Preface

The publication of this book may be regarded as a testimony of my faith in divine healing. After being kept for more than two years from the exercise of my ministry, I was healed by the mercy of God in answer to the prayer of those who see Him as “the Lord, who heals” (Exodus 15:26).

This healing, granted in answer to the prayer of faith, has been a source of rich spiritual blessing to me. I have clearly seen that the church possesses in Jesus, our divine healer, an inestimable treasure, which she does not yet fully appreciate. I have been convinced afresh of what the Word of God teaches regarding this subject and of what the Lord expects of us, and I am sure that if Christians learned to realize in a practical sense the presence of the Lord who heals, their spiritual life would benefit greatly. I can, therefore, no longer keep silent, and I give you here a series of meditations for the purpose of showing, according to the Word of God, that “the prayer offered in faith” (James 5:15) is the means appointed by God for the healing of the sick. I believe also that this truth is essential for everyone who would see the Lord manifest His power and glory in the midst of His people.

Because of Your Unbelief

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” -Matthew 17:19–20

When the Lord Jesus sent His disciples into different parts of Palestine, He endued them with authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness (Matthew 10:1). He did the same for the seventy who came back to Him with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name” (Luke 10:17). On the day of the Transfiguration, while the Lord was still on the mountain, a father brought his son who was possessed with a demon to His disciples, begging them to cast out the evil spirit, but they could not. After Jesus had delivered the child, the disciples asked Him why they had been unable to do it. He answered them, “Because of your unbelief.” It was, then, their unbelief and not the will of God that was the cause of their defeat.

Today divine healing is little believed in because it has almost entirely disappeared from the Christian church. One may ask the reason, and here are two answers that have been given: The greater number think that miracles, the gift of healing included, are limited to the time of the primitive church, that their object was to establish the first foundation of Christianity. Other believers say, without hesitation, that if the church has lost these gifts it is her fault. It is because she has become worldly that the Spirit does not act on her behalf, and because she has not remained in direct relationship with the power of the unseen world. But if she were to see springing up within her men and women who live the life of faith and of the Holy Spirit, entirely consecrated to God, she would see again the manifestation of the same gifts as in former times.

Which of these two opinions coincides with the Word of God? Is it by the will of God that the gifts of healing have been suppressed, or is it man who is responsible for it? Is it the will of God that miracles should not take place? Will He in consequence of this no longer give the faith that produces them? Or is it the church that has been guilty of lacking faith?

What do the Scriptures say? The Bible does not authorize us, either by the words of the Lord or His apostles, to believe that the gifts of healing were granted only to the early church; on the contrary, the promise that Jesus made to the apostles when He gave them instructions concerning their mission, shortly before His ascension, appear to us applicable to all times (Mark 16:15–18). Paul places the gift of healing among the operations of the Holy Spirit. James gives a precise command on this matter without any restriction of time. The entire Scriptures declare that these graces will be granted according to the measure of the Spirit and of faith.

It is also alleged that at the outset of each new dispensation, God works miracles, that this is His ordinary course of action; but this is not the case. Think of the people of God in the former dispensation, in the time of Abraham, all through the life of Moses, in the exodus from Egypt, under Joshua, in the time of the Judges and of Samuel, under the reign of David and other godly kings up to Daniel’s time. During more than a thousand years miracles took place.

Some will contest that miracles were much more necessary in the early days of Christianity. But what about the power of heathenism even in this day, wherever the gospel seeks to combat it? It is impossible to admit that miracles were more necessary for the heathen in Ephesus (Acts 19:11–12) than for the heathen of Africa and other nations in the present day. And if we think of the ignorance and unbelief that reign even in the Christian nations, are we not led to conclude that there is a need for manifest acts of the power of God to sustain the testimony of believers and to prove that God is with them? Among believers themselves there is so much doubt and so much weakness! Their faith needs to be awakened and stimulated by some evidence of the presence of the Lord in their midst. One part of our being consists of flesh and blood; it is therefore in flesh and blood that God wishes to manifest His presence.

In order to show that it is the church’s unbelief that has caused a loss of the gift of healing, let us turn to the Scriptures. Does it not put us on guard against unbelief, against all that can estrange and turn us from God? Does not the history of the church show us the necessity of these warnings? Does it not furnish us with numerous examples of taking steps backward, of world pleasing, in which faith has grown weak in exact proportion to the spirit of the world’s taking the upper hand? Faith is possible only to him who lives in the invisible world. Until the third century, the healings by faith in Christ were numerous, but in the centuries following they became more infrequent. Do we not know from the Bible that it is always unbelief that hinders the mighty working of God?

We must learn to believe in the promises of God! God has not gone back on His promises; Jesus is still the one who heals both soul and body; salvation offers us even now healing and holiness, and the Holy Spirit is always ready to give us manifestations of His power. When we ask why this divine power is not seen more often, He answers, “Because of your unbelief.” The more we give ourselves to personally experience sanctification by faith, the more we will also experience healing by faith. These two doctrines walk side by side. The more the Spirit of God lives and acts in the souls of believers, the more miracles will multiply by which He works in their bodies. Thereby the world can recognize what redemption means.

Excerpted from:
Divine Healing: Meditations on the Power of Prayer and the Prayer of Faith by Andrew Murray
Copyright © 2002, Bethany House Publishers
ISBN:0764225952
Published by Bethany House Publishers
Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.