Are we always healed?

Believing it may not be God's will to heal me. This is probably the most common error with many who are not healed. The answer to this is fairly complex, but we will try and address this as it is so important. When Jesus came to this earth, He came not just to provide salvation, but to overturn what had happened when man turned away from God. So Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for that sin, and He did this for everyone in this world. That doesn't mean that everyone is saved, because when He provided that salvation, we must believe in that provision, and receive it in faith for it to be ours. So only those that do not reject that salvation will be saved. Just in the same way when Jesus was on the cross, He paid for our healing which was the result of sin in this world. 1 Peter 2 verse 24 says - "He himself bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed."
So Jesus has already provided salvation for every person if they will receive it, (He doesn't need to decide if He is willing to save someone) and just in the same way He has already provided healing for every person, if they will believe and trust in that provision that has already been decided on by God. Therefore if He has already provided that, He is not making a decision on each case, the decision has already been made 2000 years ago.

Believing your condition is untreatable. The gospel of James says (James 1 verse 6-7) But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. If anyone believes that the Lord God either cant or may not heal, then it probably won't be healed. It is not important if the condition appears beyond rectification, or even if the doctors have said it is incurable, God is much more powerful than anyone or anything, He can and will do the impossible.

Believing that God only heals through doctors. When Jesus was on this earth, He healed hundreds or even thousands of people. There is not one case where He tells someone to see a doctor to heal a disease or ailment. This is because His healing is through the power of The Holy Spirit, which is released by our faith into our mortal bodies. He doesn't need an effort of the flesh (medical person) to operate, and He doesn't need chemicals to ease the condition. His healing is always perfect in every way, because He made us, and therefore can put us back together again when we have problems.

It doesn't mean that God cannot work through a doctor or surgeon, God will generally meet us where our faith is, but it is not God's best of what He wants to give to us, which is perfect healing.

Warning:If you are ill and need urgent or necessary medical help, do not reject or refuse to attend the doctors or the hospital. If you do not have enough faith, or there are other reasons that may restrict, delay or prevent your healing, it may be dangerous. Go to the doctor or hospital, and when you have an opportunity, be prayed for, that you are healed.

Believing we all have to die sometime, so maybe this is my time. It is true that we all have to die sometime, God has given a general limit to our lives, but it doesn't mean we have to die from a disease or condition, according to God's word, we should all die naturally of age.

In Jeremiah, there is a passage which tells us that God has good plans for us, and wants to give us to live long with an expected end. An expected end is a good long life free of sickness. Dying of cancer, Heart attacks or other similar conditions or being killed in a car accident, is not an expected end, it is an unexpected end; this is not God's will for us, so at any age He wants to heal us.

Jeremiah 29 verse 11 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end".

Hate, or bad feelings towards another person/persons. Going through life, it is easy to fall out with some people, it may be friends, family or loved ones, it may even be neighbours or past acquaintances, but although we are not asked to get on with everyone, we are told by God to forgive others of all things and to love everyone with a heavenly love, and also by this we shouldn't hate anyone or have a grudge against anyone.

Matthew 22 verse 36-40 a man asks Jesus. “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Many of us may be praying for healing, deliverance, or help with other matters. We want joy, peace, and happiness in our homes. We want better relationships with family and friends, we want healing and help from God. However, the answer to seeing these needs and desires met is all wrapped up in receiving God’s love and then walking in that love toward others. If you have any grudges, hate or bad feelings against anyone, forgive them, and if possible contact them to put things right, then you can come to God with love in your heart.

Only believe, and you will receive. The words "only believe" are relevant here. It is possible to have lots of faith which is positive to receive healing, but be burdened with unbelief. Unbelief is the negative of faith, an example of unbelief is imagine you have a petrol driven car, but accidentally allow some diesel to be placed in the tank. The car may have plenty of petrol, but the diesel will stop it working. Another example is a tug-of-war game, imagine one side is faith and belief, and the other side is unbelief, you can have both but which one will win?

Are you still continuing in sinful ways. We all sin, even if you are a Christian you may still do things you shouldn't, so we are not talking about those things. Examples of what we are talking about is anger, bitterness, hate and so on can sometimes cause disease, sickness and problems to occur. If you are looking for prayer for lung cancer but still smoke, heart disease but still eat beyond what is reasonable, reconciliation in your marriage but still fight with your partner.

These things happen, and God understands that, but the answer first is to come to God for prayer to stop what is causing the problem, and when He removes that from your life, He can then heal you of the result of that activity.

The person praying lacks faith. It is easy to consider that the person who has the need and is being prayed for may lack faith or trust in God, but it can also be the person who is praying for your healing who may lack the right kind of faith. If they pray asking God "please if it is your will can you heal this person" then this is not a prayer of faith, but is a prayer of hope. All prayers to God must be done in Faith (see the first listing above under "believing it may not be God's will to heal me, and the second listing from the top under "believing your condition is untreatable".

All prayers should be carried out with the knowledge that God wants you well, and that the Christian has been given the power and authority to heal from the Holy Spirit.

Believing God has allowed be to have this condition to teach me or bless me or others. This is a common belief that in itself is completely untrue and will rob a person of their belief that God wants them well, and hence rob them of their healing.

Firstly it is true that God can use every situation to bless someone or bring them to know Him, but that doesn't mean that God provided or created that situation or even wants that situation. As an example God may use the situation that a drug addict finds himself in to lead that person to Christ; He can then heal that person of his or her addiction. That healing may in turn show others what God has done for that man, and could lead those witnesses to know Jesus. It doesn't mean however that it was the will of God that that man was a drug addict, just that God used that existing situation to display His grace.

There is a commonly known time in the Bible when Jesus brings a man named Lazarus back to life.

Gospel of John 11 verse 41-44: 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this,that they may believe that You sent Me.”  43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”  44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

This situation gave glory to God, not because Lazarus died, but because Jesus brought him back to life, so the glory is not in the condition, but in the healing.

Lack of persistence. Sometimes it is necessary to pray more than once, and sometimes over a period. This is not because God heals that way, but because when we receive healing, sometimes the start of our healing gives us faith to receive the remainder. An example of this, is when Jesus healed the blind man in the Gospel of Mark 8 verses 22-25.

22 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. 23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.

24 And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.” 25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.

Reliance on someone or something other than God. God tells us clearly, that we must put Him first in everything. By putting Him first and relying on Him first, He is able to work within us, we should not rely on anything else above Him. There is an interesting lesson to be learned here from the Gospel of john 5 verses 1-9: This was the pool of Bethesda, where the bible tells us that there were many surrounding the pool who were sick, lame, and with other diseases. They were all waiting for what they thought was an angel that stirred up the water, with the first one in expecting to be healed.

The history books tell us that this was a pool dedicated to a Greco-Roman god of well-being and health – Asclepius, and The stirring up of the water was happening when the priests of the Asclepius cult, would open waterways between the higher and the lower portions of the pool of Bethesda. The water in the upper reservoir would then flow into the lower one.. The people surrounding it were in fact relying on what was a form of superstition, whilst the only man that Jesus healed was the man that was unable to rely on the pool as there was no-one to put him in it. He had no reliance on anything at all, until Jesus came to him, just as He comes to us when we need healing, and asked him to stand up and walk as He healed him.

We all have our doctors, dentists, solicitors, psychiatrists etc. We rely on them often more than we rely on God. If we are sick, by all means do not reject a doctor especially in emergency cases, however consider that God is infinitely more powerful that any doctor, and we can still ask Him for healing, not by the doctors hand, but a perfect healing through His holy Spirit.