If we long to be healed, we need to spend time with the Great Physician to increase our faith and receive what we ask for. Only by a living, real and constant relationship with God, can we come to live life being led by our spirit, so that we can hear with our spiritual ears, see with our spiritual eyes, and feel with our spiritual heart, so that we are in the will of the Lord and can use the authority that we have in Jesus. We all received a measure of faith when we received Jesus as Lord. The belief that Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins cannot be manufactured, we receive it through the touch of the Holy Spirit as a result of hearing the Word of the Gospel. You may think that you have not received healing because you do not have enough faith. But perhaps it is not the size of your faith that is the problem, but the nature of it. You may have faith in your mind, by knowing what the Bible says about healing, but you have not yet received the revelation of this truth in your heart, from the Holy Spirit. The faith by which we know beyond any doubt that Jesus has already done everything for our healing, comes only from intimacy with our Lord and through study and meditation on the promises of His Word. This is the kind of faith that brings the healing that Jesus acquired on the cross, into our possession.
You probably already know that it is not enough to strengthen our faith once and be enough to work every time we struggle with pain or symptoms of illness. We need to feed on the Word of God daily, to keep our faith from wavering, and not forget what we have in Jesus or be taken by surprise from any sickness and allow it time to settle in us.
Because we live in fleshly bodies, our first reaction to anything that happens is what we perceive in our natural minds. In the case of sickness, the natural reaction is: “Which pill should I take, or which doctor should I go to?” But as we renew our minds with the Word of God, the first reaction will be: “In the Name of Jesus pain leave my body, Jesus healed me by His stripes.” Or, if we know what the pain or attack is, we directly resist the sickness: “In the Name of Jesus, _____ (name the sickness) leave my body. Jesus healed me when He sacrificed Himself on the cross, I don't accept you, and you have no place in my body!” It doesn't necessarily matter what wording we use, maybe the Holy Spirit will lead us to declare other words, but the essence is the same: we resist any kind of attack in the Name of Jesus, and if in doubt, we go back to the verses which show it is God’s will for us to be healthy and repeat them until we believe with all our hearts, and continue to resist until victory.
Jesus said in John 6:63b, “the words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life.” But for them to become life in us, we must hear them in our hearts.
The original Greek word translated “life” is “zóé” which means “life (physical and spiritual). All life, throughout the universe, is derived only from and sustained by God's self-existent life.” (according to HELPS Word-studies).
- Psalms 107:20 He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
King David understood the power of God's Word in our lives. Healing is available to those who believe and obey the Word of God. When we believe what the Bible says, we also love its author, that is, God. And when we love Him, we do what He asks of us (John 14:21). The result is a blessed life in a healthy body.
- Psalms 103:2-5 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
David also knew that he had to encourage himself whenever he felt down or in distress. Let's follow David's example and even when we suffer, let's choose to glorify God and thank Him for all He has done for us.
Forgiven sin prepares the ground for the heart to receive healing. Let us keep our hearts humble, sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and immediately ask for forgiveness when we sin, so that we do not give the devil any open door to bring sickness into our bodies or souls. If we keep our hearts pure and trust our Lord, He will take care of us, forgive our sins, and heal all our sicknesses, regardless of whether they are the result of sin or other causes. The Lord wants us to live happily and enjoy His blessings. He gives us the best even in old age and keeps us strong until the end!
- Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Whenever we talk without thinking, we are in danger of reaping the fruit of unwisely spoken words. In fact, this verse tells us that we feed on what we say. We need healthy, nutritious food that strengthens us, but if we speak just to say something, we may suffer. What fruit do the words we speak produce? We can be strengthened, grow spiritually, and be healed if what we speak is the truth of God's Word about our health, and we do not speak words that appropriate sickness or suffering. If when someone asks us how we are doing, we begin to complain and tell them everything about our pains and problems, naming the sickness as our own, our speech produces death. We think of sickness as something that belongs to us when we say it is ours. We cannot expect to build our faith for healing when our speech is negative, constantly complaining, saying that we will never be well again, etc.
I am not saying to lie, and deny being sick, but to declare that we will overcome it, by proclaiming the truth of God's Word, until the healing that Jesus acquired by the stripes upon His body, becomes ours.
Many sicknesses begin with spoken words. When we declare, “My throat feels sore, I'm catching a cold” or “What a windy day, I'm going to get a headache,” or anything like that, we create the right environment for the enemy to bring illness upon us.
It is time to change the destructive power of negative words spoken by us and others, and declare the truth of what God's Word says. Jesus sets us free if we ask Him. For example, instead of saying “my sinusitis, my arthritis, my gastritis, etc. we should say something like: “I'm struggling with sinusitis; I have problems with arthritis, but Jesus has already done everything for my healing, and I will come into possession of my healing; with God's help the gastritis will be cured.”
- Luke 6:45 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
Our future is in our hearts and if we want a good future, it is time to discover what God has prepared for us. Our words express whatever is in our hearts. It is important that we have the biblical perspective and that the words we speak build faith, not tear down.
- Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
God created the entire universe by the power of His declared Word, as we read several times in the first chapter of the book of Genesis: “God said [...] and it was so.” Hebrews 11:3 does not say that God created everything from “what was not,” but from “what was not seen,” that is, from what He had already created in the spiritual world.
Jesus knew the power of words over weather, sickness, death, and all that exists, and He used it. By speaking the words, the Lord healed all the diseases of those who came to Him, raised the dead, forgave sins, cast out demons, blessed the loaves and fishes and multiplied them.
- Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
When God speaks to our hearts, His Word becomes alive in us and begins to work knowledge, healing, and restoration. The words of the Lord nourish us if we receive them in our spirits. Jesus said He is “the bread of Life” (John 6:48) and He is also “the Word” (John 1:1).
- Hebrews 4:12a For the word of God is living and powerful…
God's Word is as alive today as it has ever been. But we must believe it in our hearts to activate it so that it may teach us what we need to know, guide, and correct us when we are wrong, and heal us.
An honest and intimate relationship with Jesus is the first step in learning to hear the truth in our spirit about healing and what God wants to do for us.
Jesus spent many nights in prayer with His Father and they were always in one accord. Jesus said that He was only doing what He saw the Father doing, so if Jesus needed such fellowship and intimacy with our heavenly Father, how much more do we need to spend quality time with the Lord in prayer and studying the Bible, so that we may do His works and even greater ones. Jesus healed all the sick who came to Him, delivered the demon-possessed, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead, and He tells us that we can do the same.
- Luke 6:17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases.
Many came to hear Jesus and be healed. There are certain basic principles that must be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit in order for us to receive healing by faith. The most important one is the truth that God cannot deny Himself, as He is life itself. Sickness can lead to death and is produced by what no longer functions properly in the body, or by a pathogenic germ, and neither of these come from God, who is life and the source of life, therefore He is the source of healing too.
- John 1:4-5 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Darkness includes sickness, and where the light of Jesus is, darkness is dispersed, sickness must leave, and healing take its place. When our relationship with the Lord is one of love and total dependence on Him, healing and problem solving happen just the way our heavenly Father wants. This means that we want to follow His perfect will, which results in complete happiness as we are pleasing the Lord. Nothing can steal our relationship with Jesus, if we sincerely desire it, and everything we need flows from there. The Lord wants us to trust Him completely, so that He can lead us in the best and surest way to heaven.
- John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (“perisson,” meaning “super abundant, beyond expectations, more than enough.”)
The “thief” wants to steal the abundant life that Jesus has for us. Who is the “thief” here? This is a verse that is misinterpreted most of the time. Even if everything bad and negative has the devil as its source, the reference is not directly about him. The context shows that Jesus was talking about the false teachers who came before Him, and whom He calls “thieves and robbers.” “Thayer's Greek Lexicon” explains the term “kleptés,” from the original Greek, used by Jesus in verses 8 and 10, as “the name given to false teachers, who do not care to instruct men, but abuse their confidence for their own gain.” Any wrong teaching about God's will for healing, can keep us sick, and sickness robs us of the true abundant life we should be living. We can live the abundant life that Jesus gives us, if we realize and believe that it includes healing, and as a result we strive to be healed.
- Proverbs 4:20-22 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.
We can have the perfect treatment for healing if we receive the Word as medicine for our body and soul, and keep it in the center of our being, in what the Bible calls our hearts, inner man or spirit, united with the Holy Spirit. When we know in our spirit that we have in us the true life that comes from Jesus, we can overcome any sickness.
If we read the Word only with our physical minds, we cannot receive the faith that comes from revelation, and this is the faith we must have in order to receive what we ask from the Lord. Sometimes we study the Bible and pray about a personal issue, and we cannot immediately hear what God wants to reveal about it. In such cases, we need to relax and recognize the thoughts that the Lord puts in our mind. The Lord's thoughts surprise us and are always in agreement with the Bible. There were times when I received the answer I was praying for, while I was doing something else, or when I woke up during the night. The revelation we receive from the Holy Spirit, no one can steal from us, or convince us that it would not be so, and the joy and peace that accompany everything that comes from the Lord are truly special. God desires us to succeed, and He helps us reach the level of revelation we need if we ask Him to do so. The following is a good guideline for developing your own prayer: “Lord, please open my heart and reveal the truth about what I am reading, so that I can pray as You want, make the decisions You want me to make, and do everything to please You. Please reveal all I need to know and help me act upon the revelation You give me. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.”
There are several important principles involving how we receive healing by faith.
1.Do not have unconfessed sins, which give the devil the right to keep us sick. And after we ask for forgiveness, we have to believe that we are forgiven and there is nothing between us and the Lord to block our healing anymore.
- 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
2.God heals us not because we are holy and righteous by our own efforts, but because He is good and loves us.
I have heard many Christians say that they do not deserve to be healed by God, and that they deserve to be punished with the disease they suffer from, for the sins they have committed. But the biblical truth is, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). So, we can be sure that we are forgiven and reconciled to God through Jesus.
Let us remember the paralytic man brought down by his friends through a break in the roof, whose faith Jesus saw and said to the sick man, “‘Son, your sins are forgiven you.’” His healing occurred at the moment of deliverance from sin, and this is true for any sickness resulting from sin.
Whenever we consider ourselves unworthy for God to heal us, the guilt of sin can block us from receiving healing. We received salvation when God’s Word became alive in us, we understood and received the revelation that our sins were forgiven, and we became God’s born-again children. If we do not believe that we are truly forgiven, we cannot believe that we are already healed. We need the revelation of deliverance from sin, of having a clean conscience so that we continue to believe in our spirit that we have been healed, until healing is fully manifested in our physical body. Because faith comes from hearing the Word of God, repeating the following verses and others on this subject, can help us truly hear and believe that Jesus' sacrifice was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins.
- Hebrews 9:14b ... the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
The blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, brought us forgiveness and erased our sins forever when we repented. After we believe with all our hearts that we are forgiven, we can also believe that we will come into the possession of our healing.
- 2 Corinthians 5:19b, 21 God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. […] For He (God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (Jesus).
3.Through His sacrifice, Jesus not only forgave all our sins but also healed all our diseases, because He bore them in His body on the cross and by His stripes we were healed.
- Isaiah 53:4-5 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
If we believe that Jesus forgave our sins through His sacrifice on the cross, and that we are justified by what He did for us, and not because we never sinned, why is it so hard for us to believe that He also healed us by His stripes? How can anyone justify that only the first half of verse 5 is true for all and the second part is only true for some believers specially chosen by God? Let us remember what Matthew 8:16-17 says, where the apostle quotes these prophetic verses from Isaiah about the healings that Jesus would do.
The revelation of what Jesus did on the cross for us brings healing. If we can visualize in our minds, our sickness put upon the body of Jesus on the cross, we can have the firm faith needed to be healed.
When Jesus was healing those who came to Him during His ministry on earth, there were situations in which He said to the sick: “your sins are forgiven.” After their sins were forgiven, their diseases left. Jesus has never stopped forgiving sins and healing the sick.
4.Sickness entered the world through sin, it is one of the effects of sin, therefore if the root of sin is eliminated, the sickness produced by it has to go.
- 1 John 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
By healing, Jesus destroys the work of sickness induced by the devil and his demons. In Acts 10:38 we clearly see that Jesus “healed all who were oppressed by the devil.”
- Colossians 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
The power of the light of Jesus destroys all darkness, including any sickness that may be in us. The more we understand how great the power of the Holy Spirit is, to heal all diseases and to bring dead or dysfunctional cells back to life, the more freedom we will give Him to heal us. The power of the Holy Spirit resurrected Jesus, and it took the greatest power for this (Ephesians 1:19-21). It is hard for anyone to realize how much the devil and his demons must have tried to prevent the resurrection of the Lord. The same Holy Spirit dwells in us (Romans 8:11) and by faith we give Him the freedom to restore our bodies and souls to make us whole again, no matter what the cause of our suffering might be.
5.God is love and we can be sure that He wants the best for us, and that sickness brings nothing good.
- 1 John 4:8b,18 ... God is love. [...] There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
God's love is perfect, it is the “agape love” of 1 Corinthians 13, which does not seek personal gain, but the best interest of the beloved. God did not save us for selfish reasons. If He would have, He would have created a less costly plan of salvation, not through the suffering, torture, and death of His Son. When we truly understand the expensive price Father God and His Son paid for our salvation, we no longer doubt God’s love for us! If we consider the many sins we have each committed and the many times we have taken God's place by judging, revenging, or making decisions against Him, we can realize how great the Lord’s love and mercy are for us.
Sickness creates fear of what will come, and many are afraid of getting sick. In Jesus there is no fear and no sickness. If we fear sickness, we have not understood God's love. God's perfect love casts out fear, and the revelation of God's love heals us. Let us enter into His presence, allowing His glory to fill and transform us, by spending time with Him until we receive His love and we become more loving and healthier. Healing is the manifestation of God's love poured into every cell of our body. John 3:16 shows us the ultimate love of God, who sent His Son to pay for our sins on the cross, bear all our sicknesses and infirmities, and heal us by His stripes.
Sometimes we do not receive the healing miraculously, simply because we need to fully perceive the revelation of our Lord’s love to completely transform our lives. Whenever we suffer for a while and the Lord delivers us from pain and sickness, we appreciate our healing even more. When we are doing well, our fallen nature wants us to believe that we can handle everything on our own, but when we are suffering and there is nothing we can do to stop the pain, we are much more receptive to what God wants and has for us.
6.The Lord wants to heal us when we need it, so that we can be healthy.
- Matthew 8:2-3 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
When we come to realize that God is good, loves us unconditionally, wants the best for us, and we know deep in our hearts that He says, “I am willing!” we will get what we need. This is the faith that moves mountains, changes situations, brings healing and drives out sickness, and gives us victory over difficult situations.
7. What do we really believe? Are our hearts malleable and workable through the Word of God, or do we only believe with our minds, while in our hearts we have doubts, fears, worries and other negative emotions and thoughts?
- Proverbs 4:23 Keep your hearts with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.
What we think within ourselves, in our spirits, is actually the truth of what we believe. At first, we believe what we hear with our minds, and as the information we receive deepens, it begins to permeate our hearts. If we feed our minds on the things of this world, we cannot expect to trust in the Lord and have firm faith that we will be healed or that we will receive something good from Him. We must feed on the Scripture constantly if we want to have faith in the words of the Lord. For the promises of the Word of God to become alive and working in us, we must repeat them and ask for the Holy Spirit’s revelation in our hearts. Only then can we have unshakable faith that the promises we rely on to receive healing, will be fulfilled.
If we want to know what we really believe in our hearts, we need to pay attention to what we say to ourselves, as well as what we say when we are under pressure or when symptoms or pain are very strong. If we do not have the firm belief that we have already been healed by the Lord and that we will come into the possession of our healing, then in our hearts we have doubt, fear and sometimes even rebellion. All these are the signs of a hardened heart, and it is up to us to clean our hearts to become soft clay again in the hand of the Lord.
How do we get our hearts back in the right place? How do we get our peace back and trust in God's love and goodness again, so that we can have the firm faith that we will be healthy? Only the continuous flow of the truth of God's Word can remove the strongholds and the lies we believed in our hearts. The more we study and meditate on God’s Word, our passion for the Lord increases and so does the faith that what we read is true for us as well. When we are hungry for more of the Lord’s presence, for the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and manifestation of His fruit, we know that we have open hearts for the seed of truth that will produce the healing we need. God is faithful, He does what He promises, and if we have not received healing, the problem is not with God, but with us. If we realize what the problem is, and solve it, we will remove the blockage and receive the healing.
Copyright © 2024 Carmen Pușcaș. May be used for personal study or instruction but shall not be copied and/or distributed in whole or part without permission or for financial profit.
If you want to learn more about healing, our book
THE BIBLICAL VIEW ON HEALING BY FAITH,
in PDF format can be ordered, for a donation of any amount, here
OTHER ARTICLES ABOUT HEALING
IS HEALING GOD'S WILL?
What the Bible says about God's will and healing.
RENEWING OF THE MIND
What does the Bible say on the matter and what does real science say?
THE RECORDED INDIVIDUAL HEALINGS OF JESUS
Jesus healed all the sick who came to Him, regardless of their condition.
JESUS HEALED THEM ALL
None of the sick that came to Jesus left as they came. They all were made whole!
JESUS HEALED THEM ALL - BIBLE VERSES
Scriptures that prove this wonderful truth!
BLOCKAGES IN RECEIVING HEALING
Sometimes there are hidden obstacles to our healing that can be removed once we recognize them.
DEBUNKING FALSE BELIEFS ABOUT HEALING
This article is debunking some of the most common false ideas about healing.
PAUL'S THORN IN THE FLESH
What does the Bible truly says about what was Paul's thorn in the flesh.
HEALING BIBLE VERSES PERSONALIZED FOR INCREASING FAITH AND PRAYER
Bible verses and personal declaration to help build one's faith and get healing.
HEALING BY FAITH
Encouragement & Scriptural guidance for healing.
HEALING BY FAITH BIBLE VERSES
Scripture to encourage one's faith & stand against negativity & doubt.
WHY DO WE BECOME SICK?
There are multiple causes of sicknesses, but the truth is that Jesus healed all sicknesses no matter the cause.
CAN WE LIVE HEALTHY?
The Word of God teaches us countless times of how we can have the abundant life that Jesus came to give us (John 10:10b).
MAIN MENU - ENGLISH VERSION