7 Barriers to Your Healing

Sin and sickness need be borne only once; and since Jesus Christ has already borne them, you need not bear them.

If you bear them, then Jesus’ bearing of them was in vain. Since Jesus bore them, you and I need never bear them. So, with his stripes, we are healed and, through His blood, we have remission of sins.

We now have no more faith in the right of sickness to dominate us or dwell in our body than we have in the right of sin to dominate us or dwell in our spirit.

Claim both of these provisions by faith. Accept them as yours. Accept Jesus as healer, just as you accept Him as Savior, and you will be as free from sickness as you are from sin.

No person ever appealed in vain to Christ for help in bodily suffering. As multitude after multitude pressed upon Him for physical healing, the record is always the same: He healed them all (Matthew 4:23; 8:16; 12:15; 14:14; Luke 4:40; 6:19).

He laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them (Luke 4:40).

Revealing God’s Will

Jesus came to do His Father’s will (John 6:38; Hebrews 10:7, 9); therefore, He preached the gospel and healed all that were sick (Matthew 8:16).

Jesus of Nazareth went about healing all that were oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38).

His reason for healing them all is found in His redemptive work for everyone in His death. Himself (vicariously) took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses (Matthew 8:17). That includes everyone.

It was our sicknesses He bore. Nothing short of healing them all would fulfill God’s promise.

When Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood, it was for that one woman. But what He did as our substitute on the cross was for everybody.

Since Christ’s redemptive sacrifice was God’s reason for His healing them all, He must continue to heal all who accept Him, because what His sacrifice provided for those who lived in that day, it does for us in our day. He tasted death for every person (Hebrew 2:9).

His purpose in commanding that the gospel be preached to every creature (Mark 16:15-18) is so that every creature may receive its benefits. That includes you—right now.

Some Enemies of Faith

1. Desiring to Read about the Word, Instead of Reading the Word Itself

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).

Reading about faith and about people of faith only produces a deep desire for faith. However, reading or hearing God’s word will produce real faith.

2. Ignorance of What Believing Is

There is a difference between a noun and a verb. A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing. A noun can be dead. “Corpse” is a noun. “Casket” is a noun. But a verb shows action.

“Faith” is a noun, but “believe” is a verb.

I have seen people who claimed to have great faith. Some said they had all the faith in the world. That may be true, but all the faith in the world, if not accompanied by corresponding action, is dead faith.

Faith without works is dead (James 2:20). It is possible to have faith and yet receive nothing from God.

But when you say you believe, that is a different thing, because the word “believe” is a verb and a verb is an action word.

If you believe, that means you are acting on God’s promise; and when you couple action with your faith, that is believing. Your acting on God’s promise always puts Him to work bringing about the fulfillment of that promise.

Believing the word is simply acting on the word. Believing is acting; faith is the cause of the action.

3. Having the Wrong Confession

You do not act one thing and confess another. Paul says that with the mouth confession is made to salvation (Romans 10:10). You would not confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and act like an unbeliever. If you did, your confession would mean nothing. It would be empty words.

If you were to confess, By his stripes, I was healed, you would not remain in bed because of a fever. You would ignore the fever and make your action correspond with your confession. You would ignore symptoms and hold fast the confession of your faith without wavering (Hebrews 10:23).

Jesus is the High Priest of our confession (Hebrews 3:1). This means He will fulfill His priestly responsibilities of seeing that we receive the fulfillment of every one of God’s promises that we steadfastly confess with our mouths and believe with our hearts.

God’s word in our mouths and in our hearts is equivalent to His voice and excludes all reason for doubt. The seed, which is the word of God, when planted in good ground, always brings forth fruit. There can never be failure when we get in harmony with God’s word. It is in this way that we prove Christ’s words to be spirit and life (John 6:63) as He says they are. These words, I am the Lord who heals you (Exodus 15:26), in your mouth and in your heart, will do away with all sickness.

When Mary said to the angel Gabriel, Be it done to me according to your word (Luke 1:38), that was the word of faith in her heart and in her mouth (Romans 10:8); and it turned the words of the angel into creative power and gave to the world a Savior. All our blessings have been the result of the word of faith in Mary’s heart.

God’s word in our hearts and on our lips is as effective as when God said, Let there be light, and when the worlds were framed by the word of God (Genesis 1:3; Hebrew 11:3).

In the face of what was humanly impossible, Mary said with faith: Be it done to me according to your word. This was calling those things which be not as though they were (Romans 4:17), as Abraham had done.

Every Bible promise is God speaking to us. Therefore, instead of neglecting them, let us say with Mary of each promise, Be it done to me according to your word. We then prove that no word of God is void of power (Luke 1:37 ASV).

4. Hope Is Never Faith

The hope I refer to here is the natural human emotion that is without a basis for expectancy.

Many people mistake hope for faith.

People will say, “I hope I get healed.” “I hope I will be better.” “I hope I am saved.” “I hope God answers prayer.” That empty, human emotion is never faith.

There is a real Bible hope which is a virtue from God as much as faith and love are. Now abides faith, hope, charity [love], these three (1 Corinthians 13:13).

For example, we hope for blessings which God has prepared for our future such as heaven and a crown of righteousness. But we must exercise faith for blessings which God has provided for us now.

Healing, like forgiveness, is a provision for all and is freely offered to all now. We need not hope for the blessings which Christ died to provide. We claim those gifts by faith now.

There are promises in the Bible, and there are also statements of fact. A promise is for the future; a statement of fact is for the present.

The second coming of Christ is a hope. It is in the future. The mansions of heaven which we shall someday inhabit constitute a hope. They are for the future. Heaven is a hope. The crown of righteousness, which the Lord has laid up for us, is a hope. It is for the future.

Hope keeps us from being ashamed (Romans 5:5). Hope pertains to things in the future. You do not hope for something that you already have (Romans 8:24).

Faith recognizes things that the scriptures declare are ours now and claims them, regardless of physical evidence. For example: With his stripes, we are healed. This is not a promise; it is a statement of fact. You do not hope for that. Faith claims it now, believes it, and acts upon it as a statement of fact.

You get out of bed. You discard your aids. You act your deliverance, just like you would act upon the word of a lawyer who said you had a thousand dollars in the bank which had been left to you in a person’s will. You would not hope his words were true or that someday you might have a thousand dollars; you would act on his words.

Never say, “I hope I will be healed someday.” You were healed. Believe that, act accordingly, and health will be yours.

5. Praying for Faith

I have heard people pray: “Lord, help me to have faith. Help me to believe Your word.” They forget that the Bible says, Faith comes by hearing the word of God (Rom. 10:17), not by praying for faith.

Praying for faith would be to say, “Father, help me to be convinced that You meant what You said when You made that promise.” Those who pray for faith are also ignoring the fact that Jesus says we are believers. You cannot be a believer and a doubter at the same time.

Jesus said, whoever believes shall have everlasting life (John 3:16)—or be saved. If you are saved, then you are a believer. Never ask the Father to help you believe. You are a believer. Now act on His word.

6. Mentally Agreeing with the Word

Many who say they have all the faith in the world prove the opposite by their next sentence. They will say: “Oh yes, I have all the faith in the world. I have always believed God’s word. But somehow I just cannot get healed. I never have been well. I try and try to believe, but it seems I never receive healing.”

God says that we were healed when Christ bore our diseases. Believe that you were made well when He bore the stripes by which you were healed. Agree with God’s word. Believe it with your heart and act on His promises.

Some people only talk about their faith. But the fact is that faith is expressed in actions, not in words.

When those four men in Mark, chapter 2, carried that man who was sick with palsy and let him down through the roof, Jesus saw their faith. It did not say He heard them brag on how much faith they had; but rather He saw their faith, and He healed the man. He saw faith in their actions.

Never talk about or boast about your faith. Without faith it is impossible to please him (Hebrews 11:6). But don’t talk about it all the time. Act your faith. That is believing.

If God says, I am the Lord who heals you, and who heals all your diseases, then act on that and put God to work making it good. Do not lie in bed, boasting about your faith, yet complaining about your pain. Rise up and take God at His word. Act your faith, and God will make His word good to you.

7. Depending on the Faith of Others

Have your own faith. Everyone should build their own faith. Most people wait until they meet some crisis: They become sick, a loved one becomes ill, or some financial problem confronts them that may affect their future.

Then they frantically search for someone who can pray for them, but to no avail because their expectancy is based on another person’s faith rather than on God’s word.

Had there been faith, they would have made their request known to God and would have rejoiced, knowing that whatever they were asking of the Father in Jesus’ name, He would do.