Healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, cleansing the lepers are not token symbols of the Good News Jesus proclaimed. These are inseparable, organic components of the Kingdom Jesus brought with him.

They are the essential, natural, appropriate elements of God's intentional goodness. These acts are not merely optional expressions or symbolic tokens, but are literal manifestations of a mercy that extends far beyond sympathy.

Remaining barren, lame, contorted, and blind does not reveal God's mercy. A medicine that does not give you relief turns you around and sends you back to the doctor’s office for a second opinion. It’s not acceptable to you.

If the King of Kings is no better at healing than your local physician, how is He any better at forgiving your sins? Why do you even bother going to church? Jesus invited people to believe Him, not because of His words, but because of His works. Just hear what He said:

If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.

Jesus emphatically bound the verity of His word to the effects of His power.

It is completely reasonable for unbelievers to expect the same from the church. Shouldn’t church leaders and everyday Christians make the statement: “If I don’t do the works of Christ, disregard my words”? Where and from whom have you heard any such declarations? Can we blame unbelievers for accusing us of hypocrisy when we tell them to believe our words of truth, but cannot back them up?

Christians often express that the greatest thing God does for us is forgive our sins and save our souls and give us eternal life. Well, if that's the case, then healing our bodies ought to be a walk in the park.

Healing and miracles (signs and wonders) are not in conflict with the message of salvation. They are the very outbreak of the same message. They are literal and palpable manifestations of the kingdom into which we have been saved. The very nature of a new creation in Christ is born with all the supernatural capabilities of that nature.

Consider how the sound and breathing of your mouth, and the rhythmic bounce of your pulse indicate that you are alive. Breathing and heartbeat are not extras, but are signs of life.

Steady breathing and a rhythmic heartbeat are not optional, or add-ons, but proofs that one is alive. You have no life apart from them. They don't produce your life, but are essential expressions of the life you live. One would never say, “the most important thing is that you are alive, not that you have a heartbeat, or that you inhale and exhale.”

So it is with the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus. It does not come separate from the elements and powers and gifts of all that life encompasses.

A human comes with arms and legs and several other parts. We could say a human can live without arms and legs but we’d never say that they are optional or symbolic of a human being. Can you imagine something worse than a fully functioning person who, because he believes he is paraplegic, persists in living like one? Is Christ’s own body paraplegic?

A son or daughter of God who is born again and has the gift of eternal life, can exist without the supernatural powers of that life. But he could never call that ‘abundant life’. And, why would he want to live in opposition to the powers and gifts of his true nature?