1. Healing for Everyone William P. Wilson, MD Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Duke University Distinguished Professor of Counseling, Carolina Graduate School of Divinity

2. Healing and the Church Since the Protestant reformation the church has rarely considered healing a ministry There are two reasons for this The first is that Protestantism emphasized suffering as the lot of the Christian Second it rejected miracles as evidence of God’s power

3. Healing and the Church Third we have developed a secular world view that there is a limited supernatural Fourth We have modern medicine and there is no need for divine healing Fifth We have had some bad examples that tend to turn people off to divine healing

4. Healing and the Church Sixth we do not believe that all Christians are gifted and, therefore, we do not use the gift of healing when it is given Seventh there is a resistance to letting the Holy Spirit move uninhibited in our lives so we deny the gift of healing Eighth we relegate prayer for healing to a general prayer in our church services or an internet prayer chain

5. Healing and the Church Finally we do not pray for the sick when we visit Jesus did not want it the way it is today He specifically combined healing with his proclamation of the Good News Lets see what he did!

6. Jesus Healed News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Matthew 4:24

7. Jesus Healed Jesus healed the centurions servant. Matthew 8:13 He healed the Woman with the menstrual problem, (Matthew 9:22), a man who was demon possessed, blind and mute (Matthew 12:22), and a Large crowd (Matthew 14:14).

8. Jesus Healed The daughter of the Canaanite woman was next ( Matthew 15:28), great crowds of blind crippled, mute and many others (Matthew 15:30). Then a demon possessed boy, (Matthew 17:8) large crowds, (Matthew 19:2) and the blind and lame, (Matthew 21:14)

9. Jesus Healed Why did Jesus heal To demonstrate the power of God To confirm his relationship with God To attract attention so he could proclaim the Good News To save them from their sins because he was to take their punishment if they believed in him

10. Jesus Healed Jesus was God so he had infinite power He knew his Father was the source of all healing so he did miracles to confirm that fact He also wanted his followers to know that the same power would be available to them

11. Is God Healing People Today? Most people in churches today do not believe that God is still in the business of healing. Why? Because they have been convinced that miracles do not occur, or because they think that miracles ceased at the end of the third century.

12. God is Still Healing God never stopped. Jesus told his disciples that they would do greater things than he did. (John 14:12) Did they? No not really. I can find no evidence in the Bible that they did greater things than he did. Miracles did occur in their ministry, but not in the wholesale manner that they did in the ministry of our Lord

13. God is still Healing Today there are over 40 medically confirmed healings at Lourdes Present day healings have occurred in the ministry of Katherine Kuhlman, Oral Roberts, John Arnott, Tommy Tyson, Kenneth McAll, Reinhard Bonnke, and even in my own ministry

14. God is Still Healing How does he heal? God heals miraculously He heals through health professionals He heals with time He heals by giving a person the power to bear the illness And finally he will heal us all in the resurrection of our bodies

15. God is Still Healing There is though a remarkably major way he heals It is by transforming our minds when the Holy Spirit works in us to conform us to Christ’s image This is the most miraculous healing that occurs!!!!

16. God is Still Healing Healing begins when we accept Christ as our savior Major changes take place in our thinking, our emotions, and in our understanding of the Kingdom of God God joins his Spirit to our spirit and Christ comes and dwells in us (Colossians 1:27).

17. God is Still Healing Our mood is changed to a happy one We perceive truths we have not perceived before We feel clean inside and out We want to know more about the God we now relate to intimately

18. God is Still Healing We also want to associate with others who are in our family We stop sinning not always in all areas, but in one particular one that demonstrates the initial change God has wrought in us

19. God is still healing People using alcohol excessively, or drugs cease their use People committing adultery cease their sinning Greedy people are no longer so Stingy people become generous Husbands have an amplified love for their wives and children

20. God is Still Healing Wives love their husbands more People who have been alienated from each other are reconciled Almost all want to share their faith with others We want to communicate with God regularly

21. God is still Healing He will communicate with us regularly We will read his word and he will illuminate it We will encounter him in worship We will encounter him in the Eucharist (Communion) We will encounter him in prayer

22. God is Still Healing Love for friends is amplified New borns are better able to resist temptation They are more compassionate And are better able to comfort others in their hardships and trials

23. Discipleship After conversion a person must be discipled The need to know Gods attributes They need to learn how to pray How to study the Bible How to worship How to witness The significance of the Eucharist And How to know and do God’s will