I had a good friend once and we both used to preach sanctification. This was more than forty years ago. But we drifted apart over the teaching of faith.

He said that if we kept saying a thing was true it would take place. If you were sick you kept saying you were healed. If you said it long enough and hard enough it would happen. And you should always act as if it were true. This meant no medicine, no doctors, and so forth. All in Jesus' name, of course.

I didn't believe it then and I still don't believe it. I know there are some verses of the Bible you can use to support this sort of thing but it doesn't go along with my experience with the Lord.

When we were in Bible school there was a student who went to a "healing" meeting. She was told to break her glasses. She did.

The next day her eyes were all bloodshot. You guessed it. She had to buy another pair of glasses.

A couple of days ago I heard a sad tale about a diabetic who was persuaded to stop his insulin. He did, and died. This actually happened to a well-meaning Christian.

Dr. Charles Price wrote a book titled The Real Faith. I don't know where you can get it now. Dr. Price had the goods, a marvelous ministry of healing. But he told how he never prayed for anyone until the Lord showed him that healing would take place. I saw the same thing in the ministry of William Branham when he was going strong in the Lord.

The Apostle Paul commanded us to think soberly about the amount of faith we have. Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to "step out in faith." In fact, this is what Satan advised Jesus to do when He was on top of the Temple.

I think we've got soulish faith mixed up with true spiritual faith.

You can close your eyes and say "I believe I believe I believe" all you want to. But I have been healed miraculously several times. On at least two occasions, nearsightedness in my eyes and arthritis in my knee, I was healed instantly when I wasn't even prayed for. I knew when I was healed because I was healed!

Do you know, God is so powerful He can heal you even if you go to the doctor and take pills? God is bigger than your pills so quit trying to force the issue. The Lord told me to "do what is reasonable" when I am sick. Sometimes that means going to the doctor. The Lord blesses when I do what He says.

Stepping out in faith is another name for presumption except when the Lord directs you to do so.And if you don't know whether the Lord has directed you, then He hasn't.

God is real. There is a real faith for healing and other miracles and it comes from God.

Live righteously, pray, love the Lord, delight yourself in Him, and tell Him what you want. Don't try to do it yourself with your soulish power.

Have faith in Jesus rather than faith in faith.

And as for the current teaching that if you are sick it's your fault because you don't have enough faith, who needs this when they are sick?

I wonder if Job's comforters ever got a bad case of boils. It would have helped their ministry.