The "How" of Divine Healing - Part 2

Crowds pressed in on Jesus, but only one touch stopped Him in His tracks. That detail forces a hard question: what does faith actually look like when you need healing, and how do you move from hoping God might act to reaching for Him with confidence? We take Jesus’ own ministry as our starting point and follow the pattern Scripture lays out: faith rises through hearing the Word of God, watching God’s promises confirmed, and responding with action that matches belief. 

We walk through three unforgettable Gospel snapshots. First, the woman who suffered for twelve years touches the edge of Jesus’ cloak and is instantly healed, then is brought into the open so shame and stigma lose their grip. Next, the centurion shocks everyone by refusing to claim merit and instead appealing to authority: “Say the word, and my servant will be healed.” That moment reframes how we pray, how we talk, and why aligning our speech with God’s Word matters when circumstances feel loud. Then we learn from blind Bartimaeus, who refuses to be silenced, cries out for mercy, and receives sight because persistent faith keeps asking. 

We also address a topic many people avoid: spiritual warfare. The Gospels show that some healings come through deliverance, and we talk about how to think clearly about that without falling into extremes. We close with the most important step of all, an invitation to receive the free gift of salvation through Jesus. If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with someone who needs hope, and leave a review so more listeners can find biblical help for healing and restoration.

Transcript

Welcome And Show Purpose

Lynne 0:00

You are listening to Higher Realm with Lynne Little. Our program highlights biblical strategies for moving through life's difficulties and finding your path to healing. We tackle issues particular to those who have experienced painful loss in any form. Lynne is the founder and president of Lynne Little Ministries and the author of Missing Lisa, A Parent Grieves, and Finding God in Death and Life, A Passage Through Grief. Now, here's Lynne.

Healing Through Faith And Jesus

Lynne 0:30

Hello and welcome. Last week we discussed the subject of the "how" of divine healing and health. We defined it, presented the scriptural basis for receiving it, and we also discussed several biblical ways to obtain it. Today we will continue to outline the various ways to receive healing through personal faith and spiritual warfare. The best starting place, as always, is the life of Jesus. When we seek to be imitators of Him and employ His word as our benchmark, we are on sure ground. So, how did Jesus deal with the sick throughout the Gospels? In prior episodes, we've discussed the inclusiveness of His ministrations, evidenced in 17 mentions in the Gospels of healing the multitudes. There are many scriptures that make it clear that often entire crowds received healing. This designated by the encompassing term "all." Hearing and seeing these things caused faith to arise in the hearts of the hearers, putting them in the position to receive. Why? Because Romans 10:17 tells us that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." After Jesus taught, he demonstrated the sincerity of the promises by healing and delivering the afflicted. The people obviously had great belief because, according to Luke 4:40, "at sunset the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them." Can you see the multitudes coaxing the sick ones out of their beds, impelling them to come however they could, hobbling along, supported, perhaps even carried by friends and loved ones? Even on one occasion, tearing off a roof to get a paralytic man in front of Jesus. This was demonstrable faith in action. Now, this does not diminish in the least the power of Jesus. It simply emphasizes that faith was an important factor. This resulted in the reputation of Jesus as healer spreading far and wide. The anticipation and therefore the expectation of faith would have been raised to a fever pitch. But without question, the most helpful information on the process of healing was communicated in the stories of individuals who came to him for healing. When we examine the accounts of these individuals, we find a more detailed story, and these sparkling vignettes of Jesus ministering one-on-one are teaching moments for us now. And we have this word of comfort that applies to our situations now, and it is "that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever," according to Hebrews 13:8. The Savior has the same protocol for us to employ to obtain the desired result. Although these personal stories are very different, they typically have two elements in common. One, the individuals came in faith. Two, Jesus noted, commended, and rewarded their faith.

The Woman Healed From Bleeding

Lynne 6:31

So let's take a look at a few scenes, beginning with one found in Luke 8: 43 and 48. "And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. When they all denied it, Peter said, Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you. But Jesus said, Someone touched me. I know that power has gone out for me." Now, just as an aside, hundreds were pressing in on the Lord Jesus. And he was looking around to adjacent people because he knew something had happened. Someone had touched him in faith. So he's scanning the crowd and looking. Now, why did he ask that question? Why did Jesus call attention to this person and in effect kind of force her to go public? The account continues. "Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed." It seems plausible that Jesus was having her publicly testify to remove the shame and the stigma that she had carried for years. According to Jewish law, menstrual women were excluded from society by being banished to and quarantined in separate quarters. The woman's condition would have barred her from participating in society all those years. This is a beautiful illustration of the Lord's willingness not just to heal our bodies, but to heal our souls. Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace." Her what? Her faith. He did not do this as an act of his faith. He commanded commended rather her faith. She could go in peace, well, strong, and with a stigma instantly removed. Another story of individual faith is found in Matthew 8: 8.

The Centurion And Authority

Lynne 9:39

"When Jesus had finished saying all of this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. There, a centurion servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him. This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." So let's just stop here for a moment and elaborate on what the Jewish leaders claimed. Notice that they're pleading for the centurion on the basis of his merit. They spoke as if deserving healing was something that God demanded. Those of you who are parents, consider when your child who is hungry and needs to be fed or is ill and in need of care, and then imagine expecting that child to earn your care. It would be equally absurd to think that God expects us to earn his grace and his care. So, to continue the account, "Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurions sent friends to say to him, Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I didn't even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, go, and he goes, and to that one, come, and he comes. I take some, say to my servant, do this, and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him. And turning to the crowd following him, he said, I tell you, I have not found such great faith, even in Israel. Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well." Now, what did the centurion understand that demonstrated his faith? Faith so great the Son of God commended it. He understood how authority functioned, that at a simple command, God's word was sufficient, even at a distance, to effect the desired result. And his word is more than sufficient to cover our needs. One translation reads, "Say the word only, and my servant will be healed," offering another clue to receiving. For us, this means aligning our speech with God's word rather than our circumstances, refusing to speak negatively, keeping God's word as our focus, and singularly trusting that God's promises will manifest. Again, this account demonstrated that it was the centurion's faith that brought the result, not the Lord's.

Bartimaeus And Persistent Faith

Lynne 13:37

One final account we will cover is found in Mark 10: 46, and 52. "Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus, which means son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus stopped and said, Call him. So they called to the blind man, Cheer up on your feet, he's calling you. Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked him. The blind man said, Rabbi, I want to see. Go, said Jesus. Your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road." Whose faith? Bartimaeus' faith. The persistence of blind Bartimaeus reaches us. Against a crowd's resistance, he persisted, shouting all the louder over every attempt to silence him. His was the insistent, brazen, presumptuous, audacious voice of faith that refused to be silenced. His cry of faith respectfully addressed Jesus as the son of David. He understood the promise of a king with a capital K of the lineage of David. He asked, based on mercy, the undeserved favor of God, and he refused to quit. With that criteria, he made his request and it was granted. We could provide many more examples, but the point is clear that in most instances the faith of the petitioner was involved. How did they receive such high levels of faith? Simply by hearing and hearing the Word of God. They heard stories, they heard preaching, they heard teaching, they saw Jesus, they heard testimonies from their neighbors and friends. All of these worked together to raise the faith of individuals to receive their healing. Every case required some level of faith. The individuals all had a part to play that unlocked the miraculous. So just to recap, unless a person is within range of a mighty move of God that just happens to splash onto them, which occasionally does happen, healing will occur through the exercise of faith. Although one could make the point that those who make the effort to sit in a service in the presence of God are exercising faith. Many testimonies of healing recount the arduous effort of individuals who, despite aching, broken, failing bodies, come to services where God is moving and were healed. As we speak, study, hear, and believe the word of healing, healing will manifest. The word cannot return void. Seeds sown will eventually grow.

Healing And Spiritual Warfare

Lynne 18:16

Point two, healing may involve spiritual warfare. Anyone who reads the Gospels and the Book of Acts may find it curious that words of healing often describe exorcisms or the casting out of demons. We can engage in spiritual warfare against any evil spirits involved in the affliction, as Jesus often did in his earthly ministry. There are at least twelve instances in the Gospels that demonstrate that Jesus sometimes healed by casting out demons. Several examples include the mute demoniac. Jesus cast a demon out of a man who could not speak, immediately allowing him to talk. This account is found in Matthew 9: 32 and 33. "While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel." There's also the story of the woman with a bent spine, found in Luke 13: 10 through 13. "Now, he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, and behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity, 18 years, and was bent over and could no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said to her, Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight." And finally, the story of the epileptic son. Jesus healed a boy suffering from seizures caused by a spirit. This story is found in Matthew 17: 14 through 21. "When they came to the crowd, a man came to Jesus and knelt before him. Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and is suffering terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. Jesus told the Father to bring the boy to him. Then Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment." When an evil spirit is in manifestation and forced to leave, the healing is sometimes immediate because the cause has been eliminated. Not every sickness or disease is a demon. However, every evil thing in every particular case is always the work of the enemy in some form. After all, he started it. How do we know? Jesus told us in John 10:10, "the thief has come to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they might have life and have it to the full." As we seek the Lord for our path to healing, he may reveal that the illness is due to an evil spirit manifesting. We do not have the time today to investigate the subject of demonology here, but there is a wealth of information that is readily available. The gold standard, in my view, is elucidated in the work and ministry of Derek Prince. Although he has gone home to be with the Lord, he left a rich legacy of material in books, YouTube videos, sermons, and articles that articulate the strongholds and strategies of demons and how to identify, locate, and eradicate them. His intellectual, dispassionate, and logical approach to the subject adds exceptional credibility to his body of work. So our objective in all of this should be to earnestly seek answers in God's word. And the starting place for all of us is

Salvation Prayer And Next Steps

Lynne 23:04

to know Jesus. Have you received the free gift of salvation through Jesus? Paul says in Romans 6:23, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord. All it takes is the prayer of faith. Will you pray with me right now and mean it in your heart? Heavenly Father, I come to you as a sinner who needs a savior. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins. I believe he rose again on the third day. Jesus, come into my heart, forgive me my sins, and make me brand new. I confess you as my Lord and Savior. Amen. If you prayed that prayer, let us know. LynneLittle Ministries @ gmail.com. May God richly bless you this week. Thank you so much for listening. Lynnlittle Ministries is a 501c3 whose mission is to assist those who have suffered loss and to help them discover hope, peace, and restoration. For books, resources, or to make a tax deductible donation, go to lynlittle.org.