This blog is born from some amazing verses found in Luke 8:43-48.

I read those Scriptures many times before but never realized their significance.

This time the light inside of my head went on.

Additionally, the light went on for a SECOND time with an even more powerful revelation. This revealed to me just how awesome God is.

More on that in part two of this blog post below.

Read this blog if you want to find out the surprising way that God sometimes heals His children.

Part One: When We See God Heal the Sick

Let’s look at the encounter of the sick woman and Jesus.

Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.

And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”

When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”

But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”

Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.

And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

-Luke 8:43

Jesus felt power going out of Him. It was healing power.

What was the trigger, the woman touching Him, or her strong faith and desire to be healed?

I firmly believe it was her faith, coupled with the grace of Jesus.

Jesus didn’t say, “I feel someone touching Me, someone who wants to be healed, but they never asked permission so I won’t release My power.”

Her healing was INSTANT.

Her faith in Jesus’ ability to make her well was so strong, her desire to be healed so resolute, that power went out of Christ IMMEDIATELY.

Jesus told her, “Your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

Her passionate faith was the key that unlocked the door to Jesus’ healing power.

And Jesus, full of grace and moved by His compassion for the sick, healed many others as referenced in the Scriptures.

Jesus had such compassion for people that He wouldn’t say no when pressed for healing.

He made the deaf to hear, the blind to see, the lepers to be clean, those with withered limbs to be made whole while ridding others of demons.

He even brought the dead to life, which brings us to they second part of our miraculous journey of understanding just how much Jesus loves us.

Part Two: When We Don’t See God Heal the Sick

Now for the other side of the healing coin.

What about the faithful who fervently pray for healing while at death’s door and are never healed?

Have you ever brought someone to a healing service where they were anointed with oil and prayed over, only for them to be taken to the hospital emergency room later that night?

I have. It’s frustrating.

There has to be a better explanation than, “God chooses whom to heal and whom not to heal.” However, I do think that in itself is a legitimate reason.

I brought my dilemma to Pastor Tuvai, who leads healing services on Sunday nights at Calvary Chapel South Bay.

His answer steered me to my second great discovery in scripture that intersects with the healing of the woman with the issue of blood.

Pastor Tuvai pointed out that, “God is always healing, in many ways, and sometimes not in ways we can see.”

That’s true. We have a narrow-minded view of what healing is all about.

We often limit God’s healings to maladies that we can see, and diseases like cancer we pray to be cured.

However, there are other kinds of healings, including the spiritual healing and cleansing of the mind and the soul that comes from becoming a believer in Christ.

“Sometimes He wants to test our faith,” Pastor Tuvai said. “Or it could be that God wants us to wait.

“Other times, God wants us to let go of our old bodies (‘the old tent’ as Paul refers to the body in 2 Corinthians 5). God wants to give the believer a new body in heaven.”

That new body is God’s “perfect healing.”

When Faith, Belief, and Love Come Together

Our second amazing revelation in this healing story is found in Mark 5: 21-43.

Jesus often spoke in parables to His disciples and crowds alike. Consider the following which is a parable to us from the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was met at the seashore by Jairus, a ruler of a synagogue, urgently imploring Him to come heal his dying 12-year-old daughter.

As He walked with Jairus, He healed the woman with the issue of blood, stopping to talk with her.

At that time, members of Jairus’ household came to tell him his daughter was dead.

Jesus told him, “Do not fear, only believe.”

When they arrived at Jairus’ house, there was much weeping and wailing.

When Jesus entered the home, He said, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.”

Their response was to laugh at Him.

But Jesus took the girl by her hand and said “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”

And she got up and walked.

And what of Lazarus? He was dead FOUR DAYS (read the powerful story in John 11).

Jesus told His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”

But because the disciples thought Jesus meant Lazarus was really sleeping, He bluntly told them, “Lazarus is dead.  And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.”

When He arrived at the tomb, He shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And Lazarus came out, bound in grave clothes.

The Spirit was telling me something here. I get it!

Like Lazarus and the little girl, Jesus brought back to life. Believers who die really are asleep, and they’re awakened by our Lord in heaven in their new resurrected bodies.

If that doesn’t make you want to yell, “Amen,” I don’t know what will.

The statement, “Though we die, we are alive in Christ,” never resonated more profoundly!

How often has Jesus reprimanded us with, “Oh yea of little faith?”

How often has Jesus had to remind us to “have faith and believe?”

I have never been more convinced of God’s miraculous love for us than I am right now.

Jesus Christ is not a religion.

Jesus Christ is not a picture on the wall.

Jesus Christ is not a ceramic figurine on the mantel.

Jesus Christ is LIFE!

He came so that we may have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10), and that means in eternity as well.

Key Takeaway

Now we come full circle. Do we ever die?

In John 11:25-26, Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

To my brothers and sisters who are in great distress over a serious illness, I remind them that in this hurricane of life, it is calmest in the center of the storm.

This is where you will find Jesus and rest for your troubled soul.

To my brothers and sisters I say, fear not! Your God loves you.

Like Jairus, just have faith … and believe.

This Blog Post Is Dedicated to My Brother-In-Law

This blog is dedicated to my brother-in-law, a faithful Christian who held Bible studies, even while afflicted with a painful cancer.

As I watched his condition worsen, I questioned why God would not heal him.

It’s a question that would lead me to a deeper appreciation of God’s love for us, and a greater understanding of His promise of life for the believer.

My brother-in-law went to be with the Lord on Easter weekend while I was finishing this blog.

His suffering on Earth is done. Since he had faith and he did believe, today he is perfectly healed in his resurrected body, glorifying Jesus!