Many Think They Are ‘waiting’ for God to Heal
Waiting can produce a very passive approach to healing, where we think it is all up to God whether we receive healing or not. I propose to you that if you want to receive healing, you need to get out of the passive mentality and learn to actively press in to your healing.
Passively waiting is not a sure way to receive, and there are no Biblical promises that you will receive that way.
Even though healing is God’s will and plan for you, the Bible shows us how to receive it.
In order to study this, I want to contrast two Biblical accounts of healing under the ministry of Jesus, and examine the different approaches each of the two people took toward their healing.
As we study these, ask yourself, ‘Are you sitting by the pool or pressing through the crowd?’
Which of these identifies your approach to receiving healing from God?
1) The Man by the Pool
John 5:2-7
:2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.
:3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralysed, waiting for the moving of the water.
:4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
:5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.
:6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
:7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
:8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.
All just Waiting
Here at the pool of Bethesda, a group of people would come each day to ‘wait’.
They waited every day with the hope that one of them would get healed. Yes, the Bible shows that there was a supernatural occurrence taking place there, but the people were all passive, hoping it would be them.
It was almost like a spiritual lottery, where each hoped they would get the winning ticket to healing, however most did not. It was very much based on chance.
Out of these 5 porches, only person ‘got it’ each time. We are not even told how often anyone got healed, it could have been weeks or months between each healing.
It happened differently
On this particular day, the God moved differently to how they were used to. Instead of the moving of the water, Jesus came to the pool, and once again only one person received healing.
Their passive attitudes meant that none of the others reached out to Jesus to be healed while he was there. If others present had used the second method we will discuss below, more of them could have ben healed while Jesus was there.
They most likely thought that if He wanted them to have it, He would come to them. The mentality was, ‘wait and see if anything happens’.
This is not a sure way to victory and receiving from God. It is all ‘chance based’ and random.
While some might receive this way, most do not and the Bible shows a far more sure approach to receiving healing from God which we will see in the second account we study.
A Passive Approach
Many go to meetings and churches today with this same passive mentality. Church to them is like the pool of Bethesda, a place supernatural things can happen, so if I go and sit there, I might get it.
‘Maybe it will be me tonight – I hope I get it’
‘Maybe the minister will single me out…’
‘Maybe I will get prophecies over tonight, or get called out by a word from God and healed’
This is all based on chance, and is not how the Bible shows us to live our lives with God.
Religion has trained into us a passive, waiting mentality toward God, however the Bible shows that faith is not passive like this. God expects us to have a more active approach to receiving from Him.
People treat the call of God on their life with this same passive attitude, ‘when God makes it happen, or when God gives me a great preaching ministry…’ However even the call of God requires active responses from you (preparing yourself, getting involved in your local church etc).
When it comes to healing, some People do get healed that way but it is not a ‘sure’ way. It is random, and MANY go away disappointed without receiving. Only the minority receive that way.
This does not mean that healing is only for the minority though. What it means is that God expects us to receive in a different, more active and sure way.
This brings us to the second Gospel account of healing we want to study:
2) The woman with the issue of Blood
Mark 5:25-29. 34
:25 Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years,
:26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.
:27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.
:28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
:29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.
:34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
This woman had a completely different mentality. She did not sit around and wait for Jesus to come to her. Instead she actively got up and pressed in to Jesus.
Her whole mentality was one of doing something to get free. You see this even with her continual attempts with doctors. She had not given up hope or trying to get free from her condition.
:27 She came
This woman didn’t sit and wait, but instead pressed her way through the crowd, through the obstacles, all the way to Jesus to get what she came for. She made up mind that she was going to get healing from Jesus that day because she wanted to be free, and did what was necessary to get it. For her, it was not about chance, or randomness. She was not willing to sit in the crowd day after day in the hope that ‘maybe’ one day Jesus would come to her.
Her attitude shows a mentality of faith, and we see elsewhere in the Bible that this pressing in attitude is a characteristic of faith.
She activated her miracle in her life, ignited it by faith.
Faith does not just sit and wait passively, instead it presses in to God to receive. You too can drive in by faith to get your result. There is a big difference between passively waiting, and actively pressing in toward it.
Many who think they are ‘in faith’ for healing are actually approaching it with the passive, waiting mentality, which is not how faith operates. There is more to faith than simply having a passive, waiting attitude. Faith presses in, it acts and pushes forward to receive from God.
This woman’s faith came out in her actions. Jesus specifically commended her faith, which included the actions that showed her faith: pressing in, not sitting around, refusing to quit or be put off by the crowd etc.
Many today are sitting around waiting for the power to show up and do it all. They leave healing all up to God, and call this faith, however it is not Bible faith. They are ‘sitting by the pool’, which is not a sure way to receive. If they want to receive, then they need to be ‘pressing through the crowd’, actively moving in towards their miracle.
‘Oh yes bro… I am believing God.. Now I am just waiting for Him to move…’
Passively sitting around waiting is not how the Bible teaches that faith operates, so if you want your faith to work, you need to get away from the passive, waiting approach.
Passive faith is what James calls, ‘faith without works’. He also refers to it as ‘dead faith’.
The church has taught us a ‘waiting on God’ approach to healing. People pray, then say, ‘I’ve done my bit, now I am just waiting on God to do it’.
This may sound very spiritual, however not everything that sounds spiritual is in line with the Bible. Many spiritual sounding statements can actually build into people false ideas which are unscriptural and lead is into deception.
The idea of waiting on God is mentioned in the Bible, however it is not in connection to receiving from God, nor in connection to healing. Biblical ‘waiting on God’ is an act of worship. It is part of our worship of God, not our receiving from Him.
Be careful about taking a Biblical phrase or concept and applying it to the wrong thing. The enemy tried to do this with the temptations of Jesus when he quoted scriptures to Jesus. However he was misapplying those verses, using them in a way which was different to how the Bible intended them to be used.
This is the same with the idea of waiting on God. It is not taught in connection to healing or receiving from God, so don’t apply it there.
Ask yourself, ‘Are you sitting by the Pool or Pressing through the Crowd?’
Be honest with yourself. If you are taking the approach that you are waiting for God to heal you, then you are in passivity and relying on a random method to receive. It is far better to rely on the sure method of active faith.
There are two different mentalities when it comes to healing that people have: passive (waiting) and active (pressing in). these apply for any area of receiving from God.
Faith is not a passive mentality that sits and waits to receive. It actively presses in toward Gods provision.
In these two accounts, you will notice that Jesus mentioned the faith of the woman with the issue of blood. There is no mention of faith in the account of the man by the pool, nor can you see any characteristic of faith in the man.
Yes they both received healing, so people could say healing can come by either pressing in or sitting passively, but I recommend you read my article on, ‘does healing require faith?’ To study this issue further (coming soon).
Passively waiting is not a sure way for everyone to receive healing, and it is not a method for you to rely on, as there are no promises in the Bible that you will receive this way.
There is plenty in the Word of God however which teaches that faith produces results. However, in order to operate in faith, you need to do what faith does. Faith is not passive, rather it actively presses in.