Faith & Healing – Through God’s Word
Posted on February 7, 2009
Filed Under Healing
Hearing God’s word with an open heart builds faith in one’s soul and spirit that releases the Spirit of God to work and heal, thus bringing about the fulfillment of that word.
In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. – Acts. 14:8
There was this man in Lystra that was a cripple that received his healing after Paul’s ministry. The question is under what circumstances did this man receive his healing and what can we learn from this to apply to our own lives? Let’s take a look at the sequence of events.
1. This man listened to Paul – Paul was preaching the gospel and in this preaching there must have been something that struck faith in the man’s spirit. . . .was it that Paul was preaching that Jesus’ healed?
2. Paul saw that he had faith - What did Paul see? How can you see faith? There was apparently a response in this man that Paul saw during his sharing that caused his to be able to see his faith. Was the look in his eyes, was it his body posture?
3. Paul commands healing - Paul engaged the man after he saw that he had faith and the command went out. There comes a point of contact in our faith where the command is released and faith is spoken. This connection did something in the man and faith was engaged and healing began to work.
4. The man responded and walked - the man responded to Paul’s command and leaped up. This is the response of faith. Faith will take a step when it is contrary to our past history, feelings, and current environment. This man transended his current limitations and pressed the faith that was springing up in his heart.
Thus we have the some basic principles of how healing was wrought in this man at Lystra. For us today, we can learn to place ourselves under the teaching of God’s word adn allow faith to increase in our heart . . . and then be willing to take a step out . . . . and stand