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.
Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
- Faith comes by hearing God’s Word. Study God’s Word on the subject of healing. Use a good concordance, and look up every Bible verse (in its full context) that speaks of healing. Read classic books on healing, such as T.L. Osborne’s Healing the Sick. Ask your pastor to recommend audio tapes on the subject taught by those whom God has used in healing the sick. In sum, fill your heart with what God’s Word, the Bible, says about His desire to heal our sick bodies.
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.”
- Jesus said to the blind men, “Do you believe that I am able…?” Faith grows 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.”
- 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.
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.”
- “I am willing,” Jesus said. Let His own words establish the fact that it is Christ’s 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.”
Psalms 103:2-3 “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits — who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases…”
- Faith for healing grows as we realize that Jesus has provided a package of salvation — both the forgiveness of our sins and the healing of our diseases. Too many Christians, sadly, have “forg[otten] … all his benefits.” One of those great salvation benefits is the forgiveness of our sins. Another — not to be forgotten or ignored — is the healing of our sicknesses. The Word of the Lord tells us, “Don’t forget this!”
1 Peter 2:24 “…by his wounds you have been healed.”
- Faith for divine healing grows as we remember that from God’s standpoint, healing is already DONE — “You have been healed.”
Matthew 8:16-17 “…[Jesus] healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.” Notice the verb tenses that Peter and Matthew use: “…you have been healed…. He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.” Just as Jesus has already borne our sins, likewise He has already taken and carried our sicknesses. That means you don’t have to carry them any longer!
Matthew 4:23-24 “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralysed, and he healed them.”
- Jesus’ will to heal includes YOUR sickness! He healed “every disease and sickness.” And His intent to heal includes your pain, even “severe pain.” If you have cancer, leukaemia, or any other debilitating disease, it is included among the “every disease and sickness” that Jesus is pleased to heal.
We have looked at seven Scriptural ways to increase your faith for spiritual healing:
■ Remember that faith comes by hearing God’s Word.
■ Focus on Jesus the Healer.
■ Consider Jesus’ great power to heal, and allow yourself to “see” it flowing out to you, as it did to the woman with the issue of blood.
■ Remember Christ’s words to the man who was uncertain about Jesus’ will to heal: “I am willing.”
■ Don’t forget the salvation benefits of forgiveness of sins and healing of sickness.
■ Remember that Jesus “took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.” Don’t you carry them a minute longer!
■ Any affliction you have can be healed — Jesus healed “every disease and sickness.”
And thankfully, “Jesus Christ is the SAME yesterday and TODAY and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Jesus healed His people 20 centuries ago, and He is still the same He will heal you today!
