Starting a new series on this blog ‘The Kingdom of God is at Hand’, with this first topic on Healing.
I am sorry to have to disappoint the naysayers, if it sounds like I am making a statement in the title that Christians don’t get healed. Christians do get healed, but there are some who don’t. For years, I have been asking the question why some don’t get healed, and have been seeking out the answers for it. Revisiting this again since the start of this year, I have finally found the revelation to ‘Why’.
The concept of healing has always intrigued me, and I always believed in the verses written in the bible about healing.
Recently I exchanged notes with a Brother who serves in ‘The Healing Rooms’ ministry, and I was glad to hear the insights from him confirmed the revelations that I got for this topic of healing.
R: Brother, when you minister to a person that needs healing, do you know the reasons why the person doesn’t get healed?
B: First, the person must be willing to receive healing and ready to seek God. Look at the healings Jesus did during His ministry, the person must seek and desire healing, as God will not force His will on anyone. The person needs to respond to Him in faith and God will reciprocate with healings.
R : So an open heart to seek God is one of the keys to healing, faith is just part of the equation.
B : Yes for sure. You know the word Salvation, the Greek word for that is SOZO, which means saved, healed and delivered. Healing and deliverance, is part of salvation working together.
R : To be delivered, there are spiritual roots that causes blockages that need to be removed, in order to complete the healing. Do you agree that repentance from these issues is an important part of healing?
B : Yes, Repentance is the only thing that will bring transformation for a person. Many can confess and repent all they want, but if they don’t walk in holiness and in the Holy Spirit, the spiritual house isn’t swept clean. And when the spiritual house of a person, isn’t swept clean, Jesus said that the evil spirit will come back seven times stronger! (Matthew 12:45)
R : Yes I had that same understanding too from the verse in Matthew. Sanctification is needed to keep the healing and for everyone who calls themselves a true Christian.
R : There is this part in the Bible that is relevant too, about partaking in the Holy Communion, being that, examination of self / repentance is needed, if not people will fall sick and even die!
B : The part of partaking Holy Communion; if we are partaking it in an unworthy manner, we eat and drink of our own sins, that’s why it is written people still fall sick and died after partaking it as they did not discern the Body of Christ correctly.
1 Corinthian 11: 27 – 32 (AMP)
‘So then whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in a way this is unworthy [of Him] will be guilty of [profaning and sinning against] the body and blood of the Lord. But a person must [prayerfully] examine himself [and his relationship with Christ], and only when he has done so should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks [without solemn reverence and heartfelt gratitude for the sacrifice of Christ], eats and drinks a judgement on himself if he does not recognise the body [of Christ]. That [careless and unworthy participation] is the reason why many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep [in death]. But if we evaluated and judged ourselves honestly [recognising our shortcomings and correcting our behaviour] we would not be judged. But when we [fall short] are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined [by undergoing His correction] so that we will not be condemned [to eternal punishment] along with the world.’
R : Some will exclaim, “I didn’t sin! I have been very generous giving to others and have treated others very well.”
Now I think it is important that Christians have to be honest with themselves and see that we do fall short of the glory of God continually in some areas of our lives.
Hebrews 12:15 (AMP)
‘See to it that no one falls short of God’s grace; that no root of resentment springs up and causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.’
This verse says that any resentment springs up in a person, will defile a person. So if we have bitterness, we have some rejection, if we have unloving spirits towards an individual, if we have unforgiveness in our hearts, or that we hold something against others due to what they have done to us in the past. That root of bitterness will keep us from the blessing of God.
Repentance isn’t a bad word. Somehow it has been misunderstood that we only need to repent once when we are saved by Christ. Repentance isn’t sin consciousness, that produces condemnation. It is conviction.
After Repentance or conviction that we need to stop doing things that are not pleasing to God. Sanctification becomes an ongoing and continuous process as Christians, as we are told to examine ourselves continually if we are in the faith.
2 Corinthians 13 : 5 – 6 (AMP)
‘Test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are in the faith and living your lives as [committed] believers. Examine yourselves! Or do you not recognise this about yourself that Jesus Christ in in you – unless you fail the test and are rejected as counterfeit.’
Sanctification is how one’s life line up in obedience to the word of God.
R : I have heard from people before, “I prayed for healing, have full faith in it, and even had many people to pray for me, why am I still not healed?”
B : Sometimes it seems that God don’t answer prayers for healing. It is not due to lack of faith, but it’s simply His will for the person. We need to seek out what is the will of God exactly, to know what God says for that person. I believe in predestination, look at the babies slaughtered during Herod’s time when he was looking for baby Jesus. How about the billions of babies aborted today? The bible says that it is better for them for their eyes have not seen evil and they are in a better place (Romans 9:11). Our fallen world is a suffering world, which is why Christ came to suffer and be crucified for our sakes, in order to redeem us.
R : Indeed Brother! We need to seek the Lord to know His will and only He is our Jehovah Rapha (Our God our Healer)!
The Lord always heals and it’s not that He is not willing to heal, but we need to know what is written in the word of God in regards to healing. And know the steps to take for a complete healing process. Having the faith to believe He heals is just an activation, but blockages that block the healing need to be taken out of the way through the process of deliverance. For some, healing can be immediate, for others, it will take time.
Subsequently, an individual needs to know what is needed on his/her part to keep the healing.
Praying works miracles, and knowing His will for the situation, how to pray and actions taken, will make the difference whether one can be healed, or can keep the healing.
P.S. Illnesses for Children are approached differently. Often the cause of illnesses in Children is generational, issues that are not resolved on the parent’s or grandparent’s end that are passed down to the children.
There are always God’s solutions to illnesses, we just need to seek Him to search it out!
Books to read on Spiritual Roots of Diseases:
- Healing begins with the Sanctification of the Heart by Michelle Strydom
- A More Excellent Way by Henry Wright
