TWO CHANNELS OF HEALING
There are basically two channels for receiving healing in the New Covenant. One is by personal faith; the other is by the anointing. It is God’s Will that we be healed. It is God’s prerogative how we are healed. God’s prerogative is also determined by His ultimate purpose in our lives.
Human beings are interested in the immediate. We want to get rid of all of our symptoms and sicknesses instantly. God is interested not only in our symptoms but also in our total life and future. For example, if God wants a person to minister healing to others in the future, He may choose to bring healing to that person through personal faith and not through the anointing.
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Healing by personal faith involves spending time in the Word and acting by faith that the healing has been completed even though the symptoms are still there. Normally, for children and new Christians, God allows them to be healed by the faith of others; but as they grow spiritually, God expects them to exercise their own faith.
When a child is young or still an infant, we carry him about from place. As the child grows older and learns to walk, we allow the child to walk for longer periods until the child can walk independently. By doing this we ensure that the child develops his muscles and matures physically.
Our faith muscles, too, need to grow and be developed. If we depend on others to do the praying for us, we may never develop our prayer life. If we depend on others to read the Bible for us, we may never develop our Word life. If we depend on others to hear from God for us, we may never develop an intimate personal relationship with God. However, at the early stages of our Christian life, we do need others to pray for us, read and explain the Bible to us and teach us the voice of the Holy Spirit.
It is always easier to depend on others than to do things ourselves. In like manner, it is easier to receive healing by the anointing than it is by personal faith. It takes faithful daily application of the Word to receive healing by personal faith. Sometimes when symptoms persist, we have to learn to consider not the symptoms but rather consider the Word of God (Rom. 4:19, 20).
Healing by personal faith involves all the basic fundamentals of faith: visualizing, meditation, confession and acting on the Word. Basically, our hearts, our thoughts, our vision, our words and our actions must all be in line with the Word of God. The following are some of the principles and methods involved in receiving healing by personal faith:
- Meditating and digesting the Word into our lives (Pro. 4:20-23). All the principles taught in meditation are applicable here. The Word, literally, becomes health and life to our flesh.
- Praising and thanking God before the manifestation of healing is seen. Abraham gave glory to God before the fulfilment of the promises (Rom. 4:20).
- Fasting and spending time in the presence of God (Isa. 58:6-8). A correct fast with the proper attitudes will cause our healing to spring forth speedily.
- Praying in the spirit to build ourselves on the faith (Jude 20). Praying in tongues also helps us in our infirmities (Rom. 8:26).
- Acting on the Word of God. It was only after Peter lifted the lame man that his ankle bones received strength (Acts 3:7). The lame man in Acts chapter fourteen had faith but was not healed until he acted on the Word (Acts 14:10). In acting on the Word, we must make very sure that faith is truly in our hearts (the conscience will bear witness). All the other steps must be taken to impart and generate faith in the heart before the acting comes forth. It would be disastrous to act without faith in the heart. Listen to the conscience within so that you will not have a spiritual shipwreck. (Author Unknown)
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“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
… and “to guide our feet in the way of peace.”