Is it possible to have faith that God will heal you through means of medical science, a doctor, medication, or some other medical means? Or is it only possible to have faith for healing when you go directly to God in prayer for it? Learn more in this Little Lesson with David Servant!
It’s been a while since we’ve recorded these Little Lessons, but when we stopped a few months ago, I was answering questions that some of our viewers had written into us about divine healing. And it’s an interesting topic, the Bible’s full of information about divine healing. There are lots of people healed by God in the Bible, lots of promises by God for divine healing, and we welcome any questions. I don’t have it all figured out here, but I’ll tell you what little bit I know, and if it helps you, that’s great. So many of the questions we received are just from sincere folks who have a humble, gracious spirit and that comes through in their questions and that makes it easier for us to try to address those questions when they’re done in a spirit of love and humility. So, hopefully, we’re reflecting that same spirit back here.
So, anyways, the question is, today, can I have faith for God to heal me by means of a doctor or through medical science, through surgery, through a medication and so forth? In other words, can I have faith for God to do that if I’m not going directly to God to receive my healing? Because, let’s face it, in the Bible, that’s the majority, if not all, of the kinds of healing that we read about; people that prayed or had faith or, in some cases, they didn’t have any faith. They were just healed directly by God or by Jesus doing his earthly ministry and got lots of promises in the Bible about healing. But let’s face it, we don’t always succeed when we endeavor to have faith, right? Right. We see failures even within the pages of Scripture.
One of the major stories of the Old Testament is how Israel failed, the first generation, failed to enter into the Promised Land. They failed to enter because of their unbelief. There’s a story in the Bible one time, the disciples were trying to cast out a demon. They couldn’t do it. Jesus said, “Oh, this generation, how long am I going to have to put up with you?” He goes and cast the demon out, and later on the disciples asked, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” He said, “Because of the littleness of your faith. If you had faith like a mustard seed, you can speak to a mountain.”
Peter was walking on the water one time, walking by faith, literally, but then he looked at the wind and the waves, began to doubt, and then he began to sink. So that’s part of it, too, and probably if you’re a normal Christian, you probably failed at least once or twice in endeavoring to have faith, and for some reason you just didn’t succeed.
All right, well, that’s not reason to condemn yourself or just give up. I didn’t learn how to ride a bike the first day I got on. I fell quite a few times. I didn’t learn how to walk the first day I tried it. It took me probably longer than usual to figure it all out. So why do we give up just because we make a mistake? God is so, so gracious. The Bible says that “The righteous man falls seven times, but God lifts him back up” (Proverbs 24:16). So there you have it.
So is it wrong then to pray to God, “Lord, use this doctor. I’ve got this sickness, I’ve got this disease, use this doctor,” or, “Lord, I need this surgery and I’m having a hard time trusting you to heal me, but I believe I can have faith that you’re going to heal me by means of this operation that I’m going to have or this medication that I’m going to take.” Is that offensive to God? Well, I’m here to tell you that I don’t think it is offensive to God. I think God is a lot ‘gooder’ than a lot of theologians understand, much more gracious than a lot of people give him credit for. I mean someone who dies for you, gives up their life by means of an excruciating, torturous death, Jesus on the cross, that’s a lot of love. He’s obviously going to be a very tolerant person. So God is extremely tolerant and although it might be better to just avoid the doctors and the medication and the surgery and go straight to God and get a healing, something quick or something gradual, whatever, that would be great. But not everybody has that level of faith, and I’m certainly not going to be the one to cast the first stone, and you shouldn’t either.
So God, He’ll meet you at your level of faith. It’s obvious that sometimes things require greater faith than other things. I’d say it takes greater faith to believe God is going to heal you directly than that God’s going to help the doctor or bring you through something successfully or something. So, yes, you can. I know people that have done that. They’ve prayed with confidence. Now, again, there’s a difference between hope and faith. Hope always hopes. It always leaves room for the possibility that you may not get what you want. But faith, the Bible says, is the assurance of things hoped for. So faith and hope are different in that regard. Hope, maybe; faith, absolutely. “So be it done to you according to your faith,” Jesus said to some blind guys one time.
Let’s read from the Bible, starting in Matthew 9:27: “As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying out, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David.’ When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him.” Now that shows something about their faith, doesn’t it? I mean, how do you find Jesus if you’re blind? You’re going to need help. You’re going to have to have someone that you’re encouraging, “No, no, I’m not giving up. I want to get to where Jesus is. Take me to where He’s at.” They were determined. So that shows some faith. Faith doesn’t quit. “When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him and Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?'” Obviously, that was important to Jesus. Now, I didn’t write the Bible and I’m not Jesus, so don’t get mad at me, but for Jesus this was important. It was a prerequisite. It was a requirement. If they were going to be healed, they had to believe, at least, that He was able to do this.
So we know the end of the story. He healed them, so it was obviously His will for them to be healed, but you realize they wouldn’t have been healed if they wouldn’t have met the condition, if they wouldn’t have believed. If they’d have said, “No, we don’t believe, Lord,” that would have been the end right there. “Do you believe that I’m able to do this?” They responded, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes saying, “It shall be done to you …” now, listen to this, “… according to your faith,” and their eyes were opened.
So this is the message that I think applies to the question that we’re trying to answer in today’s Little Lesson: Be it done to you according to your faith. If you can trust God that He’ll bring you through that surgery or that operation successfully, and that you’ll heal up quickly, God will do it for you. He’s that good. Or if it’s taking a medication and they’re saying, “Well, we’re not sure this medication is going to work on you or not,” well, pray and say, “Lord, I want this medication to work on me, and I have faith, and so, therefore, I take it in faith and I’ll be praising and thanking you as I take it, after I take it, and all day long because I believe, Lord, that you’ve heard and answered my prayer.” That’s faith. Be it done to you according to your faith.
Again, don’t get mad at me. I didn’t write the Bible. I’m just the messenger here. I’m just reading from the Bible and I’m not God. So without faith, it’s impossible to please God. That’s all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for joining me. If you want to look into something that’s way cool, go to HeavensFamily.org. That’s the ministry that I direct on the side. You’ll see there are lots of opportunities to get involved in wonderful things that are happening all over the world. Okay, till next time. God bless you.
