Let’s look at four healing stories in the Bible that demonstrate four different levels of faith. The shallow end of the pool of faith is found in Mark 9:17-29.
LEVEL ONE FAITH: “IF YOU CAN…”
“And one of the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him; and when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has he had this?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.” And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 9:17-29)
In Matthew’s version of the story, the ending is a little different:
“Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting.” (Mt 17:19-21)
Either way, there is a lot of gold to mine here:
- The disciples, even though they were instructed by Jesus Himself, were unable to cast out this demon so what did they do? They asked Jesus! When you are stuck, do the same.
- Jesus didn’t say that they couldn’t cast it out, just that they weren’t doing it correctly.
- Jesus tells them plainly why they couldn’t cast the demon out “because of your little faith”. Remember that faith is a mindset. Casting out demons is a lot like a staring contest; the first one that blinks loses, so make sure you don’t blink!
- Prayer and fasting are important. I usually fast before I do ministry and I can report that overall, prayer seems more effective when I do.
- Jesus interviews the father and asks him how long this has been going on. Make sure you ask questions too.
- Here comes the lack of faith – “if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us” (You can almost hear the indignation in Jesus’ voice; “if I can?”) By the way, this is a good attitude for you to adopt too. Your confidence (in Jesus, not in your own abilities) can help to carry someone with weak faith through the process.
- You can sense that the father in the story is at the end of his rope and (this is important) in addition to asking for Jesus to heal the boy, he “cries out” and begs Jesus for more faith. We should not be afraid to do the same.
- In this case, the illness is caused by an unclean spirit. Jesus simply rebukes the spirit by its role, (not its name) and it leaves. It is perfectly acceptable to rebuke the “spirit of headaches” or the “spirit of addiction” when praying with others.
- The boy experiences so much peace that he appears dead (Perhaps he was resting in the spirit??).
The takeaway? Although the man had little or no faith, he was at least open to the prospect of healing.
LEVEL TWO FAITH: “IF YOU ARE WILLING…”
In the story below, a leper who asked for healing at least has faith that Jesus possesses the power and authority to heal, but does not have faith in Jesus’ willingness to heal him.
“When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.” (Matthew 8:2-3)
The leper heard about this “Jesus person” and believed He had the power to heal (most likely because of the “great crowds” that were following Him). However, knowing he was a leper and his state in society, he lacked faith in God’s love. In short, he believed that God was just like everyone else and when looking at him, saw nothing more than a leper. Let’s examine this:
- The fact that he, a leper, approached Jesus, while He was surrounded by others shows a tremendous amount of faith and boldness. Remember that lepers were considered unclean and not allowed to approach others, in fact, when others approached them, they were to warn them by shouting “unclean!”
- When praying with others, having faith in the power of Jesus is one thing, but it is useless if one does not have faith in the compassion and willingness of Jesus to heal. This story actually has two healings. First, Jesus “heals” this man’s doubt by saying “I will” and then He heals his physical malady by saying “be healed”.
- Finally, Jesus sends the leper to a priest. I have an arrangement with my priest that when I pray with people I encourage them to seek the sacrament of the anointing of the sick whether or not they are healed. This is important because as awesome as healing is, it isn’t a sacrament (even if it is a miraculous healing). By seeking the sacrament of healing, I believe that it “seals the heal” by furthering the relationship between the person and Jesus via the sacrament.
LEVEL THREE FAITH: “BEGGING FOR HELP”
In the third story, we see the human perfection of faith.
“And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent round to all that region and brought to him all that were sick and besought him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment; and as many as touched it were made well.” (Matthew 14:34-36)
- Gennesaret was not exactly a “hotspot of holiness” and yet it is here that we see an example of faith that is much greater than the two previous ones. I see this all the time as some of the greatest miracles I’ve seen happen in prisons and drug and alcohol rehab centers.
- In this story, the people had so much faith in the power of Jesus and in His compassion and willingness to heal that they don’t even ask permission or wait for Him to declare that they are healed. They practically mob Jesus hoping to merely “touch the fringe of His garment”. Now that’s what I call faith!
LEVEL FOUR: SUPERHUMAN FAITH
The last story is unlike any other in the Bible. So astounding is the account that even Jesus Himself is taken aback.
“As he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion answered him, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” (Mt 8:5-10)
- This is faith that comes straight from the Father. No need for lengthy prayers and no need to lay hands on anyone, merely speak the word and it will happen. An absolutely beautiful account of the great power of faith that each of us could possess – if only we ask for it in prayer. This is faith that can move mountains. I am always in amazed with people with this level of faith. I have – many times – seen people healed at a distance whether via phone, email or even a zoom call.