FRIENDS: WE MUST GROW IN FAITH FOR DIVINE HEALING!! I am a firm believer in divine healing and I do teach on the subject. For an in-depth look at healing by faith (commonly called “faith healing” or “spiritual healing”) In hundreds of church services over the years I have seen thousands of believers come forward to receive healing prayer. If one studies the healing ministry of Jesus Christ in the Gospels, a recurring pattern emerges — again and again, Jesus looked to see if the sick person was showing faith to be healed, as in the scripture below: MATTHEW 9:28-30 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; and their sight was restored. Healing is “according to your faith.” Jesus had all the faith and healing power necessary, even to heal blindness. There were no questions, no doubts, in His mind about His ability to heal these two blind men. No, the variable was not Christ’s faith, but the faith of the men desiring to be healed. And when Jesus had determined that they did indeed have faith in His healing power, He cured them of their blindness. This same pattern is seen in the ministry of the Apostle Paul to a crippled man in the heathen city of Lystra. The lame man was listening to Paul preaching the Gospel. During this sermon, “Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ At that, the man jumped up and began to walk” (ACTS 14:8-10). Did the apostle Paul have the “gifts of healing” (1 CORINTHIANS 12:9)? Apparently so. But the healing did not occur until the lame man himself “had faith to be healed.” Therefore, it is urgent that we grow in faith to be healed. Jesus’ Apostles understood the importance of this. LUKE 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” That is my desire in the comments that follow — specifically, to share Scriptures that will enable us to grow in faith to receive divine healing from the Lord. 1) FAITH COMES BY HEARING GODS WORD Study God’s Word on the subject of healing. Use a good concordance, and look up every Bible verse (in its full context) MATTHEW 9:28-30 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; and their sight was restored. 2) Jesus said to the blind men, “Do you believe that I am able...? We grow in faith as we focus on JESUS the Healer. ACTS 9:34 records the apostle Peter ministering healing to a lame man. He simply said to the paralytic, “Aeneas,... Jesus Christ heals you.” Peter used no fancy words. He didn’t need to “hype” the man’s emotions. He simply directed the man’s focus upon Jesus. Peter was convinced, as we should be, that Jesus heals! MARK 5:28-30 ... she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” [29] Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. [30] At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” LUKE 6:19 “...power was coming from Him and healing them all.” 3) Think about Jesus’ power flowing out to you. I don’t mean some kind of mental gymnastics, nor any form of mind-over-matter. Jesus’ power to heal is real power, so real that Jesus sensed the flow of that healing power from Him. Consider Jesus, ponder His great power, and by faith see it flowing from Him to you, and you will find yourself growing in faith to receive a very real touch of healing from the Lord. MATTHEW 8:2-3 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. 4) “I AM WILLING,” Jesus said. Let His own words establish the fact that it is Christs will to heal! Don’t come apologetically to Jesus for healing. No! Come to Him knowing that His expressly stated intention concerning healing is: “I am willing!” And don’t pray the leper’s prayer (“Lord, if you are willing...”). Jesus replied by revealing the intent of His heart concerning the healing of the sick — “I am willing.” Confess that promise from Jesus regularly — I am willing! — and watch your faith for healing grow!
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 22:57:26 +0000