Pathway to Victory

David J. Mullins: Hey, podcast listeners. Thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word through the most effective media available, like this podcast. To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes. Now, here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Dr. Robert Jeffress: Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Dr. Robert Jeffress: Why don't we pray for healing? Well, that's what we're going to talk about today. Why we should pray for healing and how we pray for healing as we continue our series Divine Invasions, experiencing miracles in your life today.

David J. Mullins: Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. When sickness comes, most of us know exactly what to do first. We call the doctor, we fill the prescription, and that's good and wise, but is that all God asks of us? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress explains how the Bible says to respond when illness strikes. But first, let's take a moment to hear some important ministry updates.

Dr. Robert Jeffress: Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Few subjects stir up more confusion than divine healing, and it's easy to see why. Scroll through the internet and you'll find someone who's boldly claiming to offer a healing touch. It's so confusing, and people don't know what to believe. Does God still do miraculous healings anymore, or was that only for the pages of the Bible? It's a common question, and most Christians quietly believe divine healing doesn't happen any longer. And so, when illness strikes, we don't know how to pray. Many teachers avoid the topic of miracles of healing altogether.

They're afraid of the sensationalism that surrounds it, but avoiding it has left too many believers confused and without hope. That's why I wrote my brand new book Divine Invasions, Experience God's Miracles in Your Life Today. I'd be pleased to send you a hard cover copy while there's still time. When we receive your generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. More details about my book later. And heads up. At the end of the program, I'm going to answer a pressing question from one of our listeners, and it might be your question, too. Do miracles still happen today?

So, be sure to stick around until the very end. But right now, let's open our Bibles to hear what God teaches about today's subject, Miracles of Healing. The Bible says there are two sets of principles we need to understand. One set of principles I call preventative principles. They're what we're to do to stay well. And then there are prescriptive principles of what we should do when we get sick. What we do to stay well, and secondly, what we do when we become sick. Let's look at those preventative principles. First of all, they are all found in the life of Jesus Christ.

Four principles. Number one, when Jesus was hungry, he ate. Food is not a sin in the right proportion. It's not a sin, it's a necessity. And Jesus ate in Mark chapter 11, remember? He was hungry. What did he do? He wanted a fig. He went to the fig tree. In Luke 24:41, remember when Jesus was in his resurrected body on the road to Emmaus, and he sat down to fellowship with his disciples, they wanted to get into the theological discussion. He said, we'll get to that in a moment. I'm hungry. Do you have something to eat?

Secondly, when Jesus was thirsty, he drank. Bible says he had the cup at the Last Supper, Matthew 26. Thirdly, when Jesus was tired, he slept. He needed sleep. We do, too. Remember in Luke chapter 8 when he was in the boat going over to the other side of the lake, he fell asleep because of the rocking of the ship. And finally, when Jesus was under pressure, he retreated. He had times when he got away from his ministry and his work. He spent time with his heavenly father alone. He recharged himself physically, emotionally, spiritually. He stopped working.

Jesus observed the Sabbath, and not because it did something for God, because it did something for him. The Sabbath, one day that you don't work was God's gift to mankind. It wasn't for God's benefit, it's for ours. You know, God spent six days creating the universe that we know. It says on the seventh day, he rested. Why? Not because he was worn out. Oh, this creation stuff just wears me out. I need to take a break. I wasn't God. God doesn't get tired, but he was trying to teach us an important principle. We're to work six days, but take one day off a week.

And when Jesus was under pressure, he retreated. Those are the preventative principles for maintaining your health. But there are also prescriptive principles. You can do all of those things, yet you're going to get sick. Now, when we talk about illness, we need to understand there are three categories of illness in the Bible. First of all, there is sickness that leads to death. Some sickness serves the purpose of causing us to die. You say that sounds strange. Well, think about it. If we didn't get sick, we would never die. If we never died, we would never get to exchange these old bodies for a new body.

Sickness is sometimes the way that God brings about our new bodies. In John 11:4, Jesus was talking about Lazarus. You know, he was sick, he died, but Jesus said in John 11:4, this sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the son of God might be glorified. In other words, he said to Lazarus' sisters, I know he's sick, but this is not a sickness unto death. There's another reason Lazarus is sick, so that I can heal him and God can get the glory. But there is some sickness that leads to death.

Now, this is the reason I don't get real excited about testimonies of healing because as wonderful as those testimonies are, even what I experienced with my arm, the fact is one day we are going to get sick and we are going to die. How many of you remember the date, October the 3rd, 1995? Probably you don't remember what happened that day. I'll never forget what happened today. O.J. Simpson was acquitted for murdering his wife. I remember that. Remember the experience he'd gone through this long trial and they were ready to announce the verdict. Everybody in the world was huddled around the television set to see if O.J.

was guilty or innocent. That day, at that very time, I was huddled around my telephone awaiting a call from my doctor. A dermatologist in the town where I ministered had seen something on my face on television. He said, Robert needs to get that biopsy. So, I went and had it biopsied. He said, I'll call you the next day with the results. So, while O.J. was awaiting his verdict, I was awaiting mine. Remember that expression on O.J.'s face when they said not guilty? I mean, he was so excited, high fiving. That was nothing compared to my excitement.

I was dancing around the room when I got the word benign. I was filled with excitement for exactly 30 seconds. Because after 30 seconds, it finally hit me. I got a good phone call today, but one day I'm going to get a phone call that's not good. One day, unless, you know, I get smashed up on the tow way, I'm going to find out that I've got a case that's incurable of something. And that's why we shouldn't put too much stock in physical healing. Healing that we experience is temporary until we experience our ultimate healing, our new body.

Some sickness is sickness that is unto death. There is some sickness, secondly, that is the result of personal sin. Yes, sometimes sin is responsible for our sickness. Whether you're talking about gluttony or addictions or lack of exercise, we're responsible for some of our sickness. Sometimes it's rebellion against God. Remember God struck Miriam, the sister of Moses, with illness because of her disobedience. And thirdly, there is sickness that is for the glory of God. Sometimes we get sick so that God can be glorified. Sometimes he might be glorified through our healing from sickness. Remember the story in John 9 of the man who was born blind.

He was blind from birth, and Jesus and his disciples were walking by this man, and the disciples said, Lord, who is it that caused this man's blindness? Was it his sin or was it his parents? And remember what Jesus said? He said neither. It wasn't because this man sinned or his parents sinned, it's that God might be glorified and Jesus healed him of his blindness to demonstrate he was the Messiah. Think about it. This man had spent years, decades blind for one reason, that God might be glorified. Sometimes God is glorified through our healing. Most of the time it's not through our healing, it's our lack of healing that glorifies God.

As God is able to show himself strong in our lives in spite of our illness. Joni Eareckson Tada, a great friend of ours of this church. She spent more than six decades in a wheelchair. When she was 17, she suffered that diving accident in the Chesapeake Bay. She became a quadriplegic, 60 plus years in a wheelchair. Listen to what Johnny has said about that experience. She said, does God miraculously heal? Sure he does. But in this broken world, it's the exception and not the rule. A no answer to my request for a miraculous physical healing has resulted in purged sin, a love for the lost, increased compassion, stretched hope, an appetite for grace, an increase of faith, a happy longing for heaven, a desire to serve, a delight in prayer, and a hunger for God's word.

Oh, bless the stern school master that is my wheelchair. What a powerful testimony. So, understanding the categories of illness, what should we do when we're sick? I want to suggest three action steps when you face illness, and they all come from the book of James in the New Testament. Remember what those action steps are. Three things we're to do when we're ill. First, the Bible says when you are sick, go to the doctor. When you are sick, go to the doctor. You say, where do you find that in the Bible? Thanks for asking. James 5:14, is there any among you sick?

Then he must call for the elders of the church. Those are the spiritual leaders, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. There it is. Why oil? Oil was a medicinal agent in the first century. Remember the good Samaritan when he found the man who had been ambushed by the bandits, and they left him for dead there. What did the good Samaritan do? He ministered to the man right there using oil. It was a medicinal agent there. Not only that, but think about Isaiah 38. Remember the story of Hezekiah.

He was the king, and God said, get your house in order, you're going to die. And Hezekiah cried out to the Lord for healing, for a lengthening of his days. And God granted him his request. He gave him 15 more years of living. But how did he do it? He could have done it just instantaneously. Poof, 15 more years. But verse 21 says God told Isaiah to tell the man, let them take a cake of figs and apply it to Hezekiah's boil that he may recover. Yes, God ordained the healing for Hezekiah, but he did it through medicine.

He did it through doctors. Matthew 9:12, Jesus said, it is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. In other words, people who are sick need a doctor. God works through doctors. God works through medicine. I thank God for the godly doctors we have in our church right now. That's how God heals sometimes through doctors. When you're sick, go to the doctors. Also, when you are sick, pray. Notice that I didn't say number two, when you are sick, pray. I said also pray. It not one or the other, it's both.

Seek the best physical care you can get and pray. That's what James said, having anointed them with oil, let them pray. And verse 15 says, and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Now, I know this verse sounds like it is an absolute 100% guarantee that God would heal everybody who asks. We know from other scripture that's not the case. We know that there is nothing that we can ask God for with absolute certainty that he will answer the request except one question, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

That's the one prayer request that God will always answer. But there is no blanket guarantee in the Bible that God will give you everything you ask for. But that shouldn't keep us from asking. In 1 John 5:14, John says, and this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. God's will is like a protective fence around our life. It's a fence God has built not to keep good things from coming into our life, but to keep bad things from coming into our life. To pray in faith when it comes to illness means to boldly ask God for what is in your heart, your healing, the healing of a friend, a family member.

Boldly ask and then quietly rest in his answer. Just as Jesus did in Gethsemane, Father, if you are willing, let this experience of the cross pass from me, and yet not my will, but your will be done. When you are sick, you are to pray. Also, when you are sick, seek to glorify God. Seek to glorify God. You know, glorify is one of those words we throw around in church language all the time. Use it without understanding what it means. What does it mean to glorify God? It means to make God look good. It means to enlarge God in the eyes of other people.

It means to point people to God. Did you know that is the whole reason you and I were created and placed here on earth to glorify God, to point people to God? If you're a recovering Presbyterian, you probably remember the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Remember the question? What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever. That's the whole reason we are here. And that's why we ought to pray that our illness in some way might glorify God. Remember Paul's experience? Paul had some kind of spiritual affliction. We don't know what it is.

I think there's a reason for that. I think Paul knew that if he named his, we would some of us would tend to say, well, that may be bad, but you ain't seen what I've got. So, Paul doesn't answer what his affliction is, but he begged God to remove it. And look at his experience, 2 Corinthians verses 9 and 10. And God said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfective in weakness. Three times he asked God to remove it. God said no, my power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can dwell in me.

Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. When we are strong, nobody sees God in us. They just see us. But when we are weak, when we are without healing, when we are desperate for God, that's when people see the power of God in our lives, not in our strength, in our weakness. Now, think about it. God's power is not best seen in a healing from illness. God's power is best demonstrated through God sustaining through the illness.

And the same is true for many of us. For when I am weak, then am I strong. And that's a miracle. I want us to bow together for just a moment. We're going to do something different today. I'm going to ask you to quietly with your heads bowed stand if you would wherever you are. For some of you here today, maybe you're not yet a Christian. If you want to experience salvation from the penalty of sin, to know you've been forgiven by God, if you want power over sin in your life right now, if you want the promise of a new body and the removal of sin's presence in your life one day, the most important decision you could make if you're not a Christian is to trust in Christ as your savior, to believe that he hung on the cross for you.

He suffered the punishment that you and I deserve. And today if you'd like to receive God's gift of forgiveness, I'd like you to bow your head, all of us, and pray this simple prayer with me. Dear God, thank you for loving me. I know I have failed you in so many ways, and I'm truly sorry for the sins in my life. But I believe what I've heard today, that you loved me so much. You sent Jesus to die for me, to take the punishment I deserved to take for my sins. And right now, I'm trusting in what Jesus did for me, not in my good works, but in what Jesus did for me to save me from my sins.

Thank you for forgiving me and help me to live the rest of my life for you in Jesus' name. Amen. Do you realize what's happening at this very moment? All across the country, people are bowing their heads and turning their lives over to Jesus Christ. And friend, that is what Pathway to Victory is all about. And God is doing something else through today's message on Miracles of Healing. He's giving us a clearer picture of just how much he loves us and the many ways he still intervenes in our lives. I've gathered all of this teaching into my brand new book Divine Invasions, Experience God's Miracles in Your Life Today.

If you long to see God's hand in your circumstances, this book will open your eyes to a God who is still in the miracle business. A hard cover copy of my book is yours. When you support the ministry of Pathway to Victory with a generous gift. Oh, and don't go away because there's a special feature coming up at the very end of today's program called Ask Dr. Jeffress. I'll answer a listener's question. Do miracles still happen today? You already know my answer is yes. I believe they do. And I'll share what that means for you if you're praying for a miracle right now.

But first, please know that your generous support of Pathway to Victory allows us to bring clarity where there's confusion. You see some of the people we're reaching have grown cynical, and they've stopped expecting anything from God at all. Well, when you give to Pathway to Victory, you help me speak to that cynicism with biblical truth. God is still performing real miracles in his time and on his terms. Thank you for partnering with us. Here's David to tell you more.

David J. Mullins: You're invited to request a hard cover copy of Dr. Jeffress' brand new book Divine Invasions when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Just call 866-999-2965. You could visit ptv.org or text PTV to 78800. And when your gift is $100 or more, we'll also send you in addition to the book this month's teaching series on audio and video disc along with the companion study guide. To request these resources, call 866-999-2965 or make your request online at ptv.org. You could send your donation by mail right to PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

That's PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. And now it's time for a special edition of Ask Dr. Jeffress. Dr. Jeffress stopped by the studio recently to answer a question from one of our listeners. Do miracles still happen today?

Dr. Robert Jeffress: You know, there are two basic views of miracles. I grew up in one tradition and studied in seminary in one tradition that basically said miracles have stopped. They stopped with the biblical age and the writing of the Bible. We call that view cessationism, the idea that miracles have ceased. And the other extreme is continuationism, the idea that miracles occur today just like they did in biblical times. I would say I'm somewhere in the middle. I mean, I do believe that some of the miracles that were performed in the first century had a unique purpose, and that was to authenticate the apostleship, the authority of the one performing the miracles.

Jesus gave the disciples the power to work miracles, to heal, to raise people from the dead. The reason they needed to be able to do that was to prove that when they shared the gospel of Jesus Christ, they were sharing truth from God. God was authenticating their authority by giving them this power. And I think that was a very real need then. People didn't have a scripture by which to judge an apostle's message. He had to trust in some sign that authenticated that this person was speaking for God. Today we don't have a need for that.

And so, I understand why some say that miracles have stopped, but that's cessationism. They have stopped. The other view, continuationism, is that miracles continue today just like always. I happen to believe that God does perform miracles today. I think the difference between now and biblical times is today God no longer uses a middle man. He no longer needs you to be a healer or me to be a healer. He can heal without our intervention. And you know, my former pastor here at First Baptist Dallas, Dr. Criswell used to say, I believe in faith healing. I just don't believe in faith healers.

So, I would encourage those watching, don't give up on miracles, but you can go directly to God. You don't have to go to a pastor, to a faith healer, to anybody else. You can go to God directly. And by the way, in this series Divine Invasions, I talk about miracles of healing and that why one intermediary God often uses is doctors. Going to the doctor is not a sign of a lack of faith. God can use doctors to bring healing into our life.

Guest (Male): And like you, pastor, I also believe that miracles still exist today. But what would you say to someone who's maybe praying for a miracle to happen and it never does or doesn't happen yet?

Dr. Robert Jeffress: Sometimes God says no to our miracles. Sometimes God says wait. And one of the things about miracles is that eventually, not immediately, but eventually they will come into our life. There's a time coming when every desire we've ever had will be fulfilled. Revelation 21:4 talks about that, for on that day God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there no longer be any death or mourning or crying or pain, for the first things will have passed away.

David J. Mullins: Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. I'm David J. Mullins. Wishing you a great weekend. Then join us again next week when our series Divine Invasions continues right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. The apostle Paul sailed these waters, walked these streets, and the church was never the same.

Dr. Robert Jeffress: I'm inviting you to follow in Paul's footsteps on the Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Cruise through the stunning Greek islands into ancient Ephesus and many other destinations as well. This is purposeful travel at its finest.

David J. Mullins: Set sail May 14, 2027. Call 888-280-6747 or visit ptv.org. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in his word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org/donate or you can follow the link in our show notes.

We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Oh, and one last thing before we go, don't forget to reserve your spot on the 2027 Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. Now, you've heard me and Dr. Jeffress talk about this Bible conference at sea and cabins. Well, they're going quickly. Just picture yourself aboard the beautiful Celebrity Infinity sailing round trip from Athens. Now, each day you'll gather for biblical teaching, worship, and fellowship, and then you'll step ashore to stand where Paul stood in Ephesus and walk the streets of Thessaloniki where his letters still speak to the church today.

Nine unforgettable nights with more biblical destinations along the way. Every meal prepared, every detail taken care of, plus the joy of traveling with like-minded believers. There's also an optional pre-cruise extension in Athens. To book your spot, go to ptv.org.