Does a sick person need to have their own faith to be healed?
It is generally believed and taught that each person needing healing must have their own faith for their own healing, but let's look at what the Bible reveals. There is no mention of the Roman Centurion's servant having any faith for healing, as a matter of fact, all attention is put on authority. The Roman Centurion said he knew Jesus could heal because he understood authority. Jesus said that the man had the greatest faith he had ever found. So one aspect of the greatest faith is to understand authority. It is very clear that the Roman Centurion had faith for his servant.
The Syrophonecian woman came to Jesus on behalf of her daughter. There is no indication in Scripture that the daughter had any faith for her deliverance. Jesus said that the woman had great faith and that because of her great faith her daughter was healed. The woman had faith for her daughter.
Four men were carrying their paralytic friend on a stretcher to Jesus, the Scriptures state that Jesus saw "their" faith. The grammatical structure of the Scripture proves that the "their" Jesus referred to was the four men, not the man being carried. The four men had faith for the paralytic.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead - whose faith was it that did the raising? Who had faith for Lazarus? It wasn't Lazarus. Jesus had faith for Lazarus.
When Peter healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate there was no mention of the man having faith for healing. Peter said "What I have I give you. IN THE NAME OF JESUS. (That is what Peter had.) Rise up and walk." Peter gave an
authoritative command. He took the man by the hand and lifted him and the man was healed. Later Peter gave the secret to healing when he said," It was the Name of Jesus that made this man whole and faith in that Name. Who had faith in
that Name? It was Peter. Peter had faith for the man's healing.
Now as to the question "Does a person have to have their own faith for their own healing. The answer FROM THE BIBLE, obviously is NO. But let me add... Should a person have their own faith for their own healing? Sure. That is a good thing. One reason is because if you do not have your own faith for your own healing, you will always be at the "mercy" of someone else. you will always be relying on someone else's faith, and you can never be sure that they are where they should be in relation to having faith in God for you.
Besides, if you do not have your own faith for your own healing, how are you going to be ready to have faith for someone else's healing. Christians must stop being spiritual hitchhikers and start to have their own faith, not only for themselves but for the others that need help.
Secondly, why would you need someone to lay hands on you or minister to you if it is your faith that is going to do the job.
In James 5:14,15 - it clearly shows that the ONLY responsibility the sick person has is to CALL FOR THE ELDERS. That is the extent of the sick persons "faith". Once the elders get there, the responsibility becomes theirs to pray the prayer of faith. Now if they are going to pray the prayer of faith, who is supposed to be having the faith. If you don't have faith, how can you pray the prayer of faith. Notice it does not say that the person's faith will heal the sick. It says that the prayer of faith (prayed by the elders) SHALL SAVE (HEAL) THE SICK. This verse also proves that if the sick person has sin in their life, IT WILL NOT STOP THE FAITH OF THE ELDERS NOR THE POWER OF GOD. The person will be forgiven and healed. (More on this topic later.)
The teaching that each person has to have their own faith was originally thought up by the devil, then passed on to preachers that could not produce the power of God, so they had to have a "Spiritual" reason why the sick person was not healed, and since they could not take the blame or people would lose faith in them, they turned it on the people and blamed them, for not having faith.
But when a minister lays hands on someone and they get healed, see how fast the minister takes credit for having the faith that healed them.
When Jesus saw faith in a person, He commended it, when He didn't, He merely had faith for them and fixed their problem. The only people Jesus ever "blasted" for not having faith was His own disciples and other religious hypocrites.
When Jesus "blasted" His disciples it wasn't because they did not have faith to get healed, it was because they did not have faith to heal others.
Some would say, " But what about the Scripture that says that Paul saw that the man had faith to be healed, so Paul healed him?" The Scripture where Paul recognized faith in the man and the Scripture where Peter just healed a man without any faith on the man's part proves my point -
If a person has faith, wonderful. If a person doesn't, you have faith for them.
I have heard some ministers say that if a child was born with a handicap that it was the parents fault. Is this true?
First I would like to say that if I ever heard a minister or anyone else for that matter, say something like that to a parent of a handicapped or sick child, I would immediately and publicly rebuke that minister, and I would not hesitate for one second. Anyone that can be that unfeeling, uncaring, and hard-hearted has no business being in the ministry. They are a Pharisee, putting burdens on people that even they couldn't bear. I would hope that any "minister" saying such a thing would just be ignorant and repeating what he had been taught. But at the very least, that kind of statement would eliminate that person from having any spiritual imput into my life. If I heard it preached from a pulpit, I would walk out of the service right then with my entire family leaving with me.If a minister tells anyone that their child failed to be healed because of lack of faith, I hope the parents or some bold saint will speak up and demand that the minister have faith to produce the child's healing right then. That would make most of them at least think twice before spouting such garbage.Now let's get back to the heart of the question? What about the child? Every parent should have faith for their own children and even their own family members. God gave the child to that parent, so that parent has a responsibility to have faith in God for their children.But if they don't, it is not the proper thing to point the finger or fix blame. As Christians and as ministers we are to bear the burdens of those who are "weaker". So don't ever tell people they don't have enough faith, have faith for them. Then teach them how to have faith.
If I take medicine after being prayed for, will it stop my healing?
I do not believe that there is any medicine that is stronger than God's power. In the early days of the Pentecostal Movement there were serious problems stemming from the medical practices of the day (as there are today). The teaching that taking medicine will stop healing is based upon the belief that if you are prayed for, you must then act as though you are healed, and a healed person does not need medicine so to continue taking the medicine after being prayed for actually showed that the person did not really believe that they were healed.Dr. Lake once testified in court, under oath that his people did not need anyone to tell them not to go to doctors, they had enough sense to figure that out on their own. Dr. Lake had studied medicine and concluded that all medical practice was guesswork. His biggest enemies in the Pacific Northwest were the doctors and the Health Department officials.He once told his congregation that if they had any medicine they should dump it into the toilet and then apologize to the toilet.I applaud the stand Dr. Lake and other early Pentecostal pioneers took concerning doctors and medicine, however, I believe that we should help lift and encourage people and not say things that put them under condemnation if they are not walking at that level of consecration or understanding. Again, if the ministers will begin to have faith for people, then the people can be healed and then taught how to walk in divine health. I do not believe we should try to force a certain discipline upon people from the outside, that is called legalism. It is far better to simply preach the Word of God and let the people see the possibility and the standards of God, and let them rise to that level on their own.
How come many ministers that preach healing have sick family members?
Many times, the hardest people to reach and to minister to, are those of your own household. Some have said, that each sick person must have their own faith. So, if a family member is sick, it is up to them to have their own faith. We have already destroyed that myth in the answer to a previous question.
Just as in the situation of a child and it's parent, there can be several factors involved with the healing of a family member.
The first thing to consider is: has the healing minister actually ministered to the family member.
The second is that a minister can get a family member healed, but it is up to the family member to stayed healed. Just as Jesus said in John 14:4; "Go and sin no more lest a worse thing come upon thee." You don't necessarily know if the minister has prayed for the family member and they got healed, but they continued in a practice that brought the illness back. Divine Healing isn't immunity from every sickness or disease from then on. It is simply an event that changed the immediate situation. It is then up to the healed person to get in the Word of God and get the Word of God in them.
As stated previously, you must never judge the Word of God or a ministry on anything other than the message that is being brought forth.
The families of healing ministers often go through tremendous trials and sufferings. Not because it is God's will, but because "persecution comes for the Words sake." When you walk in the truth of God's Word, your life situations will change, many times for what appears to be the worse. Now the enemy has you on his radar. Previously, you were just a face in the crowd, going along the same manner as everyone else. But when you start to truly walk as Jesus walked, get ready for some persecution from the enemy like he brought against Jesus.
Again, if you see the family member of a healing minister that has a physical sickness or situation, don't embarrass them by approaching them and asking things like,"How come you are sick if what your husband teaches is real?" Or,
"How come you wear glasses if what your husband teaches is true?" Every person has their own battles to fight. And I promise you, the spouses of healing ministers are constantly on the battlefront. They are constantly wearing a bull's eye target, because many times they are not as active in ministering healing as their spouse. So the enemy sees them as an sitting target and the minister as a moving target. Well, it's always easier to hit a sitting target than it is a moving target. Pray for the families of healing ministers. Many times, because of their spouse's prominence they feel that they cannot ask for prayer because it might cause someone to lose faith. (I am not saying this is a correct way to feel, I am just saying that it happens.)
Didn't healing pass away with the apostles?
There is not one Scripture that even intimates at that. The powers that the Apostles had were not because they were Apostles but because they were Christians building the "Church". There are essentially only two time periods in Scripture: The Old Covenant time and the New Covenant Time. The Apostles operated under the New Covenant. We are still in the time of the New Covenant. The New Covenant is a better covenant built upon better promises. Jesus said He would never leave us, even until the end of the world (age). The "age" referred to is the age of the New Covenant.
How old do you need to be to heal the sick or raise the dead?
The younger you are the more likely you are to actually do something. The younger you are the less you have to be untaught. This holds true until you reach the age of a senior citizen. Usually by then you have reached a point where you no longer care what people think, so you will start to step out more. This problem is often caused by not having received proper teaching. Many are actually waiting for a "specific word from God" before they will step out. Imagine that your parents were going away for the weekend and before they left they wrote down some specific instructions as to what you were to do while they were gone. Then when they returned, none of the things were done. when they asked why you didn't do them, you answer: I wasn't sure you meant that I was supposed to do them. I thought if you wanted me to do them, you would call me and tell me to do what you had written down. Do you think that would work or do you think they would call you disobedient?
How come some people that have many physical problems only get healed of one thing when they are prayed for?
That's what they were believing for when they were prayed for or it is what the person that prayed for them was believing for. Many times people do not tell the minister or the person praying all their problems. Often they only mention a thing or two. I have actually had people tell me to only pray for one or two serious things because they can live with the other problems. I try to explain to them that if God will heal one or two serious things, He can also heal the more minor problems.
What about long distance prayer? Can a person be healed even if they are not present?
Jesus healed the Roman Centurion's servant from a distance and He healed the Syrophonecian woman's daughter from a distance. So yes, a person can be healed even if they are not present. I generally tell people that since faith works by love, your faith will reach a person (and heal them) as far away as your love can reach them. If you can love a person around the world, you can have faith for a person around the world. Sometimes it is actually easier to have faith for a person that is not right in front of you. If they are in front of you, you may find reasons that would make you think they should not be healed. They may "talk you out of faith".
How come Jesus only healed one man at the pool of Bethesda?
In John chapter 5 we are given the story of the healing at the Pool of Bethesda. Please remember, the apostle John himself said that if everything Jesus did had been written down, the world could not contain the books. First, we are not told how many Jesus healed at the pool. We are simply told the details of one particular healing so that we can learn something from it. We are also not told that Jesus ONLY healed the one man. So any speculation is just that, speculation. I have heard preachers describe how Jesus stepped over this person and around another person just to get to that one man. All of that is made up and added to the Bible. The very Scripture people use to try to prove that God/Jesus picks and chooses who They will heal, proves just the opposite.
At the beginning of John chapter 5, it points out that the Pool of Bethesda was a well-known place of healing and that at a certain season (most scholars believe that season to be the Passover Season which would line up with the Biblical doctrine of Healing in the Atonement) an angel would come down and "trouble" the water of the pool. When that happened, THE FIRST PERSON THAT GOT IN, GOT HEALED OF WHATSOEVER (disease/sickness/malady) THEY HAD.
This proves that God did not determine who got healed, when they got healed or of what they got healed from.
This proves God does not dictate the time of a person's healing (There goes the "It's not God's timing" doctrine).
This proves that God did not determine that some people should keep their illness until they had learned something (There goes the "I'm sick because God's trying to teach me something doctrine).
This proves that God does not will some to be healed and for others to stay sick (There goes the "It's not God's will to heal everybody" doctrine). Notice that there is no mention of repentance from sin. This story proves that the Passover (Jesus) is our total freedom from sickness and disease.
How can we expect to heal everyone if Jesus couldn't even heal everyone in His hometown?
This question comes up very often. Most people cannot quote 5 verses that promise healing, yet even non-Christians know of the Scriptures that seem to say that Jesus tried to heal people in His own hometown and couldn't, that Paul had some mysterious illness or eye problem and God told him "no" when he asked God to heal him (We will cover this in depth later), they know that Paul left somebody sick somewhere but they don't remember who or where, and they know Paul told Timothy to drink some wine because of his stomach problems. (We will cover all these things.)First, nowhere does the Bible say that Jesus "tried and failed" to heal anyone. Actually, it says just the opposite: "and he healed them ALL."The Scripture in question here does not say," Jesus tried to heal those of His own home town, but He could not heal anyone." Even though that is what is preached many times.What it does say is: He could there do no mighty works because of theirunbelief, EXCEPT he laid his hands on a few sick folk and healed them. (The ones He laid hands on WERE HEALED.) So you could say that He healed THEM ALL (All the ones He laid hands on).The word "except" means that there were some mighty works that did occur. So what mighty works did not occur.No one got healed by touching the hem of His garment, no one came to Him and asked Him to heal their child or their servant from a distance. (refer back to the Roman Centurion and the Syrophonecian woman, both of whom Jesus said had "great faith".) So apparently no one in Nazareth got healed on their own faith but rather on the faith of Jesus. The unbelief of the people of Nazareth likely kept them from coming to Jesus to be healed. (People that don't believe in you or are "offended" in you as they were at Jesus, don't usually come to your meetings to be healed by you.)