healing

I remember the first time I went with the Oral Roberts crusade team to a healing meeting. I was a student and a member of his aircraft crew. I had been a believer a little over four years and knew so little about the things of God, especially meetings like these. However, I was part of the team and eager to learn.

I followed the team inside this huge auditorium. It was filled with sick people. The place smelled, it was so full of disease. Just walking in there sent chills of fear up my spine.

Did you know that the battleground for the problem you’re facing right now is in your mind and on your lips? If you’ll hit the devil with the Word and cast the care of the situation over on God, you’ll win.

Let me warn you though, hanging on to the Word isn’t always easy. The devil knows that if he doesn’t steal it from you, you’ll use it to enforce his defeat.

Has the devil ever tried to put you under condemnation by telling you that it’s contrary to the principles of faith to use doctors and medicine when you need healing? If so, here are some encouraging words that I believe will help you put your heart at rest.

It is God’s will to heal you. That’s the first and most important thing for you to understand. If your faith is strong and you can believe the Word without wavering (regardless of what circumstances or symptoms come against you), then you’ll be able to receive that healing by faith alone.

I used to get upset over people I'd lay hands on who wouldn't get well. I was praying one day and seeking God about it when He spoke to my spirit and said, Healing always comes.

I remember I said, "What do You mean, Healing always comes? Not everyone gets healed."

I didn't say they all received it, He answered. Then He spoke very sternly to me. I do My part. And I said they would recover!

Self-consciousness is a major problem in the Body of Christ today. It keeps us from doing the things God tells us to do. Instead of simply obeying Him, it makes us start to wonder, Now what will people think of me if I do that? What if I command that person to get out of the wheelchair and he doesn't get up? What if I start believing for prosperity and go broke? What about that, God? I won't look too good, will I?

Religion is dangerous. Religion would rather debate about healing than see somebody healed. Religion would rather argue about deliverance than see someone set free.

You can see an example of that in Luke 13. Jesus healed a woman who had been bowed over for 18 years. Think of it, a dear old woman—a daughter of Abraham Jesus called her—set free after being bound by the devil for nearly two decades. You'd think the temple rulers would have been rejoicing at what Jesus had done. But, no! They were angry because He'd done it on the wrong day.

God wants you well! Did you know that? He wants you healthy and strong in every single area of your life.

He wants you to be spiritually strong. Strong in faith. Strong in the Word. Strong in redemption. Strong in the love of God.

He wants you to be well in your mind, to be strong and stable emotionally.

He wants you to have a healthy will, a will that's aligned with His will.

He wants your body to be well. He wants you free from the bondages of pain, sickness and care. Free from the worries and woes of this earthly life.

So often we miss out on what God wants to do for us because He doesn't do it the way we think He should. We work up an idea in our minds about how He's going to heal us, for instance. We think He's going to send some famous preacher to lay hands on us or that He's going to knock us off our feet with a blast of His power. When He doesn't, we let our faith drop and foul up what He had actually planned to do.

That's what Naaman did. He went to Elisha expecting to be healed in a particular way. When it didn't happen that way, the Bible says, he went away in a rage.

There are those who've said that some of the diseases that are on the rampage right now, diseases such as AIDS, are God's way of punishing immoral people today. There is absolutely no scriptural basis for that!