Question: Must I develop great faith first for God to answer my prayers and heal me?
Answer: God always keeps His promises, and the Bible says He hears the prayers of all people and responds according to His will for their lives. In James 5:16, the apostle Paul writes that prayer is very important:
Confess your sins to one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (New Kings James version)
Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results. (Living Bible version)
Old Testament scriptures reveal the common belief that sickness was a result of a person’s sin, which is not always the case. In the New Testament, Jesus and His disciples healed many people who came to them, both believers and unbelievers, and this healing was meant to authenticate Jesus’ power over disease and even death; this was intended by God to point to Jesus as the Messiah which Israel had been anticipating. In another example, Paul, who God’s Holy Spirit led to write much of the New Testament, wrote that God had chosen not to heal him, even though he prayed numerous times (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). If great faith were required to get answers from God, and Paul didn’t have enough faith to be healed, then how could anyone else receive healing from our God?
Some people today say that it’s God’s will that everyone who prays will be healed, but biblically, this is not true. If it were, then those who prayed would never die. God decides for Himself whether healing is in His plan for someone’s life. Amazingly, when He does heal, God heals directly, with or without our prayers. Many times, He uses the medical profession to help us. Jesus taught His disciples to pray for what God knows is best for the future of everyone:
…your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Luke 11:2
Be assured, God always hears your prayers when you ask for His help. Does He send healing any time that you ask for it? Not everything you ask for fits in with God’s plan for the future He has planned for you and for others. As God had greater purposes to be accomplished through Jesus’ healings, He has greater, eternal purposes for bringing people across your path who are need of healing. Pray for the healing of the sick, but, more importantly, pray for them to become believers, if they are not. Ask God for His ultimate purposes to be accomplished in their lives. God has a track record of answering us in unexpected ways with His great power! Behold, I am the Lord the God of all mankind. Is there anything too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:27
