Heal The Healers Podcast

8. Has Medicine Become Your Idol?

• Inga Hofmann

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Has the reverence for medical training superseded our reliance on God? In our pursuit to master the art of medicine, have we inadvertently placed our faith in the backseat? If these questions resonate with you, this episode is your call to action. As a host and a fellow medical professional, I, Inga Hofmann, invite you to wrestle with these tough questions alongside me, as we delve into the often-overlooked intersection of faith and medicine.

 Alongside, we'll also discuss the transformative power of intercessory prayer, and how it can provide us with insightful revelations about our patients that even medical science might fail to uncover.

We round off this invigorating episode with a critical look at the role of prayer and medicine within the church. While we all acknowledge the importance of medical science, it's high time we reassess our instinctive reach for medical remedies, and instead lean on the healing power of prayer. The challenge is not to discard medical knowledge but to prioritize prayer and God's guidance above it. By doing so, we not only embrace a more holistic approach to healing but also safeguard our faith from potential derailment. Join us in this thought-provoking episode, as we strive to strike a balance between faith and medicine, aspiring to put God first, one physician and one patient at a time.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:37 The Intersection of Faith and Medicine

01:15 The Danger of Idolizing Medical Training

02:25 The Importance of Prioritizing God Over Medical Knowledge

04:09 The Role of Faith in Medical Decisions

05:15 The Consequences of Idol Worship in Medicine

11:19 The Power of Prayer and Intercession in Medicine

12:09 The Journey of Spiritual Growth and Awareness

12:59 The Importance of Staying Connected with God

15:24 The Shift from Prayer to Intercession

17:19 The Danger of Trusting Medical Training Over God

20:35 The Power of Healing Prayer

25:56 The Consequences of Neglecting Spiritual Healing

30:42 Conclusion: Putting God First in Medicine

Resources mentioned in this episode:
Facebook Live Interview about exploring the intersection of faith and medicine, prophetic intercession for patients, and more.

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The Intersection of Faith and Medicine

Speaker 1

As medical doctors, we have the privilege to get training in medicine at the most excellent places, and that is wonderful. But my question to you is how many times do you put your medical training above God, and how many times do we actually make that medical knowledge that we work so hard to acquire our own personal idol? This is going to be a tough one, but I want you to stay and listen, because this is something the Lord really has been talking to me about. So stay tuned for after the intro and we will be right back. Welcome to the Heal the Healers podcast, where we explore the intersection of faith and medicine, discover your God-given potential and experience Christ's healing in the midst of medical burnout. I'm your host, inga Hoffman, a pediatric, chemo-dog, physician, coach and follower of Jesus. Together, we will navigate the challenges of medicine, integrate faith into our personal and professional lives, experience spiritual renewal and find restoration in Christ. Welcome to the Heal the Healers, where Christ heals one physician and one patient at a time. Well, welcome back to another episode of Heal the Healers, and today I want to talk to you about something that God really convicted me. Is your medical training actually your idol? Has your medical training and all the letters behind your name become an idol and are you putting it above God, and this is kind of a tough pill to swallow. But stay with me, because I had to work through these things myself. Anything I'm sharing here, by the way, is something that the Lord spoke to me about that I had to work through that. I had to repent from that, I had to better understand, to know Him better, and this is no different. So please tune in with an open heart, with an open hand, and see what God has for us, because I think it is important that we continue to evaluate how God views us. He has placed us in our medical careers for a reason and he wants to fully equip and resource you. Sometimes that needs to have some refining, sometimes we need some correction. Praise God, because that is a good thing.

Speaker 1

So I have observed, at least in my own life, that oftentimes we trust in our medical training more than we trust God. It's oftentimes that we put Him last. And let me give you a very practical example. When you're sick, when I am sick, we go to our medical knowledge and first oh, I just have a cold, or my kids just have a stomach bug, or I need to take them into the doctor because they have this and that and that is all fine, but a lot of times what happens? We put all of these things above God and actually do everything else first the doctor's visit, the urgent care visit, before we even say, hey, god, I need to, before we even pray.

Speaker 1

I'm not saying you shouldn't take your child to the doctor or go to the physician when you need help or just kind of tune your own wheels in your brain about, hey, what do I know about this situation from my medical training? Do I need to see it somebody? That's not at all what I'm saying. God has gifted you with this intellect, with these skills, with all those things for you to use them. But what I want to caution us all about, including myself, that we don't use them above all and then put God last when we have no more place to go, because I see this happen a lot, including in Christian communities and churches that we do everything else and praying to God for healing, for His revelation, for help, is often the last resort effort, and it should be the other way around.

Speaker 1

I want to challenge you as you listen to this today how come we come to God last. Why do we keep Him outside of so many medical decisions we make for ourselves, for our families and for our patients? Why do we lie on the training first and the letters behind our name and only call out to Him in desperation when our medical knowledge runs out, when we have nothing left to give, when we have no more answers, no more wisdom? Why do we only have heartedly pray, when we pray for somebody's, maybe even healing even a patient that don't truly believe that he is healing anymore? Why do we segregate our lives so much between medicine and one corner and our faith in another corner? God has not given you all these gifts and skills and training and opportunities to separate them the two, or worse, put your medical training above God.

Speaker 1

That is idol worship and that is a very serious thing to God. In fact, I believe it grieves God when he sees that. It grieves him when we are struggling to figure out a patient all by our head, knowledge, asking colleagues, looking at textbooks and journal articles, and yet don't come to him for wisdom and advice. It grieves the Lord and I have done that too. You know he has sustained you, like we talked in the last lesson, throughout your medical training. He has allowed you to train at places to work where you are working right now, and he has trained you up.

Speaker 1

Yet we quickly forget to honor him for that and say, ok, now I got my training, now I'm good on my own. That is very prideful and selfish of us, and why am I saying this? Because I have been there too and I know it grieves God. We worship the letters behind our name first, our institutions, where we came from, where we trained, and even I was convicted of that. You know from my last episode where we talked about how God sustained us. I trained at some incredible places. I had the honor to go at some of the world-class training places for my subspecialties and I'm grateful for that, and I know God placed me there.

Speaker 1

But shall I not put that above God? Shall I not praise Harvard more than the Lord who actually put me there? And I had to really pray and be convicted of that as well, because it's very easy for us to say, oh well, look at my seaweed, when in fact look at God. And I want us all to reflect on that and to remind ourselves of that, because we can very easily fall into that trap because the entire environment around us functions this way. Now I know what you might be saying You're like, but, inger, we're already so shy to put ourselves on the pedestal and put ourselves out there. Yes, we are, and sometimes to our detriment. But you cannot put these things above God and sometimes you have to ask yourself am I trying to push something that is actually not God's intent? I'm not saying don't be not proud, but don't be honored by the training you have received, the people you were mentored under, and give them honor as well. That's why I made that big point in my last lesson. They deserve honor, even if they are not Christians, even if they have sometimes not treated you well. They deserve honor as well. But don't put all these things above God. You know years ago.

Speaker 1

I want to share the story with you After I just met at Harvard. I shared that story last time how I met at Harvard when I was a pediatric resident at COCSF and I found out I met at Watson Children's Hospital for my PTM on fellowship and I was so excited and I also knew again, like I mentioned last time, god had placed me there. I knew that was what God had intended and he had a purpose for that and he will sustain me through that. I shared that story on my last episode, so go back to listen to it if you haven't. But I got a very interesting revelation and a word that I now understand was really a prophetic word that spilled out of me that I didn't know then because, again, I had not had any of that spiritual holy spirit awareness as a Christian back then. Even I was a Christian at that point for I don't know 10 plus years. But there was something that came through my spirit, a revelation that I had that I want to share with you.

Speaker 1

I was sharing with a friend who was also a Christian physician in pediatrics, in a different specialty. She ended up doing endocrine and it was Sunday. We were walking down from our church to another church building that had just opened their doors and we were welcoming them and we basically wanted to support that other church in San Francisco. I remember we walked down the road and we were talking and we were talking about where we just had matched and we were so excited and she is also, as I mentioned, a Christian physician and we talked about our next career steps and how it will all go down and I was excited to share that.

Speaker 1

I matched at Boston Children's and that was really a big deal and it's a big, famous place. But I said these words that really spilled out of my spirit, out of my mouth, that I didn't understand how prophetic they were at the time and I said this to her. I know that even I matched at Boston Children's Hospital. I said something to this effect. I that the answers that my patients need will not be found in cell nature science magazines you know all the big impact journals but they will be found in the Word of God. What a profound statement. That was huge.

Speaker 1

I had the awareness at the time in my spirit not in my physical awareness, in my spirit. But I had that belief. The answers for my patients, what I need to help them to really serve them at the fullest level, even scientific discoveries, will be not found in any fancy journal with a high impact factor, but in the Word of God or through his spirit. How profound was that? And I don't think I realized how profound that really was until years later. Until now I'm learning to reflect on it and understand that back in 2005, I spoke a prophetic word over myself Hallelujah, praise the Lord. How long is that ago? Right, but now I understand the prophetic impact that had, and that it's continuing to have, on my life and that of my patients.

Speaker 1

But here's my confession. That sounds all wonderful, right, wow, that is a wonderful Christian experience. That is such a wonderful word. But here's the thing as I mentioned, I did not have spiritual awareness. I have faith that that is true. I did really believe that and I really dropped in my spirit.

Speaker 1

But I didn't understand it and, honestly, the years following I didn't live my life that way. There were times when I did, there were times when I prayed more than I, read more, but I didn't always live that way. In fact, a big part of my journey was that I kind of slipped away. I never walked away from God. My life got busy, training got busy, we had young children, church was difficult to get to and there are seasons in life and I do understand that and if you are in that season, my love and my heart goes out to you. Know that there are seasons and God has grace for that.

Speaker 1

But do not neglect the Lord. Do what he can to stay plugged in, even if it is in different ways, because you will need him. You need him more than you realize and more than you know. And it is so easy to get sucked in the daily agenda in rounds and your training in, in work, in our schedules, busyness with the kids that is very easy. We'll be so busy that we don't even pause and really spend time with God, who has all the answers, who fills us up, who renews us. So I just want to share that with you, because I have been there too and if you're on that season you can always turn around. God is still right there, waiting for you, patiently waiting for you to engage, waiting for you to come into his presence, because he wants to be there for you. He wants to give you the words of wisdom, the knowledge, feeling comforted and loved when you have no place to go. So I know that's a little tangent, but I know that there are people listening to this right now that feel in this place of despair and stress and struggle, not even having time to read their Bible on a consistent basis, and then you can go back to some of the earlier episodes. But I want you to hear get back in it. God is not mad. He will forgive you, repent and forgive and get your life right, but you can always pick up where you left off.

Speaker 1

Okay, so that was me. I had trouble reading my Bible consistently and thank God for not giving up on me. There were times and seasons where they not have a daily quiet time. What where? Was very short or kind of half-harvard as a chore. And, most importantly, god had mercy, he kept me, he drew me back in and I'm still holding on right here to his very word more than ever. Thank you, jesus, and I want that for you as well. So what put me back in? It was prayer and quiet time, and after years of being faithful with that, he then showed me the power that comes through his wonderful name.

Speaker 1

I share the story where I prayed for a patient just a couple of few years ago, fervently every day, after having established a practice of prayer and quiet time with the Lord. That then God showed me how to move from just prayer, praying the words hopefully my patient will do well to really interceding. And there is a difference. You can pray in other words, oh God, please give me wisdom for my patient, that I make the right decision. Or we say, well, god, lead the surgeon's hands, and that's an okay prayer.

Speaker 1

By when you intercede for somebody, you standing between the person and God and you're stepping into that gap and you are declaring, you're announcing, you're praying into their situation, and God shows you things that you couldn't know by your medical knowledge or even by by any natural observation. He will show you things in those moments that are supernatural, so I hate that word. That sounds new agey, and I'm not for new age, not anymore so I wanted to really understand that difference, but it takes time. It took me time to go back to the presence of the Lord, to get that revelation, to be able then to step into intercession that was so fueled by this holy spirit inspired belief. That was unshakable, and if you haven't listened to that story, I shared a little bit in other episodes as well as an interview I did. That you can find on my Facebook page, heal the Healers, so that is something I think that is important to remember.

Speaker 1

You can always come back, so I'm asking you today, though, is there a place where you put your medical training before God, and, if so, are you ready to return and put things in the right order? You know, you might wonder based on that testimony for that patient, you might say, inga, didn't you pray before ever for your patients all the time? I prayed for my patients all the time. I would say not every patient all the time, but a lot of patients. You know honestly, as I speak out loud, it comes to me I prayed for those difficult situations. Right, I didn't pray for the no-brainer. That's an easy case. This is an easy like. I see this every day, I know what to do. I prayed in the situations where I felt my medical knowledge now ran out of wisdom. That's exactly where I prayed. That is a perfect example where I said everything in medicine first and then I pray when I'm running out of knowledge or wisdom or smart colleagues to ask. Right, and I did that too.

Speaker 1

I didn't always pray fervently for every patient in that intensity when I felt on a physical realm. I'm a doctor, I've done this for a long time, I have things under control and that was quite prideful, because there came a situation also in my life where I had this no-brainer. This is an easy kind of a. It was a bone-air transplant patient. This is a straightforward, easiest transplant ever. This is like we have done this for decades and I didn't expect anything to go wrong and everything went wrong and I prayed for that patient. And why did that patient not make it? The Lord knows. I prayed for that patient very intently and I always had the posture until this recent experience of the miracle patient that really shifted my perspective on prayer and intercession.

Speaker 1

I always prayed, in a way, for my patients. That was number one. Yes, when my medical knowledge ran out, that I do the right thing, and it was also Lord, I'm doing my best and I trust everything about this patient I put in your hands. Now that's, in general, a good prayer, because we don't know everything and and God does know. So I trusted the Lord to do the right thing and to guide me and to instruct me, to give me wisdom, to give me understanding, to open up new treatment opportunities. Maybe that weren't there before, whatever took diagnostic wisdom for sure. So I did pray for all those things, but I always had this attitude, which is also a good one, that I do my best. God takes care of the rest. So I rested in His presence and His goodwill for every patient and that was good.

Speaker 1

I'm not saying move away from that, that is a very good place to be but praying then to interceding for this patient where I moved from regular prayer and say God, give me wisdom too. Now I'm having Holy Spirit inspired words, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, prophetic knowledge of what is to come to intercede for. That took my prayer to intercession, took me to physically know what I see and pray for, to what I could not yet see, but what was happening already in the Spirit and let me pray into that. That's a big difference praying what you see in the physical realm versus interceding in a prophetic way what is not yet seen in the physical realm. And it's hard to capture that until you experience it. And I apologize if it isn't clear, that's the best way I can explain it. But that was a huge part and in that moment I submitted everything to God Because in that moment not only did my medical knowledge clearly run out, I was desperate, but it entered this peace and conviction in that moment that not only God knows, he has already seen the end.

Speaker 1

I have that deep conviction that that patient will be okay. So when I now entered a medical situation or conversation that would say that patient is not gonna make it, the odds are against you. The cardiac is stacked in the wrong way. You know conversations we have in the hospital, especially if you are in an intensive situation with a patient where it's like life or death. We then grasp our medical knowledge and we hold on to that and say, well, there is no chance this is gonna go this way. Based on my experience, on the data, I cannot see this work out and we face that all the time. As physicians and there we often I have done this make the mistake in trusting and that more than trusting in the word of the Lord, and that is a difference. But of course there's also the challenge to not be so focused on God's gonna do a miracle on every patient and then feel defeated when it doesn't happen. That's a topic we can talk about another time that I'm still working out in my own.

Speaker 1

But I just want you to leave with this Do not fall into the enemy's trap and trusting your own words and wisdom and knowledge and medical training and letters behind your name above God. If you're a Christian physician, god should be first and everything should be ordered under that. That's very important, and when you do that, it will allow you also to see deeper, to have a deeper spiritual understanding and be also more open to receive from the Lord what maybe in our pride and our arrogance, because we were hiding behind the letters, behind our name, we're not open to receiving because we were prideful in our hearts about our knowledge. So ask yourself that today, am I putting God first or am I putting my medical training first? Check yourself against that. And if that is you, if you have been, just like me, trusting your medical training before God, well then it is time to repent for not trusting Him first, as he is the creator not of just of you, also of the patient in front of you, and then repent, ask Him for forgiveness and turn around and let Him teach you how to do it in the right way that is honoring Him and is honoring the work of your hands for the glory of the kingdom. I hope this blessed you today and I hope this helped you, and just pray that you know God.

Speaker 1

Show me the knowledge I gained and the skills that I have and use them with wisdom, but never put the healing knowledge, the medical knowledge, above the healer that the patients need, because the ultimate healer is Jesus, not us. We are just the vessel and he can use medicine to work miracles but honestly, he doesn't need it. I've seen patients healed without medicine and you can read stories and up on stories and testimonies and up testimonies, and the Bible is full of those. So, lord, may you heal us, may you heal and restore each and every one of us physician healers, so that we may return to you and be able to be the hands and feet of Jesus, so that we can show the kingdom of God, not by our wisdom and knowledge, but by your love, your compassion, your care for people and how we apply that knowledge under your authority. And the last thing I want to leave you on this may be a topic for another time that a lot of times when we don't point as physicians to God, the healer, as question physicians, especially even in the church, guess what happens from a patient perspective? People that don't have an outlet to go. They tried medicine right Patients have the same issues, even question patients, believing patients in your church.

Speaker 1

They will go to the doctor, they will trust this report. More than that, they will trust in all these things and maybe they don't even experience that there is a power feeling or there's maybe not even a teaching or a prayer. You know how we sometimes people go pray for patients in the hospital but they never believe anything will happen. We just do it because the Bible says so. Guess what happens to these patients? They're stuck in their faith, they don't experience the power of God and they are stuck in medicine, which is a very broken system and not perfect, guess what?

Speaker 1

What are supposed to do? They then turn to other sources and often because we have this innate est of spiritual understanding and, especially as Christians, we know that there is a deeper spiritual world, there is an unseen world, right that? Then they seek help. If they don't get it in a church or for their doctor, where do they go Now? They go to the Wubu people. Right, they go to see their acupuncturists, their hymepap, their chiropractor and they go do all sorts of other things, maybe even buying crystals and burning sage and doing new age stuff. That is quite frankly dangerous and you should not do as a question. Because they have nowhere else to go, because they have that need, eye and pain, but they look for healing in all the wrong places because neither the church nor us Christian physicians provide direction for that and medical knowledge has only helped us so far.

Speaker 1

So what are we supposed to do with the work of healing, prayer for people, delivering from oppression. But if we know the Bible is true and that Jesus still holds today, then we are supposed to do what he taught us to do. What we are supposed to do is healing, praying for sick people, helping people get delivered from oppression, according to Mark 16, 15 to 18. What does it say? He said to them go into all the world and preach the gospel to our creation. We call that missionary work, great. No, you are supposed to go too. You and I are supposed to go, and whoever believes in me and is baptized will be saved. But whoever does not believe will be condemned, and these signs will accompany those who believe In my name they will drive out demons, they will speak in your tongues, they will pick up snakes with their hands when they drink deadly poison. It will not hurt them at all. They will place their hands on sick people and they will get well. So then, what are we doing?

Speaker 1

And, more importantly, what is the consequence for us believers in the church if we again put the medical knowledge first and don't actually trust in the board of the God? And again, if there's no power in the church, meaning there's no belief in healing, no move of the Holy Spirit, no belief in power and authority that Jesus has given us. Then where do the broken hearted and sick people and oppressed people go If the doctors cannot help them? The church doesn't help them, but they are in desperate need because they have a real need physically, emotional, spirited. Then they go somewhere else, they seek help from some other sources and their chances are they're going to suffer even more, and that is not good. In some cases they might seek help in places that then get them completely off track and against the word of God.

Putting God First in Medical Training

Speaker 1

So I want you to be cautious of that, because our attitude that medicine stands above all has real implications, not just in your own walk with Jesus and the patients in front of you, but also how you show up at church and what you portray at church. If people ask you for your medical knowledge more than they ask you hey, can you also pray for me? Something is off. We shouldn't be doing that. I love praying for people in church. Now, it took me a while to understand. Hey, I need to put that in front of my medical knowledge. So I think that is really, really important. So it's a big topic we can talk about all day.

Speaker 1

I want to leave you with this Put God first, put Him above your medical training. As you walk in your daily walk with God, as you show up at work and also show that as you are a member of your local church, put God first. Put your medical training under that. There is no place to turn that around and so point people to the healer, which is Jesus. Thank you, have a blessed day. My prayer is that you were encouraged, strengthened and perhaps even convicted with this episode today. If this podcast has blessed you, would you help share it with your friends and colleagues and even share it on social media? Also, leave us a review on the podcast platform where you are listening to this content. It would help us a lot. Together, we can share the good news of Jesus and transform medicine, one physician and one patient at a time. Have a great day, god bless.