During His earthly ministry, Jesus used miracles like a dinner bell. He used them to prove He could forgive sin (Mark 2:10-12). God used themto authenticate Jesus and His message (Heb.2:3-4). And Jesus told His followers that they would do the same works He was doing (John 14:12). He said that the preaching of His Word would be confirmed by signs and wonders (Mark 16:20).
So, why aren’t we seeing greater manifestations of His healing today? Aren’t people still suffering from sickness? Doesn’t Jesus love people today just as much as He did when He walked the earth? Don’t believers still need to see demonstrations of His power?
Yes!
Yes!
We need the healing power of God today. And God wants to release that power. Hallelujah! However, healing isn’t up to God alone. It isn’t God who decides who gets healed and who doesn’t. That’s radical but it’s true. And in that statement is where we find some of the greatest obstacles to receiving God’s healing power.
One of the worst doctrines in the body of Christ is the belief that God either controls or allows everything and that if Satan has anything to do with tragedies, it’s because he got God’s permission before he did anything.
That’s a convenient theology because it absolves the individual of any personal responsibility. Being relieved of responsibility is also the reason for its popularity. But that belief will kill you. God’s will doesn’t automatically come to pass. We have to believe and cooperate with Him to receive what He has provided for us. This includes even our own salvation.
Second Peter 3:9 says,
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
That’s as plain as the Scripture can make it. It is not God’s will for anyone to perish, yet people still do. In fact, Jesus said more people would enter through the broad gate unto destruction than enter through the narrow gate unto life (Matt. 7:13-14). God doesn’t force salvation on people.
People don’t have to ask Jesus to save them. They just need to believe the nearly-too-good-to-be-true news that their sins are already forgiven and then receive their salvation (Acts16:31). Well, the same thing is true of healing: God has already healed everyone, just as He has already paid for the forgiveness of everyone’s sins. Healing is already an accomplished work.
"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."
1 Peter 2:24
Healing was given 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem when Jesus took those stripes on His back. He hasn’t and won’t receive any more stripes. It is finished. People today can receive what has already been accomplished by Jesus those thousands of years ago, but they must receive it through faith.
The Scriptures don’t tell us to pray for the sick. Praying for the sick makes it seem like we are powerless to minister healing to them. But it’s just the opposite: Jesus told us to heal the sick (Matt. 10:1,8; Luke 9:1, and 10:9). There’s a big difference between asking the Lord to heal people and you healing them.
I know many Christians are appalled at what I’ve just said. They think, Who do you think you are? Well, without Jesus, I am nothing (John 15:5), but the good news is that I’m not without Jesus! He will never leave me nor forsake me (Heb. 13:5). Hallelujah!
Therefore, I can say with the Apostle Peter, “Such as I have give I thee” (Acts 3:6). This is what Peter said when he ministered to the lame man in Acts 3. Peter didn’t pray for this man. He didn’t say, “O God, we can do nothing without You. Please heal this man if it is Your will.” It’s always God’s will to heal (3 John 2). We don’t ask and then wait and see. That’s not believing His Word. Instead of beggars, we need to become believers who, knowing God’s will, use our authority to heal.
Talking and acting like that will get us kicked out of most churches today. That’s not the way many Christians believe healing is accomplished. And that’s one of the main reasons we don’t see more of the healing power that Jesus provided manifest itself.
I have prayed for thousands of people in my meetings across the country, and I have yet to see every person healed. It might be a problem in the heart of the one receiving prayer, or it might be something I don’t understand in regards to that particular person. But one thing I know for sure is that it’s not God’s fault. I know what He’s promised, and I know that His will is for all to receive healing.
Healing is such an important issue in the body of Christ. And most of you know that I never shy away from teaching on it. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be talking about this on the Gospel Truth broadcast. I believe many of your questions about healing will be answered, like “What about Paul’s thorn in the flesh?” and “Could God be trying to teach me something?”
I’m also offering the God Wants You Well Package. This package includes the God Wants You Well CD series, book, study guide, and booklet, along with all six DVD volumes of Healing Journeys. We’ve also added the Healing USB, which contains nearly forty hours of additional teaching on healing. To order, go to www.awme.net/well, call our Helpline: +44 (0)1922 473300.
God Wants You Well
In his God Wants You Well teaching, Andrew shares the truth of what God’s unconditional love and grace have already provided, including healing.
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