I’m struggling, Lord, to understand what
You say about healing.
Some passages seem to say that we should expect
healing and health as part of Your provision.
Other passages indicate that suffering, hardship, even illness
may be brought, or at least allowed by You,
and if we are not healed,
we should accept and receive that from Your hand with
thanksgiving.
How can we fit these truths together so that
we are not tossed back and forth with no sure footing
from which to pray?
More than one thing is true, My child. There is much truth that must be held in balance and tension with a seemingly contradictory truth. I have provided for your entire redemption, spirit, soul, and body. You understand that you are presently seated in heavenly places with Me, even though your address is a physical location on a fallen earth. You accept that paradox by faith and with full confidence that the day will come when there is no longer the discord, but only the fulfillment. You believe with all your heart that you are a vessel and filled with My Holy Spirit who can live My life through you, yet you are very aware of your own sin nature and tendencies that wage war against My life and create havoc where I would rule in peace. You look forward to the day when this conflict is no more and you are completely free of all that I free you from. Again, more than one thing is true.
In the same way, I have provided healing, life, and wholeness for your body. You are (present tense) healed by My stripes. That is the truth. Also, the outer body is decaying, weakening, aging, and can be prone to ailments. Even as that happens, the spirit and soul are being renewed day by day. Any affliction is light and temporary compared with the weighty and eternal glory it produces, and that is where you must focus, seeing the eternal rather than the immediate. I have provided far more than this earthly body, and only when it surrenders in death will the complete fulfillment of My promises be realized beyond all you can imagine.
Nothing can disqualify you from My care. Receive medical help and relief where I lead, trusting My Spirit to provide all that you need for your body, and recognizing help as a gift from Me.
Will I heal your body in this life? That is not the question. I heal you every day because My mercies are new every morning. Every moment I provide everything you need for spirit, soul, and body. Renewal is a constant flow of My life and provision. Even if you must deal with the realities of weakness every day for the rest of your life, I want your eyes fixed on My provision, so that you can walk in your eternal reality over your present condition. You are to walk by faith, not by sight. That is true healing in this life. Always rejoicing, always giving thanks, always trusting, always confident that I hear your prayers and I renew your strength day by day.
Never stop asking, seeking, and knocking for what you need. Pray with perseverance, knowing that I hear you and love you. You will receive, you will find, and the door will open as you seek Me, for Myself. The more you pray, the better you understand your own needs and find that only I can meet them. Prayer is not an opportunity for you to make demands, rather it is an avenue that leads you into the infinite depth of My heart and will. The better you come to know Me in prayer, the more your prayers align with My will. You will find no contradiction in asking (as My Son did) for a specific outcome and at the same time praying, “Thy will be done.” Expectation and acceptance do not exclude each other, but are both necessary elements of a great faith that accomplishes much. More than one thing is true.
Continue to pray for the healing of others with great confidence that I hear and answer your prayers, not because you see it in your body, but because you know who I AM. I have called you to this ministry, and I will be faithful to carry it out. It is in these paradoxes of faith that you learn how to hear My heart for each situation and learn how to apply My word. I love it when you listen to Me.
1 Thessalonians 5:23; Ephesians 2:4-7; 2 Peter 1:3-4; Romans 7:22-8:6; Isaiah 53:5;
2 Corinthians 4:16-5:9; Romans 8:10-15; Lamentations 3:19-25;
1 Thessalonians 5:17-18; Matthew 26:39; James 5:13-16; Jeremiah 33:3
His Unfolding Grace 