"Doctors and medicine are provided by God for our good. People should make good use of everything in nature to heal disease. Believers with medical conditions should not give up attempting to get well."
A few days ago, Pastor Liu Xiaofan shared an online audio sermon entitled, "How Christians Face Diseases," to explain various causes of illness and magical healing methods.
First of all, he mentioned the time that King Hezekiah was dying. After the prophet Isaiah told him that was going to die, King Hezekiah turned to the wall and prayed to the Lord. The Lord God turned his face to listen, healed him, and increased his life by fifteen years.
When a Christian is sick, he should first pray to God. But some people do not repent of their sins, which is a pitiful situation. So we have to examine our lives. If we sin, we must confess and pray to God for both forgiveness and healing from God. He will listen to our prayers and heal our diseases.
In addition, God gives authority to the church to bind and release illness. So sometimes you can invite gifted pastors and elders to pray together with brothers and sisters for you and ask the Lord for healing.
At the same time, you must ask the Lord for the faith needed to pray—this is the secret of praying. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise up the weak. So you should pray for yourself and others with the faith that God will heal.
In fact, people will get sick. Our lives are only a hundred years beginning with birth. With the passage of time, the body ages. As the saying goes: Birth, sickness and death, these are things that everyone will encounter.
The pollution of the natural environment can also lead to the emergence of diseases. For example, a war, especially a nuclear war, is particularly harmful to people. When we were young, we drank water from the pond, and now we cannot even wash our vegetables in the pond water.
For Christians, when we are sick, we should go to the hospital to be examined, have injections or an operation. It’s like you need to eat when you’re hungry and wear more clothes when you’re cold. The famous preacher John Sung (Song Shangjie) prayed for many patients and then they were healed. While he was lying in his bed, he wasn’t in a position to have surgery. Another preacher came to visit and quoted the scripture where Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” So he obeyed God's Word, had an operation and was healed.
Many diseases are related to people's diet. Lung disease is related to smoking and liver disease is related to drinking alcohol. Carbonated drinks also do harm to the body. So we need to do our best to develop good personal eating habits and also good hygiene to prevent diseases.
Sometimes we get sick because Satan attacks, hurts, and corrupts us. In the Old Testament it states that Job was blameless and upright, but Satan attacked his children, finances and his body, and ruined Job's reputation. In the New Testament there was a boy who was possessed by a spirit that robbed him of speech. He often foamed at the mouth and gnashed his teeth. Jesus rebuked the evil spirit and it left him. The child immediately returned to normal. (Mark 9: 14-24)
“Come near to God and he will come near to you. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7,8)
When we come near to God, the devil will leave us and flee. When the devil leaves, sin leaves, and the diseases that come from sin also leave.
The purpose of some illnesses is to have let people serve the Lord well and receive the grace of God.
Why did God give the Apostle Paul a thorn in the flesh? The purpose was to let Paul learn humility, obedience and patience.
Pastor Liu shared his experience: Originally he wanted to be an independent minister, ungoverned by any organization or person. He didn’t want to get a salary from the church but earn money outside the church. But he was often ill, and could do nothing. So then he returned to God, surrendered completely and became a full-time preacher.
Life is short, and all people will die. Some diseases are caused because life has reached its end and the desire to live has passed. Just like Paul said: the time has come for my departure. Once such a disease comes, it cannot be healed. So we only pray for God to fulfill his good intentions.
In his closing remarks the pastor said: "Christians who are ill should pray, trust God's preserving power with hope, and also cooperate with the doctors' treatment. The important thing is to live a holy life according to the teachings of the Bible. In daily life, you should pursue holiness in spirit, respect your body, keep clean and sanitary, maintain an optimistic attitude and develop good habits to avoid some diseases. Work hard when you are healthy and witness the grace of the Lord. Even when you sin, you can rely on God's grace and face life quietly and safely. Everyone can honor the name of the Lord in his body. "
