Soon after the car accident had occurred, I moved to Denver, CO, to attend bible college. It was the only way I knew to answer the call to follow Jesus completely. One day I walked into the student lounge and some of the students were watching a video that was teaching how to pray for the sick. I told them to pay attention, because when the video was over, I wanted them to pray for me. One of the students squinted his eyes, cocked his head and looked at me with an expression that I couldn’t make out. As soon as the video was over, that same individual called me into another room with a couple other students. With a voice that sounded like a cross between Michael Jackson and Mike Tyson, he looked me dead in the eyes and asked me, “brother Ty, do you believe God is able to heal you?” I responded that I knew “God created the heavens and the earth, and rescued me from a crazy life of sin. If He can do that, He can do anything.” The student asked me to raise my hands, close my eyes and look for healing. He said that the power of God was going to run through my body. The moment I closed my eyes the power of God came over me. The next thing I remember was someone helping me up off of the ground. There was a very charged sense of the presence of God in the room, and when I was back on my feet I felt a finger run down my spine with a pop, pop, pop and what felt like 80 pounds lifting off of my shoulders. I was completely healed. In that moment, beyond the healing that took place in my body, something was awakened in my soul. I said to myself, “everyone needs to experience the healing nature of Jesus”. Since that day, I’ve grown in my conviction that every believer needs to learn how to receive and how to bring others to the place of receiving the healing manifestation of Jesus in their own lives and the lives of those around them.

At some point in our lives, we have all faced illness, pain, or a diagnosis that we didn't expect. For some, the path to healing may be straightforward, but for others, it can be a long and arduous process. While medicine, doctors, and treatments are helpful, we often overlook the only true source of healing - Jesus the Great Physician. In my walk of faith, I’ve learned that an important element in the process toward healing is my heart preparation which means conditioning myself to trust the nature of God according to His Word. As we continue, we will explore how to have faith for the healing of our physical bodies and we will look at the first step which requires us to renew our minds, through the teachings found in the word of God, so we can be brought into harmony with God's will as revealed in His Word.

To have faith for physical healing, we need to remove all uncertainty concerning God's will on the matter by knowing what the scriptures plainly teach us about the subject of healing. When we look in the gospels at the life of Jesus, we see the nature of God on display, and the will of God clearly expressed. Wherever Jesus went, in every village and region, He healed the sick and drove out demons. John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." 1 John 3:8 says, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil”. Acts 10:38 says that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him”. Finally, Hebrews 13:8 states that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Knowing and meditating on such verses can fuel hope and stir faith in those seeking healing or desiring to be used to release the healing virtue of Jesus.

If we are to receive or release God’s healing touch, our hearts and minds must be "renewed" according to God’s word and brought into alignment with His will. As Romans 12:2 says, "do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." We need to remove any doubts we have about God's desire and His ability to heal us so we can have complete trust in His power that is available to heal us of any sickness or disease.

One of the easiest ways to develop our faith and condition our minds to think in alignment with God’s will concerning healing is to read testimonies and teachings from those who have experienced the power of God for healing. When I experienced God’s healing touch in my neck and back, I took a job in the library of the bible school so that I could listen to teaching while shelving books. I was so hungry to learn from others who had experienced the power of God and to learn about any keys they might have learned that I could lay hold of for my own life. Anytime someone would visit the bible school, when they would begin to pray for people, I would watch intently to see if there was anything I could learn. Around the same time I highlighted all of the places in the gospels where Jesus healed the sick or cast out devils and I made it a daily practice to read the stories and rehearse them in my mind. I also began to read books like “Christ the Healer” by F.F. Bosworth and “Healing the Sick” by T.L. Osborn, both books have brought healing to millions throughout the world. These books are filled with testimonies of God's healing power and His desire to see each of us healthy and completely whole. By reading and meditating on stories in the gospels and testimonies from people who have experienced the healing ministry of Jesus, we can increase our faith and believe in God's ability and desire to heal us.

The Word of God is the seed for our faith and must be planted in the mind and heart before faith can be exercised for healing. Mark 4:14 says, "The sower sows the word." Without the seed of faith, there can be no harvest of healing. Therefore, we must actively seek out God's word, read it, listen to it, and let it take root in our hearts. One of my favorite stories of healing can be found in Mark chapter 5. It tells of a certain woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years and that she “‘had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, ‘if only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.’” Notice what the catalyst was that fueled her faith. “When she heard about Jesus” She must have heard testimonies about the man who healed the sick. She must have heard that power flowed from His being into others’ lives producing healing when they merely touched His clothes. Why else would she have said to herself, “if only I may touch His clothes, I will be made well.” Her faith was based upon the testimony she heard. I wonder how many testimonies she heard, and how many times she rehearsed the testimonies in her mind? I imagine the power of the testimonies fueled her imagination in such a way that she began to see herself in the scene instead of the other people. I’ll bet she saw herself as the one reaching out and touching Him to receive her miracle. One thing we know for sure, she heard about Jesus and by hearing the testimony of Jesus, she said to herself, “if I can touch His clothes I will be made whole”, and then she acted out her faith, receiving the power of God into her body for complete restoration.

We can experience the same thing in our own lives. The first step is to listen to the testimony of Jesus found in the scriptures, rehearse the stories until the revelation of Jesus the healer floods our heart and mind and creates faith within us. The prayer of faith follows the planting of the seed, and healing must be believed and trusted before it is seen. James 5:15 says, "the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well." We need to pray with an unwavering belief in God's healing power, regardless of what our physical senses may tell us. Oftentimes I will pray for healing by commanding the sickness or spirit of infirmity to leave the body, and if the symptoms do not immediately disappear, then I will rebuke the symptoms, commanding the body to line up with the truth of healing.

Living in a society that prioritizes medical science as the first “go-to” for our physical ailments can make it difficult to build faith in our hearts for healing. It is so easy to open the cabinet and grab a tylenol or ibuprofen, rather than going to the scriptures, standing on God’s word and laying hands on one another. Then when issues arise that require solutions that doctors don’t have the answer for, we often times find ourselves lacking in the faith needed to see God move. Proverbs 4:20-22 says, "My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh." In the classic book, Christ the Healer, F.F. Bosworth states that the building of faith must consist of three essential things: (1) the attentive ear, (2) the steadfast look, and (3) the enshrining heart. We must listen, read, and internalize God's Word to receive the healing benefits that are available to us. It is important that we become intentional about building a culture in our homes that prioritizes the word of God as the answer to the problems that we face, and fosters the anticipation of the supernatural manifestation of God in our everyday lives.

In closing, I believe that much of what has come out of medical science has come about by God’s mercy as He has poured out divine wisdom throughout the years. I thank God for many of the advancements of medical science, but medicine is not a replacement for faith in God. One of the most powerful attributes that God has given us as believers is the capacity to intentionally cultivate a lifestyle of the supernatural. I believe that we are living in an hour where we are about to experience a massive increase in the supernatural demonstration of His Kingdom especially in the manifestation of His healing power. The masses who have been spectators in the church are about to be activated as sons and daughters who refuse to live a life without power. Our response to this move of God must be to intentionally build within our own lives and our homes a cultural lifestyle that anticipates the supernatural manifestation of Heaven’s power on a daily basis.