Divine Healing In The Age Of Corona- Part 2

Review

• Last week we began to lay a foundation for the idea that God heals people physically today.
• This doctrine is something that has become popular over the last century among people who are part of the Word of Faith Movement.
• Among other things, the Word of Faith Movement places an emphasis on the extension of God’s promises of material blessings from the children of Abraham to the children of Abraham.
• Those promises include, but are not limited to
  • Healing
  • Physical protection
  • Provision and financial prosperity
  • Favor

• Over the last few decades, Word of Faith doctrines, churches and preachers have become incredibly sensationalized.
• Some preachers and churches have even become exploitive, substituting an emphasis on the purity of the gospel with a focus on material prosperity.
• There are any number of preachers who have benefited financially by this exploitation.
• As a result, some people who might have been open to the prosperity message have become skeptical and some who were skeptical have become harsh critics.
• Some have even gone so far as to say that people who preach this message are false prophets.
• However, I have grown up in a household and church community rooted in the Word of Faith doctrine.
• As a result, I am here to present a more balanced perspective on the prosperity doctrine, especially as it relates to healing.
• This is why my approach as much an appeal to your intellect as it is to your spirit.
• Many of you will need some mental before hearing a pointed message on divine healing.
• Why am I so committed to this? Because for some of you, this message will literally save your life.

• This lesson has two objectives:

1. To demonstrate that developing faith for divine healing is biblical, practical and beneficial.
2. To foster reasonable expectations for divine intervention in the healing and recovery of your physical body.

• The first principle we established in our healing teaching last week was the idea of being holistic.
• In a medical sense, holistic is characterized by the treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the symptoms of a disease.
• In a theological sense, holistic is characterized by the multifaceted nature of the human experience on an individual level, which can be summarized as the spiritual, the psychological and the physical.
• Paul alludes to this in one of his letters to the church (I Thessalonians 5:23)
  • Spirit = the spiritual
  • Soul = mind, will, emotions
  • Body = the physical

Key Ideas

• We must look at our holistically.
• We must see the holistically.
  • Jesus is Lord
  • Jesus is Savior
  • Jesus is Healer
  • Jesus is Creator (John 1:1-3)
• These three attributes of Jesus are interrelated.
• The ease with which we see Him as one is the ease with which we see Him as the other.
• All the promises, principles and prophecies of Scripture culminate in (Luke 24:27)

Prosperity and Old Testament Law

• God writes into the laws that govern Abraham’s biological children (Deuteronomy 28:1-14, Exodus 15:26, Exodus 23:25-26)
• The prosperity written in the law inspired a of David (Psalm 103:1-5)

Jesus Heals Personally

• The doctrine of divine healing begins and ends with Jesus.
• If you want healing from God, focus on .
  • Luke 13:10-24
  • Mark 5:25-34

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2020