Health Care. Crossing Cultures. Loving People in Jesus' Name.
A resource for those providing healthcare in Jesus' name
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a Biblical basis for the relationship between health and the spirit realm? While many of us scientifically trained often balk at physical things being attributed to the spiritual realm, biblically, this concept is prevalent both throughout the Old and New Testaments. Sometimes hearing people attribute something we can explain physically and logically to a spiritual source can cause us to write off their perspective. However, if we trust (or even consider trusting) the authority of Scripture, we are missing out if we categorically relegate spiritual influences to superstition. A careful reading of Biblical text is eye opening to how much role the spiritual is purported to have in the physical realm. The culture of western medicine is a strong lens which affects our worldview more than we might realize. It's worth asking the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to spiritual realities and lead us deeper into His truths as we read the Bible (and walk through our life situations). A few Biblical references to meditate on: In Luke 13, there is a woman with an infirmity, described as having been bent over and unable to straighten up, who is healed on the Sabbath. Jesus himself responds to the synagogue leader (in vs. 16, NIV) and says, "Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?" Jesus attributes a physical infirmity to a spiritual cause. In Luke 4, you can see that there are both diseases Jesus heals (vs 40) and demons that Jesus drove out of many (vs 41). This went hand in hand with with his preaching "the kingdom of God" (vs 43). Matthew 4:24 (ESV) says, "So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them." It is evident that Jesus brought a very well-rounded healing, whether it was to disease, oppression from spirits, etc. Scripture acknowledges the presence of both physical brokeness as well as spiritual oppression that manifests physically.
How do we recognize when there may be a spiritual component to a physical condition? Excellent question. While it seemed like that was obvious to Jesus, it is not always clear to us. Perhaps we have never even considered the possibility. If we make it our routine to ask the Lord for His insight as we prepare for each patient encounter, we may begin to notice things we did not before. Much of the time, we may miss a quiet whisper or a fleeting sense, and if we pause to ask, the Lord can train us to hear the gentle ways He can be leading us as we provide care. Perhaps we don't need to be 100% certain in order to proceed: we lose little and potentially gain much if we treat both physically and spiritually. Many times there are cases that come through our hospital where the chaplains are called pretty directly. Other times the medical work-up shows nothing and then chaplains are called. But to explore and consider addressing physical needs from both a medical and a spiritual angle seems like a win-win situation if you are questioning it. Simply noticing things we see and having conversations with other Christian providers, including local doctors, about situations that arise can grow our ability to notice and address possible spiritual roots to things we see physically. Just today, I heard a story relayed during our church sermon about missionaries in the Ivory Coast who had started a medical clinic. The pharmacist at their hospital, a local man who loved Jesus, was leading a devotional time, and there was a couple there who had without success been seeking help in every corner for an intestinal condition experienced by the wife. They had been told that they would be loved well in this hospital and prayed with before receiving care. When the pharmacist asked them about receiving Jesus, they both wanted to. During prayer, the woman also threw up, and experienced relief from her symptoms. The next day, the couple happily reported that she had slept soundly for the first time in ages, and was no longer having any intestinal troubles. Was this a spiritual source of physical symptoms? Likely! Do you have to be certain in order to offer the spiritual care alongside the physical? No! But with time, you may begin to notice certain trends and patterns, and things may clue you in as to the source of the problem.
Do you think there are still evil spirits that can bother people today, or was that just in the time of Jesus? There are many instances of spirits bothering people in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. For example, David would play his harp to bring relief to Saul when he was bothered by a spirit (1 Samuel 16:23). We often become so familiar with certain scripture passages that we do not picture how they actually played out in real life, or what they might look like in the context of our own society. What might it look like to see an evil spirit bothering someone? I have had friends who would hear negative voices in their heads. One of my good friends, who we prayed for to receive relief from this, had her eyes glazed over, face contorted and began thrashing around. It reminds me of the story in Mark 9 (14-29) when Jesus' disciples had difficulty casting out a demon, and when they brought the boy to Jesus, Jesus asks a few questions and then proceeds to cast the demon out, at which time he cried and convulsed, and then left the boy still. In everyday life, the oppression my friend was experiencing was more like negative, unwanted thoughts. But when we began to take authority and command any evil spirits to come out in Jesus name, she began to show some signs reminiscent of some of the Biblical stories (not every case in the Bible describes it this way). Personally, I have received prayer for freedom from evil spiritual influences, and while there were no specific manifestations, I left those times feeling physically lighter and freed from certain though patterns that had always seemed inevitable.