Why I believe in Healing 4 Life

In this short piece, Roy Todd outlines why he believes God’s message of healing is so vitally important today. If you’d like more information on healing4life, then why not click on to www.healing4life.org.

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Put the words ‘Healing’ and ‘Evangelist’ together, and some might be forgiven for assuming that such a person is a television preacher who cleverly markets his message in return for financial gain. While there are undoubtedly are some shameless charlatans out there whose methods are questionable to say the least – they are fortunately a very small minority.

First off – I am keen to emphasise that I refuse the label ‘healing evangelist’. Such a term really misses the point. You see…the title ‘Healing evangelist’ would imply that God’s message of healing is an optional extra to the main thrust of the Gospel, as if it’s not important enough to have to be included. But that’s simply not true. Healing is an intrinsic part of God’s Good News. There aren’t ‘normal evangelists’ and then ‘healing evangelists’. The truth is that healing really ought to be an aspect of the ministry of every evangelist, not just some – hence the nonsense of the term ‘healing evangelist’.

Whilst ‘healing’ can imply physical well-being i.e. being cured from bodily ailments – there’s more to it than just that. God’s message of healing is for the whole person, spirit, soul and body. In Exodus 15:26, God refers to himself as Jehovah-Rapha ‘The Lord who heals you’. This is not a mere suggestion that he has power to heal. The truth is far more profound than that. He is in fact the source of all healing – this is an expression of who he is.

Then in the New Testament part of the Bible, healing played a major role in the ministry of Jesus. On numerous occasions, multitudes of sick people came to him – and he healed them all. John said in his Gospel that if every miracle of Jesus had been recorded, all the books in the world couldn’t contain them since they were so vast in number.

In 21st Century society, God’s message of healing has never had such relevance. Dysfunctionality, unbearable levels of stress, family breakdown, crime etc are all symptoms of a society that is in need of healing. But too often, there’s a focus on the symptoms of society’s ills instead of looking at what the cause really is, and more than that, what the solution is too.

Of course, the ultimate root cause of sickness and dysfunctionality is sin. Sin is humanity’s innate tendency to do the opposite from what God desires. It’s not that a few people have sinned and they cause the rest of us misery. The bible categorically says ‘All have sinned and come short of God’s glory’.

However, this is where the mystery of what Jesus accomplished when he died on the cross applies. In 1 Peter 2:24, Peter quotes from Isaiah who prophetically spoke of the suffering of Jesus and said ‘By his wounds we are healed’. The word ‘healed’ used here can denote both physical and spiritual healing. In other words, thru Jesus suffering on the cross, he has dealt with the root cause of every problem in the world. That means that ‘all’ people can experience wholeness, healing and hope – whoever they are!

This is why I believe in healing 4 life. It’s not a message of false optimism – but of real and genuine hope. I’m convinced that people need to know and understand how they can receive God’s healing in four key aspects of their lives:

Healing 4 your mind – because what a person thinks influences how they act
Healing 4 your heart – because what a person feels controls how they live
Healing 4 your body – because God has made provision for physical suffering
Healing 4 your life – because there is a meaning to every person’s existence

God’s message of healing is not only highly meaningful for those who need to receive it – but is an important means of bringing about community transformation too. After all, when people experience true healing – everybody benefits.

For more information on Healing4life, click onto www.healing4life.org

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