Faith And Healing

So where are we going with all of this? We have seen that faith plays an important role in healing. We have seen that God desires to build our faith. He wants our faith to grow, just as the mustard seed starts as a tiny seed, but grows into a huge plant. God wants to meet us where we are and He wants to take us to the place where we have the faith to move mountains (Matt. 17:20).

God has been a healing God since our earliest records of Him. It has been His character and His nature to heal all throughout the Bible, in the Old and New Testaments. When Jesus walked the earth, He often did things to encourage faith in those who He was about to heal.

And Jesus carefully orchestrated circumstances to build His disciples' faith. Let's take a look at one of these faith-producing lessons. John 6:5-13 records:

5Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" 6But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.

7Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denari worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."

8One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 9"There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"

10Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. 12So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." 13Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. (NKJV)

Of course, this experience had a big impact on the disciples, but they had not really learned the faith lesson they were supposed to learn from it. So Jesus used another incident to drive the lesson home.

Jesus had just had an encounter with the Pharisees and Sadducees, where they demanded He give them a supernatural sign from heaven (Matt. 16:1-4). Then Jesus and the disciples got in a boat to head toward their next destination. Let's pick the story up at Matt. 16:5-12:

5When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6"Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

7They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread."

8Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 12Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Jesus wanted the disciples to stop thinking about natural limitations and to start living and experiencing God's supernatural power in their lives. They were focused on a practical/natural problem. They were out to sea with no food for their journey. Jesus purposely used a play on words to talk about a spiritual principle (warning them against enemy deception). Jesus knew where their attention was focused and He knew they'd make a wrong assumption about what He was saying. So He used this as an opportunity to teach on faith as well as to warn them about the false doctrine of the religious leaders of His time.

So Jesus went back to the faith lesson He'd tried to teach them earlier. Remember this had been a setup to test their faith (Matt. 16:6), to get them to look at God's ability instead of their own human limitations. It was true that they did not have the resources to feed the multitudes, but that was not a big problem for God. Instead, God took what they had, five barley loaves and two small fish, and multiplied it to meet the need.

Jesus was saying that they should not worry about human limitations on practical things, they should know that God can and will supply their needs, as per Luke 12:28-31, "If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek His kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well."

In short, Jesus directed them to have faith in God for their needs. Over and over again, Jesus worked to develop and foster faith in His disciples. Jesus mentions faith 32 times in the Gospels, so you can see that it was high on His agenda.

Perhaps this can best be summed up in Mark 11:22-24: "22So Jesus answered and said to them, 'Have faith in God. 23For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.'" (And that includes seeing healings when you pray for the sick.)

It stands to reason that if Jesus put His disciples into faith-producing situations, He is going to put you in them as well. God wants to develop and grow your faith, no matter what level of faith you are at.

Some of you will be put into desperate situations where you have no control over them and your only choice is whether you panic or choose to trust God. Others of you will be put into faith-producing situations where you have to make decisions of faith and act on them. It may be that a woman feels her menstrual cramps starting and is reaching for the aspirin. Suddenly she feels challenged to "trust God" for healing instead of taking the aspirin. She knows this is a bit of a risk because the cramps will double her over with pain if she doesn't check them early on with medication. She has to choose whether or not to act on her faith and choose God.

Let me add an aside here. God will challenge you at the level of faith you are at. If you have huge faith, it may be a huge challenge. If you have small faith, it will be a small challenge, but it won't feel small to you at the time. For instance, God may challenge you to not take aspirin for cramps for a headache, trusting Him to heal the problem. But it is very unlikely that He would ask you to not take medication that you need to keep you alive. God doesn't push us beyond what we are capable of trusting Him for. This is because He wants us to succeed, not to fail. He builds our faith in smaller areas and then works up to the bigger things.

If you believe you have heard God ask you to take a potentially life-threatening or health-damaging or financially ruining risk as an "act of faith," don't immediately go do that. Instead, run it by your pastor and some others you trust for spiritual guidance. Also spend some time talking to God and asking Him to confirm or correct the instruction you believe you heard. In other words, if it's a really big risk, get confirmation from God and others that this is really God asking you to do it before you act on it.

On the other hand, don't be surprised if God asks you to take some potential risks as you learn to trust Him. John Wimber was once asked, "How do you spell faith?" His reply was, "R - I - S - K!"

It can be scary to trust God. But that is how we gain experiential faith, the inner certainty that God is faithful, God is reliable, God is trustworthy, God is all powerful and God is personally involved in your life and ministry.