When You Need Healing

If you need healing today, I want you to know where I believe we should begin: with God's Word.

Not with fear.

Not with what somebody else says happened to them.

Not by pretending the pain isn't real.

And not by making promises that God Himself hasn't made.

Let's begin with what God has actually said.

There are times when sickness can make everything else seem small. Suddenly, the things that concerned us yesterday don't seem nearly as important. A doctor's report, a change in our health, ongoing pain, or watching someone we love suffer can bring questions we never expected to ask.

And sometimes fear begins talking louder than faith.

That's when I believe we need to come back to the Word of God.

Isaiah wrote about the coming Messiah:

"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows…" — Isaiah 53:4

And just a few verses later:

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." — Isaiah 53:6

Peter later looked back at what Jesus accomplished at the cross and wrote:

"…by whose stripes ye were healed." — 1 Peter 2:24

I don't want to rush past those Scriptures.

Jesus is at the center of our hope.

Our faith isn't in a formula. It isn't in saying exactly the right words. It isn't in pretending we aren't hurting.

Our faith is in Jesus.

The Bible gives us every reason to bring our need for healing to God.

James tells believers who are sick to call for the elders of the church and let them pray over them. James also reminds us:

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." — James 5:16

So pray.

Ask others to pray.

Believe God.

Stay in His Word.

And at the same time, don't be afraid to receive appropriate medical care and help. Trusting God and seeking appropriate care do not have to be enemies.

There is also something I want to say to the person who has prayed and hasn't seen the answer yet.

Don't let somebody make you believe that your continued sickness automatically means you don't have enough faith.

Keep trusting God.

Keep praying.

Keep believing His Word.

But place your confidence in Him, not in your ability to produce an outcome.

There are answers we may not understand on this side of eternity. But Scripture gives us a final picture of where God's redemption is taking His children.

A day is coming when:

"God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death…" — Revelation 21:4

No more death.

No more sorrow.

No more crying.

No more pain.

That's where this story ultimately ends for everyone who belongs to Christ.

Until then, we pray.

We trust.

We seek God.

We receive appropriate help.

We stand upon His Word.

And we remember that sickness does not get the final word.

Jesus does.