TOS075 When Healing Is Not Seen (Part 4) —The Lord Healed Them All For audio only PPN
‘When Healing Is Not Seen’ is Part 4 of Jesus Healed Them All with Patti Brunner and discusses barriers to healing. Why does one receive healing and another does not? Why are we healed and then later it comes back? Discern if there is a block to receiving the grace of healing. Negative words of authority—especially our own— affect our healing. Jesus has cut down the major barriers with the cross and his Precious Blood but the hearts of sinners have planted many briars and have placed various stumbling blocks. Our hope is in the Lord, who made heaven and earth! It’s there—not for the taking but for the receiving!
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We ask: “Why wasn’t I healed when I prayed for healing?” and we start to doubt and wonder, “Doesn’t God want me healed?” One of the biggest barriers to healing ministry is the awareness that when we prayed in the past nothing happened. But first remember that Jesus healed everybody who asked him. And secondly, that the only place he limited his miracles was in his home town where the lack of faith kept people from asking for his help. Third, remember that when the disciples failed in their healing ministry, they asked Jesus “Why?” His answer? With just a mustard seed size of faith, Jesus says we could move mountains! Accordingly we must, then, look to our faith in God.
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. I’m Patti Brunner. Today we continue with Part 4 of “The Lord Healed them All.” And discuss barriers to healing When Healing Is Not Seen. We pray and ask God to heal us. We say, “Ok, here I am….heal me.” And sometimes we are healed and sometimes we are not. Why does one receive healing and another does not? You might ask “why is one flower yellow and another pink?” In the Father’s kingdom He has chosen the design of each life. Yet, He allows healing and He provides grace to combat infirmities. You can always ask the Lord for healing. Do not let the apparent lack of healing be a barrier to asking. Faith and love can move mountains. In love we band together to penetrate the barriers
In Mark 11: 22-25 “Jesus answered them, ‘Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea”, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ‘Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.’”
True faith doesn’t deny physical truth; it just refuses to let physical truth dominate spiritual truth. True faith subdues physical truth to the reality of spiritual truth. When you speak God’s words and refuse to let go of them, no mountain the devil builds will stop you anymore. The Lord pours out his blessings upon the people. Indeed He pours out healing, prosperity, love, and joy. As prayer unites our hearts with God as one it is the presence of God that brings the healing. That’s worth repeating: as prayer unites our hearts with God as one it is the presence of God that brings the healing. We are not the healing. God is the Healing. By the power of the Holy Spirit our love allows the grace to enter the heart through surrender of free will. Barriers can be broken or at least penetrated in this way.
It is so important that healing ministers know that Jesus heals. It is helpful if the person receiving prayer also has faith; it is easier for the flow of the anointing of God. But the key is love. There is no barrier strong enough to keep out love and faith united with God’s love. God so loved the world that He sent his only son to lay down his life for us. We can receive that loving salvation in baptism. Healing is a sign of that Salvation. Catholics have little trouble believing that the Sacrament of Baptism brings healing to the soul of each person who receives it from the effects of inherited original sin. We believe we have received salvation through the merits of Christ Jesus. Infirmity and death are overcome by the power of the Name of Jesus. Jesus tells us in the Gospel of “Matthew 18: 19 “Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”
Ok, but what if the person you pray for is not healed? Understand this: the power is the Lord’s and not yours, you should not think it is “up to you” if a person is healed or not. The Lord has not forgotten those who are not healed. He loves them. And their healing awaits them. Certainly in heaven there are no broken legs, no cancer, and no runny noses. But it is ok to examine our lives and discern if there is a blockto receiving the grace of healing now.
What kind of blocks? We have already mentioned lack of faith. Here are some others:
- Sometimes healing is rejected by the person
- Sometimes forgiveness is needed to break the barrier
- Sometimes words of authority block healing
- Sometimes delay is God’s plan for others
- Sometimes non-visible inner healing is a priority
- Sometimes delay is necessary for salvation
- Sometimes need for repentance can block healing
Let me take the infirmity of old football injuries and explore them as an example. Let’s say there is a man who suffers from an old football injury who desires to kneel to honor God but cannot because his knee won’t bend. If the knee is healed he still has the choice whether to bend it before the Lord or not. The Lord sees his heart before and after; it’s the same heart whether there is physical healing or not. Why would he not be healed? His block might be that he wants God to “spend” his grace on others. This rejection is the lack of understanding of God’s truth and his magnitude. The Lord doesn’t have to spend frugally! He will never run out of healing grace.
Now look at the man who uses the football injury to focus only on his pain and on the person who caused the injury—perhaps a player or a coach. His unforgiveness toward them is much more serious than the physical injury. His heart is filled with bitterness. A heart that is filled with bitterness is like a sink that’s clogged. It blocks the grace God pours in. Serious sin does the same thing. Unforgiveness—I want to wait to discuss unforgiveness in the episode on Inner Healing. As you pray with this man, you might feel God’s presence but then be disappointed when he is not physically healed. Hopefully through prayer ministry the presence of God leads him toward forgiveness of those who harmed him. When his heart is filled with forgiveness and the bitterness removed the knee may not bend but the heart is greatly improved. The kingdom has come. Resurrection has won over death.
Perhaps another man constantly tells people that he will never be able to bend that knee. Maybe his doctor told him the same thing. Perhaps his mother used to say, “If you play football you are going to get hurt and never walk again!” Negative words of authority—especially our own— affect our healing. We can choose to break the authority of words in the name of Jesus.
A friend of mine, Msgr. James Mancini, a priest of the Diocese of Little Rock, shared this witness with me at Patriarch House about an old football injury that caused him tremendous pain. He could not lift his leg and he had bone on bone due to damage to cartilage. Prayer for him asked for healing and that his doctor would realize that he was healed by prayer. One of the intercessors was sure that he was healed and was disappointed that his pain remained. The next time he visited his doctor he could barely make it to the examining table. When the doctor asked him how high he could lift his leg, he lifted it straight up. All pain was gone. The x-ray continued to show bone on bone. He was healed by grace. His story shows that sometimes a healing is delayed for the glory of God in the future.
Jesus conquered death. And creation and life are God’s gifts to you. They are good gifts and there is no darkness that is in them except by the effect of sin. The fears of this world are magnified in minds of this generation when there is a lack of true understanding of creation, of life and of death. As ministers of healing we are to help others to work toward acknowledging the need for grace during times of trial. Don’t let fear enter into your prayer. As you pray with constancy the word of the Lord, the word is fulfilled.
When complete healing is not seen, sometimes ‘soaking prayer’ aids in the healing just the way soaking your feet helps remove the calluses; soaking prayer—continual prayer, time after time prayer—softens the barriers for easier removal. The image of an onion is useful. Layers are pulled away a few at a time until we are ready to let go of the root cause of our issue. Sometimes as we pray for people they seem to get immediate relief but the next time you see them the infirmity is just as bad as ever. I have seen cripples healed who quickly walked over to their wheel chairs and sat down and people whose hearing was restored quickly put their hearing aids back in their ears. They quickly doubted God’s healing ability. The God who created the earth can do anything. Why are we healed and then later it comes back? There is a saying: “If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got.” What is the root cause of the infirmity? Sometimes pain is a warning signal that something is wrong. If we don’t repair or heal the issue causing the pain it may return. If we return to bitterness or to alcohol abuse, our body will again show the effects. As time goes on, some of the healings lose their ‘shine’ because those healed have not returned with praise and thanksgiving to the Father. Always glorify the name of Jesus, lifting his Glory to the Father.
Need for repentance can block healing. An exorcist priest shared a story with us about a non-Catholic he prayed with over and over with no healing from demonic possession. He just could not understand it. Then through another interview the man finally admitted to the priest that he was living in a sinful situation with no desire or intention to change (repent). Jesus gave us the sacrament of Reconciliation because he knows we are weak. A sin that can’t be forgiven in the confessional is the one that is never confessed.
The grace given to the ages is sufficient for all needs. The lack is not in the desire of the Lord. The lack is in the hearts of men when turn their face toward darkness; when they turn their minds from faith to that which they can see and touch. Blessed are they who do not see yet believe! Healing ministers continue to reach out to all who call upon the Lord. God answers them as they hope in him. Reach out with the blessing of the Church so that the blind see, the lame walk and the sick are made whole. These are the signs of the believers. The enemy is then cast down from his perch upon the back of God’s beloved people.
Believers loosen the chains as the shackles are removed by the salvation of the Lord manifested within their very soul. The chains will dissolve – sometimes slowly – as the heart changes to accept the fullness of Christ. This is a very delicate time. The ‘patient’ can be ‘comfortable’ in the chains because of habit or because of exterior forces or because of certain ways of thinking. The enemy will fight all impulse to break totally free. Help the hurting by filling their hearts and minds with truth. Seek the Word of the Lord. Affirm God’s love for them. Show them the open door of repentance. Intercession is a beginning, a step upon the path. Each man must eventually walk the path of his own free choice.
Jesus has cut down the major barriers with the cross and his Precious Blood but the hearts of sinners have planted many briars and have placed various stumbling blocks. None of these can truly keep you from the fullness of the Kingdom of God. The grace of God can melt any obstacle like ice melting as the sun shines upon it. The Lord has sent many saints and angels to tread on the path so that it is clearly marked and they will comfort you as you travel. Even though you walk on your own you are not alone. The Lord is with you! Like in the Book of Tobit, His angels minister unto you, too.
The difficulty lies in lack of knowledge of truth. The truth will set you free. Whether this one or that one is made ‘physically whole’ is not the goal of the kingdom. Truly, physical healing is available to his people. However, the goal of the kingdom is the unity of the people with their God. Sadness, suffering, infirmity, can lead some toward God and others away from him. The Lord’s desire is for joy, peace and fullness of mercy in the lives of the people. The Lord provides all the grace that is needed for the fullness of the kingdom to be attained.
People do not seek, thus they do not find. Send them to Jesus. Those who have ears, let them hear, those that have eyes, let them see. But remember that many saw and heard the works and words of Jesus and they chose to crucify Him. It is a major problem when people turn inward instead of towards God. They are their own god. People in despair give up and become lost. But if they seek healing they are seeking the Lord even if they don’t realize it. Let me say that again. When we seek healing we are seeking the Lord. The Lord has promised us if we seek we will find. Jeremiah 29:13-14a “When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord…” Jesus says: Matthew 7:7 ” ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.”
Here is a surprise for you. Barriers can even be formed by praying! A barrier can arise when we pray with judgment. Praying with judgment can limit the will of God. In Romans 14: 13 Paul says, “Let us therefore no longer pass judgement on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling-block or hindrance in the way of another.” It is so easy to slip into judgment when we pray for someone who has a few faults. If you are filled with dreadful thoughts about a person, or their healing, how can you pray with power? Your feelings mold your prayers. We start praying our own will instead of praying with deep love for the person who needs healing. What do we do about this? Choose to empty out self. Empty out all prior judgments about condition and choose to become a clean slate, a clean slate upon which the Lord shall write healing and then it shall be accepted.
One time I was praying for a young couple who both had pain in their legs. Instead of her husband, the woman mentioned the man was her boyfriend then proceeded to tell me that her pain interferes with taking care of their baby. As I prayed for him I must say I was deeply challenged to pray with no judgment but only love. The strangest thing was that the Lord gave a very strong anointing and a bold word that he was calling this man to be an evangelizer and that he would impact many lives. The man was deeply touched and accepted the word. God looks at the heart in a way that we cannot. Do not let personal judgment block God’s grace.
Until the forces of evil are defeated once and for all the enemy continues to lace the heart with half-truths, with deeds that destroy and a call to judgment without mercy. As in your heart you think so does the eminent drain of strength happen when the negative, the callous, the dire, the destructive thoughts also mold the range of emotional prayers. Emotional prayers, in and of themselves, are not bad. In fact, prayers with emotions attached can be very powerful. The discerning prayer warrior always looks for the attachment of love not judgment in praying for others with others. As the continuing range of emotions are affected by life’s experiences so too are your prayers.
Hope in the Lord overcomes barriers. He gives us tools and ways to overcome specific barriers. We turn to prayer in hope. We know that there are barriers in receiving healing. We turn to the Lord in hope that our will is aligned with the will of God and that his will be done when we surrender our own will to his. Our hope is in the Lord, who made heaven and earth! It’s there—not for the taking but for the receiving! Just know this for now: The Lord has destroyed death and restored life. His name is above all names. Jesus is Lord over heaven and earth, and there is nothing beyond him.
Through faith, hope and Love and in the name of Jesus you shall do mighty deeds. Together with Jesus you will release the people from the name of infirmity. Together with Jesus you will release the people from hatred. Together with Jesus you will release the people from each barrier, including lack of faith and trust.
Today’s broadcast is taken from my book, “The Lord Healed Them All.” And the scriptures are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible. I invite you to subscribe to my podcast on audio or YouTube. It’s free and it makes it easier for you to come back next time for part five, “Healing Beyond Skin Deep (Inner Healing)”. Because remember, there’s more; with the Holy Spirit, there is always more!
