“Lazarus, come forth.” – Jesus Christ
One of the common questions I get asked about healing is the idea that the sick person requires their own faith to be healed. Of course if that was scripturally true, Lazarus would have been out of Luck being dead and all. Also that would rule out the people who are in comas, those with mental disorders and not to mention infant children from being candidates for healing.
People who preach that the sick person needs faith to be healed, are usually looking for an excuse for why the healing didn’t manifest, and they end up blaming the sick person. That’s wrong. When the Disciples of Jesus failed to cast out the demon of Epilepsy from the boy, Jesus didn’t blame the boy, he blamed the disciples and their unbelief. (Matthew 17: 14-20) Similarly, the commission of healing the sick, casting out devils and preaching the Gospel has been given to Men, and obviously God is not going to send us to do a job unless he knew we already had everything we needed to get it done.
Now, I’m not discounting the sick person’s faith, as both Jesus and Paul acknowledged persons who had faith for their healing. (Matthew 9:29, Acts 14:9) Generally speaking, if a person has faith for themselves, they don’t usually come for additional prayer. The point I am making is that their faith is not necessary for their healing, they can be healed on the person praying’s faith. In my personal experience, it is better that when they do come for prayer, that they don’t pray, but relax and allow the other person to pray.
Mark 16:17-18 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Healing is categorized as a sign for the unbelievers. So if an unbeliever can be healed as an evangelistic sign, it is clearly not necessary for the individual being prayed for to have their own faith. Generally people do not question the existence of God after they have been healed. They may not like it, but its hard to get over.
The reason a person is healed, is because of the Stripes of Jesus Christ, which is an unchanging fact of history. God wants that healing manifested, even more than we do. For when a person accepts sickness it means that Jesus was whipped in vain. We, his believers, by faith in his finished Work are called upon to heal the sick, it doesn’t lay any responsibility on the sick person. Believers will lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (Mark 16:18) That verses says nothing about their faith or anything else, there is just the believer and the sick person, and that’s all you need for a miracle.
I really like this. Very clean and simple. Too many times I hear people trying to put healing into a single box but there is more than one way to see it come to past.