1]. Many people involved in Healing Ministries take the Word of God seriously and base their ministries on the promises in His word. Such promises as these.
(Mark 11:24 We can ask, believing that God has provided the answer, to be released in His time. .So I tell you, whatever you ask [present tense] for in prayer, believe [present tense] that you have received it, [aorist past tense] and it will be yours [future tense.].
(1Jn 5:14-15. We pray. He hears. We have. If we ask [present tense] anything according to his will, he hears [present tense] us. And if we know that he hears [present tense] us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained [present tense] the requests made [perfect tense] of him.
James 5:15 The prayer of faith [offered in faith or based on faith] will save or heal the sick.] And the prayer offered in faith [literally the prayer of faith] will make [future] the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up [future tense] . If they have sinned, they will be forgiven [future tense.]
1 John 5:14 -15,We ask. He hears. We have. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
These are very powerful promises because they originate from the mind of God Himself. I myself quoted them frequently during my ministry of healing in an attempt to raise expectancy in the minds of those to whom I was ministering. There was no doubt that many who received and acted on those promises received a large degree of healing. But not all. Surprisingly some who seemed to have great faith received little healing while those with apparently little faith were greatly blessed.
However sometimes it seemed that many who had recognised and, by God’s grace, removed the barriers to healing, remained not fully healed.
That was the case with my beloved wife Carole who recovered marvellously from thyroid cancer, then breast cancer and later became ill with uterine cancer. Many people joined me in praying for Carole that the Lord would heal her of this disease. However the cancer spread and the doctors eventually told me she had only 3 days to live. On the third day she was totally unresponsive, so as I left to go home I prayed over her and added “Carole, if you want to go home to Jesus I will be ok. I love you!” Then as I walked out of the room I looked back to see if she had begun to sit up, healed, which I believed could happen. But there was no change. Just two hours after I arrived home I got the news that Carole had passed away or as I understood, had gone home to the Lord. Into my mind immediately came the words from 2 Corinthians 5:8, “Absent from the body. Present with the Lord.” Carole had been healed, with the ultimate healing, at home with the Lord, in bliss, free from pain and disease.
I understood afresh that death and passing into the presence of Jesus IS THE ULTIMATE HEALING. To know that brought some relief to the immediate grief I felt.
2]. DOES THE BIBLE GIVE ANY CLUES AS TO WHY SOME PEOPLE ARE NOT HEALED? The Bible does indicate several reasons why some people are not healed when prayer is offered. Scripture does not teach that lack of healing automatically means a person has insufficient faith.Here are some Biblical reasons to consider:- i]. God’s sovereign purpose. Sometimes God chooses not to remove a problem, even when a faithful person prays. Paul prayed three times for his “thorn in the flesh” to be removed, but God answered: “My grace is sufficient for you”(2 Corinthians 12:7–9).So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. God in His goodness gave St Paul an answer to his ongoing troubles. It was to enable him to call upon His grace to cope thus building up his reliance on the Lord. Timothy also appears to have had continuing stomach problems (1 Timothy 5:23). (No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.) Good practical advice which is always needed in life.
It’s a reminder to us that none of us perfectly ascertains the fullness of God’s purposes, for as Isaiah wrote, in Isaiah 55:8, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. None of us will ever be able to comprehend the fulness of God’s purposes in His world. His ways of accomplishing His purposes may be totally at odds with the way we expected Him to work. His wisdom is perfect. Ours can never be on the same level as His. Humility demands our conviction that He knows best even when it seems that He is uncaring. He isn’t, for He is working His plans out through human lives.
ii]. Healing may be delayed. Scripture teaches that our ultimate healing is connected with the resurrection.Romans 8:23 speaks of believers “waiting eagerly for our adoption… the redemption of our bodies.”Rom 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Revelation 21:3-4 points to the final removal of sickness, suffering and death. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Even the most spectacular healings are only temporary because we will all die. Our ultimate healing takes place through our death or in the resurrection at Christ’s return.
iii]. Sin can sometimes be involved. James 5:15–16 connects prayer for healing with confession of sin. Jas 5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Confessing our sins to others instead of hiding them brings healing. “Confess” is homologeo, meaning “saying the same” about our sins as God has already declared. It is bringing them to the light to be forgiven rather than trying to hide or deny them.
Jesus sometimes connected illness with sin, but not every illness is caused by personal sin. Jesus explicitly rejected that assumption in John 9:1–3. As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. The healing of his blindness in the purposes of God demonstrated God’s healing power.
iv. Unbelief or lack of faith can sometimes affect healing. Jesus occasionally identified unbelief as a reason healing did not occur (Matthew 13:57-58; And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour except in his hometown and in his own household.”58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief. Mark 6:5–6). And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching. Jesus was perfect in His ministry and preaching but many hardened their hearts against his message and were not able to receive the blessings he was offering. However, this factor of unbelief should never be used to blame every sick person who remains unhealed. Even Paul, Timothy and others who clearly had faith experienced continuing difficulties.
v]. God may have a different purpose. God can use suffering to produce perseverance, character and spiritual maturity Romans 3:3-5, What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” 5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 1Tim 5:23 (No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.) James 1:2–4). Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. God may allow difficulties in our lives to bring us to a greater endurance so that we realise our needs are all met in Him. Paul’s continuing weakness became an opportunity for him to experience Christ’s strength. 2 Corinthians 12:10). For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Our strength becomes stronger as we discover He is our strength as we turn to Him for help.
vi]. God’s answer may be “no” rather than “not yet.” Jesus Himself asked His Father to spare Him from the trials He was about to suffer as He was about to bear the sins of the world. Mark 14:36 And he said . Yet not what I will, but what you will.” However, His purpose in coming into the world was precisely to die for the sins of the human race. His commitment to do the Father’s will was seen in His prayer, “Yet not what I will, but what You will.” He was applying the same truth He had taught in the prayer He taught His disciples to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
“Perhaps the prayer we should pray in every situation is “Yet not what I will, but what You will.” In that way we fit in more with God’s purposes rather than wanting our own will to be done. Prayer is therefore not a means of making God do what we request. It is rather trusting Him to do His will in every situation for our benefit but particularly to His glory.
The Bible holds two truths together: 1]. God heals — therefore we should pray expectantly. Jas 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. Jas 5:15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
2]. God remains sovereign — therefore we pray submissively.“Jas 4:14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”Perhaps the prayer we should pray in every situation is “Yet not what I will, but what You will.” So a Christian can genuinely pray in faith for healing and yet remain unhealed without concluding that God has rejected them or that they have failed spiritually.
A useful way to teach this: Prayer for healing → Faith + Expectation → God answers. His answer may be: YES — immediate healing. Seen in the ministry of Jesus. Matthew 8:1-3, . . . . When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
YES — gradual healing . Even Jesus healed in stages as we read in Matthew 8:23-25,And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. The healing was not immediate but came in two stages.
WAIT — healing later. The 10 lepers who came to be healed by Jesus were asked by Him to go and show themselves to the high priest. Luke 17:11-19, “ When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. They had moved away chronologically and geographically from the source of healing before their healing came. That often happens in healing ministries today.
NO — grace to endure / a greater purpose. That was the answer given to Jesus as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.” But Jesus submitted to His Father’s will and purpose, “Yet not what I will, but what You will.”
ULTIMATE HEALING — resurrection. The central Christian promise is not that every believer will be healed immediately in this life, but that every believer will ultimately be made whole in Christ at the resurrection.
SUMMING UP.
One must admit that the Lord is still healing hordes of people today in answer to the prayers of His faithful people. But we also have to admit that many have died after receiving what seemed to be believing prayer.
Is there an answer to the question, “Why Are Some People Not Healed When They Have Received Prayer For Healing?”
Perhaps we could learn from a righteous man, Job, as he tried to make sense of all the difficulties that had come upon him. We read of his confession and repentance in Job 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD and said: 2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
Job had come to realise that God was omnipotent; nothing was beyond His power. His purposes would always come to pass. But his understanding of God’s purposes had been insufficient to understand the intricacies of God’s purposes. Considering the greatness of God, Job could do no other but repent of his attitudes towards God and commit himself to the Lord again.
As the writer of Proverbs 3:5-8 put it, Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. 8 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
Trust Him completely. He does work all things together for good for those who love Him. Romans 8:28.
Don’t rely on our own limited understanding. His thoughts and ways are beyond our understanding.
Acknowledge Him in all our ways and He will direct every aspect of our lives.
Don’t believe we are wise but rather fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Even when we don’t understand why bad things happen to good people.
DEALING WITH DISAPPOINTMENT
Perhaps we have been disappointed when people for whom we prayed did not recover. We may begin to think subconsciously that the Lord failed to live up to our expectations. He has the power to heal. He has made promises in His word about answering prayer, so why did He let us down?
But we may need to recognise that our expectations may be at fault. His expectations are based on His character, His will and His ultimate purposes, and no human has the ability to fully understand His will and His ultimate purposes. These are far beyond human understanding. He always fulfils HIS own expectations which are based on His eternal plan and purpose for the world and for all its peoples.
OUR RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEM OF UNANSWERED PRAYER
When it’s as though the Lord has failed to fulfil our expectations, our response perhaps should be, “Lord, You are supreme in this universe and I need to accept that things You have allowed to happen in this world are part of Your eternal plan and purpose. I submit to Your greater wisdom even though I do not understand!”
YET! I still feel it is appropriate to share with those we are helping, the promise of Jesus in Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” This is His promise with no qualifications. It may encourage them to reach out to the Lord with some expectancy and bring them the healing the Lord has for them. Whatever that may be. Only He knows what that is.
When we resign ourselves to understand that the Lord loves the person for whom we are praying, far more than we ever could, and will deal with them appropriately in His perfect love, we can experience some peace in the midst of our disappointment and sadness.
Once an Industrial Chemist working for the Queensland Government but later an Anglican minister in Brisbane, Armidale and Sydney. Last position for eighteen years before retirement in 2006 was as the Leader of the Healing Ministry at St Andrew's Cathedral Sydney.
holbeck 
603 Why Are Some People Not Healed When They Have Received Prayer For Healing?
1]. Many people involved in Healing Ministries take the Word of God seriously and base their ministries on the promises in His word. Such promises as these.
(Mark 11:24 We can ask, believing that God has provided the answer, to be released in His time. .So I tell you, whatever you ask [present tense] for in prayer, believe [present tense] that you have received it, [aorist past tense] and it will be yours [future tense.].
(1Jn 5:14-15. We pray. He hears. We have. If we ask [present tense] anything according to his will, he hears [present tense] us. And if we know that he hears [present tense] us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained [present tense] the requests made [perfect tense] of him.
James 5:15 The prayer of faith [offered in faith or based on faith] will save or heal the sick.] And the prayer offered in faith [literally the prayer of faith] will make [future] the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up [future tense] . If they have sinned, they will be forgiven [future tense.]
1 John 5:14 -15, We ask. He hears. We have. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
These are very powerful promises because they originate from the mind of God Himself. I myself quoted them frequently during my ministry of healing in an attempt to raise expectancy in the minds of those to whom I was ministering. There was no doubt that many who received and acted on those promises received a large degree of healing. But not all. Surprisingly some who seemed to have great faith received little healing while those with apparently little faith were greatly blessed.
My answer was to do seminars on Barriers to Healing looking at what the Bible taught as constituting barriers. See link here https://jimholbeck.blog/2022/09/29/432-learning-to-recognise-and-remove-barriers-to-healing-core-1-topic-4/
However sometimes it seemed that many who had recognised and, by God’s grace, removed the barriers to healing, remained not fully healed.
That was the case with my beloved wife Carole who recovered marvellously from thyroid cancer, then breast cancer and later became ill with uterine cancer. Many people joined me in praying for Carole that the Lord would heal her of this disease. However the cancer spread and the doctors eventually told me she had only 3 days to live. On the third day she was totally unresponsive, so as I left to go home I prayed over her and added “Carole, if you want to go home to Jesus I will be ok. I love you!” Then as I walked out of the room I looked back to see if she had begun to sit up, healed, which I believed could happen. But there was no change. Just two hours after I arrived home I got the news that Carole had passed away or as I understood, had gone home to the Lord. Into my mind immediately came the words from 2 Corinthians 5:8, “Absent from the body. Present with the Lord.” Carole had been healed, with the ultimate healing, at home with the Lord, in bliss, free from pain and disease.
I understood afresh that death and passing into the presence of Jesus IS THE ULTIMATE HEALING. To know that brought some relief to the immediate grief I felt.
The Bible does indicate several reasons why some people are not healed when prayer is offered. Scripture does not teach that lack of healing automatically means a person has insufficient faith.Here are some Biblical reasons to consider:-
i]. God’s sovereign purpose. Sometimes God chooses not to remove a problem, even when a faithful person prays. Paul prayed three times for his “thorn in the flesh” to be removed, but God answered: “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:7–9).So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. God in His goodness gave St Paul an answer to his ongoing troubles. It was to enable him to call upon His grace to cope thus building up his reliance on the Lord.
Timothy also appears to have had continuing stomach problems (1 Timothy 5:23). (No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.) Good practical advice which is always needed in life.
It’s a reminder to us that none of us perfectly ascertains the fullness of God’s purposes, for as Isaiah wrote, in Isaiah 55:8, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
None of us will ever be able to comprehend the fulness of God’s purposes in His world. His ways of accomplishing His purposes may be totally at odds with the way we expected Him to work. His wisdom is perfect. Ours can never be on the same level as His. Humility demands our conviction that He knows best even when it seems that He is uncaring. He isn’t, for He is working His plans out through human lives.
ii]. Healing may be delayed. Scripture teaches that our ultimate healing is connected with the resurrection.Romans 8:23 speaks of believers “waiting eagerly for our adoption… the redemption of our bodies.” Rom 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Revelation 21:3-4 points to the final removal of sickness, suffering and death. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
Even the most spectacular healings are only temporary because we will all die. Our ultimate healing takes place through our death or in the resurrection at Christ’s return.
iii]. Sin can sometimes be involved. James 5:15–16 connects prayer for healing with confession of sin. Jas 5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Confessing our sins to others instead of hiding them brings healing. “Confess” is homologeo, meaning “saying the same” about our sins as God has already declared. It is bringing them to the light to be forgiven rather than trying to hide or deny them.
Jesus sometimes connected illness with sin, but not every illness is caused by personal sin. Jesus explicitly rejected that assumption in John 9:1–3. As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. The healing of his blindness in the purposes of God demonstrated God’s healing power.
iv. Unbelief or lack of faith can sometimes affect healing. Jesus occasionally identified unbelief as a reason healing did not occur (Matthew 13:57-58; And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour except in his hometown and in his own household.”58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.
Mark 6:5–6). And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching. Jesus was perfect in His ministry and preaching but many hardened their hearts against his message and were not able to receive the blessings he was offering.
However, this factor of unbelief should never be used to blame every sick person who remains unhealed. Even Paul, Timothy and others who clearly had faith experienced continuing difficulties.
v]. God may have a different purpose. God can use suffering to produce perseverance, character and spiritual maturity Romans 3:3-5, What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” 5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)
1Tim 5:23 (No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.)
James 1:2–4). Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
God may allow difficulties in our lives to bring us to a greater endurance so that we realise our needs are all met in Him. Paul’s continuing weakness became an opportunity for him to experience Christ’s strength. 2 Corinthians 12:10). For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Our strength becomes stronger as we discover He is our strength as we turn to Him for help.
vi]. God’s answer may be “no” rather than “not yet.” Jesus Himself asked His Father to spare Him from the trials He was about to suffer as He was about to bear the sins of the world. Mark 14:36 And he said . Yet not what I will, but what you will.” However, His purpose in coming into the world was precisely to die for the sins of the human race. His commitment to do the Father’s will was seen in His prayer, “Yet not what I will, but what You will.” He was applying the same truth He had taught in the prayer He taught His disciples to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
“Perhaps the prayer we should pray in every situation is “Yet not what I will, but what You will.” In that way we fit in more with God’s purposes rather than wanting our own will to be done. Prayer is therefore not a means of making God do what we request. It is rather trusting Him to do His will in every situation for our benefit but particularly to His glory.
The Bible holds two truths together:
1]. God heals — therefore we should pray expectantly. Jas 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. Jas 5:15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
2]. God remains sovereign — therefore we pray submissively. “Jas 4:14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”Perhaps the prayer we should pray in every situation is “Yet not what I will, but what You will.”
So a Christian can genuinely pray in faith for healing and yet remain unhealed without concluding that God has rejected them or that they have failed spiritually.
A useful way to teach this: Prayer for healing → Faith + Expectation → God answers.
His answer may be:
YES — immediate healing. Seen in the ministry of Jesus. Matthew 8:1-3, . . . . When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
YES — gradual healing . Even Jesus healed in stages as we read in Matthew 8:23-25,And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
The healing was not immediate but came in two stages.
WAIT — healing later. The 10 lepers who came to be healed by Jesus were asked by Him to go and show themselves to the high priest. Luke 17:11-19, “ When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.
They had moved away chronologically and geographically from the source of healing before their healing came. That often happens in healing ministries today.
NO — grace to endure / a greater purpose. That was the answer given to Jesus as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.” But Jesus submitted to His Father’s will and purpose, “Yet not what I will, but what You will.”
ULTIMATE HEALING — resurrection. The central Christian promise is not that every believer will be healed immediately in this life, but that every believer will ultimately be made whole in Christ at the resurrection.
SUMMING UP.
One must admit that the Lord is still healing hordes of people today in answer to the prayers of His faithful people. But we also have to admit that many have died after receiving what seemed to be believing prayer.
Is there an answer to the question, “Why Are Some People Not Healed When They Have Received Prayer For Healing?”
Perhaps we could learn from a righteous man, Job, as he tried to make sense of all the difficulties that had come upon him. We read of his confession and repentance in Job 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD and said: 2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
Job had come to realise that God was omnipotent; nothing was beyond His power. His purposes would always come to pass. But his understanding of God’s purposes had been insufficient to understand the intricacies of God’s purposes. Considering the greatness of God, Job could do no other but repent of his attitudes towards God and commit himself to the Lord again.
As the writer of Proverbs 3:5-8 put it, Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. 8 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
DEALING WITH DISAPPOINTMENT
Perhaps we have been disappointed when people for whom we prayed did not recover. We may begin to think subconsciously that the Lord failed to live up to our expectations. He has the power to heal. He has made promises in His word about answering prayer, so why did He let us down?
But we may need to recognise that our expectations may be at fault. His expectations are based on His character, His will and His ultimate purposes, and no human has the ability to fully understand His will and His ultimate purposes. These are far beyond human understanding. He always fulfils HIS own expectations which are based on His eternal plan and purpose for the world and for all its peoples.
OUR RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEM OF UNANSWERED PRAYER
Blog No.603 posted on Wednesday 16 September 2026
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About Jim Holbeck
Once an Industrial Chemist working for the Queensland Government but later an Anglican minister in Brisbane, Armidale and Sydney. Last position for eighteen years before retirement in 2006 was as the Leader of the Healing Ministry at St Andrew's Cathedral Sydney.