Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.
(3 John 2)
Can We Lose Our Healing?
The goal of humanity is to be healthy. When we are not healthy, when we have an infirmity, we seek healing. Most times in the technological world we seek healing through modern medicine and science. This is perfectly legitimate. Many also seek healing through prayer. The New Testament has many stories of divine healing taking place. It is interesting to note however that stories of people losing their healing once it has occurred are not evident.
Acts 10:38 …and Jesus went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.
Notice this scripture does not say that Jesus went about re-healing all who were oppressed by the devil. There are many well-meaning people who get so worried about the possibility of losing their healing that they lose their focus on Jesus. Put very simply, if Jesus heals you then you are healed. Why then are there so many stories of people leaving healing services or healing prayer sessions with an absence of symptoms, only to have the very same symptoms reappear later?
Perhaps the most logical answer to this question is that they were never truly healed in the first place. The human mind is a very powerful thing and is quite capable of suppressing even symptoms that are quite severe in nature, especially in an atmosphere of excitement. The other answer is spiritual in nature which the rest of this section will deal with.
Satan Wants To Steal Your Healing
John 10:10 Satan comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
We have learned that sickness and infirmity is often an oppression of the devil as stated in Acts 10:38 that Jesus went about healing all who were oppressed by the devil. Remember, it is the devil’s role to kill, steal, and destroy. When healing has been received, Satan and his demons often employ another of their characteristics, that of a liar.
John 8:44 He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
The devil inflicts us with infirmity and does not like it when God’s Word brings healing and destroys his work. The devil may then try to reestablish his infliction by stealing the truth of the Word from us.
Matthew 13:19 When anyone hears the Word of the kingdom, and does not understand that the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.
The enemy wants to steal the Word and make us doubt that healing was really received. Satan knows that the Word of God is more powerful than his work … sickness and infirmity, so he tries to steal and destroy the Word before it gets firmly rooted. Only seed that is rooted can produce a harvest.
Matthew 13:20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.
21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
The Word Firmly Rooted In Good Soil
When we receive the Word on healing, are prayed for, and healing takes place, we receive it with joy, but it must become firmly rooted in us because the devil may try to inflict us with the very same symptoms to change our minds. In terms of our topic on healing, Matthew 13:21 says that, if we begin to feel our symptoms again, we begin to doubt the Word of God and then fall away. This is why it is so important to have healing scriptures to build up your own faith and the faith of those you will pray for. It is also one of the main reasons scripture is used so heavily in these lessons … the seed of the Word must be planted and firmly rooted.
The devil will once again bring the symptoms of the sickness to try to convince us that we are not healed. This is a lie and is meant to be something that comes against you to change your mind. If the devil can cause us to look at symptoms instead of God’s promise, he can convince us to believe his lie. When we focus on the symptoms, pain or whatever it is, doubt and unbelief come to our mind and this gives entrance for fear to re-establish the sickness. How does this happen? Science has shown clearly that our brains are able to cause us to have symptoms of an infirmity and, in believing these false symptoms, end up getting the actual infirmity or sickness. This is called psychosomatic illness and my very well be an oppression by the devil. To counter this, we must keep our heart and mind fixed upon God and His promise.
Isaiah 26:3 I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon me.
Lying Vanities
Jonah is an example of fighting against Satan’s lies. In the Book of Jonah it is called a lying vanity. Jonah was swallowed by the whale and was in the whale’s belly for three days and nights, yet he did not give up on God and God’s promise.
Jonah 2:8-9 Those who regard lying vanities forsake their faithfulness, but I will sacrifice to thee with the voice of thanksgiving.
Jonah decided not to believe a lying vanity, but to trust God and God delivered him out of his circumstance. Had Jonah believed the lie, he would have lost his faith and not received deliverance.
How can we expect God to deliver us if we go by what the devil does rather than trust God? So when the symptoms return, we must set our faith in God and His Word and tell the enemy, no matter what, we are not going to believe his lies.
James 4:7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and He will flee from you.
Some Testimonies
WORD OF WARNING: This sounds so simple, just trust God’s Word regardless of what is seen of felt. However, symptoms are real, pain is real, and these are not things that people imagine. DO NOT tell people they lack faith if their symptoms continue. DO NOT tell people they are full of sin if their symptoms continue. DO NOT allow people to believe something is wrong with them if their symptoms fail to disappear or if their symptoms return. Some times it can be a very difficult battle to maintain your healing. Consider the following testimonies:
Testimony 1: An elderly woman had much pain in her hips and often had trouble walking because of the pain. She went to a healing service and noticed that all symptoms had ceased as she was walking back to the bus stop. For the next couple of weeks she was completely symptom free, there was no pain and she had more range of motion in her hips and legs than she had for several years. After about three weeks she noticed symptoms starting to return. At that point she was advised to recite healing scriptures daily and continue thanking God for the healing that had taken place. Over the next couple of months her symptoms would leave and then return. Eventually they never returned and she was able to enjoy complete healing and led an active pain free life.
Testimony 2: There was a man who had been plagued with pain and swelling in his knees for several years. Upon receiving prayer, the pain and swelling immediately disappeared. He was healed! About a week later the pain and swelling began to come back. He told the devil to flee, that he was healed. He then continued to recite healing scriptures and within a day the pain left and never returned. He claimed his healing and would not give into the lies of the devil.
This brings us to the point of this lesson on Keeping Your Healing. It is of great importance to continue to press in through prayer for God to fully heal your sickness or other infirmity.
Do you know of any examples where someone has either lost their healing or never were heal in the first place? What would you advise? Write your answer in your notebook.
