A Miracle Received Through Faith

And they were preaching (in Lystra) the gospel there. And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked. -Acts 14:7-10

That crippled man had never taken a step in his life. Then suddenly, he was up leaping and praising God! How did that happen? He received through faith. Where did he get his faith? “The same heard Paul speak.” What did Paul speak? Verse 7 says, “And there they preached the gospel.” So the man put his faith n the Gospel message and received a miraculous healing!

You hear some people say, “Well, Brother, we don’t preach healing around here; we just preach the Gospel.” That’s amazing. When Paul preached the Gospel, people had faith to be healed! A person can’t preach the whole Gospel without preaching healing.

“The same heard Paul speak: who observed him intently and perceiving that he had faith to be healed…” Did Paul perceive that someday the man would get faith? No, Paul perceived that the man had faith right then. The man hadn’t taken a step yet, but he had faith to be healed. However, his faith didn’t work until he stepped out and acted on it.

It isn’t right to say to someone, “Well if you had faith, you’d be healed. Sometimes people just haven’t come to the point of stepping out and acting on their faith to get results.

And you can’t say, “Well then so-and-so is not healed because he isn’t acting on his faith.” No, a number of things can keep faith from working.

The bottom line is that we can’t judge another person’s faith. However, we can know that it’s God’s will to heal every person every time, because we have His Word on it!

From: A Devotional for Divine Health Prescription for a Miracle, Mark Brazee, 1999