Healing is not a side subject in the life of the church. It is part of the way Jesus revealed the heart of God and part of the way the kingdom of God was demonstrated in the world. When I begin teaching on healing, I want to do two things: lay a sound foundation and allow the Holy Spirit to remove foundations that are not biblical.
The Church Should Represent Jesus
People have many ideas about what the church should look like.
Some imagine a stadium filled with thousands of people; others imagine a small group gathered around a coffee table. Some prefer organs, others electric guitars. Those questions can be discussed, but they are not the central question. The church should look like Jesus. It should represent Jesus—to re-present Him to our generation. The danger is that we can present an altered Jesus.
Over time, the church can describe a Jesus who is unlike the Jesus revealed in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Yet Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
If Jesus healed the sick in the Gospels, He has not changed into someone who is unwilling to heal today. If He opened blind eyes, His character has not altered. T. L. Osborne used to say that we should come as people came to Jesus, do what they did, believe as they believed, trust as they trusted, and act as they acted. Then, he said, we will get what they got—because Jesus is the same. That is not an invitation to imitate a technique.
It is an invitation to return to the biblical picture of Christ.
Rooting Out a Poor Foundation
Jeremiah 1 gives us a helpful picture of how God deals with foundations. The Lord called Jeremiah, put His words in his mouth, and appointed him “to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”
Notice the order. Four actions concern removing what is wrong, while two concern building what is right. The Lord also asked Jeremiah, “What do you see?” Jeremiah answered that he saw the branch of an almond tree. The Lord replied, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.”
God watches over His Word.
Our responsibility is not to protect every idea we have inherited. Our responsibility is to see clearly, receive the Word, and allow God to remove whatever contradicts it. Many people begin the Christian life with virtually no foundation concerning healing. Then they absorb ideas by osmosis. Someone says, “God has a plan,” or, “Perhaps He is teaching patience,” or, “God always answers, but sometimes the answer is no.” Those statements may sound wise, but repetition does not make them Scripture.
A phrase can become familiar while still giving us a poor foundation. A poor foundation may appear adequate while no weight is placed upon it.
The crisis comes when a person receives a serious diagnosis or must stand with someone they love. Then the ideas they have repeated are tested. If their peace rests on a mistaken understanding of God, the structure collapses under pressure.
What Happens When Faith Is Tested
I have seen people say that they believe God can heal.
It does not require much faith to believe that God possesses power. The deeper question is what we believe about His will, His character, and the way we receive what He has provided. Sometimes a church responds to sickness by praying, pleading, and asking God to be kind enough to act this time. I am not mocking people who are hurting. I am saying that compassion must be joined to truth. The Bible does not give us a pattern in which people repeatedly beg God to become willing to heal. When our only foundation is a general belief that God can do something, we may discover that it does not support us when we need to stand.
It is like carrying a health-insurance policy for years and discovering, at the moment of an operation, that the policy does not cover the condition. The peace was real, but it rested on a misconception.
This is why humility matters. I must be willing to say, “Lord, if there are ideas in me that are not biblical, root them out. Pull them down. Destroy them. Throw them down.”
Humility is not weakness.
It is the willingness to release an idea that cannot survive the light of Scripture. Jesus never asked us to defend an inherited tradition at the expense of His Word. He calls us to come to Him with an open heart. If an idea makes God appear unlike Jesus, I need to examine that idea. If a doctrine requires me to explain away the compassion and ministry of Jesus, I should not protect the doctrine simply because it is familiar.
Letting Go of Ideas That Keep Us Bound
Religious ideas can become so familiar that we hold them more tightly than we hold Scripture. We may continue repeating an explanation because it has always been present in our environment, even when it does not give us a biblical foundation.
The answer is not to protect an idea simply because it is familiar. I must be willing to release anything that makes God unlike Jesus or asks me to call an unbiblical practice faith. When a person is suffering, compassion must be joined to truth. I should not participate in religious performance merely to avoid difficult questions.
If an approach has no biblical foundation, I should not help people place their confidence in it and then blame God when it fails.
This does not mean I know the explanation for every situation. It means I refuse to invent an explanation because I feel pressure to explain. A false answer may sound comforting for a moment, but it can become another poor foundation. I would rather come humbly to Scripture, remove what is wrong, and build patiently on what God has said.
Building on the Character of God
The foundation of healing begins with the character of God revealed in Jesus. He is not divided against Himself.
He is not compassionate in one Gospel story and indifferent in another. He is not a historical healer who became unwilling after the New Testament period. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That foundation does not give me permission to blame sick people, pretend that every situation is simple, or claim knowledge I do not possess. It gives me permission to reject explanations that make God unlike Jesus.
It gives me courage to seek Scripture, to grow in faith, and to minister with compassion rather than fear.
The first step in receiving a biblical foundation is therefore not learning a formula. It is becoming willing to let God deal with what I have assumed. I must allow Him to root out, pull down, destroy, and throw down. Then I can plant and build. I can receive the Word, look honestly at Jesus, and allow His character to become the measure of my expectation. I am not asking you to believe healing is God’s will merely because I have said it.
I am asking you to examine the Scriptures and look at Jesus. Come with humility. Let the Word correct what needs correcting. Let it establish your heart in the character of the God who has revealed Himself in Christ.
The Work of Rebuilding
Once a bad foundation has been exposed, rebuilding takes patience.
We do not replace one slogan with another. We return to the Word, read the Gospel accounts carefully, and allow the life of Jesus to challenge our assumptions. We ask what He did, what He taught, what He commanded, and what He revealed about the Father. This is not an exercise in chasing unusual experiences. It is a return to the ordinary authority of Scripture. The Lord watches over His Word, and the Word gives us a place to stand when circumstances are unstable. I want my confidence to rest in what God has said rather than in the atmosphere of a meeting, the confidence of a personality, or the disappointment of a previous experience.
A rebuilt foundation changes the way we approach people. We can minister without pretending.
We can pray and speak with faith without making a suffering person responsible for our reputation. We can refuse both cynical unbelief and careless exaggeration. We can believe that Jesus is willing and compassionate while continuing to learn how to serve people wisely. That is the beginning of a biblical foundation: not a formula, not a shortcut, and not an explanation for every mystery. It is a settled decision to let Jesus define God, to let Scripture correct tradition, and to let humility keep our hearts teachable.
From that foundation, we can grow into a clearer understanding of healing and a more faithful ministry to others.
The foundation matters. Jesus remains the measure. The church must return to Jesus. The Word must remain central.
Scriptures for Study
Jeremiah 1:4–12; Exodus 15:26; Psalm 103:2–3; Psalm 107:20; Isaiah 53:4–5; Matthew 4:23–24; Matthew 8:16–17; Matthew 9:35; Matthew 10:1; Mark 1:40–42; Mark 2:1–12; Mark 16:15–18; Luke 4:18–19; Luke 5:17–26; Luke 9:1–2; Luke 10:8–9; Acts 3:1–8; Acts 10:38; James 5:14–16; 1 Peter 2:24; Hebrews 13:8; 3 John 2; Revelation 21:4; Romans 8:11.
Questions for Reflection
- What picture of Jesus have you received from Scripture?
- Are any of your beliefs about healing based mainly on repeated sayings rather than biblical teaching?
- What does Hebrews 13:8 communicate about the character of Jesus?
- Which foundation in your thinking may need to be examined?
- How does humility make room for biblical correction?
- Have you ever relied on an assumption that failed under pressure?
- What is the difference between believing that God can heal and trusting His character?
- Where might religious tradition have become more authoritative than Scripture?
- What would it mean for you to let God “root out” an idea?
- How can you build your expectation on the Jesus revealed in the Gospels?
Keywords
healing, divine healing, divine health, Jesus Christ, biblical foundation, church, representation, Jeremiah, Scripture, faith, humility, tradition, religious ideas, healing ministry, kingdom of God, Gospel, character of God, Hebrews 13:8, prayer, expectation, sickness, health, Word of God, ministry, discipleship
200-Word Summary
Healing belongs within the biblical revelation of Jesus Christ and should not be treated as an incidental subject. The church is called to represent Jesus, and Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. In Jeremiah 1, God shows that ministry often begins by rooting out, pulling down, destroying, and throwing down before planting and building. That order is important when we examine inherited ideas about healing. Many Christians repeat familiar explanations—God is teaching patience, His answer may be no, or sickness may be part of a hidden plan—without testing those statements by Scripture. Such ideas can appear adequate until a crisis places weight upon them. A sound foundation begins with humility: we must be willing for God to remove ideas that make Him unlike Jesus. The answer is not a formula or a demand that every circumstance be explained. It is a return to the character of God revealed in Christ. Jesus healed, taught, demonstrated the kingdom, and commissioned His disciples. We should therefore examine the Gospels honestly, release traditions that cannot survive Scripture, and build our expectation on the unchanging Jesus.
Blurb
A biblical foundation for healing begins with a clear vision of Jesus. Graham Jones examines the poor assumptions that often shape Christian thinking and calls us to let Scripture—not tradition, fear, or disappointment—define the character of God.
Pull-Quotes
- “The church should look like Jesus.”
- “God watches over His Word.”
- “A poor foundation is tested when weight is placed upon it.”
- “Humility is the willingness to release an idea that cannot survive the light of Scripture.”
Newsletter Blurb and Captions
Newsletter blurb: Healing begins with the foundation beneath our beliefs. In this teaching, Graham Jones asks us to examine inherited ideas, look honestly at Jesus, and allow Scripture to establish our expectation.
Caption 1: What foundation supports your beliefs about healing? Begin with Jesus and allow Scripture to correct every assumption.
Caption 2: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Healing must be understood through His character—not through religious clichés.
Caption 3: Before we build, we may need to let God root out and pull down ideas that do not agree with His Word.
Headline options:
- Healing Begins with a Biblical Foundation
- Let Scripture Correct Your Ideas About Healing
- The Church Should Look Like Jesus
- Building Your Faith on the Unchanging Christ
- When Religious Assumptions Collapse
