Yesterday I got quite a bit of mail from various people who at one time or other had been told that they didn’t have enough faith to be healed by someone in their church. To a person they told me that it negatively affected their spirituality at least for a while.
One example is as follows: “I have a friend all twisted and in a wheelchair, from childhood polio. Someone told her that if she had enough faith she could get up and walk tall. She was young then and it set her back spiritually for a while, but she is now mature as a believer and would not even entertain such thoughts. I wish these people who spout such would read Joni Erickson Tada’s book about her suffering. I think they would hush.”
Many times the verse quoted in Matt.17:21 is used to support this mantra. – “Truly I tell you, 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.” I’ve never met anyone who moved a mountain by merely telling it to do so, have you? Without question Jesus could do it, but to my knowledge it just hasn’t happened. I would advise that we consider moving a mountain before we move our lips in questioning the faith of others.
The word used for lack of faith in the Greek manuscript also means unbelief. So basically when one questions another person’s faith they are accusing them of unbelief.
Job’s friends were trying to encourage him, but went about it entirely wrong. They didn’t understand that Job’s curses and blasphemies were caused by a test sanctioned by God that in the end glorified God’s name and restored him far beyond where he was before he successfully endured the bitter trials used by the enemy to torture him. They could not understand, because of the pseudo “moral certainties” that enslaved them. Their rigid orthodoxy prevented them from seeing anything but their own creed on the subject.
God heals and miracles are still accomplished by His powerful Holy Spirit especially in these last days, but God is not some performing seal appearing on demand. He directly heals when it is within His will and often in response to prayer and fasting. Other times He accomplishes His purpose through doctors and medicines, and some 6000 people per day die with no healing. We don’t know how God decides who will receive direct healing or otherwise; but we do know that ultimately we all will succumb to death on this planet, but we will live forever when the veil is lifted.
I don’t question God or His motives. I’m not His equal, or anywhere close. I don’t understand why bad things happen to seemingly “good” people, but God states that in the end good things happen to all of us who love the Lord.
So I pray for healing every day for a variety of people and I pray for miracles in this cursed and fallen world. The way I see it, because of my faith, (belief) those prayers will be answered if not in this world then the next. God is not limited by time. I encourage others to boldly ask God to accomplish miracles and to believe, but I don’t question their belief system.
I would ask you to wait until you move a mountain with your faith before challenging someone who is sick and suffering concerning their faith. Unlike Jesus we are not judges and have no ability to look at someone’s faith or heart. It is a dangerous thing to judge and/or condemn others in this world, because the Bible states that we do the same things.
Romans 2:1
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
March 26, 2015 – Click here to listen