Andrew said:
That's like saying how can preachers preach about heaven and the 2nd coming when they havent even experienced it.
No, it's not. If a Christian were to die, they would go to Heaven whether they just became one, or whether they'd been one for all their life. The gift is immediate for those who ask.
With sickness, these teachers, and many others ask, but rarely is it immediate.
God is gracious and meets us at the level of faith we have. If A has faith that he will be healed via medicine or an op, then God will meet him at his level of faith. eg Does God expect you to have great faith for evangelising, telling you that you must evangelise as Paul did or it's not counted? No, start where you are, with the measure of faith you have.
When God told someone to lead/teach, He went with them, showing them where to go and what to say. Simply consider Moses when he told God he wasn't good at speaking.
If we're sick, and ask for healing that God "promises" than we should expect that healing immediately.
Study Hebrews 12. God chastises (Greek- child-trains) using his Word to our spirit, not with sicknesses or accidents. Do you child-train your kids with cancer or break their legs to stop them from running around too much? Then why accuse your Father of that?
Who says it's God's will for me to be sick? Who says it isn't? We do not know God's will. Our bodies are temples and so we do our best to take care of them, which is why we go to doctors (Luke was a doctor), but if it is indeed God's will for us to pass then we will pass, and our will be darned. God is sovereign and his ways our higher than ours and his plans and purposes unknown to us. His plans rule, not ours.
Why don't all of you faith-possesser's pray for Billy's Parkinson's to go away? Even if he doesn't get-it yet, you do so you can give the guy a hand so he can stick around longer and do God's work.
It's too bad for us, really. And God. Billy's done so much for the Kingdom, but he's sick and old and he's going to pass away soon. If he could pray correctly he'd last longer, and that's apparently God's will, for him not to be sick. It's too bad God can't heal Billy without Billy's help. He needs Billy to properly ask for the healing in faith; once he does that He can heal him so the crusades can continue.
Too bad for Jeremy Camp and his wife - if only they'd have watched more TBN they wouldn't have had to experience her death by cancer.
What a whimpy God this is... sure, he's omnipotent, but He really can't do anything down here for us unless we properly ask him first. He WANTS to heal us. It's HIS WILL to heal. But he's bound by our ignorance. He just can't get the job done without our help. What a weak God. I thought he was supposed to be, like, you know... God. His will means nothing without our will and our faith thrown in... sad for him.
Of course no one wants their child to experience pain. But we also want our children to grow up. And any parent of an adult will tell you that eventually you have to let them make their mistakes. As a parent you WANT them to be good, healthy, well-rounded people, but if you consistantly try and control their lives and protect them from the outside world they will never become that. They have to make choices for themselves, and sometimes those choices will bring consequences that are hard. Hopefully you've raised them in a way that they can learn the right things.
That's what free will is about. God loves us. He loves us so much he sent his son to die for us. But we have free will, and we live in a sinful, fallen world. Everyone has free will, even those who are evil. So that means that sometimes we Christians are going to suffer. Sometimes the unjust and sinful will be rewarded. Sometimes the righteous will be poor. The promise we hold onto is that we will spend all eternity with our Savior, and it is THERE that we will be rewarded.