Is Faith Required for Healing?

Pastor Dan Walker, PhD, MDiv

Introduction

Today we continue our message series called “Jesus Our Healer.” We’re talking about how Jesus can bring wholeness to our lives in every area, including physical healing. My topic for today is the question “Is Faith Required for Healing?” Whenever you talk about healing, someone will negatively talk about “faith healers.”

Everyone once in a while, you will read in the news about some parent who supposedly was believing God to heal a child and didn’t take them to the doctor and something terrible happened. So, let me start off by saying that God heals through many different ways, including through doctors and medicine. As a believer, our faith is in God for healing, as we use every means that God has blessed us with for healing, which includes modern medicine.

So, when someone is sick, pray and go to the doctor. God works through prayer and medicine to bring about healing. As with many controversial topics, people and churches tend to go with extreme positions which are not biblical.

We have already mentioned people who believe that if you have enough faith, God will heal you every time and you won’t even need a doctor. That position is not biblical. It leads to putting all the pressure on a sick person’s faith.

On the other hand, some people take the extreme position where everything depends on God. You pray and whether you get healed or not is totally up to God, your faith plays no role at all. That position is not biblical either.

The biblical truth on healing is somewhere in the middle. As we’ll see today, faith is an important element in healing. Yet, God is also sovereign, and He decides the if, when and how of healing.

Many biblical truths are in tension. In other words, two truths which logically may seem to be contradictory are actually both true. For example, with regard to healing, the Bible teaches that God is sovereign and does whatever He wishes. The Bible also teaches that man has a responsibility to have faith in order to see God heal.

Both truths are true, which causes fits for theologians. The Bible is a practical book and through prayer, God helps us to apply the proper truth at the proper time to the situation we are facing. So, regarding healing, we’re going to see in this series that Jesus is our healer.

He has compassion and wants to heal people and bring glory to God. As our faith grows, He wants to heal many more people than He has in the past right here at and through Life Church. Yet, we don’t live in heaven yet, do we.

There is an aging process, we’re all going to die unless Jesus returns before then. There is sin and Satan in the world, so for reasons we sometimes don’t understand, everyone is not always physically healed. But I believe that God wants us to concentrate not on the exceptions, but on His general will revealed in His Word, that Jesus is our compassionate healer.

Let’s grow in faith for healing with a balanced, biblical view. Today, we’re going to look at another account of Jesus healing someone and learn principles that will help us experience more of God’s healing power.

Come to Jesus

Matthew 8:5 (NIV) When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.

Last Sunday, we looked at Jesus healing a leper, who was an outcast in Jewish society. Today’s account involves a centurion, who was a Roman Gentile. The centurion, who was an officer over about a hundred men, had heard about Jesus’ healing ministry.

So he came to Jesus and asked for healing.

Matthew 8:6 (NIV) "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."

It’s interesting that in this story, the centurion is not asking for healing for himself, but for his servant. The sickness of his servant seems quite serious, as he was paralyzed and in serious pain. The centurion calls Jesus Lord, just as the leper had done in the previous account.

So, how will Jesus respond? Before we go on with the story, let’s remember that Jesus came to do God’s will. Jesus came to show us God’s will.

These stories are not just here to give us ancient history, they are here to teach us about God’s will and how we can receive healing from Him today.

Jesus Is Willing to Heal

Matthew 8:7 (NIV) Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."

Jesus didn’t have a long discussion with the centurion about his servant. He just gave a brief reply, “I will go and heal him.” That was Jesus’ answer when the leper asked for healing as well.

When you come to Jesus and ask for healing, Jesus is willing to heal.

Trusting God While Using Medicine

Now, let’s talk a little more about the relationship between medicine and healing. In Jesus’ day, the doctors could do far less to bring about healing than they can today. So, in the case of the centurion’s servant, most likely the doctors could not help and the centurion came to Jesus for healing.

But we must be careful not to look only to the doctors for healing, as Asa did.

2 Chronicles 16:12–13 (NIV) In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians. … Asa died …

So what should we do when we’re sick? Always pray to God first and ask for His healing, for yourself or someone you know. If the illness is serious, get immediate medical attention, even as you pray.

Even as you receive medical care, pray that God would direct the doctors, cause the medicines to be effective, remove side effects and bring quick and complete healing. Put your trust first and foremost in Jesus as your healer.

Believe in Jesus’ Power

Matthew 8:8 (NIV) The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed."

The centurion was a humble man and deeply respected Jesus. He felt that Jesus did not even have to come to his house. All Jesus needed to do was to speak a word, and the centurion believed that Jesus’ power could heal his servant long-distance.

The centurion believed in Jesus’ power.

Faith Understands Jesus’ Authority

Matthew 8:9–10 (NIV) For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith."

Jesus was astonished at the centurion’s faith, which was greater than that of any Jew. The centurion understood authority and chain of command in the natural realm and applied that understanding to the spiritual realm.

He understood that Jesus was Lord, superior to everyone and everything, including the severe sickness of his servant. When Jesus spoke the word, His authority would cause the sickness to be gone.

That really is the essence of faith, believing that Jesus has authority over all sickness and disease.

Healing Comes Through Faith

Matthew 8:13 (NIV) Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.

Jesus told the centurion that the healing of his servant would be done just as he believed it would. The faith of the centurion was critically important in this healing.

In this case, the centurion’s faith was effective even though he was not the one who was ill. The faith of another person can bring about healing of the sick person.

Mark 6:5–6a (NIV) He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

If faith was not present, even Jesus could not do miraculous healing. Faith is required for healing.

Persisting in Faith When Outcomes Differ

A number of years ago, I was called on to pray for a mother who was pregnant but had begun bleeding and was fearful she would miscarry. We anointed her with oil and prayed for healing, but the bleeding continued and she miscarried.

A year later, the same situation happened during another pregnancy. This time, as we prayed, I sensed faith that God had heard the prayer and that the baby would be born healthy. The bleeding stopped and the baby was born healthy.

What was the difference between the two prayers? I believe the difference was faith. Faith is a gift from God, and we must never give up praying and believing.

Trust Jesus in Everything

Sometimes we think we can handle things and don’t need to bother Jesus with small things. But Jesus wants to help with everything in your life.

Jesus Heals Small Sicknesses

Matthew 8:14–15 (NIV) When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her,
and she got up and began to wait on him.

Jesus healed her with a simple touch. The fever left, she was better, and immediately she got up and began to serve Jesus. Jesus is concerned about and heals the small cases.

Jesus Heals Big Sicknesses

Matthew 8:16 (NIV) When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.

Here we see Jesus’ healing power demonstrated in setting people free from evil spirits and healing the sick. These were serious cases, not just a simple fever.

Many of these people could not come to Jesus on their own, so others brought them. The faith of those who brought them played a role in their healing.

Healing Comes Through the Cross

Matthew 8:17 (NIV) This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."

Matthew quotes from Isaiah 53, a prophecy concerning Jesus and His death on the cross. Jesus’ death not only brings forgiveness of sins, it also makes healing available to those who believe.

Isaiah 53:4–5 (NIV) Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Conclusion

Our message today asked the question, Is Faith Required for Healing? In the story of the centurion’s servant, we see that faith played a vital role in Jesus’ healing power.

Faith is required for healing, whether it is the faith of the sick person, a friend, or the one praying. God is sovereign, yet He calls us to trust Him and believe in His authority.

May we be a church that looks to Jesus first, prays with faith, and trusts Him completely in every situation.

📘 Continue the Journey

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