(Borrowed from a facebook comment I posted last year) May I share a word of encouragement for families who have been praying for healing and not seeing breakthrough or freedom in this area? I feel like so many have been crushed and judged by the harsh words of others in this area..

This passage from Matthew 17 is what has stirred my heart “5 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” Do stop and read this first before I share any of what I have seen, I am such a big believer in the Holy Spirit having at you first and people always second. I put stars next to the brand new thing He showed me. (4th increment down) My apologies, I am not know for brevity but I did try:)

Brothers and Sisters, even if the cream of the crop, the best ofthe best, the most faithful of the faithful human ministers fail to accomplish what Jesus has promised, When every human prayer and effort and intervention has failed…. Don’t lose hope. We can learn so much from this man. He took his son to the best of the best, the apostles themselves and they failed. Why, because of their (the apostles) own unbelief, their sin, their shortfall. Not that of the father, not that of the sick son. But he didn’t give up when man failed, he chose to press in and persist and get into the presence of Jesus. So many have stopped pressing in to Jesus because the failure of man, not the failure of God’s promise or Word. Understandably so, Proverbs 13:12 “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” So many have faced disappointment so many times and it can literally break our hearts and hopes.

I digress for just a moment to address something that commonly happens to those who are sick. I feel like a great injustice, weight has been placed on so many that was never part of God’s heart in the equation. It happened to me too when I had Crohn’s disease and was a baby christian and had only days before I was scheduled for life saving surgery. This well intentioned action of the well-meaning saints burdened me and sent a flood of condemnation my way at a time when my heart needed encouragement. So often some well meaning person says to us, if you only had enough faith you/ your child would be healed. This is not how healing was modelled in scripture. This was God’s best plan and revealed through Jesus Christ, His will. There isn’t a single verse in the New Testament modelling this. What did happen over and over again is that the sick came and were brought to the apostles, those with gifts of healing, to the elders [James 5:14] (like Stephen) and to Jesus, they were ministered to and healed. The Biblical model for healing is for the family or friends of the sick to bring the sick or themselves to the appointed people. {Yes, biblically we can seek God for our own healing and He will heal in response, but it is a much longer and harder and demanding road than almost anyone can pursue on their own.} Luke 11:46 “And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.” But what do we do when the workers aren’t there and the miracle workers are absent or not operating in faith, authority and/or power?

To place the burden of seeking healing for oneself for one’s child is to place a crushing and condemning burden on those least able to carry it. It is cruel. For those who are called to the healing and miracles ministry, we are called to come alongside and minister to them until they are healed. Jesus did not say pray for the sick, He commanded us to “heal the sick” [Matthew 10:8] HUGE difference. I am getting there, but I don’t see everyone that I pray for healed, yet. I know this post can come across as doing just that. It is not that, it is that the workers are just not there right now, and it was never God’s heart to put this on the sick. I am praying all the time as do all the ladies that I pray with that God will raise us up and raise up the workers. We come along side the sick we pray for and we commit to seeing it through with them until they are healed or otherwise released.

Friends, think about the father’s head space in all these things. He has just watched the apostles themselves fail to deliver his son. And here he is in front of Jesus and what comes next. Jesus told him, all you have to do is believe, anything is possible for one who believes.. His answer was “Help me with my unbelief” I think any of us can handle having this kind of faith. It is the faith, and humility that presents our deepest shortfall to our Savior in anticipation that He Himself will fill the void. And He did and still does:) This papa DID have faith. He didn’t get discouraged when people failed but pressed into Jesus. Oh Dear Ones, we are called to Seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness FIRST above all things and then everything else we need will be provided for [Matthew 6:33]. Isn’t it the most wonderful thing that our central goal in life is to live in and abide in His presence, once we are there we have only to reach out and touch the hem of His robe and He has promised that the healing and miracle will flow. [Mark 6:56]

This is the part that was a brand new revelation for me. What we don’t read about often in the Bible are the ones who died on the road travelling to get to where He was ministering. I imagine it would have been really hard on the sick to walk or find someone to carry them the long distances to get to where He was.. Biblically, almost everyone who was healed received in HIs immediate presence and they received it instantly. What we don’t read about is the journey they took to get into His presence. They had to travel on foot for miles in the hopes of catching Him in the last place He was reported to have been seen. I think many still die on the road to getting into His presence, but the risk is far greater to never even try…. for many who set out on this journey do make it and are healed even today. So do what you need to do in the natural etc for where you are at in yuor walk, faith and understanding. But do oh do, hit the road spiritually too to get into and abide in His presence.. Jairus’ daughter died, and if he hadn’t have gone to Jesus, she would have stayed dead. Lazarus would have stayed in the tomb. The ones who sought Jesus or were brought were healed. But the whole time Jesus was ministering here on earth, those that weren’t brought and didn’t seek Him continued to be sick and die, the same as if He wasn’t there at all. The most encouraging part in all this is that Jesus is no longer a moving target. Getting into His presence is no longer a physical journey but a spiritual one, and really is the core and central thing that every Christian is called to do. Come and Follow me, Abide in Me, Live in my Presence, strive to enter into My place of rest.

Two other more scriptures to consider.. It is possible to be in Jesus’ presence and not receive.
John 5:1-15 (the man healed by the pool where all the invalids congregated) is another example when Jesus was present but only one healed.
Mark 5:25-35 ““30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?”

Even though there was a “multitude thronging” Jesus, it was the intent desire and seeking of this one woman out of them all that drew the “virtue out of him”. So we have to not only get into His presence but also press into Him with intent.
So once there, do oh do press in. He has promised I will never fail you, I will never forsake you [Deut 31:6, Romans 4:20-22]. He who has promised is faithful [1 Thessalonians 5:23-24]

You know, we are all called to abide in the Secret place of the Most High, to abide with Him, to KNOW Him. There can be no higher goal, no greater attainment in life than this. He never changes, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. This is what I am just learning how to do and how to live. People will always fail at some point, no person is God, and fall short but we can still always follow the father’s example in the story. As I have been meditating on these verses, it is so clear that Jesus healed them all many, many, many times. My family is on the road seeking Jesus and we won’t stop until we have arrived and set up camp in His presence. Life in Fellowship with Jesus is the pearl of greatest price.[Matthew 13:45-46”

One last little note… Do pray for the elders, apostles and miracles workers, healers to be raised up. Scripture tells us to pray for the workers that are missing from the body [Luke 10;2]. As long as these roles are vacant the church will remain sick [Ephesians 4:11-12] and the workers will not be equipped to do the work we are called to do. Don’t be discouraged if you go to one who God uses to heal and you don’t receive. You showed the same level of faith as the all who received in the Bible did. Be so encourage dear Ones. All of Creation is groaning for things to be made right once again.