I can’t see in the Bible, or the ministry of the Lord Jesus that people had to wait for months or years for their healing to become manifest, and yet it often happens today.  Surely there is a Biblical answer, for the Word of God covers every area of life. My own healing from cancer took a period of time. The melanomas I had were gone in a couple weeks or so, that wasn’t so long.  But the symptoms of liver cancer lingered on and on for about nine months. Is patience to wait on the LORD to heal an issue here?   My years of working on the Highway Patrol, along with my sideline business of furniture repair went a long way in teaching me patience.  There are some things you just can’t rush, like investigations, or wet paint. The desired results came from diligence, hard work, trust in my own skills, plus an open mind to always search for better ways to get things done.  Experience shows us old solutions don’t always work with new problems, and sometimes you need to start with a clean slate, and think outside the box, so to speak.

Well, a relationship with Christ Jesus requires patience and diligence for sure.  We want everything RIGHT NOW, and we don’t want to wait for anything except old age and death, of course.  The Bible tells us, Jesus Christ; the same yesterday, today, and for ever.  Ok, we’ve established an important truth here.  God doesn’t change, so if something isn’t working the way we see it did in the Bible, we know the problem isn’t because God has changed the rules on us.  The problem has be on OUR end, because the problem is never on God’s end.

Now the devil will do anything he can to convince you that God is not the least bit interested in healing you, in the hopes he can get you to lose interest in God and walk away.  He does that through false teachers, false doctrine, or people who remind you that some sick person was prayed for, and God didn’t heal THEM. If that doesn’t work, Satan will lie to you, threaten and afflict you, and try to get you angry with God if things you’ve been praying about are not moving along as quickly as you want them to. And of course, during all this time your mind will come up with a million questions why things aren’t working like they did when the Lord Jesus healed the multitudes.  But there is an answer; and it’s the same answer that applied two thousand years ago.  We must answer our doubts and unbelief with I BELIEVE, I RECEIVE.

We MUST believe the Word works today exactly as it has always worked.  When God said something, He always backed up those He spoke it to with supernatural signs and wonders.  When the Lord Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God two thousand years ago, those words were backed up with signs and wonders, and He healed all who came to Him.  The Word is eternal, never changing, and it remains unchanged even today, in spite of changes in our societies, religious beliefs, or customs.  Again, it is written, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and for ever.

So, why are we trying to get God to change His mind and do things differently than His Word says? Why are we trying to make God lower His standards to accommodate our low-level morals today?  Why are we trying to get God to approve of things today that He said back then are an abomination to Him? That’s why we aren’t seeing things working right today.  Our prayers are hindered because He told us “Be ye Holy as I AM Holy”, and we want to do it OUR way.  We are trying to change God, instead of letting God change US! What’s wrong with that picture? It appears there is little or no reverential fear of God these days.  It is written in Hebrews 10:31; It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. People today just don’t seem to think God means what He says, and says what He means. But some of them did the same thing back then, didn’t they?

Getting back to healing, those who did not believe or obey, did not receive their healing.  Back in 2 Kings 5, we read the account of Naaman the leper, who ALMOST didn’t get his healing because of pride and disobedience, but thankfully he repented.

2Ki 5:1  Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.
2Ki 5:2  And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife.
2Ki 5:3  And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.
2Ki 5:4  And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.
2Ki 5:5  And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.
2Ki 5:6  And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.
2Ki 5:7  And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.
2Ki 5:8  And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
2Ki 5:9  So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
2Ki 5:10  And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
2Ki 5:11  But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
2Ki 5:12  Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
2Ki 5:13  And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?
2Ki 5:14  Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Same God, different day.  How long did it take Naaman to be healed?  as long as it took him to obey.  The things that kept people locked out of their healing back then keep them locked out today.  What are they?  Disobedience, pride, unbelief, refusal to repent, and sometimes, being too lazy to get in God’s Word and STUDY, and those things are just a partial list.

Healing can come gradually, as our faith in the Word grows, or it can come suddenly when we settle God’s Word in our heart, never to look back.  I’ve had it both ways in my own body, with instant healings, and gradual healings. I can’t give any valid reason why it took me so long to recover from liver cancer, for the instant the LORD gave me Psalm 103:2-3, I BELIEVED, and it was settled forever in my heart.  Maybe I just hadn’t learned to be obedient yet, at least according to God’s standards.  I had an accident and put my right eye out in August 1995, and was blind in that eye for 30 days, steadfastly settled and believing in my heart I would  not only see again, but would see perfectly in both eyes without glasses.  After all, why believe God for the return of the 20/250 vision that I had before, when God could just as easily give me 20/20?  And on the 30th day, He instantly healed both of my eyes, and my vision has been perfect ever since, no more glasses.

So then, is “patience” part of the formula?  I can’t say.  In 1993 I broke my right tibia and kneecap and God instantly healed them both.  No patience needed there.  God does as God wants, and we have little influence on His actions or decisions, however, He honors faith.  Think about it; if our NEED moved Him to action, there would be no hungry people on the face of the earth, nor any sick or poor.  So there has to be another factor we are missing.

We know it is impossible to please God without faith.  So, He gives each of us a measure of His own faith, and being He is the originator of that faith, He knows it will work for us.  Problem is, WE don’t know if it will work for us, do we?  Otherwise, if we did, we would be acting like it, and things on the earth would be very different than what they are.  Over time each of us develop what we put trust in, and what we don’t.  Sadly, the very One we can trust every single time is the One we tend to trust the least, and then we go so far as to lay the blame for unanswered prayers on God, instead of properly placing the blame squarely on ourselves.  Yes, it is written that Daniel’s prayers were hindered by Satan, but Daniel got his answer in the end, for with faith it must be so.  There is a part Satan and his cohorts play in delaying our answers, but when he is hindering us, he is also at work trying to convince us that there’s something wrong with our faith, and sadly, waaaaaay too many people believe their faith is defective.

When we pray, when should we believe it’s DONE?  Well, according to Mark 11:24, the moment we pray we should consider it done.  Yet most people consider it done when they see it.  That isn’t how God works. Consider Genesis 1:1-2; In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. God could have said, Boy it’s dark out there, I can’t see a thing. But He spoke TO the darkness, and commanded LIGHT BE.  And it was light. He didn’t speak ABOUT the problem, He spoke TO the problem. That’s a far cry from how we operate in our prayer life, isn’t it?

When I was battling for my life, it would have been easy to speak about the problem instead of doing what the Word said, and speaking TO the problem.  The creation wasn’t built in a day, it took God some time to get it all done, and so it might take some time for us to turn our little situations around, too.  Most of our problems have taken us years of talking trash to become fully manifest, it it may take us some time to turn it around, for our old habits (and our speech) are hard to change and new CORRECT habits and speech must take their place.  Sometimes we slip up, don’t we?  But if you’re desperate enough, you’ll do it, and I was desperate.

God’s Word will work every time, as long as we don’t water it down with idle words or lies or unbelief or disobedience.  Jesus kept His words AND His actions constantly in line with His Father’s, and thus He saw tremendous results. He only spoke truth, there was no guile found in His mouth.  What if we did likewise?  Would we see better, quicker results?  Why not do so and find out?

Overcoming the physical symptoms of liver cancer with God’s Word alone, which is impossible medically, gave me such trust in God’s Word that I’m thoroughly convinced there is nothing impossible to those who believe and act on God’s Word.  And yet at times I still see my prayers for others being healed impaired, delayed, and sometimes outright unanswered, even though in my own heart there is no doubt whatsoever.  And I’m reminded in Mark 6:1-6,

Mar 6:1  And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.

Mar 6:2  And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?

Mar 6:3  Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
Mar 6:4  But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
Mar 6:5  And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
Mar 6:6  And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

It is NEVER that God is unwilling to heal, but rather, we are not willing to unconditionally believe, and unconditionally obey Him.  Therefore I try to spend much more time TEACHING so people can go to God in faith, believing.  There is a part for me to do, and that is to pray and believe.  If the recipient of my prayers is unconscious, as in a coma for example, then I’d have to say it’s on my faith if they are to be healed. But if they are conscious, then they have a part too, they must believe, and they must obey God, and the scriptures seem to bear that out.

The Lord Jesus didn’t make any hoops for the sinners to jump through in order to be healed, except “believe only”.  Sinners?  Yes. SURELY you don’t think all the multitudes following Jesus were righteous and holy before God, do you?  Let’s read Mark 2:16-17:

Mar 2:16  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
Mar 2:17  When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Did Jesus ever refuse to heal the sinners?  No, and we need to stop putting all those roadblocks in the sinner’s way to being healed! “Oh, you have to join our church first, you need to repent first, you must forgive people first before God will heal you.”   RUBBISH!   Jesus healed sinners to show them God’s love for them. I tell you, religious people run more people away from God than the devil does.   By the way, Jesus didn’t say to PRAY for the sick, He said HEAL the sick.  If you’re a disciple of Christ Jesus, then Matthew 10:8 is for you.  It says, Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. What they do once they’re healed is not upon your head, but most likely they will repent of their sins and follow Jesus.

I’m sure this hasn’t covered every scenario about healing, but these are certainly the important ones:  Ask, believe you receive, be thankful, and obey God’s Word.  When do you ask?  when you have the need.  When do you believe it’s done? the moment you ask.  When do you thank Him? when you ask. When do you obey? the moment God tells you to change this or that.  God is the one you have to please, not me.  But He really isn’t that hard to please, after all, He wants good things for you.  Imagine that!  You and God are agreed on something after all.