REASON ONE: HEALING IS ROOTED IN LOVE

REASON ONE: HEALING IS ROOTED IN LOVE

Dr. John I. Penn, D. Min.

Revised on March 30, 2022

Healing is as old as the creation story itself. God took healing out of the shadows and sent Israel and the world a healer-redeemer through His suffering servant, in the person of Jesus, who is the Christ. (See Isa. 42:1–4; Isa. 49:1–6; Isa. 50:4–7; Isa. 52:13–53:12.)

Healing was set into motion when God made good on the promise that the serpent would bruise the heel of a woman and that the woman’s seed would bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3). God’s love for humanity had never wavered even when human beings disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3ff) and throughout human history.

Salvation is God’s response to human sin. That's right; healing is as old as the creation story. It was in the Garden of Eden that God first displayed unconditional love. There, God revealed the connection between love, healing, and salvation. God loved fallen humanity so much that not even sin could destroy God’s unconditional love for sinful humanity. Yes, it was also there that God showed that forgiveness is essential in the healing process. Healing is rooted in love.

In the person of Jesus Christ, God sent the world both a healer and savior. Paul tells us that God was in Jesus Christ, reconciling the world to Himself (2 Cor. 7:17-20). Jesus came to heal and restore God’s perfect order of creation distorted in the Fall. The relationship between God and human beings was broken but not permanently destroyed. Through Jesus' first public ministry task of healing a man in the synagogue of an unclean spirit (Mk. 1:21-28), Mark's gospel looked back to the Fall of humanity and looked toward God's redemptive act through the cross. The redemptive cross put the power of grace and forgiveness into motion, which are tangible expressions of God’s love for humanity.

Love is the foundational principle for everything that God does. Salvation is a visible sign of God's love. Thus, healing and salvation are the two sides of divine love. You do not have to know everything about healing to be used as God’s instrument of healing grace for others. All that is required is that you love people, believe that healing is available to us, reach out to them in the compassion of Jesus, and healing happens. Why? Healing is rooted in divine love (1 John 3-5)! God, through Jesus Christ, has given healing a central place in His kingdom work in both the church and world.

(Five reasons why healing prayer works is a five-part series that you can read each week on my blog at www.my-book-store.com/. They were designed to help Christians better understand the nature, scope, and value of spiritual and physical healing within the life and ministry of the Christian church. You may use and share this material freely, as long as you give the proper credits to the author). 

(Five reasons why healing prayer works is a five-part series that you can read each week on my blog. They were designed to help Christians better understand the nature, scope, and value of spiritual and physical healing within the life and ministry of the Christian church. Second, to realize that Jesus and the early church gave healing a central place in the kingdom work of God, in both the church and world. You may use and share this material freely, as long as you give the proper credits to the author). Go to my blog to read the other four reasons healing prayer works. Go to: https://www.my-book-store.com/ to read all of my blogs!