Five Things You Must Know to Understand Healing

(by Dr. Larry Ollison)

1) God's will (desire) is that you be healed.

*  The Old Testament states that God is our Healer (Exodus 15:6). Psalm 103:3 tells us that God is the one, "Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases."

*  As we've seen in the New Testament, Jesus said that He did not do anything unless the Father told Him to do it. Jesus went into every village healing all who were sick and oppressed of the devil. Thus, He was doing what God told Him to do. So, it must have been God's will for people to be healed (Acts 10:38).

2) God has not changed.

*  The things God desired in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, He still desires today.

*  "For I am the LORD, I do not change" (Malachi 3:6). Likewise, as Christians we are a part of the body of Christ and Jesus has not changed (Hebrews 13:8). If Jesus healed the sick in the past, then He still heals the sick today.

3) Faith is essential in getting healed.

*  In the Bible the person being healed did not always have faith, but faith was always present in someone. Sometimes faith is present in the one being healed: "This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, 'Stand up straight on your feet!' And he leaped and walked" (Acts 14:9,10).

*  Sometimes faith is present in the friends of the one being healed: "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you'" (Mark 2:5).

*  Sometimes faith is present in the one calling forth the healing. Jesus healed the man at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-9).

4) Christians are commanded to ask for healing.

*  "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (James 5:14,15).

5) Sickness cannot be blamed on God.

*  God calls Himself Jehovah-Rapha which means “the God who heals” (Exodus 15:26). He cannot be the God who heals if He is the God of sickness. God is not bi-polar!

*  God has not chosen sickness for you. He has placed before you blessing and cursing, life and death, and He wants us to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19). The choice is yours.

*  I've heard people say, "I've done what I'm supposed to do, but I'm still not healed. What's wrong?" One thing for sure, this we know beyond any doubt - you cannot blame God. He is not the source of your sickness.

These five points may seem very basic, but we must understand them as truth. Only when we align our thoughts, words, and actions with God's Word will we benefit from His promises.