31: Why It’s So Hard to Believe in Healing as a Christian Physician (And How to Break Free)

Hey friends

Have you ever wondered if healing like we read in the Bible still happens today?

 Today we're diving deep into a topic that's often challenging for many Christian physicians: the belief in divine healing. Let's discuss why we struggle to believe in healing miracles, even though we are trained as healers ourselves, and what we can learn from Jesus' healing ministry to help our patients more deeply. I'll share some insights from my own journey, including an incredible ICU experience that transformed my faith in healing prayer. 

Plus, I'll give you practical tips on integrating your faith and medical practice to bring the Kingdom of God to your patients. So grab your coffee and journal, and let's explore how to break free from skepticism and truly believe in the power of healing. If you're ready for a deeper dive, join our 'Heal the Healers Mentorship Program'—a community designed for faith-driven physicians like you. Stay tuned for the next episode; exciting things are coming!

00:00 Introduction: Healing in Modern Times

01:08 Challenges for Christian Physicians

05:20 Personal Testimony: A Life-Transforming Experience

08:50 Integrating Faith and Medical Practice

19:26 Biblical Foundations of Healing

22:57 Encouragement and Final Thoughts

25:11 Invitation to Heal the Healers Mentorship Program

Enroll in the Heal The Healers Mentorship Program HERE 👉 https://www.ingahofmann.com/heal-the-healers-mentorship-program

🎙️ Episodes mentioned:

Episode 1. Why I Started This Podcast

Episode 8. Has Medicine Become Your Idol?

Episode 11. Four Ways to Pray for Your Patients

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Transcript

0:01

Have you ever wondered if healing like we read in the Bible still happens today? And if so, how can you as a Christian physician really tap into that and learn from the ministry of Jesus and his healing ministry, how to help your patients on a deeper level? Well, if that is, you, stay tuned for after the music and we will be right back and unpack this episode./Well, hello there, friends, and welcome back to another episode of Heal the Healers. And today I wanna talk about why it is so hard for us Christian physicians to believe in healing and how to break free from that. You know, as a physician, you are of course trained to be a healer. You studied medicine, you went to residency, maybe did a fellowship and have practice for. A number of years. And so sometimes what I've found in conversations with other Christian physicians is that we tend to be a little bit reserved about the ministry of healing of Jesus. And is Jesus still healing people today? And I thought it would be fun to have this conversation on the podcast. I did actually a much deeper dive about this question and we are still unpacking it inside the Heal the Healers Mentorship Program, which is my. Mentorship, coaching and teaching and discipleship program where you can be in a community of like-minded physicians to get equipped to get discipled, to get a spiritual mentor as a Christian physician to help you alongside the walk and do your walk as a Christian physician and physician healer. And if you're interested, stay tuned and I will share more how you can join that. But in any case we have been actually having a whole series on the healing ministry of Jesus and how that affects us today, what we can learn from that, how we should incorporate healing prayer, whether it's for physical healing, emotional spiritual challenges. Into our daily practice and it's been so amazing and powerful. So if you wanna dive deeper, I definitely invite you to join us in the conversation. But as we started our conversation a few weeks ago, it was really interesting to hear different perspectives, what people believe about. Healing prayer, the power of healing prayer still today as a physician and a lot of interesting questions and thoughts and objections came up. So I thought I'm going to just share a few nuggets in this podcast today. It's impossible to go through all of it because otherwise we will be here for hours. I do a weekly teaching every Monday night for 60 to 90 minutes, and we pray and we ask tough questions and. I really have great deep conversations, so it's hard to put that all here. But I wanna distill down some key questions and thoughts that came up that I think are gonna help you. And it's all centered around this concept of why is it so hard for us to believe in healing as a Christian physician and what can we do about it? And perhaps you are a physician and your life. I actually believe Christ is still healing today. I've seen it, I've witnessed it. Prayers. General practice for me as a Christian physician. Well, that's totally awesome and oh, I would love to hear your testimony and maybe you can even come on the show and share your testimony. I would love to hear it and, but I know that there is a whole spectrum of physicians that actually really struggle with that. And often we say, yeah, I believe that Jesus can still heal today. But honestly, in my personal journey, I've found that I might say that, but in the day to day do I really believe it. And that's really what I wanna kind of touch up on today. So this is not so much a theological analysis and deep dive into all the scripture analysis, but more the stuff that goes on in our head. To just give some frameworks and some food for thought. So I hope this blesses you today. This is gonna be from the pillar. Remember I talked about there's three core things you really need to learn about and grow in, in your walk as a Christian physician, number one is healing ministry. Number two is kingdom leadership, and number three is spiritual growth and discipleship. So this really fits right into pillar number one, which is healing ministry. And as an example, of course, the best person to always learn from and to look into is we learn from Jesus and we learn from scriptures. So. If you have followed me for a while you probably heard actually my personal testimony that I share in the very beginning of this podcast where I had a patient that was very sick in the ICU. I'm a pediatric bone marrow transplant physician. That patient had a very high risk transplant and had numerous complications. And in essence by all medical knowledge. Nobody really believed he's gonna make it. And I share in early episodes. I will link it in the show notes how I started praying for this patient. During my quiet time and interceding and how the Lord showed me even complications that were not happening yet, but things that would happen so that I can already excede and intercede ahead of time of what would be happening, whether I was liver or lung complications and the kidney, et cetera. And it was a really fascinating journey for me. It was. Honestly, life transforming. One of the key reasons why I'm doing this podcast, why I mentor people and disciple people now is because I had a life transformational experience and encounter with the Holy Spirit to tap into and really get woken up to, wow, the Lord heals. There's a whole nother level of prayer I never really acknowledged and a whole nother layer of. Spiritual intelligence and knowledge that I have never really accessed, and that's what I'm now so passionate about, because I feel like for the last, whatever, three decades before that in my life, I was believing the Lord for things, but I was really. Sleeping under a rock in many ways. Even. I was a Christian, I was going to church. I let small group I read my Bible prayed for my patients and have seen some things where the Lord walked out things in my life. But this was a absolutely life transformational experience because my patient that should, by all medical accounts, probably not be here today. Came out of that hospital and I totally believe it was the power of God and prayers lifted up in intercession and the Lord intervening because of those prayers that this patient is alive today and all. Glory to God, this is nothing that I could have done. This is really the power of God and I'm so grateful. So check out that episode. We actually a lot more details what happened, but that was a personal encounter I had for prayer that forever changed my life and my perspective. And then I had some personal experience. I experienced greater levels of freedom. That I didn't even realize I needed as well as physical healing through prayer from other people. And so I'm on a quest to help physicians heal and be restored in the name of Jesus and work for the glory of God and as kingdom physicians. So that's why we are here today, that. Was a much longer intro than I wanted to say, but I really want you to hear the heart behind it because I know that as highly intellectual people, we often have our guards up, our skepticisms up and we kind of bit cautious and understandable. So, what I wanna share with you is basically some core things that I have discovered that make it difficult to believe in healing as a Christian physician. And just, I think alone, the awareness will help you maybe break free from some of those beliefs. So number one. Just to summarize a few points and then I will dive in deeper. What are some key points? Our intellect often stands in the way because we are highly trained. We value intellect, we value things that we can study and scientifically proof, and therefore it is harder to grasp a spiritual concept for us. And I'm generalizing. You might be here. And I'm like, holy Spirit, I've seen her move. And that's awesome and all glory be to God. But I know that is not true for most Christians, physicians that I meet. So that's why I'm doing this episode. I would say also medical school has largely conditioned us. Again, for good reasons to analyze, to dissect, to question everything to apply the scientific method, which is obviously wonderful and we should but it's often harder to apply that method to things of faith and therefore we are kind of putting it on a lower level. And then the obvious thing. And this is a bit of a hard truth to swallow, but I'm gonna just say it because I have been there, is that we made our reason, our intellect, our medical training, our God, and have exalted that. Above the Lord and often we put God on the shelf and consult him as a second opinion. When we are out of ideas and out of the depth of our knowledge, the Bible says in our weakness, we are made strong. So it is good that we eventually return to the Lord and say, I'm actually at the end of my rope here. I don't know how to help this patient. I need your help. Well, thank God that we get to that point and have been at that point many times in my career, but it also created a wake up call for me, especially when I have these radical encounters to say, wow, why didn't I bring him in on the forefront? And the reason why, and I hear this over and over again with others too, because. Personally, I felt like, you know, that's pretty standard stuff. I can figure out how to treat a standard risk acute leukemia on a child. I've done that for decades. I know what to do. There's treatment protocols and we go by our human reasoning, and that's perfectly fine. That training is there and God has given you the ability to absorb All that training has opened doors for you. And that's wonderful and you should absolutely a hundred percent use it. So don't hear what I'm not saying. But what I am saying is that we tend to rely on everything that we know first before we turn to the Lord. And actually the Lord just wants us to come to him all the time with everything. Because you will quickly find in your medical career if you have done it for any significant length of time, there will time and time where you had all your medical knowledge and things should have worked out based on your knowledge, and they didn't. And I've been down that road a number of times as well, and in some very desperate and just tragic situations whereby the medical books, this should have not happened. And I was devastated. And of course I prayed, but I, I'm gonna tell you right now that you will face situations where you think you got it all figured out in your medical knowledge, and you actually have no clue and you need the Lord. So what I wanna encourage you with this is pause and reflect as you go about your day and really say, Lord, am I exalting my medical knowledge and medicine above you? And I bet you. That most of you do this subconsciously all the time. And again, I'm not trying to guilt or shame because I'm saying I have done that too. And I think we have to be aware of that. If we really want to be impactful kingdom physicians and we have to learn how to. Pause and actually say, wow, I have made medicine my idol above God,. Because everything we exalt above the Lord, whether it's your time you put into your kicked activities or in your busy schedule on your other hobbies or your medical training or everything else is an idol. Right? The Bible is very clear about that and we sometimes I think are a little bit cavalier about it. And I really believe the Lord wants to prune those things and wants to draw us back to him and have us rely on him, and it is better for us to. Turn around in our mindset and say, you know what, actually I need to be aware of that, those pitfalls where I tend to rely on self versus the Lord. We all do that every day very easily and have to surrender to him because if we don't, the lord's gonna lead you places and situations where you will be forced. To evaluate that situation and I will be much harder. And I've been there too. I'm saying that out of love and encouragement to you so do not make medicine your idol. And if you have. Confess, repent. Turn around and say, Lord, help me figure this out. How to strike the balance is maybe the wrong word. How do I integrate my faith fully rely on you a hundred percent, but utilize all that you have poured into me, into my medical knowledge, all that I've learned. All my experience to represent you and the kingdom of God fully on this earth. And you cannot do it without God and without hearing your Bible and without speaking in prayer that's really important. And I did do another episode about this idea of medicine. Has medicine become your idol? I don't remember which episode number it was. I'm gonna put it in the show notes as well, so you can easily go into it and take a listen. I really wanna encourage you about these things. How this idol shows up sometimes that unknowingly we just idolize science, more evidence is more important and our reputation is often more important. But again, ask yourself, do I trust medical outcomes more than God's power? Do I trust the prognosis and the medical journal more than God's power? I'm not saying the journal's wrong, and you shouldn't read the journal What I am saying is you have that knowledge, but you can say, but my God is greater than this. That does not mean that you have to give false hope and rose colored classes to every patient, but you can be truthful in, in high integrity. Yet full of hope. And maybe that's one of the giftings the Lord has blessed me with. That is one of the things I feel like I was able perhaps because of in the specialty I am in pediatric oncology, to try to walk that out every day. And actually patients have said that to me. And again, I'm not trying to say that to boast, but I'm saying that when we treat patients, and obviously when you're in pediatric oncology, it's an interesting situation. I love it with our most compassion, yet, be highly scientifically trained. You can do both. But it's very hard to do that without Jesus. I encourage you in this way. Be hopeful. Know that the Lord is more than a prognosis, but you don't have to throw your medical knowledge out the window either. Sometimes I think what people are afraid of is I don't wanna look unprofessional in what I'm doing and is my fear of looking unprofessional. Greater than having a divine opportunity to see the hand of God work. These are just questions I throw out there at you and say. Journal on them. When you go about your day in your clinical setting, ask yourself these questions because I think they might unlock something to help you gain a deeper understanding where am I missing opportunities? Where are the deeper realms of growth? I can grow in my spiritual awareness to bring the kingdom of God to my patients? Without them even knowing it. You don't have to hit them with a Bible over the head, although sometimes the Lord might open doors for you to share something from the Bible and just some wisdom. But what I'm saying is how you show up, how you represent yourself, how you shine your light. There's a reason the Lord says, you know, you shine your light. You don't hide it. And the piece that transcends all understanding that is coming out of you. People should see Jesus when they see us. And I know that's a tall order, but that's what we are designed and called to do. Another thing that we're often challenged with is sort of this part of can intellect and the spirit ISTs. So basically, is God. And I posted this the other day. I said, God is not anti science, science is anti God. And I know I should probably do a whole podcast episode on this it was interesting to see the responses and of course I did it a little bit divisive for a reason. But we often have this understanding or the sphere science and God, can that of coexist? Well I totally fully believe and obviously you do to some degree at least as well. Otherwise you wouldn't be here and doing what you're doing. But God is not inter intellect. He has given you the intellect. He knows how you're thinking. He graded your brilliant mind. You just need to make sure that you submit your intellect under the spirit of God. So your mind is a mind of Christ, like the Bible says, and you're transformed by the renewing of your mind, not by your intellect or your emotions for that matter. So there are probably a lot more things we can talk about and study and analyze. What I would encourage you to do is really re-look at the gospels, look at the ministry of Jesus. You will realize that the majority of Jesus'. Ministry was healing and deliverance. And of course he did a lot of teaching on the kingdom and the gospel. But he demonstrated the kingdom by healing and deliverance, showing compassion to people being inconvenienced and stop and help the people in need. pray for them and heal the sick and broken hearted and cast out demons. So in Mark 16, 17 to 18, it says, these signs will follow those who believe they will lay their hands on the sick and they will recover. That's a abbreviated version of the verse Read it. That will also say, you know, they cast out demons in my name. They will pick up poisoned snakes and they will not be harmed. So we have a mandate, james tells us very clearly in James five 14 through sixteens, is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them, anoint them in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person, well, the Lord will raise them up. If they have sin, they will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. So the Bible, even after Jesus. Death and resurrection, the early church practice. In fact, through our church history, we can see that healing was very normative in the body of Christ and that healing ministry I took on different forms. And I don't wanna go too deep into history. We cover that in actually my program. I did a whole history class on sort of a little overview, touch on some. Historical concepts of healing and the church history. So if you wanna dive into that join the mentorship program. We see throughout church history healing and prayer ministry has never really seized. It took on different forms. It had some challenges, but it is very biblical to follow the example of Jesus. And pray for the sick. And that's what the Bible teaches us and that is what I encourage you to do. Now, if you are wondering, well, how do I do that? Because I'm kind of afraid of repercussions praying for my patients. I do have an episode in how to Pray for your patients. I think it's maybe episode four or five. Again, I'm gonna put it in the show notes, but I give you some very practical tips and we can talk more about that in the future as well. But I just encourage you. Be led by the Holy Spirit. Ask the Lord to show you each day opportunities, how you conserve him and how you can pray for patience with, for or without them. And there are plenty opportunities and he will show you and guide you and instruct you in all things. I encourage you to just read the gospels with fresh eyes, maybe take the gospel of Mark and see his healing and deliverance ministry to see, wow, Jesus did a number of miracles. I mean, it's full of it. And he has given us all power. And the keys of the kingdom to do the same. And remember, don't let your intellect stand in the way God has given you the intellect, but don't make it an idol and just ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how to walk in wisdom to do both but to submit yourself to the Lord and bring the kingdom of God to your patients. Now enough said, I hope this encouraged you. I just wanna encourage you that Lord heals today. I have seen it with my own eyes. I've experienced it in my own body. I've experienced it with my own patients. I've seen it in services and it always moves me. And this is the last thing I wanna say. I know there's a lot of sensationalism out there, and it is of course, super exciting when you're on a service and somebody gets healed. All praise be to Lord, but I wanna make sure that you understand and that we keep on the forefront. What is it doing? It's pointing back to Jesus. The healing ministry of Jesus is a ministry of love and compassion. And that's what we should be doing too. I pray for you. I encourage you. Journal on this. Look at the gospel of Mark with fresh eyes. Ask the Lord every morning and say, Lord, where do you have an open door for me today? To maybe pray for somebody ask him to say, Lord, we have, I maybe exalted my medical knowledge over the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of God. And with that, I wanna just pray for you and encourage you. Lord, thank you so much for everybody listening today. I bless these physicians, I bless them in the name of Jesus, to be the healing hands of Jesus, to have newfound faith in, in healing and prayer and the ministry of Jesus as a ministry of love and compassion towards their patients to see healing beyond just prescribing medications and being a skilled diagnostician to bring healing, not just through their physical bodies, but to the patients very soul and spirit. Thank you so much, Lord. I bless them everywhere they go. That you give them encounters and understanding and be led by the Holy Spirit to see opportunities to step out in faith guide by the Holy Spirit to pray for their patients and to increase their level of faith. Show them. How you have worked in their life and give them examples of what you're doing right. Even there this week. We thank you so much, Lord, and we pray that in your precious name. Amen. I did mention the Healer Healers Mentorship Program. So if that's a community you are interested in and you really feel like, oh my, this has been great. I need more teaching, I need a mentor, a spirit, a mentor, and discipleship. I wanna welcome you into the Heal the Healers Mentorship Program. It is a paid program. I just wanna be very clear with that. There's a lot of. Not just many hours of my time each week that goes into preparing for that class. It also just cost to run that ministry and that business and it helps support other things that I'm doing, such as this podcast such as my prayer ministry, et cetera. So I really encourage you to join. You will be very blessed. And if not, you can keep on listening to the podcast where I will drop nuggets all the time. But if you say, you know what, I'm ready to dive deeper. I really want somebody to hold me by the hand and hold me accountable every week, teach, pour into me, disciple me, mentor me then this group will be fantastic. And the best part is you will see that you're not alone. We have. Fantastic conversations within this group to talk about faith and medicine, the struggles, the hardships, the difficulties, but also the things we are really excited about. And I'm seeing God is really moving on those people in that group and people really start to embrace prayer for their patients and I'm just very delighted. So check out the show notes. You can join under inga hoffman.com/. Heal the Healers Mentorship Program that is a dash between each word, but I will put it in the show notes so you can easily access it and join us. I am so blessed and honored to spend time with you today. Stay tuned for the next episode and I have a lot more exciting things planned, so I cannot wait to chat with you about upcoming episodes. And have a blessed day. Talk to you soon. Bye-bye.