If there is any area where people get confused about healing, it is probably in the area of prayer. The common misconception is that we need to get a maximum number of people to bombard heaven's gates with requests for your healing, and this will maximize your chances of getting healed. That is totally wrong. There is no need to bombard heaven's gates to get something that is already yours. You do not need to talk God into healing you. God is moved by his Word, and specifically by your faith in his Word. The majority does not rule him!

The problem with this mindset is that it assumes that healing is something that you have to "get out of God." Some people use Jesus' parable of the persistent midnight knocker to teach that you should just keep praying until God gives you what you want. That is not a picture of God. God is not withholding your healing from you! God wants you healed! He already made provision for your healing. You don't need to talk him, or pray him, into doing anything about your healing. He has already done all that he needs to do about it. It is now your move, so to speak.


I am an avid chess player, and I know that you would be thrown out of a chess tournament if you kept making moves when it wasn't your turn. That would be against the rules. There are rules concerning God's dealing with man, too. God moves when it is his turn, but he does not move when it is your turn.

If I were playing a chess match and my clock were running, and I failed to make a move, eventually a flag on the clock would fall, indicating that I had forfeited the game on time. I would be disqualified for not moving when it was my turn. It would not be my opponent's fault; it would be my fault. I could not blame my opponent for my loss of the game.


Well, thank God he is not your opponent; he is your ally. But the same idea still applies. If you do not move when it is your turn, you lose. It is not God's fault; it's yours. God will not make a move when it is not his turn.

God made his move when he sent Jesus to bear a terrible bruise on his body. That bruise brought physical healing to you. Healing is now available on a "whosoever will" basis, just as forgiveness of sins is. It is now your move. Your move is to receive what God is freely offering you right now.

Now suppose that instead of making a move in the chess game, you simply prayed in tongues the whole time. You would surely be more edified by the time your clock ran out, but you would still lose the game because you did not move. You can pray in tongues on and on for your healing, but you still lose if you do not move. You are speaking mysteries to God in the Spirit. Therefore, you do not pray in tongues for healing, because healing is not a mystery. God has made it absolutely clear that healing is for you. There is no need to pray in tongues about something when the will of God has been made known to your understanding.


I am not saying that it is wrong to pray in tongues when you are sick; I am just saying that you cannot pray "the prayer of faith" in tongues. Yes, you say, but doesn't the Holy Spirit always pray in faith? He can't pray in unbelief, can he? No, he can't, but to pray the prayer of faith, you must believe that you receive something when you pray. You can't believe that you receive something if you only pray in tongues, because you have no idea what you're saying. Your understanding is unfruitful, to use Paul's words. You can't receive something by accident. To receive from God, you must know that you are doing so!

If you want to pray in tongues while asking God to reveal to you the cause of your problem, that's fine. I was having trouble with persistent headaches and when I was praying in tongues, felt that I should look into having my wisdom teeth out. Maybe you are not as dense as I was and would have figured it out, but I thank God for tongues. I had the wisdom teeth out and the headaches stopped. (Obviously, I am not against doctors, although I am glad I will never have to repeat that particular experience. By the way, the next day, a famous healing minister was in town and I went to his meeting. Before the meeting, I couldn't even eat, and when it was over, I could eat whatever I wanted without hurting, which I promptly did because I was very hungry. I believed God for a fast recovery and got it. You can do that, you know.)


There is no need to pray marathon prayers. This is where so many people miss it. They think that if they pray for 8 hours, they will get their healing. Actually, you would be better off praying for 8 seconds in faith to receive your healing. It would make the 8-hour marathon prayer totally unnecessary.

If you listen to most Christians pray, you will discover that they are wasting much of their time. They are praying for things that are already theirs according to the New Testament, things that they could just receive from God. If you want to pray for eight hours after receiving from God, that's fine. Thanking God that you already have something for eight hours would hardly hurt you. You only pray the prayer of faith once. After that, there is no need to ask for what you want again, because you have already received it. If you pray after that, just thank God for what you already have, regardless of whether you see any change in your body.


Church people too often use prayer as a substitute for faith. You cannot make up for a lack of faith with extra prayer. Rather than rambling on and on, people need to build their faith in God's healing covenant. We would see more results if we would emphasize the receiving part by the sick person, rather than stressing that prayer be made for the sick person.

I am not saying that it is wrong to pray for the sick. James said that you can pray for one another's healing. But as he also said, the prayer of faith is what saves the sick. James didn't just tell the elders to pray for the sick in a general sense. He said specifically that the prayer of faith would heal the sick person. It is good and right to pray the prayer of faith with each other. But your attempts to do so will be thwarted if the person you are praying for does not have an understanding of the fact that healing is already settled as far as God is concerned.


It certainly is scriptural to pray for the sick to get a revelation of God's healing covenant. We are told to "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2). Sometimes the Spirit will just put an urge on you to pray for a sick person, and you should follow his leading. Some people do get healed when people they don't even know pray for them. However, it is always best for the people to get saved and get an understanding of healing so that the devil does not steal their healing from them.