The Theology of Sickness and Healing - Bill Johnson | Rediscover Bethel Series

when the holy spirit has his way in us it's going to be seen through demonstrations of power faith purity lifestyle it's all going to be also going to be the endurance until the miracle comes so do you believe that it's god's will to heal everyone is that like bethel standard teaching or i i have to approach that it is i have to approach it's always god's will and uh and my lead on that is everybody the father sent jesus to he healed everyone who came to jesus he healed even even the sovereignty woman the one who would have been disqualified because she wasn't uh wasn't a jew he still was moved by her faith and healed her so in following him i have to take that approach i have had two exceptions that i can think of uh when i've been praying uh one uh one lady as i was praying for i could tell you know what when you walk when you walk sensitive to the holy spirit you don't want to grieve you don't want to quench you're you're in that you know you're walking that road in a relationship with him i could tell that if i prayed for healing it would grieve him and and so it was a different idea it wasn't like if it's the lord if it's your will oh no so it's not like i'm having that um in your prayer or in your thought life because in your it's like practical theology like you approach everybody like the lord's going to move right now yeah yeah and i can't pray if it's your will because for me that's a prayer of unbelief okay because he's already revealed to me it is his will in his provision for healing and personally i use isaiah 53 but you can you know you can come in from many different angles it's an aspect of the kingdom which is a present reality uh jesus made provision for it so i have to i have to pursue it in that light and then but in in my really you know it's appointed unto a man to die so there is a point of death and uh i don't know that that should be the subject now but uh but uh i remember praying for this lady i was uh visiting as it was a mother of one of our staff members and uh and i was in she had been sick for a while and as i was praying for her i could tell she's supposed to go home she's supposed to go home and that's an awkward that's an awkward moment it's not as a pastor because we're in those situations often but to to pray for that is is a bit awkward for me i mean i i don't have the impartation of death you know but uh but to pray father i i just pray that you just filled with peace and that in your perfect timing you would take her home she went home within i think two hours wow she had been sick for a while so there was something that took place just i i don't know it was more like maybe releasing you know sometimes people will hold on because of a sense of obligation or whatever i don't know how any of that works so that's that's way above my pay grade but yeah but there was that that prayer of blessing and release and and the lord took a room so it's intriguing to me though because you like even though if you don't have the if it's your will but you do have the i will keep listening to the holy spirit voice as i'm moving in my prayer for this person and so it's not quite a formula every once it feels a bit like that like we kind of say just assume god wants to heal everybody because that was the model of jesus and so i think when we're talking to students we're like yeah just have confidence the lord wants to to heal everyone yes yes but you're modeling a little bit of like so have faith move in confidence but keep listening well uh i yes absolutely but but my listening isn't solved that isn't gonna happen yes or no it's not so i can figure out do they die or do they live you know it's not that it's i'm listening because what what do you do because sometimes i'll be praying for somebody and i can tell oh they need to forgive someone so i won't accuse them i i won't do i say you have unforgiven i won't do that i'll just say hey just out of curiosity uh sometimes this helps us to to see somebody get healed um can you think of anyone that you need to forgive and i've had people say oh yeah and i said well who who would that be and so they'll they'll they'll tell me and i i don't ask for great detail because i i don't need to embarrass anybody but i say how about we forgive them and i've seen it time and time again they say okay and they forgive them and then they're healed so i'm listening not not to see if they live or die yeah because i expect them to live i just want to know what do i what do you want me to what are you up to yeah yeah you know jesus at one point he just declares the word go home your servant is is alive he's well uh to another uh you know go wash in the pool of siloam you know there's different directives at different times and and i've had moments in in a in where i've given somebody a direction somebody who's missing a part of a muscle in their leg and i said just walk to the back and then come and see me and by the time they got to the back and came back to see me the lord had had done that miracle so it there was an action that was needed uh for faith to be illustrated it wasn't some noble act you know i'm not asking some guy to jump on his broken ankle that's that's that's not necessary that's showmanship and we don't need that but what we do need is to give people an action to connect their faith to and and and i've seen it time and time again uh it may be the forgiveness issue it may be uh just a simple act of some sort but uh but even the forgiveness you don't use it as a formula like i it's just you're probably sick because you have unforgiveness like it's not that it's your listening for the reading of the holy spirit in that moment what's the step of growth and transformation for this beloved person that's in front of you exactly how can i help how can it be part exactly jesus didn't use that formula that's the reason i don't no yeah didn't have that as a cookie-cutter response yeah you know he didn't have a three four steps that he went through with each person he did different so i'm just trying to learn that yeah so is it the role of faith then like how is someone not healed because they didn't have enough faith is that what is that like our standard line like you weren't healed because you didn't have enough faith how does so what's that relationship of faith faith faith is an issue i would never want to downplay because jesus honored it you know when he saw it you know he said man i haven't seen such faith in all of israel and so he would celebrate great faith but the thing to remember is even when he saw tiny tiny faith like the guy who says if you can you know when you're questioning god's ability if you can would you heal my son uh jesus turns the table he says if you can believe all things are possible to those who believe so the point is is that even where there was very small faith he still brought the miracle but he would address the level of faith before he did the miracle i think to give them access to move stronger in faith you know so but no we we don't we will disciplines may be a hard word but we will correct somebody on our team that ever points to another person says you weren't healed because you didn't have faith that's cruel that's just cruel absolutely and the scripture says it's the prayer of faith that heals the sick so it's not the person even who's coming sometimes i'll have people come and say man i just don't even have faith for this and there are times i feel it's only happened a few times but there are times i feel the presence of god the word of the lord in that moment so strong i'll tell them you don't have to have any faith i have enough for both of us i wish that was the standard but it's not it's just rare it's not though no i wish but but i've had it happen i've had it happen where i was so confident that god is on this moment that and i know usually when people are evaluating their faith they come up short always yeah and so they don't always know how to look for faith in their own life and so that's why i try to steer them away from it i say listen i'll i'll i'll believe for both of us and it's not to turn attention towards me obviously but listen i'll stand for both of us and then we'll see a miracle and so we never turn it uh towards the person i want them to have great faith of course we all want to be growing in faith and absolutely absolutely but i but i'm not going to blame them for the outcome you know we talk about sometimes that faith the lord without faith it's impossible to please god so faith's in the equation somewhere like faith needs to be operating at some level but um we talked about just it might be the prayer it might be the prey might be the environment and then we've all seen some unusual miracles when there's no faith like doesn't feel like we had much faith doesn't feel like they had much faith and the lord moved so even kind of like demanding it's there doesn't seem to make a ton of sense in in our practical experience where the lord has moved when neither one expected much to happen exactly i treat faith like like i open a jar whatever was in there just evaporated so if i go look for faith in me it's it's just the wrong direction for me my approach is i can always obey i can always obey whatever you say and have confidence in who he is exactly yeah i my obedience is based on who he is yeah he's given me a direction put your hand on the blind eye i can sense that's what i'm supposed to do um i can always obey at the end i can look back and say that took faith or it's just raw obedience or it's just you know the bottom line is always just the grace of god yeah so uh yeah and i imagine it's a conversation with the lord too because i mean once there's a miracle happens or it doesn't it's like papa what what was that about what what happened there where you're trying to learn his ways in that moment and then also what the lord is up to in his multifaceted wisdom of you know because we've had folks who don't get healed in that moment but weeks later or yeah you know folks healed after eight years of of being prayed for yeah and you're like papa what why now [Laughter] yeah i i i don't i don't ask why but i want to learn what he's like okay yeah i don't i don't need an explanation i'm not offended by a process i i i stay as far away from that as i possibly can i don't analyze the situation what it has happened now not before or whatever i just i celebrate when it happens if it doesn't that's where enduring faith comes in and i i remember i was in a i was in a meeting where a gal came up for prayer and i and i just started to you know if we have a default it's that we lay hands on somebody and pray and i just started to pray they had arthritis in every joint of their body every part of their body they were just crippled with pain and i went to start to put my hand up and i felt so strong the holy spirit said don't touch them and then i thought well i'll just begin to pray but he said don't even pray he said just watch and so as i'm standing there talking to the person i was trying to figure out what do i do what do i do you know because there's got to be some point of of contact for faith or something you know and i felt this is a little strange but i felt this heat on the back of my neck and i went is the lord touching your your neck and your shoulder area right now and the lady went yeah i said well is there any pain left she goes no there's none whatsoever and then i started realizing oh the lord is showing me literally i'd have a sensation on my body and i could tell what just got healed so he wouldn't allow me to pray he wouldn't allow me to touch nor would he allow me to give the command as jesus did he would he would he would give the command wouldn't allow me to do it but i but he showed me uh just my arms i i could feel this presence of god on my arms i said move your arms around and they did until all went all the way down their knees and their feet and they were completely healed but it's that it's the it's the willingness it's the willingness to look dumb first of all you know yeah you have to embrace that part because sometimes sometimes you're going to think you're hearing from god and you're not yeah and you own up to it perfectly yeah we own up to it but other times you do and it it encourages you in the journey to live with the kind of risk that it takes to see those kinds of miracles but i didn't pray one prayer didn't command one thing didn't do anything that that i would typically do in that context and and they were healed head to toe i want to get back to enduring faith that you mentioned and yeah but it strikes me that what you're saying it has a lot of nuance and so sometimes when we teach the nuance isn't there we you know it's god's will god's will to heal everybody you know just pray with faith and here we go and pray for your neighbor so we'll lead in bold strokes sometimes um that uh that are necessary for people to break into new experiences or sometimes we don't know what the lord will do in those moments when you just have people turn to the congregation and pray for each other and healing breaks out so it's a there's a moment of faith but you're describing um again not a mechanism or a right you're asserting right every time but a relationship with the lord that has beneficial for you and who you're becoming and the person you're praying for exactly that exactly seems like like you probably use more of that nuance sometimes people run into our message a little bit but again we don't want to get so nuanced that we we quit praying with faith for joy or uh integrity so it's a bit of a dance you know i do those things i don't want to create a theology around what didn't happen yeah that's that's a really big deal for me my approach to the faith things is i'll tell people i say listen faith brings answers enduring faith brings answers with character so sometimes we're in a journey we're in a process and the lord is building he's building us he's not just doing something through us it's not just about the miracle or the deliverance or what whatever it might be it's it's about people becoming like christ and enduring faith is a part of that a power you know the whole uh baptism of the holy spirit for the purpose of power power was for the miracle but it was also for the endurance until the miracle came you see it all through the book of acts that both were manifestations and so when the holy spirit has his way in us it's going to be seen through demonstrations of power faith purity lifestyle but it's all going to be also going to be the endurance until the miracle comes yeah so you've mentioned enduring faith and you know as i think about this like one of the amazing saints of our time has been johnny erickson tata and yeah and um i remember in the 70s when she had her accident and she's of those who don't know incredible heart for jesus you got to see her speak about just about two years ago and was just so moved by the faith that she moves in and the faith of her husband who uh her caregiver it was a it was a wonderful experience to see this saint of the lord speak um and i think about you know that her situation of not having a breakthrough in healing and just finding the heart of the lord for her and in this season as well and and as i contemplated like dan how would you respond and i'm like probably not that beautifully you know yeah um she's been super honest about hey there's some days i you know hate i hate at all and i want to drive my caregivers away from me and all that so she's been really transparent about this but but there's i sometimes wonder in that deal of like i would want to have faith that is enduring like she's manifesting absolutely i'd also want faith to still have somebody come in and lay hands on me every day or once a week you know i was trying to figure out how do we mix that beauty of what she's experiencing in the lord in the midst of her trial with our love of breakthrough and our love of the lord alleviating suffering is that so one of the ways i was kind of doing that was like okay i'd want to have faith like today could be the day it's been 20 years yeah it hasn't happened yet but today it could be the day yeah but also that that sort of coping enduring faith is it how do you can't wrap my head around it yeah yeah what i want to do is do two things i want to make sure that i protect the dignity of her moment the dignity of her life she is so illustrating christ i would never want to say or do anything that would make her or anybody in her condition i have friends that i that i'm ministering to that are in very very similar uh condition and i would never want them to somehow feel less than or that they don't have enough faith or that uh somehow this is you know god's punishment on their life that nonsense i don't want to do that but i also don't want to create a theology that i don't want to create theology around what doesn't happen yeah you know i i mean i i don't have good ex i don't have explanations at all what i do have is a pool of bethesda you know one guy was healed uh history tells us there could be as many as 900 a thousand people around that pool there's only one person healed does it mean that jesus rejected the rest no jesus wasn't showing us he was showing us what one person could do that was yielded to the father he was illustrating that heart to us and so the bible celebrates the one yeah in that moment without condemning the others and this kind of a thing well i've got it in my own family you know my son is is such a champion in faith and a champion of so many things but he's got a hearing loss that is is quite profound and he functions so well in life but i'll come home with testimonies of of healing healing of deaf ears he's prayed for the deaf and had had them healed you know but i remember a while back in a staff meeting i i was sharing a story about several deaf people that they could hear and i looked over at my son and he looked at me and he said he mouthed we're one day close or dead oh that just wrecked me wow that that that he he still has been able to protect his heart to not be jaded you know after this many years being prayed for so many times yeah some weird stories too people putting fingers in his ears we do all kinds of weird things as people but uh yeah but yeah and he's just really protected his heart and he's really a hero to me in so many ways because he's he's nature to protect his heart open for the miracle yeah and yet he he's not holding god hostage yeah to the miracle it's like if you really love me it's not that sort of thing that's that's a cruel position for us to be in and to put him in yeah so he's eric's living with that both the breakthrough faith and the coping faith the enduring faith and that these aren't exclusive they kind of there are situations where they live together yeah and like we talk about even folks that have had a breakthrough after 13 years i'm pain-free you're like well you would wow you were living with a lot of coping faith until this breakthrough faith kind of came into the scene and reordered your life or reset the picture yeah exactly

Channel: Bill Johnson Teaching (Official)

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Keywords: does god still heal, does god use sickness to discipline, is it gods plan for me to be sick, healing, sickness, dann farrelly, bethel rediscover, misconceptions about bethel, christian theology, theology, bill johnson 2020, bill johnson, bill johnson sermons, bethel church, bethel.tv, miracles, bethel miracles, bill johnson ministry, BSSM, bethel, jesus christ, church, holy spirit, bill johnson ministries, bill johnson bethel, bethel tv, bethel church redding, Christian, God is good

Id: 3Ouy-47RMaA

Length: 19min 14sec (1154 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021