almighty God choose to intervene in the affairs of human beings and do miracles. When does he choose to do the supernatural? And it’s more than just a specific prayer that you pray, or a specific belief that you have. Because there are many of you today who could say, «I believed, and I prayed, and it didn’t happen like what I was hoping for or what I prayed for».
And so, we just have to embrace that. We have to be honest about that. And I have to tell you, I don’t have an answer for you as to why God chooses that. That’s above my pay grade. That’s way above my pay grade. And in fact, it will be one of the first questions I ask God when I meet him face to face. But I wanna take some time and say in the middle of the confusion and the questions, we do have some things we can cling to. We do have some certainties and we do have some answers. And so today what I want to do is, I want to talk to you about three ways that God heals.
Alright, I want to start actually first talking about health, health in general, okay? I wanna define what does it mean to be healed, or what does it mean to be whole. In the book of Luke 10, Jesus, I’ve referenced this a few times so to some of you, this will be a refresher. But it’s gonna create a foundation for our conversation. In Luke 10, a lawyer comes to Jesus and said, «Jesus what’s the greatest law of the 613 laws»? And Jesus said, «You’re a lawyer, you’re really smart, what do you think it is»? And so, they have this conversation. Luke 10:27 he says, «Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself».
Okay Jesus adds that one in. And so, this is how we are made up. This is known as the great commandment. Our heart is emotional, okay, we are emotional beings. Our soul, spiritual beings. Mind, mental beings. Strength, physical beings, and neighbor, relational. What would it look like to be fully healed and healthy? It would look like healing to be whole and healed emotionally, spiritually, mentally, physically and relationally. Jesus understood this. In fact, there was a time that Jesus healed somebody and then he went back and dealt with them.
In John 5, there is a man who’s at the pool of Bethesda. And it says in John 5:5 and 6, there was a man lying there, he’d been sick, watch this, «He had been sick for 38 years». Guy had been sick for 38 years. «Jesus saw him and he knew he’d been ill for a long time and he asked him, 'would you like to get well'»? They end up in a conversation, Jesus ends up healing the man of his illness. And then it says in verse 14, «Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and told him,» watch this, «Now you are well, so stop sinning or something worse may happen to you».
Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. Well why was Jesus saying that? Because he was planning to put the smack down on this guy? No. Jesus was saying this 'cause he’s saying, «Sir, here is the reality about wellness. Here is the reality about health and wholeness. You could get healed of your 38-year issue of your body and not deal with the issues of the heart and the emotion, and the relationship and the soul, and go out and sabotage yourself even though you’ve been healed. You thought the issue was the issue, but the issue was only part of the issue».
Jesus wanted to make sure he was all the way healed. «I can deal with the 38-year issue but if there’s a lingering issue of the emotions, if there is a lingering issue in a relationship, if there’s a lingering issue of the spiritual». He said, «There’s a reason you’re continuing to live in patterns of sin, and it is not just 'cause you’re a bad dude, it’s because you need some healing in your life. And I healed your illness but there’s still healing that needs to be done».
So, what we have to understand when it even comes to God as a healer, God doesn’t just heal one area. For you to be fully healed and fully whole, you gotta deal with all of it. And of course without exception, everyone in the room deals with trauma and brokenness and issue in all of these areas. Okay, and of course we know there are some common pitfalls that people fall into. You have a broken emotion from a broken relationship. What do you do? Well, sometimes people do one of two things, either spiritually they either turn to God and throw their whole being into his word and go, «Okay, I’m hurt now, I’m coming fully to God». Or they reject God altogether, they swing the pendulum one way or the other. Physically, what do they do? Broken emotion, broken relationship. What do they do?
Well, they either go get a revenge body and cut their body fat down to nothing and get healthier than they’ve ever been, or they eat chunky monkey ice cream gallons, by the gallons, breakfast, lunch, dinner. Alright? Why? 'cause I’m trying to deal with this brokenness. Alright? Relationally, they either cut everybody off and turn into a hermit or they go turn up and they’re the life of the party. Alright? Well, how do we deal with this? Well, here’s the thing. These five areas are inextricably linked. You are, you are all five. I can’t take my emotions out of my body. Okay? It’s all connected. And so if I’m going to be healthy, I’ve got to deal with all of it.
So yeah, it’s good, you know, «Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all the other things will be added to you as well». So, we do start there but we have to understand it’s a deep work that God does. Now, how does God heal? How does God heal? I’m gonna give you three different ways that God heals. And he doesn’t do all three of these in every situation. But he does all three of these in the world and in people. Alright? The first one is that God sometimes heals instantly.
Okay, instantly. You will find in your heart, soul, mind, strength and neighbor, there are some times, and some instances, and we thank God for them, when God deals with something right now. Thirty-seven times recorded in the gospels Jesus does a miracle. Okay? And that’s everything from turning water into wine or you know, calming the storm, or feeding 5000 with five loaves and two fish. But a lot of his miracles were healing. It says in Matthew 15:30 it says, «A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled, and those who couldn’t speak and many others. And they lay them before Jesus and he healed them all». So, he didn’t just do 37 healing, he did tons of healings. It’s just referenced 37 times in the gospels.
In Luke 17, it says, «He healed as he went». So, there’s a lot that he does instantly where he would heal somebody right away. And he heals in all different ways. In John 9:6, there’s a man who was blind, okay? And so, it says, «Jesus spit on the ground, and made mud with the saliva». Which begs the question, how much saliva did Jesus have? Because that’s a lot. I mean, to make mud. «And then he spread the mud over the man’s blind eyes». And then he tells him, you know, «Go to this, you know wash your eyes out». And the guy is like «Yeah I was planning to».
And so, he goes, and he does it, and it says in verse 15, when the pharisees asked him about it, he told them «He put mud over my eyes and when I washed it away I could see, instant». It’s funny 'cause this sets off a whole big thing because they’re going, «Jesus couldn’t be from God because he healed on the sabbath». And so they say, «He must be of the devil or whatever». And this man’s like, «I don’t know man». He goes, «All I know is I once was blind, but now I see. You know, you guys can ask me all the questions you want. I just know, you know, he spit on the ground and next thing I knew, you know, I washed it off and I could see. And it was an instant miracle».
Which you know, again, people wonder why did Jesus, you know, spit on the ground? And the answer very clearly is, I don’t know. I’m really not sure. He didn’t have to. He didn’t need his saliva. There’s a little conjecture if you do a little digging into history and everything. In that day, like to us, it’s super odd. And it is strange. Okay, I’ll just say, it’s strange. But to us it’s super odd that Jesus would use saliva as medicine. But it actually in that day, there was a belief that the saliva of dignitaries had certain kind of healing type of curative qualities. And so, what many theologians believe is that Jesus essentially was leaning into the culture of that day to say, «Hey, you guys have this belief». He was talking about who he was. «Now, I’m not just gonna deal with your sight, but I’m giving a Revelation of who he was».
But I’m gonna be honest, it gets more disgusting. In Mark 7, this is real, this is in your Bible, you gotta just fact check me later. Mark 7, there is a man who is deaf and he can’t speak. He can’t hear or talk, and they bring him to Jesus, and Jesus goes and he sticks his fingers in the man’s ears. And then Jesus spits on his own fingers and puts 'em on the man’s tongue. And then he says something to him that means open. And then the guy just starts hearing and talking. And then there is Mark 8. In Mark 8 okay, I know it’s getting a little intense in here, but I’m just reading you the Bible, okay? That’s my job. That’s what they asked me to do, alright? Mark 8, it says, «When they arrived in Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus».
Now watch this. «They begged him to touch the man and heal him and Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then spitting on the man’s eyes». Jesus had a sense of humor dude. I don’t care what. He spat right on his eye. You thought the mud was bad. He’s just watching him, he’s like, «Come here». It’s word, okay? People are like, «I like a church that preaches the word». Do you? Now watch this. This is where it gets good. «He laid his hands on him, and he asked,» watch this. «'Can you see anything now'? And the man looked around. 'yes, ' he said». Now watch. «He said, 'I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly'». Sit with that for a minute. «'I see people, ' he said, 'but I can’t see them very clearly'».
This is the only miracle, thirty-seven miracles of Jesus recorded, this is the only miracle that is progressive. It’s a process. It’s the only one that wasn’t complete right away. Every other person Jesus healed was fully healed. Lame persons stood up. Leprosy dried up. Blind could see, except this one. He said, «I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly». He said, «They look like trees walking around. I’m still confused». «I’m not done. There’s still work that needs to be done». Verse 25, «Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again and they were opened. And his sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly».
In some situations, in some healings it doesn’t happen in an instant. It happens over time. Sometimes God uses time to heal wounds. Sometimes God touches your eyes more than once. Sometimes the first time you see better than you used to, but you don’t see as good as you need to. You’re gonna make progress still. You’re not where you’re gonna eventually be. I’m not where I used to be, I’m not who I used to be, I’m not where I used to be, but I’m not where I’m gonna be. «I can see. I see shapes I see people,» he says, «I just don’t see them clearly yet».
And so, throughout the process of Jesus continuing to touch him and continuing to show up for him, eventually he was able to see things in clarity. And friends, here’s what I’m gonna tell you, I think a lot of times, we pray for something to happen in an instant in our emotions, our spirit, our minds, or bodies, or relationships, and certainly, there are times, and we are thankful for those times that God will give a breakthrough right now and I see something. A healing right now and we’re restored. And you know, we’re in a new place. But a lot of times it’s a process and it’s slower than you want it to be. We all would love for the healing to be instantaneous, but often God uses the progressive. And the lie of the enemy is that you’re alone. The lie of the enemy is that you’re hopeless.
If you don’t really understand what God is doing here, you’ll think that what you’re experiencing right now is all there is, and you just come for a monologue or a message and a worship time and you miss the deep healing work that God does through his body. Yeah, there was somebody that hurt you but there’s somebody else that’s ready to help you. And God uses people full of the spirit that raised Christ from the dead to work together as image bearers of Jesus. What’s God really like? He’s a healer. The third way, the third and final way that God heals is actually through eternity.
My friend, Judy, two Thursdays ago, went to be with Jesus, she passed away. And if you really think about it, Judy is more alive than any of us right now. We don’t grieve like people who are hopeless. That we understand that Judy is alive, and the ultimate healing, the full wholeness does come in eternity. I really prayed about how to deliver this part of this message today because I realized a few things. I realize there are some today who are in so much pain, so much pain in their minds, so much pain in their emotions. So wounded, and what we often think is that the beginning and end of this world is all there is.
So, when something happens that brings us to the awareness of the finality on this earth again, a death or something that can’t be undone here, we feel like it’s doomed, it’s done, it’s finished. And yet this really is just a leg of the journey. And I realize this is a sensitive topic because there are some who are in so much pain that they begin to long for death. And some even succumb to that. And what I want to do is, I want to encourage you with, when we do leave this life and we go to be with God, I want you to understand the healing that takes place there.
As Isaiah 25, he gives a prophecy of eternities and says of God, «He will swallow up death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of his people from the whole earth». And Revelation 21:4, John on the Isle of Patmos is giving a prophecy of what will happen in eternity. He says, «He will wipe every tear from their eyes. And there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever». And then Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, of this life. He says, «For now we only a reflection as in a mirror».
In other words, we have the questions that we posed at the beginning of why: why did God heal this and not that? Why did God show up here and not there? Why a miracle here and not a miracle there? He said, «Hey we see these reflections in the mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully even as I am fully known. And now these things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love».
I’ll quickly give you this. The deepest work that the Lord has done in this series in my life has come through this. You know, I’ve shared with you the journey of my sons, both of them on the autism spectrum and how God has used this. And I realized there was a lot of my feelings around my sons that I felt robbed. 'cause I wanted to have you know, kinda this father-son relationship here and now. Autism has changed that whole relationship. And you know, I prayed for instantaneous healing for them, and they didn’t get it. And yet God’s working in a progress and process. And so, I was preaching the first message in the series, I was preparing the message. And I talked about how you know, no healthy relationship is built on a foundation of fear.
And so, it says in 1 John 4 that, «Perfect love casts out fear». It says if you’re afraid of God, it’s for fear of punishment, which means you’ve not yet experienced his perfect love, right? So, I’m talking about his love and that we’re not supposed to live in fear. And that perfect love casts out phobos and all this. And as I’m preparing that message, I feel conviction because I realize the way I’m fathering is I’m using fear and shame. And so my orthodoxy is pretty good. My orthopraxy, which is the practice of the orthodoxy wasn’t so good. And so, I realize, like my son Hudson, ten years old, he’s getting into a lot of trouble at school. He learned profanities, he’s being using those. He would like, melt down.
So, one of the things about, at least my son’s version of autism is whatever he’s feeling, it’s there, right? I was able to be manipulative at ten, he’s not. If he’s feeling it, boom, you’re gonna see it on full display. So, I tried everything. I’m giving him a pep talk on the way to school. «Okay buddy, if you start to feel it what are you gonna do»? «I’m gonna ask for a time out»? «Yeah, you’re gonna ask for help, right»? «Yeah». «Who you gonna ask»? «Miss Amber». «Yeah, okay». And then we get incident reports. You know we have incident reports this thick of basically things he’s doing and saying. And so, I tried everything. So, then we talk consequences. «Okay there will be consequences if you do this». Tried all different consequences. And then I would get these incident reports, I would take it out and say, «Did you do this»? He’d like, «Yep». I’d be like, «This is bad. You don’t do this. Okay»?
And then I took away all his DVDs. He’s obsessed with DVDs. He doesn’t like to watch 'em, he just like to shake 'em and look at 'em and stuff. And so he’s got a bunch of DVDs and so I take all of his DVDs and then I put him in time out. And if you do this the consequence is time out. And so, then he and I have games we like to play, but you don’t get to play the game if you do this. And so, he’s just in his room, alright? And so, I’m sitting here, and I’m reading this in 1 John 4, and I’m like, «You know what? I’m gonna bet the farm on 1 John 4. I’m going all in on 1 John 4». I just made the call. And I decided to parent in a way I really had never done before, and I decide, «I am gonna drown this kid in love». That’s it. I’m actually gonna remove the consequence.
So he goes home, comes off the bus, okay, I’m not telling you to do, you can do it if you want. I’m just telling you my story. Comes off the bus, okay, I look at his incident report. Dude dropped the f bomb, not kidding, and kicked a girl on the playground. There are just like horrific sins. And so, I flipped the whole script. I take it, I said, «Did you do this»? He said, «Yes». I said, «This is not you. This is not you». I said, «You are good». He’s like, he’s thinking, «Is this a set up»? I said, «You are good. Hudson is good. I touched his heart». I said, «You are good. Touch your heart». He’s like… I said, «You’re good, say it». He said, «I am good». I said, «You are good». I said, «I love you». I just ran out of stuff to say so I kept saying the same stuff.
You know, kids with autism like to say the same stuff, so I kept saying it. «You are good. You are good. I love you. You are a good boy. Hudson’s a good boy. Say it». «I’m a good boy». «Yeah. Yeah. You are good. This is not you. This is not you». Every time I hear him do something I go, «Hey! Hudson! That’s not you. You’re good». Friend, I’m just gonna tell you, for about a year and a half, we didn’t probably go two or three days in a row without an incident report. In the last month and a half, he’s maybe gotten three or four. Now he did pull the fire alarm which is a crime. It’s a crime. That’s true. They evacuated the whole school. Fire. In his defense it does say, «Pull down. You’re good. Obedient. Obedience. Just don’t ever do it again». Massive progress.
Now this is the thing. I’mma tell you two things. What I realize is this. In my good intention of trying to get him to act right, I put him in timeout, I withheld myself from him. He goes home, I take this 1 John 4, I go full 1 John 4, I gave him all his DVD’s back and we played all night. And I’m worried. I’m like, «Dude is he gonna think that because he kicked a girl and everything and now, we play»?
So, you know, and I’m just telling you, transformation, transformation. Here’s the best part. I came home the other day. I get home and Shaylyn goes, «I was gonna text you, but I just wanted to see the look on your face. I have to tell you about», I say, «What»? She said, «The other day», she said, «Today I hear the boys in the other room, and miles,» who’s our younger, he’s doing bad things. And Hudson said, «Miles, that’s not you». That’s not you. He said, «You’re a good boy miles. You’re good». Now I’m out of time but I have to connect this dot. This is not just a cute story friend. God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.
Here’s what I’m gonna tell you. This is not just feel-good stuff, this is what’s God really like. Are you walking in shame? Are you walking in fear? Because here’s what I’m gonna tell you, what I would prefer would be an instant miracle of autism leaving my house. That’s not my reality. But I have two blessed hopes. The first blessed hope is this, someday in eternity my sons are gonna be completely whole. The beginning and end of this life is not all there is. Hey, I think I’m right. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. But I’m full of hope.
And that’s what I believe. I really do. I really believe it. I believe whatever abba is preparing on the other, Jesus says, «Hey, don’t worry about it. Abba is making something in eternity. He’s preparing something better than what you could even think». The gospel writer John is trying to come up, he’s like, «It’s like streets of gold? Is it»? I mean, I don’t know if they’re actual gold, but I think it was the best thing John could come up with. I think his brain was like blowing up. He’s like, «It’s like a crystal sea».
Is it real crystals? People sitting around, «Is it real crystals»? I don’t know. John was trying to come up with the best thing, bottom line it’s above that. Abba is doing something beyond us. Bigger than us in eternity. This is just a leg of the journey, it’s like this. And the rest of eternity, God’s doing something big. I just have hope that the ultimate healing is gonna happen there. But I know this too, it’s not instant for me and it may not be instant for you, but here’s what I’mma tell you. There is beauty in the progressive healing. Beauty, not easy.
Don’t hear me wrong. I didn’t say «It’s easy,» I said, «It’s beautiful». There is beauty in it, and along the way God will show you something about yourself, and God will give you a piece of relief, and God will show you something deeper. And God will do something in your situation of progressive healing that gives you a taste of him. What’s God really like? God’s a healer. And it may not look the way that you wanted it to look, but God does heal. So, in whatever situation of healing God has you in embrace in, embrace it.