Healing

   One time miracles of healing are documented in the bible, but sustained healing (Good Health) in the body of a believer does not have to rely on a relatively rare and usually “one time” miracle.

   Sustained healing (Good Health) begins with the new spirit given to us when we believe on Jesus Christ and become born again of the Spirit of Christ as prophesied by Ezekiel which says, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh”. (Ezekiel 36:26)  Jesus talks about this new spirit, with Nicodemus, where he says, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3-7) Sustained good health is a provision of that kingdom mentioned here to Nicodemus by Jesus. According to Jesus, we cannot even begin to see (visualize) this Kingdom until we become believers in Christ and therefore we cannot begin to visualize our supernatural healing either, until we receive our new spirit. 

   One of the most quoted scriptures on healing is taken from a prophecy given by Isiah which says, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed (Is. 53:5)”. This is talking about the perfect health we receive along with our new spirit and new heart, at the very moment of salvation. It is not talking about the healing which occurs in our physical bodies; At least not directly. That healing either takes place as an absolute miracle or as an ongoing process in a believer’s body and is very much dependent on the spiritual condition of a believer’s soul (mind, will and emotions). John knew this when he said, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers”. (3 John 1:2) However, the Bible says that our soul (mind) cannot prosper and therefore our bodies cannot remain in good health, if we are only acting on our carnal thoughts alone. “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace”. (Romans 8:6) 

   Any examination of Jesus’ healing miracles during His time on earth as a man will reveal important facts about how supernatural healing really works but a workable understanding of this most complex subject is not just going to jump off the pages of the Bible in any comprehensive way to the casual reader of the word of God. It is going to take a lot of mediation and prayer and usually a lot of undoing of false beliefs in the mind of most Christians, to walk consistently in supernatural good health.

   The Bible shows us that Jesus healed by the Word and by the ability of the sick to choose to believe instead choosing to disbelieve. When we choose to believe according to God’s word, then God acts according to his word but he will never violate our will to choose unbelief over believing what his word says. God will always respect our right to choose. If we choose to dwell in unbelief then so be it. If we choose to ask God’s Holy Spirit to help us with our unbelief, He will. Mark 9:24  “Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"
When this man ask for Jesus to help his unbelief, he received his miracle.

 

Does God heal everyone?
No.

Why are some people not healed?
The one word answer is “Unbelief”.

 

Whose faith is necessary for healing: the sick person’s, the minister’s, both, or God’s faith?
The answer is “God’s faith”. Our part is to just believe, which acts to release that faith. Eph. 2:8 For by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves: It is a gift of God. (The Greek word for ”saved” here is “sozo” which includes not just salvation but bodily healing as well as total restoration of spirit, soul and body)

The believer already possesses all the faith needed to do all things through Christ (Philippians 4:13) including receiving healing in our bodies. However, that faith must be activated by choosing to believe what the bible says. Our part is to simply believe the bible and start releasing this faith by starting to visualize ourselves healed. You say I can’t do that. Yes you can. You will one day put on your glorified body so start there. Start imaging being in your glorified body with no sickness or death, ever. Our thoughts have power. Reject all negative thoughts that are contrary to the word of God because as one thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7)

Here are 9 situations that can help release God’s healing power by stimulating a person’s ability to believe.

1. The influence of other Christians and ministers: The gift of healing is as powerful in one Christian as another. However, it is unbelief which chokes off and prevents God’s healing power from flowing into the sick person’s mind and then their bodies. This unbelief can come from the person ministering or the one being ministered too or both. Even Jesus was hindered by unbelief. (Mark 6:5-6)

Perceptions of the person ministering to a sick person are also very important. (Mark 6:3) If a sick person gets prayer from those in the same church he or she is attending, it may be much harder to believe that anything good is going to happen when other church members pray because these people are much more familiar to the sick person, which can open the door of unbelief, if the sick person becomes use to thinking of his or her fellow church goers as just ordinary folks. This is one reason why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:16, “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh”.

Also, along this same line of thought, when a traveling evangelist prays for a sick person in the church, it may be much easier for that person to believe and get healed, because they are not familiar with that evangelist. So, the evangelist can come across as being much more spiritual, which may make it easier for one to believe that they are going to receive their healing.  

Here is one last thought about healing through the influence of others. People will sometimes drop their wall of unbelief more easily when they are prayed for by a minister who has a well-known track record of healings, surrounding his or her ministry, like a Kathryn Kuhlman or an Oral Roberts or Paul. “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them” (Acts 19:11-12). The reason these miracles happened is not because Paul had something other Christians don’t have today, but because Paul’s witness to the people mentioned activated their ability to believe and let go of unbelief. These same people had never witnessed Paul’s previous life of sin. If they had, I can assure you, there would have been no unusual miracles.

“To another faith [is given] by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:9). Clearly healing is a gift given for the benefit of the church and for the glory of God and it resides in the spirit of all born again Christians because we all possess the Spirit of Christ. (Romans 8:9) In my walk with Christ here on earth, I have exercised all nine gifts of the Spirit at some point because they all reside in my spirit man but they are not all given (exercised) at once.

2. The laying on of hands and anointing with oil: The bible says, “Believers will lay hands on the sick and they will recover”. How does this happen? When this is done, it helps stimulate the person to believe which releases supernatural healing. (Mark 16:18) (James 5:14)

3. Speaking the Word to your sickness. “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” The keyword here again is “believe”.(Mark 11:23).

4. The power of agreement: Psalm 133 speaks of God’s commanded blessing when two or more get into agreement about the will of God. Get those who the Holy Spirit shows you to agree with you. Just because Christian friends say they will agree does not mean they will. Every Christian harbors some kind of unbelief in their heart. Only trust those whom the Holy Spirit points out to you to join with you in believing for your healing.

“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt.18:19-20).

5. The power of faith: You already have all the faith you are ever going to get. You have in your spirit the spirit of Christ and the measure of faith that comes with him. In other words you have just as much faith as Jesus had when he walked on this earth like you are walking now. (Romans 12:3) However, you must choose to turn the on/off switch of belief and unbelief to the on position. “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24).

6. The name of Jesus. The name of Jesus has legal implications in the Spirit and puts devils on notice that your words carry the weight of law. His name is a powerful proclamation which will set in motion powerful forces (angels) in heavenly places, to stop all kinds of bad things from happening including the promotion of disease by devils. I cannot say it enough. The spoken name of Jesus is very powerful.

“And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14).

“Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, ‘Look at us.’ So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 

“Then Peter said, ‘Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.’ And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping and praising God” (Acts 3:1-8). 

7. Putting others before yourself: God freed Job from bondage to the devil, when he began to intercede for his wayward friends. In the midst of his intercession God met his need and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before when he prayed for his friends. The Lord meets our needs when we are able to prefer others over ourselves. (Job 42:10) "And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before."

8. The faith of others: Did Jesus heal a paralytic because of the faith of the man’s friends who tore the roof up to get him to Jesus? (Mark 2:5-11) Yes, Jesus responded to their act of faith to get the man to him, but the man still had to believe, in order to activate his own faith, to receive his healing. Likewise believers can pray for others in a spirit of belief instead of unbelief and their faith will bridge the logistics gap between heaven and earth to bring that person to the place of healing but again the person must begin believing for themselves.

9. Medical doctors: God has built the human body from the elements of the earth. It is material so God gives man, who is created in his image, the knowledge to provide natural ways of aiding the body to heal and combat disease on a limited basis. Should Christians take advantage of this? Absolutely, but like everything else we do in life, we should make natural medical choices submissive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I am always very suspicious of a Christian’s ability to hear the leading of the Holy Spirit if they refuse to accept any council whatsoever from medical doctors.

The bottom line to everything I have said here is: YOU MUST BELIEVE TO RECEIVE!