What do you do with a sick apostle?

I once talked with a woman from Far Rockaway in Queens. She had given up on the Lord. A few years earlier her husband had been sick with cancer. She prayed for his healing. Her pastor and the elders prayed and anointed him. The whole church prayed for him. And then he died. Now she was convinced that the Lord had let her down, or maybe even that He didn't exist at all.

Despite all the talk about "divine healings," the death rate has remained the same, one a piece.

Here again, knowing about the "administration of God's grace" that the Lord Jesus revealed to the Apostle Paul (Ephesians 3:2-3) is the answer-this time to the problem of unhealed Christians.

Early in Paul's ministry, the Lord gave him the power to heal everyone (see Acts 19:11-12, 28:9 for notable examples). But there was always one person Paul couldn't heal ... himself! He wrote to the Galatians, "it was because of an illness that I first preached to you." (Galatians 4:13-14) Another time Paul prayed three times for the Lord to take away the thorn in his flesh. The Lord said, No.

Later, after the close of the book of Acts, the Lord withdrew that power to work miracles. Paul had written in 1 Corinthains 13:8 that the miraculous gifts would "cease", and they did. No more gift of tongues, no more gift of prophecy, no more gift of healing.

Timothy was sick with "frequent illnesses" and Paul advised him to "use a little wine" for his stomach (1 Timothy 5:23). No more miraculous cloths or gift of healing. In his last letter Paul writes about a faithful co-worker named Trophimus and says, "I left Trophimus sick in Miletus." (2 Timothy 4:20). The miraculour gifts had ceased. In the "administration of God's grace," the Lord Jesus doesn't promise to heal all our sicknesses or take away all our problems.

It was a sick man who wrote, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation..." (Philippians 4:12). He had learned that His grace is sufficient. Do you know the peace and power of God's Grace For Today?

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 Last modified: 09/30/11