Welcome again to the Quality Christian Living
Podcast. I am your host, David Friend. Today's
podcast is entitled, Gifts of Healings and Miracles.
Today we're going to talk about a number of issues.
One is, are the gifts of healing and miracles
still operating today? And does taking medicine
take away from our faith for miracles and healings?
And can the power gifts be earned by good works?
And who is the source of these two power gifts?
And how can we receive these gifts? Well, we've
got a lot to cover, but we serve a great big
God who can take care of all this and help us
with it. So before we get into it, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, once again, I thank you for
who you are. I pray blessing upon those listening
in. I pray that you would anoint this podcast,
Holy Spirit, take over. I surrender to you. I
ask for you to guide and direct my comments,
the scriptures I read, and the ones that I don't
read, because I need to be led by you. I pray
the Holy Spirit now that you would do what only
you can do, that you would bring revelation and
comfort and peace and joy to people who are in
need of either healing or a miracle in their
life, or they know of other people facing the
same challenges. So Father, bless this podcast,
I ask. And I'll be careful, always be careful
to give you all the praise and glory for what's
about to take place. For I ask all these things
now in Jesus name I pray, amen. It might be a
little hard to cover both of these gifts in one
podcast, so I'll probably be in the future doing
a little bit more on healings, a little bit more
on miracles because there's so much to talk about.
But let me just answer a couple questions that
I mentioned in the early part of this. I can
guarantee you through my personal experiences,
through my church family and the experiences
we've had for hospital visits and those people
in our church who fought many sicknesses and
illnesses that the gifts of healing and miracles
are alive and well today. All we have to do is
look up Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 8 that says
Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever.
He is our healer. He hasn't changed. His healing
power has not decreased in one bit and we can
believe for miracles and we can believe for healings
because his word says that we can. Now in my
book, Fate for Miracles, it's something I wrote
based on a series of podcasts I did here probably
Six months ago or longer and I would encourage
you if you'd like to to go pull up that list
of podcasts There was about 20 of them dealing
with faith for miracles and that podcast is what
gave me the inspiration Shall I say to write
a book on it? And so it's been one of my favorite
books that I've written because I believe the
Holy Spirit is Doing a great work with it and
many people's lives have been touched by it.
I thank the Lord for it. So in that book I give
actual examples of where these two power gifts
have been manifested in the bodies of various
people. I mean, there's a number of them there
and I'll give some examples in this particular
podcast also. Before we go further into the podcast,
I want you to know that there's nothing wrong
in taking prescribed medicines or supplements
for an illness. Whenever I have experienced,
you know, a physical setback of some kind, I
like to tell the doctors that I'm a Christian
and I thank the Lord for doctors, for medical
care and medicine, but most of all for prayers.
I usually get a little smile from them. Most
doctors have a difficult time. with having confidence
in prayer but I've seen a number of doctors over
the years who've seen the miracle take place
in my life and the lives of other people that
I'm very much aware of and they've called it
a miracle too. Now we must tell our doctors I
believe that we need to tell them that you're
Christians and that you believe in the Word of
God and you believe that Jesus is the healer.
It's fine to take their medication it's fine
to hear from them but we need to pray and trust
God. You know in the old days when I first started
talking about healings and miracles and things
I used to talk about what I call the faith cabinet
that's when we get a cold or something the first
thing we do our faith leads us to the medicine
cabinet in our bathroom and we open it up we
start looking for pills and things that help
us with it now we've all done it and I don't
think necessarily there's anything wrong with
that but on the other hand we better not make
that our faith cabinet the medicine cabinet is
just the medicine cabinet but by faith we were
healed by faith we receive our sight by faith
we receive the blessings that God has for us
so let's not put our faith in a medicine but
It's I believe okay to use those things and I
also have no problem using supplements. I take
several different supplements because they're
natural and I think they're good for me and my
doctors have even recommended them. So we thank
the Lord for that. The gifts of healing and miracles
come from the Holy Spirit deciding who should
have these gifts. Now once again that's found
in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 verses 7 through
11. I strongly recommend you go back and read
those. If you haven't, I've covered them several
times in the last few messages as we've covered
the nine power gifts of the Holy Spirit. These
are the last two in that series, but like I said
earlier I'll be continuing to talk about in the
future about Holy Spirit Directed healings and
miracles because I believe that's such a vital
part of our life. We cannot earn these gifts
through good works. People sometimes think, well,
if I'm a better Christian or if I help other
people, then maybe God will give me these gifts.
No, we don't earn gifts. We don't go out and
do those things. We, by faith, we operate in
the gifts. By faith, we trust the Holy Spirit
to do what only He can do. The gifts of healings
and miracles come from the Holy Spirit deciding
specifically who should have them and what gifts
that they should have. And I think I've mentioned
in other podcasts, I've been blessed on several
occasions to have the gift of healing, the gift
of miracles, the gifts of great faith and the
gift of discerning of spirits. And they've been
very helpful. They've come in at times when it
was most needed. And 99 % of the time, it has
to do with something in the church, something
that's taking place in the church or a good friend
of mine that I'm praying for or believing for.
So the Holy Spirit, though, doesn't have me operate
every moment of every day in each one of these
gifts, but he brings them to me when there's
a need so then I can be a blessing to those people
that need and just give God all the glory, all
the honor, and all the praise. Now, we don't
have to, listen to this very carefully, we do
not have to receive the power gifts of healing
and miracles in order to see them come forth
through our regular prayers and requests that
we make to the Lord. You don't have to, it doesn't
have to always be a power gift. Some people think,
well it's gotta be this great power gift. No,
it can be as simple as a child. The Bible talks
about the children have great faith. Have you
ever seen a little child of four or five year
old and their mom or daddy's sick? and they want
to go over and lay hands on them put their hands
on their mommy or daddy and say Jesus would you
heal him that's childlike faith and that's the
kind of faith that he wants us to have that little
child believes there's nothing there's no doubt
in their mind they haven't been polluted by the
world to think that there's no reason that won't
happen we need to have childlike faith in order
to believe and if we even have childlike faith
we can see miracles and miracles examined in
the Bible many of them Jesus referred to as a
little faith and great faith and incredible faith
and the Bible talks about great faith with the
Holy Spirit but you know just a small little
bit of faith can bring forth a miracle from God
and a healing for someone in need now let me
describe what each gift is that just the two
miracles and healings and how they are manifested
during this podcast I pray that our faith will
be increased if anyone listening needs a miracle
or healing receive this prayer let's pray Heavenly
Father I pray now that the Holy Spirit would
release faith, greater faith, to those who are
desiring to pray for miracles and healings. And
for those who need a miracle or need a healing,
Father, I call forth that miracle in the name
of Jesus. There's no name like the name of Jesus.
Nothing greater, nothing more powerful, nothing
more. supernatural than the mighty name of Jesus
Christ our Lord and Savior so I pray Lord for
those who need a physical healing that you would
touch their body right now and for anyone listening
in just place your hand upon part of your body
that maybe needs a physical touch maybe with
your back or your foot or your arm or your hand
or your head headaches or whatever it might be
just call it forth now say father as they lay
their hands upon the knee that they have I pray
that you would manifest a miracle healing miracle
in their body that you would make it come to
pass even at this moment as they're being prayed
for I believe for that and I thank you for it
father we expect nothing less than your Perfect
touch your healing touch your miracle touch and
I pray father for those who are been struggling
Maybe some illnesses they've had for many many
many years that they would not give up on the
Apostle Paul had He had thorn in the flesh and
on three different occasions the Bible tells
us that he prayed for those things But the Lord
did not meet that need but God had another plan
for him And I believe the fact that Paul went
on built his faith even though his prayer wasn't
answered for his specific specific need his faith
increased because he had trust in God his confidence
was in God his confidence was not in himself
his own ability and he did not allow him sir
his circumstances to rob him from the blessings
of God so I pray now father blessing what happened
to each and every person and Lord I'm gonna read
in Jesus name and Lord I want to read four scriptures
that I read every single morning when I get up
my little my devotionals and scriptures that
mean a lot to me for healings and for miracles
father I believe Lord that these will bring forth
healings and those who are listening in today.
Father, I thank you for Luke 17, 9, where the
Word of God says your faith has healed you. I
thank you, Lord, for Mark 6, 56, where your Word
tells us, who touched him were healed. I thank
you from Matthew 8 16 where your word says he
healed all the sick and Matthew 4 23 where it
says he healed every kind of disease and illness
father I claim that and I believe that for everyone
listening in either for their need or for the
others needs of others that they love or care
for our friends with whatever might be we believe
for that father and we thank you for it give
you all praise now in Jesus name we pray amen.
Now the Holy Spirit gifts of healing refers to
a supernatural healing without medication or
treatment. Now don't shut me off on that now
because I'm going to talk about that a little
bit more and kind of clarify a little bit. That
does not mean that medication or treatment cannot
be blessed with a miracle or healings. I love
to tell the doctors when I talk to them and they
give me medication and they'll give me some pill
or something for something I'll say, let me ask
you a question doctor, whatever is in this pill
is it anything that God didn't create? And sometimes
they'll look at me like, hmm, I never thought
of that way. But almost every time they'll say,
no, it all had to be here on Earth someplace.
So God created everything that's in there, right?
And so if he did, the man's just now getting
around to understanding what the pill is. So
when you take a pill, that pill has something
in it that God created and that man has just
been used by the Lord to use that medication
to help us. So therefore, I'm really not supporting
drugs and medicine all the time, but I just want
you to know that sometimes when you take medication,
you can get a much greater... reaction, or a
good reaction, a positive reaction of something
great happening in your body. Matter of fact,
in all the eight months that I was taking chemo,
the doctor would tell me, he'd say, okay, now
we're putting this chemo in you. I went every
week for my treatments for eight months when
I was... fighting their diagnosis of multi myeloma
bone marrow cancer and they said we need you're
gonna need to take this for many many months
maybe for many years and it was pretty heavy
stuff and it was trying to beat me up and they
would say this medication you know is is really
attacking your kidney and is attacking your body
and at the time I only had one kidney left because
20 years before that I lost my right kidney to
cancer and I believe due to Asian orange exposure
in Vietnam and then 20 years later here came
multi myeloma bone marrow cancer which was due
to my experience in Vietnam being exposed to
Agent Orange, which by the way, if you know of
a veteran who's fighting those things, I would
encourage you to get them to contact the VA and
try and get help from them. The VA was a huge
blessing to me and they paid for all my chemo
medications for a number of years. Eight months
had gone by and the doctor was telling me, you
know, he says, matter of fact, you're way ahead
of what we thought you'd be at this stage. And
so it was eight months from the time I started
that, that he looked at me and he said, this
is still incurable. There's no cure for it and
it's still in your and I said well I don't accept
that anyways and he says but no it is and he
says and it probably will could take your life
someday he said but and there's no cure for it
he said but you are coming along well so let's
just keep putting more medicine in you so they
went from chemo treatments to pills and I started
taking pills which were chemo pills and I took
those for enough after that now put people might
say well pastor don't you have any faith now
I had no problem taking a pill that was filled
with all the chemicals that God had placed here
on earth and when I would tell the doc and the
nurses that would bring that stuff to me, they
were always blessed by it. And I know that God
received the glory and honor for it. So we can
look at medication, that God can do something
greater in that medication than what the medication
is capable of doing. I saw it in my own life
and I give God all the praise and all the glory
for it. Now healing is a divine manifestation.
The gift of supernatural healing is a divine
manifestation. The gifts of healing can be an
explainable experience. I remember when I was
at the doctor and they were giving me all this
chemo and I said I'm just curious about something
I have one kidney its kidney function is okay
it's not as good as it should be I said is there
any reason that with all this chemo I'm taking
which is attacking my kidney why is my kidney
why am I is my one kidney why is it improving
and functioning stronger and he looked at me
and he said Have no idea I said are you doing
something to give me medication to help my kidney?
He says we're not doing anything to help your
kidney He said for a 70 year old man He said
that should not be happening and he said but
it is and he said there's only one answer for
it And he said it has to be a miracle because
your kidney function is now better than it has
been in the last 10 years of your life So we
give God all the glory and all the praise for
it. Amen. Here's another example of kidney diagnosis
that I had when I was 25 years old. I've had
so many kidney issues in my life and because
of that I'm thoroughly... take advantage of any
opportunity I can to pray for people with kidney
issues. Matter of fact, right now, if you're
facing a kidney issue, maybe it's a functioning
problem, maybe a kidney stone, an infection,
whatever, Father, in the name of Jesus, I call
forth healing in those kidneys. Lord, for anyone
these people may know that's having kidney problems,
whether it be cancer, whatever, because I've
had it all. And Lord, you have touched me in
every situation. And Father, I give you praise
for it, and I speak healing in their bodies,
in Jesus' name. You see when I was 25 years of
age, I had kidney failure. The doctor looked
at me and I was a young man at the time, very
young man at the time, 25 years of age. And it
was a long time ago and they didn't do kidney
transplants very much. And he said, you would
not be able to survive a kidney transplant. You're
not that healthy. Your blood is not in good shape.
And we had just become Christians. We had just
found Jesus as our Lord and Savior. And a few
months later I was diagnosed with incurable kidney
failure. And my kidneys would just simply die.
And I would die. And there was no other thing
else that they could do. Anyways, so we prayed.
So six months later I went back to the doctor.
He looked at me and said, what did you do? I
said, well, we prayed and I drink a lot of water.
He said, well, I like you drinking a lot of water.
But you prayed? I said, yeah, every day. My wife
and I prayed over my kidneys. I even prayed over
the water that it would cleanse and do more than
what the lot of water was intended to do. And
he said, well, it worked. He said, because you
have absolutely no disease whatsoever. Your kidneys
have completely healed. They're restored. They're
normal. You don't need any medication. You don't
need any treatments. And I said, well, to God
be the glory. So I'm just telling you, because
these are the ways that God wants to work. His
ways are greater than our ways. His thoughts
are higher than our thoughts. And because of
that, we've got to trust God in every situation
that we face and believe that we can have a miracle
or a physical healing and that that healing,
Father God, will come from you. Now the gift
of working of miracles are also a supernatural,
divine intervention. It is a display of something
without an intellectual explanation. Of course,
that's what'll, and I'm not down on doctors,
I think they're great. I have some good friends
that are doctors one doctor that I go to now
I've been seeing him for 25 years. We've become
good friends I prayed for his son who played
football I prayed for his family and we've got
to know each other and he's always said call
me if you ever need anything and I have a couple
of times and he's been right there to help in
any way that he could but it's it's not an intellectual
explanation a Working of miracles and so doctors
sometimes have a difficult time with that because
they are doctors of science and that's good,
but both the gifts of healings and working of
miracles work together with the gift of faith
they all kind of come together and work together
for the glory of God and for healing and emotion
whether it be emotional healing would be physical
healing whether it be a miracle someone needs
and a cancer that they've given up hope on there
is no way that God ever gives up on us I know
he doesn't always heal everyone I don't understand
why that is all I know is that when we get to
heaven we'll know the answer then and that's
just good enough for me now but I believe that
I Every time I pray I believe that God's going
to perform a miracle and he's going to do something
that man will be in awe about. Man will be wondering
how it happened and to God be the glory. A miracle
takes authority over sickness and even sin. Recently
you know at one of our men's breakfast meetings
a man experienced a massive coronary or heart
attack. His heart stopped. twice and he was taken
to the hospital. I went and jumped in my car
and drove behind the ambulance to get to the
hospital to be with him. We went to the emergency
room and the doctor came out there and he looked
at me and he said, you know, Pastor, he says
this type of a heart attack almost always takes
the life of the patient. He said when I saw what
it was and the kind of heart attack he had, it's
just unbelievable that he's alive. The doctor
told me it had to be a miracle. And I'm not making
this up. The doctor looked at me and he says
it had to be a miracle that he's alive because
his heart did stop twice and God brought him
back. Now, the heart blockage and all that that
he had in his heart was not healed. So the man
had to have bypass surgery. The bypass surgery
was great. We prayed that the doctor's hands
will be led and guided and directed. We need
to do that. When someone goes for surgery, we
need to pray over the hands of a doctor. I remember
one time I was praying for someone. who was having
hip surgery. And the doctor came in the room
and I said, Doctor, would you mind if I prayed
over your hands that the Lord would bless you?
And he said, Oh, that's wonderful. So he put
his hands out and I just reached over and I put
my hands on his. I just simply put my hands over
top of his. I said, Father, you made these hands.
You created them and you've given this man the
ability to use them in a proper way. I pray now
that his hands will be touched and blessed and
this surgery will go better than he's ever seen
before. And quite frankly, the surgery was incredibly
successful. The doctor even told me, he says,
I thought it was going to be a four, four and
a half hour surgery. And it took me an hour and
a half to complete this surgery that normally
takes four and four and a half hours. So once
again, to God be the glory. Going back to the
guy with the heart attack, the severity of the
blockage should have taken this guy's life, the
man that we had at the men's breakfast. So we
just need to pray for medicine, for doctors,
and that they can work together. And through
that, God will receive all the glory, all the
honor and praise. Now this tells me that miracles
and healings can happen at the same time, but
in many cases the miracle will bring a physical
healing and it might be physical, it might be
mental, it might be spiritual. As a pastor for
over 28 years I've seen the gifts of healings
and miracles bring entire families to receive
Jesus Christ as Lord. I knew a family once. They
were from the the mid -east and they came and
there was a lady in the family who had cancer.
They came to me. I prayed with them. They were
converted Muslims. They came to our church and
got saved and I prayed with them and I had a
little cloth and I said let's take this cloth
and pray over it. I put some anointing oil on
it. Now it's not the cloth. It's not the anointing
oil that healed anything. I said but take it
to her and in faith claim her healing and they
went all the way back. to the Mideast to meet
this family member. They prayed for her and she
was miraculously healed. Now that is just over
the top miracle and healing and faith. These
people started Bible studies. in their little
town. And they had Bible studies underground
because they couldn't let anybody know that they
were seeking advice from Christian pastors and
reading and having Bible studies. And God's power
spread throughout that community that they were
in. Remember, Jesus performed healings and miracles.
After those healings and miracles, many people
followed Jesus. They went after him. Matter of
fact, I'm going to read a scripture to you found
in Matthew, and it's in chapter 4, verses 23
and 25 as I close this part. I'm reading out
of the New Living Translation or paralyzed, he
healed them all. Large crowds followed him wherever
he went. People from Galilee, the Ten Towns,
Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east
of the Jordan River. Look at that. The power
of God in action through miracles and healings.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this podcast.
And I pray that people were blessed. I pray that
they receive something very special today, because
I believe you were here in a very special way.
I ask this in Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Well,
I hope that you enjoyed this podcast on healings
and miracles. and we'll be talking more about
these in upcoming podcasts on the Holy Spirit.
This seems to be something that is really touching
a lot of people because we've seen a large increase
in our downloads all over the country, matter
of fact all over the world. People are downloading
this and I just thank God for it because the
Holy Spirit is doing a very special work and
I pray that you'll receive the blessings that
the Lord wants to give to you and what you need.
So Heavenly Father, I just pray blessings again
on the upcoming podcasts that you guide and direct
us Lord. And I pray Lord that your hand would
be upon everything Father that takes place. Once
again, in Jesus' name I pray, amen. If you'd
like to know more about Quality Christian Living,
that is the overall title of our podcast. You
can go to my webpage at davidcfriendauthor .com
and when you get there, the front page will show
you a link to my podcast. This has been podcast
number 335. So we've had many series that are
10, 15, 20 podcasts on series on finances, on
miracles, on healings, on the gifts of the Spirit.
We've talked about finances. We've even helped
veterans with the challenges that they faith
so you might want to look through all the podcasts
and see something that's of interest to you.
In addition to that if you'd like to subscribe
to my podcast you can do that by going to CBNshows
.com or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
On our next podcast we're going to be taking
up the title or the topic of Holy Spirit led
witnessing. You know when we receive the Holy
Spirit when we become Christians Jesus said that
gives us the powers to be witnesses of him and
I'm going to talk about how the Holy Spirit can
help us so everywhere we go we just feel like
we've got to say something to someone. Bless
you or invite them to church or let them know
that Jesus touched you. I know when I go into
a Starbucks or a coffee shop or something and
I'm standing in line, I like to turn around and
say, this is going very fast, is it? And just
make some comment to get a conversation going.
And they'll say, no. And I said, well, you know,
I'm just glad to be anywhere. And they'll say,
what do you mean? I said, well, years ago, I
was given six months to live with multiple myeloma
bone marrow cancer and Jesus Christ healed me.
And here I am today, all these years later. And
it's interesting, they'll start talking about
a sickness that they have or someone else they
know that needs prayer. And I'll get their name
and say, can I pray for you? Is there anything
that I can pray with you about? And it gives
us that opportunity. We just have to keep our
eyes sensitive and our hearts sensitive to where
the Holy Spirit wants us to share, even if it's
a little thought just a little slight comment
that says God loves you or may the Lord bless
you those types of things can mean a lot to people
and so with that I hope that you will Tune in
for the podcast entitled Holy Spirit led to witnessing.
We're gonna have a lot of things We're gonna
get into it'll be fun and it won't be something
that will over challenge you but it'll be something
that's fun then that will help each and every
one of us to sense the power of the Holy Spirit
in a greater way than we ever have when it comes
to letting other people know that we're Christians
and also where we go to church and that we like
the Bible and all those types of things so I
hope that you'll listen in and let your friends
and family members know about it because I believe
they're a blessing there for them. So I want
to encourage you to continue to stay with us
on this whole series on the Holy Spirit. We will
come back at later dates and talk more about
healings and miracles and some of the other nine
power gifts of the Holy Spirit. You can't just
do one or two in one and cover all the topics
that need to be there. So I just want to thank
you so much for listening in to the Quality Christian
Living podcast. And if you enjoyed this episode,
please take a moment to rate and review the podcast.
Now it really helps us reach more people. you
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to do it to support us we certainly appreciate
you so thank you so much again for listening
in to the quality christian living podcast i
want to pray a blessing over you i pray that
the lord will bless you and keep you may his
face shine upon you may he be gracious to you
and give you peace may you prosper and be in
good health even as your soul prospers. So until
next time, I pray that God will richly bless
you. I pray that you'll operate in the nine gifts
of the Holy Spirit, that you will experience
the gift of great faith and experience the prophetic
world that's out there that's so powerful for
Christians and understand the power in miracles
and great faith and healings and all these things
that the Holy Spirit has that he has. the choice
to decide who he's going to give those to. And
I want to have my hand up and say, Holy Spirit,
I'm over here. And I'd sure like to have that.
Now, like I said earlier, you can't buy it, you
can't pray it in necessarily, but you can certainly
be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and allow him
to fill you with one of these power gifts. Matter
of fact, you're more likely to experience a power
gift of the Holy Spirit if you're praying for
other people. The more you pray for other people,
I believe you get the attention of God. And if
you're praying for the needs of others, get on
prayer group someplace. Be a part of something,
whether it be on a TV program or whether in your
church or just your neighborhood, whatever it
might be, get on that list and get the names
of people who need prayer. When we pray for other
people, it shows that we care. It shows that
God loves them and he's put in our hearts a desire
to reach out to them. And I believe when we do
that, that blesses the Holy Spirit. The Bible
tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. I believe
the Holy Spirit is blessed and is open. to touch
us and bless us if he sees that we're good soil,
that what we're doing is good things that will
bless other people. So I just pray that you'll
receive that little something. There was no extra
charge for that by the way. So thank you once
again for listening to Quality Christian Living.
This has been podcast number 335 entitled Gifts
of Healings and Miracles. You'll find it on Quality
Christian Living. I am your host, David Friend.
Thank you once again for listening in. May God
bless you.