Maybe someone told us that God does not really help people today.  We listened.  Maybe we thought that He only uses the medical profession, so we have been reluctant to trust Him in addition to seeking help.  Possibly we have just accepted our situation, and never really thought much about the possibility that God could resolve it. 

There are many reasons why we are reluctant to trust the Lord.  Maybe we have always tried to be independent in our lives.  We have prided ourselves on our self-dependance.  Possibly we feel that too much water has gone underneath the bridge.  Its just too late to start getting close to God.  Increasingly, we feel isolated and lonely.

People try and live independently of God.  We try to live our lives without God. The old adage, "God helps them who help themselves" may be our guide.  The problem is... that phrase is not in the bible. God never asked us to walk through life in our own strength.  It is as if telling God we did it our way somehow will make Him proud of us. We paint our lives the best we can, but all to often the colors become darker blue the longer we live.  We stop and look at what we are creating, and too often it is not what we hoped for.  It is time to let God in on our healing journey.

We feel that asking God in a time of illness is showing weakness.  Maybe we know someone who passed away, and they were trusting the Lord.  It could be that we have not seen a person healed, and thus we have no experience. Some people shy away from their biblical right because they have seen excesses in some places. Many are the reasons why we step away from trusting in Him.

However, God's Word clearly tells us that the provision of Christ included healing.  In Isaiah 53 we are told that by His stripes we are healed! Healing is throughout the New Testament, and was part of the early church. Throughout church history, God's healing witness has been present. 

At the same time, confusion still hampers people's attempt to understand the promises of God for healing.  Some suggest that healing somehow stopped with the Apostolic age.  There is, of course, no scriptural warrant for this belief. If healing was meant to stop, one would think that Jesus would have warned everyone first! One would also wonder why God would decide to have a ministry of less power in the New Covenant age than in the Old Covenant age. On the contrary, Jesus said we would receive power when the the Holy Spirit came upon us. The epistle to the Corinthians tells us that people with gifts of healing are in the church! If a healing ministry was meant to reach an untimely conclusion I imagine the Lord would have let the church know.  The plain reading of scripture suggests that a functioning church should have a functioning faith in God's healing power.

Confusion also lingers as to God's purpose in disease.  Disease and death were a direct result of the Fall.  We understand that our outward bodies are decelerating as we get older, yet inwardly we are being renewed daily.  Some have just decided that all disease has some kind of divine purpose.  It is forgotten that God came to restore us, and to ransom us from the effects of the Fall. They suggest that God has a purpose in giving His children disease.  One only has to stop and ask if Jesus went around the countryside giving people disease to help them spiritually. Obviously, the answer is no.  He went around towns healing them of disease, not giving them disease.

Some point to Paul's thorn in the flesh as proof that all disease has a divine purpose. Although God can discipline us as He sees fit, the clear teaching of the Word suggests He does this through trials involving circumstances.  The Psalmist does suggest in Psalm 51 that some illness can be linked to unconfessed sin. Additionally, in 1 Corinthians we read that failure to discern the Lord's body has caused some to fall asleep, or pass away. Still, this is no reason to suggest all disease is somehow God given. Paul's thorn in the flesh was most likely a person, not an illness.

I image others wonder if trusting God means stepping away from medical authorities. I don't believe God's Word tells us this.  When Jesus healed people, He told them to show themselves to the priests, who served as doctors.  It is important to be under the care of the medical profession, and to let them treat you with the best of human knowledge.  It is just fun to let them pronounce you healed, and allow you to give the glory to the Lord!

There is also confusion as to the source of healing.  Today, people look for healing from all sorts of people.  Some may not know the Lord, and may tap into other powers to help establish a healing. Remember, not all healing is God's healing.  Counterfeit works by the evil one are possible when it is not operating the name of Jesus!

Discovering God's healing is a journey. It begins in His Word and in His name.  Don't look to people, but begin your search with God.  God uses people, and the people He uses generally will tell you the same thing! It is the Lord who heals, not people.  If you know someone with a healing ministry that is authentic, go trusting in the Lord, not in the person. I know people used mightily in healing, and they always tell people the same thing: it is the Lord who heals!

God's Word is filled with promises for healing. This website lists a number from both the Old and New Testament.  Meditate on these scriptures until they become part of your spiritual foundation.  It will be these promises, not your circumstances, that will feed your faith.  Get to know them early, they will carry you through.

A good friend of mine was diagnosed with terminal cancer about six years ago. His cancer had spread throughout his body, so that only the top of his head and the tips of his fingers were cancer free. The medical authorities told him he had three months to live, and encourage him to go home and get his affairs in order. Instead, he started to open the Bible, and immerse himself in God's promises. According to his wife, he lived in the Bible!  He poured back to God in prayer the healing scriptures that he was learning. God touched his life, and today he is not only alive, but being used of God in the healing ministry himself! God touched His life, as he looked to His Saviour.

Some people need a physical touch from God, and others need an inner work of healing. God's Word tells us that He desires to do both! Sometimes He can delay a physical healing, till he works on the heart!

Some of us have had horrific experiences that need a deeper touch from God. Possibly rejection or abuse was part of your experience. You can apply the same promises for your inner healing as others do for their physical healing.  Just get into the Word.

Worship helps to develop an atmosphere for healing. Remember, the devil seeks to steal, kill, and destroy.  He will try to rob your joy, and attempt to sink you into despair.  Worship is a powerful weapon to defeat this in your life.  The devil does not like to hang around when worship is in the air! We enter into the Lord's gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.  As you begin to worship, you can sense the Lord breaking the foothold of discouragement and despair.