How Does God Heal?

The healing power of God is alive and well today! You can be used by God to be walking, breathing testimonies and bearers of this healing power. I am one!

My testimony is proof that what the world says is impossible, IS possible with God! But you might be asking, how does God heal? What makes me so special that I received a miracle from the Lord?

I’ll spoil it for you now: we’re all special to God! And to some he gives gifts of healing, other’s prophecy, faith, wisdom and another teaching (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). I believe these principles can be applied in other giftings, however there are three things God has shown me that are present in the gift of healing specifically: Faith, God’s will and God’s timing. The scriptures show healings which Jesus performed and which we can perform as his disciples.

1) Faith

Faith is believing in what you cannot see. The bible says we are meant to walk by faith and not by sight (1 Corinthians 5:7). This means that when the world says something is impossible, like paying your bills for that month, if God says he will provide, then he will. I’ve seen it with my own eyes in my family. Money came from God’s provision and sometimes my parents had no clue how we paid the bills for that month.

It’s like the woman who only had a little oil. She gave the last bit of what she had away, to Elisha and God through this prophet blessed the woman with enough oil to feed her household and then some (2 Kings 4)!

That is how faith showed up in another gift: obedience. I’m going to give you some scripture references for faith specifically in healing. Jesus says many times that your faith has healed you or because of your faith you are made well (Mark 5:34, Luke 18:42, Mark 10:52 etc).

The one that really strikes me is the woman who was bleeding for twelve years. She knew that all she had to do was touch the robe of her Lord and savior and she would be healed. When Jesus felt the healing power leave him and asked who touched him, she trembled before him. She showed him reverence and fear of his power. Jesus shows us his compassion, love and his will for us in his response,

And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”(Luke 8:48)

2) God’s Will

I personally believe it’s always God’s will for us to experience healing in our lives. I don’t see why there would be any reason for our father to look down on us and not want to heal our hearts, minds, souls or bodies. God’s healing is all throughout the gospels and then on.

I believe that what is key in God’s will, is for us to ask and to partner with him in the healing. He simply wants us to ask him, to recognize the healing hands, to know who is healing us and sometimes to do some work and sow into our healing.

Let’s be honest, many times we try to do it on our own. We try to find the best fix, the best coping mechanism, the best exercise to make it better. But God doesn’t just want better for you, he wants his BEST! And his best is true, restorative healing.

Look back at the woman in Luke 8. She went to see so many doctors to get well, but no one could fully restore her. But when she saw the true source of healing, nothing stopped her from getting to Jesus. We need to look to the true source and to recognize that it’s by his stripes we are healed and nothing that we do outside of Christ produces lasting healing (Isaiah 53:5).

I’m not saying sometimes it won’t ever be a process or that you shouldn’t go to the doctors. But are you going to the doctors with Jesus? I know that sounds so cheesy but, have you asked Jesus if that’s his best for you? Maybe it is and there’s a reason you’re going to the doctors, or maybe Jesus does want to heal you but it’s not his perfect timing. Maybe you’ll save a soul in that doctor's office or meet your husband (only God knows)!

We also see God’s will in healing in Matthew 8: 2-3 when the leper comes up to Christ: Suddenly a leper came and knelt before Him, saying:

“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!” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed

3) God’s timing

There are two components of God’s timing. The first is when the actual healing should occur. We see this with the man who was blind all his life. The people around Jesus asked him ““Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”” and Jesus replied that the man was not blind from his own sin or his parents, but so he would bring glory to God in that exact moment. What this passage reveals is that God has a perfect timing for everything and that sometimes we suffer in our lives for a reason.

If there was no pain, how would we know to turn to God?

We see this with the little girl that Jesus was delayed in healing because of the woman who was bleeding. The two stories intertwined show the elements of fatih, God’s will and God’s timing. The miracle went from healing the sick to raising the dead, because of the woman who bled for 12 years! Both women blessed one another and glorified God in this process through their individual suffering.

This is the other component to God’s timing: the process of healing that isn’t always a split second miracle but a process. Some healings are emotional, trauma-based or need physical therapy.

Sometimes the healing process can seem like a sign that God is ignoring you. That you are unseen and unheard, and that your prayers have gone unanswered. Surely I can say this is one of the sufferings that Paul was talking about in Romans 5:3-5. They produce perseverance, which builds character and produces hope!

Do you see the common theme?

Your healing brings hope. To you and to others. As a bearer of any gift. Whether it be healing, prophesy, teaching, exhorting, service, evangelism (all those gifts it talks about in 1 Corinthians 12). Your role as a beloved child of Christ is to bring hope to this world! You’re that city on a hill that cannot be shaken or moved (Matthew 5:15-16).

What’s your pain worth?

I can stand before you today as a testament of 21 years of pain and say that I TRULY would go through it again to bring glory to God in that moment. My years of pain are worth one second of my life glorifying God! Yet God is blessing me with years of blessings!

Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes I want to give up. But even sharing my testimony here renews my hope and strength, because the JOY of the Lord is my strength and my healing brings joy to my life and to others.

What is your pain worth? Would it be worth it if it were to touch one life? To give one little girl or boy faith? To touch that lost woman’s hardened heart? To bring hope to that homeless man’s eyes? What is your pain worth to you? All these things bring glory and honor to God.

Don’t let the process scare you away from healing. I’ve done it. All it does is bring you right back to your place of pain and along the way maybe you’ve lost some relationships. Don’t let the enemy have victory here. Don’t let him steal the joy of your gift. Of your healing. I have, but I’m declaring right now it stops. And that’s all I have to do: pick my joy back up.

It’s! That! Simple!

What do you need to pick back up? Declare over yourself? What do you need to have others pray with you and believe with you for? What reminder will make your testimony shine for all to see? Take a moment in your day and take a step towards that thing. Take a step into freedom and healing with me. Take a step towards Jesus.