"Your life is transformed to the degree that your mind is renewed. Cornel's book goes a long way to removing the hindrances to that renewal."
-Curry R. Blake, John G. Lake Ministries
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These two accounts for some reason have left people to believe it is not possible to get every person healed every time because Paul the great apostle left somebody sick and he told his successor Timothy to drink wine for frequent stomach problems. Let’s look firstly at Timothy’s stomach.
1 Tim 5:23 No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities. (NKJV)
I find most often that people with a western culture can’t seem to get this. If you come from Africa or Asia and other impoverished areas, it is easy to understand. For the 3 years my wife and I lived in Asia, we never drank tap water. Why? Because it makes you sick. So instead of having to sit with frequent stomach problems, we bought bottled water. Any doctor will always tell you “Prevention is better than cure.” Why do you think they are pushing healthy eating and living so much? It decreases the risk of contracting illness, it is preventative. In the same way, Paul told Timothy to not just drink the water wherever he went but to instead drink wine. Red wine actually has anti-bacterial properties. Paul wasn’t telling Timothy to take medicine or not to believe for divine healing, he was merely saying prevention is better than cure. “Timothy, every time you go on a mission’s trip you drink the water and your stomach gets upset. Just stop drinking only the water, and have some wine. Then you won’t be sick so often.” It’s not rocket science people. It’s just good common sense.
2 Tim 4:20 Erastus stayed in Corinth, but Trophimus I have left in Miletus sick. (NKJV)
Paul left somebody sick. Many people believe because of this that he couldn’t get all healed so therefore we can’t expect to get all healed. Funny. Jesus healed them all and said we are to the same and greater. Did Jesus ever leave anybody sick? Yes, actually He did.
Luke 17:11-15 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. (NIV)
The scriptures says “As they went, they were cleansed.” That means the healing didn’t manifest instantaneously but some time had to have past. So Jesus left them sick. As they went, they got healed. One came back. This pattern stills repeats itself today. You pray for so many people but less than 1 in 10 actually get back to you about what happened. We have had it happen so often when we by chance come across a person we prayed for weeks and even months before where we didn’t see an instant healing and they tell us, “Oh yeah, I meant to call and say I woke up the next morning without any pain.” “I haven’t had any symptoms since then.” If we can not get in touch with somebody with today’s modern telecommunications to find out if they got better, how much more difficult was it for Paul back then? Why do people have a natural tendency to believe the worst scenario? “Not even Jesus could heal all at Nazareth.” I will explain that one next time…
You are anointed, act like it!
Cornel
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22 Responses to Timothy’s Stomach and Trophimus
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I guess what I’m having difficulty understanding [keep in mind I do very much believe that everyone is anointed and can heal because of the authority that Jesus gave us] is why it appears that the healing I encounter seem delayed where as everyone Jesus touched was healed right at the moment even if He wasn’t in the vicinity. I know this definitely doesn’t stop me from praying for every sick person we see, but I’m just wondering what is the difference between myself walking in authority in healing and Jesus’s authority if my authority is the same as His.
I want to walk in the authority in which at the very word that everyone would receive healing. Or even a shadow like when Peter healed. Is there something I’m missing? If God already gave me everything, is it more of an issue of my own understanding of God’s power and character that prevents people from receiving the same measure of healing that Jesus encountered?
PS: i love this blog
Destroy those demonic doctrines that hold people captive! Thanks for that encouraging word brother!
Hi Daniel
As Luke 17 above shows, not everyone Jesus healed got their healing instantaneous. They were healed as they went. Jesus even prayed for one blind man twice before the healing happened.
The difference between you and Christ is what you believe the difference to be. Jesus didn’t need to renew His mind. Our lives are transformed by renewing our minds to think like Jesus with the mind of Christ we have in our spirits. Now mind-renewal is more than just getting revelation. That is one part of the mind, the intellect. Your mind also has a will, emotions, imagination, memory etc. If all you rely on knowing revelation, you only renewed about 20% of your mind. You have to retrain your will, emotions, everything to renew the whole mind.
Don’t allow what you don’t yet understand to rob you of what you do understand.
Daniel:
1. As Cornel pointed out, not every healing of Jesus was immediate. Not only were some healed as they went away, but others were healed “within the hour” (Mt 8:13; Mt 15:28).
2. The only way to experience the same results you read about in the life of Jesus and in the Book of Acts is to start living it. If you know you’re a gifted athlete but have never dedicated time to REALLY BUCKLE DOWN and train, you’ll never make it to the Pros. Gifting does not do take you to your destiny, it only reveals your potential. You gotta take what you already know and begin to USE IT. If Jesus had to suffer obedience, and wait till he was 30 to begin to minister (Jewish culture dictated that at 12 one became a ‘man’), then we need to appreciate the fact that we grow by experience, perseverance, and training/repetition.
3. As for Peter, he didn’t just receive the Holy Ghost and immediately start ‘shadow healing’. It was a progression: In Luke 9 he went out for his first street ministry; Luke 10 he got to go again with more people. Some of those same disciples (not Peter, though) failed to later heal a demon possessed boy (Lk 9). Peter then abandons Jesus, and later doubts that he has been raised from death. Then the Spirit comes, and he begins to get it. Revival breaks out, and as the momentum picks up, so does his confidence. He begins to preach, and live out the things that Jesus had taught him. That’s how Peter got to ‘shadow healings’.
Anyways, as Cornel said, renew your mind: read read read the Bible. Listen to teachings that talk about these things. Watch videos that demonstrate these things. Filter what come in to your mind, allowing only things that build and edify come in. Don’t waist time on trash.
Your faith is your confidence in the authority you have through Jesus and Holy Spirit.
My 2 cents
Thanks for the responses you too!
Another interesting part of scripture about the fact that it can take time for something to manifest is in Mark 11 when Jesus curses the fig tree. It is not actually until the morning that the disciples see the results and notice that the tree has withered from the roots. Did the tree die when Jesus spoke to it … my belief is yes … but the evidence of that was not seen until later. Similar to when you cut a rose. When you cut it, it is officially “dead” because it loses it’s life source. The manifestation would not be seen until later, however, for our eyes to see.
This fact has kept me in greater faith many, many times when speaking healing over someone. I need to believe that it happened and the actual manifestation can/will happen later. That being said, however, I’ve also gotten more disciplined to continue to pray especially if someone reports partial healing. I love how Todd White asks the person for a percentage and then keeps going. If Jesus can do that much, He can do it ALL!! I’ve gotten over the belief that the first prayer you pray must be a prayer of “doubt” if you continue on. It’s all in how you look at it and where your heart is. Sometimes pain needs to be spoken to multiple times before it releases.
Thanks, Cornel, for this GREAT blog!!! And THANK YOU for your book … LOVE IT!!!
~Laura
OH YEAAAAAH!
This is strong stuff Cornel!
One by one the excuses for not being healed and walking around powerless, are coming down. God bless you for faithfully stewarding the revelation He’s given you. Many people are being set free and minds are being renewed at an amazing rate!
You remain close to my heart my brother.
In Grace
Andre
http://www.NewCovenantGrace.com
Hi Cornel, On July 3 you wrote to Daniel, “Jesus even prayed for one blind man twice before the healing happened.” Respectfully I must say, not so. Actually, Jesus prayed first for the blind man’s spiritual eyes to be opened and the blind man saw men walking about like trees. Scripture often refers to men as trees. This was the awakening of the blind man’s spiritual eyes. The second prayer was for his physical eyes to be opened. The creator of the Universe who did only what He saw the Father doing and spoke what He heard the Father saying did not “miss it” on the first prayer, nor was His first prayer only partially effectual. They were two prayers for two separate healings…one spiritual and one physical. That being said, I have prayed multiple times for a person as they progressively became well. I do not, however, find any example or pattern in Jesus ministry to support this. But it is a common pattern in my ministry that I have learned by experience. If my first prayer does not achieve the result I keep praying. My 15 year old daughter recently prayed 7 times for a blind woman before she received her healing. steve
Hi Steve
I understand what took place, what I drew the attention to was not the focus of the prayer but the amount of times He prayed. Curry Blake says that healing most often manifests on the outside when we get people past 70% healed on the inside. What I was saying is that Jesus didn’t give up. He did what needed to be done until He saw the result that was requested. I have often times ministered to people where they experience freedom in other areas before the healing happened in their body. The point is that we deal with whatever is brought to light but we don’t quit until we see the healing manifested too. Some people minister and when the person receives freedom in an area not requested for directly, they think God doesn’t want the person well physically and this other freedom was more important to God than their healing. That is nonsense.
Thanks for your comments
In Grace
Cornel
Dearly Beloved CHARISMA MINISTRIES Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ from India! We are so glad to meet you through this mail. I happened to visit your website just now and so happy after reading the contents. First of all, I would like to introduce myself and my ministry: I am pastor . L.jaya prakash , Pastor of the Church serving the Lord full-time for the last over 7 years. I am 28 years young man dedicated my life to do the ministry. I am an assistant pastor in our main church and pastoring our branch church. Doing ministry in the midst of muslims and hindu temple area.my father was an senior minister in the church his name is pastor L. Clarence sastry . Since last 35 years onwards he is doing evangelism. We would like to fellowship and connect with your noble ministry. Would you please let us know your heart for our nation so that I can share more about my vision and burden of the Ministry Thank you. Amen!
In Christ
pastor L. jaya prakash
d.no. 7-6-998,
vengalarao nagar 2line,
guntur -522002.
Andhra Pradesh, India.
Phone: +91-9440432697
heavenismyhouse@gmail.com
Will someone with the gift of healing please pray for my mother-in-law (Evelyn Rickman) who has extensive brain damage due to a stroke? I have prayed for many months but with no result even though I have a very strong faith and personal knowledge of God’s power.
Its all about renewal of mind about healing.God is good and the devil is bad
Hi, I have one problem with this interpretation.
Let’s say the water was really dirty and caused him to be sick then what sense would it make to say that instead of drinking only water he should use a LITTLE wine?
If the water was dirty and made people sick then he should have said something like:
“Drink no longer water, but instead drink wine only.”
Drinking dirty water + a little wine wouldn’t have changed much cause he would still have drunk a lot of dirty water.
Eric
Hey Eric,
I don’t think the problem lay with really dirty water. Nobody would consider drinking obviously dirty water. For example, when my wife and I moved to Taiwan, we were told to not drink the tap water because it would make you sick. The water wasn’t dirty at face value, there were no visible impurities, obvious odors etc. If nobody told us the water would make us sick, we probably would have drunk it. The advice to only drink wine and not water would not be good advice either since we all know that alcohol is a diuretic causing accelerated dehydration. In the hot desert climate, dehydration is the last thing you want.
Hi Cornel,
but if the water wasn’t dirty and not the reason why Timothy got sick then I don’t understand why Paul told Timothy to add a little wine to his diet?
I always heard it from people like andrew wommack that the water was dirty and that Paul told Timothy to add wine because it would kill germs. But this explanation didn’t make sense to me right away which is why I asked the question. The bacteria explanation isn’t satisfying and also not consistent because if the water was dirty then Paul should have told Timothy to avoid the water completely and ONLY drink wine instead.
Now I’m still confused what this passage means.
Hey Eric,
What I mean by really dirty water is like brown muddy yucky water. Water with bacteria in it can be completely clear but still harmful when consumed because the water is contaminated, not necessarily physically dirty. Putting wine into dirty muddy water won’t do much no. But wine in clear water that could have bacteria in it, is a different scenario.
Mr. Cornel and Eric,
Nerves or stress is a common cause for an upset stomach. How much stress must young Timothy been under with such a calling as his in a culture of Jews and Gentiles bent on their destruction? A little wine acts as a depressant upon the human nervous system.
That being said, one can only speculate about the cause of Timothy’s upset stomach. The bible is silent on cause. Paul only says Timothy has bouts of stomach ailment and prescribes wine for medicinal relief.
My personal thought (again, purely personal but not without merit) is that the dirty water theory misses the mark. Dirty water would cause diarea and a little wine would serve no purpose for this ailment, which require significant rehydrration via water consumption. I think the dirty water theory may be a more palatable speculation for church traditions that abstain from alcohol consumption. “Drink a little wine to calm the nerves? Why, how corrupt. Paul would never suggest such a thing.” Or would he?
God bless you both.
Stephen
P.S. If my reply is upsetting at all, have a little wine.
Hi Stephen,
I agree, wine won’t help much for diarrhea, hence the reason why I said it might have been a preventative measure, not a cure. I found the following quote on wikipedia which is also interesting:
“Even before the establishment of the germ theory of disease, traditional practices eschewed water in favor of beer, wine and tea. In the camel caravans that crossed Central Asia along the Silk Road, the explorer Owen Lattimore noted “The reason we drank so much tea was because of the bad water. Water alone, unboiled, is never drunk.”
That’s a bummer. It would be much more satisfying if one could really understand what Paul meant. I also don’t understand why didn’t Paul simply tell Timothy that Jesus said that no deadly thing shall harm them? I mean in our times I bet many charismatics would simply proclaim something like that and then expect that they can drink whatever they want without getting sick. But why did Paul not do that?
This is something I asked myself many times. Why do the advice which many word of faith teachers give today seem to be different to what Paul did? Why did Paul not write Timothy something like “do you not know that by his stripes you were healed?” or something like “Timothy, just speak to your sickness and demand it to leave” or “Timothy, speak to your mountain” or “Life and death are in the power of the tongue”?
Then everything would have been clear and all these questions would never have come up in the first place about healing and all those things. I really don’t understand why so little of these things can be found in Paul’s letters. It’s like Jesus taught different things than Paul did or Paul paid no attention to what Jesus said about praying and confessing. I don’t understand why Paul doesn’t refer to such practices and use them.
Again, as I said before, I believe the advice Paul gave was more for prevention and not as a remedy. It would be the same as me advising somebody to lose weight so they wont constantly need prayer for their aching joints and back pain.
Eric,
Dialogue in sarcasm was not the way of Jesus either. Sarcasm is the way of one who really has nothing constructive to say. You seem to need a little wine, my brother. Whoops, I am obviously needing a little myself…but just a little. btw…and on an unrelated note…Why do so many faithful Christians have such a legalistic attitude about “a little wine”?
OK, seriously…The saying given by Paul to Timothy about “not drinking water exclusively, but using a little wine for the sake of upset stomach and frequent ailments” is imbedded inside exhortation on both sides about the sins of others. The key to this saying about “water most of the time, but also a little wine” will be found in the context of laying on of hands and the sins of others. Read all of 1 Tim 5:17-24.
Here you go…Water (John 7:38) and laying on of hands (Heb 6:2) are a representation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire (John 3:16). A little wine is a representation of the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (John 3:3)…i.e. salvation. A little wine is a reference to the blood of Jesus.
Paul is saying to Timothy that he must discern, when ministering within the church, those whose overt sin may indicate their unrepentant heart, like Simon the magician in Acts 8. These are not worthy of a blessing that Christ reseves only for those whom the Father has seated at His (Father’s) right hand in Him (Christ). Paul counsels Timothy that the unrepentent are sick and are in need of healing in Christ…the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins…the cross…the blood…”a little wine for sickness”. Paul is saying to Timothy that he must know, when ministering to members of the church, when he is ministering to a false convert who is in need of repentance, for their sin is not yet covered by the blood.
Paul is saying to Timothy that most of the time when ministering to the saints they will “drink water”–i.e. the baptism of the Holy Spirit ministered by the laying on of hands–but that sometimes he will need to discern when a little wine is needed–i.e. the baptism is repentence for the forgiveness of sins. Paul finishes by saying that it is by the goodness or evil in their deeds, which will be “quite evident”, that he will know if a sinner is desperately in need of a little wine–i.e. the saving blood of Christ.
God bless you richly my brothers.
steve