Healing Seems Easier In The Missions Field

God ALWAYS wants to heal NOW. His will and His timing have already been decided when Jesus died on the Cross more than 2000 years ago. Whenever we don't see healing taking place, the problem is never with God. Jesus healed everyone who came to Him. It is clear that the issue is never with God. Thus, the issue must be with us.

The root of the issue lies with faith, because grace has already been released through Jesus Christ. God's grace doesn't increase or decrease. But how much we receive His grace depends on how we appropriate His grace by faith. Faith is not something we can produce by ourselves. It is a gift from God. Faith is released when grace is revealed. The more we see the goodness of God, the more we will respond with faith. As such, our faith increases when our personal revelation of His grace increases.

When I pray for the sick, I stand in faith for the sick person. The result of his healing depends on my faith, not his. It is wrong to say that a sick person is not healed because of his lack of faith. That is putting unnecessary burden or yoke on him. If Jesus healed all the sick (even those without faith, i.e. the father of the demon-possessed boy, Mark 9:24), it means that we are responsible to stand in faith for the sick person, because the sick person would usually be struggling with his faith. That doesn't mean that we should put all the blame on ourselves and beat ourselves when a sick person is not healed. It means that we should ask for a greater revelation of God's goodness so that we have greater faith for the NEXT person who needs healing. We must press on and not give up.

Having said that, I always have this question at the back of my mind, "Why does healing always seem easier in the missions field? It is the same God. It is the same person praying (i.e. me). The only difference is the location, i.e. missions field. What exactly is the difference?"

This morning, as I was worshiping the Holy Spirit, without even asking, the Holy Spirit began to reveal to me what seemed to be the answer.

I was brought to the passage where Jesus met the centurion who wanted his servant to be healed.

Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him,6 saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” 7 And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! - Matthew 8:5-10

Jesus had wanted to go and heal the servant. Notice, Jesus' faith only allowed Him to go to where the servant was and heal him. Nevertheless, the centurion's faith was different. Despite being a Gentile who was not supposed to approach Him for healing, the centurion said, "Jesus, You need not come. Just say a word and my servant will be healed." The centurion's faith simply required Jesus to say a word right where He was.

Even though Jesus was only ready to go to the centurion's place to heal his servant, the centurion's faith allowed Jesus to simply say a word on the spot. Of course, it took Jesus faith to do that. Since healing is by grace through faith, the one with greater faith "overwrites" the one without.

For example, if I'm ready to lay my hand on a sick lady in the missions field but she says, "No need to lay hand on me. Just say 'be healed' and I will be healed", then it will be done according to her faith and not mine. My faith only allows me to lay hand on her. Her faith allows me to simply say a word. When she is healed, I'm just a vessel to release God's healing upon her. But it is her faith that causes her to be well.

Healing is released by grace through faith. It can either be released through the faith of the healer (the one praying) OR through the faith of the recipient (the one who needs healing). The woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years had faith to receive healing by simply touching the hem of the garment of Jesus.

In the missions field (especially third world countries), the people are desperate and hungry. They have faith that God will heal them. As such, we see many healings taking place easily. In fact, healing is meant to be as easy as salvation. But somehow, we have made it too complicated.