Chapter 10. Healing and Faith.

Chapter 10. Healing and Faith.

The question of the relationship of faith to healing is one that is very controversial and has many vexed issues associated with it.

On one hand we have “faith formula” preachers who would simply say that faith is the key to healing and the failure to receive healing indicates a lack of faith on the part of the sick person. It is based on the theory that there is a strict causality between faith and healing. It holds that all divine blessings, such as healing and prosperity, are constantly and fully available to all Christians. They may be instantly appropriated, provided the individual Christian knows enough and believes enough. Such preachers also tend to align healing with forgiveness of sins and claim that healing is provided for in the atonement in the same way as forgiveness of sins. We have already touched on this view and shown how it is not strictly correct.

On the other extreme are those of a more Calvinistic view that leave all healing in the hands of God and his sovereignty, thus our human faith has no relevance. Obviously in between there is a wide range of views.

One of the key factors why many are not healed we have already touched on – the “Now but not yet” nature of the kingdom of God. The day is coming when Christ’s rule on earth will be visible and all of the consequences of sin and the Fall will be abolished, but that is not yet. Until then there seems to be a “grey area,” in which some of the promises of God are not fully manifested in our lives in every case – no matter how hard we claim them.

Faith Formula teaching distorts the realities of our present life as taught in scripture. It portrays a naïve belief that the kingdom of God has already fully come – it does not understand the partial and provisional nature of the kingdom.

I personally believe that, before the end of this church age, the church of Jesus Christ will come into a place of victory over all of the works of the enemy and he will be cast down from his position in the heavens to earth (Rev 12:9). I believe that for the following last few years (the 3 ½ years of the great Tribulation) of the Church age all Christians will live in perfect healing and health as a testimony to the world of the kingdom of God and the truth of the gospel. But that also is not yet (roll on the day!).

So sometimes people are not healed simply because we are not yet in that time of God’s purposes on earth – the kingdom is still only partially with us.

Another factor which affects the availability of healing is the state of the church. Jesus said that “these signs will follow those that believe…they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover (Mark 16:18).” What it doesn’t say is that those being prayed for would have to have faith. The failure to be healed may well rest in the hands of the prayer not the prayee! If the church doesn’t believe in healing then it can hardly expect God to heal.

A more positive reason for denying an absolute causality between faith and healing is that many people get healed who have no faith at all. There have been countless multitudes, both in the ministry of Jesus and in modern times, who have walked into a meeting and been healed with no personal faith in God. It was purely the grace of God in operation.

It is simply a fact of life that not everyone who gets prayed for is healed. And this holds true even when there does seem to be oodles of faith present.

One case I can think of in particular happened about 30 years ago. A dynamic and powerfully effective Pentecostal pastor on the North Shore of Auckland, by the name of Brian Strong, contracted cancer. Healing and Faith Ministries from all around NZ and the world flew in to pray for him. All the “heavies” prayed for him – to no avail. The disease eventually took him. My own pastor, who was one of the leaders of the same denomination, went to visit him only a few days before he died. On the Sunday after his death reported back to our congregation in the following way. He told of how Brian had incredible faith, how his life was transparent before God – in fact our pastor almost thought Brian’s body was transparent. There seemed to be no unbelief, unconfessed sin or anything else that anyone could think of that had not been exposed and dealt with. Yet he still died. Our pastor concluded we have to trust in the mystery of God’s loving will.

The Faith formula type preaching also has disastrous consequences in a pastoral sense.

What happens when someone isn’t healed, as in this case? When Faith becomes a technique to manipulate the power of God it becomes destructive. It can lead to guilt feelings in those who are looking for healing – they hadn’t believed enough. Others get angry at God for betraying them. They believe God has promised healing and failed to come through. Some get more demoralized so retreat to a less challenging form of Christianity or to leave Christianity all together. This destruction is not limited to the sick person – sometimes whole families, friends and churches can be poisoned against God by this inadequate theology.

A complete distortion of the gospel can result from this faith formula approach. Our faith can never be used in such a way as to manipulate the hand of God. Such is an attempt at magic, not moving in the power of God.

The view of God in this teaching bears little resemblance to the God of the Bible. The god of faith formula thinking can heal sickness but awaits some specific quality or quantity of faith to be offered up before healing is released. This god’s relationship is this more contractural than covenantal. He requires a certain amount of faith/work to be done before releasing his blessings. If the blessings don’t come then it is because the work has not been done. (The large amount of noise at such healing meetings is really a frenzy of work which people believe will get God going.) Surely such an understanding makes healing dependent on “faith-works” and not on God’s grace.

Faith-formula thinking has a great stress on claiming the promises and an almost magical power of positive confession. It is taught that if you know how to write your own ticket with God you will get results from your prayer. Thus the right kind of human effort gets God to do almost anything. (This is similar to the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel – 1 Kings 18:25ff.) But the bottom line is that God cannot be manipulated in this way.

Faith-formula thinking is human-centred. It defines faith as the human will to believe and thus centres on human responsibility. Faith is reduced to a “work” which we can do more or less of. The blessings are thus not obtained through the grace of God, but through our efforts in faith. When we shift our focus from the character of God to our own private state of mind (as faith healers tend to do) faith is weakened not strengthened.

God has unlimited power and resources, yet his people still live out their lives in a fallen world where the whole creation, including the human body, is in bondage to decay (Rom 8:21-23). And will be so until we receive the redemption of our bodies.

The follower of Jesus Christ knows how to trust God for physical as well as spiritual healing and knows how to persist in trusting God when the effects of a fallen world continue to be with us.

When the prayer made in faith is not answered and the healing does not come we are not to look for someone to accuse for failure in faith. Rather we are to remember that besides faith there is hope. Hope is to do with God’s promises that are still future and hidden. Hope says, “Tomorrow (or even the next life) is also Gods.”

So the connection between faith and healing is more mysterious and ambiguous than some faith formula teachers suppose. I will return to aspects of their teaching as there are some positive things about faith and healing we can learn from them.

Most references to faith in the gospels occur in relation to Jesus’ healings. Christ looked for faith, congratulated when he found it (e.g. The Centurion and Phoenician woman), rebuked people when they didn’t have it (notably the disciples who were trying to heal an epileptic boy), and he sometimes couldn’t do miracles when the people didn’t have it (as in Nazareth). With the case of the epileptic boy it was not the boy or his father that Jesus rebuked but the faith of the disciples who Jesus assumed should have had the ability to heal the boy. Yet at other times people seemed to be healed without any obvious faith on their part. As a general rule some element of faith was usually present, but we cannot turn it into a law or formula.

If we are to take the gospels as a guide then the only requirement of faith asked for is the willingness to come to Jesus for healing. The fact that people came to him to be healed seemed to evidence enough faith to Jesus for their healing.

This, then, should be a guide to us – if people are prepared to come forward for prayer in the name of Jesus then we should assume that they have enough faith for Jesus to heal them. To suggest to the desperate seeker that they “don’t have enough faith” is tantamount to spiritual abuse on the part of the ministry who is praying. How much is “enough?” And how can the ministry know whether a person has enough or not?

John G. Lake said: Do assume one thing of the people being prayed for: that they are open for prayer and are open to receive. Even Jesus could not do miracles in his hometown.

T.L.Osbourne addressing this issue said that when a person said to him: “I don’t have enough faith” he responded with the question, “Have you confidence that God will keep his promise to you? That is faith.”

There are times recorded in the Bible when ministries could see there was faith present for healing.

“In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. 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).” Presumably the same can be true today. How Paul knew we are not told, but presumably there are, at times, recognisable signs. But this in not always the case and the absence of external signs is no indication that there is no faith present. Again, we cannot reduce it to a formula.

Sometimes our faith seems to contribute to a healing, other times it has little effect.

So what is Faith?

 “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen (Heb 11:1).”

“The assurance” – a knowing.

How do you know you have it? You just know. If you don’t know then you don’t have it.

“The evidence” – or the proof, or the conviction. When we know in faith then that is the proof God has answered our prayer and the manifestation is on its way. Faith is being convinced deep in our hearts that we have what we have asked far – even though we do not see it yet. But this conviction, this assurance, is not self generated – it comes to us by a revelation through the Spirit of God, it is a gift. One moment we do not have it, the next we do and there is nothing in ourselves which produces this change.

Faith is the proof of “things unseen” – it means you don’t have the thing you have faith for yet, but you know it is on the way. When you have it you no longer need faith for it. This takes us back to the idea of promise. We can only have faith in a promise, and faith is the only way we can receive a promise. As soon as we see the blessing, as soon as the promise is manifested, faith for that blessing ceases. Faith is only for the unseen. To receive a blessing by faith you must have it by conviction before you see it. Otherwise it would not be received by faith.

This means, amongst other things, that there is a receiving of the promise in faith and this is often some time before the promise is manifested in life experience. It suggests that the desire for an immediate miracle is not necessarily the best way to see faith grow. Faith grows when it waits in conviction that the promise has been answered even though there is no external proof, even though nothing is “seen.” Those who want an immediate miracle may, in fact, be taking a road which, in the long run, results in less faith than they would have had if they had waited in faith.

Heb 11:1 (Moffatt) Faith means we are convinced that we have what we do not see.”

The Amplified version translates this verse, “Faith is a title deed.” In other words faith is the proof of ownership. If we have it in faith we have it.

 “For it is by grace that you are saved through faith – and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works lest any man should boast (Eph 2:8).”

We need to be clear on what this verse is saying.

First it tells us that salvation is an act of the grace of God. Grace means the unmerited favour and action of God towards us. There is nothing in us that evokes this grace from God nor is there anything  we can do to cause God to show it to us. Indeed this grace was shown to mankind on the Cross of Christ 2000 years ago. It was completed then and made available to man – before we were even born. So it is totally illogical to think that we need to do anything now to avail ourselves of this salvation. It was a free gift of God’s grace 2000 years ago in Christ.

Secondly, we see that we appropriate this grace “through faith”. And what is faith? It is simply believing that what God says is true without any other external evidence. It is believing that God is trustworthy and that what he has promised will be the actual case.

But even this ability to believe God and his word does not originate in ourselves – Paul tells us that faith is “the gift of God.” The faith that saves us is not our own faith but is a gift of God. It is God’s own faith that he imparts to us.

It is a gift – so it comes to us – it is not something we generate.

Because it is a gift that we receive and because it is God’s own faith it is illogical to think that it might be in any way lacking. It is illogical to think that one may not have enough faith or that faith may in some way be imperfect, incomplete or improper. Can God have an imperfect faith, or an incomplete faith, or an improper faith, or not enough faith? The thought is absurd!

Paul is clear here – he is not telling us to have more faith of a human kind – indeed he says the faith we need “is not of ourselves” and then he backs that up by saying “it is not of works lest any man should boast”. So he is not telling us to work up more faith or to do anything that might constitute effort on our part. Rather he is advising us to get God’s faith from the source – God himself.

“By grace you are saved” – “Saved” - this is same word used for “healed” elsewhere in scripture. If you have received God’s gift of salvation, justification through faith in Christ, then you actually already have faith for healing – it is the same faith that saved you that heals you. The key is that it is not your faith – it is God’s faith which he gave you in covenant relationship with himself. The faith to be healed and to pray for the sick is nothing other than childlike trust in the loving character and purpose of our heavenly father (i.e. It is relational). It is believing his word because it is HIS word.

 “Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the Law, or because you believe what you have heard (Gal 3:5)?”

 Here God tells us he works miracles in our bodies in exactly the same way he does in our souls – by hearing and believing the gospel message. This is faith – “hearing and believing the gospel message.”

Jesus said a similar thing: “Have faith in God (Mark 11:22)” – literally “Have the faith of God.”

Jesus is not telling us here to put human faith in God and then all our prayers will be answered. Rather he is telling us that if we have faith that comes from God then our prayers will be answered because they will be birthed in God’s will.

And this is the crux – they will be birthed in God’s will. We can only have this kind of faith if we know what God’s will is. This kind of faith is grounded in the knowledge of God’s will as found in his word.

This brings us to the next key Scripture about faith.

What happens when we don’t have faith? Or at least it does not seem that faith is at work in us. How do we get faith? How do we make it operative in our lives?

 “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Rom 10:9, 10).”

This verse is not talking about us just hearing with our physical ears. Hearing in the physical sense is no different to seeing with our natural eyes. There senses are part of our natural man and are trained to comprehend the things of this fallen world, not the things of God’s kingdom. Rather it is talking about apprehending in our spirit, hearing with spiritual ears. This sort of hearing can only come about when we are confronted by a spiritual message. Spiritual ears can only hear spiritual messages. That is why it has to be “a word of Christ.” Faith comes when our spiritual ears hear the truth of God’s provision for us in Christ.

Paul uses the figure of hearing but he could equally have used the figure of spiritual eyes as we see in the following scriptures: “My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body (Prov 4:20-22).”

This passage tells us exactly how to attend to his words. He says “Listen closely” – we should not be casual about our hearing of God’s word, but should pay close attention. Then he says “Let them not depart from your eyes” – but again the emphasis is not so much on the physical eyes as it is on the eyes of the heart. But there is the idea of diligence again – be continuous in your gazing at God’s word – because to listen closely and to gaze steadfastly will mean health in your body and fullness of life.

This passage tells us exactly how to attend to his words. Let them not depart from your eyes. Instead of having your eyes on the symptoms and being occupied with them (focus on) God’s words.

Any Christian can get rid of their doubts by looking steadfastly only at the evidence which God has given for our faith. Saying only what God says will produce and increase faith.

This following story illustrates what is meant by gazing steadfastly at God’s word: “Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived (NUM 21:6-9).”

The children of Israel were being killed by poisonous snakes. God told Moses to make a bronze snake on a pole and if anyone looked at it they would be saved. The word “look” means to be occupied with and influenced by what we are looking at. It means giving complete attention, to gaze steadfastly at. It means to attend to and heed his word, to give one’s complete attention to. If they concentrated on the symptoms of the snake bite they would die. Only by directing their complete attention to the snake on the pole could they hope to be healed.

“Look” is also translated “consider.” The word is in the present continuous tense. Not a mere glance but a continuous stare until you are well. The healing process goes on while we are looking unto the promise.

Looking means expectation. To look up to God for salvation means to expect salvation from him.

It is significant that Jesus used this episode as an illustration of what it takes to have the salvation he brings:  “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life (JOHN 3:14, 15).”

It is only as we take our eyes off our natural circumstances and gaze intently on him that his salvation becomes real to us. Jesus changes the word “look” in the Old Testament, to “believe.” It is looking at the promise and trusting that it is true that brings the result – not just looking.

So we need to look at God’s promises, listen to them, consider them, focus on them, allow them to be what dominates our attention and consciousness. When we do this the word we are considering will release faith in our hearts, then we can appropriate the promise by faith.

When we “see” that Christ took our sicknesses on himself 2000 years ago on the Cross and therefore we do not need to bear them our next step is to appropriate by faith.

God gave us this abundant inheritance 2000 years ago and he is the Waiting One – waiting for us to appropriate the blessing he has already given.

2 Pet 3:9 says he is not slack concerning his promise. He isn’t slow, but we are and he is patiently waiting for us.

“By his stripes we are healed” – notice how it is in the past tense. The past tenses of God’s word mean that the promises are a settled, sealed and final decision of his will. God wants us to appropriate the past tenses of his word regarding redemption and go forth in obedience acting as if we believe them and him. When God puts a promise in the past tense he expects us to do the same. Nothing short of this is appropriating faith.

Were the gifts of God only promised gifts we would have to wait for the Promiser to fulfill his promises and the responsibility would be on him. But all of God’s gifts are offered gifts as well as promised – and therefore need to be accepted and the responsibility for their transfer is ours. This clears God of any responsibility for failures.

Healing is a completed work as far as God is concerned but we have to appropriate it by faith knowing that the work is done right now regardless of the symptoms which we may feel or see.

The real question is not: Do I believe strongly enough to be healed or pray for the sick?” but “Is God the sort of person I can trust and am I willing to be open to his love?” Faith is governed by the word of God and is nothing less than expecting God to do what he promises – treating him like an honest being. Faith is expecting God to do what he has said in his word that he will do. Faith is believing God speaks the truth. God has never asked that we exercise faith for something that he has not promised to do for us.

There are just two platforms on which to stand: one is belief; the other is unbelief. Either the word of God is true or it is not. God will either do what he has promised or he will not. Faith is not afraid to take its stand on the word of God. Faith has nothing to do with anything but the word of God.

 “We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7).”

Faith never waits to see before it believes because it comes by “hearing” about “things not seen yet.” As far as the optic nerve is concerned “faith is the evidence of things not seen.”

All a man needs to know is if God has spoken. This imparts certainty to the soul.

Faith blows the horn before the walls come down, not after.

If you walk by faith you cannot walk by sight. If you are to consider the word of God as true, then you cannot always consider the evidence of our senses as true. The 5 senses belong to the natural man and were given to us to be used for the things of this world. The natural man which “cannot know the things of God”. The things of God cannot be discerned, appropriated and known by the natural senses.

Only faith can take hold of what God promises. Therefore to consult our natural senses for evidence that our prayer has been granted is as ridiculous as trying to see with our ears or hear with our eyes. All of our six senses work independently of each other – you can’t see what you hear. In the same way, you can’t have by faith what your other 5 senses have. What you have by faith is non existent to the natural senses.

Being governed by natural sight is unscientific as it does not take into account all of the facts – it overlooks the greatest fact, God, who cannot be seen. Most of us accept this when it comes to the sense of sight, but when it comes to the sense of pain we have difficulty crossing the concept over. But it is equally as true about the sense of pain as it is about the sense of sight. Faith is not a sensory thing – so it’s not a feeling. It’s a knowing.

It is a great mistake to suppose a thing is not real because it cannot be seen by natural eyes. Real faith is occupied with God’s power and mercy, not with human weakness.

Before being conscious of any change, faith says “It is written.” We must believe it was done in Christ before our feelings can discern any difference. No person who lets his mind be ruled by the 5 senses can have victorious faith. The mind ruled by the senses is in a realm of uncertainty. Sight and feeling belong to the natural person. Faith and obedience belong to the supernatural person. Every Christian is a supernatural person.

It is just as foolish to doubt God’s promise of healing on the basis of a pain or symptom as it would be to doubt Christ’s Second Coming on the basis of that same pain. You nullify your healing by believing in what you feel more than in God’s word. People who determine whether or not they are healed by their feelings will never give credence to God’s word. If they feel bad they say they are not healed.

Faith is never feeling - feeling is never faith. Faith constantly attributes everything to what the word of God says, irrespective of pains, symptoms or feelings.

We may accept the evidence of our senses as true in natural things, but in spiritual things when this evidence contradicts the word of God then we ignore the physical senses and believe what the word of God says.

Although in some cases the symptoms of a sickness may linger for a while, faith declares that it is done because God’s word says so. It is like ring-barking a tree – the tree still looks good for a while - but it is dead. As we claim the word of promise, in faith receiving a finished work, the sword of the spirit strikes a death blow on the disease. For a while symptoms may remain but the eye of faith looking at Jesus sees disease cancelled and health given. Calling things that are not as if they were and new life is manifested in the body.

 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer believe that you have received it, and it will be yours (Mark 11:24).”

Since Jesus commands us to believe we have received the things we pray for at the time we pray and before they take visible form it is clear they exist in two forms – first invisible, then visible: believe that you have received them (invisibly) and you shall have them (visibly). We have them first in faith, invisibly; then later we have them in the sense realm. The sacrifice of praise and giving of thanks continually is done in the faith realm, or before our blessings have been changed into their physical form.

People who think it is absurd to have faith in God’s word in this way have faith in a contagious disease to which their child has been exposed. They have no physical evidence that their child will have this disease. They are expecting it by faith. They believe the disease has begun its work in spite of the fact that they cannot see, feel, smell, touch or taste anything of it with their senses. That is faith but it is faith in the wrong thing.

Faith is the evidence of things unseen. Faith brings the unseen things into being and makes the unfelt things real to the senses.

It honours God to believe him even when every sense contradicts Him. And he promises to honour those who honour him.

One reason why some fail to receive their healing is they believe what their five senses say in place of believing Gods promise.

When we say or think “I thought I would be healed” we show we don’t understand what faith is. The idea they have here is to get well first then believe God, then have faith. But if you have faith in God’s word the healing will follow.

To the extent that we base faith on our improvement or on symptoms to that degree we are not in faith. Occupy with God’s promise, not with the symptoms. It is never proper to base faith on our improvement after prayer. If we say: “I felt so much better after prayer, now I know I will get well” then we are falling into the same trap – basing faith on feelings not on the promise.

When you hear God’s word you are put at a point of decision. You must decide if you are going to respond. You must make a commitment.

When you go to the doctor and he prescribes pills you have to decide to take the pills if you want the cure. It’s the same with the Lord. Will you commit your case to him without reservation? Nothing that follows depends on what you see or feel. Faith is not an experiment it is a commitment.

Under normal circumstances you have to choose your doctor. He is potentially your doctor but you have to make him your doctor by choice. You do this when you believe that he is trustworthy to attend to your needs. Billy Graham – calls for decisions – and he never allows them to remain passive in their seats. It’s the same with healing. Emotion is not faith, but decision is. Repentance is a decision.

Healing is not difficult. It takes no more faith to be healed from sickness that it does to be saved from your sins. The only difference is in your consciousness – you knew there was no place to get forgiveness except from God.

How to receive Healing:

1. Attend to the Promise of God.

Plant the seed – the word. Seed is powerless until it is planted. It needs good ground.

Sowing has to be past tense – before one can get a harvest. In the seed are infinite possibilities.

The word is the seed (Luke 8:11) Until you are sure from God’s word that it is his will (To heal) you are trying to reap a harvest where no seed has been planted.

It is not God’s will that there be a harvest without the planting of seed – without his will being known and acted upon: “…you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32).” God does nothing without his word. Before you can have steadfast faith you must be rid of all uncertainty concerning God’s will in the matter. Appropriating faith cannot go beyond your knowledge of the revealed will of God. Before attempting to exercise faith for healing, you need to know what the scriptures plainly teach.

Once sown it needs to be tilled by prayer.

It is the business of Christians to prove to the world by actual demonstration that the promises of God are as true today as they were 2000 years ago. They were given to be known and recognized, claimed and pleaded in prayer. “Standing on the promises” means “to get them fulfilled.”

Good seed grows.

The word is seed that has the power – when placed in good ground – to do its own work. Attending to and heeding is the way to get it into good ground and keep it there.

2. Don’t be double minded.

 “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord (Jas 1:6, 7).”

Put off the old man with his deeds – the old man is programmed to think according to what the senses tell it. To put on the new man we have to stop believing the senses.

God says I am healed and I am going to believe God and not my feelings.

To watch your feelings or symptoms would be like a farmer digging up his seed to see if it was growing. This would kill the seed at the root. When a farmer gets his seed into the ground he says “I’m glad that’s settled.”

In receiving supernatural healing the first thing to learn is to cease to be anxious about the condition of the body because you have committed it to the Lord and he has taken responsibility for your healing.

Any unfavourable feeling should be regarded as a warning NOT to consider the body but to consider and to be occupied al the more with God and his provision.

3. Meditation.

It is important for you to believe for the healing of the person and this is done by confessing and meditating on the word.

This is like watering the crop.

The Hebrew word for meditation means “to chew the cud.” It is a word from agriculture referring to how cows digest grass. What the word suggests is two things:

(i)                   Like the cow regurgitating the grass and chewing it over and over again to get all the goodness out of it so we are to go over and over the word of God with our minds until we have got all of the goodness out of it and we are convinced of its truth.

(ii)                 The cow does this chewing in its mouth. This suggests verbal confession of the truth of God’s word over and over again until it comes to pass.

You are not trying to convince God to do something – meditation is to convince you. God already knows what he has said; it has already been done. Done, if he can get you to do it and release faith.

This is the sort of faith Abraham demonstrated: “Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised (ROM 4:20, 21).”

This is how David watered the seed: “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word (Psalm 119:11-16).”

Hide it in heart, rejoice in it, meditate on it, delight in it, don’t forget it, keep it,

God makes the seed grow. Growing comes after watering. It brings forth fruit – the word always brings forth fruit. Meditation has digestive power and turns truth into spiritual nourishment. Meditation gives birth to faith.

Your faith is measured by your confession. Confess until you believe, then confess because you believe.

A Spiritual law: our confession rules us. To a great extent you are ruled by your words: “If you are entrapped by what you say, ensnared by the words of your mouth (Prov 6:2).” Our words form our confession of what we are believing or not believing. Nothing in your walk as a believer is more important than the words of your confession. When you confess sickness it is because you believe in sickness more than healing.

“…out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks (Matt 12:34).” You confess with your mouth what you believe in your heart.

 God’s blessings are hindered when we let our lips contradict his word. Disease gains the upper hand when you agree with the testimony of your natural senses. Your five senses have no place in the realm of faith. Confessing pains, aches and sickness is like signing for a package the post office has delivered.

Christianity is called a confession: “Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess (Heb 3:1).” Greek: “saying the same thing.” It means saying what God says. Confession is an affirmation of a Bible truth we have embraced. Confession is believing with our hearts and repeating with our lips Gods own declaration of what we are in Christ.

Confession is affirming Bible truths. Repeating with our lips (from our heart) the things God has said in his word. Confession is saying what God says, talking the language of the Bible at all times. It is resisting Satan with “the Lord says…” It is claiming your rights and confessing Gods promises.

You cannot confess or witness of things you do not know… the secret of confession and positive faith lies in getting a true understanding of:

(i)                   What Jesus actually did for you

(ii)                 What you are in him as a result.

(iii)                What the Bible promises you can do as a result of his finished work in you.

Now we have Gods nature – his life his strength his health his glory. We have it now.

Confession is tried, tested .

Hebrews 3:1 tells us Christ is the High Priest of our confession. As High Priest Jesus acts in our behalf according to what we confess when it is in accordance to God’s word. When we confess his words then our High Priest, Jesus, acts on our behalf, according to our confession of his word and intercedes to the father on our behalf for the benefits of the promises which we are confessing.

Confession is before the manifestation. Confession comes first; then Jesus our High Priest responds. Confession comes before salvation. There is no salvation without confession. It is the same with healing. Remember the same Greek word is used in the New Testament for salvation and for healing.

Confession is made to salvation: “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (ROM 10:10.)” One must believe and confess before experiencing. Salvation does not comes until after confession. Confession always comes first then Jesus, who is the high priest of our confession, responds by granting the things we have confessed.

Confession is saying with the mouth what one believes in the heart.

Confession is agreeing with God in the heart enough to say what God says.

Learn to confess what the Lord says and he will fulfill his promise to you because he is the high priest of our confession.

With salvation we make two confessions: negative – With respect to sin, Positive – with respect to salvation. Salvation comes in two forms – new birth and then in the form of every blessing promised to us in Scripture. Healing is part of this. But it all comes by confession.

All that Jesus did in his substitutionary work is the private property of the one for whom Jesus did it. So God wants us – all through our Christian life – to believe in our heart and say with our lips all he says we are in Christ. Our legal standing in Christ is the basis for the acts of faith which puts God to work fulfilling his word to us.

Of course we are not to say to others that our healing is fully manifested before it is. God does not say that. But you can say, “I’m standing on the word.”

We never rise above our confession. A negative confession will lower us to the level of that confession. What we confess with our lips really controls us. It can imprison us or free us.

Many are always talking of their failure and lack of faith. They go to the level of their confession. Confessing lack of faith increases doubt. It is like confessing faith in Satan. Wrong confession shuts the Father out and lets Satan in.

Think on the good: Eph 4;29 Phil 4:8

Proverbs: “As a man thinketh so is he.”

2 Cor 5:5 – thoughts are our weapons.

Some confess with their lips but their hearts deny it – the confession has no value as your heart repudiates it.

How to make the heart line up:

• Establish God’s will and word.
• Confess it repeatedly until heart and mind align.
• Confess it until your whole being swings into harmony with God’s word.

Hold fast to your confession of the work of Christ. – in the face of all contrary evidence: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess (HEB 4:14).”

4. Pray the Prayer of Faith.

When faith is born in our hearts we need to pray the prayer of faith.

Jas 5:15 The prayer of faith.

The prayer of faith is believing our prayer has been heard before the answer is manifested. – before being conscious of any change. Because it is written. The prayer of faith can never be offered while you are wondering whether or not God is willing to do the thing you are asking him to do.

Real faith comes by hearing the word of God – by hearing God say through his word what he wants to do. Praying the prayer of faith is merely asking God to do the thing he promised to do out of the conviction that his word is reliable and true.

Two words: The “whoever” of salvation and the “any” of healing. Two all inclusive words.

If it was God’s will for you to be sick we could not pray the prayer of faith. If it is God’s will for you to be sick it is wrong to ask someone to pray for you for healing…(and) you should not seek help from doctors, nurses or any other kind of medical help. To do so would be to say to God, “I know it’s your will for me to be sick but I am going to try and avoid your will.” To be perfectly logical … you should make no effort whatsoever to get well, but you should resign yourself to your fate and tell the world you are suffering sickness for the sake of Jesus Christ.

But when did he say he wanted you to suffer sickness for him? He suffered sickness for you.

5. Exercising Faith:

(a)     Praise and Thanksgiving.

Pray as Jesus did: I thank you Father that you have heard me. – before we see.

The words Jesus speaks are spirit and life. They are God.

Sacrifice with the voice of thanksgiving – Jonah.

Heb 13:15 – a sacrifice of praise.

Psa 50:14, 15

We are required to give thanks WHILE STILL IN TROUBLE.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and praise. Inside the walls is salvation but we have to enter the right way.

Make Satan listen to your praises.

While you are still sick thank God that you are going to recover according to his word.

Continue to believe that God gave you what you asked for, thanking and praising him for it. It will always materialize. This always puts God to work.

Every sick Christian, while sick, has 1000 times more to be happy about than the most cheerful sinner in perfect health.

2 Chron 20 – they went to battle with only the promise of God – and they lifted their hands in praise.

Romans 4: Abraham: Considered his own body – but against the promise it was not enough. Utterly hopeless circumstances – but he grew strong in faith by giving glory to God. Because he was fully persuaded that God would fulfill his promise.

(b)    Action.

God wants us to act in faith before we feel anything or see any change. Sometimes we will not see healing manifested until we do so.

Action helps to break the unbelieving mindset of always looking to the natural of focusing on the condition instead of on God’s power to heal.

To tell the truth, Abraham and Sarah had to have sex to have Isaac. Even though Abraham was 99 and Sarah 89. Without this action Isaac would never have been born.

Do something you couldn’t do before. It is not just a physical act, it includes the exercise of the heart and mind towards God. Faith means we think faith, speak faith, act faith.

Jesus told the blind man: Go and wash.

Elijah told the Syrian General: Dip yourself seven times in the Jordan.

Jesus told the man with the withered arm: Stretch out your hand.

Faith is a decisive act; Genuine faith is God is stepping out on what he has said, regardless of what one feels in the senses in the natural. Faith is a decisive act depending only on God’s word. Faith ignores every natural symptom of evidence which is contrary to what God states.

Faith always talks about the thing prayed for as if it were already received, even before it is seen, heard, felt.

Getting a blessing from God is like playing checkers. After one person moves he has nothing to do until the next player moves. So when God provides healing or any other blessing, and sent us his word it is our move before he will move again. Our move is to expect what he promises when we pray which will cause us to act our faith before we see the healing. Because healing comes out of the next move which is God’s move. God never moves out of his turn but he always moves when it is his turn.

By expectation I do not mean hope. We hope for what MAY be possible but we EXPECT what must be possible – and this shuts out doubt and fear of failure and shows unshakeable confidence.

Even when we act on our faith symptoms do not always disappear instantly. E.g. after Hezekiah was healed it was three days before the symptoms went.

The Bible differentiates between healings and miracles e.g. Jesus in Nazareth.

If everyone were made whole instantly there would be no room for healing. It would be all miracles. Many people miss healing by God because they try to confine God to miracles.

One of the greatest hindrances to seeing people recover is the “instant miracle for everyone” concept. What if nothing immediately manifests. The statement “nothing happened” can be the starting point of erosion of faith. It comes out of lack of knowledge of things of the Spirit. When we lay hands the healing power has entered their body – even if they don’t feel any different or cannot see it yet. Something has happened.

Parallel going to the doctor – he gives medicine and says you will be well in six weeks. You are convinced of this because:

(i)                   You trust the word of the doctor.

(ii)                 You are willing to accept his method of healing.

(iii)                You are so convinced you begin to make plans for the future.

(iv)               When you take your first does of medicine you don’t immediately feel better – but you keep on taking it.

By the laying on of hands you were given a full course of treatment by Jesus. If you trust in that treatment and allow it to do its work then you will recover.

Stuart Gramenz and T.L. Osborne: The majority of people healed through their ministry were not personally prayed for. Most have been healed through their own faith which came to them while meditating on the Bible truths we presented.

Many people have the idea that this always means an immediate answer…unless instant results are manifested then (it – the prayer - has not worked). This is false. Many fail to receive healing because they dictate to him how and when they want the blessing.