Why Your Faith is Needed to Receive Healing.

Hi, I'm Christine Miller and I want to welcome you to today's episode. We have another wonderful teaching for you today along the lines of God's divine healing. You know, I have great news for you today. God wants you well. He wants you to live your life completely healed. Maybe you've heard me say that again and again, but faith doesn't come by having heard. It comes by hearing and hearing and hearing. We want to make sure you hear plenty of what God says about healing. So we know this God sent Jesus to pay the price for our sins, but he's also paid the price for our sicknesses and our diseases and he's given it to us. So really from God's perspective, healing is our present possession. It's not something we're trying to get. You know, sometimes we just have to make a slight mental adjustment and then healing flows freely into our body. So today I just want you to know it's your present possession. However, it can only become a reality in your life if you receive it by faith. Now here's the important thing about faith. God tells us in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse six, without faith, it's impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is. In other words, first we have to believe he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So God's a rewarder. He wants to reward us with what the word says, but it comes through diligent seeking. You know, faith is not something that just drops on you out of the sky. Faith comes intentionally. It comes deliberately. It comes by spending time in the word of God. And so the reason why God is saying it's impossible to please him without faith is because it requires faith to receive anything that his word promises us. And you know something? God wants you to receive what he promises. The Bible says God is love. We know this about love. Love gives. John 3.16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And I want you to know there is nothing more that he could give than his son. That's the greatest gift of all. But not only does love give, but love actually wants what he's giving to be received. So you see, when we don't receive his gifts, we rob God of pleasure. He takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servant, but he also takes pleasure in the health and healing of his servant. And so God wants us to have faith. Now, if God demands that we have faith, but we have no way to obtain it, then we would say, God, you're unjust. But thank God, not only does he want us to have faith, not only does he require faith, but he's given us the means whereby we can obtain this faith. And so we're going to look at that today. Let's look at Romans chapter 10 and verse 8. This is foundational teaching, so stay tuned for some good news. Romans chapter 10 and verse 8 says, but what does it say? It says the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. Notice mouth and heart, mouth and heart. That is the word of faith, which we preach. That if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Now it's important for us to point out that salvation is a word that means more than just freed from eternity in hell. Salvation also means healing, preservation, wholeness, soundness. So when he is saying here, it's a heart and mouth issue. When you speak with your mouth, which you believe in your heart, you will receive these things that salvation encompasses. And then verse 13 goes on to say this, for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, shall be healed. Remember, we're diligently seeking him. We're calling upon his name. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? That's a good question. And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? Another good question. And how shall they hear without a preacher? Now certainly this means preachers that are called to preach. But did you know every believer in Jesus is called to give the gospel message to other people around them? And the gospel message is not just Jesus died for your sins, but Jesus took stripes for your diseases. And so we need a preacher. That's why I'm preaching to you today. And then verse 17 says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We see a very important truth here that people are saved and people are healed by hearing words. Words must be taught. Words must be preached. Words must be spoken. So we're going to look at two passages in the New Testament that validate this point that people are healed by words, not just saved from sin by words. In Acts chapter 14, verse seven, we have the story of the apostle Paul and it says, when they were preaching the gospel there in Lystra, a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a man who was a cripple from his mother's womb, meaning from birth, this man had never walked. And this man heard Paul speaking and 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 the man leaped and walked. So do you know that Paul's not the one that healed this man? Some people say, oh, Paul, he had such a powerful ministry. He healed that man. But no, the scriptures say that the man himself had faith to be healed. Now, what are we talking about today? We're talking about faith for healing. Healing is our present possession, but we won't have it manifesting in our bodies without faith. So we see here that the man himself had faith to be healed. Now, Paul did three things. First of all, he preached the gospel. Secondly, he perceived that the man had faith to be healed. And third, he told the man, stand up and walk. In other words, he convinced him to act on his faith. So he didn't just preach the gospel of salvation because the man could not have had faith to be healed if he only heard, your sins are forgiven you. I just want you to see that point. Now, we see the man did three things. He heard Paul preach, so he had to hear words. He had faith to be healed. The faith came from the hearing. And he leaped and walked. He acted on it. Do you know today as you're hearing me preach, faith is coming for healing. And if you'll act on it, you can be free of your sickness and disease as well. Where did this man get the faith to be healed? This is elementary. He got it by hearing Paul speak. He got it through hearing the word of God. See, today, I could just give you my words. That won't profit you anything. But if I'm giving you what God says about something, you can believe that it's true and God will do it for you. So we know that Paul had to have preached a gospel that was not just forgiveness of sins, but healing of diseases. We know this also that Paul said this in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16. He said, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. See, believe and faith, they're the same thing. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. So again, the Greek and Hebrew words for salvation imply the idea of salvation, deliverance, safety, healing, wholeness, preservation. All of those are encompassed in that word salvation. Aren't you glad? God is so good. So the gospel is the power of God unto healing and soundness. Paul preached the full gospel, not just part of it. And we endeavor to do that here as well. Now here's another great passage in Acts chapter 8, verses five through eight. It says, then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord, he did the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles, which he did. So again, they heard what he was saying, and then they saw the miracles. For unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city. I'll tell you, if you find a church that has healing and miracles, you get a city where there are healing and miracles, and there will be great joy in that place. Or there should be anyway, because we should be thrilled that people are receiving healing and receiving miracles. So again, the great miracles that came about in this passage were the results of Philip's preaching Christ. Do you know the new Testament does not know a Christ without Christ, the healer, Jesus Christ is a healer. You know, even as a child, I was raised in a denominational church and I used to daydream about Jesus. And I would think to myself, wouldn't it be wonderful if Jesus could be here today, healing people like he was 2000 ish years ago. And you know, when I got into college, somebody told me Jesus was still healing people and I was ready to hear it. You know, God is a way of putting things in your heart when you're young. And then when the time comes, the seed comes to life by the hearing. And I'll tell you what, Jesus has always been a healer, not just when he came, but he healed before he came to earth. You know, there are scriptures about healing in the old covenant. He healed while he was on earth. He heals today and he will heal all the way through eternity. There are actually trees in heaven that have leaves of healing. So healing is part of God's plan for his people. Amen. There are always going to be so-called religious experts though, who are going to try to tell you that healing has been done away with. And I want you to know healing has not been done away with, but let's just carry that a step further. Have you ever heard anyone say or ever read anywhere in the New Testament that faith has been done away with? Absolutely not. Faith has not been done away with. And we saw from the teachings earlier about the man that was crippled from his mother's womb, that he had faith to be healed. So faith hasn't been done away with. It was his faith that made him whole. Amen. You know, you never have, and you never will hear that faith has been done away with. And so that's good news for us. We can still receive God's promises. And I want you to know it's too late to tell someone like me that it's been done away with because I've been receiving healing for myself and for my family for decades now. As a matter of fact, I've been very blessed in my life. I've never received a serious diagnosis and I give the glory to God for that. But if I had been diagnosed with something serious, I would know just how to deal with it. But I do have some quirky things that come up from time to time. And I just want to share this with you to help you because maybe you're like me. Maybe you don't have a serious diagnosis, but you just have irritants going on in your life. And so I've had, as I've aged, I've had certain things come up like high cholesterol. One time my TSH level started rising, which is a thyroid hormone. One time my knees tried to act up when I would be walking or being active. And the way that I approached that was I believe healing is my present possession. Yes, the blood test showed this result, but I believe God's word is a higher authority. And so I would stand against those things. I would do what I had to do, but I would stand against those things by daily saying, thank you, Father, that my cholesterol is normal. Thank you, Father, that my TSH level is normal. I thank you that my knees are completely healed and they function perfectly. And every day throughout the day, whenever I thought about it, I would say those things. And you know something, I used my faith to change every one of those things. My cholesterol came down 35 points. My TSH level came down within the normal range, and that was without the medication and my knees are fine. So I just want you to know, it's too late to say healing's not for today because healing's already working. It's working in my life. It works in the people that come to our church. It works in our family, and it'll work for you too, because God is not a respecter of persons. I can confidently command my body to be normal because faith came when I heard God's word. And here's one of the scriptures that I like to stand on, and I want to just leave the scripture with you today. In Psalm 103, verses two and three, it says, Notice it doesn't just say some. And I want you to know, friend, that means you. God wants you well today. And I hope that today's message at least gives you some information or some revelation that will help you to believe God, because you too can have faith for healing. And also, I would encourage you to go back and watch previous episodes along the lines of healing. We have many videos on the subject of healing for your benefit, because faith comes by hearing and hearing, and God really wants you well. That's why we're doing this, because we want to relay the heart of our Father to you. So we pray today that you're blessed by this message, and if you are, please remember to like and share this message with others, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Until next time, we want to remind you that God has a great plan for your life, and it's so much bigger than you know. God bless you.