Divine Healing

As Christians, we believe that healing can come through prayer and obedience to God’s guidance. This is exemplified in the life of Jesus and of his disciples in the New Testament.
Healing people was a key part of Jesus' ministry. When John sent disciples to know whether he was the one he expected, Jesus answered: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them." (Luke 7:22, ESV)
Jesus then sent his disciples with the authority to heal and to cast out demons. Healing and deliverance from impure spirits are two facets of a same reality, as can be seen in Acts 10:38, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him."
The Western medicine sometimes separates the body from the soul or spirit, treating the body as a machine. This is a mistake that Eastern medicine did not do, with a sensitivity to actions and habits that can harm the body. Seeing the body only as a machine is to deny the connection between physical well-being and spiritual well-being. Slowly, people realize the connection between body and spirit. For instance, unforgiveness can cause diseases, and this has even become a serious subject of study for the ‘Western medicine’. Slowly, doctors become more open to a holistic approach to the body. They recognize the interactions between body, soul and spirit. There are strong connexions between spiritual influences, psychological attitudes (the soul) and eating, sleeping or other physical habits. All these influences are all connected to the body’s well-being.
Jesus came to save. The Greek new testament word ‘sozo' (σῴζω) means ‘to save' but also ‘to heal,' ‘to deliver.' This helps us to see why in Jesus’ ministry healing, deliverance and proclaiming salvation are not as strongly separated as we would think. We could speak of a holistic ministry. There are clear connections between salvation, healing and deliverance. Physical healing or spiritual deliverance can be a strong sign of God’s coming salvation, an early preparation for our resurrection.
The challenge we have is to both recognize this important connection  between body and spirit, and to be cautious about possible confusions. It is not because someone is not healed when we pray that the person is a sinner. Sin can cause disease, and God’s forgiveness can lead to healing. (see for instance Mark 2:1-12, John 5:13-14). Yet, when someone is sick we should not begin to probe which sin is at the root, as the disciples did in the story of John 9 (see verses 1-3). We should rather learn from Jesus what to do. In any situation, he always came to the Father to discern what to do. He acted in various and sometimes surprising ways in order to heal people: sometimes he touched them (Mark 1:31), sometimes he put mud on the eyes of a blind man (John 9:6-7), sometimes he manifested openly that it was an answer of the Father to his prayer (John 11:41-44). In all cases, Jesus said what the Father told him to say (John 12:49-50), did what the Father showed him to do (John 5:19). We can do the same and even more through a living faith in Jesus (John 12:12-14), since Jesus promised that he would be with us until the end of the age (Mt 28:20), and that the Holy Spirit would teach us everything (John 14:15-17,26). This is the key for discerning what to do when someone is sick, our listening obedience to God. We are invited to learn to listen and obey to the voice of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit in all we say and all we do. We will then imitate Jesus, as ‘little christs' or Christians. We will follow the Way to the Father that he is, that he has opened for us.
Instead of developing sterile methods for ‘efficient prayers’, or useless justifications for why some people are healed and some are not, let us come to Jesus' school of prayer, to a real intimacy with God. Each person is different, and each disease has different causes. Are there spiritual, psychological or physical reasons? Yes. Is there a method to know all of them? Yes and no. There is no method without listening to God.
Doctors have developed thoroughly the aptitude to listen to God through his creation, what is called medicine. This is a key part in listening to God and following his guidance. Yet, God does not speak only through the laws of nature that he gave us. He also speaks through the spiritual laws he gave us in the Bible. God still wants to speak to us every day, though many ways. As we learn to listen to God in each situation, He will guide us on what to do and what to say, in the same way He guided our Lord Jesus.
Yet, we shall recognize that we are students and not masters. We can make mistakes, specially when we pray for people who are dear to us. When we desire very strongly for someone to be healed, it can cloud our discernment and cause a confusion. This is not a call for passivity, but rather for humility. To claim that God deceived us and did not do what he said is more a sign of spiritual immaturity, of lack of humility, than anything else. As we accept that we can make mistakes, we remember that we are not masters but students of God's grace. This could help us avoid many unnecessary pains and repeated mistakes.
Does God still want to heal today? Yes. Does he want to deliver from impure spirits? Yes. Does he want to save people? Yes! Let us simply remember that eternal life is not about food or drink, or about perfect physical health now. Eternal life is to have an intimate relationship with God, obeying His voice and learning to know him, the only true God, and the one whom he sent: Jesus Christ (John 17:3).
Some will mention a biblical verse like James 5:14-16 (the prayer of faith will heal the one who is sick), stressing that all should be healed (or saved - the Greek verb here is ‘sozo,’ that can be translated: to save, to heal or to deliver). There is a similar mistake that some do when they read Proverbs 22:6 (Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it), confusing wise advice with prophecy. Wise advice encourages you in a way producing more fruits, not a way always fruitful. A prophecy is something that will come to pass. Both Proverbs 22:6 and James 5:14-16 are wise advice, not prophecy.
What we learn in James 5:16 is that there is a strong connection between righteousness and the efficiency of our prayers (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.) Therefore, when we pray for people to be healed, we should invite them to confess and repent, if they are doing something opposed to God’s will. It is a key part of the healing process. This is similar to what John or Jesus also taught, when they preached: repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near (Mt 3:2, 4:17).
Also, we should make sure that in our relationship with God we have a good communication, rooted in an obedient heart. Ultimately, sin is to be separate from God, and righteousness is therefore listening to God and doing what he tells us through Jesus and through the Holy Spirit.

Practically, if we learn to listen and to obey God in all we do, he will much more frequently listen to our prayers and do what we ask. This is the wonderful power of God’s love, that flows through his faithful children. You want to see more people healed? Pray more often for people, learn to listen to Jesus always more often. He loves this world. Jesus wants to let his love flow in you and through you to many. Keep a humble heart, accepting that you can make mistakes in what you hear from Jesus. He can teach you through these very mistakes, bringing you closer to His heart, through the Holy Spirit’s teaching.
God’s love has not been quenched. God’s miracles are still for today. His love delivers, his love heals, his love brings salvation still today. God is waiting for us to come to His school of love. He wants us to turn away from our selfish ways. He wants us to experience the joy of being filled with His Spirit, His Spirit flowing out of our hearts and transforming lives around us.