Faith to be Healed

5/23/09
by Rev. Dr. Larry D. Coleman

Faith to be Healed

Periodically, during this walk in “the way,” one must “examine oneself” Galatians 6:4, in order to determine if one yet retains the “faith to be healed.”Acts 14:8-10.

The crippled man in Lystra leaped to his feet and walked, after Paul commanded him to “Stand up straight on your feet.”Acts 14:10.

Beset, buffeted, burdened and afflicted by the cares, demands and duties of this world? Though diseased and injured, do we retain the faith that we can still be healed through Christ? “Or do we look for another?” Matthew 11:3.

Certain preachers have treated this subject with great aplomb. http://www.jimfeeney.org/faithtobehealed.html

I have come to wonder, however, how does one, “a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked,”Acts 14:8, acquire the “faith to be healed?”What process enabled this?

Before David tested his mettle against Goliath, he had already vanquished a lion and a bear. 1 Sam.17:36. So, he had self-confidence: faith in himself, and faith in God, already. But, what precedents, what experiences gave self-confidence: faith in himself or in God, to the congenital cripple? The scripture says “This man heard Paul speaking.”Acts 14:9. And at Paul’s command, “he sprang up and began walking.”Acts 14:10.

Brooding over this subject, I have come to the following conclusions.

First, one must hear about Jesus. This awakens, then strengthens, one’s hope. Second, one must hear from Jesus. That is, receive his “still small voice”1 Kings 19:12, into one’s heart, the domicile of faith. Third, the faithful heart produces obedience. “Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.“ 1 Sam. 15:22. These three steps form the foundation of one’s faith to be healed.

Thus, one woman, with an issue of blood, Luke 8:44, touched the hem of Jesus’garment. And she was healed, as were many other persons who did likewise. Matthew 14:36. In another instance, a lame man picked up his bed and walked, pursuant to Jesus’ command. Luke 5:8-9.

“Since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,”Romans 10:17, healing the deaf and dumb man, who was brought by others to Him to touch and to heal, is among the most remarkable of Jesus’miracles. Mark 7:32-37. Jesus took him aside from the multitude , and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said unto him “Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway, his ears were opened and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plain.”Mark 7:33-35.

I, too, am “astonished beyond measure … “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” Mark 7:37.

In another example a Canaanite woman’s faith in Jesus was sufficient to heal her sick daughter. In one of the most compelling of Biblical colloquies, the following exchange took place: Matt. 15:22-,28:

“And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed. Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us. Then Jesus said to the woman, I was sent only to help God's lost sheep--the people of Israel. But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, Lord, help me! He replied, It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."But she said, Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Dear woman, Jesus said to her, your faith is great. Your request is granted. And her daughter was instantly healed.

One’s faith can facilitate another’s healing, not just one’s own.


If Jesus can open a deaf man’s ears, surely he can open mine. If he can enable speech by one whose tongue is impaired, surely he can do the same for me. “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”Romans 10:10.

Too often, our “deafness” is recurring, and our “muteness”returns. At such times, God’s grace and mercy takes over. “I was found by those who did not seek me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me.” Isaiah 65:1.

This same “grace and mercy”which brought the deaf and dumb man to Jesus in the first place, also leads us back to that healing place, “the place where thy honor dwelleth.”Psalm 28:6. “Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit said the Lord. “ Zechariah 4:6.

Amen.