Whose faith is required for healing the sick?

Whose faith is required for healing the sick?  I am going to discuss some important questions how faith is related to healing the sick.

1. Does the sick person need to have faith to be healed? It is good if he has but it is not always necessary
2. What if the sick person doesn’t have faith can he be healed? Yes he can
3. What if someone else other than the sick person has faith on his behalf – can the sick person still receive healing? Yes he can.
4. Can you heal someone without having faith? NO
5. So whose faith is must to receive healing- the one who minister healing.

Does the sick person need to have faith to be healed?

In the scripture we can see all who were coming to Jesus or his disciples for healing all of them were getting healed.

Jesus healed all sick people who came to Him.

Matthew 8:16-17, Matthew 12:15,  Matthews 14:36 , Luke 6:19 

Jesus healed all who came to him. Scripture says He is the same God yesterday –today-forever….

When the disciples prayed they also healed all. Acts 5:16

In all these examples the common thing is Jesus & his disciples were having faith to heal. It is not necessary that the sick person need to have faith to receive healing. But as a disciple you need to have faith to heal the sick.

1. We see some specific incidents when the sick person was having extraordinary faith-

Jesus heals the woman with the issue of blood.

We also find a woman who reaches out to touch Jesus Christ for healing. She believed if she could touch him, she will be healed. Jesus Christ commended her faith. (Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:34). Here Jesus says- “Your faith has healed you.”

A blind beggar  was healed by Jesus, and he said your faith made you well. Luke 18:42

2. We can see someone else was having faith on behalf of the sick person.

The centurion had faith and he pleaded Jesus for prayer for his sick servant(Matthew 8:13). Jesus healed him by prayer. Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.

A mother approached Jesus for her daughter’s healing.  She was having demonic issues (Matthew,  15:28). Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Jairus approached Jesus for his daughter’s healing. The daughter was dead (Luke 8: 41-42, 49-59) Jesus healed her.

3. There are People got healed without any faith-?

Lazarus was dead he was not having any faith (John 11:44)

The widow of Nain’s son was dead. (Luke 7:11-17) Jesus healed him.

Paul healed a dead man (Acts 20:7-12)

4. Let us see another incident here the disciples were unable to heal a boy.

In Matthew 17, a father brought to the disciples his son who suffered from epilepsy asking them to heal the boy. But they were unable to drive out the demon causing the epilepsy. In great disappointment the father went to look for Jesus, and essentially complained to the Lord. Jesus healed the boy by casting out the evil spirit.

So why did the disciples fail? Remember, the Lord had already given them supernatural power and authority over demons and diseases, clearly something else was missing.

Matthew 17:20 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.

The disciples could not heal the boy because they were not having enough faith. Their faith had to grow, mature, if they wanted to perform these kinds of actions.

Matthew 17:21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Here Lord Jesus said that disciples need to grow their faith by prayer and fasting.

Conclusion:

In conclusion as a disciple of Jesus, you need to have enough faith to pray for the sick. A sick person doesn’t always need faith to receive healing. If a sick person is not getting healed do not get discouraged. You can keep praying and asking God for decrement. Some time healing may start but takes time for complete healing. Do not blame the sick person if he doesn’t have faith.