When it comes to the subject of healing, there is more than one way to receive. There is the laying on of hands by a believer, the prayer of agreement by two or more, anointing with oil and the prayer of faith by an Elder as described in the Book of James. There is the working of miracles and the gift of healing administered by a believer as the Spirit directs, just to name a few.

However, the most sure way that I've come to know is when a believer gets their own faith stirred up and begins to take hold of the promises of God regarding healing for themselves. If you're reading this article, chances are you are in need of healing. Well, before you read any farther, I want you to put a smile on your face, get an open mind, and prepare your heart to receive from the Lord.

In Luke 5:12-13, there is a story of a man coming to Jesus who was unsure of the will of God concerning healing. He believed that Jesus could heal, but the man was not sure if Jesus was willing to heal him. "And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately the leprosy left him." Notice that Jesus clears up the mans confusion and sets him straight on His will toward healing. The reply of Jesus, "I am willing," removed the doubt of the leper. Make no mistake about it, healing is the will of God!

Mark 5:25-29, tells a wonderful story of a desperate woman that put faith to work. "And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague."

This certain woman had really been through it! She had endured pain and suffering for 12 years, sought every way possible to get relief, spent all of her savings and.... was still the same! But someone told her about Jesus. Someone told her that Jesus was compassionate, that He was a miracle worker, that He could make the impossible possible.

When she heard that report, faith began to rise up on the inside of her and she began to see herself healed, whole and made completely well by the Master. Romans 10:17 states that "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." I can just hear that woman saying to herself, "He healed others, surely He will heal me. If I can just touch His clothes, I shall be made whole." In Matthew 9:20 it relates this same story and it states that this woman came up behind Jesus and touched the "hem" of His garment.

The "'hem" of a garment is the finishing touch. It represents the finished work. Jesus is the living Word (John 1:14), and when she touched His hem it was representative of her using her faith to make a demand on the finished Word of God. The Bible tells us that Jesus is "seated" at the right hand of God the Father (Hebrews 1:3). A person doesn't sit down until the work is done. We need to see the promises in the Word of God as finished. Your healing is a finished work. Many needing healing will say, "Lord when are you going to heal me," or " I believe the Lord is going to heal me." The truth of the matter is that He already DID! The price has been paid for your right to be healed.

The problem is, instead of putting our faith into a future work, we need to look back to the work of the cross and apply our faith to the finished work that the Blood of Jesus purchased for us at Calvary, thanking the Lord for what He has done and laying claim to it as ours. What we are really saying when we are looking to a future work is that we are counting on Jesus to come down again from heaven and die on the cross all over again for our present affliction.

When we receive salvation, we do not say, "I believe the Lord will grant me salvation someday, I believe someday the Lord will allow me to become a Christian." As absurd as that sounds, it is the very same thing. We become a Christian by accepting the finished work of Calvary, by looking backwards to what has already been provided and not to some future work.

I also, at one time, was looking to a future work of healing and the Lord revealed this precious truth to me. When I began to look back to the work of the cross, seeing healing as a finished work just waiting for me to take hold, it wasn't long before my healing manifested. Resist discouragement and take a firm stand of faith, expecting the Lord to do what He has promised. God's grace and blessings to you as you take Him at His healing Word.

Dan Downey
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Dan Downey 2000