For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. — 1 CORINTHIANS 13:9–10

Now I’m not opposed to medical healing. But doctors have just learned by experimentation what kinds of medicines will help nature do its job. God put into the human body what we call “nature.” Naturally, any body—whether the person is saved or not—will help heal itself. And most doctors will tell you that.

I’ve had more than one doctor say, “I don’t know of any medicines that will heal anyone of anything, and no other doctor does. We help nature do its work. If nature doesn’t respond, there’s nothing we can do.”

I’ll never forget when my father-in-law lay in a hospital room dead. The surgeon performed an operation on him that had never been done before in the region where he lived. (Today, they do that kind of operation all the time.) The surgeon who performed the surgery had a type of diploma in surgery that only three other men in the world had. He was one of the world’s greatest surgeons.

The surgeon said to me, “I hated to lose him. Now you seem to be more intelligent than the average person. I can say this to you and you’ll understand me. You see, this procedure may have been what killed him. That sounds harsh, but all we know is what we’ve learned by experimentation. The only thing that gives me any ease is knowing that we may learn from him. Although we lost him, we may save a dozen other people because of him.”

Well, thank God, for what doctors can do. But I believe that God can beat that. When man heals, either he must do it through the mind that is governed by the physical senses, or he must do it through the physical body. But when God heals, He heals through the human spirit. You see, man is a spirit being. He has a soul and lives in a body (1 Thess. 5:23). And life’s greatest forces are spiritual: love and hate; faith and fear; joy and grief. All are of the spirit.

Confession: Doctors know in part. They can help my body naturally heal itself through medicine and other means, but only God can heal me through my spirit.