God hasn't healed me yet - now what? - Luke 18:1-8

God hasn't healed me yet - now what?

March 9, 2014

Luke 18:1-8

INTRODUCTION

- Sometimes we pray for something from God and it is as though God has not responded

- Sometimes a person has a serious illness, has called for the elders of the church repeatedly, and has still not been healed

- Does this mean God does not want to heal?

- Does it mean this is something he does not want to get involved with?

- Does this mean we just have to go on suffering?

WHAT DOES GOD TELL US TO DO?

- 1. Go to the elders of the church and be prayed for

- James 5:14-16

- How often do we do this?

- We get sick and just live with the consequences

- We think because we are not complaining to God, we are doing ok

- But actually we have not been obedient to this instruction

- How can we expect God to heal if we are not obedient to his instructions?

- We explain this by saying, I didn't want to bother the minister

- Or, Pastor always seems so busy

- The fact of the matter is, we did not do what he said to do

- Why is this so important?

- It takes a certain humbling of ourselves, to submit and do things God's way

- We have heard the story about Naaman who came to Elijah for healing from Leprosy - 2 Kings 5

- He was told to go and wash in the Jordan river 7 times

- His reaction was, why do I need to do that, I want things to be done my way

- When he humbled himself and was obedient, he was healed

- 2. Pray in faith

- When we receive prayer, we expect the minister to pray in faith

- But where is our own faith at?

- Are we believing that Jesus will heal us?

- Time and time again, Jesus says healing is dependent on our faith - Mat 9:2, 22, 29, 15:28, Mark 2:5, 5:34, 10:52, Luke 5:20, 7:50, 8:48, 17:19, 18:42

- We are told, The just shall live by faith - Heb 10:38 (whole verse)

- God desires people to come to him, trusting him

- He does not appreciate people coming to him half-heartedly

BUT SOMETIMES WE ARE OBEDIENT, YET NOT HEALED

- Sometimes we go for prayer, and nothing seems to have happened

- How should we deal with this?

- Luke 18:1-8

- Here is a person who has an issue, and Jesus relates it to our prayer life

- What if God does not respond immediately?

- Keep on praying in faith

- Don't think, I guess God doesn't like me

- Don't think, He doesn't want to heal me

- Just keep on praying

- Sometimes God is testing us to see how obedient, and how full of faith we are

- Abraham was told to go and sacrifice his son Isaac - Gen 22

- It was a journey of 3 days, plenty of time to think about it

- God then says, Now I know you fear me and have not withheld your only son - v.12

- 1 Pet 3:9 trial of your faith

BE OBEDIENT AND TRUSTING EVEN IF GOD DOES NOT HEAL

- Dan 3:17-18

- Being faithful even when things do not go our way shows that we are allowing God to be in charge

- We are entrusting our lives to him

- Not every disease will be healed in this life

- But we do know that when we stand before Jesus, we will no longer experience sickness, pain and death any more

- Because we are now with Jesus, for ever more

CONCLUSION

- If we have not yet been healed, ask self why it is

- God is faithful

- Be obedient to God's instructions, to ask for anointing

- Pray in faith, expecting results

- Continue praying in faith, God is listening

- Finally, allow God to do things his own way, not having to fit our personal agenda