Recently, I asked you to tell me what kind of questions you would like to ask of God. Some of your subjects made my eyes cross as they are the questions I ask myself.

One sore point that came up quite often was God’s healing power. I’ll be frank with you. This week I had a hard time finding anything funny to say because I know that so many are hurting while they long for healing (and also because it’s Monday and I squeezed the last drop of “funny” out of myself yesterday).

One reader, Bruce, shared his heart. “The number one topic I would like to discuss with God would be physical healing. Why aren’t more people healed?  How many people do we need to “enlist” to pray for a sick loved one, or is the sincere prayer of one parent for their sick child enough?  Are we convincing God to heal one of His children when we pray?”

Erika chimes in, ‘’the question that I would like to ask God concerns healing. ‘They will lay hands on the sick in my name and sick people will be healed.’ Often God doesn’t heal. Why?”

Why?

“You wanted to know what question I would ask God if I could. Well I would ask him why he didn’t heal my husband so that he could walk again properly,”
Kathy says.

And Doris, a precious grandmother, expresses the question in a way that surprises young people, ‘’My question would be: ‘Dear Heavenly Father, I wonder why you don’t take me Home as I am 91 years old and have been alone for 35 years?’”

Well, it’s been great visiting with you. See you next week.

That’s what I want to say. I know what I believe but all these questions are legitimate and often expressions of deep pain. If we’re too simplistic we risk hurting some sincere, faith-filled believers. And the other extreme would be to cancel out the promise of God’s healing power.

Here’s what I think: It’s God’s will to heal us—physically, mentally and in every way. I also believe that if God chooses in His wisdom to not heal or He delays healing, that’s His right. He’s God, not me. I’ll love Him either way.

If we don’t believe it’s God’s will to heal, we can’t pray with assurance. Listen to this: “Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.” (Isaiah 53:4, 5 Amplified Version)

His Will

I think God revealed His will for healing when the leper came to Jesus saying to the Lord that he could heal him if he would. Jesus response was, “I will.”

Some say that God only heals when it’s His will. But I have a hard time believing that it’s always God’s will to heal a cold (in a week or two) and almost never His will to heal cancer, which seems to be the practical result of that belief.

I don’t understand it all, that’s for sure. I’m sure God desires to heal much more often. He looks for faith. Men perceive His glory and come to Him when they see His hand extended in healing.

When you pray, expect God to heal. Insist. It’s his promise.

Okay, But …

Yeah, I hear the gears turning in your head. “I knew this brother and he really believed that God was going to heal and he died.” I knew that brother, too.

So what gives David?

If we’ve really gone after God and touched Him—seen His face as David expresses it—and He speaks in our heart, then He’s got the situation in control. If for some reason He says, “no,” then He’s God, not me.

Paul went through something like this. We don’t know what Paul’s problem was but the principles that come from his experience are true if it’s healing or any other situation.

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:8-10, NIV)

This from a man who had prayed for many people and seen many healings and other kinds of miracles.

So, go after God. Pray with all your heart for healing. Take the promises of His Word and remind God of them (He likes that). Expect an answer. Keep on until you know you’ve touched Him.

But, if He says, “no,” don’t let bitterness or the fact that someone else was healed make you angry with God.

When you touch God in faith, He’ll either give you a miraculous answer or the grace you need to go through the situation. And one is as good as the other.

Hummm …
“When we forgive we don’t change the past. We change the future.” (Internet)