My father-in-law has a heart condition for which he has decided to refuse all medical treatment. Well, he refused all medical treatment, starting over a year ago.
He is relying on God to heal him, if it is His will.
He also talks a lot about positive thinking, and how the Bible tells us to set our thoughts on things above.
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." -- Phillipians 4:8
I've found that people are often surprised that I do in fact believe in faith healing. I'm not sure why.
"And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;..." -- James 5:16a
I will say, though, that I don't think that healing has to be done by someone especially anointed by the Holy Spirit with the spiritual gift of healing.
But I also believe in the power of positive thinking. It's been proven that having a positive outlook on things actually changes our body's chemistry, improves healing, and just plain old makes us feel better.
And I think they are separate.
And I think that sometimes people are quick to attribute to the supernatural what can be easily explained by the natural. And I don't think that serves God, or does Him justice. In fact, I think that does God a disservice. It makes others less likely to believe us when true miracles occur, because they've heard so many stories about our explainable "miracles" (ie. FireWife's had another "miracle" happen {snicker, snicker}). And it lessens the... specialness (?? - struggling for the right word) when God does perform true miracles.
I also believe that God has endowed certain individuals with knowledge and talents in the medical arts for a reason - so that we can benefit from them. My own story regarding my back injury - I am convinced that God was with me every step of the way, down to the doctors I ended up with, how the surgery panned out, etc. From the moment of my accident I believed God had a reason for me to go thru this injury, and to me, the healing that was performed by medical professionals is no less wondrous than a more supernatural healing.
I also believe that God has endowed certain individuals with knowledge and talents in the medical arts for a reason - so that we can benefit from them. My own story regarding my back injury - I am convinced that God was with me every step of the way, down to the doctors I ended up with, how the surgery panned out, etc. From the moment of my accident I believed God had a reason for me to go thru this injury, and to me, the healing that was performed by medical professionals is no less wondrous than a more supernatural healing.
"...They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." --Matthew 9:12
So, that is a very short, somewhat disjointed (because I wanted to not go too long) post about my thoughts on faith healing.
Thanks for checking in!
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