HEALING BY FAITH
Encouragement and Scriptural guidance for healing.
Are you seeking to have faith for a healing? If you have faith in God, all things are possible. If you will believe in your heart, that “healing is always God's will,” this mindset can “remove” all doubt. And doubt is the enemy of faith.
There is no record of Jesus ever refusing a sick person who came to Him.
On the contrary, it is recorded that He healed “all” who came to Him (Matthew 8:16,12:15; Luke 6:19). He was never too tired, exasperated or in too much of a hurry to heal those who had faith and came to Him. Jesus came to fulfill the Father's will. He told us many times, that He came to do only “what He sees the Father do” (John 5:19,30,8:26;14:10,24). The obvious conclusion is that it was the “will of the Father,” to heal those who are asked Him to do so. And since we know that God does not change, it still must be so (Hebrews 13:8).
Also, there are no verses in the Bible saying or suggesting: “Stay sick, it is not God's will to be healed.” To have such a mindset, has been a convenient excuse to justify the prayers that did not end with the healing of the sick person.
Sickness is not of God. Sickness entered this world, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God through the curse of sin. Sickness came as part of the curse. Man chose to disobey the one and only command that God had given to that point, which was to not eat from the knowledge tree of good and evil (Genesis 2:16).
Luke, being led by the Holy Spirit, identified that sicknesses can be oppression by the devil:
Also, Matthew, associates sicknesses with the evil spirits.
And the very well known verse about who Jesus says that Satan is,
Man is a spiritual being that has a soul and dwells in a physical body.
We read in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, verse 27 that “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him;” As God is Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and all three are one, so are we: spirit, soul and body. The promises of the Old and New Testament are available to those who are right with God, being born again in their “inner man”, in their spirit, through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ bore in His body on the cross, all our sicknesses, diseases, stress, traumas, fears, anxieties.
There is no sickness or suffering that was not included in what Jesus suffered and bore, in our place, which means that we don't have to “bear” them anymore.
Isaiah prophesied this about 460 years previous to Christ being crucified and was showing that healing was available at the moment of writing it. The apostle Peter wrote that through the crucifixion our healing was fulfilled. We just have to access it by faith.
Life before Christ was quite different in that God used priests and prophets at intermediaries between people and Him. Since Jesus came, we have direct access to God and through Him, all we need.
In the days of the Old Testament, those who needed a healing, had to go to their prophets and priests, who had the anointing of the Holy Spirit, as God used them to accomplish His works. Now, the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in believers, since the sacrifice, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, transforming them into “born again believers.” The healing is given by Father God, in the Name of Jesus Christ and is coming into fruition in the sick person's body, through the Holy Spirit.
The “salvation” received through Jesus, includes health. The term in the Greek language, used in original in the New Testament, for salvation is “SOZO,” which mainly means according to NAS, New Testament Greek Lexicon: to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, to save a suffering one (from perishing), one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health, messianic salvation.
So, on the cross, Jesus not only provided us with the eternal life, but also with health for our bodies, as long as we live on earth.
God healed those who sought and believed in Him in the days of the Old Testament and New Testament; and He still continues to heal today, because He wants His children to be healthy.
Healing can be received instantly, after praying under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, or it may take a while. No matter what, the key for receiving healing is faith! James suggests to ask prayer from mature, experienced Christians who live a life of faith and who believe will receive what they are asking for.
But healing is not promised only to those who call on the help of mature Christians.
The Lord is addressing us all who believe in Him, who love Him (which implies that we keep His commands, obey His will as Jesus says in John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” He says that if we ask in faith, we already have what we asked for.
For new Christians, it might be beneficial to have an anointed Christian to pray over them, until they learn to have faith to pray and receive. However, there are no rules regarding this. I have met freshly, converted Christians that started well and had more faith and results in their prayers, than others who came to Jesus many years ago.
All that is required from us, God's children, is to have faith when we pray.
If we believe that God is willing and can to heal us, then once we became His children, we already received all we need to have healthy bodies through Jesus (please read the article about “Communion, the Lord's Supper” to see the connection between partaking the Lord's body and blood and our healing), when we ask Him to heal us, we believe He is hearing us and that we already received what we were asking for, then we act according to our faith and we thank Him for our healing.
Is it possible to have powerful fervent prayers for healing that won't conclude with the healing of the sick person?
Yes, it is. I can not pretend I have all the answers, but I know from my 20+ years experience, since I started to pray for healing for myself, my family, other people from church and even for non-believers, that healing can come instantly, or sometimes can take more then one prayer until it comes through. There have been times where the prayers were not answered as prayed. But this should not stop us from believing God for healing us next time when we face sickness or pain.
Jesus did not heal people using standard methods, following certain steps.
He did not intend for us to follow a certain pattern. What we need to know is that He is the source of any healing, and the healing takes place only when the Holy Spirit is at work and not because of the person who prays or the one who receives it.
Also, Jesus showed us that the cause of sickness can be demonic. In these situations, Jesus was casting out the demons and then He healed the person. There are situations when sickness came into a person's body, as a result of a trauma, unforgiveness or a sinful life.
Oftentimes, when healing is not coming instantly, as a result of a fervent, faithful, anointed prayer, it means that the sickness has deep roots (others than the symptoms we see with the natural eye) that need to be solved before healing can take place. Without the help of the prophetic gifts, causes like this are usually not discovered and the sickness continues to torment the person.
It is marvelous when God chooses to combine the words of knowledge with healing ministry. When He identifies certain sicknesses in a meeting, the faith of the present ones will raise exponentially and the majority of them will receive the healing, according to their faith.
Therefore, what do we do when we are sick? Do we despair and run to call 911 or our doctor? Or pray first to Our Heavenly Father, in the Name of Jesus, to heal us, proclaiming by faith the promises that we have in the Scriptures?
We pray, being convinced that God can heal us, no matter what our sickness is.
There are no exceptions mentioned in the verses where God is promising to heal us. Healing comes by the faith that Jesus already did all we need to be healed. By faith, after we pray, we need to act like we are healed, trying to do what we could not do, while being sick, or in pain. Faith without works, is dead. When we act, we get what we declared that we believe. Sometimes we need to pray longer, or even to pray for a period of time, until what we believe in our mind, becomes true in our spirit too.
Healing is the exclusive work of the Holy Spirit. So, if a prayer for healing is not under the anointing of the Holy Ghost, then it is just empty words. For some people is easy to enter in the presence of the Lord, as they practice it on daily basis, while for others it may take more time of worship and praise and of asking God to touch them.
Those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, by faith became part of God's family and also received AUTHORITY over the evil spirits that are the source of sicknesses. The closer we are to God, the higher our authority is and the more we know we have it. Luke 9:1,10:9,10:19 shows that Jesus gave us power and authority over all demons.
In Jesus Name, we have authority to command the sickness (whatever germs or evil spirits that are causing it) to leave the body of the believer. It will have to obey to the Name of Jesus. After the spirit of the sickness leaves, the sickness dies and its effects will disappear.
How easy it is for us to believe that the doctor has the solution for any health issues we have. We do whatever he asks us to do, we take all pills he recommends, according to his instructions, no matter how difficult or costly to accomplish. And we do so, because we have faith that we'll get well by doing it. And even if we had bad experiences with doctors, or treatments that did not work, or wrong diagnosis’s, we still do not lose our faith in doctors... But if we pray for healing and we don't receive it, we lose our faith that God wants to heal us, pretty quick.
What if we pray for someone and won't get healed? Why make a fool of ourselves? We better play it safe and don't pray for the suffering people around us... At the same time, we have no problem to go to the doctors again and again, even if we aren't healed every time we go. It would be wonderful if we would have at least same faith in God's power to heal as we have in the doctor's knowledge and capability.
I have studied the testimonies of some great people of God that He has used and continues to use in healing and miracles.
Many say that in the beginning of their ministry, they had to pray for tens or even hundreds of sick people until they saw the first one healed. They remained faithful and kept on praying till God started to use them in power. Their faith grew so much in time, that God is using them even in raising the dead, because they persisted and never doubted their Lord.
It seems odd to me, that the same people that say that God gives the sickness to teach us a lesson or to punish us, and that we should therefore not pray for healing, are running to the doctor at the first sign of being sick. But if they really believe God wants them sick, would that not be “disobedience,” using the doctor, or taking pills or any natural remedies to get healed, if God wants them sick? This sounds absurd doesn't it? It really is.
Yes, it is possible that in some circumstances we will still have to see a doctor, and take a treatment, after praying in faith for healing and not getting it. But we do it knowing that God will use it to heal us and we will give Him all the glory.
Whatever the healing method God uses, Jesus Christ deserves all the glory, because He already suffered and bore our pain in His body on the cross and in His stripes we were healed.
Oftentimes, after receiving a healing, the enemy will try to steal it from us, by attacking us with same symptoms we had while sick. If we fall into this trap and say: “Oh, I thought, God healed me, but I guess I was wrong...,” we give the enemy the right to bring the sickness or pain back. We have to fight against the symptoms, having faith that what God healed, is healed. We hold steady and address the pain/or sickness telling it to flee, in Jesus Name! We are healed and we are keeping our healing! Amen!
Sometimes, the Holy Spirit may lead us to directly address the pain or sickness and command it to leave our body in Jesus Name. Faith united with hearing God's voice, keeps us on the path of God healthy, strong, full of peace and joy.
The faith that Holy Spirit brings in our hearts, causes us to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that paid for our sins with His life. Starting with this faith, each believer has to be willing to grow. The faith that will cause us to receive from God, takes personal effort. We need to choose to have an unwavering trust in all that the Bible says and to be convinced that the Scripture's promises are for us too.
Faith comes through hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). When we speak the verses about healing (see the article “Healing by Faith– Bible verses”), we build our faith. It is proven from studies that man believes easier what he hears said by his own voice. Also, for a person to form a new habit, it needs to be repeat daily, at least 21 days. What I am suggesting is that, by proclaiming daily, out loud, the verses that prove that God wants to heal us, of any sicknesses or pains, our faith will increase and we will believe the word as being truth for ourselves, too.
I know this is true, from my own experience and from all testimonies I heard over the years.
Smith Wigglesworth, a great man of faith who ministered with miracles, signs and wonders used to say: ”God said it, I believe it, that settles it.”
It is our duty, as children of God, to believe the Bible in its entirety. The faith that moves mountains, won't appear in our hearts without personal effort. Studying the Bible on daily basis and living what we study, will cause us to mature and live victorious, in healthy bodies.
There is no record of Jesus ever refusing a sick person who came to Him.
On the contrary, it is recorded that He healed “all” who came to Him (Matthew 8:16,12:15; Luke 6:19). He was never too tired, exasperated or in too much of a hurry to heal those who had faith and came to Him. Jesus came to fulfill the Father's will. He told us many times, that He came to do only “what He sees the Father do” (John 5:19,30,8:26;14:10,24). The obvious conclusion is that it was the “will of the Father,” to heal those who are asked Him to do so. And since we know that God does not change, it still must be so (Hebrews 13:8).
Also, there are no verses in the Bible saying or suggesting: “Stay sick, it is not God's will to be healed.” To have such a mindset, has been a convenient excuse to justify the prayers that did not end with the healing of the sick person.
Sickness is not of God. Sickness entered this world, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God through the curse of sin. Sickness came as part of the curse. Man chose to disobey the one and only command that God had given to that point, which was to not eat from the knowledge tree of good and evil (Genesis 2:16).
Luke, being led by the Holy Spirit, identified that sicknesses can be oppression by the devil:
- Acts 10:38 "... how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him."
Also, Matthew, associates sicknesses with the evil spirits.
- Matthew 8:16-17 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.
And the very well known verse about who Jesus says that Satan is,
- John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy [sickness means all that]. I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
- 1 John 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
Man is a spiritual being that has a soul and dwells in a physical body.
We read in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, verse 27 that “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him;” As God is Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and all three are one, so are we: spirit, soul and body. The promises of the Old and New Testament are available to those who are right with God, being born again in their “inner man”, in their spirit, through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ bore in His body on the cross, all our sicknesses, diseases, stress, traumas, fears, anxieties.
There is no sickness or suffering that was not included in what Jesus suffered and bore, in our place, which means that we don't have to “bear” them anymore.
- Isaiah 53:4-5 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 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.
Isaiah prophesied this about 460 years previous to Christ being crucified and was showing that healing was available at the moment of writing it. The apostle Peter wrote that through the crucifixion our healing was fulfilled. We just have to access it by faith.
- 1 Peter 2:24 Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
Life before Christ was quite different in that God used priests and prophets at intermediaries between people and Him. Since Jesus came, we have direct access to God and through Him, all we need.
In the days of the Old Testament, those who needed a healing, had to go to their prophets and priests, who had the anointing of the Holy Spirit, as God used them to accomplish His works. Now, the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in believers, since the sacrifice, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, transforming them into “born again believers.” The healing is given by Father God, in the Name of Jesus Christ and is coming into fruition in the sick person's body, through the Holy Spirit.
The “salvation” received through Jesus, includes health. The term in the Greek language, used in original in the New Testament, for salvation is “SOZO,” which mainly means according to NAS, New Testament Greek Lexicon: to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, to save a suffering one (from perishing), one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health, messianic salvation.
So, on the cross, Jesus not only provided us with the eternal life, but also with health for our bodies, as long as we live on earth.
God healed those who sought and believed in Him in the days of the Old Testament and New Testament; and He still continues to heal today, because He wants His children to be healthy.
- Exodus 23:25-26 "So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days."
- Malachi 4:2 “But to you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.”
- Psalms 103:2-3 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases.
Healing can be received instantly, after praying under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, or it may take a while. No matter what, the key for receiving healing is faith! James suggests to ask prayer from mature, experienced Christians who live a life of faith and who believe will receive what they are asking for.
- James 5:14-15 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
But healing is not promised only to those who call on the help of mature Christians.
The Lord is addressing us all who believe in Him, who love Him (which implies that we keep His commands, obey His will as Jesus says in John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” He says that if we ask in faith, we already have what we asked for.
For new Christians, it might be beneficial to have an anointed Christian to pray over them, until they learn to have faith to pray and receive. However, there are no rules regarding this. I have met freshly, converted Christians that started well and had more faith and results in their prayers, than others who came to Jesus many years ago.
All that is required from us, God's children, is to have faith when we pray.
- Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”
- Matthew 7:7-8 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
If we believe that God is willing and can to heal us, then once we became His children, we already received all we need to have healthy bodies through Jesus (please read the article about “Communion, the Lord's Supper” to see the connection between partaking the Lord's body and blood and our healing), when we ask Him to heal us, we believe He is hearing us and that we already received what we were asking for, then we act according to our faith and we thank Him for our healing.
Is it possible to have powerful fervent prayers for healing that won't conclude with the healing of the sick person?
Yes, it is. I can not pretend I have all the answers, but I know from my 20+ years experience, since I started to pray for healing for myself, my family, other people from church and even for non-believers, that healing can come instantly, or sometimes can take more then one prayer until it comes through. There have been times where the prayers were not answered as prayed. But this should not stop us from believing God for healing us next time when we face sickness or pain.
Jesus did not heal people using standard methods, following certain steps.
He did not intend for us to follow a certain pattern. What we need to know is that He is the source of any healing, and the healing takes place only when the Holy Spirit is at work and not because of the person who prays or the one who receives it.
Also, Jesus showed us that the cause of sickness can be demonic. In these situations, Jesus was casting out the demons and then He healed the person. There are situations when sickness came into a person's body, as a result of a trauma, unforgiveness or a sinful life.
Oftentimes, when healing is not coming instantly, as a result of a fervent, faithful, anointed prayer, it means that the sickness has deep roots (others than the symptoms we see with the natural eye) that need to be solved before healing can take place. Without the help of the prophetic gifts, causes like this are usually not discovered and the sickness continues to torment the person.
It is marvelous when God chooses to combine the words of knowledge with healing ministry. When He identifies certain sicknesses in a meeting, the faith of the present ones will raise exponentially and the majority of them will receive the healing, according to their faith.
Therefore, what do we do when we are sick? Do we despair and run to call 911 or our doctor? Or pray first to Our Heavenly Father, in the Name of Jesus, to heal us, proclaiming by faith the promises that we have in the Scriptures?
We pray, being convinced that God can heal us, no matter what our sickness is.
There are no exceptions mentioned in the verses where God is promising to heal us. Healing comes by the faith that Jesus already did all we need to be healed. By faith, after we pray, we need to act like we are healed, trying to do what we could not do, while being sick, or in pain. Faith without works, is dead. When we act, we get what we declared that we believe. Sometimes we need to pray longer, or even to pray for a period of time, until what we believe in our mind, becomes true in our spirit too.
Healing is the exclusive work of the Holy Spirit. So, if a prayer for healing is not under the anointing of the Holy Ghost, then it is just empty words. For some people is easy to enter in the presence of the Lord, as they practice it on daily basis, while for others it may take more time of worship and praise and of asking God to touch them.
Those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, by faith became part of God's family and also received AUTHORITY over the evil spirits that are the source of sicknesses. The closer we are to God, the higher our authority is and the more we know we have it. Luke 9:1,10:9,10:19 shows that Jesus gave us power and authority over all demons.
- Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
- Mark 16:17,18 “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
In Jesus Name, we have authority to command the sickness (whatever germs or evil spirits that are causing it) to leave the body of the believer. It will have to obey to the Name of Jesus. After the spirit of the sickness leaves, the sickness dies and its effects will disappear.
How easy it is for us to believe that the doctor has the solution for any health issues we have. We do whatever he asks us to do, we take all pills he recommends, according to his instructions, no matter how difficult or costly to accomplish. And we do so, because we have faith that we'll get well by doing it. And even if we had bad experiences with doctors, or treatments that did not work, or wrong diagnosis’s, we still do not lose our faith in doctors... But if we pray for healing and we don't receive it, we lose our faith that God wants to heal us, pretty quick.
What if we pray for someone and won't get healed? Why make a fool of ourselves? We better play it safe and don't pray for the suffering people around us... At the same time, we have no problem to go to the doctors again and again, even if we aren't healed every time we go. It would be wonderful if we would have at least same faith in God's power to heal as we have in the doctor's knowledge and capability.
I have studied the testimonies of some great people of God that He has used and continues to use in healing and miracles.
Many say that in the beginning of their ministry, they had to pray for tens or even hundreds of sick people until they saw the first one healed. They remained faithful and kept on praying till God started to use them in power. Their faith grew so much in time, that God is using them even in raising the dead, because they persisted and never doubted their Lord.
It seems odd to me, that the same people that say that God gives the sickness to teach us a lesson or to punish us, and that we should therefore not pray for healing, are running to the doctor at the first sign of being sick. But if they really believe God wants them sick, would that not be “disobedience,” using the doctor, or taking pills or any natural remedies to get healed, if God wants them sick? This sounds absurd doesn't it? It really is.
Yes, it is possible that in some circumstances we will still have to see a doctor, and take a treatment, after praying in faith for healing and not getting it. But we do it knowing that God will use it to heal us and we will give Him all the glory.
Whatever the healing method God uses, Jesus Christ deserves all the glory, because He already suffered and bore our pain in His body on the cross and in His stripes we were healed.
Oftentimes, after receiving a healing, the enemy will try to steal it from us, by attacking us with same symptoms we had while sick. If we fall into this trap and say: “Oh, I thought, God healed me, but I guess I was wrong...,” we give the enemy the right to bring the sickness or pain back. We have to fight against the symptoms, having faith that what God healed, is healed. We hold steady and address the pain/or sickness telling it to flee, in Jesus Name! We are healed and we are keeping our healing! Amen!
- Matthew 21:21-22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Sometimes, the Holy Spirit may lead us to directly address the pain or sickness and command it to leave our body in Jesus Name. Faith united with hearing God's voice, keeps us on the path of God healthy, strong, full of peace and joy.
- Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
The faith that Holy Spirit brings in our hearts, causes us to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that paid for our sins with His life. Starting with this faith, each believer has to be willing to grow. The faith that will cause us to receive from God, takes personal effort. We need to choose to have an unwavering trust in all that the Bible says and to be convinced that the Scripture's promises are for us too.
Faith comes through hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). When we speak the verses about healing (see the article “Healing by Faith– Bible verses”), we build our faith. It is proven from studies that man believes easier what he hears said by his own voice. Also, for a person to form a new habit, it needs to be repeat daily, at least 21 days. What I am suggesting is that, by proclaiming daily, out loud, the verses that prove that God wants to heal us, of any sicknesses or pains, our faith will increase and we will believe the word as being truth for ourselves, too.
I know this is true, from my own experience and from all testimonies I heard over the years.
Smith Wigglesworth, a great man of faith who ministered with miracles, signs and wonders used to say: ”God said it, I believe it, that settles it.”
It is our duty, as children of God, to believe the Bible in its entirety. The faith that moves mountains, won't appear in our hearts without personal effort. Studying the Bible on daily basis and living what we study, will cause us to mature and live victorious, in healthy bodies.