How to Receive Healing

By Dr. Bill Bailey (February 2003)

The Bible says in Acts 10:38, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him." Note several truths here... Jesus did good, and healed. Therefore, healing is good! And notice that the devil is credited with oppressing with sickness, and Jesus is credited with healing. The devil is bad, Jesus is good. That seems like a real simple truth, doesn't it? But, it seems that many "theologians" haven't understood this basic principle! Jesus is the healer, healing is good, Jesus does good, and heals! Satan is evil, sickness is bad, satan does evil and makes people sick. Simple direct truth, yet heavy revelation for many! In James Chapter One, it seems that James, Jesus' half-brother, and pastor of the church in Jerusalem, was concerned that many would fall into error. He states, "Do not err, my beloved brethren: every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17) Simply put, good things come from God, and He does change His mind. He does good, and will always do good. He heals, and will always heal!

In his book, "One Hundred Divine Healing Facts," Dr. T.L. Osborn says, "We are told: 'The Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.' Sickness is part of Satan's works. Christ, in His earthly ministry, always treated sin, diseases and devils the same. They were all hateful in His sight. He rebuked them all. He was manifested to destroy them all."¹ Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, as it says in 1 John 3:8. And He did! When He bore our sin on the cross, He bore our sicknesses as well! "Surely Surely he hath borne our griefs (Hebrew: "sicknesses"), and carried our sorrows (Hebrew: "diseases"): yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:4) And, lest you take issue with the translation of "grief" and "sorrow" from the original Hebrew, let's read the Bible's own commentary on that verse... "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." (Matthew 8:17) Now, ask yourself this question: "If Jesus bore my sickness and disease, why should I have to?" And further, "If God placed my sicknesses and diseases on Jesus (as we have seen He did,) then for me to bear them as well, would be a miscarriage of justice!" God is a just God! He does not require you to bear what he had Jesus bear for you! Healing is for you!

How then, do you partake of this healing? You study to show yourself approved, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth! (2 Timothy 2:15) Be as those in Berea, of whom it was said, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17:11, emphasis mine.) You must study the Word of God with regard to healing, and then act upon what you learn! As James says in Chapter One, Verse Twenty-two, "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." To hear the Word, and not do the Word, leads to self-deception!

It is imperative, then, to "do" the Word of God with regard to healing. The simplest way to "do" the Word, is to speak it; applying it to your life. When you find a scripture that says, "By His stripes we were healed," as in 1 Peter 2:24, you would then say with your mouth, "Father God, I thank You that Jesus bore my sickness, and by His stripes I was healed, therefore, I am healed!" If "we were," then "I am!" Remember, as I mentioned in the article "Jesus, the Healer," we are not denying sicknesses exist... rather we deny their right to exist in our bodies! We confess what we desire to be manifest, not what simply exists in this present moment. For instance, it is a completely different thing for me to say, when symptoms exist in my body, "I am not sick," than to say, "I am the healed of the Lord!" In the first case, it can be argued that I am denying the state of sickness erroneously, while in the latter case, I am simply affirming a higher truth, the truth of God's own powerful Word, which He has exalted even above His own Name! (Psalms 138:2) We must confess that we are the healed of the Lord, in the face of contradictory physical evidence; confident that God watches over His Word to perform it! (Jeremiah 1:12) He will supernaturally manifest His healing power when we speak the truth of His Word, and hold to our covenant. This is what the "woman with the issue of blood" did in the Bible. She knew that she had a covenant of healing with her God. She SAID, "If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole." First she said it, then she acted on on it! And, what happened?" Virtue (Greek: "Dynamic Power") flowed out of Jesus and into her to effect a healing and a cure in her body! (Mark 5:30) And what did Jesus say of her? "Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole." (Matthew 9:20-22)

Applying your faith in God's Word is as simple as confessing God's Word with your mouth! That is how you receive the promises of God's Word... confess and act on them! In other articles, we will expand of these truths in greater detail.

1 Dr. T.L. Osborn, One Hundred Divine Healing Facts, Harrison House Publishers, pages 11 and 12.

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