Can I Expect God to Heal Me When I Ask? [Episode 78]

JRO Team — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 10:00:59 +0000

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For me, blindness is a constant, unrelenting, and challenging loss—emotionally, spiritually, and even physically. I’ve asked God for healing probably a million times … but, so far, healing hasn’t come.

Maybe you have asked God for healing too—and, like me, you’re still waiting. You might even wonder, “Can I expect God to heal me when I ask?”

The objective of our faith is not to get healing. It is to know Christ. [Click to Tweet]

Friend, it’s a tough question. But I know you and I aren’t alone in asking God for healing.

Because, even if I haven’t met you yet and heard your struggle, I listen to women all over the country at Fresh Grounded Faith events. I hear their hearts breaking as they tell me their stories.

Stories of the husband who left, the job they lost, the parent they’re caring for, or the teenager who has made their home a warzone. Tears fall and hope hides as they describe how they asked God for healing a million times, and God didn’t heal.

So, on this episode of the 4:13 Podcast, you’re going to hear this question answered honestly and biblically. You’ll learn three ways God heals, and I promise you’ll be encouraged as you do.

3 Ways God Heals

Immediately. Sometimes God heals immediately. In Matthew 12:13, Jesus did this for the man with the shriveled hand. It was an immediate miracle. God can do that if He chooses to, and some healings are like that. Instant, unexplainable, and when you least expect it.
When God chooses to heal immediately, it is ultimately to glorify Himself. Healing proves that He is Lord over the rules of man. He is bigger than your expectations!

You can trust your Healer because He hears, He cares, and He has His best plan for you. [Click to Tweet]

At the same time, we want to be cautious because immediate miracles are dramatic and often get more attention. God is the One Who chooses the time, the place, and the way healing occurs. So, the point of the miracle is not the how, it is the Who. It is the Healer Himself—not the way and timing God used to perform it—that we should focus on. And sometimes, immediate miracles also keep us from seeing the miracles God is doing every day.

So, if you’re longing for a miracle, stay in His presence and trust His timing. When you focus more on Jesus than your healing, you end up longing for Jesus more than your healing. And when this happens, the timing of your healing seems so much less important.
Gradually. Sometimes God heals gradually. In Mark 8:22-25, Jesus heals a blind man in Bethsaida, but the man’s sight wasn’t totally restored right away. It’s interesting that Jesus didn’t heal him immediately. Jesus could have, but He didn’t. Instead, He performed a gradual miracle.
Does that mean that gradual healing is like getting short-changed? No, gradual healing is still healing. You may not understand why Jesus chooses to heal that way. But, to me, gradual healing seems even more special because that blind man got to feel the touch of Jesus twice.

The real blessing of healing isn’t the result. It’s the process. It is in the blessing that comes from being with Jesus, feeling His touch, His comfort, His presence.

So, if you haven’t received the full healing or miracle that you want, keep trusting God and thank Him for the honor of His continued presence and touch in your life. When it is all said and done, His presence is far more satisfying than healing.
Eventually. God is our Healer, and that means He will heal. Either immediately, gradually, or eventually. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, Paul writes about something painful in his life—he called it a thorn—and he asked God over and over to remove it. Evidently, God did not during Paul’s lifetime. As far as we know, Paul died with that painful thorn wedged in his soul.
When God answered Paul’s urgent plea for healing, God’s response wasn’t “no.” I think His response was “not yet.” Healing would come. God would answer Paul’s prayer, and the answer would come eventually, just not now and not yet.

If God hasn’t healed you yet, don’t assume His answer is “no.” His best answer for you may be, “Not yet, child.” When God doesn’t grant immediate or gradual thorn removal, He gives something far better. He gives grace.

And, that’s what God gave to Paul. He told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul lived with his thorn, and he walked by faith through every question and every unmet longing. Eventually, Paul’s faith became sight and the thorn was removed, for there are no thorns in heaven.

Friend, God heals. Sometimes it’s immediate. Sometimes it’s gradual. And sometimes it’s eventual. But no matter when the healing comes, you walk by faith. Because the objective of your faith is not to get healing, it is to know Christ. Philippians 3:10-11 says:

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

You and I know Christ better through the fellowship of suffering. So, if that’s where you are, press into Jesus. He understands. He is with you. I know you’ve got stuff, and it hurts. Keep trusting your Healer because He hears, He cares, and He has His best plan for you.

And, wherever you are, however you feel, whatever you are dealing with, remember you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength.

Related Resources

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