“Pastor, if I’m having faith in God for healing, is it bad to take medicine?”

Let me begin with what Apostle Joshua Selman recently said. He said, “If you are sick, pray. And if the sickness continues after you’ve prayed, go to the hospital”.

Taking medicine isn’t a proof that you lack faith. Rather, it’s God’s failsafe for keeping you well. Whether you use faith or medicine, God wants you to be well at all times. If you took medicine and you were healed, then that was a healing miracle, because it’s not everybody that took medicine that received healing.

Countries with the best medical and Healthcare facilities still lose patients to sickness. And that’s because the only person who is authorized to heal all manner of sickness and diseases is Jesus. Medicine may manage the health condition, but Jesus heals from that health condition. So again, if you took medicine and you were healed, then it’s Jesus who healed you. And don’t tell me that medicine is satanic, because the Satan who will do anything to destroy you can’t possibly invent medicine for health.

God will always deal with us based on the level of faith we have per time. And He does that so that He doesn’t lose us. When Jesus met Blind Barthemaus, He only spoke words that released healing to him, but when He met the man who was born blind, He spat on the ground and made clay which He applied on the blind man’s eye. Afterwards, he told him to go to Siloam and wash off the clay from his eyes. The man came back seeing. That’s actually what we call medicine, a mixture of earth’s natural resources.

Medicine is the word used for any substance which specifically promotes healing. Unlike Blind Barthemaus, the man didn’t have any previous faith to receive healing, so this was Jesus administering medicine as it were.

Be careful though, if you eventually go to the hospital, ensure you do a proper test and get the recommended medication. Also, do not overuse the dosage. Some medicines can have side effects that last indefinitely.

Now that we’ve cleared that, scripturally speaking, believers should not be sick; rather, we should lay our hands on the sick and they should recover. According to James, the subject of administering healing to the sick within the church is something that is handled by old people, the elders. And this tells me that sickness and diseases within the body of Christ is an aberration. It shouldn’t happen, but if it does happen, the sick person should go to the elders to obtain healing. It’s not a serious matter.

Today, we have a lot of sick people in church, and I’m guessing that’s the reason for the review in 3 John 1:2. That scripture says, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth”. At this point, the issue wasn’t about sick Christians going to the elders to receive healing, but about them applying wisdom to live a healthy life.

While healing can easily be administered, the cause of sickness should also be dealt with. God may be able to heal you of sickness, but you’d have to deal with your unhealthy lifestyle by yourself. If you don’t, you’d always need healing, because you’d continue to fall sick. And believe me, those elders will not always be available to pray for you.

This is where many believers also abuse the subject of faith. They’d claim to be having faith for healing, meanwhile their sickness was caused by an unhealthy habit. Instead of them to see a doctor and receive both medication and counsel to stay healthy, they’d tell you they’re having faith. No, that’s not how faith works! You can’t tempt the Lord your God.

Taking medicine is not a sin, but it’s an avoidable weight. I wish many pastors will tell their members that asides the health scriptures they know, they also receive health advice from doctors. If a pastor tells you that he can’t be sick or he has never been sick, don’t just ask him for the scriptures he quotes, also ask him for the fitness advice he knows. How can you be smoking and drinking carelessly, yet you think you won’t be sick? If you got sick by a terrible eating habit, don’t even disturb God for healing, go and see a doctor. Many believers have died because of this ignorance.

Proverbs 24:10 says, “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small”. The word “strenght” here means “faith that was developed by both natural and spiritual intelligence”. So while you take communion to stay healthy, ensure you also do regular physical exercise. If you take communion for health and ignore your physical fitness, you’d still need that communion for healing, that’s a guarantee.

So yes, if you fall sick, pray. But if the sickness continues, go see a doctor. The sickness might be caused by something you may be doing or not doing. If the sickness was caused by a demonic force, then it would have ended with a prayer of faith. But if it lingers, then it’s probably because God wants you to stop a habit that either a doctor or the Holy Spirit will reveal to you.

I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.

Remain ever blessed!

#EmekaAnslem