Healed by the Word of God

Healed by the Word of God

There are different ways of receiving healing, sometimes through others praying, sometimes through the laying on of hands, or by listening to the Word being preached in Faith.  But although there are different ways that people will pray etc,  there is only one true healer - Jesus Christ.  All healing is based in the Word of God.  The person praying will be praying based on the knowledge of the Word of God, that's why we see and hear so many different ways and types of prayers.  Ministers who lay hands on the sick, do so because they are commanded by the Word of God and they are praying having faith in the Word of God.  Every prayer is an act of faith, that God will hear our prayers and answer, but the question is 'what is the basis of our prayer'.  So we see many times people are not healed, so the question is then asked why not.  I believe there are a number of issues that can hinder a person from receiving healing.  But today I want to talk about the basic foundation for every healing.  The foundation of all healing is the Word of God - because Jesus is the Word, and Jesus is the Healer.  So therefore divine healing cannot work outside the scriptures.  People can only have faith for what they actually believe.  So the first basis of receiving healing is to know what the Bible actually says.  There are many healings recorded in the bible and many scriptures about healing.  I want to draw your attention to some scriptures today that if you can receive them and ask the Holy Spirit to build upon them you will be able to experience healing in your own body and also minister healing to others.

Proverbs 4:20-23 – “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh” 

Notice here that it says 'For they are life unto those that find them and health to all their flesh'.  We take note that the Word of God is Life - TO THOSE THAT FIND THEM - speaking about the words of God which we are told to "let them not depart from thine eyes, keep them in the midst of thine heart", these words that we find become life to us.  We are also told to 'Attend to' - which means to give time, thought, meditation, and action to these words of Life.

I find that many times when people ask for prayer, they are not really asking in faith, they are asking for help.  They are acknowledging that they need help and are hoping that God will answer.  I will always ask - "Do you have a Word" or "has God given you a promise"?  Many times, the answer is I just believe that God heals or to be honest I can't concentrate to pray or read my bible.  This saddens my heart because 'faith comes by hearing and hearing the word' according to Romans 10v17

So what does "faith comes by hearing" mean and how does it apply to our lives?

The word faith translated from the original greek means - persuasion, credence and conviction.  This means faith is something that you believe is true and trustworthy.  It is very hard to have faith in someone you don't know and trust.

Hebrews 11v1 - says "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen." and another translation puts it this way "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see".  The words confidence, assurance, substance and evidence are the fruits of true faith.  When we have faith, we are fully convinced or persuaded regarding the thing or person we have faith in.  But being convinced takes a special kind of hearing.  

When the bible says faith comes by hearing - we must define what hearing means. The greek word for hearing means both hearing sound and giving audience to.  These are two different things.  To simply hear sound, there is no need to pay attention or understand what you have heard.  However, to give audience means to pay attention.

So we see one definition of hearing is the ability to hear.  But simply being able to hear doesn't produce faith.  In Romans, when Paul is talking about how faith comes by hearing, he is explaining how Israel heard the words of the prophets, yet they had no faith.

There is another definition of the word hearing it is 'a proceeding where evidence is taken for the purpose of determining an issue of fact and reaching a decision based on that evidence'.  For example a court hearing. So we could put these 3 definitions together to get a full picture of how faith comes.  

Faith comes through hearing which convinces the heart of the truth when:-

1.  God presents "His case" which is the truth.

  Through the Word of God preached by faith and inspiration of the Holy Spirit or read with a teachable and open heart.

2.  We listen attentively taking it to heart.

  (Remember prayer is talking to God.  We must learn to listen to him also) Because He is the answer it is best to ask him what and how we should pray rather than relying on our own limited understanding.

3.  We choose to believe God's evidence, which is revealed through His Word, making the decision to trust Him. 

Faith is always a choice.  If we make God's Word the highest authority because we trust him completely as the God of all creation, then we will be able to stand upon his promise as if it has already been done.

We often make Faith a difficult thing, and struggle to gain great faith.  We can so easily fall into the trap of thinking that the minister's of the Gospel have great faith so we will go to them and let them pray for us.  But as we consider the greek word for faith which is 'persuasion', we realise that the verb is actually 'to persuade'.  You see being persuaded about anything is a process.

Very simply - having faith in God comes by hearing what he has to say, taking it to heart, and choosing to believe him over and over again.

We must be hearing and hearing continually the Word of God.  If we only hear the Word being preached on a Sunday and then hearing all the bad news and other reports all week, how can we expect to be filled with faith.  Because we must realise that fear comes the same way - by hearing - but hearing everything else but what God says.

Remember the little children's song - be careful little ears what you hear, be careful little eyes what you see?  As a Child of God we must be careful what and who we listen to and whose words and whose reports we give our attention to.  Knowing that they are creating either Faith or fear in our hearts.  And what is created in our hearts will flow out of our mouths and effect every area of our lives.

The scripture quoted above from Proverbs 4 finishes like this "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life".

When I was recovering from an operation, which the doctors told me would be a year or more of physio and even then couldn't promise that I would have full movement again,  I sang this song everyday.  I had been listening and meditating on healing scriptures and now was the opportunity to prove the power of the Word of God.  Every day I took the medicine of the Word of God, I did everything the doctors told me to do, I rested, I trusted God and after 8 weeks the hospital discharged me - totally amazed.  I give my Lord all the praise and all the honour, because it was his Word that was working in my heart, changing and empowering me to speak by faith to my physical body.

I pray as you listen to this song, that you will have a hunger spark inside you to know more about this amazing and powerful Word of God which reveals Jesus Christ your Healer more and more so that you to can experience his healing and delivering touch in your own life.