Healing. It’s something I’ve prayed for for years but it was only recently that I fully grasped and accepted God’s answer. Maybe you’re praying for healing and wondering, “will God heal me if I ask?” Or maybe because of the current pandemic you’re wondering, “does Jesus still heal today?” Today we’re going to open God’s Word and answer those two questions.
I believe God will heal you and that Jesus does still heal, but how God heals might look different than expected.
You can hit play and listen or find a comfy spot and read but either way, would you come with an open and expectant heart?
Our world, nation, and cities need Jesus to heal them and you might also be asking for healing.
To start I want to share my “will God heal me” story.
Table of Contents
My “Will God Heal Me” Story
Truthfully, God answered my prayer for healing nearly 20 years ago when He gave me the verse “this illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (John 11:4) You can read more about that verse here.
Year after year I prayed for healing, had the church elders pray over me (James 5:13-16), and even went to “healing” revivals.
I was determined not to miss an opportunity for God to heal me and tried to do everything the Bible told me to.
Still…year after year, my health got worse and not better.
Yet while I continued to ask God to heal me, He’d already answered my prayer.
It just took me a while to understand God’s answer.
Devotional Question
- Are you praying for healing?
- If so, what and who are you praying for?
My Answered Prayer
God had answered my prayer the day He gave me John 11:4. But…
It took me a few years to realize that like Paul, my prayer for healing needed to change.
Instead of continuing to pray for healing, I needed to thank God for healing my sin sick heart and giving me His Holy Spirit.
You see, it was my disease diagnosis that led me to Jesus. And me…before Jesus, was a mess. A really, really big mess.
The healing God did in me was nothing short of miraculous. I don’t even recognize the me I used to be.
Wow!
Rabbit trail aside, I also needed to replace my prayer for physical healing with a prayer for “His power to be made perfect in my weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
God’s answer to my “will God heal me” prayer was that my health struggles are “for the glory of God…”
Friend, no matter what you’re asking God to heal, continue reading while asking the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s answer. God’s answer to you won’t look like His answer to me.
Your healing, and what God chooses to do, will be unique to you and how God wants you to reflect Him to the world around you.
God will heal if you ask but it often looks much different than expected.
Remember, God often works from the inside-out and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8).
Devotional Question
- Will you open your heart as we answer the “will God heal” and “does Jesus still heal” questions?
Take a moment and write down what you’re asking God to do and why you’re wanting Him to do it.
Does Jesus Heal Today
I truly believe the answer to the “does Jesus heal today” question is a resounding YES! (with a “but” attached)
Throughout the Gospels we find Jesus healing over and over again. Matthew 4:24 says:
“and they brought Him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and He healed them.”
This verse shows Jesus healing people of all kinds of things. Pick your sickness or disease and Jesus healed it. If we jump to Hebrews 13: 8 it tells us,
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
This means that Jesus is the same now as He was when He healed all of these people.
Jesus will never ever change and because of that, the answer to “does Jesus heal today” is yes.
But to understand Jesus’ power to heal we need to look at a bit more Scripture.
The Healing We All Need
Did you know there’s a disease that’s much worse than any physical sickness or disease we might be battling? It’s even worse than the pandemic that’s brought our world to a standstill.
This disease is sin.
But, I’m not talking about sin because I think the things you might be asking God to heal are because of sin. I’m also not saying you have to try and be perfect and sin-free before God will heal you.
No, no, no my friend.
The reason I’m starting with sin is because to God, it’s more important than anything that happens to our physical bodies. It’s true that sickness and disease are a consequence of our sinful world but this doesn’t mean all sickness is caused by individual sins you or I commit.
Sickness is a reflection of our world’s condition.
But if you’re a Christian, you have the cure to the healing we all need. You have Jesus.
Jesus’ Power to Heal
Jesus’ death on a cross took the sins of all mankind and showed He has full power over sin and death. Because of this, He also has full power over the diseases that riddle our body’s.
In Matthew 9:5 Jesus said, “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?”
Jesus demonstrated His power over sin by healing the paralytic and causing Him to walk.
Often though, Jesus heals from the inside-out because He knows the damage of sin is worse than the damage diseases do to our body’s.
Sin separates us from God, diseases don’t. In fact, diseases can draw us, and others, closer to God but sin will always draw people away from God.
Because of this, when we ask God to heal us it may look much different than we expect. This is because “the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
Will God Heal Me If I Ask
Will God heal you if you ask? The answer is always “yes” but how God heals is always different.
Just as it took faith to believe in Jesus, it takes faith to believe God can heal us.
Throughout the Gospels people came to Jesus for healing and the people He healed had something in common.
They had faith that God could heal them.
Even the demons in the man of Gerasenes knew Jesus had power over them and that He had the power to heal the man they were tormenting. But Jesus healed this man and told him “return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” (Luke 8:26-39).
This tormented man was healed and set free to give God glory. Can you imagine how many people must have believed because of this man’s healing? God’s stories are the best!
Three of my favorite examples of Jesus’ power to heal and people asking God for healing are the centurion, the bleeding woman, and the paralytic.
Faith to be Healed
The Centurion’s Faith
The centurion’s servant was dying and he had such faith that Jesus would heal that he said, “say the word, and let my servant be healed.” (Luke 7:1-10)
Jesus was touched by this man’s faith and responded, “not even in Israel have I found such faith.”
No matter what we’re asking God to heal, we should also ask the Holy Spirit to give us faith like the Centurion had. If faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains (Matthew 17:20), all you need for God to answer your request for healing is a mustard seed of faith.
Will you ask God to heal you, your loved ones, or our nation and world?
A Woman’s Desperate Faith
The bleeding woman is a woman many of us might relate to. She’d been sick for 12 years and had spent all of her money on failed healing attempts.
Then, this desperate woman heard that Jesus had the power to heal. So she came up behind Jesus and thought, “if I only touch His garment, I will be made well.” (Matthew 9:20-24, Mark 5:25-34, Luke 8:43-48)
Hearing her thoughts Jesus replied saying, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
If you relate to this woman, I pray that by the power of God in you, you recognize how Jesus has healed you and how God has answered your prayer for healing.
My friend, pray expecting an answer but also pray for eyes to see and ears to hear the way God chooses to answer your prayer for healing.
Now for our last story of how Jesus healed when asked.
The Faith of Friends
This last healing story involves the faith of friends. Jesus was at home and so many people had come to hear Him teach, that the house was stuffed full. So full that it says you couldn’t even open the door (Mark 2:1-12). Hello claustrophobia (my sister would freak out even thinking of this).
In this story, four friends took the roof off of the house Jesus was teaching in and lowered their paralytic friend down to Jesus. But it doesn’t state that Jesus responded because the paralytic man had asked God to heal him.
Nope, it says Jesus healed because of the friends’ faith and then turned and said to the sick man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
He healed the disease of sin and not this man’s paralysis. This is an example of what I talked about with the disease of sin.
The first thing Jesus healed wasn’t what the friends expected but it was the thing that would bring ultimate healing to the people who were there.
It was also the healing that answered the “hesitant” and “condemning” questions the Pharisees were thinking.
This story of healing shows that sometimes God answers our prayers in ways that meet needs we are unaware of.
When Jesus healed the paralytics physical disease He said,
“‘but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’-He said to the paralytic-’I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.’”
Praying for God to heal you requires faith and a willingness to accept the healing God knows is best. God knows our entire life story and knows how to answer our “will God heal me” prayers with what’s best.
God’s answers are often what’s best for us and for others.
- Will you trust God’s perfect plan? Even if it doesn’t involve healing in the way you’re asking?
Conclusion
Friend, no matter what you’re asking God to heal, remember God loves you oh so much. He knows what’s best for us and God knows what each day of our life holds.
As I said at the beginning, the answer to our two questions, “will God heal me if I ask” and “does Jesus heal today”, is yes.
God will heal if we ask Him to but His answer won’t always be what we’re expecting. His answer to our prayer for healing might result in Him further healing our hearts and shaping us to better image Him to the world around us.
God’s answer could come through the wisdom of health professionals or a change in lifestyle. Or…
God might not heal our physical bodies but instead, allow “His power to be made perfect in our weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
When our prayers for physical healing aren’t answered with physical healing, we have to listen for how God chooses to answer.
No matter what you’re wanting Jesus to heal, have faith that God can do what you’re asking. Asking God to heal also means trusting that God will heal whatever will bring Him glory.
Like salvation, asking God to heal and trusting that Jesus does still heal, requires the faith of a child (Matthew 18:2-4).
Whether you’re praying for God to heal this pandemic or praying for Him to heal you, pray and expect God to answer.
Remember though, God’s answer to your prayers won’t always look like you’re expecting. Will you trust God to answer in whatever way He knows is best?
Until next time remember what it says in 1 Peter 2:24
“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.”
