Stephanie Pavlantos: Is Healing for Real?
LORD my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me.
~Psalm 30 :2 ESV
Has God healed you from an illness, injury, or some other condition?
Do you believe God still heals today?
In my Bible study, Jewels of Hebrews, I wrote about Jesus/Yeshua healing us body, soul, and spirit. I had someone proofread two chapters for me and surprised me when she suggested I remove the part about Yeshua healing physically and rather say, “He heals the sickness of our sin.”
Unfortunately, she no longer believed Yeshua healed our physical bodies since God had not healed a few people she knew. I thought that was sad, but I know sometimes Yeshua does not answer our prayers for healing in the way we hope.
Why? Why doesn’t God always heal our bodies from the aches, pains, chronic illnesses, cancer, and injuries we sustain?
There is more to healing than we can understand.
I have had a nasty fungal infection for at least ten years on my foot, and I have tried everything. Nothing gets rid of it. I prayed for healing, I removed all sugar out of my diet since I know fungus feeds on sugar. But no change.
I also have TMJ, which is when the joint in my jaw becomes inflamed and often slips out of the joint. As many of you know this is painful. After it popped out while flossing my teeth, I prayed and asked Yeshua to heal it.
For about two weeks it felt great. It stopped dislocating and I could yawn and floss my teeth without pain.
One day while reading my Bible, my jaw suddenly went out. I immediately asked God why.
“I thought you healed my jaw, Lord, why is this happening?
He spoke to my heart with the words, “Don’t believe satan’s lies.” I rebuked satan and his lies and told him, “Yeshua has healed my jaw and nothing you do can change that.”
My jaw has been fine since that day two months ago.
There are reasons we don’t experience healing:
I think God knows whether the healing or the suffering will keep us close to Him. Does the pain or the healing give testimony to Yeshua? Does the pain bring you closer to God in complete dependence or will the healing bring you closer to God? Only God knows which one it is.
Are we sabotaging our health by our diet? Has God put people and doctors in your path to instruct you about eating right, yet you ignore them? God has given us many good fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, and lean meats to eat. Has He spoken to you about your way of eating? Our poor diets will affect our bodies negatively. We want to eat all the fats, sugar, and bad carbs, then we want Yeshua to take away the adverse effects of it.
Believe it or not, even critical attitudes, bitterness, and unforgiveness can affect our health. We open a door to demonic spiritual influence through our sin.
Our sin can make us sick.
I have told this story before, a friend of mine called me complaining of her heart palpitations. She made an appointment to see her doctor but wondered if she should be worried. We prayed for healing.
Within a few days, the heart palpitations had stopped…. but within two months they were back. When we prayed together again, the Holy Spirit dropped a line into my heart: “Her heart problem is a heart problem.”
This friend was dealing with bitterness and resentment, which she confessed to me later. Once she asked for forgiveness, her heart problem went away.
Satan can also lie to us about our healing. God heals us, then satan comes along and makes all the symptoms return, leaving us feeling like the healing was not real.
That is what he wants us to believe. Does satan have that kind of power? Yes. He has the power to deceive us. Without knowledge and understanding of satan’s’ ways, tricks, and deceit, he steals what Yeshua has given, destroys our peace, and kills our faith.
Without knowledge and understanding of satan’s’ ways, tricks, and deceit, he steals what Yeshua has given, destroys our peace, and kills our faith. #IsHealingforReal? #ThisSideofHeaven #VineWords @DPavlantos Click To TweetI have heard of many healings that have “reversed” themselves. We must not allow satan to steal our healing!
I was once praying over a young man who had come up for prayer at a Sunday morning service. He wanted prayer for the healing of a family member who had cancer. While a friend and I prayed for him, the Holy Spirit surprised me by saying, “I will not heal him on this earth. I’m taking him home.” I wasn’t sure I heard correctly, so I ignored it…The next morning, I began praying for this young man’s family member, and again the Holy Spirit stopped me with, “Don’t ask me to heal him, I will heal him in Heaven.” I stopped praying for his healing and instead prayed for the family.
The man passed away a few months later, He is perfectly healed in the arms of Jesus.
This may sound strange or even unloving of God, but I know of a close friend who also had God tell her something similar while praying for healing.
God’s compassion and love says, “I will not let you suffer here for long; I am taking you home.”
So, our physical healing can be instantaneous, over time, or in Heaven. It is God’s decision.
There is a word in Greek that means saved. It is sozo.
Sozo means: to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, rescuing one (from injury or peril), to save a suffering one (from perishing), i.e. one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health, or to preserve one who is in danger of destruction, to save or rescue.
https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Lexicon.show/ID/G4982/sozo.htm
The woman healed from a bleeding disorder when she touched the fringe of Yeshua’s prayer shawl in Matthew 9:21 ESV…
For she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well [sozo].”
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=g4982
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save [sozo] the lost.
~Luke 19:10 ESV
Yeshua came to find us and to save us by giving us eternal life, healing of our hearts, souls, minds (emotions), and bodies, and by rescuing us from the evil one. He is our hope, our Savior, and our Refuge.
How had Yeshua saved you? Please share your story.
Dear Heavenly Father, We love you and trust you. You know our wounds, pain, and afflictions. We ask for healing of our bodies, souls, and spirits in the Name of Yeshua.
Amen!
Genre: Non-fiction
Copyright 2021: Is Healing for Real? By Stephanie Pavlantos. All rights reserved.
Meet our Contributor
STEPHANIE PAVLANTOS
Stephanie Pavlantos is an award-winning writer who is passionate about getting people into God’s Word. She has taught Bible studies for over fifteen years, speaking at ladies’ retreats, at her church, and over the internet.
Her book, Jewels of Hebrews (Mount Zion Ridge Press), won third place at Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference, and an Honorable Mention at the Florida Christian Writers Conference.
She is an ordained minister, holding credentials since 2019.
Stephanie is the president of the Hudson, Ohio chapter of Word Weavers.
She is a regular speaker at PJ Net TV http://pjnet.tv
Stephanie is a senior editor, social media director, Bible study, and devotion writer for VineWords: Devotions and More She is a co-editor, co-compiler, and contributing author to Love Knots: Stories of Faith, Family, and Friendships (VineWords Publishing).
Stephanie works for the Besorah Institute for Judeo-Christian Studies in the Student Services department, as well as teaching their online classes. She holds weekly Zoom Bible studies, covering topics such as the Jewish roots of Christianity; the Four Covenants; and other themes.
She is published in Refresh Bible Study Magazine, Charisma Magazine, Christian Broadcasting Network, and Faith Beyond Fear. Stephanie is a contributing author to Feed Your Soul with the Word of God (Lighthouse Bible Studies).
Married for twenty-seven years, she and her husband Mike have three children: Matthew, Alexandria, and Michael. Stephanie has adopted animals of all kinds, including dogs, ducks, sheep, and chickens.
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Stephanie!! This was so good! You had me from the title. The reality is many of us want to, but we don’t understand the “whys” around God’s decision. Myself included. I think because we don’t fully understand why God heals some and not others, it’s easier to make blanket assumptions which protects our hearts when our desired outcome is not met. Instead of surrendering the heartbreak, we surrender to a belief that God has limited His power. You did a masterful job fleshing this out in a short post.
Thank you so much! I appreciate your kind words. You make a great point: when we don’t understand the whys it is easier to accept that God just doesn’t heal anymore…
Stephanie, thank you for sharing with us the Power of healing that is still going on today. More importantly the reminder that the healing can take place on this side of heaven or the other. Amen Blessings to you.
Thank you, Charles!
This is a great post, Stephanie. Jesus has healed me of life-threatening illnesses three times. He is definitely the Healer.
Wow! Thank you for sharing that with me. That is wonderful!
Stephanie, I love this! I can look back at many times He has healed me, and many times He has not. Once, I accidently poured boiling water on my hand. Immediately, my friend prayed for me and three hours later, my hand was completely fine. It was as if nothing happened.
Anyway, I love this post. Thank you!
Thank you, Brandie! That’s so amazing! God is so good to us.