Never would have thought I'd be reconsidering this topic, especially at suchj an age when deth is about the only thing I'd normaly expect to be on my upcoming events calendar. SAnd not through Andrew Murray either, a writer I appreiciate up to a point, but who usually manages to leave me feeling overwshelmed by a million impossible conditions that need to be fulfilled in order to qualifiy for whatever Christian virture he is writing about, which always end in having to abandon the project he may have at first inspired me to consider.
the same happens with this topic but it seems to go in waves so that after a plunge into the usual despair I find him offering the encouragement I need by emphasizing that the lord Himself undertakes most of the requirements that usually ubury me before I gt very far into the topic. So I've been able to read his bbook on this subject a number of times and find it building up my faith instead of dumping me unceremoniously into the gutter where Christians who can't muster the necessary faith or perseverence tend up.
It's a book of sepearate meditations his did on the subject of supenatuiral healing, rather than a n organized book, but i's arranged welle jough to bulid up the case even if csome of it doulbes back on itself from time to time. IAnyway, I've actually comje through rereading this book to entertain the possibility that the Lord myight actually heal me of my many infirmities even at the old age of eighty two, sol that I could live a more active Christian life for some years yet to come. Yes, he is that persuasive.
Healing f t body is a part of the plan of redemption according to his main argument, and this is in fact illustrated by the fact that therer are many biblical passages wshere the two are spoken of in the same sentence with the imjplication that they are almost synonymous, or at lest strongly connected to each other. One of those many things to be discovered in the Bible that we overlook even if we read and reread it many timnes. Unless the Lord draws it to our attention, having schosen us for some work connected ith a particular idea.
Itecame clear early on that he confuseds the phenomena of supernatural healing, or in fact any supernatural gift, with the spiritual gifts givingen to individuals in the early church. This has to be said because those who deny that the supernatural gifts have contuinued into the present nevertheless do not reject the fact that God may still perform miraculous and supernatural feats . As a matter of fact suchj events are also extremely rare and he is right to point out that the Church has lost faith that even these things are offered to us anu more.
those wsho believe in the fgifts for today can be very annoying with their aggressive insistence that they must be manifested with the gift of tongues, and in the case of the gift of healing that all failures to be healed are due to a scurrilous lack of faith on the part of the sick person. Murray avoids any such attitude for which I'm grateful. But he does succeed in confincing me that it is a lack of faith that is depriving today's Christians of healing that gid does in fact want us to have, and he aims much of his book toward restroing that faith in us. this is quite necessary since faith requries some conviction that god does in fact want us to have this healing and will give it to us if we meed t scertain conditions. We need to be persuaded that the evidence that god has that will toward us is there in the Bible, and Murray is gdoig a surprisingly good job of convincing me ot that.
He is very awqare that after such a long timne of bijg persuaded that we are not to expect god to give us such healings that it would take a lot of time and much evidence to change our way of looking at it. We think we are persuaded by biblical evidence so we need bettwer biblical evidence that we've been wrong and that infact we can expect and should expect such healings. for me reading the book over and over is having the effect of building up that evidence and therefore some degree of faith that I might indeed look for such a divine healing of my many infirmities, pearticularly of course my macular degeneration, but alo my arthritic hips that have onfined me to the use of a walker for many years, and many other malaises that make my life less than available for active work for God.
Th that wiat upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall rise on wings of eagles, they shall walk and not be earing they no no, they ahshalll run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Oh to claim that one.
Im'm sucre I'll hav emore to say about all this as time godes on, Lord Willing,.
Later: Maurray has even made me think it's possible that we c ould have the individual spiritual gifts today as well as miracles from time to time as I think everone agrees is possible, but the fact is that the charistmatics who claim those gifts do not exhibit those gifts but somne kind of counterfeit of them. I found Watchmjan Nee's concept of Soul Power the most useful way of thinking about his. that is, it seems that the charismatics are mistaking this sould power for the power of the indwelling sirit. the tongues that I experienced were some kind of mockeriny of language for instance, which makes it hard for me to accept the claims of some that they are praying in the spirit when they use such a togue. What is called prophecy is rell psychic power, a power of the soul that can be developed under certain circumstances, a remnant of powers possessed by Adam and Eve but lost at the Fall, and now no doubt available only in a distorted form to some wsho possess them today or have them more strongly than others do. this is not the Holy Spirit, it is part of the natural man or the sin nature, the flesh and so on. There seem to be powers of healings too and I suppose they are also soulish and limited to whatever Satan is able to bring about but I don't really know in that case, just that they too don't seem to have the power or scope of the healings fromn the holy Spirit as we see in the sri8ptures for instance. A piece of evidence that Nee is right as I see it was his observatio that laugjter hacan overtake a crowed of Christians and be mistaken for something spiritual, and since we had a Laugjtoing revival back in the nineties that was misrepresented in the same way I am very grateful for Nee's bringing that up, and it adds credibiltiy to his general discussion of the soul powers as poopposed to the spiritual powers we receive upon being born again.
While as I said it is possible that God has not ceased to give spiritul gifts just as He gives the everyday gifts we all recovnize such as teahcing and preaching and helps and administration and so on, the fact seems to be thta the actual expression of what are called the gifts does not fit the scriptural presentation and if they are bogus then that is evidence that they did ceasese. Miracles in general didn't cease but the psiritual gifts may have and that seems to have been the most reaxonable conclusion to be taken from the Strange Fire Conference at John MacArthur's church some years ago.
Divine healing is not tied to persons so far as Murray has been presenting it in his gbook, it is something the elders can impart as per James five, or we can pray for on our own, god granting it in answer to such prayer. Such healers as Kathryn Kuhlman have many makes of being frauds, lthough as I said it may still be possible that god would grant such a gift to an individual.
