Healings Happen

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

HEALINGS HAPPEN

Acts 28:7-10

7 There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and for three days entertained us hospitably. 8 His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. 9 When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. 10 They honored us in many ways and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.

NIV

We find Paul and his companions, which included Luke for he is the one writing this in the first person and is known as the author of these acts of the Apostles. It is interesting we see an example of the gift of hospitality through the actions of Publius. Of course, that would be accustomed to the culture of that day. Sometimes we think we have lost the art of hospitality in our culture today because of our extremely busy lives and so we have forsaken giving our time to entertain guests for a whole day, much less three days. There are always exceptions to that general statement, and we might find some who have been gifted and allow the Sprit to manifest that gift of hospitality through those few. However, the most interesting event that took place was when Paul found out that the father of his host, Publius, was sick in bed; he went to him, placed his hands on him and healed him. Of course, that followed some time of prayer. We are not told of the words of Paul’s prayer, or how long he prayed, but what we know is that whatever he prayed and laid hands on his man, he was healed from his fever and dysentery. That fact is that God heals. The problem is that today we are not seeing that healing on a regular basis. After Paul laid hands on this man and he was healed, all those on the island that were sick came to Paul and they were cured. Again, we are not told how many times Paul prayed or if he laid hands on all the others and he did with this man, but the fact is that God healed them all through the hands of Paul. Again, we must ask the question whether Paul was any better of a believer than we are. Perhaps the Spirit was manifesting his gift of healing through Paul and does not want to do that in any of us today, at least with such force. But we know that is not true, the Spirit will manifest his gifts through anyone who is willing to receive them. It is also true that he may not manifest the same gifts in all people, as each of us might be used in different ways. Still, Jesus told us that we could ask for anything, and that would include being healed, yet it would seem we do not see the healings on the same scale as we are told happened in biblical times. Why is that? God has not changed, and he has said that he is the Lord who heals us. So, then we should not only believe him, but we should be able to see healing occur in the most miraculous of ways. We are never told that Jesus or any of the disciples or in this instance Paul ever asked or required that anyone first repent of all their sins and become perfectly sanctified before they could be healed. In fact, on one occasion with the man lowered through the ceiling by his friends, Jesus told him, “take heart, your sins are forgiven” as well as this sinful woman who came into the house of the Pharisee who had invited Jesus for dinner and when she poured that expensive perfume on Jesus, he told her that her sins were forgiven. We have to conclude that healing only requires belief or faith that we can be healed. However, on the other hand, did this father have faith, did he even know about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? As far as we know, he did not, and in fact he did not even know who Paul was, yet he was healed. We believe all that which is written in the Holy Scriptures, and we believe in the triune God, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and we believe in healing, yet why are we not healed? How long, oh Lord must we wait to be healed?