God Heals Through His Promises

Whether you believe miracles have ceased or that God continues to do them, whether you’ve been sick for a day or 10,000 days, and whether healing has come or you have not been healed, these three truths remain unmovable. They stand firm even when our prayers seem unanswered:

1. God is the ultimate source of our healing (Psalm 103:3)—not doctors, medicine, diet, or exercise—though God uses these ordinary means to accomplish his purposes for healing and requires that we walk in wisdom to experience true healing.

2. God heals through prayers of faith (James 5:15) and warns us that to receive we must ask him in humility, trusting that he’s our good Father who both hears and answers our prayers (Matthew 7:7; Psalm 34:15). If we’ve prayed and not received healing, we trust in his timing and sovereign will. But his timing and will never negate his promise that he is the only One with power to heal and that he heals through our prayers of faith. We keep trusting, submitting, asking, and seeking.

3. God sends his Word to heal us (Psalm 107:20). His Word is “living and active, sharper than a double-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). It “will not return to him void but will accomplish the purpose for which he sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

There are two erroneous approaches to seeking the Lord’s healing. Some have moved God’s power, authority, and ability—along with his desire to heal us—to the lowest common denominator. Instead of seeking healing by standing on God’s promises through prayers of faith, they simply pray, “Your will be done.” While they get this aspect of their prayer right, they leave out all of Jesus’ other commands to ask for help, to pray for healing, and to rely on him to do what seems impossible.

On the other hand, some have taken these promises and used them as a formula to declare that God desires for every person to be healed almost immediately as the prayers of faith are offered. While they grasp this part of God’s command to pray expectantly in faith, they leave out all of Scripture’s teaching that God’s ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8–9).

The solution is not to abandon God’s promises or distort them but to allow them to direct our gaze to Christ, who beckons us to come confidently and humbly “before his throne of grace to receive mercy and grace in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). We are to daily present our requests to him in expectation that he is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20), trusting that his timing is perfect and submitting to his sovereign wisdom and will—that he ultimately knows what is best and will do what is excellent, good, true, and right!

This position of expectation and submission allows us to stand confidently on his promises as we offer up prayers of faith asking for healing, all the while acknowledging that he is the one in charge and will do what he’s going to do, when he’s going to do it, and how he’s going to do it—because he’s God and we’re not!

Testimony

When a myriad of doctors were left perplexed over my health situation and acknowledged they didn’t know what was wrong, they issued a kind of life sentence over me that I would have to stay in this pain and suffering and take medicine to manage it. This didn’t bring the kind of hope God brings into difficult situations, so my family and I decided we would keep asking the Lord for healing, along with asking him daily to show me if there was anything I needed to do—any steps I needed to take—to walk in greater wisdom so that I could experience greater healing. God’s promises began to overshadow the hopeless prognosis of the medical field, reminding me that he is the God of hope who “acts on behalf of those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).

His promises speak to all of life and are powerful weapons—more powerful than anything else in this world. These are some of the promises he gave me and helped me to stand on each day. I spoke them out in the morning, throughout the day, and before bed. I put them on my bedroom and bathroom walls and prayed them over and over, trusting the Lord to bring to fruition what only he could do—to fulfill his Word for my life (2 Corinthians 1:20). While he did use supplements, treatments, and medicine, ultimately it is God who was, is, and will heal me until the day appointed for me to be with him for eternity (Psalm 139:16). He alone is our true healer.

What does God promise?

“He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases” (Psalm 103:3)

“The prayer of faith will heal the sick” (James 5:15)

“He sent his word and it healed them” (Psalm 107:20)

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper and be in health, as your soul prospers” (3 John 1:2)

“I am the Lord, who heals you” (Exodus 15:26)

“By his wounds I have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24)

“But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness (Jesus Christ) will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves” (Malachi 4:2)

“I will not die but live and declare what the Lord has done” (Psalm 118:17)

“I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13)

Better Plans than My Own

Six months after becoming a Christian, the Lord began calling me to missions and seminary. I knew little about hearing from God or discerning his leading, but he clearly showed me that my career in advertising was ending. At the end of work one day, once all my ads had been turned in, I sat down and wrote this poem the Lord had placed on my heart.

My life before salvation was built on chasing my own dreams and plans, which led to deep frustration and anxiety, because I couldn’t make life happen as I wanted. I watched as others seemed to achieve similar goals with little effort and wondered what was wrong. As I started reading the Bible, I began to learn about God’s sovereignty. Though I wasn’t familiar with the term, the Spirit started to reveal to me that He, not I or anyone else, was in control of every detail -- from the falling of the tiniest sparrow to the ground to the rising of leaders and nations (Matthew 10:29; Proverbs 21:1; Job 12:23).

This week, as I've been reflecting on expectations I've had for the Christian life (some of which haven’t come true as I’d hoped), this poem has reminded me that everything happens on God’s timeline and according to His plan. While He wants me to work diligently, set realistic goals, and prepare for the future, He also calls me to surrender all of my life to Him -- holding my dreams loosely. He is the all-wise God who determines my steps (Proverbs 16:9). 

As I'm remembering this, I'm refocusing my gaze on this eternal truth: I have a good, sovereign Father who knows best and who goes before me to order my steps. I’m encouraged to rest in His unchanging love and faithfulness and release my grip on some expectations. This frees my hands to receive His gifts in His perfect timing and releases my heart to anticipate the good He has for me so that I can enjoy Him (James 1:17). 

God's Awesome Gift of Time

Who can make the sun shine

or cause the wind to blow,

or even change his brother’s mind

about things he doesn’t know.

Who can search God’s wisdom

or begin to see his thoughts.

And where’s the man who understands

His awesome list of oughts.

How can I then by worrying

change one thing in this world.

And what’s the use of scurrying

when his plans have not unfurled.

I cannot make tomorrow’s dreams

arise to life today,

as I cannot turn a baby’s screams

into words that grown-ups say.

The world is set on godly time,

and things happen at His pace,

I’m simply here to live it out

and humbly run the race.

By struggling to the left and right

When God says “Just be still”

I cause myself a lot of doubt

And compromise His will.

So now that I have understood

God’s awesome gift of time,

I’ll press on toward my heavenly goal

and enjoy all that’s mine… today.

Down, But Not Out!

The apostle Paul and King David had more in common than meets the eye. Both were key leaders in God’s plan of redemption. They both shared deep, spiritual insights, underwent a radical transformation, and then suffered greatly for the Kingdom of God. Paul and David also both used warrior imagery to describe their lives in the Kingdom of God, with Paul referring to himself and other believers as soldiers who needed to put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18), and mentioning believers as “fellow soldiers” (Philippians 2:25) and “good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3–4). He described the spiritual battle with words like “waging war” and “destroying strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:3–6).

In a similar way, David wrote about warfare and the need for endurance. He declared that God was the one who trained his hands for war (Psalm 144:1), and with God’s help, he could advance against a troop (Psalm 18:29). Paul’s writings tended to focus more on the spiritual battle as the cause of the opposition he was experiencing, as seen in 2 Corinthians 10:3–4: “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh.” In a similar way, David knew the ultimate cause behind war and hardship was the evil human heart that was present because of the Serpent’s temptation in the garden (Genesis 3). Though he did not specifically address Satan and his demons, he wrote about the wicked and their schemes to destroy (Psalms 10, 52), accusers (Psalm 109), and the darkness of the human heart (Psalm 51).

Both men learned to be strong in the Lord through the Spirit’s disciplines of prayer and meditation on the Word, and yet both experienced life-threatening blows that knocked them down. Paul was beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, stoned (2 Corinthians 11:23–28), and constantly persecuted for preaching the Gospel. David was hunted down, mocked, and betrayed repeatedly – even by his own family. Like Paul, he was in danger “from bandits, in danger from [his] fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country…and in danger from false believers” (2 Corinthians 11:26).

Yet, as many times as both men were knocked down, they were not knocked out. Paul described this miraculous and supernatural ability to remain in the good fight of faith clearly in 2 Corinthians 4:8–9, saying, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” Though David was looking forward in faith to the coming of Christ, and Paul was looking back to his finished work on the cross, both men found their strength in the Spirit of the Lord. They both carried around in their body the death of Christ, so that the life of Christ would be revealed in them (2 Corinthians 4:10).

Struck down, but not destroyed

Though Paul and David were giants of the faith, I have learned that the spiritual battles I face often knock me down in similar ways—on a much smaller scale, of course. Throughout 37 years as a Christ follower, I’ve faced many battles – some much more intense than others. The most difficult by far were the first few years as a believer when God was completely redirecting my steps and path from the pursuit of fleshly goals to the purposes and plans He had for me. This involved radical changes in my career, friendships, and how I spent my time and money. Because my new life in Christ was so drastically different from my old life in Adam, and I had a fresh zeal to share the Gospel wherever I went, I was often opposed by others and mocked for my faith. And because I did not have someone to weekly disciple me in the reality of the spiritual battle, I became very discouraged and depressed, thinking it was an unnatural phenomenon.

Other seasons involved persecution in ministry, difficulties in my family and marriage, and health issues. During some of these times, I began to get battle-weary and shrink back in fear. The spiritual war became so severe I wanted to move from the middle to the rear lines, and better yet, back to camp, where I could get some sleep and only hear news from the battlefield.

Welcome to Battlefield!

I’ll never forget the day three years ago when, after long hours of driving from Phoenix, we finally arrived at our new home… in Battlefield, MO. My husband and I had been studying and writing about the spiritual battle, and this was a topic that I often taught about in my classes. To live in an actual city with the name “Battlefield” felt apropos, since this seemed to be a major developing theme in our lives and our new mission work in the Middle East. I smiled to myself as I studied the sign and thought how awesome this was. At the same time, I had a deep sense in my spirit that the name was there as a gift from God to remind me of something I tended to forget, especially living in a comfortable home in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood—that I was in the midst of an epic spiritual battle and needed to stand strong in his gifted armor. 

After three months in our new home and mission training trips to South Africa and Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, the spiritual battle heated up like never before in my life. I joked and said that I now felt like I had a bull’s eye on my back, which seemed even more true when I injured a disc and was homebound for several months. I then went through a series of physical hardships that spanned over two years, culminating in a drug-resistant infection that weakened my immune system and left me homebound again – this time for five months. Much of our savings was exhausted on medical bills, we lost significant financing for our trips, and it was clear we had been knocked down. I no longer thought about going on mission trips or sharing the Gospel—or doing anything that could bring hardship or persecution. Instead, I began finding ways to avoid the battle and hide out at home, where I felt safe. My prayers went from the offensive to the defensive, asking God to protect me and keep me from all harm, rather than asking for ways to go out in His Gospel peace.

Like waking up from a dream, the Spirit has been reminding me through the Word of the need to get back up again so that I can continue fighting the good fight of faith. He is encouraging me with promises about the purpose of my life here—to live for His glory, to lose my life in building His kingdom—rather than loving it and trying to preserve it (Matthew 16:25). It’s been a slow journey back to the battleground, where I’m facing fears of the troubles that lie ahead, having vivid memories of some of the suffering and losses, and often tempted to turn back and run for cover. But God is helping me to move forward slowly each day as I count the cost of what it means to lay down my life for the Gospel.

There is a great certainty that I will get knocked down repeatedly, but God assures me by His Word that though I may go down, I will not go out—nothing can separate me from His love, which has been poured out in my heart by the Holy Spirit. And no one can snatch me from His hand (Romans 5:5, 8:38-39; John 10:28-30). I may experience a myriad of losses, but God promises that He is with me to help me to stand firm until the end—the day He has foreordained that I come to be with Him forever.” In Isaiah 41:10 he declares, “I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). 

Until then, I will keep fighting—not in my own strength, but in the strength of His might and in the very armor of Christ that he wore when he came down to rescue and redeem his people and destroy the power of sin, death and Satan. Like Paul and David, he promises to train my hands for battle and lead me in triumph: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests in us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him in every place" (2 Corinthians 2:14). And when I fall, I will get back up again -- because “The one who calls [me] is faithful, and he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).