Jesus settled the crucial issue of whether or not it was God’s will to heal by answering the leper with one short, simple declaration. “I am willing,” He said, “be cleansed.”
Don’t you love that? Aren’t you glad that Jesus didn’t give that man a list of 22 reasons why it might not be God’s will to heal him? Aren’t you glad He didn’t say, “Well, let me pray about it. Sometimes God uses sickness to teach people things and if that’s the case, I’ll have to leave that leprosy on you for a while.”
No, Jesus never said that to anybody! In His entire ministry, even though thousands upon thousands came to Him to receive healing, He never once refused to heal anyone. He never one time told somebody that it wasn’t God’s will for them to be well. On the contrary, again and again, He healed all who were sick.
Jesus so consistently proclaimed and demonstrated healing when He was on earth that we as Christians today have absolutely no warrant for accepting a Jesus who does not heal the sick. There is no such Jesus in the Bible. I realize some people (good, Christian people) don’t understand that. I know there are some very fine believers who actually teach that sickness can be a blessing of God. But those people, well-meaning as they may be, are wrong.
Sickness is never God’s will for His people. If it was, He would have put some sickness in the Garden of Eden before the Fall. When He made Adam and Eve, He would have put some cancer or leprosy on them to bless them and make things better.
Did He do that?
Certainly not!
No sound-minded believer can even imagine such a thing. How could God make man in His image, put him in a beautiful garden, supply him with everything good, and then turn around and destroy him with some foul disease? How could the same God who created him so perfectly, twist him and sicken him, and then step back and say, “‘This is good!”
He couldn’t. It’s impossible. There’s nothing good about cancer. There’s nothing good about leprosy or any other kind of sickness or disease. Those who claim God uses such things to make people holy and develop their character do not have one single scripture to back up those claims.
When we look in the Bible, we can’t find even one half of a verse that says it’s God’s will for us to be sick. What we find is scripture after scripture that promises us healing. What we find is Jesus doing the will of the Father and healing every person who comes to Him.
We find Him saying to all of us the same thing He said to the leper when he asked Jesus if He would heal him: “Of course, I will! Be healed!”
Scripture Reading: Luke 7:1 – 23
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”