Matthew 8:5-7, “And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.”
It is a wonderful thought that today, so many years removed from when this scripture was written, that divine healing is still a reality. Jesus is still saying to us “I will come and heal.”
In the world we live in there are many options, making it almost easier to turn to the doctor and medicine to provide the cure that we need, but does that encourage our faith? Does that make God more real to us?
I want to encourage young people to take the step of faith and trust God with your affliction. He will never fail you, but remember that you have an adversary, the devil, who does not want you to be healed, or your faith in God encouraged.
We live in an age of time where people are failing to stir themselves up about spiritual things. The devil is working this lethargy also on the saved. It will take much more effort to trust in God for your physical need than it will to turn to a doctor. You will need to follow hard after God and stir yourself up to take hold of your healing. God wants to heal you, but there is a part that you must take; you must believe.
Matthew 8:13, “And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.”
“Believe: to have a firm persuasion of any thing.”1
The centurion did not see his servant healed, yet he believed before he saw the change. We must also be as this centurion; we must believe and have a firm persuasion that we are healed despite what our affliction still looks like or how it feels.
Jesus put a lot of emphasis on believing. Matthew 9:28, “And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yeah, Lord.” Matthew 21:22, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”
R.L. Berry said in his book “Steps Heavenward”, “We are commanded to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, not to ‘feel on him’.” Yet so many times, because we are human, we tend to look for the symptoms to be completely gone before we believe that we are healed. We tend to doubt, just as Thomas doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead. We want to feel healed.
Thomas said in John 20:28-29, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. Jesus saith unto him, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Too many times we have a distorted concept of divine healing. Just because nothing has changed does not mean that you are not healed. Feelings have nothing to do with salvation and feelings have nothing to do with being healed.
Not everyone who gets saved has wonderful feelings right away but must take it by faith that when the Word of God says “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” that God will be faithful to do just as He promised.
Just as the devil accuses the saved over their salvation, he will also accuse the saved concerning their healing.
Just a few years ago I was severely afflicted. Eventually I realized that I was going to have press very hard and claim my healing if I was going to see the symptoms disappear. Again, and again the symptoms came, and when they came, I had to hold fast and remind God “You won’t take back one promise that you have given me.”
Instead of sitting back and being discouraged and doubting God’s promises, I had to press on, though I didn’t feel like it. I had to push back against a lethargy that wanted to weigh upon me and pray when the symptoms came upon me. After some months had passed, I gained the complete victory, thank God!
Recently I read of a minister who was severely afflicted and gained the victory only when he quoted his promises repeatedly. He had to press the throne for his healing.
Remember, it is God’s will for you to be healed, and if you believe, you will experience the healing touch of God.
1 John 2, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as they soul prospereth.”
Works Cited
- Webster, Noah, American Dictionary of the English Language, First Edition, 1828
Berry, R. L., Steps Heavenward, Gospel Trumpet, 1921