Instant vs. Process Healing: Why Some Heal Instantly While Others Take Time
Some people are healed instantly through a miracle.
I was shocked to discover that there is no specific Greek word for “miracle.” The word translated “miracle” is the word dunamis, which is most often translated as “power,” and only occasionally translated as a “miracle.” In addition, semeion is occasionally translated as “a miracle,” although normally semeion is translated as “a sign.” Young’s Literal Translation never translates dunamis or semeion as a “miracle.” Instead, Young uses the phrase, “a mighty work,” or something similar.
How often does the word “miracle(s)” appear in various translations?
Young’s Literal Translation: 0 times (translates dunamis and semeion as “power” and “sign” respectively)
King James Version: 37 times
New King James Version: 16 times (wow, cut it in half!)
New American Standard Bible: 28 times (splits the difference between KJV and NKJV)
The Passion Translation: 192 times (wow, over the top!)
Note how Young’s Literal Translation handles miracles and gifts of healings (1 Cor. 12:28):
New American Standard Bible: “then miracles, then gifts of healings”
Young’s Literal Translation: “afterwards powers, afterwards gifts of healings”
Young’s replaces the word “miracles” with “powers.” In both translations, the words “gifts” and “healings” are each in the plural, meaning there are many ways to get healed, so I surely should not reduce healing to one or two approaches. That would be cutting off God’s grace for healing me in additional ways that He has prepared.
Translating dunamis or semeion into the word “miracle” is a subjective determination and not something agreed upon by the translators.
It certainly seems like there is a lot I need to learn about power miracles, and my biggest discovery was that in one location, Jesus was not able to do any miracles. We will explore why this happened in the next chapter.
There are two main words translated as “healing.” They are:
Iaomai (various forms, 32 occurrences): a few times declared as instantaneous healing, which would be powered by dunamis. The fact that a few of the healings specifically state they were instantaneous makes one think these were unique and different from the other healings that took place. Perhaps the others were more progressive. For example, when I used inner healing prayer to remove the anger that was causing my arthritis, my testimony is that I was healed. The arthritis pain left my body! The fuller version of my story is that 50 percent of my pain was gone within one day and all of it was gone within a week. So my statement that I was healed was not wrong; it just didn’t include all the details concerning the timing of the disappearance of the symptoms. When covering 33 years of Jesus’ life in a Gospel you can read in an hour or two, you are certainly going to be leaving out some details.
Therapeuo (various forms, 48 occurrences): “therapeutic,” more often can be a process of healing. There are two unique modalities which are mentioned with therapeuo and never mentioned with iaomai. They are:
Anointing with oil (Mk. 6:13 NASB95)—could this include “essential oils”?
Leaves that bring healing (Rev. 22:2 NASB95)—could this include “herbalism”?
In addition, laying on of hands (Lk. 4:40) is mentioned much more often in the context of therapeuo than in the context of iaomai. Question: Could chiropractic perhaps be included within the category of laying on of hands?
Seventeen times as Jesus heals, the Greek word being translated is therapeuo. I am not aware of any statement in the New Testament saying therapeutic healings were instantaneous.
When the Stated Story Is Not the Whole Story: An Assignment to Complete
When I read in the Gospels that Jesus healed, I assume that is the entire story because that is what is stated. I suppose that Jesus spoke or laid on hands or whatever, and the person was immediately healed. Well, that is not necessarily the case. The Gospel writers were cramming a 33-year life into a few short chapters, so chances are good that details have been left out.
Let’s explore the story of the crucifixion, for example. To answer the questions below, you may want to chart all details mentioned in each of the four Gospels and then note what each Gospel writer added or skipped as they told the story.
Matthew’s version of what happened at the crucifixion is recorded in Matthew 27:32-52. Please read it and list each main detail. So, you would think this is the whole story, right?
Mark’s version of what happened at the crucifixion is recorded in Mark 15:21-41. What new details do we discover?
Luke’s version of what happened at the crucifixion is recorded in Luke 23:32-49. What new details do we discover?
John’s version of what happened at the crucifixion is recorded in John 19:16-37. What new details do we discover?
Now that you see the fuller story, does it help you see that these abbreviated stories in the Gospels are only a portion of all that happened? Each author is only putting in the details they sense are important for their readers to read, and each Gospel is written to a different audience. When you put them all together, do you get a fuller picture of the crucifixion event? Do you think that there may still be details beyond what the four Gospel writers describe?
Should I assume this same principle is true when it says, “Jesus healed everyone”? Would it be wise to understand that statement as a summary of what happened and that there is a lot of detail being left out? Does it explain the exact approach Jesus took in healing them? Does it describe if Jesus used different methods with different people? Does that statement tell how long it took for each person to be healed? Does it detail if part of the healing was instantaneous and part appeared the next day or the next week? Should I be making assumptions when there are no details to back them up?
Journaling Questions
Lord, what do You want to speak to me concerning the stories I read in the Bible? How am I to look at them? How am I to understand them? Can I understand them through my reasoning alone, or do I need Your revelation? Do I need You to “open Scriptures to me” just as You did the disciples on the Emmaus Road?
Deliverance and oil are classed as therapeutic:
Who had come to hear Him and to be healed [iaomai] of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured [therapeuo] (Lk. 6:18 NASB95).
Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed [therapeuo] him, so that the mute man spoke and saw (Matt. 12:22 NASB95).
Jesus used therapeuo to heal every kind of disease:
And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed [therapeuo] them (Matt. 15:30 NASB95).
Deliverance and anointing with oil were intertwined with therapeuo healing:
And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing [therapeuo] them (Mk. 6:13 NASB95).
Here is an example of Paul doing two types of healing in the same situation:
When shipwrecked on the island of Malta, Paul laid his hands on the father of Publius and healed (iaomai) him (Acts 28:8 NKJV). This appears to be an instantaneous healing.
The rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed (therapeuo, Acts 28:9 NKJV).
Wow, two different Greek words for healing are being used in the same story! This releases us from the pressure that we must see an instantaneous miracle.
If we consider healing as encompassing both instantaneous miracles (iaomai) and process healing (therapeuo), then there is no need for a per- son to be healed instantaneously.2 It could be either way: a process healing or an instantaneous miracle. That resolves the issue that we need to see 100 percent quick results. I am not aware of anyone who is getting 100 percent immediate results in healing prayer. I sure am not.
If you put your body, soul, and spirit in a healing mode, then God’s healing power (energeo3) is flowing, and the healing/miracle will manifest in its own time. This takes the pressure off me expecting that I must get an instant miracle. Instead, I would be saying, “When I put myself in a healing posture, the process of healing is at work!”
The posture for both types of healing (miracle and therapeutic) is identical.
If the above premise is true, then I would never walk away from a healing service disappointed that I was not healed. I would understand that healing comes in many forms. I would understand that God has miracles and gifts of healings. The gifts of healings include therapeuo healings, which incorporate a host of ways God uses to release healing into my being.
So with this in mind, I leave the service excited to spend some time asking God what specific gift of healing He has in mind for me to pursue. As I listen in the Spirit with faith that He does have some wonderful approach in store for me to complete, He explains which gift of healing is appropriate and the steps He would have me take to begin the process. I celebrate these words of wisdom and words of knowledge and begin actively working them out in faith and obedience.
If I get stuck, I do what the Bible says. I go to the elders of the church and together we explore the situation, discovering any sins that are blocking the healing and repenting of them, so that the effective prayer of a righteous man can avail much, and God’s healing dunamis power flows freely and heals me ( Jas. 5:14-16).
This is certainly a whole lot better than walking away from a healing service saying, “I didn’t get healed. Why doesn’t God love me? Is He playing favorites?” Instead, I am walking away filled with faith that God loves me and has one of His gifts of healings (therapeutic cures) in store for me, and by listening to His Spirit and acting on what He says, healing will flow!
So why is God offering “gifts of healings” rather than a quick, fast miracle?
I suppose there are a lot of answers to this question. Let me offer a few.
Fear made the Israelites wander for 40 years rather than inherit their Promised Land.
When God promised them a land flowing with milk and honey and offered to go before them and prepare the way, they instead listened to bad reports from ten spies. Rather than stepping out in faith, fear ruled, and they were afraid to enter into their inheritance. So they returned from the edge of entering into their Promised Land and entered back into the wilderness to wander for 40 years.
I believe God’s promise to heal our bodies (Isa. 53:5) is part of our Promised Land blessings. So what keeps us from entering in?
Fear made me disobedient.
I had a sore back that took many weeks to heal. When I asked the Lord to heal it instantly, He clearly said He would not. He said if He did heal it instantly, I would go right back to doing the activity I had been doing that made it sore in the first place. You see, He had earlier told me to quit that activity; but I would not, because it was the way I was currently earning an income.
The Lord had told me to stop it and trust Him to provide. I refused to stop because of fear. Therefore, He said it would be a slow healing so I could learn to obey and trust Him. So, yes, it was slow; and yes, I learned to obey and trust; and yes, my back did ultimately heal.
Unforgiveness blocks healing.
It is hard to forgive when someone dishes out a big hurt to your life. One of my biggest hurts was being fired from the pastoral staff of a large church where I worked. The termination seemed unfair and was extremely abrupt. A call came in at 10:00 at night, and one of the senior-level pastoral staff members invited me to breakfast the next morning.
At breakfast, I sat with three men from the Board, and they informed me they had terminated my job at the church and wanted my office cleared out that day! Talk about anger, rage, and unforgiveness. I cleared out my office and hated them all.
Six months later, I had arthritis in my knuckles and knees (age 40). I realized it was because of my pent-up anger. I prayed and forgave them, but I still hated them. After repeating that cycle several times, I realized that prayer was not working, so I did an inner healing prayer in my morning devotions.
I pictured the restaurant table, with the three men and me. Using the eyes of my heart I looked around for Jesus. Jesus appeared in the picture (vision) laughing and saying, “Don’t you know I set this whole thing up? I have told you for two years to get on the road and teach communion with God and you wouldn’t go; so I just threw you out of the nest, so you could learn to fly and get on with fulfilling My destiny for your life.”
Jesus went on to say, “You can see them as evil men or as instruments in My hand thrusting you into the fulfillment of your destiny. The first picture will make your spirit, soul, body, and ministry shrivel up. The second picture will cause your spirit, soul, body, and ministry to grow and expand. You get to choose which picture you will gaze upon.”
I chose to look at those three men in the scene in my mind’s eye as we were sitting around the restaurant table and say to them, “I choose to forgive you, to honor you, to bless you in Jesus’ name. Thank you for thrusting me forward into the fulfillment of my destiny.”
Within 24 hours of this inner healing devotional prayer exercise, 50 percent of my arthritic pain was gone and within a week it was all gone. I am now 72 with no arthritic pain. Yay, God!
The principles for this kind of deep, heart forgiveness include:
Re-enter the scene where the hurt happened.
Ask Jesus to show you where He is and what He is saying and doing.
Tune to flowing thoughts and flowing pictures and record what Jesus says and does.
Act in obedience to what Jesus is showing and speaking.
Definition of when a hurt is healed:
Memorize this golden nugget: A hurt is healed when God has shown you the gift He has produced in your life through the experience.
The gift He showed me in this situation was that the church leaders threw me out of the nest when I was afraid I could not fly, and I discovered I could fly and that they had propelled me into the fulfillment of my destiny. Always ask God to show you the gift (Rom. 8:28), and then post that gift at eyeball level and purpose to only look at that new picture from this point on. Never gaze back at the old picture (the scene where Jesus was not present) which produced sickness and death within you, as that contains a lie, which is “Jesus wasn’t there.” Picturing a lie is an unbiblical imagination.
The above two—fear and unforgiveness—are the biggies that either block or promote miracle-working dunamis to flow. The next chapter will explore these two things in more depth. We must move from fear to faith and from anger to love.
Biblical Examples of Process Healing
The blind man whom Jesus prayed for was fully healed after two prayers (Mk. 8:22-26). I can also expect that some healings will take more than one prayer to get the job done.
The tree that was cursed showed nothing immediately, but the next day they observed it had died from its roots up (Mk. 11:12-14, 20-26). Therefore, when I pray, I can pray for the root cause to be removed and expect that the manifestation of that will occur in time.
When I prayed and asked Jesus to heal an abnormal heart rhythm that I was experiencing, Jesus said, “It is healed.” However, my Kardia testing unit said I still had possible AFib. I asked the Lord how I was to handle this apparent discrepancy. His answer was, “Mark, speak this: My heart beats in perfect sinus rhythm, and the symptoms are disappearing.” Notice He did not want me to even use the negative word “AFib.” This is what I have done as I believe for the full manifestation of this healing, along with taking any nutrition I have discovered that helps strengthen the heart and, of course, exercising to build and restore the heart muscle and focusing on peace and joy and laughter.
What would be the value of a “process healing” rather than a miracle?
If a smoker is instantly healed of lung cancer and continues to smoke, he will likely develop lung cancer again. Part of healing is establishing the discipline of changed behavior so that any behavior that contributed to the infirmity is removed from our lives and we do not draw the infirmity back to us.
When a demon that has been cast out comes back to see if “his house” is filled with the Holy Spirit or not and finds it not filled, the demon re-enters with seven worse demons (Matt. 12:43-45).
When it comes to claiming God’s promises to us, we need to be sensitive to what God is perfecting in us at the same time. The Israelites had a prophetic word from God that He had given them the Promised Land (Exod. 12:25). However, they were forced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, because they needed to learn to believe that God could and would supernaturally provide for them.
When the spies came back with a report of the giants in the land, they were moved by fear, not faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). They ended up failing ten tests in the wilder- ness (Num. 14:22), so those who were trained to fear needed to die out, and a new generation of people who had seen God’s supernatural provision every day for 40 years (manna) could arise. They would have the faith to conquer the territory that God had promised was their land.
If God has promised healing and I am living in fear and doubt, then the dunamis power of God which provides the miracle will be hindered by my lack of faith, and, once again, Jesus will be able to do no miracle because of my unbelief.
Once faith is established, we go forward into battle, believing God is with us and being guided by His voice.
We take our land through commissioning, believing, and acting. We are told to be strong and courageous. Be very courageous. Do not turn to the side. Meditate day and night on God’s words and do them. Here is the exact commission given to Joshua.
Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life.
Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:5-9 NASB95).
Thankfully, God is with us today, everywhere we go. He is Immanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:23; 28:20).
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