Acts 14:8-9 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
I believe that Faith in Jesus, if correctly applied works, every time, for everyone who believes. There are six integral factors in healing. Three for the receiver of the blessing and three for the minister.
Actually 7, the person who needs the healing actually has to want to be healed, or saved, or prospered. Some people I’ve ministered to do not want to prosper or be healthy. They want to be saved under their own conditions. None of the following is true is the desire isn’t there.
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
I personally believe faith comes by hearing the anointed teaching, preaching of someone. Someone has to go and tell them that faith in Jesus works. When I got cancer people ( mostly christians in name only) would piously tell me to say ‘thy will be done’. That shows their complete ignorance of the context of what Jesus was talking about. We are all to go and make desciples. We do that by preaching/telling people about what Jesus can do. It is never Jesus will for someone to die a miserable death, although all things do work for the good of those who love God. When I say preaching/teaching I mean not as a pastor of a large 10,000 member church wearing $2,000 tennis shoes, not as a theologian with lots of head knowledge but no heart love, no 3 point, 4 point, 50 point sermon, but simply sharing by your mouth what God has done for you. When you combine your experience with what God has shown you from the faith, that is precisely the message that God has prepared from before the foundation of the world for this particular person to get the faith to be healed. If God can use a fat, bald, undisciplined slob from Ohio to win souls and help people to have the faith to be healed, He can use anyone. No one in particular has the the ‘ministry of healing’, we can all help others to to have the faith to get healed. I am absolutamente convinced of it. I wouldn’t talk so much about it if I had any doubt. They key is if you have faith and not doubt. Look at the woman with the issue of blood.
Mark 5:25-34 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Jesus once said something very interesting. You can have faith and still be in doubt. That little doubt will blow it. I have the truth, for example, because I have a Bible. But if I don’t read it, it’s useless. If you have faith with doubt, it’s useless. If you doubt Jesus can heal today, even if you believe Jesus existed, you have problems. If you doubt that Jesus was born of a virgin, rosed from the dead, and that only Jesus can save you (as many popular ‘Christian’ churches teach lately), you probably are not saved. Forget about having faith to be healed.
You have to acertain the will of God by the Word of God. Mental knowledge is not enough. Many times it’s seeded at deception. Avoid doubting. Apply what you know to your heart, leaving no room for doubt. Avoid faith killers, joy murderers, and doubt mongers.
James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
You can have faith in what God has told you specifically through His Word. He wants you to prosper you as your spirit is prospered. He wants you to be healthy because His Word is medicine. Call on the name Jesus and you will be saved.
The 3 Steps for the Faith to be healed, or prospered, or even to be saved (which is the most difficult, as if anything were difficult for God) and after The ABC’s of ministering faith. If you want friends and relatives to be helped through faith.
#1 Receiver of healing
1. Hearing. You need to hear to Have Faith. Faith comes from hearing. People get violent with me sometimes when I ask them if they want to be healed. Even people that say they say saved. The love of Christ constrains me. I know Jesus, I have faith in Him, and also know by His stripes we are healed. You know if you have faith because you have peace and joy, as Paul said in Romans 15. The lady with the issue of blood heard someone talking about how Jesus healed. Her faith came by hearing. Probably was told to her by someone who loved her enough to risk their friendship by telling her that Jesus heals. I know, it’s scary sometimes but the love of Christ constrains us to tell us uncomfortable faith things. It’s uncomfortable because Satan hates faith. He loves doubt. You are not being wise when you share your doubts, you are being unknowingly used by Satan.
#1 Minister of healing
A. Preach! Get off the couch, go outside, and tell others about Jesus. We should all be doing that if we believe. She had faith because someone told her that Jesus could heal her. It’s not God’s will that any should perish, nor even suffer. That’s all because of the fall. Not God’s will. Jesus always healed the people that came to Him in faith
#2 Receiver of healing
2. Believed. Just because you heard doesn’t mean you believed. This lady believed. If she hadn’t she would have never left the house. She was sick!! But she believed, so she dragged herself of breath and pushed and shoved her way through a packed crowd. We know this. She pushed her way through a crowd of hundreds of people. She insisted because she really believed. Jesus was getting jostled from every side. People are grabby, I know. Anyone who has come down and helped us has gotten jostled. She was healed, Jesus said, not by God’s will ‘que sera sera’, not because of His robe, definitely not because she touched him, hundred did. It was her faith (without doubting) that healed her. He told her that.
#2 Minister of healing
B. Perceived. When I am perceiving that someone is believing I spend hours with them. Or even desiring to be healed etc. some don’t want to. If they believe God can do it, and if they want to change things I am all in! Talking, sharing, pouring into and listening to them is a the greatest thing in the world. You can also see if you are wasting your time. Not trying to sound mean, but if someone already has their mind made up, it is better to redeem the time and politely excuse yourself.
#3 Receiver of healing
3. Doing. She did stuff! First, and most importantly she spoke!! Check it out! “when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole”. Speaking is doing. As a matter of fact, speaking is the number one action in faith. Romans 10:8 ‘confess with you mouth (doing) and believing in your heart (believe). You are saved. “Action not words” was coined by someone who didn’t get it. She pushed her way through a crowd. She touched Him, with faith to be healed and she was healed.
#3 Minister of healing
C. Seeing and commanding. Ministers see belief through actions. (We are all ministers if we are saved. Jesus turned around looking for the woman. Paul looked at the guy and saw he had faith to be saved. It wasn’t a spiritual hocus Po us type of seeing. It were the actions that were seen. Jesus perceived power came out then looked for that specific woman. Where you see ‘paul healeth a paralytic’ written in the margins of Acts 14 scratch it out. The paralytic as had the faith to be healed. He didn’t doubt. Jesus, Paul, Peter , all told them how to get healed and to stay healed once they say the action of faith. Paul said ‘get up!’ Jesus said ‘your faith has made you whole.’ Sometimes even if people are healed we need to encourage them to grab hold of it.
The Word of Faith isn’t a Pentecostal church somewhere. It’s straight out if Paul’s mouth
Romanos 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the WORD OF FAITH, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.