Lesson 11. Christ the Healer. F. F. Bosworth. A Classic on Divine Healing.
Without divine revelation, I cannot give a person a specific reason why their prayers for the fulfillment of the promises given to them are not answered immediately. However, I can point to the most wonderful truth God has revealed—the most vital of all truths—and it is the only remedy for all our sicknesses.
A delay in receiving an answer, such as healing, is in some sense good news—the Good News that we can have more of the life of God.
In the Greek New Testament, there are four words translated as “life.” One means “way of life,” another means “human life,” and the third means “behavior,” but the Greek word describing the life Jesus brought us—zoe—is translated as “eternal life” and “the life of God.” “Eternal life” is the life of the Eternal One Himself.
The Gospel of John begins with the word zoe. This word is used 130 times in the New Testament. The Gospel of John (10:10) states that a person has the right to an abundance of a new kind of life—the life of God (new, of course, only in terms of human acquisition).
Life That Has Life in Itself
Many ministers today, when speaking about life, place greater emphasis on “way of life” or “behavior” than on “zoe”—the “life of God,” which gives life to everything it touches. Paul prayed for Christians already filled with the Spirit, that they might be filled with “the fullness of God.” This shows us that “zoe” is nothing other than God Himself, and everything we have from “zoe” is an inseparable part of the life of God.
You will be full of faith if you are filled with the kind of life that “believes all things.”
You can be filled with divine love if you are full of the “life of God,” who is Love.
“All things are possible for zoe.” When we have received enough “zoe,” it can fulfill any promise or requirement of the Bible. To fulfill in us everything that the Bible commands or promises—that was precisely the purpose of the life of God. Having received enough “life of God” within us, we can be more than conquerors in spirit, soul, and body. God wants to accomplish in us everything He accomplished for us in Christ.
When received in sufficient measure, “zoe” can transform us “from glory to glory, into the image of Jesus Christ.” It turns faith into knowledge. It is the source of all divine grace. It gives us the wisdom of God. It conquers “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” It accomplishes in us everything that pleases Him.
By filling us with His life, God Himself becomes our life, our peace, our righteousness, our purity, our strength, our health, the Keeper of our soul, spirit, and body, our zeal, our joy, our faith, our Guide, our Teacher, our satisfaction, and everything “that pertains to life and godliness.”
God’s blessings are part of Him
By filling us more and more with His life, God desires to manifest Himself in us through every spiritual blessing He has promised. This is the miracle and genius of Christianity. Romans 5:10 says that we “shall be saved by His life.” This is true both of the soul and of the body.
It is impossible to fulfill the purpose God has set for our prayer life without being filled with this Life, which lives forever to intercede before Him. In other words, when zoe inspires our prayers, we can ask for whatever we desire and receive it. Zoe—“the Life of God”—is the Healer of our souls and bodies. Divine healing, divine life, divine power—all of this is Christ Himself, “manifested in our mortal flesh.” The fullness of this new life is better than the healing it brings. David said, “The Lord is my portion,” “The Lord is my strength,” and so on. His blessings were God Himself, manifesting Himself in various forms. God gives us every spiritual blessing by giving us Himself. Our blessings are part of God.
Jesus said, “I am the Vine, and you are the branches.” The life of the branches is part of the life of the Vine. It is Christ’s will that all the branches be full of His life. When we are filled with zoe, we become one with God, just as a bay is one with the ocean. Paul says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” That is, His Spirit and our spirit are joined as one. This truth gives us the answer to our question: “Why am I not healed?”
I have heard Christians explain why they wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It seems to me that no Christian in the world would stop praying to be filled with the Holy Spirit until receiving the full result if they knew the reasons why He wants to fill them with Himself. One reason is that He wants nothing to hinder His wonderful work of continually reviving our spirit, soul, and body. In John 6:63, Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life.” In Romans, He is referred to as the “Spirit of Life.” Our entire life depends on the direct work of the Holy Spirit. His work also consists in continually imparting to us the very life of Jesus, who is the true Source of life, both for the souls and bodies of God’s children. When we are not FILLED with His Spirit—and this is a condition of His perfect work—His work of reviving and multiplying divine life in our spirit, soul, and body is limited or encounters obstacles along the way.
Jesus said that He came so that we might have not merely life, but life abundantly. We cannot have His life to the extent He desires unless we are filled with the Spirit. The abiding in the Spirit that Christ commanded us to maintain keeps us filled with the Spirit, thereby removing every obstacle to the continual revival of the Spirit. In Psalm 119, David used the word “revive” eleven times. He knew that the fullness of life is the only remedy for every disease. It is good to know what you are praying for. David desired revival—more life—life raised to the second power. Therefore, he sought the blessing that is the root of all the others. He prayed: “Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, O Lord” (v. 159). We never need to fear what mercy can produce. There is nothing better that love and mercy can do for us: give us life abundantly.
According to Your Word
In verse 25 of Psalm 119, David prays: “Revive me according to Your word.” Thank God, we can all pray in faith and receive an answer every day to this inspired prayer: “Revive me according to Your Word.” Notice that revival takes place, as David said, “according to the Word.” The Holy Spirit inspired the Word of God, and it is His own blueprint, according to which He works, carrying out the great work of revival. Thus, to be revived according to the Word of God means to be filled with His life throughout our entire being: spirit, soul, and body.
God made Christ the treasure house of all that He Himself is. In Him is all fullness, and we can be filled with all that the Vine contains. A living branch not only has life, but is FULL of life at all times. It is through the fullness of the Spirit and the subsequent unhindered revival that we are “preserved,” as Paul says, “in spirit, soul, and body.” Paul says that the Spirit will ALSO give life to your mortal bodies, and in 2 Corinthians 4:11 we find these words: “That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” If you need healing from Christ, expect the Spirit of God, and He will revive you so that the promise of Mark 11:24 may be fulfilled. This is what the divine Life-Giver wants to do for you.
Let us pray every day: “Revive me (give me more life) ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD,” that is, in accordance with the revelations we find in the Bible, which show us what God wants us to be. Whenever you discover God’s requirements in the Bible, rejoice and be inspired, because it is the work of the Spirit—not yours—to revive you to that degree. Let this prayer be your first prayer every day, because the fullness of life is the condition for a thousand other blessings. This is God’s way of fulfilling in you everything that pleases His goodness. The Holy Spirit wants to revive us so that everything the Word says about us may be fulfilled.
In verse 50 of this psalm, David says: “Your word has revived me.” The Holy Spirit revives us according to how much we trust His Word—every promise or commandment that we find from time to time in His Word. This revival, as Paul says, will be “from glory to glory.” God’s words are spirit and life, intended to fulfill what they say. When we pray to be revived “according to His Word,” we know that we are praying according to His will and can therefore receive an answer. “According to His Word” means according to His promises and according to His commandments. The more the Word requires, the better, because our revival will be greater. Is it not a glorious privilege that whenever we have a need, we can pray to the Giver of life: “Revive me,” give me more life? We need revival every day. While on earth, Jesus said: “Come to Me and drink,” and from heaven He still says what He said in the last book of the Bible: “Let the one who is thirsty come and take the water of life freely.” He wants to be an inexhaustible source of life in us, flowing from us as “rivers of living water.”
Author: F. F. Bosworth
