"Have you ever actually seen someone raised from the dead?"
My friend Stephen’s question hung in the air between us like a challenge I wasn't prepared to answer. After forty years as a Christian, I should have had a dozen stories ready. Miraculous healings. Blind eyes opened. Wheelchairs abandoned. Instead, I found myself offering the most disappointing answer a believer can give:
"No. But I've heard testimonies."
He nodded slowly, his expression knowing. "Me neither," he admitted. "I remember when our church would organize buses to bring people with disabilities to healing services. We'd hear amazing testimonies afterward, but the people we brought? They left exactly as they came—still blind, still in wheelchairs, still hoping."
His honesty stung because it mirrored my own experience.
The Question We're Afraid to Ask
Does God still heal today?
I can already hear the objections: "How dare you ask such a question!" Some might even call it blasphemous. But God is never intimidated by our honest questions. In fact, throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, God meets doubters, questioners, and seekers with patience and truth.
So let me be honest with you: I have experienced healing. When I've prayed over headaches or stomach issues, they've disappeared. But raising the dead? Healing the lame? The kind of miracles that filled the pages of the Gospels and Acts? I've seen none of that in four decades of faith.
And if God is the same yesterday, today, and forever—as Hebrews 13:8 promises—why aren't we seeing the same spectacular healings as the early church?
When God Answered My Frustration
I took my confusion directly to God. And in that moment of raw honesty, He began showing me how narrow my perspective had been. I was looking for the miraculous while missing the everyday miracles happening all around me. God's desire for human health and wholeness has never changed since creation.
From the beginning, He established natural processes for health: nutritious food, adequate rest, purposeful work, and community. These weren't backup plans—they were His original design. But we live in a broken world where we constantly damage these natural systems through poor choices, environmental toxins, stress, and countless other factors.
Yet God's desire for our healing remains unchanged.
Jesus: The Proof of God's Heart
Consider the physicians in biblical times. Their knowledge was limited, their tools primitive, their success rates low. Throughout the Old Testament, God sent priests and prophets, but even they couldn't heal like humanity needed. So how did God demonstrate His unwavering desire to heal?
He sent Jesus.
Jesus didn't just teach about healing—He became the visible image of the invisible God's healing heart. "I only do what I see my Father doing," Jesus declared (John 5:19). And what did He do? He went about healing everyone who came to Him.
He never asked, "What sin caused your sickness?" He never demanded holiness as a prerequisite. He never turned anyone away for not being spiritual enough.
When a leper approached Him—a man considered religiously unclean, socially untouchable—and begged, "If you are willing, you can make me clean," Jesus reached out His hand, touched him, and said:
"I am willing. Be cleansed." (Matthew 8:2-3)
That's God's heart toward healing.
This directly contradicts what many sincere but sincerely wrong preachers declare: that you must be holy enough, faithful enough, or worthy enough for God to heal you. Jesus proved otherwise with every healing He performed. (If you've been feeling like a failure in your faith journey, you need to know this truth.)
The Real Question: If God Is Willing, Why Aren't People Being Healed?
If God desires to heal and has the power to heal, why do churches still have prayer lists a mile long? Why do healing services end with more disappointment than deliverance?
God showed me three things:
1. God IS Healing Through Medical Science
Every medical breakthrough originates from wisdom God has deposited in human minds. Yes, even when scientists don't acknowledge Him. The inventor of antibiotics, the developer of a new surgical technique, the researcher who discovers a cancer treatment—they're all conduits of divine healing, whether they realize it or not.
"Every good and perfect gift comes from above" (James 1:17). God isn't against medicine—He provides it as a primary avenue for healing in our modern world.
2. The Glory Problem
People whom God empowered to "freely give" healing began using that power for personal agendas. Look at church advertisements today: "Miracle Healing Service!" "Come See the Power!" These events often serve more to build a ministry brand than to genuinely serve the sick.
God will not share His glory with anyone (Isaiah 42:8). When healing becomes a marketing tool or a demonstration of a minister's "special anointing," we've twisted God's gift into something He never intended.
Many believers feel exhausted trying to perform spiritually, constantly striving to prove their worthiness. But that's not what Jesus came to establish.
3. We've Replaced Grace with Condemnation
Look at what actually happened in Scripture: When people brought a paralyzed man to Jesus, He said, "Your sins are forgiven" (Mark 2:5). When Paul saw a lame man in Lystra, the man heard the gospel of God's grace and "had faith to be healed" (Acts 14:9-10). When Peter and John met a beggar at the Beautiful Gate, they didn't claim special power—they simply said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk" (Acts 3:6).
Healing flowed from the message of forgiveness and grace, not from displays of spiritual superiority.
Today, too many ministers show people their sins instead of declaring their forgiveness. We keep people in spiritual infirmity by emphasizing their unworthiness rather than Christ's sufficiency. We want to demonstrate our power to make people believe, thinking we're glorifying God, when we're actually seeking glory for ourselves.
The Healing Revolution Happening Now
Does God still heal today?
Absolutely yes.
But He's doing it in ways we often fail to recognize or celebrate:
- The largest hospital systems in America are non-profit organizations where millions receive healing care each year
- Charitable organizations distribute life-saving medications to remote, impoverished areas across Africa, Asia, and Latin America
- Medical missionaries combine cutting-edge treatment with compassionate gospel witness
- Christian-founded health clinics serve the marginalized in every major city
- Researchers driven by faith work tirelessly to cure diseases that ravage humanity
These aren't "second-best" alternatives to miraculous healing. They're God's primary method of bringing healing to a broken world through His people.
Understanding God's design for humanity helps us see how physical healing fits into His larger purpose for our lives.
Your Partnership in God's Healing Mission
God wants you to partner with Him in bringing healing to the world.
Financially: Support charitable hospitals, medical missions, and organizations distributing medicine to those who can't afford it. Your donation becomes God's healing touch to someone in desperate need.
Relationally: Tell the people around you that God loves them. Share that He's made provision for the forgiveness of their sins through Jesus. When people experience spiritual healing—freedom from guilt, shame, and condemnation—physical and emotional healing often follows.
Practically: Encourage your church to partner with local hospitals or establish free clinics for members and the community. Healthcare shouldn't be a privilege; it should be a demonstration of Christ's love.
Personally: Follow the Holy Spirit's leading regarding your own health choices. Honor the body God gave you through wise nutrition, adequate rest, regular exercise, and preventive care. Pray for healing, but also pursue the medical treatments God has made available.
Many Christians struggle with anxiety about their health and circumstances. Understanding God's character brings genuine peace.
A New Perspective on Miracles
I no longer feel embarrassed admitting I haven't seen someone raised from the dead. Instead, I marvel at the ways God is healing millions every single day through the hands of doctors, nurses, researchers, and caregivers—many of whom may not even acknowledge Him.
I've stopped waiting for spectacular signs and started recognizing the steady, faithful work of a God who designed our bodies with incredible capacity for healing, who inspires human minds to develop life-saving treatments, and who moves hearts to care for the sick and suffering.
The question isn't whether God still heals.
The question is: Will we recognize His healing hand at work all around us? And will we join Him in that work?
Take the Next Step
If you're new to faith and wondering what comes after believing, start by understanding that God's grace covers every area of your life—including your health.
If you're struggling with unanswered prayers for healing, you're not alone. God hasn't abandoned you. He's working in ways you might not have recognized yet.
If you want to partner with God's healing work, consider supporting these organizations:
- Doctors Without Borders - Provides medical care in crisis zones worldwide
- Christian Medical & Dental Associations - Connects faith and healthcare
- Compassion International - Provides healthcare to children in poverty
- Samaritan's Purse - Medical missions and disaster response
Ready to explore more? Subscribe to The Open Gospel for weekly encouragement on faith, hope, and practical wisdom for living out the gospel in your everyday life.
References & Further Reading
Biblical References:
1. Hebrews 13:8 - "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." 2. Matthew 8:2-3 - Jesus healing the leper 3. Mark 2:5 - Jesus forgiving and healing the paralyzed man 4. John 5:19 - Jesus does what He sees the Father doing 5. Acts 14:9-10 - Paul healing the lame man in Lystra 6. Acts 3:6 - Peter and John healing at the Beautiful Gate 7. James 1:17 - Every good and perfect gift comes from above 8. Isaiah 42:8 - God will not share His glory
Related Articles:
- "You Were Made for More" - Understanding God's purpose for your life
- "Why Am I So Exhausted as a Christian?" - Breaking free from performance-based faith
- "Feeling Like a Failure?" - God's grace in our weakness
- "Peace in the Middle of Pressure" - Finding rest when life overwhelms
Scholarly Resources:
1. Timothy Keller, "The Reason for God" - Explores questions about faith and doubt. 2. N.T. Wright, "Surprised by Hope" - Understanding God's restoration plan. 3. C.S. Lewis, "Miracles" - A philosophical examination of supernatural intervention. 4. Philip Yancey, "Where Is God When It Hurts?" - Wrestling with pain and divine healing.
Medical & Faith Integration:
1. Francis Collins, "The Language of God" - From the director of the Human Genome Project 2. Paul Brand & Philip Yancey, "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made" - A surgeon's perspective on God's design 3. Christian Medical & Dental Associations - cmda.org
What has your experience been with divine healing? Have you witnessed God's healing power through modern medicine or in other unexpected ways? Share your story in the comments below or contact us directly.
Share this article: Help others who might be asking the same questions. Use the share buttons below to send this to a friend who needs to hear this truth.
About The Open Gospel
At The Open Gospel, we believe God's truth is bigger than religion and as real as today. We explore purpose, proof, and transformation through articles on God's design for humanity, evidence for faith, what Jesus accomplished for everyone, and practical strategies for renewing your mind.
Start your journey here | Subscribe for weekly encouragement