I really wasn't going to get into this, but when I logged on I found 5 members and 39 guests watching this forum, because of all of the lurkers that have been and are following this thread I feel the need to show the other side of the position of the OP, ...and hopefully the OP will see it that way and allow open discussion without flaming and insisting his way is the only way.
There is so much talk about Scripture in this thread, then let's take a look at some, Gen 32:24-32, for instance, the story of Jacob wrestling with the Angel of the Lord, in verse 25 we see God purposefully inflicting pain on Jacob and as the story continues God changes his name from conniver to Israel, ruled by God, we read Israel limped for the rest of his days and we read God blessed him, not healed him, but blessed him in his infliction and pain. The lesson we can learn from this story is when he is called Jacob he was walking in the flesh, a conniver, thief, deceiver, but when he is referred to as Israel he is ruled by God, that is, he is walking in the Spirit. So then the question is why did God purposefully hurt Jacob, we call it the breaking process, when we are saved all of our sins are washed away, forgotten by God, put in a sack, tied up and thrown into the deepest part of the ocean, never to be remembered again by God, but then Paul tells us there is a battle raging inside of us, the carnal nature fighting with our new spiritual nature, and our spiritual nature fighting with our flesh, some people respond to the urgings of the Holy Spirit to crucify their flesh daily and some, like me don't, hence we need to be broken, like Jacob at the age of 97.
As the Lord was breaking me I admit it was painful, it started in my early 50's, suddenly I was sick, I had only been seriously sick one time in my life up to that time, God didn't heal me and He hasn't healed me, the disease is controlled with medication, another part of this breaking process was a few years later I caught a cold and the virus severed the nerve in my right ear and I lost my balance, hence today I walk like I'm drunk, then come to find out the medication for the first illness gave me diabetes, so today I'm having to shoot up 50 units of insulin a day, then my eyes went bad, in my left eye it's distortion, my right eye has cataracts, my knees are shot, on top of all that I was as strong at 60 years of age as I was at 30, five years later my strength has so diminished that talking out the garbage is a chore.
Of course I prayed for healing and it hasn't come, and I think most of you know my walk of faith from the tid-bits I have shared, but may I tell you what I have learned from the pain in the breaking process, when I was younger I prayed Father give me knowledge, wisdom, strength, health, love, patience, compassion, etc, but through the breaking process and because of the pain in my life I have learned, I have changed how I pray, now it's Father, wold you please be my knowledge, wisdom,strength, health, love, patience, compassion, etc. and in so doing it's no longer me doing it, me trying to do something for God, me trying to do the work of God, but like Paul said, it's Christ living in me to do His will and preform His good pleasure, so yes, Father has inflicted pain on me, but it was for my good, just like Jacob, I'll be sick for the rest of the time I have left, do I have faith, yes, just like James said, I can show you my faith from my works, do I want to be healed, not really, why, because His grace is sufficient for me and His strength is made perfect in my weakness, He makes me strong, He is my strength, He enables to perform all of the work He has given me to do on a daily basis, I'm 65 years old, yet He has given me three jobs, we go to work at 6 AM and finish around 5 PM in fact, because I haven't taken a vacation in over 15 years, some times I'm convinced He allows me to be sick just because I need the rest, ...now do I really want to give up all that I have with Him, just to gibber in tongues??????
So there you have it, both sides of the coin, one side is me, me, me, I, I, I, .....the other side is you Lord Jesus, come and live and work through me.
Some more Scriptures in their correct context;
The Lady with the issue of blood, she said if I could only touch the hem of his robe, ...we see in the Old Testament the "badge" of authority, kind of like gold stars on the General's collar, or stripes on the Sargents arm, was on the hem of the robe, in wanting to touch the hem of Jesus' robe she was acknowledging His authority as Christ, so when Jesus said your faith has healed you, He was confirming to her in her belief He was the Christ and as God in the flesh she was healed by being in His presence.
The lady who said, "but Lord, even the dogs eat from the crumbs that fall from the master's table," ...she was a Canaanite and was addressing Jesus as if she were a Jew, that is why Jesus ignored her at first, also why He explained He had been sent to the lost house of Israel, not the Canaanites, but then we read she came and worshiped Him (acknowledging the curse of Noah on the descendents of Ham) and called Him Lord, which again caused Jesus to confirm her faith in Him as the Jewish Messiah.
Here's another Scripture I believe to be relevant to this discussion, John 5:2-13, there was a lame man sitting on a porch by a pool, waiting for an angel to pass by and the first person into the pool would be healed, Jesus walked up to the man and healed him, the man took up his bed and walked, no doubt rejoicing in the miracle that had been performed in his body, however, when questioned as to who it was that had healed him he didn't know, ...and that is the problem with the glorifying of the gifts of God and not the Giver of the gifts, the people don't give glory to God, but rather to the man who performed the wonder.
So, all of you silent lurkers, please remember what Jesus' first admonition was to His disciples concerning the sign of His coming and the end of the world,
And Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no man deceive you. Mat 24:4
Blessings,
Gene