According to a recent Barna Group study, only 3 percent of senior pastors believe they flow in the spiritual gifts of healing, a startling figure in the Church of Jesus Christ. Although one doesn’t need an endowment of the gifts of healing to pray the prayer of faith that saves the sick (James 5:15) the small percentage of church leaders who believe they flow in this gift may stem from a lack of revelation rather than a lack of healing power. The truth is that Jesus is still working through men and women to heal the sick today just as He did when He walked the earth more than 2,000 years ago.
Indeed, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). And His Father, Jehovah, is the Lord who changes not (Malachi 3:6). So while the old covenant based on the law gave way to a new covenant based on faith in Jesus Christ as the savior of the world, the theme of healing is clearly interwoven through the pages of both the Old and New Testaments. In fact, God has made His intent clear from the beginning when He made man in His own image. God is not a sickly God and there is no sickness is heaven. Sickness comes from Satan as a result of the curse of the law. God’s perfect will is blessings, not curses; healing, not sickness.
The curse of the law outlined in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 describes many sicknesses and diseases that result from disobeying God’s commands, from tuberculosis to hemorrhoids. “Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of the law, them the Lord will bring upon the, until thou be destroyed” (Deuteronomy 28:62). That covers every ailment known to mankind. Again, sickness, disease and plague were not God’s will for the children of Israel in the Old Testament any more than they are His will for His children today. But God is a God of justice and therefore He had to allow a punishment for the sin of disobedience.
The good news is that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). By the scourging He took on his back, what the Bible refers to as “stripes,” we are healed (1 Peter 2:24). It’s already been done. See, Jesus did not stop at providing atonement for sin. He went on to provide for healing from sickness. It’s been said and it is true that if you are saved, you are also healed because the Greek word salvation implies deliverance, preservation, healing, health and soundness. When we receive our salvation, we receive all of these promises as well. The believer need only believe that he has received and healing shall be his (Matthew 11:22-24). When He walked the earth, Jesus went about healing all those who were sick. He didn’t turn folks away. That proves He is willing to heal. He is just waiting for someone to believe that He is willing.
In closing, there are three ways to receive healing. One is to believe that you have received and stand in faith on the Word of God according to Matthew 11:22-24. Another is to call the elders of the church together to pray the prayer of faith over according to James 5:14-15. And the third is through the laying on of hands by a minister that flows in the gifts of healing according to 1 Corinthians 12.
It is vital in this hour that the Church is educated about faith for healing, prayer for healing and spiritual gifts of healing. Jesus gave His disciples authority to lay hands on the sick and watch them recover (Mark 16:17-18). And the Apostle Paul did not want the Church to be uninformed about spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1) because we can’t properly exercise what we don’t know we have. Healing belongs to every born again believer in the New Testament just as it belonged to very Israelite in the Old Testament. The difference is that instead of being required to follow a laundry list of laws to ensure health, the New Testament saint need only believe that healing belongs to him – whether they flow in the spiritual gifts of healing or not.
We don't know why some are healed and some are not. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't put our faith in the Word of God and hold on to the promise, amen? What we do know is that God's will is to heal.The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus came that we might have life—abundant life free from sickness and disease of all kinds.
