Three Sick People
20 Erastus remained at Corinth, but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus. (2 Tim. 4:20, emphasis mine)
25 But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need; 26 because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. 27 For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you. 29 Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard; 30 because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me. (Phil. 2:25-30, emphasis mine)
23 No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. (2 Tim. 5:23, emphasis mine)
It is incredible that many believers I encourage to believe God for healing will bring up one of the three verses above as a reason they should not expect to be healed. They may not even remember Trophimus or Epaphroditus, though many remember Timothy. They will say, “Didn’t Paul leave someone sick somewhere?”
They decide to pass by hundreds of scriptures about healing and zero in on these three examples. You may have heard others mention these verses, or you may believe them yourself when thinking about the healing power of Jesus Christ.
Reasons People Are Not Healed
It is good to recognize that there are reasons why some people are not healed. For example, Jesus could not heal many in His hometown because of their unbelief. It had nothing to do with Jesus or His ability to heal. It had everything to do with their rejection of Jesus and their refusal to come to Him in faith.
We also know that sin can bring sickness into a person’s life. Jesus told the paralytic who was lowered into the house that his sins were forgiven, and then He told him to pick up his bed and walk. Jesus also told the man healed by the pool of Bethsaida to go and sin no more unless something worse occurs. Many believers in Corinth were weak and sick, and some even died because they brought judgment upon themselves by taking the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner. (1 Cor. 11:29-30)
We Need More information
One problem with the three examples is that we have very little information about their sickness. For instance, we know that Epaphroditus was sick to the point of death and that he was sufficiently healed to travel home. We have no idea how long he was sick. We have no idea how long it took for him to recover.
The information concerning Trophimus is even more limited. All we know is that Paul left him sick in Miletus. We are not informed of the sickness or its length. We just know Paul had to leave, and Trophimus was still sick when he left.
A Healing in India
This reminds me of a personal story from India. We were on a mission trip, evangelizing in village after village. We would sing a few songs, gather a crowd, preach the Gospel, give people an opportunity to accept Christ, and invite people to the evening outdoor meeting.
I was approached by a villager who signaled us to follow them. An interpreter told me they wanted prayer for a relative who was very sick and at the point of death. When we arrived at her home, we saw a woman lying in a coma on a bed in front of the house. Her eyes had a thick film about a quarter-inch thick covering both eyes. You could barely detect her breathing. She was unresponsive when I talked to her.
Our team laid hands on her and began to pray for her healing. Nothing happened. After a few minutes of prayer, we had to leave for the next village. We left her in the same condition as when we came.
On returning to India the following year, a pastor rushed up to me excitedly, asking if I remembered the woman we had prayed for the year prior. “Of course”, I said. “Who could forget praying for someone so sick and at the point of death?”
He said, “After we left, the Lord healed her. She got up off her cot, which impacted the whole village. The elders were so excited about the healing that they gave us land in the village to build a church.”
This story shows how prayer works even after we leave a person lying on their sickbed. I would never have known she was healed if the pastor had not shared this woman’s story. She wasn’t instantly healed before our eyes, yet she was healed.
Some people believe healing the sick must have these characteristics:
- The person praying can heal anyone whenever they desire or at will.
- The healing will be instantaneous
- The healing will be 100%
Healing at Will
Some teach that when a person has the authority to heal, everyone they pray for will be healed. They also claim that the one praying can do so at will, which means they control the healing. This kind of thinking does not line up with Scripture. Just look at the following Scriptures. The bold words are my emphasis in each verse.
“Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?...16 And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all. (Acts 3:14, 16)
29 And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, 30 while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” (Acts 4:29-30)
3 Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands.
11 God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. (Acts 19:11-12)
20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed. (Mark 16:20)
7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (1 Cor. 12:7)
4 God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. (Heb 2:4)
Look again at the bold words (my emphasis) in the verses above. They clearly show that the apostles did not heal people by their power or piety. God healed the people through them. No believer, not even the apostles, can heal a person at will. All are dependent upon God to bring healing in the name of Jesus.
Healing comes when God extends His hand, grants healing, performs extraordinary miracles, works with those proclaiming the kingdom, and gives gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His will. All healing is initiated by God, sourced out of God, and released through the people of God.
What is even more amazing is that the same thing is revealed about Jesus's miracles. This is what the Bible says.
22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know. (Acts 2:22)
In the Word, Jesus also said multiple times that He did not come to do His own will but did what He heard and saw the Father doing. God was the one performing miracles through Jesus.
Healing Must be Instantaneous
Those who claim the apostles' healing power was fading away seem to believe that all healing must be instantaneous. They use the stories of Trophimus, Epaphroditus, and Timothy as proof that the power to heal was lessening before it totally ended.
I don't know where this thought comes from. I am not aware of anything in Scripture that makes that claim. The idea is that if you pray one prayer, the person must be healed.
I am aware of one time when Jesus had to pray twice for a person to be healed. The story is found in Mark chapter 8.
22 And they *came to Bethsaida. And they *brought a blind man to Jesus and *implored Him to touch him. 23 Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.” 25 Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. (Mark 8:22-25)
Even Jesus prayed twice before this man was healed. Why do we put requirements upon praying for the sick that the Bible does not proclaim? All this does is make the requirements for healing much higher than revealed in the word of God. This brings us to the third misunderstanding.
All Healing Must Instantly be 100%
A few examples of how people received healing should show that not all healing is instantaneous. While praying for the sick in Brazil, a man came to me with severe shoulder pain. He said it was a level-ten pain. I laid my hand on his shoulder, and he said, “It’s done.” I hadn’t even prayed for him. He said the moment I touched him, he was instantly healed. Wahoo!
I prayed with a man visiting our church. He showed me the scars on his forearms from the carpal tunnel surgery he had. The only problem was it did not work. His hands were numb. He could only bend his fingers a couple of inches and could not close his hands to make a fist.
I prayed for him, and he looked with amazement at his hands. He repeatedly opened and closed his fist, saying, “I can’t do this. I can’t do this.” When I asked him how everything was going, he said everything was healed except for all the numbness in a small part of one hand.
There are many times when I pray and ask the person if they sense any change from the prayer they just received. They will tell me their pain went from 8 to 4. This is wonderful, but it is not complete, instantaneous healing. When this happens, I know God is moving, and I pray for them again and ask how they are doing. Many times, the pain is gone. I had to pray more than once for the healing to take place.
Sometimes, a person receives partial healing, but the healing does not fully manifest in their body for minutes, hours, or even days. God begins the healing and accomplishes it over time.
God/Jesus/Holy Spirit is our Healer
Have you looked at Trophimus, Epaphorditus, or Timothy as a reason not to expect to be healed? If so, I encourage you to look to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three are involved in the healing process. Start reading the hundreds of Scriptures that point to the God who heals and balance them against the three passages that speak of those who were not immediately healed.
I know this: if you believe God will not heal you because one of these three people was not healed, you will not be healed. It takes faith to be healed. I want to challenge you to look through the Scriptures to see what they say about healing. Start with the passages in this post while looking to the Lord as your healer.
I realize that not everyone is healed when they receive prayer. I am writing this while recovering from a hernia surgery. I prayed almost daily for healing, and I was not healed. I decided to get surgery to fix the tear in my abdomen. The Lord has healed me many times, and in the forty-five years I have followed Him, I have no idea why I was not healed this time.
I will never stop believing and praying for healing. Jesus Christ is our healer. He has proclaimed it in His Word and demonstrated it while He walked upon the earth. He empowered His disciples to heal the sick and all who believe in Him.
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved; but the one who has not believed will be condemned. 17 These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18)