Contributor: Isekhua Evborokhai
INTRODUCTION
In the last few studies, we have been learning about “Divine Healing” as a consequence of walking closely with God. We were taught how this divine healing could be received by God sending His Word (Psalm 107:17-20), and by the stripes of Jesus (1 Peter 2:24). In today’s study, we will be discussing obtaining divine healing through prayers.
In John 14:14 Jesus said: “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”
James 5:14 -15 says: “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.”
In our previous studies, we were taught to look at divine health from a holistic point of view. It thus implies that we should look at healing from the same holistic point of view; encompassing the physical, emotional, and spiritual. Before going into the study, I would like to cite two important truths.
1) From Jesus’s own Words, we know that it is only the sick that need healing. Mark 2:17
2) The Bible tells us how to live in divine health. In Exodus 23:25 the Bible says: “And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee".
Today’s study is broadly divided in two parts. How to pray for and the hinderances to healing.
I. RECEIVING ANSWERS TO OUR PRAYERS FOR HEALING
Our Heavenly Father is a principled God and He has put processes in place that we can, by faith employ to receive our healing.
1) Praying from a place of relationship with the Father
John 14:14 says: “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” But for prayers to be answered, they must be rendered acceptably. Remember James 5:16b (MSG) says: “The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.” Not the prayer of a sinner or the ungodly.
Psalms 66:18 says: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.”
First, three disclaimers:
• Disclaimer #1: When the Bible says: “God will not hear”, I believe it means, God will not answer the requester. (Proverbs 1:28a) “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer”
• Disclaimer #2: When the Bible says: “God will not hear”, I believe it does not include the cry for mercy. (Luke 17:13-14) “And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed."
• Disclaimer #3: When the Bible says: “God is Sovereign”, I believe it means, He will show mercy to whom He will show mercy. (Exodus 33:19) “And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.”
God hears. Period! Isa.59:1-2 tells us that the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God
So, when we pray from a place of relationship with the Father, He hears us and answers us according to His sovereignty.
2) Praying According to His will
1 John 5:14-15 says: “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”
His will is that we are in health, 3 John 2 says: “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”
We also see this manifested when Jesus healed a man with leprosy in Matthew 8:1-3 “When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.”
3) Praying with the Scripture
Jeremiah 1:12 tells us that God is actively watching over His Word to fulfil it. When we pray using specific Bible verses related to healing, it reinforces our faith and aligns our prayers with God’s promises. His Word also does not return to Him void. (Isaiah 55:11). The Lord Himself says in Isaiah 43:26: “Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.”
Therefore pray for healing with scriptures such as:
• Isaiah 53:5 says: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
• Jeremiah 17:14 says: “Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.”
4) Praying in Faith
Stand on the Word of God such as James 5:14-15 that says the prayer of faith will heal the sick. Mark.11:23-24 says: “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
5) Praying in Agreement
Align with fellow Bible believing and sincere believers and agree in prayers. Matthew 18:19-20 says: "Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."
II. HINDERANCES TO ANSWERED PRAYERS FOR HEALING
The Bible in Isaiah 59:1-2 tells us that the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;”
He is more than able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). So when things don’t go right. It is not His fault. Here are a couple of things that we may engage in that may cause unanswered prayers for healing.
1) Doubt and Unbelief
James 1:6-7 says: “6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.”
2) Ignorance (Lack of Accurate Knowledge) on the Subject of Healing
It is difficult to believe what you are ignorant of. We are not sick people looking for healing, we were healed over 2000 years ago by the stripes of Jesus. The Word of God is the antidote to ignorance. Psalms 119:130 says: “the entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple.”
There are people (even believers) in the world today that do not believe in healing. Cessationists for instance, believe that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, such as healing, prophecy, and speaking in tongues, ceased with the apostolic age. They fail to realize that when Jesus said in John 14:12 that we will do greater works, healing was included.
3) Negative Confession
The Bible in Proverbs 18:21 tells us that death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. The words of our mouths also reveal our faith. It is important that we say about ourselves is what God's Word says about us; If God says we are healed, we must confess that healing, regardless of our feelings. Prov. 11:11 (MSG) says: “When right-living people bless the city, it flourishes; evil talk turns it into a ghost town in no time.”
4) Sin/Iniquity
While sin and iniquity both refer to moral and spiritual wrongdoing, iniquity often denotes a more serious, intentional, and ingrained pattern of behaviour,
Whereas not all sickness is due to sin, a lifestyle of sin can prevent the healing of sickness. Psalms 66:18 says: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.” The NIV renders this verse thus: "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened."
To "cherish sin" means to hold onto, delight in, or refuse to give up sinful thoughts, attitudes, or behaviours. It implies a conscious decision to prioritize sin over obedience to God. The verse clearly indicates that harbouring sin can impede communication with God. God values sincerity, humility, and repentance in those who seek Him. When Jesus healed a man that was sick at the pool of Bethesda in John 5:8-9, in verse 14, Jesus said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
5) Unforgiveness
Unforgiveness creates a barrier between us and God, blocking the flow of His grace and blessings, including healing. Mark 11:25 “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Forgiveness of sin many times precedes healing (2 Chron.7:14). Also, holding onto unforgiveness can lead to emotional stress, and has been known to manifest in physical sicknesses. That is why Ephesians 4:31-32 calls believers to let go of bitterness and anger, which are detrimental to both emotional and physical health.
CONCLUSION
Not all sickness is due to sin, but any sin can prevent healing of sickness.
Prayer changes things! It is a potent weapon in the hands of believers. It can change doubts to trust, weakness to strength, hopelessness to hope and surely sickness to health. Healing can be obtained simply by asking for it in prayers from the One who said that He would do whatever we ask for in His name, as long as we are in His will and believe in the finished work of Christ.
