Does healing come automatically when you become a Christian?  If so then, why do some Christians get sick, and why do some never manifest their healing?  Let’s explore those questions today.
   Among my favorite scriptures are Psalm 103:2-3, Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
It would seem on the surface this indicates not only the forgiveness of sins, but healing of anything you happened to have wrong with you, once you have been redeemed.  Actually, from the moment I was saved, the LORD immediately told me to go look up these verses, which I did.  My first statement to the LORD was, Lord, I just asked you to save me.  Does that mean you are going to heal me too?  His reply to me was “I have already healed you.”  Well, Lord, you could have fooled me, I don’t feel any different.  And this was the beginning of my relationship with Christ Jesus.  Was my statement one of doubt and unbelief?  No, it was one of “I need more information here.”  I couldn’t process the fact that the Holy Spirit had just told me I was already healed, when I had all the symptoms of melanomas and liver cancer all going on at the same time.  And so I understand how any Christian can question how they are healed according to God’s Word, yet it doesn’t look like it.
    Over the period of a couple weeks or so, the melanomas just went away.  Where did they go?  I don’t know, and I don’t care.  Yet, the symptoms of the liver cancer remained.  Despite the fact the doctors told me I had a month or less to live, after a month was past, I was still alive, and getting sicker by the day.  Yet, the Word of God said I was healed.  Well, either God was wrong, or my body was wrong, because anyone could see I wasn’t any better, but worse.  Could the doctors have been wrong, or more importantly, could God have been wrong?  That’s what I intend to discuss here. 
    It is written that God cannot lie, so let’s rule out the problem that God was wrong when He told me He had already healed me.  God never does contrary to His Word, for it is written in Psalm 138:2, I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.  In other words, His Word is His bond.  But does that mean you automatically reap the benefits of His promises?  Ah, that’s the fine print we need to have a look at.  You see, just because it’s written in God’s Word doesn’t mean you just automatically get it.  That would be like assuming if you live in America, you are rich.  No, you aren’t, but you CAN be.  The potential is there, but it won’t happen to you without diligent effort on your part.  Notice I said DILIGENT effort.  Here’s the problem: we live in a world run by the devil and his crew.  We have evil all around, in governments of the world, in businesses, in schools, in the workplace, in our neighborhoods, and the devil being who he is, specializes in “KILL, STEAL, AND DESTROY”.  So when we come to Christ Jesus for salvation, and hear the Gospel, that is the Good News, we think, OK, I’ll receive the Lord Jesus and my troubles will be over.  That isn’t necessarily true.  In fact, for some, the battle is just beginning.
    How do I begin?  Let me do it with an illustration.  Suppose you are sitting in your home minding your own business, and an armed intruder breaks in your door.  Now, if you happen to have a gun in your pocket, you may drop him the moment he breaks in.  But suppose you aren’t armed, and you have no defense against him?  How will you prevail?  You most likely won’t.  Sorry, but that’s the cold, hard facts.  Sometimes in the natural realm you are in a situation where you are overpowered, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
    And that happens to many people who have received Christ Jesus after having been diagnosed with cancer, they will try to fight the battle in the natural, and try as they may, doctors cannot wipe out cancer, and so even after treatment, many still die.  You must fight all disease at its root, and that is spiritual.  Disease began in the Garden of Eden after the fall of man.  For example. in my case, stopping liver cancer is like stopping a speeding freight train going seventy miles per hour in fifty feet.  It CAN be stopped, but it takes something mighty big and heavy to do it.  In my particular case, I didn’t have a lot of time to get the Word of God down inside me to stop the devil from killing me, so I got real busy studying the Word.  After all, the clock was ticking, and it was gaining on me fast.  What stopped me from dying when everything said I could not live?  It certainly wasn’t ME, though I was fighting the best I could.  The Word of God stopped the liver cancer.  It didn’t do it suddenly, though it certainly stopped the melanomas suddenly.  I spent the majority of my time in the Word, yet the symptoms kept getting worse.  Was my study in vain?  No, it taught me first off, God cannot lie.  The rest was easy once that was settled.  By SETTLED, I mean that was over and done with, and nothing could change it.  You see, most people never get settled, and so when sickness comes, they die.  And that’s a real shame, because they didn’t have to die before their time.  If only they had settled themselves in the Word, they could still be alive and giving the devil a hard time.  You see, they looked at their symptoms, and actually preferred to believe what they perceived in the natural, instead of what God’s Word says.  Big mistake, and the vast majority of people do it.  I COULD HAVE, but chose not to.  I chose to believe God’s Word in spite of everything else to the contrary.  And I’ve CONTINUED to believe.  None of that “I believed, but now I don’t have to anymore” stuff for me!
   You don’t just automatically get healed because the Bible says Jesus bore all your diseases, any more than you automatically get saved because Jesus went to the cross for you.  He went to the cross for EVERYONE ON EARTH, but they won’t be saved unless they choose to be, and they won’t be healed unless they choose to be.  READ THAT AGAIN!  You must CHOOSE to be saved, and you must CHOOSE to be healed.  Oh yeah, I don’t want to go to hell, so I’ll choose Jesus.  Not so fast.  Just choosing Jesus is only the beginning, it’s not the end.  Just confessing Jesus went to the cross for your sins, and He took stripes for your healing will not in itself accomplish anything for you, except to tell you and others you have heard that fact, or you have read it somewhere.  It’s when you make the sacrifice of Christ Jesus YOURS that the journey begins.
   Don’t think for a moment that when you pursue a relationship with Christ Jesus that the devil will throw up his hands and say, “Well, there goes another one to Jesus, I’ll have to leave him alone from now on.”  Sorry folks, that isn’t how it happens.  No, the devil won’t leave you alone.  You will have to get into God’s Word and fight your way out of every battle the devil throws at you.  But now the difference is, you aren’t battling alone anymore; you have the Holy Spirit to help you.  Remember, He is called the HELPER.  That means He HELPS you; He doesn’t do everything FOR you.  For example: let’s say you hire me to HELP you clean your garage, so I show up and you’re sitting there in your recliner and point me to your garage to clean it.  I’ll say, I’m here to HELP.  That means it requires YOUR participation, too.
So it is with a relationship with God.  It requires YOUR participation ALONG with God’s to be called a RELATIONSHIP.  The more time you spend pursuing that relationship, the more you put into it, the more you will see God as your HELPER, who will not abandon you, nor ever fail you.  Remember I talked about an armed intruder?  It is written in John 10:10, The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  Jesus told us who the intruder, the thief is, and what he comes to do….BUT… Jesus said HE came that WHAT?  that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  Jesus is the one who will stand armed and ready WITH you against the adversary.  Not FOR you, but WITH you.  That means you’ll still have to deal with the devil from time to time, but as you come to know your LORD, you’ll find He will keep you safe from harm.  You need to memorize Psalm 91 and get that one down deep inside.  Then when the devil comes against you, you’ll never blink, knowing you are safe under God’s wings.
  That’s what stopped the seventy miles per hour speeding freight train in my life.  Once I was settled in the fact God cannot lie, my battle was won.  Oh, the symptoms tried to convince me otherwise, but I was SETTLED!
That being said, then why do some Christians get sick, when God’s word says Jesus bore all their diseases?  Again, they are being bounced around like a ball in a pinball machine, and they never become settled, with one symptom after another hitting them.  It’s hard to get “settled” when the battle is on. Especially when one preacher tells you this, and another one tells you that, and the doctor tells you something else.  But that’s EXACTLY what you MUST do, in spite of the battle.  You must get in God’s Word for YOURSELF and stop relying on what I or anyone else tells you.  Do your homework!!  Your life depends on it.  Actually, once you’re settled, it’s no longer a battle anymore, because in your mind’s eye, it’s DONE.  The devil will try to keep you battling in the physical realm, and you can’t beat him there, you must battle him in the SPIRITUAL realm, and he CANNOT defeat you there if you are SETTLED.  Has the devil ever hit me with symptoms since I’ve been saved?  Sure!  But God’s Word not only HAS prevailed, it always SHALL prevail.  I’m not going to budge.  I’m SETTLED.
   So then, why do some Christians never manifest their healing?  Oh, there are people who say this and that, like, “He has unforgiveness”, or “He has sin in his life.”  But that isn’t it at all, for Jesus never once said to anyone asking to be healed, “Have you repented of your sins?”, or “Have you forgiven those who have sinned against you?”, or “Have you paid your tithes?”  Go look and see for yourself!  You’ll find He didn’t!  It all hinged on “BELIEVE ONLY”.  And you can’t BELIEVE if you have doubt.  It’s impossible to be SETTLED when you still have doubts.  Jesus only required BELIEVE.  Now that’s a pretty stout requirement, for it requires NO DOUBT.  But you can do it, for God has not created you to fail.  Don’t you think there were sinners among those who followed Jesus whom He healed?  Yep.  That didn’t stop Jesus from healing them, did it?  No.  Now, Jesus healed a lame man at the Pool of Bethesda, and later found him in the Temple, and told him, Go and sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee.  What?? you mean Jesus healed a SINNER?  Yes, and He will heal YOU if you believe.
   “Repent and be baptized” comes later: you must FIRST BELIEVE before you can do ANY of the rest.  Actually, believing is easy.  God gives you His own faith to believe with.  And besides, when was the last time God lied to you?  Believing is not a passive act.  No, it requires all your attention, all your faith, all your diligence, and all your heart.  And it’s not a one-time believe, either.  It’s a continuing action, just like salvation and healing.  To keep salvation and healing, you must continue believing, continue your relationship with Christ Jesus, and continue to keep your heart full of the Word of God.  For nothing concerning God in your life happens automatically.  You don’t just get saved and then hit the “cruise control” button and expect God to chart your merry way through life.  No, you must be involved.  Your relationship with God will require your full time attention for the rest of your life.  God will take care of His part, don’t worry.  He was around LONG before you were, doing what He has always done, being faithful to His Word.  So go ahead; BELIEVE God, you have nothing to lose except your sins and your diseases.