Most people have no problem believing that God can heal. Where they have a problem is with the question: Does God want to heal Me? And even those who believe that God does want to heal them often have problem with a different question: When does God want to heal me.
Most of us have noticed that good Christians, bad Christians and non-Christians all get sick. Some of us have seen others be healed; some of us have been healed. But we've also Christians who love and fear God not be healed, even when we were sure they were trusting God for their healing. Some of us have seen good Christians die while waiting for their healing. This can be very discouraging, especially when we are faced with a need to believe God for our healing.
Those of us responsible for teaching and preaching God's Word have many times added fuel to the fires of peoples' doubt. Some have taught that God does not heal anymore the way He did in the Bible; that the miraculous healings and miracles ended with the giving of the Bible to the Church, or with the death of the apostles. But none of this is the testimony of God's Word. Others have taught that God heals who He will and refuses to heal who He wills. But what is the testimony of scripture on this?
1 Peter 2:24 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Jesus Christ paid for our healing at the same time he paid for our sins. Jesus himself tied these two together during his ministry. He pointed to his healings as proof that he had the authority from God to forgive sins.
Matthew 9:4 9:4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? 9:5 For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? 9:6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. 9:7 And he arose, and departed to his house.
Some of us have taught that God does indeed heal, and is willing to heal us, but that for reasons of His own He may not choose to heal us just now. This sounds like sound doctrine, and seems to defend God's sovereignty; but is this what the scripture teaches about this?
I want to deal specifically with the question of WHEN God wants you healed. Let's go to God's written Word and see what answer He gives us to this question.
One of the purposes of Jesus Christ's ministry was to declare, or make known, the Father to us. Jesus accomplished this task so completely that he was able to say, "He that has seen me has seen the Father."
When you look at Jesus -- his priorities, his compassion, his tenderness, his integrity, his character -- you see what God is like. God is like Jesus.
At this point I have a question for you. What percentage of the people who came to Jesus for healing did Jesus heal? That should be easy. He healed them all. There were people who were sick that Jesus did not heal, but all those who came to him for healing he healed.
When we see Jesus' will regarding healing, we see also his Father's will. It was God's will to heal everyone who came to Jesus for healing. That was God's heart concerning healing. It still is. As we saw earlier, your healing has already been paid for by Jesus Christ, along with your sins; and it is God's will that you be healed.
Let me ask you another question. How many of those people who came to Jesus were told that it was not God's will for them to be healed right then? How many were told that God wanted them to remain sick for the time being, because He was trying to teach them something? How many were told that God would heal them at another time?
Not one. Every person who came to Jesus for healing discovered that God wanted them healed RIGHT NOW. And right here God's heart is revealed regarding our own healing. When does God want to heal you? Now.
But if you trust God for healing and aren't healed right away, doesn't that suggest that it wasn't God's will for you to be healed right at that moment? Or if someone empowered by God to heal tries to heal you and fails, does that mean that God doesn't want you healed right now? The answer is found in God's Word.
Matthew 17:14-18. 17:14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, 17:15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. 17:16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. 17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
The failure of the disciples to heal this child had no bearing on whether or not it was God's will for the child to be healed -- right then. What, then, hindered the healing?
Matthew 17:19-21. 17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Jesus said that the problem was faith in God. (The words "and fasting" in verse 21 are not found in the oldest texts.) He constantly pointed to this as the reason for God's power not being manifested in peoples' lives, and urged his disciples again and again to have faith in God.
What should you do if you're trying to get healed and nothing seems to be happening?
First, understand that it really is God's will to heal you, right now, regardless of what seems to be happening in your life.
Next, don't give up on God or on your healing. Wait on the Lord. Those who put their trust in Him will not be put to shame.
Pray persistently to God for your healing. Jesus said we are to be like the widow pestering the unjust judge day after day until he heard her case, or like the shameless friend who shows up at your door at two in the morning asking to borrow some bread, who refuses to go away until you give him some bread.
Practice trusting God in other areas of your life. As He proves Himself faithful in these, your confidence will grow that He will prove Himself faithful in this area also.
Feed yourself God's Word. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Remind yourself of what God has done for others, and how He proved Himself faithful in their lives.
And don't worry; pray. Any situation that clearly calls for worry is a situation where you are supposed to pray instead.
Philippians 4:6-9. 4:6 Be careful [or anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 4:9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
Don't let anyone talk you out of your healing. Hold fast to your confidence in God, and He will bring it to pass.