What to Do If you Need Healing

The Bible says of Jesus that “He Himself took our infirmities and carried our pains … and with His wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4,5) This means that in addition to bearing the sins of the world, Jesus also bore our sicknesses. So, just as it is possible to be freed from sin and its consequences, it should also possible to be healed of our diseases.

The Bible also says concerning believers that “they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:18). This verse is really given in the context of the Great Commission – in the context of preaching the gospel to unbelievers – so personally I believe it is more a promise concerning what will happen through those who preach the gospel and believe in God’s promises mentioned in verses 16-18 of Mark 16. That doesn’t mean that you as a believer won’t be healed if a believer lays hands on you in faith. But you also may need to have faith in Jesus as healer, and believe that He is working through this activity of the laying on of hands. Such a faith can only come through personal relationship with God. We need to depend on the Holy Spirit in these things. Sometimes a minister with the gift of healing or miracles can minister healing to a believer through the laying on of hands. It tends to happen in God’s way, in God’s time, and not always because we want it now.

God wants you well in your body. Jesus paid for it. But even more than that, He wants you right in your soul. So if you are a believer in Jesus, and have received truth from God in your heart, there may be a problem if you are refusing to do what you know what God wants you to do. In the same way, if you as a Christian are doing things you know are not pleasing to God, your faith to receive may be affected. You need to seek repentance and deliverance. With God’s help, you CAN stop any kind of sinful thoughts, attitudes, words or actions.

If You are an Unbeliever

To get healing, just find a Christian minister/evangelist who gets results in this area and let that person lay hands on you. You should receive healing easily. God will do it to show you He loves you. But after that, you would be very wise to put your trust in Jesus for salvation. You could still experience God’s wrath which will come upon rebellious people even if you get healed. It is important to realize that Jesus is Lord, and He has the right to be Lord of your life also. That is because you only exist because of Him, and then He paid for your life with His own infinitely valuable life. So please – go and find a spirit-filled Christian evangelist who believes in healing and you will know in your own body that Jesus is real. After that, do what you think is right …

If You are a Believer and Need Healing

What the Bible says for you to do first of all is to confess your sins.

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16 NKJV)

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. (James 5:16, NLT)

Start with the sins you are aware of in your own life. After you have covered all of these, then confess the following three sins which are almost certainly part of the problem: ignorance, unbelief and pride.

Ignorance

As a believer, are you aware of the provision of God in the area of healing which is made available for you? Have you studied the Scriptures on this subject? If you have not, you need to do this, and get rid of all ignorance. The Bible says, 

“My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.” (Hosea 4:6, NIV)

If you won’t study and consider the promises of God on this subject, if you value the traditions of men who don’t minister like Jesus did above what the Bible says, then your sickness can destroy or damage part of your life, testimony and ministry. Your ignorance will cost you. So please, do yourself a favour and put some value on what the Bible says about healing. Find the promises and meditate on them until your thinking changes.

Unbelief

Maybe you know the promises of God but you find you just can’t – or won’t – believe these promises. Believers are supposed to believe God’s promises – but you might find that you are bound by the sin of unbelief in this area. You may have tremendous faith in other areas but not in this one. OK, good – but this is the area God wants you to believe Him in also. So what can you do?

1. You can tell Jesus, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief” like the man did in Mark 9:24. Jesus can work with that kind of honesty and humility.
2. You can meditate on the promises until you believe what God’s Word says more than your own experience or the experience of others. As long as you are thinking about how you or someone else didn’t get healed, and that means more to you than what God says, there is still plenty of room for meditating on God’s Word and reconsidering your position.
3. You can fast – go without food. Jesus said, “This kind only comes out by prayer and fasting.” The Bible promises that fasting done in the right way will have a number of results. In Isaiah 58 it says, “Your healing shall spring forth speedily” (Isaiah 58:8). Fasting is the most powerful way I know to kill unbelief – as long as you focus on God’s Word and pray while you fast. If you do this, you will be amazed at what happens.
4. Make sure you have forgiven everyone who has hurt you. Many times, when Christians take this vital step, a lot of blessings from God are suddenly released that were held from them until that time.

Pride

Maybe we all have at least some pride while we live on this earth. A man with no pride within, who walks in perfect humility before the Lord, will get grace and empowerment for anything God wants to do.

If God seems to be resisting us, we need to humble ourselves. Again, fasting is a key. Do this, and whatever else God shows you.

Other Sins to Confess and Repent of if they are there

Sexual immorality is offensive to God, and Jesus said he will cast sexually immoral people onto a sickbed because of this sin – see Revelation 2:22.

“Therefore, I will throw her on a bed of suffering, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer greatly unless they repent and turn away from her evil deeds” (Revelation 2:22, NLT). 

Paul once handed a sexually immoral believer over to Satan (1 Corinthians 5). I am sure Satan would have taken pleasure in afflicting that man with sickness while he was in Satan’s power, just as Satan did with Job in the Old Testament.

If God hands you over to Satan for any reason, no minister is going to get you healed just by laying hands on you. Neither will you get healed just by claiming the promise or statement “By His stripes I am healed”, You are going to need to repent first.

Unforgiveness in your life will block healing and any other blessings from God. You have to forgive before you can really pray the prayer of faith. See Mark 11:24-26.

Treating Christians wrongly is a form of “not discerning the Lord’s body” 

“But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. ³⁰ For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.” (1 Corinthians 11:28-30)

If we don’t take the Lord’s supper with proper respect, faith and understanding we may rob ourselves of healing or actually become sick. The bread actually represents the body of Christ broken for our healing. Also, if we wrong other believers we are hurting the Lord’s body and we are opening ourselves up to judgment which may come in the form of sickness.

Embracing fear, anxiety and stress is something Christians should not do – because we are supposed to cast all our cares upon the Lord, because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Fear, anxiety and stress are known killers even to the medical profession. A lot of times our physical illnesses come because our minds are not in a right state. We need to learn to take hold of God enough so as to let go of these factors. Then our healing can come.

Failing to love God, others or ourselves can bring disorder into our own bodies. If you hate yourself, it can trigger all kinds of diseases like auto immune diseases and more. When we obey God’s commandment to love God, others and ourselves we remove the blockages to healing.

Trusting in idols opens the door to sickness.  Make sure your primary trust is in God, in Jesus the Healer. Don’t give that place of primary trust even to the medical profession, as useful as they are. I am not against doctors and medicine but we need to realise that they can make errors, they don’t have the same wisdom and power as Jesus, and their words should not be esteemed more than God’s Word. God is not against using doctors. Even Luke, Paul’s companion, was a physician. The issue is where we don’t believe God’s promises because for us, such promises are not as important as what the doctor says.

If you have dabbled in any form of occultism including New Age healing you need to renounce this. You are not likely to get help from Jesus when you have a bet in both camps. All other spiritual “lords” are just idols. Jesus is more than enough and needs to be shown the proper respect.

The Holy Spirit may lead you to consider other thing in your journey to healing. But remember in all this to get back to a place of simple faith and rest and trust in God as soon as you can. When you are in peace about the issue, trusting God, then the promises of God often manifest without us even being concerned about when and how it will happen. When and how is God’s business, not ours. Our business is to trust and to continue to believe and speak God’s Word on the subject of healing.