Does spiritual healing prayer really work?

If so, how and why does it work?

My personal experience with spiritual healing prayer goes back to 1996 during my time living in southern California. As a christian who grew up in the midwest my knowledge of spiritual or physical healing through prayer was non-existent. Shortly after moving to California I discovered the ministry of various men and women who revealed to me the meaning of the ministry of Jesus Christ.
If you are not a born-again christian then this will certainly be foreign to you. I can understand why because as a christian, when I first came upon the revelation that the work of Jesus over 2000 years ago still has an impact on believers today, I too was very doubtful. There were two scriptures in particular that I learned to study very carefully and made me really wonder if spiritual healing prayer was possible for us today:

Matthew 7:7-11: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he thatseeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you,who, if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone; or if he shall ask for afish, will give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts untoyour children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to themthat ask him?" (ASV)

Matt 21:22: "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer,believing, ye shall receive." (ASV)

I came to the conclusion that if there were so many references to spiritual healing prayer and God being faithful to his promises then it must be true. But why wasn't I seeing more people experiencing answers to spiritual healing prayers? I believe that the bible is God's unfailing word to his people who believe in him. That being said I came to the conclusion that Christ was either a liar, a lunatic, or he indeed was Lord.

I chose to believe that he indeed was LORD!

My breakthrough was when I began to realize that God has chosen to operate through the power of the spoken word - His Word!

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit"(Proverbs 18:21)

I want to emphasize here that I am not referring to "manifesting" our own wishes and desires. We live in a world that was built upon laws and principles, spiritual laws and principles. We simply can't override these. When we try, there are negative consequences. We can't deny or ignore the "law of gravity" at the top of a skyscraper and simply jump out the window and expect to "speak over ourselves" that we will not fall.

Is there really power in your words?

According to the Scriptures, the tongue has a power. Notice it says here, "the power of the tongue". Its obvious that the power referred to here is not the physical power of the tongue as a muscle, but the power of the words it produces. I've never heard of the word "tongue" used in relation to God Himself. Its a word used of human speech. So we can see that the Word of God is saying that our speech is tremendously important, powerful and significant. So much so that our words are a matter of life and death. Perhaps this is why Jesus declared, "But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment." (Matthew 12:36). "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." (Matthew 12:37). These declarations of Jesus Christ should cause us to sit up and take notice, and consider very carefully what kind of words are coming out of our mouths and why.

What is the nature of the power in our words?

Its obvious that words have great power even at what we might call the natural level. This is especially true of those who have been granted more natural authority in the various domains of life. If your boss instructs you with words to do a certain task, you had better do it, or you will not last long in your job. If the umpire makes a call in a game of sport, it is binding. When a judge speaks in court, it can have consequences that value in the millions of dollars. You see the tremendous power that even the natural words have. And King Solomon remarked, "Where the word of a king is, there is power, and who can say to him, 'What are you doing?'" (Ecclesiastes 8:4).

The above are examples in the natural realm. Yet as human beings, don't forget that we are spirits with a soul living in a body of flesh, and our words and actions resonate in the spiritual realm also. Many of the Bible principles apply equally well in the realm of spirit as they do in the natural and soulish realms – which are the ones with which most people are familiar.

Let's take this principle and apply it once again to spiritual healing prayer. How can the word of God, King and owner of everything in the universe, have any effect in our lives to the point that it causes change?

In a kingdom, the word of the king has final authority, it doesn't change, and it has total power. Whatever a king desires he simply speaks. When he speaks, he communicates the desire of his heart and whatever he has communicated must come to pass. There is no person or authority within his kingdom that can challenge him or his word, therefore his word comes to pass.

A perfect example can be found in the book of Genesis, Here we get to see how the King of Heaven and Earth operates. Pay close attention to the "action" that God takes:

 ¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

 ² Now the earth was ^[a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

 ³ And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

 ⁶ And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." ⁷ So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

 ⁹ And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

 ¹¹ Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

 ¹⁴ And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. ¹⁶ God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

 ²⁰ And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

 ²⁴ And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

 ²⁶ Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, ^[b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

 ²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
       in the image of God he created him;
       male and female he created them.

Everything that we know of was brought into existence by the spoken word of the King. One of the most overlooked and most misunderstood verses is Genesis 1:27. The reference to man being created in his image refers to the nature and authority of God. Mankind was created to exercise God's authority here on earth on his behalf. We are ambassadors for God. We operate with his authority for his benefit just as in the natural realm an ambassador represents a country and the interests of that country. That ambassador is dispatched to a foreign land to execute the "desire" of the one in authority over him.

It is God's "desire" that we not live in sickness... (Mark 3:14-15) Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, {15} and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons.

I've presented principles and promises from the word of God that he makes things happen on our behalf through the spoken word, his word, and when we do, we are to do so with faith. Jesus said, "For assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, HE WILL HAVE WHATEVER HE SAYS." (Mark 11:23). When you confess spiritual healing prayer there must be no doubt in your heart that God will honor his word which you have spoken.

Human doubt disables the word of God. Faith releases and empowers the word of God. When you feel sick in your body, go to the Word of God, find his promises to you, meditate on them, speak them out loud, take them as truth, and go about your life knowing that the King has spoken and that's that. When you speak his Word into your circumstance you are speaking a spiritual healing prayer. It is a power packed prayer.

If you have back pain...speak spiritual healing prayer

If you've been diagnosed with cancer...speak spiritual healing prayer

If you're suffering with diabetes...speak spiritual healing prayer

If your eyesight is diminishing...speak spiritual healing prayer

If you're overweight...speak spiritual healing prayer

If you're constantly anemic...speak spiritual healing prayer

If you have poor memory...speak spiritual healing prayer

If you suffer with migranes...speak spiritual healing prayer

If you suffer from arthritis...speak spiritual healing prayer

If you're dealing with Fibromyalgia...speak spiritual healing prayer

It doesn't matter what you're suffering from. If you build your faith and authority on the Word of God you will see results. Every child of God has rights that have been imparted to him/her...(Exodus 15:26) "If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you." That is a powerful foundation for us to build our faith upon.

For a guide to understanding the healing power of the Word of God I recommend you get the following resource for mastering spiritual healing prayer.

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