Do you want to see more healing in your life?
If you’ve been listening to The Bible Speaks to You Podcast for a while, or even a short period of time, you know I talk a lot about healing, spiritual healing. Healing in the Bible. And healing today as a result of following Christ in your daily life. The question is: How can we see more healing in our lives today?
It’s cause for immense joy and gratitude that more and more people are experiencing God’s healing power in their lives. But the world is still calling out for more of the healing power of God’s touch.
How can we see more healing?
Again I ask: What can you and I do to see more healing, to experience more healing, for ourselves and others?
I used to think it was a bit unfair for all those people in Jesus’s time who could just go up to him and ask for healing. And we can’t do that in the same way today.
There is no record of anyone asking Jesus to heal them or their loved ones where he refused to heal. He never said someone wasn’t ready to be healed or that it wasn’t God’s will for them to be healed.
It’s always God’s will for you to be healed
He always healed when asked, because he knew it was God’s will.
Now you may be wondering: Hey James, how can you be so sure Jesus knew it was always God’s will that someone should be healed?
That’s actually a great question and it applies to today as well. Is it always God’s will for you to be healed? Or is it sometimes God’s will for you not to be healed?
Jesus knew what God’s will was. He said
…I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will. John 5:30 NLT
So it wasn’t Jesus’s personal will that people should be healed, but God’s will. God’s will hasn’t changed. It is still, and always will be, God’s will for you to be healed. Always.
Just because you’re not healed, doesn’t mean that’s God’s will.
I did an episode about 6 years ago that talks in more detail about this very thing. Episode 29: Is it Ever God’s Will You Are NOT Healed When You Pray?
And another one you might enjoy is Episode 98: It Is God’s Will for You to Be Healed.
Why it’s God’s will for you to be healed
The reason it is God’s will for you to be whole on Earth, in other words, be healed, is because it is God’s will for you to be whole in heaven. Jesus opens our eyes to this great fact in the Lord’s Prayer when he tells us to pray that God’s will in heaven be done here on Earth.
One of the most important things to remember when you’re praying for healing is that is always God’s will for you to be healed. A lot of Christians start their prayer saying, “If it’s Your will God, please heal me.” It’s the same if they’re praying for someone else.
This lack of clarity as to whether it’s God’s will that they’d be healed here on Earth is not the strongest foundation to build on in your prayers. But it does show a spirit of humility and trusting God, which, in itself is powerful.
I encourage you to embrace the idea, revealed in the Lord’s Prayer, that it is always God’s will for you to be healed.
You can see more healing in your life
There are so many things I could say about how to see more healing in your life. But I will share some of the things that have helped me the most over the years.
Let’s start by coming back to the idea I mentioned just a minute ago about the way Jesus came to do God’s will and not his own.
When you pray for healing, you can’t pray using your human will that someone will get better and expect healing to come. You can’t pray for the way you want the healing to come and expect to see clearly how God’s will brings the healing.
You have to get your human will out of the way in order to see clearly God’s will.
This is no small task, I understand that. It requires daily practice and discipline. And you can always take the next step in the right direction toward seeking and doing God’s will.
Pure motives help you see more healing
Another way to see more healing in your life is to take an honest look at and correct any self-focused motives when you pray for healing. It’s not always easy to realize our motives are not as pure as they could be.
If you just want a healing to prove how spiritual you are to other Christians, or to add to your glory, wealth, prestige, position, and power, God will not answer your prayer the way you want.
Following Jesus’s example, we give all the glory to God and trust He will give you what you need. The book of James puts it this way.
And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.
And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
So humble yourselves before God. James 4:3, 5-7 NLT
Humility allows you to see more healing
And that brings up another important quality of thought that allows you to see more healing: humility.
Here, Jesus sets the supreme example, as he does in every category of life, of what true humility is. Humility is not being a doormat or thinking you’re not as good as everyone else. It’s actually knowing how wonderful you are, but that you did not make yourself wonderful, nor can you do anything without God’s help.
Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” John 5:19 NIV
Then in verse 30 he adds
I can do nothing on my own. John 5:30 NLT
Jesus had more humility than anyone else in the history of the world. He knew he couldn’t do anything without God. But then he went and did so much. It’s because he could see what God was doing. He could see God healing all the people who came to him to be healed. He knew it was possible and that it was God’s will.
When you have this mind of Christ in you, when you see God healing you or someone you’re praying for, and I don’t mean just imagining this with the human mind, you will see more healing in your life.
Hold on to your humility
Keep your eyes on what God is doing. The more clearly you see God as ready, willing, and able, and actually in the act of healing someone, you will see more healing in your life.
And remember when you do see more healing, to hold onto your humility and give all the glory to God.
Remember when Peter and John went into the Temple to pray and met a cripple man at the Beautiful Gate? You could say they healed that man. And that would be fine. Jesus sent his disciples out specifically to preach and heal.
But Peter and John held on to their humility. They gave all the glory to God. When people noticed the lame man was healed, they rushed over to Peter and John in wonder.
Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. “People of Israel,” he said, “what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of all our ancestors—who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this. Acts 3:12, 13 NLT
They acknowledged that God, not themselves, had healed the man.
So when your prayers bring healing to yourself or someone else, remember it is God who is the healer. You’re simply bearing witness to God’s healing power. Your role is incredibly important, but it is always God who is the source of the healing.
Running to meet Goliath
There are so many different ways to pray, one of which I’ll call “Running to meet Goliath.”
Before I started the podcast I wrote a blog post with that exact title: Running to Meet Goliath.
And I did a podcast episode with some similar ideas where I go into more depth, Episode 353: The Blessing of Facing Challenges Head-On
Sometimes when you’re praying for healing you fearlessly confront whatever the problem is with a smooth stone from your pouch. Just like David, you confront whatever the problem is, with a smooth stone from y0ur pouch. Wait, what? What on earth do you mean, one of my smooth stones?
What are your smooth stones?
David had five smooth stones in his pouch when he ran toward Goliath. The stones symbolized him using what he had already demonstrated. He had used his sling and stones to defend his sheep from a lion and a bear. He had perfected this skill. That’s what he fought Goliath with. He didn’t put on the armor King Saul offered because he hadn’t used it before.
What are your smooth stones? Think of a time when you had a spiritual victory. It could have been a healing, a revelation from God, or an answer to a question of deep spiritual significance, something you had under your belt, so to speak.
When you’re facing a Goliath of a problem, remember these previous healings, insights, and victories and messages from God. Pick one and put it in your spiritual sling, so to speak. Face the challenge head on and use what you already know and have already proved to defeat the current problem.
This requires boldness and spiritual courage, but above all else, complete trust in God.
Trusting God completely helps you see more healing
And that’s another thing that allows you to see more healing, complete trust in God. And of course that makes me think of Proverbs, Chapter 3.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.
Instead, fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
Then you will have healing for your body
and strength for your bones. Proverbs 3:5-8 NLT
Usually people just quote verses 5 and 6 from Chapter 3 of Proverbs. But verse 8 promises that healing comes as a result of trusting God instead of trusting in your own ability. As I already mentioned, Jesus was a perfect example of this.
You can see more healing through repentance
At some point as you’re praying to see more healing, you’ll realize the need for genuine repentance. I’m not talking just about the surface approach to repenting for your sins, where you realize what you’ve done is wrong and you promise God to do better.
True and full repentance is a change of thought. The word literally means to think again, to think in a new way, to turn your thinking around. When Jesus tells us to repent, he expects us to quit looking at things from a material, self-focused, worldly way of seeing things, and instead look at things from a more spiritual, God-focused, heavenly perspective.
When you do this, you see yourself, others, and the whole world in a completely different light, the light of God’s love. And it is only natural then to turn away from whatever sinful attitudes and acts you may have had or committed.
What perspective are you looking from?
Once again, I invite you to take an honest look at yourself. Not just at your thoughts and actions that may be wrong, or the motives that caused you to think and act in those ways. But look at the way you see things. What perspective are looking at yourself and the world from?
Are you looking at things from Earth’s perspective or from heaven’s perspective? Jesus invites us all, every day, to look at things from the perspective that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, here and now. Earth’s perspective is that heaven and healing are way off in the future. Which perspective will be your vantage point?
When you look at things from the perspective of what is true in heaven right now, you will see more healing all around you.
Your spiritual authority comes from Christ
Jesus gave his disciples the power and authority to heal. Christ gives you this same power and authority today.
Sometimes you exercise this authority as David did by running to meet Goliath. Sometimes you exercise this authority by wielding the sword of Truth, slicing to pieces all the lies of Satan. It’s not an actual physical weapon, but spiritual. Some Christians call this spiritual warfare.
Paul describes it this way in his second letter to the church in Corinth.
We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4, 5 NLT
Jesus often used this approach when he healed. He spoke with authority and rebuked disease or a given problem. Once, when he came to Peter’s house, Peter’s mother-in-law was seriously ill. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all report that Jesus healed her, but Luke adds this little detail that gives a world of insight into how Jesus was praying and how he healed.
Standing at her bedside, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. And she got up at once and prepared a meal for them. Luke 4:39 NLT
When you accept the power and authority given to you by Christ, you can and will speak with this authority and see more healing as a result.
I did an episode that explores this idea. Episode 23: How to Pray Like Jesus: The Prayer to Rebuke Sickness.
Evil cannot turn you away from Christ
Sometimes the evil ways of the world will try to discredit your allegiance to Christ, try to convince you that God will not heal you and that you are wrong to trust Him. The world will insist you submit to its ways of doing things.
But Christ has given you power and authority over all these lies. Use this authority with gratitude and humility.
There are times when the problem that needs to be healed is an assault on God’s supremacy and glory. It’s the carnal mind’s enmity against God. Here again is where you have the spiritual authority, directly from Christ, to face this head on.
Now the interesting thing is, sometimes when the serpent is spewing his lies and all the world’s evil forces seem united in doing their worst, you don’t always face the challenge head on.
To see more healing, take time to pray
Sometimes, instead of going full steam ahead, you need to withdraw to a quiet place so you can pray. Jesus sets this example for us over and over. Even when people were clamoring to see him so they could be healed, Jesus took time to be alone with God.
Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer. Luke 5:16 NLT
Jesus wasn’t running away from problems. He wanted to be alone with God. He wanted to hear what God had to say and see what God saw. He was always turning back to God in prayer as the source of his ability to help and heal people.
If you want to see more healing, spend more time in prayer and studying the Bible, alone with God. This is not being selfish. In fact, you need this. We all need to have those times of close communion with God, talking, asking questions, making requests, but mostly listening to what God has to say.
Gratitude opens your eyes to see more healing
One of the natural results of this kind of prayer time with God is being grateful for all the ways God has blessed, healed, and provided for you over the years. But gratitude is not just for what has happened in the past or what’s going on in the present.
At times, Jesus expressed gratitude before a healing came or a problem was solved. He gave thanks before he fed the 5,000 people with just a five loaves of bread and two fish. And he thanked God for hearing his prayer before he called Lazarus out of the tomb.
If you are in the middle of praying for a healing, one way to see more healing is to thank God for that healing before it comes. And you can even thank God for all the healings you’ll ever have in the future, the healings of problems or challenges you haven’t even had yet.
This advance gratitude is a powerful prayer. I did an episode that goes into more detail on this topic as well. It’s Episode 24: Give Gratitude in Advance of a Healing or Blessing.
More ways to see more healing
Now bear with me here. I know I’ve shared a lot of ideas to think about when you want to see more healing in your life. But there are a few more things that are also very important.
Healing comes not just because of how you pray, but how you live your life and how you love other people.
The Bible often points out Jesus’s attitude toward people as being associated with him healing them.
Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. Matthew 14:14 KJV
When you’re around others, either one-on-one or in a crowd, big or small, what do you feel toward these people? Is it frustration or compassion, a judgmental attitude or love and forgiveness?
Jesus’s genuine love for people impelled his healing career. When you love people the way Jesus did, you will definitely see more healing in your life.
Jesus also wants us to get our priorities straight. He instructs us, well knowing the implications of what he was asking of us, to put God first.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Matthew 6:33 CSB
See more healing when you are born again
A natural outcome of seeking the kingdom of God is finding the kingdom of God in your life. When that happens, you’ll experience something Jesus says is vital to your spiritual growth and will help you see more healing. But Jesus says that we’ll never see the kingdom of God unless we are born again.
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” John 3:3 NLT
When you are truly born again, the Greek means born form above, when you discern that your origin is spiritual, you will see the kingdom of God. When you see the kingdom of God, you will see more healing.
Being born again means exchanging the material concept of man’s origin, made from dust, a rib, and material birth, inheriting the sins of Adam and his descendants, to a more spiritual concept of man’s origin, made in the image and likeness of God.
The first Chapter of John puts it this way.
But to all who believed him [Christ] and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. John 1:12, 13 NLT
This spiritual rebirth, which is an ongoing process, opens your eyes to see more of God’s kingdom, grace, and love, and it enables you to see more healing.
If your prayers just seem like empty words…
Now, I know I’ve covered a lot of ground here, but sometimes all these ideas I mentioned may just seem like a bunch of words. If you’re ever at a loss of what to do or how to pray to experience God’s healing in your life, or if all your prayers seem hollow and ineffective, there’s something I encourage you to do.
Go to Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, Chapters 5, 6, and 7. Read the whole thing or just skim through it and pick out just one thing Jesus says to do. Then do it. Then pick out another one and do that. Just keep doing something Jesus says to do.
Actions often speak louder than words. When you are consciously obeying Jesus, this prepares your heart to see more healing, in ways that prayers alone can never do.
You don’t have to be a perfect human being to be healed. You don’t have to understand all the deep truth of God to be healed. God is the healer. You are not.
You need one clear idea. You need one shift of thought, one step of spiritual progress, growth, and enlightenment. You need that simple, childlike trust that puts your hand in God’s hand and follows where He takes you.
Healing is taking place right now
Healing is simply another word for spiritual growth, a shift, or rather, a transformation in your heart, in your thinking, in your life, to be more spiritually minded and focused. If you’re growing spiritually, healing is taking place.
I’ve shared a bunch of ideas today that can help you see more healing in your life. Some may resonate more with you than others. Please take some time to ponder them quietly and let me know what’s most helpful to you.
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Photo Credit: David Billings
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and church mentor. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by learning to think, pray, and love like Jesus. Contact him here.
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Bible References
John 5:30 NLT
30 …I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.
James 4:3, 5-7 NLT
3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.
6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
7 So humble yourselves before God.
John 5:19 NIV
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
John 5:30 NLT
30 I can do nothing on my own.
Acts 3:12, 13 NLT
12 Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. “People of Israel,” he said, “what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness?
13 For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of all our ancestors—who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this.
Proverbs 3:5-8 NLT
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
7 Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.
Instead, fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
8 Then you will have healing for your body
and strength for your bones.
2 Corinthians 10:4, 5 NLT
4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.
5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.
Luke 4:39 NLT
39 Standing at her bedside, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. And she got up at once and prepared a meal for them.
Luke 5:16 NLT
16 Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.
Matthew 14:14 KJV
14 Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
Matthew 6:33 CSB
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
John 3:3 NLT
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
John 1:12, 13 NLT
12 But to all who believed him [Christ] and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
