Saturday – Open Topic

Reading – Philippians 2

Highlight Verse:

“And he certainly was ill; in fact, he almost died. But God had mercy on him—and also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow after another.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭27‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Confession time – after a very long busy Friday, I neglected to write this last night. To make the writing easier this morning, I am borrowing the topic from our small group Bible study last night. We had a good discussion, so I thought it would be good to share it with you.

Epaphroditus was a Greek convert to Christianity who had become a close friend and helper to Paul.

From the way Paul wrote about him, it was clear that he was very important to Paul.

We know that God worked through Paul to heal quite a few people.

Yet nowhere in this chapter does it say that Epaphroditus was healed.

In fact, it is strongly implied that his illness had to run its course. Epaphroditus seems to have recovered through the natural healing process of the body.

During that process, he came close to death.

I’m sure Paul prayed for him.

Why wasn’t he miraculously healed?

First of all, at least in Pentecostal circles, we tend to ignore the amazing creation of the immune system.

God gave our bodies the incredible ability to fight off viral and bacterial attacks as well as to self-repair injuries.

I love it when God bypasses that process to bring immediate healing.

But I believe He still deserves the credit for the natural healing process.

Also, there are times when that healing is eternal; granted through entering eternal life in heaven.

Finally, one abuse of faith that I have seen far too often is people treating God like a genie.

Healing is not magic. It is God’s decision how to bring healing.

I still believe that we should pray with absolute faith in the power of God to heal.

But we should never command God.

He is in charge. He is all powerful and all knowing.

I pray for healing in faith, acknowledging that it is His choice, and I will accept what He chooses.

Have you seen miraculous healings? Tell us about them.
Have you ever been sadly disappointed that someone was not healed?
How did you deal with that disappointment?