Desperately seeking God’s answer from Scripture, I was reading from Jeremiah 33:6, ‘I will bring health and healing’; and Jeremiah 33:20-21, ‘I will not break my covenant with David’; and Psalm 89:35, ‘I will not lie to David’; and ‘Is anything impossible with God?’ (Jeremiah 32:17&27).
On the Monday I was in the hospital, tubes down my lung looking for cancer – but God had already given me the answer, I knew it was gone. The doctors looked at me in amazement and said, ‘You have no cancer!’
I didn’t go to a healing evangelist, I went to the Word of God and God completely healed me – no operation, no treatment – I only had God and the Bible, and that’s all I needed to confound the doctors. They were shocked, they didn’t believe God. But I do, I believe in a God of power, of miracles. This was in 2003, and 21 years later, aged 92, God has kept His promise: I have health!
Later in the same chapter, the prophet Jeremiah writes, 'I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against Me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against Me, (33:8, NIV). This verse shows how closely linked healing and forgiveness are. God has the power to heal you, but first He wants to forgive your sin.
The Bible is very clear. Isaiah 53:5 says Jesus was wounded for our sin, bruised for our iniquity and with His stripes we are healed. Matthew 8:16-17 says Jesus healed all that were sick to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. So healing is to fulfil Bible prophecy! I talk about Bible prophecy, I write about it in Prophetic Vision magazine, but part of Bible prophecy is healing the sick. I believe Bible prophecy. Some people say that healing was only for the time of Jesus. But this prophecy is not ended. Jesus only healed for three years.
Talking of the last days in Matthew 24:14 Jesus says: ‘This Gospel shall be preached in all the world for a witness to the nations, and then shall the end come.’ Jesus did not say there will be a worldwide revival. He said the preaching of the Gospel will be a witness to all nations, a demonstration to the whole world. My responsibility before God is not only to preach the Gospel, but to demonstrate the power of our God with authority. We have power in the Holy Ghost and we have authority in the Name of Jesus. Today God needs preachers who know His power and authority. I have learnt to receive authority from God and to act in power. Why? So that until Jesus comes back I can be a witness of the glory of God to a world that doesn’t know Him.
'Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to Him a paralysed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
'At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”
'Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So He said to the paralysed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man,' (Matthew 9:1-8, NIV).
Which is the easiest? To forgive sin or to heal the sick? I'll tell you the answer, we can't do either, but God can! The religious leaders were arguing over who has the ability to forgive sin; yet they recognised that only God can forgive sin. And only God can forgive the sins of those reading this. He wants to forgive your sin; why? So that He can heal you. That is why, with the lame man in this story from the Gospels, first God gives him a new life by forgiving his sin, then Jesus heals him as the evidence his sin is forgiven.