Healing And The Command To Believe

 Doctor's Orders

An amazing thing about Jesus' healing ministry is that in the Gospels we never see Him praying for the sick. In James 5:14, we are called to pray for the sick, but we have no record of Jesus ever praying for the sick. He almost always healed by giving a command. The statement of the centurion is the essence of Jesus' healing ministry: I am not worthy to have You under my roof. Just give an order and my boy will get better (see Mt 8:8). Jesus heals by giving "doctor's orders" (see Mk 2:17). He heals by being Lord. Jesus is Lord first and foremost, and He is Healer, Teacher, Prophet, Pastor, etc. only insofar as it manifests His lordship. Jesus was unique "because He taught with authority, and not like the scribes" (Mk 1:22). Jesus usually commanded the sick person to do something. At other times He commanded the devil to leave. He even ordered a fever to leave Simon's mother-in-law (Lk 4:39).

Jesus was able to heal by exercising His authority because He knew whom to command and what to command. He knew when the sick person needed a deeper faith in Him and how to help the sick person grow in faith. He knew whether unforgiveness or other sins were the causes of the sickness and whether the devil was involved in the sickness. Jesus rose early every morning to listen to His Father (Mk 1:35), and He prayed into the night on many occasions (Lk 22:39). Jesus did not pray for healing but before healing. He did nothing and said nothing except what the Father told Him (Jn 5:19; 8:28). Jesus gave us authority over all demons and every disease (Mt 10:1), but we can't be in authority unless we are underauthority to our heavenly Father. This implies that we take time to hear Him and then obey Him and give commands for healing.

D. Do I Have The Gift Of Healing?

Even when we know how to heal as Jesus did, we must know if we are called to the healing ministry. All Christians can heal by their faith in Jesus Christ (see Mk 16:18), but not all are equally gifted healers (1 Cor 12:30). For example, almost all human beings can run, sing, or think, but some are especially gifted in these ways. In my experience, I find that about one-third of Christians are especially gifted healers, but very few know this. They rarely, if ever, use their healing gift while countless sick people go through these healers' lives without receiving healing. In a world of sickness and pain, this is a sad waste of supernatural resources.To obey Dr. Jesus' orders, we must not only obey the Lord's command to forgive and repent but also to believe (see Mk 1:15). When we obey His command to believe in Him, we will then obey His other orders. We obey the orders of Dr. Jesus because we have faith in our Doctor.

Jesus repeatedly says, "It is your faith that has healed you" (see Mt 8:10, 13; 9:2; 9:29; Mk 5:34, 36; 6:6; Acts 3:16). Our healing has been wrought by Jesus on Calvary (1 Pt 2:24), but He does not force healing on us. We must accept it by faith. The healer usually has to recognize whether the sick person has faith in Jesus (see Acts 14:9), needs a deeper faith, or is not expected to have faith at this time. Occasionally, a sick person, especially an unbeliever, is not expected to have faith. Then the healing all depends on the healer believing and obeying the Lord (see Lk 5:17). Sometimes the sick person already has sufficient faith, and all the healer has to do is call for the sick person to express his faith (see Acts 14:9). However, the great majority of the time the sick person doesn't have the faith to receive healing from the Lord. For example, the possessed boy's father exclaimed: "I do believe! Help my lack of faith!" (Mk 9:24, our transl.) The Spirit may reveal to us the faith-condition of the sick person. Sometimes, we are called simply to ask the sick person about their faith (see Mt 9:28). At other times, we receive knowledge in prayer, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, or teaching.

Churchgoing people are the most difficult to heal. Because churchgoers have usually been baptized and given the Holy Spirit, the Lord expects them to have faith. "When much has been given a man, much will be required of him. More will be asked of a man to whom more has been entrusted" (Lk 12:48). However, the churchgoer usually looks to the healer to be the main person exercising faith. The healer must then throw the responsibility back on the person requesting healing. For example, the father of a possessed boy asked Jesus to heal his son. Jesus put the responsibility for the healing back on the father, saying it was up to the father to exercise faith. The father understood and cried out, "I do believe. Help my lack of faith!" (Mk 9:24, our transl.)