“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

Jesus provided healing for our body by the terrible scourging He endured. The Prophet Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be beaten so badly that He would hardly be recognizable. In Jesus, the Father not only provided salvation for our sins, but also healing for our bodies. We receive that healing in the same way we receive salvation - by faith. By simply believing that God is faithful to His promises. 

The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God - for the one who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. The provision for our physical healing is just as much available as the provision for our redemption. While He walked the earth as a one of us Jesus denied no one of healing. Some find it difficult to shake the feeling that they are not worthy of such a miracle, but Jesus healed them all.

One day while I was writing a booklet on healing my youngest son Matthew, who was nine years old at the time, came to me and asked if I would anoint him for healing. He was suffering from a bad headache. Perhaps because it was not serious but just a condition that would soon pass, I took his request lightly and said that I would come to his room shortly. When I came to anoint him I lectured him a little first about how we all suffer common afflictions and that it was just a part of life. Of course I believed in divine healing of the big stuff, a little headache just seemed a little trivial. 

I’m ashamed to admit that my wife and Matthew's older brother Michael were also on the receiving end of my absurd little speech. But in an attitude of appeasement I anointed my little son with oil, laid my hands on him and prayed a prayer of healing.

To my surprise he was immediately and completely healed. It certainly was not my faith that healed him, it was the faith of a little child. Obviously Matthew held his faith in God’s promise even though I had spoken words of doubt. Then I realized that though I was writing a booklet on healing it took the faith of a little child to teach me a valuable lesson. All Matthew knew was he was hurting and God could stop it. It was just that simple.

A part of the lesson I learned that day was that though a healing of a little headache didn’t seem so important to Matthew’s earthly father, it was obviously important to his heavenly Father. And God was teaching me that if I was going to write a booklet encouraging people to seek divine healing, then I ought to lead by example myself. Jesus suffered so terribly to make healing available for us - He deserves the reward of His suffering.