The Goal Of Spiritual Healing
by Pastor Don Bartow

There are far too many who feel that a physical healing is the chief aim of the healing ministry. Nothing could be further from the truth. I want to the best of my ability to convey to all that the primary goal of Spiritual Healing is JESUS CHRIST.

Knowing The Great Physician
The true GOAL of Spiritual Healing is knowing the Great Physician and not simply being physically healed by Him. Jesus never did say you must be physically perfect. He did say you "must be born again." John 3:7

Of course, it is a thrill to see individuals healed in body and emotions. However, it is a greater thrill to see them come to personally know the One who is the Great Physician. It is great to receive His gifts. It is even more important to personally receive Him Who is the greatest Gift.

Receiving Healing
A portion of a letter I received from a Presbyterian Pastor sums up the essence of Spiritual Healing.  He had a few days before attended one of our healing conferences. 

"In the light of the Conference on Spiritual Healing, I preached a sermon on the Healing power of Christ. One couple was in church who average about one Sunday a month in church.

The Friday after they heard that sermon their eight-year-old son was hit by a car while riding his mini bike on the highway. The boy was unconscious in the hospital, so I went in and had prayer and laying-on-of-hands for him with his parents.

The boy regained consciousness Monday night, and has improved steadily ever since. Needless to say, the parents went through quite an emotional experience. The father, who did not join the church when the rest of the family did, vowed with his wife in the hospital to accept Jesus Christ."

The little boy received a precious healing. The father received an even more wonderful healing! 

I feel the following statement gets to the heart of the message of healing. (author unknown)

"He for whom the martyrs died is He by whom we must live. That is what Christianity is and almost nothing else at all.

"That main, if not the sole, purpose of Healing Evangelism is to give people a supreme opportunity of encountering Jesus Christ and of binding themselves ever more closely to Him through faith. We must be desperately serious in this. Spiritual Healing means more than physical cure by spiritual aids. It is the outcome of union with God in Christ Jesus the Healer. 

So, the creed of the believer in Spiritual Healing today is Jesus Christ as Healer.

"Not primarily being well or doing good, not good health or even good behavior, but God Himself in focus in Jesus Christ.

"We do not teach sufferers to believe in healing, but in Jesus Christ. The believer in Spiritual Healing is therefore never disappointed, because he is seeking, not things, but God. Christianity for the first disciples was not primarily a matter of behavior, but of belief. They believed that Christ was of God and that He believed in them. What could be more exciting than that?

"They did not discuss or hold conferences about Spiritual Healing; they preached and healed. When we believe what they believed we achieve in miracles of healing what they received. They practiced Healing Evangelism and  'turned the world upside-down.' We can do the same."

I believe many people today are saying as the Greeks of old, "we would see Jesus." John 12:21

All efforts of the ministry of healing should be expended to lead individuals to Jesus.

Accepting Christ
You can believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for your sins, and that He has given you the gift of eternal life and the power of the Holy Spirit for today. May you prayfully consider these scriptures.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
John 3:16

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:9

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast."
Ephesians 2:8,9

This article  is from Bartow's HEALING HANDBOOK, page 483.
Copyright 1997, Donald W. Bartow, All rights reserved.