Had a conversation with a friend today which confirmed what I believe in.
For too long, people came out with many reasons why healing doesn't take place. i.e. habitual sin, unforgiveness, generational curses, not God's timing, character growth, etc. There are so many books written on these.
Why isn't there a book written on "10 reasons why salvation doesn't take place?" Because everyone believes that salvation takes place when we believe in Jesus. We take the Word literally without questioning/doubting the truth. We don't base the fact of salvation BY our experiences. We base it on the Word of God.
If that is true, when it comes to healing, why do we want to water down the truth to match our experiences, instead of bringing our experiences to match the truth found in the Word of God? Why do we want to give reasons that Jesus did not give in the Scriptures?
When Jesus was on earth, He lived as a Man depending on the Holy Spirit and His relationship with the Father. Jesus healed ALL (Acts 10:38). There was not a single one whom He prayed for that wasn't healed. Jesus is the exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3). In other words, it is ALWAYS God's will to heal anyone and any kind of sickness and disease NOW. When Jesus died on the Cross, His atonement had provided us healing (1 Peter 2:24). In other words, we don't wait for God's healing. It has already been provided more than 2000 years ago. We are not waiting for God's perfect timing to heal. Healing is always NOW.
If it is always God's will to heal now and Jesus healed ALL as a Man, why do people still not receive their healing? The problem NEVER lies with God. His part was already settled 2000 years ago. He CAN, He WANTS and He WILL heal ALL.
Neither does the problem lie with the sick person. I have never seen Jesus telling a sick person, "You are lacking in faith to be healed." Jesus healed ALL who came to Him.
If the problem doesn't lie with God and the sick person, where does the problem lie with? This answer will be tough for most of us to hear.
There was only ONE incident in the Gospel where Jesus taught the disciples after they failed to deliver a demon-possessed boy. Jesus did not rebuke the boy's father despite his unbelief (Mark 9:24). A sick person and his family are already in distressed. They are struggling in their situation. They don't need someone to come to them and say, "Because you don't have enough faith." Jesus never did that. Neither should we.
The one ministering healing is supposed to stand in faith for the sick person. (Sometimes, the sick person has greater faith than the one ministering healing. That requires much explanation.)
When the disciples couldn't cast out the demon, they asked Jesus privately. "Why could we not cast it out?" Jesus answered plainly, "“Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." - Matthew 17:20
Christianity is not complicated because God is love and love is not complicated.
Jesus gave the clearest answer in this episode. "Because of your unbelief." In other words, the problem lay with His disciples as they were supposed to cast out the demon and minister to the boy. What does this tell us? When a sick person is not healed, the problem lies with us who minister healing. Yes. Because of our unbelief. This is a hard saying.
Jesus said that "if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain... and it will move..." In other words, if the mountain doesn't move, it means we don't have that faith. If we have faith, mountain WILL move. Sickness will go. The sick will be healed!
James 5:15 says that the prayer of faith will heal the sick. It's not the prayer that will heal the sick. It's the prayer of FAITH that will heal the sick.
I have prayed for many sick people. By the grace of God, many are healed. But the truth is, there are also many who are NOT healed. I know that I have to grow in my faith.
The question is - When we pray for someone and he is not healed, why can't we humble ourselves and say, "I'm sorry. I need to grow in my own faith. I will continue to stand in faith with you for healing."
Having said that, faith is not something we can produce by ourselves. Faith cannot be produced no matter how hard we try. It has to be imparted from God Himself.
Faith, in Greek, is the word "persuasion". We have to be so persuaded by the goodness and love of God such that we are confident that He wants the sick to be healed NOW! We are still in the process of having such revelations of His goodness and love. This process is called mind renewal (Romans 12:2). To the degree our mind is renewed, to that degree we can PROVE the perfect will of God, i.e. healing.
I love what Bill Johnson said, "When someone is not healed, God is summoning us back into the secret place of intimacy." When we pray for a person and he is not yet healed, it is an opportunity for us to go to the secret place and spend time with God TO encounter His love and goodness MORE! The MORE we have the revelation of His love and goodness, the MORE we will respond in faith.
Jesus told His disciples, "This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." (Matthew 17:21) Firstly, this verse was not written in many of the early manuscripts. It was added later. Secondly, this is probably not referring to the demon because Jesus did not pray and fast before He cast it out from the boy. The context is about the disciples' unbelief.
The way to deal with unbelief is to pray and fast. Why? It goes back to the place of intimacy. We must have a GREATER revelation of who God is so that faith is produced as a result of knowing His love and goodness. Unbelief will go. Mind will be renewed. Heart will believe. When we come to that place, we will 'speak to the mountain of sickness and it will be thrown into the sea.'
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