Virginia Brandt Berg (1898-1968)
SOME HAVE ASKED WHY WE SPEAK SO MUCH ABOUT THE LORD'S HEALING! Well, we were marvelously healed ourselves and therefore we felt called to that particular ministry.
WE DON'T PREACH MUCH ON DOCTRINE BUT JUST TALK ABOUT FAITH, because that is the way the Lord has led us in the past, and because of our wonderful experience, and that which we have seen in others. We know also that the Power which heals the body, imparts a much richer spiritual experience to anyone.
THE RETAINING OF DIVINE LIFE AND HEALTH REQUIRES A CONSTANT FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD, and consecrated service for Him, so that the spiritual results far outweigh the temporal, and it's one of the most powerful checks and impulses in the lives of those that have truly received it.
THE PERSON THAT TRUSTS GOD FOR THEIR BODY HAS TO WALK CLOSE TO THE LORD, and if you want a real test of your faith, you just trust God for your physical being.
THE TRUE DOCTRINE OF HEALING THROUGH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS HUMBLING AND PRACTICAL. It offers no promises to the disobedient, and it doesn't give any strength for selfish indulgence or Worldly ends; but it exalts the name of Jesus Christ and that's why we believe in it!
IT GLORIFIES OUR GOD, IT INSPIRES THE SOUL WITH FAITH AND POWER, and it summons you to a life of self-denial and Holy service. It always awakens an unbelieving church and an unbelieving world with the solemn signals of a living God and a risen Christ.
IT PROVES THAT CHRIST IS REAL AND NEAR! It is a direct supernatural power of God exercised upon a human body. It's in accordance with the Holy Scriptures and it's founded on God's Word.
IT'S FOUNDED ON CHRIST'S SACRIFICE AND WORK OF REDEMPTION, and it's only had through the resurrected life of Jesus Christ: It's through the personal indwelling of Christ in our body.
I BELIEVE IN IT BECAUSE OF WHAT I HAVE SEEN IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS, and most of all because of what I've found in God's Word, and because I experienced it so marvelously myself! Wonderful records in the Bible and Church history, and in the annals of our present day, prove by overwhelming evidence, that God not only was, but still is, in the healing business.
MANY SAY THE DAY OF MIRACLES IS OVER! THEN THE DAY OF CHRISTIANITY WOULD BE OVER, FOR CHRISTIANITY ITSELF IS A MIRACLE! If healing and miracles were needed in the days of Jesus and the Apostles, they are certainly needed in this day, because there is a greater manifestation of evil today, which needs a greater display of God's power than ever before!
I THINK IT'S TOO LATE NOW TO SAY THE DAY OF MIRACLES IS OVER, for the Gospel message has been confirmed by so many people with such wonderful healing, gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His Will: Too many have experienced this wonderful blessing and been gloriously delivered, to say that it isn't for today!
I HAVE SEEN WITH MY OWN EYES THOSE THAT COULD NOT HEAR BE MADE TO HEAR, and I've seen those whose eyes were greatly affected, almost totally blind, touched by God. Believing children of God are being healed of cancer and goiter, and a great variety of afflictions too numerous to mention.
WHILE SOME OVER-CAUTIOUS ONES ARE SAYING THESE THINGS BUT ARE HESITATING, OTHERS ARE REACHING OUT, touching the hem of His garment and getting wonderful deliverance! When you go into hospital, you see so many with cancer, and the doctor has told them it's hopeless:
WHY SHOULD WE TAKE FROM THEM THEIR ONLY HOPE? IF MATERIAL MEDICINE CAN'T HELP THEM, if the physicians can do nothing for them, and they're utterly hopeless, and have been told, "I can't help you any more. We're at the end of what we can do for you,"
THEN THE BELOVED PHYSICIAN, JESUS CHRIST, CAN COME AND TOUCH THEM! It's wonderful to have a good all-around Physician, One who's never been known to lose a case that's been committed to Him: Our Lord Jesus Christ!
HE'S A SPECIALIST ON ALL LINES, One who made us to begin with and He can re-make us if necessary. -- If you had a broken watch, you'd take it to a watchmaker; a car that needs repair, you'd take to a mechanic in a garage!
IF YOUR BODY IS OUT OF REPAIR, YOU CAN TAKE IT TO THE ONE THAT MADE THAT BODY! And He's so glad to do these things for us! The only pay He asks after healing us is for us to tell others of His marvelous doings in our heart and life and body, and then to live the life, let Him live out His life through us.
WHO IS THE GREAT PHYSICIAN? -- JESUS CHRIST! Oh, don't let them discourage you!
Are you passing through a testing?
Is your pillow wet with tears?
Do you wonder what the reason
Why it seems God does not hear?
Why it is you have no answer
To your oft repeated plea?
Why the Heaven still is leaden
As you wait on bended knee?
BUT FAITHFUL IS HE WHO PROMISED
HE WILL NEVER LET YOU FALL,
Daily will the strength be given,
Strength for each and strength for all,
He will gladly share your pain with you,
He will gladly give you peace,
Till your tired and wearied body
Finds its blessed glad release!
-- If you'll wait and be faithful, and not faint, if you persist and not throw away your confidence --
SO TILL THEN JUST KEEP ON TRUSTING
THROUGH THE SUNSHINE AND THE RAIN
Through the tears and through the heartaches,
Through the smiles and through the pain,
Knowing that our Father watches,
Knowing daily strength He'll give,
Victory for each passing hour,
This is life, so let us live!
THE GREAT PHYSICIAN IS SO WILLING TO DO EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL YOU CAN ASK OR THINK, He says, and He has given you these glorious, glorious promises that we've been reading you. I give you just two now in closing. He says:
"THY FAITH HATH MADE THEE WHOLE" AND, "CONFESS YOUR FAULTS ONE TO ANOTHER, PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER THAT YE MAY BE HEALED, for the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (Mt.9:22, Jas.5:16.)
GOD BLESS YOU. LAY HOLD OF GOD