by Rex Rouis
… 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. I Peter 2:24
“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
Not everyone received healing under Jesus’ ministry. There were times when everyone in attendance received healing, and there were times when very few received anything. What made the difference? The reason mentioned again and again in the Gospels is the person’s faith. If they had faith, they received, if they did not have faith, they did not receive. There are times when faith is not mentioned, but there I believe God moved through His divine mercy. See Mercy – Bending the Rules of God
When people do not receive, is it because they do not have faith? This is the obvious question, and it is a tough one. The truth is, we do not know exactly why a person fails to receive. The hidden things belong to the Lord. However, we do know what the Bible says when people received and when people did not receive. The one time the Bible mentions why people did not receive healing is in Matthew 13:58 (and Mark 6:5-6). The sole reason given is unbelief. Jesus does not mention the will of God, or anything else. And again, when someone does receive, we hear Jesus commending their faith and saying, “Your faith has made you whole.”
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16
The verse above says that God loves everybody but His salvation is reserved only for those who believe. Faith is required for salvation, and all things associated with it. Furthermore, this faith, the Bible says, comes from hearing the spoken word of God (Romans 10: 17). Faith is contingent upon hearing from God and acting upon it.
My own Pastor was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only weeks to live. He made decisions on how he would fight the sickness, but God spoke to him and told him that if he continued in that direction he would die. Thankfully, he listened and obeyed. It has been years now and he is still cancer free. Read his book – Receiving God’s Mercy
Receiving healing is God’s will for everyone. Jesus never turned anybody away and He never once stated that it was not God’s will for a person to be healed. The fact that some people did not receive did not stop Him, and it should not stop us.
You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Acts 10:38
Faith for healing is true and available to all, but receiving healing is harder than what is presented in most faith sermons. Faith in God is hard work, and requires total transparency before Him. Faith is not difficult. It does not require intelligence, an education, or any particular ability. It does however require a deep unrelenting desire to do whatever it takes to hear and receive from God. To do this one must fight against everything this world stands for and throws at them. Few will actually do this, so few are healed. It was like this when Jesus walked and it is the same today. If Jesus could not get everybody healed, why are we surprised when we do not?
At the turn of the last century, Charles Price sought God on this very issue. God’s response was the basis of his 1940 classic on faith. Read his book – The Real Faith
Comments
Thank you so much for recommending and providing a free download of your pastor, Mirek Hufton’s book, Receiving God’s Mercy. I hope this excerpt will encourage everyone to read it:
“Mercy: First and Last
For everyone going through a trial of faith, facing a life-and death struggle,
I write to you now: What God did for me, He will do for you. His Word is true and powerful. It will set you free. Reach out in faith now for God’s mercy in your situation. Maybe you don’t feel like you measure up in all your prayer and believing, but don’t focus on that. It is true that you need to do your part. Your part is to fill your heart with God’s Word on healing. Your part is to believe God for His promises. Your part is to stand in faith on the promises of God and speak in agreement with His Word. After you have done all you know to do, stand before God’s throne and ask for His mercy. Obtain mercy for those areas where you may not be measuring up. Obtain mercy for your inconsistencies. Obtain mercy for your failings. Reach out and receive the mercy of God. Have faith in it. Trust in it. God will respond to your cry. He is the God of mercy, first and last. Refuse the religious advice of those who would demean your faith. Refuse to listen to the devil’s lies. Get with people who believe with you in God’s healing power and who won’t condemn you. Fill your mind with the wonderful promises of God’s Word on healing and deliverance. Then, continue to press in, resting in His mercy.”
Article not entirely accurate. Please note;
1. Everyone received healing under Jesus’s ministry. There’s no record of Jesus commanding healing unsuccessfully.
2. The faith of the person being ministered to doesn’t matter! All that matters is the minister of healing, their faith is what matters. If the person being ministered to doesn’t receive healing, they can’t be blamed for ‘lack of faith’, this is the ‘minister’s’ issue of faith. If you still assume it’s about the person being ministered to, tell me, how about the dead that were raised, how did they have faith in death? What about the paralyzed man who was lowered into a roof as Jesus taught? Was he not healed because of the faith of his friends?
3. Healing can be ministered to unbelievers by believers. Period. Recognize healing as a sign not a reward.
4. Divine healing is the right and responsibility of every Christian.
5. Any hindrance to the healing of any Christian is not of God, God is not our problem, He is our help. Therefore, any hindrance to healing is on the part of the enemy.
6. Any sickness or disease can be overcome by a Christian if the Christian will exercise faith and power.
7. The enemy is not a serious hindrance and can be overcome by any Christian using the available tools and weapons provided by God
8. Christians and non-Christians, without faith for healing, can be healed when Christians exercise kingdom authority.
9. All sickness and disease is a work of the enemy and is to be defeated whenever and wherever they are encountered. LETS STOP EXCUSES.
The original list is by John G. Lake found in the Appendix of Divine Healing Technician Training Manual.
Divine Healing Technician Training Manual
John G. Lake
Appendix: What We Believe About Divine Healing
1. We believe that divine healing is the right and responsibility of every Christian.
2. We believe that any hindrance to the healing of any Christian is not of God.
3. We believe that God is not our problem, but rather that He is our help.
4. We believe that any hindrance to healing is on the part of the enemy.
5. We believe that any sickness or disease can be overcome by a Christian if the Christian will exercise faith and power.
6. We believe that the enemy is not a serious hindrance and can be overcome by any Christian using the available tools and weapons provided by God.
7. We believe that the enemy can only be truly defeated by spiritual weapons and not by carnal/natural weapons devised by man.
8. We believe that Christians and non-Christians, without faith for healing, can be healed when Christians exercise kingdom authority.
9. We believe that all sickness and disease is a work of the enemy and is to be defeated whenever and wherever they are encountered.
Levi raises some interesting points and I’m so glad he has come to this website.
He certainly will find answers to his questions on this website, but maybe I can give him some short answers to encourage his faith journey.
I. Levi says:
Everyone received healing under Jesus’s ministry.
There’s no record of Jesus commanding healing unsuccessfully.
Reply:
Not everyone received healing under Jesus’ ministry. Levi apparently didn’t check the two references provided by Rex Rouis in the above article: Matthew 13:58 and Mark 6:5-6. They both reference the same event in Jesus’ ministry: “The one time the Bible mentions why people did not receive healing.”
5 And he could there do no mighty work,
save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk,
and healed them.
6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief.
And he went round about the villages, teaching.
Mark 6:5-6 (KJV)
Jesus doesn’t force salvation, healing or deliverance on anyone: He “marvelled” because of their unbelief. One would have to distort Scripture to come to any other conclusion.
II-A. Levi says:
The faith of the person being ministered to doesn’t matter!
Reply:
The faith of individual does matter. To the woman with the issue of blood, Jesus said this:
34 And he said unto her, Daughter,
thy faith hath made thee whole;
go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Mark 5:34 (KJV)
Two other accounts referring to the faith of the individual are:
1. The centurion
whose servant was sick with palsy: Matthew 8:5-13 (KJV)
13 And Jesus said unto the centurion,
Go thy way;
and as thou hast believed,
so be it done unto thee.
and his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
Matthew 8:13 (KJV)
2. The Canaanite/Syrophoenician woman
whose daughter “was grievously vexed with a devil:” Matthew
15:21-28 (KJV)
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her,
O woman, great is thy faith:
be it unto thee even as thou wilt.
And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Matthew 15:28 (KJV)
II-B. Levi further says:
All that matters is the minister of healing,
their faith is what matters.
If the person being ministered to doesn’t receive healing,
they can’t be blamed for ‘lack of faith’,
this is the ‘minister’s’ issue of faith.
Reply:
Neither the sick person nor the person ministering healing should be blamed or shamed. No Christian should align himself with Satan, who is the accuser of the brethren:
for the accuser of our brethren is cast down,
which accused them before our God day and night.
Revelation 12:10b (KJV)
Also, please refer to Number 4 on the list:
4. Therefore, any hindrance to healing is on the part of the enemy.
II-C. Levi further says:
If you still assume it’s about the person being ministered to,
tell me, how about the dead that were raised,
how did they have faith in death?
Reply:
Jesus raised three people from the dead:
1. The Widow of Nain’s Son: Luke 7:11-17
2. Jairus’ 12-year-old Daughter: Luke 8:40-42
3. Lazarus: : John 11:1-44
Raising the dead requires the Gifts of the Spirit, not just the Christian believer’s faith spoken of in Mark 16. Raising the dead requires the Gift of Faith, the Gift of the working of miracles and one or more of the Gifts of Healings. (Without the gifts of healings, the person would still be sick and die again.) In raising the dead, Jesus used one or more of the power gifts of the Spirit, not the Mark 16 healing by laying on of hands to recovery.
Certainly, the dead person could not exercise faith to be raised from the dead, but afterward, he would have to develop his faith for healing. Jairus could exercise faith for his daughter to be healed only as long as he was in authority over her. Any believer is expected to develop his/her own faith for healing.
II-D. Levi further says:
What about the paralyzed man who was lowered
into a roof as Jesus taught?
Was he not healed because of the faith of his friends?
Reply:
(Levi meant “through” the roof.)
The paralytic man’s friends had faith enough to bring him to Jesus/lower him through the roof; Jesus commended that level of faith.
They did not have faith enough to minister healing to the paralytic man themselves.
III. Levi says:
Healing can be ministered to unbelievers by believers. Period.
Recognize healing as a sign not a reward.
Reply:
Rex Rouis already replied to the first part of this.
Both regeneration of the human spirit (in the New Birth) salvation of the soul (mind) and healing of the body are benefits Jesus obtained for us in the Atonement.
Just a comment on the other statement:
Healing by the laying on of hands to recovery is indeed a sign included in the Mark 16:17-20 list: “these signs shall follow them that believe.”
However, there are other categories of healings.
Healings that require the Power Gifts, (such as the Gifts of Healings, the Gift of the Working of Miracles, the Gift of Faith) are not classed among the Mark 16 “signs” that follow a believing Christian. The Gifts of the Spirit (I Corinthians 12: 4-11) are given to individual believers “as He (the Holy Spirit) will.”
Regarding healing as a reward, I agree with Levi if he is saying that healing is not a reward for good works. However, God is a Rewarder and there is the result/reward of faith for healing: the result, or “reward,” is that the believer receives healing.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him.
Hebrews 11:6 (KJV)
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence,
which hath great recompence of reward.
Hebrews 10:35 (KJV)
Ive seen hundreds of healings. Its a lottery system. Doesnt depend on anything. Believers get healed, unbelievers get healed. Those with faith and those without. Many are called but few are chosen. Only seen around 20% of a room healed, never all. Same in a prayer line. Multiple can pray for one person but it doesnt increase the chance. Totally random.
There are no “random” actions by God. God is all powerful and sovereign.
We may not understand why this person is cured while the other one is not, we can only pray and put our trust in Him. Only God is the seer of the whole world and its history, and He weaves all the facts to fulfill His glory and our own good.
Healing is not a lottery, chance or random. You don’t seem to discern the difference between a miracle of healing and a Mark 16 healing by the laying on of hands to recovery. One is instantaneous and the other takes place over a period of time (after the meeting is over.)
You may find the answers you are seeking in Christ the Healer by F. F. Bosworth (offered as a free download on this site) under “Twenty-two Reasons for Failure to Be Healed.”
well, I come to the conclusion that if someone goes to a healing service it’s because they have faith that they will receive something from God … but the truth is that not everyone receives … but my theory on that, is, faith for healing is not a natural thing … it is a supernatural ability imparted by God to someone for a couple of minutes in the moment God wants the healing to happen on someone .. if faith was something that only depends on us, everybody would receive the healing …or everybody would have stopped the course of the sun …. it is not that simple .,. there are multiple faith type : The faith to be saved, the faith to receive healing and the faith to perform miracles … the last 2 are supernatural and depends on God only, the first one depends on us …
So why did Jesus commend those who had faith, and why did he tell the man with the sick daughter to only believe?….Did you think of that?
In order to have true genuine faith you have to believe. Believe that He is the Father, He is the Son, He is the Holy Spirit. He is the creator of all things above and below and beyond. He has the power and authority to heal but it is at His will, not ours. You have to believe He will, not can but will heal you. You have to claim the healing beforehand as if you have already received it. Praying without ceasing to the Father and believing He will answer your prayers. I know first hand because God healed me of an elevated hemi-diaphram with lung paralysis on September 8, 2018 during a healing ceremony at Lake City Church of God in Lake City, Florida. I am a walking testimony. The doctor said go live your life but God said ” By My Stripes You Are Healed. ” And no not everyone will be healed and its because of their faith in Him and what He can do. You cannot have any doubt in your heart or doubt in your faith. It has to be true and genuine before the Lord. I would love to share my whole testimony with you and the suffering that I went through for a year and a half then you would understand about how God heals His children, those that are faithful and true and believe in Him and his Word.
Yes, God does heal and it takes true genuine faith before the Lord in order for one to be healed for there is much work in the healing process. I myself am a walking miricle. I was diagnosed a year ago with an elevated right hemidiaphram and it was also discovered that my lung was paralyzed as well. There was nothing else the doctors could do for me and through my trial I was very sick not being able to breath well and had to quit my job. My memory became bad , I lost my voice and I became weak as well but my faith in God and what I knew He could do for me and through me never failed and I never doubted Him. Through the storm of my life I continued to stay in His word, worship and praise Him and dance before Him in my prayer room and all over my house as well. I thanked Him every day for the healing I was going to receive in His time and His will, I even sacrifice my life wholey to Him for His will to be done. I went to a healing service September 8,2018 for I knew that if I could just get to the church service God was going to heal me. My faith was true and genuine before God and He healed my lung that night on the floor of that church. It was a painful ordeal to go through but worth it all. I asked Him to please remove the pain from me and He said to me ” Be still and know that I Am God.” I said ” I know that you are my God ” and endured the pain until the healing was complete in me. Today I still thank the Lord for my healing and continue to stay in His word and worship and praise Him. God is a healing God and if you want a healing, re-evaluate your faith and strengthen it and you can be a living testimony of what God can can do.
I had a massive heart attack .A 100 percent blockage..They call it the widow maker..Before this zi had been a homeless alcoholic..But at the time of my heart attack I had been in a program for addiction. A christian program. I was doing good in the program. But the heart attack is really what grew my faith 100 percent. For some reason God chose to let me live. My heart was damaged. It only works at 20 percent now. But God is amazing.. The heart attack increased my faith. But now I wonder if God would heal my heart if I ask him to.
You didn’t mention whether you received Jesus as your Personal Savior (John 3:16; Romans 10:9, 10.)–the most important thing–but I trust you have.
Certainly, the Lord will heal you. As you study the Scripture, the Lord will assure you that He both can and will heal you. I recommend the many excellent resources on this Hope, Faith, Prayer website as supplemental help.
Jesus loves us and cares for us, Shelia.
What a wonderful testimony, Penny! Thank you for sharing! I rejoice with you!
You stood in faith, did not allow doubt, stayed in His Word, worshipped, praised and danced in thanksgiving before Him before your healing manifested. Afterward, you continued to thank the Lord, stay in His Word, worship and praise Him. This is not only a testimony but helpful instruction for everyone needing healing. Thank you, Penney!
What about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”?
If you will look closely at the scriptures about Paul’s thorn in the flesh I think you will see that it was a messenger from Satan who was sent to torment Paul.
god loves the sinner but can he heal without christ in us?
Sure, on the mission fields God has healed plenty of people without Christ. What better way to show the love of God. You also know that everyone who got healed in the Gospels did not have Christ because He was not yet risen. Many of them even believed God on their own with Christ in their hearts. We need to rethink some things.
A believer under the Old Covenant was one who walked with God, looking forward to the Cross in faith .
A believer under the New Covenant is one who walks with the Lord, looking back to the Cross in faith.
Thank God, the Lord has always made provision for us.
Yes Curry is very good at teaching on healing !!!
Thanks for the links to the 2 books. I have them on my Kindle. I read the Real Faith by Price in the past and want to read it again. Testimonies are always great. Looking forward to reading your pastor’s book.
Scott