When
Ill – Speak the Word
“…I am the Lord that healeth thee.” -Exodus 15:26b KJV
It
used to bug me to watch “faith healers” on television. Sometimes their actions seemed over-the-top
as they would touch someone’s forehead and say, “Be healed,” as it looked as if
they pushed the person over backward and an attendant would either catch the
person or assist the person to lie on the floor. Because of watching such grandiose actions I
held “healing” in low esteem. That is why it
was always so hard for me to reconcile the fact that healings do happen, and
yet they DO happen.
When
I lived in Oregon as a young adult a friend of mine asked me, and those of my
church, to pray for a toddler who was born without a hip bone or leg bones on
one side of her body. She was born with
all the muscle, tendons, and flesh but no bones. The doctors had decided that they would put
in artificial bones and joints and would have to repeat the surgery again and
again as the child grew. We were asked
to pray for the surgery and for healing and we did. The day of the surgery I got a phone call
from my friend saying that God had miraculously healed the child for when the
doctors did the final pre-surgery x-ray the girl had all the bones and joints
firmly in place that she was born without.
God healed her!
Another
time I was amazed at answered prayer for healing was when another friend of
mine was pregnant with twins. The
pregnancy went along well until about the 8th month when the doctors
viewed an ultrasound told her and her husband that there was something wrong
with one of the babies. They said they
would have to do a cesarean section and take the babies out of the womb
early. This was a concern because at
this point neither baby’s lungs had fully developed, but the doctors said that
if they did not operate then one of the babies would die. The people of her church and those of mine
started praying. When the doctors
removed the babies one was larger than the other and they found out that one
was too full of red blood cells and clotting factor whereas the other did not
have enough. Ironically the larger baby
as well as the smaller one would have both died if they had been left in the
womb. The doctors actually took blood
from the larger and transfused it to the smaller. They were put in incubators and monitored closely. The smaller baby started producing the red
blood cells and clotting factor it should and both babies thrived, finishing
the development of their lungs. They are
young adults now and doing well. God
healed them!
I
actually have many more stories I can share with you about healings I know of
firsthand (cancer gone, diabetes gone, etc.) but I would rather share that I am
convinced beyond a doubt that healings DO happen in our age, yet it is not because I have seen these healings firsthand but because I have read what the Word of God says
about healing that convinced me.
There
are many instances of God healing people in both the Old and New Testaments’
but I would like to share a story we are all familiar with:
“Then
a woman who had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind Him
and touched the [tassel] fringe of His outer robe; for she had been saying to herself, “If
I only touch His outer robe, I will be healed.”
But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Take
courage, daughter; your [personal trust and confident] faith [in Me] has made
you well.” And
at once the woman was [completely] healed. (Matthew 9:20-22 AMP)
What did this lady do that was
unusual? Was it that she believed God
would heal her? Imagine yourself in her
place. For twelve years she went to
every doctor there was to seek healing but no one was able to help her. Always tired, anemic, and ostracized by her
own people (for having a bleeding problem made her considered “unclean” by
them). Then she heard about this Man who
was healing people so she went to see Him, maybe even a little hopeful after
years of hopelessness. As she watched
this crowd of people vying for His attention she may have thought, “There is no
way I can get his attention.” Yet she
pressed forward. By the time she got
within the crowd, knowing she would not get His attention she started “…saying to herself, “If I only touch His
outer robe, I will be healed.” As
she got closer she said it again, “If I
only touch His outer robe, I will be healed.” As she reached out to touch the fringe of His
robe she said again, “If I only touch His
outer robe, I will be healed.” Then,
the moment she touched His robe, she was completely healed.
What was the thing that activated
this healing? I purpose to you that it
was not only (as I was taught in Sunday School) that she touched the hem of His
garment she was healed, but also that she spoke out her faith, “If I only touch His outer robe, I will be
healed.” Remember that she had been
saying this more than once before she acted on what she was saying. “…for she had been saying to herself, “If I only touch His outer robe, I will be
healed.”
I have found that when I align
myself with what God’s Word says on a subject, then THINGS HAPPEN! The opposite rings true as well. If I do not align myself with God’s
Word. If I do not speak out what His
Word says on a subject, such as healing, then few things happen. Take for instance when Jesus visited where he
grew up. People there knew Him as a boy
and they did not believe He was WHO He was.
“And
he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick
folk, and healed them. And he
marvelled because of their unbelief.” –Mark 6:5-6a KJV
The best way I have found to align
myself with God’s Word on a subject is to read it, study it, and even speak out
loud what it has to say on that subject.
For instance, since His Word says, “…I am the Lord that healeth thee,” (Exodus 15:26b KJV) then I know
that it is God who heals me. When His
Word says, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own
body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness:
by whose stripes ye were healed,” (1 Peter 2:24) then I know I have been
healed from sin and its effects. There
are many more verses in the Word on healing (or love, or righteousness, or any
subject you are troubled about) and I encourage you to seek them out, study
them, and speak them out loud, thus making them a part of you and you will find
your faith growing leaps and bounds.
When you are ill, speak the Word!
“At that very hour
Jesus healed many people
of sicknesses and infirmities and evil spirits; and He gave [the gracious gift
of] sight to many who were
blind.” –Luke 7:21
AMP
