Healing Comes in Layers

Healing comes in layers.  Healing is for the body, mind, and spirit.

The only way I can express what this title means to me is through personal experience.  Instantaneous miracles still happen—ask any doctor.  They are the unexplainable moments that defy human understanding.  I have experienced such miracles in my lifetime, but for the most part, my healing has come in stages.

I often compare it to a multi-layered cake with a delicious filling between each layer.  I call the filling ‘hope’, and each layer, ‘progressive healing’.  In many ways, I believe hope and faith are synonymous.  They work hand in hand.  I have faith in God’s promises—that if He says He will do something, He will do it.  Hope rises up and declares, “I trust that He will.”

God cannot lie.  This is where faith joins itself to hope for all Christians who believe in the God of miracles.  Jesus declares in Mark 16:18: “…they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”  Matthew 18-19 further encourages us: “Again, I say to you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by my Father in heaven.”

We must grasp and hold tightly to the truth of God’s Word.  What God says, He means.  He will not renege on His promises.  Matthew 7:7-8 reminds us of this truth.  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; and one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  It is the unbreakable bond between God’s Word and His people—truth and nothing but the truth.

At times, people become impatient, perhaps out of fear that God is not listening to their cries for help.  Others simply want answers immediately and struggle with the waiting process.  This, in itself, can become a point of contention because emotions often contradict God’s promises.  Some are inclined to question Him when things fail to materialize according to their expectations.

Yet we must remember that the God of Creation designed our bodies with the ability to heal.  With this in mind, healing sometimes comes in layers, as God works His wonders in restoring health and bringing peace to the soul.  Sometimes healing is physical; other times it is spiritual, experienced through the new birth of becoming a born-again Christian.

I can relate to those who become discouraged when prayers seem unanswered.  They may wonder if their faith is weakening or ask where God is when answers do not come in what they consider a timely manner.  Perhaps frustration, linked with fear, blinds the eye of hope during seasons of need.

But God is longsuffering, kind, and gentle.  Whenever impatience begins to fill our hearts, we should re-evaluate who we are in Christ and remind ourselves—without doubting—that God is concerned about every area of our lives, whether we feel His presence in the moment or not.

Instead, we should begin praising Him for what He has already accomplished through the cross and trust Him to continue working in our lives according to His will and purpose.  Scripture tells us that God inhabits the praises of His people.

Let the words that proceed from our mouths be words of faith and gratitude:

“Thank You, Jesus, for Your layers of healing.  I thank You for the grace and patience to trust in Your Word and in Your healing power as each layer of healing is placed upon another.  Strengthen my faith, renew my hope, and help me rest in the certainty of Your promises.  Amen.”

Written by,

Papa Boyd