In this episode, we look at the importance of the human will in receiving divine healing or any kind of help from the Lord. We also look at some steps one should take in order to hold on to healing once it has come.

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[Tweet “Jesus put His finger on the pulse of this man’s problem when He asked, “Will you be made whole.””]

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You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put into operation.
This weeks call is:

Your ‘want to’ must be strong. Your will fiercely determined to receive God’s best. Set your heart to receive from God with faith and patience (Heb. 6:12 and Heb. 10:36).

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believers life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Share one determined moment where you would not allow your faith to be denied. Share your experience in the comments section below.

Episode Resources

You can find more information on the subject of Divine Healing and Miracles by clicking on the links above.

♦ Page: – Healing and Miracles

♦ Podcast: – How to Minister Healing Like Jesus Did

♦ Video: R.W. Schambach Ministering Healing

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com

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Podcast Notes

The Question Jesus Asked The Impotent Man

John 5:6 (NKJV)
6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

• Notice the question Jesus asked this man.
• Jesus didn’t ask every person He ministered to the same question.
• This ‘do you want to well question’ is another example of Spirit-led living.
• Jesus didn’t ask the same question to every person He ministered to.
• Jesus was led to ask this man a question concerning his will.
• Why did He ask this particular man this question
• This was this man’s sticking point.
• This was part this man was stuck on.
• Everyone’s sticking point is not the same.
• That’s why you have to be led.
• Do you want to be made well?
• Isn’t this an odd question to ask a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years?

Isn’t This an Odd Question?

• Isn’t this a strange inquiry for a man who was loaded up every morning and carted over to this Pool.
• Obviously, he had to have help getting to the Pool.
• He can’t walk.
• Why do you suppose Jesus asked the man this question, “Do you want to be well?”
• Would you have asked such an obvious question or would you have just assumed the answer?
• Jesus asked this man this question because the ‘want to’ is important.
• Jesus knew this man had a longstanding condition.
• His question strongly suggests something else is going on in the mind of this man.
• It suggests this man was discouraged.
• Yes, he was carted every day to the Pool.
• But, this man is just going through the motions.
• You understand what going through the motions means?
• It means doing something without believing in its importance.
• He was on auto-pilot.
• People suffer from this disease all the time.
• They’re quick to stay home because they don’t see the importance of coming.
• Why was this man in this state?
• The length of his illness was the beat downforce.
• The length of this illness had beaten him down to a level of no feeling, no passion.
• Thirty-eight years is a long time to be ill.
• And on top of that, someone always beat him to the pool.
• And there was nothing he could do about it.
• He had no one to help him get in.
• What happens to people who are sick a long time?
• What happens to people’s whose hopes are continually hindered and hammered?
• They lose the will to fight.
• And in the case of sickness, it’s called the will to live.
• Have you heard of medical doctors referencing a persons will?
• Here’s a quote along this line.
• “As medical professionals, we have always been fascinated by the power of the will to live. Like all creatures in the animal world, human beings have a fierce instinct for survival. The will to live is a force within all of us to fight for survival when our lives are threatened by a disease such as cancer.” ¹
• I scanned half a dozen or so journals and articles along this line and they all say the same thing.
• If I have even heard a statistic that said the will to live is eighty percent of the battle.
• Maybe the exact number is incorrect but it is definitely a large part.
• These same articles stated that depression drains one of the will to live. ²
• Jesus put His finger right on the pulse of this man’s dilemma when He asked him the question, “Will you be made whole.”
• Before He could heal him, before He could raise him up, He had to, first, resurrect his will.

Man on Three Dimensions: The Human Will

• Again another quote will help us here.
• We have known for over 2,000 years—from the writings of Plato and Galen—that there is a direct correlation between the mind, the body, and one’s health. The cure of many diseases is unknown to physicians, Plato concluded, “because they are ignorant of the whole. For the part can never be well unless the whole is well.” Recently, there has been a shift in health care toward recognizing this wisdom, namely that the psychological and the physical elements of a body are not separate, isolated and unrelated, but are vitally linked elements of a total system. Health is increasingly being recognized as a balance of many inputs, including physical and environmental factors, emotional and psychological states, nutritional habits and exercise patterns. ³
• You can see from this quote that at least portions of the medical community acknowledge this ‘whole system’ of man which needs to be engaged for health to flourish.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV)
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• What these institutions haven’t fully grasped yet is the ‘spirit of man’ part yet.
• But at least they are starting to see the soul connection.
• There is a connection between spirit and soul.
• The spirit and soul are intertwined.
• The components of the soul are linked to the spirit.
• This passage in 1 Thessalonians lays out for us the entirety of man’s being.
• Man is a three-part entity, not two parts as some suppose.
• Man is spirit.
• Man is soul.
• Man is body.
• The spirit is not the soul and the soul is not the spirit.
• And neither spirit or soul is the body.
• If it helps you, you can think of it like this: man is a spirit, he has a soul and he lives in a body.

Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

• Notice in this verse in Hebrews that the spirit and the soul are divided.
• If the Word is able to divide spirit and soul, then they cannot be the same.
• Many times people use phrases which actually hinder their faith because they slide things together or interchange areas which are not meant to be interchangeable.
• The spirit is not the soul.
• It’s incorrect to say, “Thank God He saved my soul if you are referring to the born-again experience.”
• Your soul wasn’t saved in the sense your spirit was when you came to Jesus.
• It’s your spirit which received the new birth.
• It’s your spirit which became a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
• Your spirit is your heart.
• Your spirit is your inner core.
• The soul, though, is extremely important in the spiritual life.
• Just because the soul is not the spirit doesn’t mean the soul should be ignored.
• The mind, at times, needs to be reeled in.
• Thoughts need to be captured (2 Corinthians 10:5).
• The will, at times, needs to be adjusted.
• The will of this man who had been sick for so long needed to be adjusted.
• Hopelessness and discouragement needed to be evicted.
• The years had beaten down this man’s will.
• Every individual who stepped into the pool ahead of him when the waters were troubled added to his despair.
• The will of man is important in receiving healing from God.
• The will to live must be kept strong and intact.
• Jesus needed the man’s soul engaged in the fight.
• If people don’t want to be healed, if they don’t exercise their will in that area, they won’t be.
• You can’t force it on them.
• That’s one reason, a person you are praying for may die.
• You’re in your prayer closet praying for healing alright but in their closet, their will is not in the fight.
• This is extremely important to understand.
• You can’t force it on them.
• Almost all of the professing atheists became atheists after praying for a loved one to be healed who instead died.

Receiving Healing and Keeping It

John 5:14 (KJV)
14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

• Read these words again. “Afterwards Jesus findeth him in the temple.”
• It was no accident that he found him.
• Jesus went looking for this man and when He found that man, He told that man how to hold on to what he got.
• In his particular case, sin had originally compromised him and gave an open door for Satan to attack him.
• So, Jesus told him how to avoid this invalid condition coming back on him again.
• Notice Jesus said what would come back on him would be worse than what he already had.
• What’s worse than being paralyzed for thirty-eight years?
• Maybe death.
• So you see the compassion of Jesus is seen in not only in ministering healing to this man but also showing this man how to hold on to his healing.
• Know this, Jesus is interested in you getting healed and in you staying healed.
• So mark this down and don’t forget these words.
• The level you receive on may not be the level you need to hold on what you got.

Use it or Lose It

Matthew 13:12 (KJV)
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

• Jesus reiterates a kingdom of God principle in this passage.
• The kingdom of God is what Jesus taught.
• You have to continually use what you have.
• Once you receive your miracle from God…
• If you remain static in your faith,
• If you don’t develop spiritually in the area you received,
• If you don’t grow in your walk in the Word…
• If you just simply exist, you run the risk of losing what you received.
• This principle has great consequences in all areas God.
• Our particular area of focus for the past month is the subject of divine healing.
• Have you ever seen anyone receive a miraculous healing and then with the passage of time, lose it?
• They were legitimate recipients of a miracle from heaven.
• A cancer they were diagnosed with went away.
• A back issue they were limping along with just vanished.
• The heart which didn’t beat right is now rhythmically ticking away.
• The doctors verified it.
• The MRI showed it.
• The tests confirmed it.
• Then all of a sudden, the conditions return.
• In some cases, the symptoms are worse than before.
• In some cases, lethally so.
• Why?
• What happened?
• It’s one thing to receive from God. It’s another thing to hold on to it.
• It’s one thing to get healed. It’s another thing to stay that way.

Return Attacks Are Part of Reality

• Return attacks are part of the reality of spiritual life.
• Spiritual life is a war.
• And in war, you have to fight to maintain your ground.

Luke 19:13 (KJV)
13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

• Jesus said, ‘Occupy until I come.’
• Occupy doesn’t mean ‘be busy at life.’
• It means engaging at the business at hand.
• Get involved in the business of the kingdom.
• In our lesson, this means, ‘Get involved in the business of holding on to the blessings of health, healing, and wholeness.’
• Why do you need to fight to maintain it?
• Your motive should be to minister for God.
• Ask yourself this question. ‘What more could I do for God and with God if I had a well body?”
• Now, let’s look at this verse in Matthew’s gospel.

Matthew 12:43–45 (KJV)
43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. 45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

• Matthew 12:43-45 sums up what happens if you don’t develop.
• If you don’t have a game plan to grow your faith, so you can hold on to what you got.
• Again, it’s one thing to get healed, it is another thing to keep it.
• Here, of course, the scripture speaks of unclean demons being cast out but sickness is of the devil.
• So this is how Satan operates.
• Once He is cast out, once his works are put out, he tries to return.
• So spiritual life has an element of conflict.
• We see this in the life of Jesus during His days in the wilderness when the devil came to tempt Him.

Luke 4:12–13 (KJV)
12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

• What does ‘depart from Him for a season’ mean?
• It means he was coming back (to test Jesus again).
• What we must come to understand is that ‘I will return’ is part of the healing scenario.
• And that is why people who receive their healing on other people’s faith, on other people’s prayers, on manifestations of the Spirit, where little faith is required, lose their healing.
• They don’t realize there is more to the game.
• They don’t understand they have to develop in order to get ready for the ‘I will return’ scenario.

1 Peter 5:8–9 (ESV)
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

• You resist the devil with faith, not with manifestations of the Spirit.
• It is not power displays that make you a victor over Satan, it is faith in God’s Word.
• It is faith in Jesus Name.
• Manifestations of the Spirit, other people’s prayers, give you a ‘break’, a healing window as it were, a space of time to develop your own faith in God’s Word.
• We clamor for manifestations of the Spirit because they are so spectacular but you have to understand their purpose.
• You must develop faith – because ‘I will return’ is part of this conflict.
• The level you receive on today is not the level you need tomorrow to hold on to what you.

The Temptation to Live on Yesterday’s Results

Romans 10:17 (KJV)
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

• Faith comes.
• The word ‘comes’ is present tense continuous.
• That means the process by which faith comes is an ongoing process.
• You don’t have faith today because you had faith yesterday.
• You can’t live on the memory of yesterday’s Bible verse no more than you can live on the memory of the steak you had for dinner last Sunday.
• That rib-eye steak you had got the job done but its effect is only for two hours.
• No matter how memorable that piece of meat was in your mouth, two hours and it’s digested and processed by your body.
• Two hours and it’s gone.
• The Word of God is spirit food for the spirit of man.
• You can’t just eat or read a Bible verse one time and have that verse sustain you spiritually for the rest of your life.
• You can’t live on yesterday’s faith.
• So, we have shown you the how and the why people lose their healing.
• You can grow, you can develop in such a way that you can hold on to what you got.

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