When 5000 people were hungry and in a deserted area with no food, Jesus asked his disciples “What food do you have?” They replied that they had none. Then one said, “There’s a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they among so many?” It was enough for Jesus to work with! Multiplication is never the Lord’s problem; he multiplies what we make available. That boy’s simple meal fed the 5000 and left a twelve-basketful surplus.
If we would see God do supernatural things, we need to offer Him natural things to work with. If we want to see Him to heal the sick, it will be sick people. Those we reach will give the Lord something to work with. God can create things through His word — “And God said” is repeated ten times in the Genesis record of the Creation.
His desire, however, is to work through whatever we have at hand.
When Elijah the prophet was hungry, he asked a widow for her last handful of flour and last cup of oil. From these God provided food enough for Elijah, the woman, and her son for three-and-a-half years! She hadn’t much, but what she had gave Elijah’s God a little something to work with.
Some people believe that God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing, but the Bible informs us that He created them “by the word of the LORD” and “the breath of His mouth” (Psalm 33:6). When God spoke, they came into being. There is no difference between the words that God is speaking and the things that He creates through them. Every word spoken by God has within it the power to create what it describes (Luke 1:37).
Our job is not to bring lost people into church but to go out to them with the Good News. Those who know little or nothing are more likely to receive Jesus than those who’ve already heard the Good News many times. I have seen this contrasted in the contrast between leading the same church at home and those in developing nations, where health care is either unavailable or unaffordable. The lesser health care available, the more miracle-healings take place. Need draws power. The more urgent the need, the more freely the flow of His healing power.
There’s nothing mystical about God’s healing power — it works where most needed. Many seek more power from God so they can see more miracles of healing in their church meetings. But the power of God in them is more than enough to supply the miracles they seek. They just need to get among the sick who are desperately in need of miracles. — some beyond medical help
In some cases, these are people who’ve been told that physicians and medical science have done all they can but are unable to heal them. God asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?” These days when He asks the same question, the answer is his miracle-working power. You simply need to lay your hands on those who are sick. It’s that simple. It is those who believe who receive.
What then of those who do believe but do not receive? Only God can answer that; however, I’m sure that more sick people recover after seeking medical aid from physicians than do those who just don’t bother, thinking that God does not use physicians. Jesus said “The sick need a physician.” Although speaking spiritually of sinners needing forgiveness, in using these words the Lord was speaking a simple truth. After fifty years in ministry, I’ve seen enough to convince me that God heals the sick through medical science, as well as through those who pray for them in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Before ministering to the sick, I offer my hands to God as those of the Lord Jesus, who dwells in me by faith. In doing so, I am giving Jesus something He can work through. As I do that he heals, and to God be the glory!