For Those Needing Healing
Before anyone can have a steadfast faith for the healing of their body, they must be rid of all uncertainty concerning God’s will in the matter. Appropriating faith cannot go beyond one’s knowledge of the revealed will of God. Before attempting to exercise faith for healing, one needs to know what the Scriptures plainly teach, that it is just as much God’s will to heal the body as it is to heal the soul. It is only be knowing that God promises what you are seeking that all uncertainty can be removed and a steadfast faith is made possible. His promises are each a revelation of what God is eager to do for us. Until we know what God’s will is, there is nothing to base our faith on.
It is important that the mind of those seeking healing be “renewed” so as to be brought into harmony with the mind of God as revealed in the Bible. Faith for the appropriation of God’s promised blessings is the result of knowing and acting on God’s Word (Rom10:17). The right mental attitude, or the “renewed mind” (Rom12:2) makes steadfast faith possible to all.
Jesus said, “The Word is the seed.” It is the seed of the Divine life. Until the person seeking healing is sure from God’s Word that it is God’s will to heal him, he is trying to reap a harvest where there is no seed planted.
It is not God’s will that there shall be a harvest without the planting of the seed – without His will being known and acted upon. Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Freedom from sickness comes from knowing the truth. God does nothing without His Word. “He sent His Word and it healed them” are the words of the Holy Spirit (Psa107:20 Fenton). “All His work is done in faithfulness” to His promises.
For each sick person to know that it is God will to heal him, is the “seed” which is to be planted in his mind and heart. And it is not planted until it is know and received and trusted. No sinner can become a Christian before he knows that it is God’s will to save him. It is the Word of God planted and watered and steadfastly trusted, which heals both soul and body. The “seed” must remain planted and be kept watered before it can produce its harvest.
For one to say, “I believe the Lord is able to heal me” before he knows from God’s Word that He is willing to heal him, is like a farmer saying, “I believe God is able to give me a harvest, without any seed being planted and watered.” God can’t save the soul of a man before the man himself knows God’s will in the matter, because salvation is by faith – that is, by trusting the known will of God. Being healed is being saved in a physical sense.
Praying for healing with the faith destroying works, “if it be Thy will” is not planting the “seed”; it is destroying the seed. “The prayer of faith” which heals the sick is to follow (not precede) the planting of the “seed” (the Word) upon which alone faith is based. More>>
From F.F. Bosworth's outstanding book, "Christ The Healer" by Revell
