Live Long and Strong

by Paula Black

Most Christians believe that God can heal — yet very few actually see it happen. While faith in God’s power is common, personal experience with true healing is not. Many believers have never witnessed or received healing that is real, supernatural, and lasting.

I’m not talking about something emotional, exaggerated, or temporary. I’m talking about true healing—that is genuine and permanent. Because so many have never experienced this, a quiet question often settles into the heart:

Will God heal me?

This uncertainty is not how God intended His children to live, and it is not something we have to continue carrying.

A Lack of Knowledge Can Steal Hope

The Holy Spirit spoke through the prophet Hosea when He said:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”— Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

This verse suggests that God is willing to help His people through their understanding of Him and His ways. It also reveals that many suffer simply because they do not fully understand what belongs to them or how God designed healing to be received.

All over the world, sincere believers are battling sickness while God’s Word clearly declares:

“By His stripes you were healed.”— 1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV)

That Scripture indicates that the healing work of Jesus has been completed—past tense. There is nothing else Jesus needs to do. It is now up to the believer to receive… but how?

Too many Christians have allowed disease to dominate their bodies — not because God has failed them, but because they are uncertain whether healing is truly His will. Wonderful people are losing battle after battle due to ignorance of what Scripture actually teaches.

But here is the good news: God has already made a way.

The Word of God Is a Seed of Healing

Imagine your life as a garden. Within that garden, both healthy plants and harmful weeds can grow. Your heart is the soil where seeds are continually being planted — some by your own thoughts, some by life experiences, and others by words spoken over you.

Whether a seed is good or bad, it carries life within it. When watered, it grows — and eventually affects every area of your life.

Jesus taught this principle clearly. In His parable of the sower, He compared the Word of God to seed and the human heart to soil. According to Mark 4:14–20, faith in God’s Word concerning healing must first be planted before any healing harvest can be received.

Healing does not begin in the body. It begins in the heart.

An Incorruptible Seed That Cannot Fail

Scripture explains the power of God’s Word in a believer, this way:

“Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”— 1 Peter 1:23 (NKJV)

The Word of God is incorruptible. That means it cannot decay, dissolve, weaken, or lose its power over time. Disease cannot spoil it. Fear cannot cancel it. Satan cannot overpower it.

God’s Word always carries life, light, love, and healing power.

However, like any seed, it must be planted in good ground and watered by faith — a heart that is open, receptive, and willing to believe is good ground. When that seed is nourished with faith, it begins to produce fruit. Bible faith is acting on what a person believes in their heart.

Healing Faith Comes the Same Way Salvation Faith Comes

When a person is born again, the Word of God concerning salvation is planted in the heart. When that person believes and agrees with that Word, faith rises — and salvation follows.

Remember, faith is acting (through behavior and/or words) on what you believe.

“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”— Romans 10:10 (NKJV)

That is how we know we belong to Christ and will spend eternity with Him. Not by how we feel, but by obedience to God’s Word.

Healing operates in the same way.

Faith for healing comes by hearing and believing God’s Word concerning healing.

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”— Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

Just as faith for salvation came through hearing the truth, faith for healing grows through hearing God’s promises again and again.

Why Hearing God’s Word Is Essential

There is no substitute for God’s Word.

Not even prayer can replace it.

Prayer is powerful, but faith is born from the Word. Many people try to pray for faith, yet faith does not come through prayer. It comes through believing what God has already said. It comes through hearing God’s Word regarding healing, over and over until faith is strong.

God has already provided every believer with a measure of faith:

“God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”— Romans 12:3 (NKJV)

Now we must strengthen our faith until we are strong enough to receive the promise. As you continue to hear and meditate on God’s promises, faith develops. A quiet strength begins to rise within — a confidence that God’s healing blessing is already ours.

Why Salvation Feels Certain — But Healing Often Doesn’t

Most Christians have little difficulty believing they are saved. They have heard message after message about salvation. That seed has been planted repeatedly, watered consistently, and allowed to grow strong.

Healing, however, is rarely taught with the same consistency or faith.

Because of this, many believers possess deep confidence about heaven but uncertainty about healing while here on earth. Yet Scripture reveals that healing belongs to God’s children just as clearly as salvation does.

If healing had been taught with the same clarity and repetition as salvation, faith for healing would be just as strong and many more would be healed.

When Tradition Replaces Truth

Sadly, many people have been taught doctrines that weaken faith rather than build it.

Some have been told that healing passed away with the early church. Others were taught that God heals only some people — and that no one can know whether healing is meant for them.

These beliefs often produce hope, but hope alone does not bring results.

Hope must grow into faith for healing to manifest.

Jesus warned about this very thing when He said:

“Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.”— Matthew 15:6 (NKJV)

When tradition replaces truth, God’s promises lose their power in the believer’s life — even though those promises still belong to them.

Healing Still Belongs to God’s People

The reason healing is not widely seen is not because God has changed. It is because truth has been replaced with uncertainty, and faith was never allowed to fully develop.

But truth restores what tradition steals.

As God’s Word is planted deeply in the heart, faith rises — not through striving, but through trusting and knowledge that healing is already ours and hearing the Word over and over, which builds our faith.

Healing from God is not something you must persuade Him to do.

It is something He has already provided — and lovingly invites His children to receive.

Standing in faith with you,

Paula