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Rudo Gwata-Charamba Correspondent
It is God’s will for every individual to live in faith, united in a healthy relationship with Him, healthy, strong and prosperous while believing and acting His word (John 10:10, I3 John 1:2).

Also, His word reveals that He wants everyone to be a part of an equally healthy, peaceful and prosperous society bound by love.

However, disease and sickness continue to claim a terrible toll of human lives all over the world despite all the great achievements attained by members of modern society.

Sadly, in the same context, the vitality of the faith in God as saviour and healer has literally disappeared in many churches where, through the influence of Satan, some customs and practices have been introduced, sometimes to the point of the latter becoming predominant.

Satan, a liar (John 8:44), has deceived mankind for thousands of years, since the deception in the Garden of Eden, telling them that God’s word is not true. Consequently, many do not believe what God has spoken. For instance, we all know that God pronounced He is Lord who heals us (Exodus 15:26).

However, due to the above-mentioned influence, many have failed to believe that God means what He says.

This is essentially the same experience that Eve, and later Adam, had in the garden, as shown in the two scriptures below, and also a major reason for the inability of humanity to access the benefits of Christianity today.

Genesis 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Next, in Genesis 3:4 the we read, Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”

Here, Satan was saying God did not mean what he said, an incident that is very similar to many, today, where, all over the world, many Christians are influenced by tradition or other guidelines leading to the changing of God’s “I am” to “I was,” meaning God no longer does what he promised. This partly explains why today’s experiences with pandemics, such as Covid-19, and other significant global challenges reveal the present-day Christianity, as a helpless, wretched force, when it is a great force as demonstrated by New Testament believers.

A typical example of the associated foreign customs and practices in the world and the church today is the trust in MAN, rather than Christ, as a redeemer from trouble and also healer of the body.

Consequently, many do all they can, within the power of human skill, sometimes mentioning the name of God here and there, to solve socioeconomic problems, including dealing with pandemics.

Limited levels of success, if at all, are ordinarily recorded and there are often attempts to explaining the shortcoming.

Such explanations encompass claims that Christianity in ineffective thus implying that God’s word, which says He is the Lord who heals for example, is not true.

God announced himself to be the healer of His people with the words, “I am the Lord who heals you” to a population of about three million Israelites in Exodus 15:26.

Everyone among them believed God that these words were true and all who needed healing were made perfectly whole.

He brought them forth and there was not one feeble person among their tribe (Psalm 105:37). Since God is unchanging, the same divine health is available to the world today, also under a New Covenant of grace and mercy.

Moreover, healing is depicted the seal of God’s acknowledgment and proof to the world that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, thus showing its high level significance in the Kingdom.

When John the Baptist, sent two of his disciples to the Lord Jesus to ask, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we keep on expecting a different one?” (Matthew 11:3). The Lord’s answer comprised an appeal to the signs of his ministry which were and are still are God’s answer to doubt and unbelief.

He replied, “Go and report to John what you hear and see, the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Good News preached to them.” (Matthew 11:4-5).

These are still God’s seal and endorsement of the preaching of the true Gospel where the results generally ought to be similar to the Biblical experience in Mark 16:20. “And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied it.”

Disappointingly, the church is mostly found missing in the action that is according to the word of God, while the world is suffering.

For example, in times of sickness or trouble, most Christians, influenced by traditions, lack of faith, knowledge of the word or limited concern for the Gospel, often stand by with little more than words of sympathy and pity. In addition, several, and often inaccurate, words of comfort are provided.

These include assurance to the sufferer that it must be God’s will, things will work out for the best, that it is God’s lesson in humility, possibly God’s chastisement or that the sickness is meant to draw the people concerned closer to Him.

On the contrary, the will of God for His children, founded on His unchanging love, is clearly demonstrated through the teachings, life and ministry of Christ on earth; both being a revelation and a manifestation of such will.

Accordingly, sin, troubles and sickness should never abide forever in anyone’s life because God’s desire to save and heal.

Likewise, the Bible provides clear instructions for real prayer that receives answers, which is communion with God, Mark 11:23-4 provides one such instruction, “Truly, I tell you, whoever, says to this mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the sea! And does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him.

For this reason, I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you and you will get it.” James 1:6-7 adds, “. . . ask in faith, nothing wavering. For they that waver are like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not those (who waver) think they shall receive any thing of the Lord.” Similarly, in the case of sickness, James 5:15 says, in part, “And the prayer of faith will save the sick . . .”

However, both literature and experiential evidence show that are plenty of prayers said and written in books, that are often mere utterances and not in line with the Word of God.

These include those that depict Christians as splendid beggars but poor believers, those that clearly portray their foreign origin such as “dangerous prayers and back-to-sender prayers,” which are meant to cause danger or seek revenge for wrongdoing by a perceived enemy. Such prayers are ordinarily disappointing.

The truth is that only the Eternal God and His eternal power can save the world from and set mankind free, never people’s own might. In the same context, believers constitute a potentially great force to counter all manner of evil, including sickness, that is ravaging the world, if only they could more effectively access God’s promises through faith and belief.

That is, believers ought to put into practice the good old-fashioned Christianity which entails relating to God, through Jesus Christ, with earnestness, sincerity and faith while diligently living according to His Word, letting their light shine so others can see their good deed and glorify our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

Dr Rudo Grace Gwata-Charamba is an author, development Project/ programme management consultant and researcher with a special interest in Results Based Management (RBM), Governance and Leadership. She can be contacted via email: [email protected]