Why Does Healing Delay?
I am one who has functioned in the ministry of healing for many years. I have partnered with and seen the exhilaration of people as they are delivered from disease. There is nothing more joyful for me than this. However, I am very aware of the pain, disappointment, and trauma of people believing for healing without it ever coming. I have watched people’s suffering continue for years while they diligently believed for their miracle. I have witnessed those who “died in faith,” believing to their very last breath that they had been healed and their lives lengthened. I have watched what appeared to be a measure of healing come, only to see it vanish and sickness and disease return.In the midst of all this, I have seen well-meaning people and ministers try to bring comfort and understanding in these situations. Some, in my estimation, are outright cruel. They imply or even clearly state that it is a lack of faith on the sick person’s part that is denying their healing. So now the person not only is suffering with sickness and pain, but they feel condemned as well. Even though I believe that faith is essential to healing, I believe it is fruitless to chide someone with this reasoning. In fact, those ministering to the sick can use their own faith to see people healed. The ones healed will have to develop a faith to “hold” their healing, but the initial experience of healing can be secured through those praying.Others make up unbiblical theology to explain why someone is not being healed. They explain that God is using sickness to perfect them. At the core of this argument is a misunderstanding of the source of sickness. Acts chapter 10, verse 38 gives a clear picture of what spiritual force is doing what:
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
In this Scripture, we see that Jesus is the One who does good and heals. The devil is the one who oppresses with sickness. God does not use sickness to perfect His people. Sickness and disease are of the devil. Jesus is the Healer. He uses healing to manifest His goodness to a people afflicted with sickness through the cruelties of the devil. Healing is a main attribute of God toward man.
When Jesus walked the earth, He did many signs and wonders. A large part of those recorded were healing miracles. These were used to demonstrate the kindness and goodness of the Lord.
In John chapter 14, verse 9, Jesus said that He came to manifest the heart of God toward us.
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
Jesus’ words to Philip were filled with amazement. He was astonished that Philip did not yet recognize that Jesus was a living demonstration of God to the human race. Jesus was showing mankind a different view of God than they had known before: God is our Father, who loves us dearly. His posture toward us is one of kindness, goodness, and love. He uses healing as one of the chief ways to manifest this to us.
If this is God’s heart and passion toward us, then why do we see people who aren’t healed even though they are seeking healing diligently? They do everything they have been told to do. They attempt to operate in faith. They have the “right” people pray for them. They pursue wholeness and wellness, it would appear, with all their heart. Yet they remain sick and diseased—or even worse, they die prematurely. Is this all just a cruel game, or even a lie? Is this healing business really real? Or are we missing a very important part that could unlock healing for those who haven’t yet found it?As my wife, Mary, and I moved full force into healing several years ago, she had a dream. We had been functioning in healing, holding healing services and equipping others to operate in this realm as well. We were honestly seeing good results and were greatly encouraged. There were those who weren’t healed as we prayed for them, but a lot of people were being healed. In the midst of this, Mary had her dream. In the dream, she was told, “If you do not pray for them correctly, they will die.” She told me about the dream, and my response to her at that time was, “What does that mean?” I was doing the best I could, praying the way I understood, and yet here the Lord was telling me there’s something I’m doing wrong, or at least imperfectly. The dream brought me great frustration. The truth was, some did die. Despite our best efforts, people died prematurely. Disease was able to take them out before their time. I still didn’t know what it meant to “pray for them correctly.”Several years after this, God began to bring to me the revelation of “the Courts of Heaven.” As I began to understand this third dimension of prayer about which Jesus taught, I saw what it meant to “pray for them correctly.” I began to see that the reason people were not healed and died prematurely was because the devil had a legal right to hold them in sickness. If they were to be healed, this legal right had to be revoked in the Courts of Heaven. To fully grasp this, we must understand Jesus’ teaching on prayer in the Book of Luke. When Jesus was asked to teach His disciples to pray, He placed prayer in three dimensions or realms. He taught them that prayer was approaching God as Father, Friend, and Judge. We approach God as Father for our own needs (see Luke 11:2). We approach God as Friend for the needs of others (see Luke 11:5-8). We approach God as Judge when we are dealing with an adversary (see Luke 18:1-8). The purpose of the adversary is to deny you what is rightfully yours! Healing is ours by covenant with God. The word "adversary" is the Greek word antidikos, and it means “one who brings a lawsuit.” In other words, it is a legal position from which a case is presented in a court setting. The woman’s request in the story Jesus told was for the judge to dismiss the case that was against her. The unjust judge in the parable agreed to do so because of the woman’s persistent presentation of her case. The moral of the story is “if this woman can get a verdict in her favor from the unjust judge, how much more will God render a righteous verdict in our favor as the ultimate Judge!”
Many times, the reason people are not healed is because there is a case against them in the legal realm of the spirit. The devil has found some issue he is using to allow sickness to stay attached to them. If we are to see healing manifest, we must deal with the legal case against them in the spirit realm. To do this, we must not just approach the Father and/or Friend. We must approach God as Judge and see verdicts rendered that undo any and every case against us. When we learn to go into the Courts of Heaven, we will see healing revealed.My word of encouragement to any who are sick and not yet healed is, there is hope. I believe the Holy Spirit will uncover anything resisting all that Jesus died for you to have. Every legal issue in your life, your bloodline, and any other arena can be answered and removed. The healing Jesus died for you to have can and will manifest. The Judge awaits your action to render verdicts that will set into place healing for you!