February 9, 2026
By M. Fontaine
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For the longest time I tried to figure out the how-tos of divine healing. I had wanted to be able to boil everything down into a step-by-step, one-two-three healing formula so I could say, “If you need God’s supernatural healing, all you have to do is follow these steps.” But I finally reached the conclusion that it doesn’t work that way.
If two people followed the same steps, one might be healed and the other might not. The more I studied various cases, the more I saw that each situation was different. The Lord seemed to handle each individual differently and tailored their healing to their particular needs and His will and work in their lives. Every person is unique, and the Lord works differently in each of our lives—not only in the matter of healing, but also in our circumstances, the lessons He teaches us, the tests and trials of our faith that we endure, and the blessings He gives us.
Trying to give universal counsel on how to get healed is just not possible, because the Lord doesn’t follow a set pattern. That is why, if you read many accounts of people’s healing, they can be very different. In some cases, the Lord miraculously heals someone through His divine intervention, while in other cases He requires us to do our part, through changes in our lifestyle, diet and exercise, or through natural remedies. In other cases, God works through medical interventions, including doctors, medication, surgery, physiotherapy and other treatments.
When we realize that the Lord works differently in each of our lives, we can better understand why in some cases He heals and in other cases He doesn’t—at least not right away. If we can grasp this, it will help us to put our trust fully in Him and His work in our lives and to not fall into condemnation or discouragement if our prayers for healing don’t result in our immediate healing from whatever is ailing us.
When we understand that God doesn’t always heal every affliction of every Christian in this life, it also helps us to have compassion on those who are suffering long-term afflictions. He is the God of all comfort who loves His children unconditionally as this beautiful passage from the Apostle Paul expresses:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Corinthians 1:3–5).
One Bible translation of this says that “God will shower us with his comfort through Christ” (NLT). What a beautiful picture to bear in mind when we are suffering any affliction or time of trouble!
Divine wisdom at work
It is important to bear in mind when pondering God’s healing that each of us is a complex physical and spiritual being. The Lord has bestowed on each of us different abilities, physical and spiritual attributes, and strengths and weaknesses. No two of us are alike. The Lord, our Maker, knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows everything about us—our every thought, our every weakness, our every joy, our every need. He knows exactly how to teach us the lessons He wants us to learn. He knows what tests and trials we need to endure to make us into what He wants us to be, and He measures these things out to us in the exact portion that He knows we need—never too much and never too little—and so it is with our afflictions and our healing.
Two people could have precisely the same affliction, they could both pray to be healed, and one could get healed immediately and the other could continue to be afflicted for years. Does this mean that the one who gets healed immediately is stronger spiritually or closer to the Lord than the other? Not necessarily.
The reasons the Lord allowed these two people to be afflicted in the first place may have been completely different. If His reasons for allowing the affliction are different, then His reasons for healing or not healing are different as well. Whatever the case, afflictions can be blessings in disguise because they have the potential to bring about spiritual growth and blessings in our lives.
Faith in times of affliction
Faith comes—and it grows—from hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). When we walk in faith, we know by His Word that the Lord is sovereign over our lives. We trust that the Lord has a plan and design for our lives, whatever that may be. Whatever we face is meant to draw us closer to God, and He has promised us that nothing in all creation can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38–39).
Those who suffer long-term illnesses or injuries have to keep the faith even when they aren’t healed. When the affliction persists month after month, they have to hold on and trust the Lord to either heal them eventually, or to give them the grace to continue to bear the affliction and grow and learn through it. They have to seek, find, and accept the Romans 8:28—“all things work together for good to those who love God”—in their situation. In each and every case, when they trust the Lord and hang on and don’t give up, it bears good fruit in their lives through the lessons they learn.
Who really has the most faith?—The person who is instantly healed of an affliction, or someone who has to bear that affliction and still carries on loving and trusting the Lord even though they may not understand why they haven’t been healed? They both have faith, but the one who has had to suffer long-term affliction has had to have enduring faith—not necessarily for healing, but faith to trust the Lord day by day to take care of them and bring them through.
In God’s time
If the Lord hasn’t healed you in answer to your prayers, or your infirmity is a long-term one or He’s made you that way from birth, should you feel condemned or discouraged? No, because whether you are healed or not, you are God’s beloved child and “there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Whenever we are tempted to fall under condemnation or discouragement, we can remind ourselves of the truths in this passage:
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us (Romans 8:32–34).
He wants to give you faith to endure the trials and tribulations you may face in this life—faith to praise and thank Him in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18), and faith to be a good testimony to others in your affliction. Then, when He’s ready to heal you, “the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up” (James 5:15).
If you’re doing your part, praying, trusting the Lord, and walking by faith and the Lord doesn’t choose to heal you, you shouldn’t feel condemned. Perhaps it’s not yet the Lord’s time to heal you because there are things He wants to teach you first or He is working in some way in your life through the illness. Or perhaps He wants to use you as an example of someone who perseveres in faith through the difficult times, because He knows that will help and encourage others. Whatever the case, faith means trusting in the Lord for your situation, trusting that He knows best, whether you get healed or not in this life.
Personal comfort in times of illness
One thing that can make your physical afflictions easier to bear is knowing that you can bring your every burden and care to the Lord and receive His love and encouragement. The Bible says to “give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7). You can pour out your heart to the Lord in prayer and receive His help in your time of need, and His Spirit will pour out His comfort. He tells us to “call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Psalm 50:15).
He can guide you in your time of affliction and help you to discern what He wants you to do about it, and how to go about receiving healing, whether through His supernatural healing, making lifestyle changes or seeking out medical assistance. He will guide you through His Word in the Bible, as well as through counseling with others and seeking His wisdom. “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:6).
Take your heartaches, burdens, and questions to Him. He said to “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). He wants to lighten your burdens and make your afflictions easier to bear (Psalm 55:22). He loves you and He will never suffer you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear, but will always make a way to escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). That way of escape often comes through His personal words of comfort and love and encouragement that will lift you over the storm and bring you to the light of a brighter day.
Let Jesus bear your burdens, ease your pain, and lighten your load as He has promised to.
Originally published March 2004. Adapted and republished February 2026. Read by Debra Lee.
Copyright © 2026 The Family International
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