Healing

Below is but a small measure of revelation that my father had received from the Lord. I hope this will be a blessing to you. All that is written below are the words of my father.

July 6, 2020 

In loving memory of my father
Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett
July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023

I recently received a request to share that which I have received from the Lord on the subject of healing. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time in my life that I have shared about healing, either written or orally. Another possible title for this message could be, "No Silver Bullet." Webster's dictionary defines a "silver bullet" as something that acts as a magical weapon, especially one that instantly solves a long-standing problem.

Although I am not an expert on the subject of healing, my wife and I have learned quite a bit experientially about the various types of healing over the past 52 years. Many long years ago my wife and I visited a good Christian brother, who was a true prophet, and his wife, who lived in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. When we drove up to their house and got out of our car, the prophet was standing in his front yard. The first thing that prophet said to us was, "Here come the healers." Well I never had said anything to that prophet about healing. But I received that prophecy as from the Lord. From experience and the witness of the Holy Spirit, our healing ministry is not so much in the physical realm but a healing of soul and spirit, not of the physical body. I should note at this point that my wife has had numerous, rather dramatic experiences of healing in all three areas of body, soul, and spirit. My personal experiences have been less dramatic than hers. In any event, I am not convinced that any human being understands everything about healing.

1 Corinthians 13:9-12, "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

Before proceeding we need to clarify what we mean by "healing." We know that we humans are tri-part beings, with a spirit, soul, and body. 

From 1 Thessalonians 5:23, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Therefore healing can occur in all three parts of man ... spirit, soul, and body. However, some people do not want to be healed. Some people enjoy being sick because that provides an excuse for them to receive self-pity and attention. One such excuse for our sickness is we can blame it on how we were raised or some event in our early childhood.

John 5:1-6, "After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?"

So perhaps the first question for anyone who has an infirmity is, "Do you want to be healed?" If the real answer is "yes," then perhaps the next question is "Why do you want to be healed?" just to alleviate your suffering so you can continue to do your own thing? or so you may thereby glorify God? No man is born with a natural tendency to glorify God. That is why we must repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repentance in the New Testament is the Greek word "metanoia," which comes from two Greek words ... "meta" which means "change" and "noia" which means "mind," so repentance literally means to change your mind. Change from what and change to what? from being self-centered to being Christ-centered. That is the first and most important key to any healing.

2 Corinthians 7:1, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

"Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit." What about our soul, which consists of our mind, emotions, and will? Does that mean our soul does not need cleansing? of course not! Bullinger, in his amazing 1100-page book, "Figures of Speech Used in the Bible," on page 831, says that the Hebrews used the word "spirit" to refer to the essence of the whole person; in other words, flesh and spirit in 2 Corinthians 7:1 are a figure of speech put for the whole person. Therefore we need to consider healing as it pertains to spirit, soul, and body. Of course it is common teaching that God works from the inside of man outward, beginning with our spirit, whereas man tends to work from the outside, our body, in. We tend to focus more on our natural bodies with our natural senses. From my personal awareness, it seems that when "healing" is mentioned, most Christians think about physical healing. Certainly no one enjoys living with a physical disease of any kind, but that is not all that the Lord has to offer to us.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, that part of the spirit that enables us to have communion or fellowship with God died. When we are born again, the Spirit of God comes into our spirit and quickens or makes alive that communion. That miracle, of course, is the greatest healing of all.

1 Thessalonians 5:24, "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."

Therefore, it is the Lord Himself who will preserve our whole being blameless unto the second coming of the Lord

One of the best scriptural examples of the difference between a physical healing and a spiritual healing is found in Luke 17:11-19:

11 And it came to pass, as He went to Jerusalem, that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

12 And as He entered into a certain village, there met Him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

14 And when He saw them, He said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

[The word "healed" is the Greek ee-ah-o-my, which means physically healed.]

16 And fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

19 And He said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole."

[The phrase, "made whole" is the Greek sozo, which means a spiritual healing or being born again.]

Now I do NOT believe that every Christian can physically heal others at any time. Further, I do not believe that there is any magic formula or silver bullet or group of words that we Christians can say, such as "be healed in the Name of Jesus Christ," that will ensure a physical healing of the sick. Now some may say, but brother, doesn't the word of God use that phrase? of course, particularly in the Book of Acts. When Peter and John healed the lame man, in Acts 3:6, "Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk."

But my point is that simply repeating those words does not guarantee a physical healing. 

Now consider Matthew 10:5-8, 

"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give."

I suppose some Christians quote those verses as their "proof" that all Christians are to do all of those things. But Jesus spoke those words to the apostles, not to all the disciples. Further, the recipients of that command by Jesus to preach the Gospel, heal, deliver, raise the dead, etc., were to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel." Initially that audience was the Jews who were foreknown by God and who would receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Shortly thereafter, of course, the recipients included Gentiles. So the lost sheep of the house of Israel now speaks of the members of the body of Christ... those who have not yet received His saving grace.

One of the first things that we should understand is that the Lord Himself is always our Healer. The Lord Himself is always our Savior. 

Exodus 15:26, "And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee." 

The Hebrew word, "healeth," is rapha, which speaks of a physical healing. Now a physical healing from the Lord is a wonderful thing, but even better than a physical healing is physical health.

It is true that sometimes the Lord will use medical doctors to effect His healing. At other times the Lord will use one or more of His chosen people to be an instrument of healing. At other times the Lord may sovereignly heal someone without using a human instrument. My wife and I have experienced that many times.

Sometime about 1969 or 1970 my wife had a very serious physical ailment. We never consulted a medical doctor about her ailment, but we both believed and agreed that we knew what the problem was. We also never told any human being what we believed the problem was. We also agreed what the Lord wanted us to do about it, but we never shared that with any human being either. During that time frame in our New Testament house church, we had received a heavy emphasis of teaching that "in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be confirmed." The interpretation taught us at that time was that the two or three witnesses were Tom, Mary, and Sam ... other Christians. So I set about very quickly to find our two or three witnesses to confirm (or disconfirm) what we had heard from the Lord. I searched every possible avenue for our two or three witnesses. One woman, whom I believed had a ministry of healing, said she could not even pray for Linda because she said Linda needed deliverance first. Well I knew that was not the case. Then one weekend two apostles and one prophet were all in our area at the same time ... very unusual. So I asked all three to come over to our house on a Saturday afternoon. Again, without giving them any specific information I asked them to pray and see what the Lord told them about Linda's physical problem. After about two minutes of silence (which seems like an hour) one of the apostles said, "We are not all Daniels." None of the three men said a word about Linda's malady. In fact, I do not recall any of the three even praying for her. Hindsight, I believe that the Lord sovereignly closed the minds of the three men and would not let them speak to her ailment because He wanted me to hear from the Lord Himself, sovereignly.

So somewhat as a last resort, I called for the elders of the church. All of them came over to our house one evening. Of course I was quite familiar with the verses in James 5:14-16.

"Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

After a brief greeting, most of the elders pulled out a little bottle of oil, anointed my wife's forehead with the oil, and pronounced her healed, in the Name of Jesus Christ. Then they all left. I did not witness to what they did but I said nothing. The next day one of the elders who had been in our home the night before, called me on the telephone. He said that he did not witness to what the other elders had done, but he had said nothing because he did not want to cause confusion. He said that while he was driving over to our house (about a 10-minute drive), He asked the Lord, "Lord, what is wrong with Linda?" He said the Lord told him that she had a cyst on her right ovary and if she went to a medical doctor then the Lord would honor that; but He said the Lord wanted to heal Linda all by himself. Well that was exactly what we had believed her problem was and we had believed that was exactly what the Lord wanted us to do about it ... that the Lord wanted to heal Linda all by Himself. So that was exactly what we did and the Lord exactly healed Linda within 3 days all by Himself. Out of the dozens of Christians I had contacted, only one man had the word of the Lord. That was a word of knowledge. Both that one elder and my wife and I received a word of knowledge as to the specific physical problem. Then we all received the same word of wisdom as to what Linda should do about it ... specifically in that instance to let the Lord heal Linda all by Himself.

What is the moral of the story? The letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life. There is NO single scripture or action that covers every physical ailment. Not long after that event the Lord quickened to me, if you can receive it, that the two or three witnesses are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. There is NO substitute for hearing the voice of the Lord in each situation that arises. It would be interesting to see in the Bible how many different ways Jesus healed someone.

1 Corinthians 12:8-11

"For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will."

1 Corinthians 12:28-31

"And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way."

The first thing we should note is that those verses in 1 Corinthians speak of gifts (plural) of healing. That seems to imply that there is not one gift of healing that covers every physical illness. Many years ago I read that William Branham, a great prophet in the 20* century, had complete command over every form of cancer. He would go to see someone with cancer and say, "Go get a bucket, because this thing is coming out."

No one could doubt the many facets of healing that arise in the realm of the soul. Just think of the multitude of ailments which get treated by psychiatrists... depression, anxiety, stress, anger, bipolar, autism, psychosis, sleep and eating disorders, and on and on. Christians are not immune to these types of disorders, many of which are much more serious than others.

Now a few examples of healing of the soul ... My wife, Linda, grew up in a very dysfunctional family. When my wife was growing up as a child, her mother, over and over again, told her that she was "no good" and would never amount to anything. Her mother criticized her almost daily. Hindsight, that was a blessing in that the Lord used that to develop humility within Linda.

Although the circumstances were different in my early life, the Lord used my many failures before Christ to work His humility within me. What a blessing!

Linda's father was a nice, gentle man as long as you did things his way and did not interfere with his financial empire. Linda and I were married in 1958, and the Lord apprehended us both in 1967. Around that same time, Linda received from her parents an old 1950s Chevrolet car which her deceased uncle had owned. The car had been sitting in her parents' back yard for some time and had a number of mechanical problems. We fixed up the car to make it drivable. A few years later, perhaps 1970, a Christian family came through our area. They had several children, no car, and very little money, so we gave them that car, which at that time was worth no more than $500. A short time later, Linda's father asked her how the car was holding up, so Linda told him that we had given the car to a needy Christian family. We did not know at that time that her father became furious with her for giving away the car. Her father died in 1986. (There is much more to that story.) When we went to the lawyer's office to hear the reading of his will, we heard for the first time that her father had cut Linda out of his will because he "was afraid that Linda might give away his empire to the "church"." But neither Linda nor I cared about the money. Linda was devastated because she felt so abandoned from her father who apparently did not love or trust his only daughter. There is perhaps no greater suffering than to feel forsaken by your father. That is what happened with Jesus. His greatest suffering was not when they nailed His hands and feet to the cross; His greatest suffering was not when all of the disciples fled (Mark 14:50); His greatest suffering was when He cried out, "My God, My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46).

Although several different people, including myself, tried to comfort her, nothing seemed to help. More than one person quoted the best scriptures to her, to no avail. However, nine months later as Linda was helping one of our daughters in California, the Lord sovereignly and instantaneously healed Linda of all of that suffering, as if it never happened. What an amazing God we serve!

Isaiah 53:4-5, "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed."

My somewhat educated guess is that a multitude of professing Christians have quoted those two verses as "proof" that we can claim our healing of any disease if "we just have faith." Well, let me share with you another personal experience I had.

About 1978 I had a work assignment to install our company's private software package on a computer system of a company in Omaha, Nebraska. I was there over a weekend. So I looked in the yellow pages under "churches" to see if I could connect with some Christians. I found one place that seemed to be somewhat compatible so I called the telephone number. The man who answered said they were having a few Christians over that night just to pray. He said I would be welcome to attend, so I went. It was in the apartment or townhouse of a middle-aged couple. After the prayer session ended I stayed a few more minutes after everyone else left and talked with the host and his wife. Then their telephone rang and the wife answered the phone. The caller was an adult, single daughter of the host and hostess. I could easily hear the conversation of the wife and so I knew what had happened to their daughter. The daughter had accidentally spilled some scalding hot liquid on herself and called to ask her parents what she should do. I am sure that the daughter was in much pain. The counsel of the wife to her daughter was, "Just keep repeating over and over, by His stripes I am healed." Then the wife ended the telephone conversation. I groaned in my spirit. Rarely have I prayed so earnestly for anyone in my life as I prayed silently for their daughter. Whether or not the wife could walk in her own advice if she had accidentally spilled scalding water on herself is neither here nor there. The point is, we should never tell anyone to walk in a word that has not been made real in their life. That is legalism or Judaism. A good example of that principle is found in Genesis 14. After Abram had rescued his nephew, Lot from the hands of the "good" kings, we read

Genesis 14:21-24, "And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion."

So Abram could walk in receiving nothing but he did not impose his faith on his young men.

Consider the Apostle Paul.

Acts 19:11-12, "And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them."

Then consider 1 Timothy 5:23, when Paul told Timothy, 

"Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infinities."

Paul healed many people. Why did he not heal Timothy of his stomach problems? I have heard with my natural ears several times the following statement: "If you just had faith, you would be healed" or "if you are sick there must be sin in your life." What terrible things to say to any believer! Do you really think that Timothy did not have enough faith to be healed? In John, Chapter 9, the disciples asked Jesus, "Who did sin, this man or his parents that he was born blind?" Jesus' response was, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."

Likewise, in 2 Timothy 4:20, Paul said, "Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick." Paul valued Trophimus so much that he took Trophimus with him on his journey to Jerusalem (Acts 20:4). Again, why didn't Paul heal Trophimus of his sickness?

Scripture speaks of another type of healing, based on deliverance.

Luke 8:2,"And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,"

Acts 5:16, "There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one." 

Many years ago the Lord seemed to quicken that on some occasions there is a relationship between the natural and the spiritual. For example, if someone has a back problem, they may be trying to carry a heavy load that they were never meant to carry. A common example of this could be that the husband is not functioning in his God-given ministry, so the wife decides to do his work also.

We have found many physical symptoms have a spiritual counterpart. Not only is it good to ask the Lord what He would have us to do about an ailment but also what the Lord wants to say to us through what we are suffering. I will share a rather dramatic example experienced by my wife.

Around 1977 or 1978 the Lord made it very clear that our family was to leave our New Testament house church that we had been a part of for nine or ten years. That was necessary in order for me to fulfill the ministry to which the Lord had called me. That termination was very hard on my wife and children. My wife was very concerned that the lack of house church fellowship would cause me, her husband and/or the children to regress spiritually, and she needed to make sure that didn't happen. 

Not long after, my wife developed a heaviness and tightness in her chest and it was increasingly difficult for her to breathe. A word of knowledge poured forth that she had taken on a burden that was not hers to bear. All of that burden was the Lord's, not hers. At the time she said that she felt like she was trying to hold her husband and children above the water level so they could breathe, all the while she was exhausted. When the word came forth, she released that burden into the hands of the Lord and the physical pain of difficult breathing disappeared instantaneously.

From my personal awareness and experience over the past 52+ years, and after visiting perhaps 100 different churches of all kinds, too many professing Christians are temporal-minded ... focusing primarily on our life on earth for the 70 or 80 years that Scripture talks about.

Psalm 90:10, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."

How does 70 or 80 years on earth in a worn-out body compare to an eternity in a new body that will never grow old? Paul answers that question, in Philippians 1:21-24.

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you."

Now there is one more aspect relating to healing. That word is patience. That is a quality that we all need to develop more fully. Suppose we have need of a physical healing and suppose that our heart is set on doing the will of God and glorifying Him in all things. Then suppose we ask the Lord for His healing touch. We know that if we ask anything according to His will that it shall be done by our Father Who is in heaven. But we want our God to answer us right now, not tomorrow.

John 15:7, "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

Matthew 6:6, "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

1 John 5:14-15, "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him."

But God is not our Servant; He is not just waiting to do our bidding.

Hebrews 10:35, "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."

Isaiah 30:18-19, "And therefore will the LORD wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him. For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee."

In the final analysis, we need to always ask the Lord how to pray and what action to take when someone asks prayer for healing. Unfortunately, too many Christians want a physical healing just to get rid of their suffering and so that they can continue to do their own thing. Therefore ministers need to be careful when someone asks for prayer for healing. We might end up fixing the fix that the Lord fixed for that person, when the Lord had something more important in mind. I have also heard several different Christians say that we should just pray for everyone that they might be healed. That way, at least some of them might be healed. That is similar to an event I witnessed at least 45 years ago in one of our church assemblies. One of the elders voiced a prayer out loud that everyone in Africa might be saved. I never asked why he limited that prayer just to Africa. Well I can admire his compassion for others but I have difficulty agreeing with his prayer. The best prayer in 100% of the cases is that the will of the Lord might be done. That is part of what men call The Lord's Prayer... Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Blessed be the Name of the Lord! Amen.