We’ve all had the question in our mind at one time or another…or constantly.  Why don’t they get healed when I pray for them?

Let’s look at the story in Mark 9:14-39 where Jesus and the 3 disciple’s were coming down from the mount of transfiguration incident.  Immediately they’re approached with the crisis of the demonized boy and his father. What was the first thing the father said?  “I have a son who is possessed by a devil and I brought him to your disciples to cast the devil out, but they could not do it.”  Let’s stop there for a minute.

This sounds a lot like our church these days…at least to what I have been exposed too.  The world has a problem and they are looking to us for the solution.  Cancer is eating the world alive and we’re supposed to have the answer to that disease.  But all to often cancer is brought to our feet and we can’t cast it out of the person…they don’t get healed when we pray.  As a church, we need to recognize failure when it’s standing right in front of our faces.  All to often we casually gloss over a prayer for healing that doesn’t produce a result.  We often say “Well, I did my part.  Now it’s time for God to do His.”  Is that really the answer?  I have many people who have told me “Results are God’s department.  We just pray.”  At first I really hated that statement because I thought it excused us from all responsibility.  But then I came to grips with it on a few different levels, and that’s a fine statement to make…and it’s true, but only to a point.  But let’s continue the story to see a side that maybe we have negelected.  Maybe we’re to quick to say “The results are God’s department.”

The first thing Jesus said in response the father’s statement was “You faithless people, how long must I be with you until you believe?”  He seemed a bit frustrated…but at who?  I personally believe He was frustrated at His disciples.  They just got back from a healing and preaching campaign through all the villages after Jesus gave them authority over all sickness and demons, but now they can’t produce the result needed.

The remainder of the story is that Jesus cast out the demon, the boy gets healed and the disciples ask the obvious question, “Why couldn’t we do it?”

Before we get to that point, let’s make some conclusions:

Do we see here that it was clearly Jesus’ will that the boy be healed?  That it was a lack on    the disciple’s part that didn’t produce the manifestation of God’s love?  How many times do we pray for someone, without result, and just pass on like it wasn’t God’s will or something?  Have we ever entertained the thought that it’s not God’s fault, but ours??

What if, everyone you prayed for with no result approached the Lord and said, “Paul couldn’t heal me, can you please help me?”  Would the Lord say “No, if Paul can’t do it, then I probably can’t.”  No, He’ll heal the person.  So where does the blame lie?  Is it really God’s fault or divine will that the lady across the street with cancer remains in death’s grips, even though Jesus gave us all authority over it?

What if we viewed our unsuccessful prayers for healing/deliverance as our own fault, not God’s?  And what does that tell us about the position of the church?  Bump that situation with the demonized boy a few years in the future after the ascension and the father wouldn’t have been able to take the boy to Jesus Himself…he would’ve been stuck with “Your disciples couldn’t heal my son.”  And that’s where the story would’ve ended.  Sadly, in my life, that’s where it has ended MOST of the time.

I haven’t let go of this, even though almost everybody I’ve talked to about it has tried to talk me out of it.  If someone doesn’t get healed when I pray for them, it’s my fault…not God’s.  And for me, this story proves that.  It clearly shows that it’s Jesus’ will to heal the oppressed, and it clearly shows that the disciples had a failure.  Can we please admit that our unanswered prayers of authority is failure instead of brushing it off as if nothing ever happened? 

We’re never going to grow unless we take responsibility here.  If we don’t think we have failures in this walk, then we’ll never have a desire to improve and then cancer, sickness and disease continues to trump the believer’s lack of belief.

At the end of the story where Jesus answers the question (more thoroughly in Matt 17:20) as to why the boy wasn’t healed, He said, “It was your unbelief.”  Then He gives an illustration of the mustard seed faith.  So many people refer to that illustration but completely ignore the context.  It’s not God’s fault that the people aren’t healed, it’s not the devil’s power, it’s solely based on our unbelief, our lack of faith.  It’s not the person’s fault they aren’t healed (imagine that!!!), it’s our fault.  Our faith and love should cover other people’s failures, our God really is that big.

So, reality check!  What does all this mean?  Jesus said, “This kind comes out by prayer and fasting.”  What kind?  Is it this kind of demon, or this kind of unbelief?  Doesn’t matter!!  Either way, Jesus gives us the key.  It’s by prayer and fasting.  If we’re out playing around with and in the world and being so caught up in it’s trance, then no wonder we aren’t producing results for the Kingdom!  Remember what Jesus said to Martha in Luke 10:42?  He said, “There is only one thing in this world to be concerned about, and Mary has discovered it.”  Well, if Jesus Himself said there is only one thing to be concerned about, then it really must be an important thing!  What is it? Look up at Luke 10:39 “Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.”  There it is.  Sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to what He teaches.

Our ability to sit in the presence of Jesus is the most important thing in this world.  It is the ONLY thing to be concerned about.  We need to be able to hear the voice of Jesus so that we can hear His teachings…scriptures are a part of it, but there is more to hearing His voice than just reading a book.  He wants to speak to us in our current situation with real, fresh, language.  We need to be there, at His feet paying attention to Him when He talks to us, not distracted and concerned with the things of this world.

When we do this, when the Lord walks us down the road of our unbelief and onto His road of faith (which He wants to do personally for each one of us) we will then have the faith to produce Kingdom results.  The buck stops here!

For an article I wrote on hearing the voice of God…Click Here.