After working in the healthcare industry for approximately 20 years, I have noticed a huge missing piece in the treatment of patients. This is the lack of incorporating God and faith into healthcare. By this, I mean more than just having them “pray” more, which would definitely be a good start. They actually need the message from God’s Word for their bodily healing!
It has become more apparent over the years that people seek God less for healing because science, doctors, and the healthcare system have become their replacement “gods.” Patients put more faith in these people and these man-made systems then they do God for their care.
Because of this, I believe the healthcare system is failing. In fact, I personally believe that by involving God and His Biblical teachings more in the management of patients and their health, we would improve so many health care problems. However, in the meantime, so many aspects of our healthcare system are being affected. I will comment on a few here.
From a patient perspective, the healthcare system has robbed patients of their God given ability to heal through Him even if done in conjunction with conventional medical care. No matter how many times the healthcare system implements evidence based medicine on patient care, it is never fail proof. How could it be?! We are humans who are imperfect by nature. Often times things don’t pan out in the population the way it worked in the clinical trials or results get disproven. Furthermore, we will never know all that God knows about our bodies and healing. However, if we read His Word, we can begin to get a deeper understanding and to get better outcomes by incorporating these practices in conventional medical care.
Instead, the healthcare system has taught patients that their ONLY way to heal is from an outside source, another human, another medicine, another external intervention. We have, therefore, stripped them of the knowledge that, through God, all things are possible including healing of disease. He is after all Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals. In order to truly treat patients appropriately, the healthcare system needs to be more honest about its shortcomings and acknowledge the value in God’s involvement in the healing process. Because of this, the current care of patients is inadequate to say the least.
From a physician perspective, the healthcare system has unloaded responsibilities on medical professionals that no human was ever meant to handle. Doctors were never supposed to be our “gods” for healing. They were supposed to help us but only with God’s guidance as the Primary Healer. Yet, physicians are commanded by the system to heal patients which is not and never will be their job, only God’s. I believe this is why physicians are getting burned out and leaving medicine and why mental health disorders (including suicides) among physicians are climbing.
However, to be clear, physicians do play a part in our healing. In fact, there are many good doctors, medical staff, and healthcare workers in the system whose hearts are in the right place. God has gifted these people with special skills, compassion, and knowledge and He will continue to guide us to these people for their education and teaching. These medical professionals are dedicated to helping people even to their own demise. However, God needs to be the primary source not the forgotten piece or last resort. We need to seek His guidance FIRST in our health. Doctors were never meant to be the first, final, and ultimate source for healing and they are suffering because of it.
Lastly, without God we can do nothing (Holman Rainbow Study Bible John 15:5 NIV). When God is not part of certain aspects of our lives or of our world, those structures start to collapse. I feel this is happening in healthcare and science, the foundation on which most of our healthcare stands. In this day and time, we are realizing that it is becoming harder and harder to trust the information that we garner. Companies and people have natural and learned biases that often times overshadow the accuracy of the information. Sometimes this is done maliciously and sometimes not. Even knowledge that we once deemed as absolute truths are too many times discounted and re-written. This is even more true in the field of science and medicine.
Medical science is a misrepresented “truth” because, I believe, it can lie in an area of absolutes and non-absolutes. I know we are taught to believe that science is the “truth,” but after too many years of witnessing numerous implemented research results become disproven or change because new technology has discovered something completely different or be outwardly banished from medical protocols altogether because of dangerous outcomes, it is clear that science is a moving target. It may seem like it is an absolute truth in a moment but, over time, the ever changing nature of it, disproves its ability to be an absolute truth.
It is important now more than ever to turn towards the one piece of knowledge that is ever unchanging, God’s spoken Word, the Bible, especially in regards to our health and healing and, in this, science can play a part. The reality is that unlike evidenced based medicine that often times changes (as discussed above), the principles of the Bible never do. As stated in a beautiful song, “Stop looking for the evidence and start living in the promises,” (Elevation Worship, “Water is Wild”) God’s promises are the actual TRUTH . Because Biblical principles never change and are considered absolute truths, we can use the science to show how it works. Although our faith rests on the Scripture’s message as to how to heal, requiring no justification, we can use the science for further explanation and understanding. God works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28 NIV) and the science can be used to teach skeptics and others who are unfamiliar with the Bible’s message that it actually means what it says.
It is at this juncture in time that we must seek God first in the healing of our health and lives. He is our Creator! He made us! He knows how our bodies intricately work more than any human ever will. And the Bible gives us direction and insight into God’s plan for health and healing. All the information is in there and Jesus is our perfect teacher!
I know God is working through all of us to come together in adding new ideas (based on established Biblical principles) in order to fix old systems. Please do no think that I am blaming or judging anyone in this message. I am just laying the foundation for why we need God in this area of our lives and world. Through this site, I am hoping to reach as many people as possible to share the way to heal based on faith and God’s Biblical teachings. I know that God not only is trying to teach patients and physicians alike the ways He designed us to heal but also for this to be incorporated in conventional medical care. Furthermore, I am hoping to help the healthcare system as a whole, refocusing patient care and reestablishing the responsibilities of physicians. I am hopeful that my blog will start to bring about this change in helping God’s people in their most intimate area, their medical care.
So let’s get started on being MEDICATED BY FAITH! I just can’t wait to share everything I have learned on this journey! Please refer family and friends, Christians and non-Christians! There will always be an opportunity to learn something new and, if for nothing else, we would love to pray for you on your own healing journey!
God is here! God is moving! He is a way maker and a miracle worker! Let’s help each other heal through faith and God’s word! God is blessing you!
