Few of us who believe in God have trouble believing that God is ABLE. God's ability never seems to be in question because we know that He is (as His Word declares) "Almighty".
Philippians 4:19 - But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
When it comes to being sick or having some lack in our life, we acknowledge that God has the ability to make us whole or supply our need. What we tend to question is God's willingness to meet our need and whether we are good enough to deserve God's attention, assistance and intervention. If we doubt God's willingness to meet our need we will not go to Him with believing and ask for deliverance. Nor will we accept the simplicity of God's love and grace that He has made freely available for us to receive.
Following are important keys to receiving healing from God:
1. Establish the Will of God.
God is a God of Healing and it is God's will for you to be whole.
Exodus 15:26b"...for I am the Lord that healeth thee."
This is one of the redemptive names that God has declared for Himself. He calls himself "The Lord that Healeth Thee". That is the way He wants us to think of Him. God is a God of healing. He designed the human body with mechanisms to heal itself because He wants us whole. When those mechanisms are defective or damaged and our bodies are sick or injured He is able and WILLING to intervene in the natural processes and perform a miracle because He is the "Lord that healeth thee."
III John 2 Beloved, I wish [it
is my will] above all things that thou
mayest prosper and be in health...
Psalm 103:2-3 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;
who healeth all thy diseases;
Notice the word ALL. There is no iniquity beyond God's forgiveness and no disease beyond His healing. It is God's will to heal ALL thy diseases!
Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
John 8:29 And he that sent me [Jesus
Christ] is with me: the Father hath not left
me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, my meat
is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
John 5:30b...I
seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
Jesus Christ always did God's will and the Word says healing ALL! It is never God's will that anyone be sick. Jesus Christ always did God's will and Jesus Christ always healed all those who were sick that came to him for healing.
Matt 4:24
... and they brought unto him all sick people ... and he healed
them.
Matt 8:16b...
he cast out spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.
Matt 9:35
and Jesus went about all the cities and villages ... healing every sickness
and every disease among the people.
Matt 12:15b...and
great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;
It is very clear from God's Word and the life of the Lord Jesus Christ that it is God's will that all people be whole and free from every sickness and every disease. There should be no question about God's ability to heal. There should also be no question about God's will. God is a God of healing.
2. Recognize the authority of God's Word.
We have been reading about God's will from God's Word. That is how we know what God's will is - by knowing His Word. God's Word is God's Will. You must recognize the authority of the Word as a declaration of God's will if you are to believe it and receive results from it.
I Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause also
thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God
which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as
it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in
you that believe.
Psalm 107:20 He sent his word,
and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Matthew 8:16b...he
cast out spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.
A beautiful example of this principle can be seen in a record of healing recorded in the gospel of Matthew:
Matthew 8:5-7 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, saying Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
(Notice that when the centurion told Jesus that his servant was sick that Jesus did not have to stop and check if God wanted him to heal the man. He immediately responded with "I will come and heal him" because healing is God's will.)
Matthew 8:8-9 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
To recognize the authority of God's Word is to recognize that when God says it - it is done. Just like the authority of the centurion. I say go - he goes. I say come - he comes. I say do this - he does it. The Word works that same way. If it is stated in God's Word. It is a "done deal"!
Matthew 10:10,13 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith [believing], no, not in Israel. 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.
The centurion believed that if the word were spoken the healing would be done. Just like flipping on a light switch results in the light coming on. There was no question about God's will. Healing is what God wants. All the centurion needed was to approach the man of God and receive God's Word. He recognized the authority of the Word as spoken by Jesus Christ and his servant was healed.
3. Know What is Rightfully Yours as a Believer.
Romans 10:9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved [be made whole]. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Sin, sickness, iniquity and disease entered the world as a result of man's [Adam's] disobedience of God's Word. Jesus Christ obeyed God and always did His will. He redeemed mankind by obeying God even unto death. When we accept his substitution for us and recognize that God has made him our Lord because of his obedience; and when we believe that God raised him from the dead - we are saved [made whole]. God puts holy spirit in us and makes us His sons and daughters. By believing God's Word we appropriate the atonement that Jesus Christ made available to us. We then have wholeness - Body, Soul, and Spirit. The incorruptible spirit from God which makes us His children also is there to heal our body and soul as we recognize what Christ has made available to us by his death and resurrection.
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken [make alive] your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
I Peter 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.
Ye were [past tense] healed. You must recognize that as a believer who has been born again by believing the Word of God in Romans 10:9-10 you have the right to be whole. Not just spiritually whole, but physically and mentally whole as well. It is God's will that all people be free from sickness. It is also His Will that all be whole spiritually by becoming His born again children. As a born again child of God we must recognize that the "God who healeth thee" is also God our Father! Would a good father ever want his child to be sick. No! no! no! You have a right as God's child to be whole and you have a father who is the God that healeth thee.
4. Believe God's Word!
To believe is to have confidence and trust in information received to the end that you act upon it. In all of the records we have looked at, the individuals who received healing acted with confidence and trust in the Word of God (information) they had received. Jesus Christ had the information (God's Word) that God wanted healing. Therefore when someone approached him for healing he acted with confidence and trust in the knowledge of God's Will. We too must recognize that healing is God's Will. That healing is promised in His authoritative Word. We must have confidence in our right to healing as God's children and we must trust the integrity of His Word that He is the God that healeth thee. Then we will act accordingly and approach Him for deliverance when we have a need. That is believing. Remember the centurion who approached Jesus Christ with confidence that if he would just speak the word his servant would be healed? Jesus responded with "as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee." We must act with confidence and trust upon the Word of God that we have received and we also shall be healed. We must act with confidence in God's Word when approached by others and we too will respond with "I will come and heal him" as did the Lord Jesus Christ.
5. Retain our health and wholeness by praise of God and confession of His Word.
The most difficult time to act according to the Word of God and rise up to receive healing is when we are sick. Once healed we should maintain our health and wholeness by continually confessing [Greek word - homologeo - to say the same thing] God's Word and praising Him for his grace and loving kindness toward us. As we continually rehearse God's healing words we maintain our wholeness and are ready to act to help others who come to us with a need.
October
1996
URL http://www.cortright.org/healing.htm
Michael Cortright