REASON #4 UNWAVERING FAITH

For those of you reading my blog who are not at all interested in my posts about the reasons for my faith in my own healing, you can skip this one as well! In answer to those of you who have asked me, I give you my fourth reason....

The fourth truth I have found regarding divine healing was perhaps the most personally revealing and perhaps the most profound "condition" that healing is based on. What I discovered was that my faith was not faith at all. Not Jesus' kind of faith. My faith was always hope.

People use the word cavalierly. I certainly have. I have faith you'll get a good job. I have faith you will have a baby someday. I have faith the weather will be great on your vacation. The faith that we toss around like that is hope. And in the Christian life, I learned that faith is not hope and hope is not faith. Faith, faith that can heal cancer, is an altogether different animal and I had never been introduced to it.

FAITH ASSURES US OF THINGS WE EXPECT AND CONVINCES US OF THE EXISTENCE OF THINGS WE CANNOT SEE.  HEBREWS 11:1

Jesus' definition of faith is shown throughout the Bible, both in the old and new testaments. I will cite just three here.

When the blind beggar on the road calls out to Jesus, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me," Jesus asks him what he wants. The blind man says, "I want to see." Jesus says, "Go, your faith has made you well." 

When the woman, bleeding for 12 years, merely touches Jesus' garments as he passes, Jesus says, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. You are cured from your illness."

When the two blind men approach Jesus and ask for mercy, Jesus asks them if they believe He can do this. "Yes, Lord," they reply. And Jesus says, "What you have believed will be done for you." And they could see. Their faith in Him healed them.

I believe Jesus was saying to all of these people, "I am going to use My divine power to grant your request because you believe that I will do it." These needy people were not HOPING that Jesus COULD heal them. They BELIEVED that he WOULD heal them. That is faith.

I found that doubt nullifies faith. Jesus withheld the witnessing of miracles from those who dishonored Him with doubt. He even left Nazareth and refused to do any more miracles because the locals had no faith in Him.

If I hope for healing, I have no faith in it. Real faith changes hope to reality. Faith acts in the face of contrary evidence. It is the assurance of what cannot be seen by the eye, based only on the promises of God, counting the promise as good before God has even acted. Genuine faith doesn't look at circumstances. It lives in the light of anticipated results. If God has promised something, He will make it good. Faith means we believe we have what God has said even before we see it.

WHOEVER SAYS TO THIS MOUNTAIN, "BE REMOVED AND 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! THEREFORE I TELL YOU, WHATEVER YOU ASK FOR IN PRAYER, BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED IT AND IT WILL BE YOURS.   Mark 11:22-24

NOW THIS IS THE CONFIDENCE WE HAVE IN HIM, THAT IF WE ASK ANYTHING ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, HE HEARS US. AND IF WE KNOW HE HEARS US, WHATEVER WE ASK, WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE THE PETITIONS THAT WE HAVE ASKED OF HIM.   1 John 5:14-15

Unwavering faith, I found throughout the Bible (great examples in the 11th chapter of Hebrews), is what God expects of His followers if we want His favor, His power, and His miracles in our life. And so it was unwavering faith that I was going to learn and gather up and live by.

I had already learned that God is our Healer, that illness was included in the atonement of Christ, that Jesus came to earth as God's representative of His will and healed all who asked Him. It was an easy leap for me to begin to have genuine faith instead of hope. I made the choice to believe that God is healing me. It is done. I believe it will be manifested in my body in His time.

I do not hope for healing. It is happening because my God is a Divine Healer. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. God is who He says He is and He means what He says. That's all I need to know.

He is faithful---------and so I have faith.


The person who has God's approval will live by faith. Heb 11:38