God Still Heals Today

What if God still healed today? Not in a history book, not in a distant anecdote, but here, now, in your life and in the lives of the people you love. That is the question Loic Richard asks head on in this message preached at Eglise Nouvelle Vie, as part of the series on spiritual gifts.

He does not treat this question as a theory. He carries it in his own flesh: a mother diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when he was 4 years old, a father taken by a sudden, aggressive cancer in 2017, a knee injury he thought he would never recover from and that was healed the very night his son Louis was born. Two "yeses" from God, one "not yet." And still, at the end of the road, this same conviction: God still heals today.

Article outline

• What the Bible clearly says: God heals
• 1. Making peace with the tension between the "already" and the "not yet"
• 2. God is not a vending machine
• 3. Praying with faith, even a small faith
• 4. Praying with love, without imposing our expectations
• Key takeaways
• Personal application
• Verses cited
• FAQ

What the Bible clearly says: God heals

The starting text is 1 Corinthians 12:9-11: "To another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit... All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills."

Two gifts appear here, closely linked: the gifts of healing (plural), and the gift of faith. The first are manifestations of the Holy Spirit through which God grants physical, emotional, and sometimes spiritual restoration to someone who is sick or suffering. The second is a capacity given by the Spirit to trust God in an exceptional way for a specific situation.

When you open the Gospel of Luke, you are overwhelmed by the sheer number of healings. Peter's mother in law raised up from a high fever (Luke 4:38). A leper touched by Jesus even though it was forbidden (Luke 5:12). A paralyzed man lowered through the roof and forgiven before being healed (Luke 5:17). A Roman officer's servant healed from a distance (Luke 7). A widow's son brought back to life (Luke 7:14).

And it does not stop with Jesus. He sends out his disciples, and they in turn heal (Luke 9). Peter and John raise up a paralyzed man (Acts 3). The apostles perform so many signs that people bring the sick into the streets, on beds, hoping that Peter's shadow might fall on them (Acts 5:12-15). In Samaria, the mission grows and "many who were paralyzed or lame were healed" (Acts 8).

So the question becomes very simple: do you believe that God heals? God heals because he is a good Father. God heals because he is full of compassion. God heals because he loves you. God heals to prove that the good news is real, so that his name would be glorified. And God still heals today.

1. Making peace with the tension between the "already" and the "not yet"

Loic admits it frankly: believing that God heals is a challenge for him too. He grew up with a child's faith. At age 4, his mother received her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. He has almost no memory of her before the wheelchair. What he does remember well are his prayers. He prayed every day with faith. He already pictured family vacations in places she could not otherwise reach. His mother still has multiple sclerosis today.

How do you keep believing when healing is not part of your reality?

First, you have to make peace with the tension. Just because a subject challenges you does not mean you should avoid it. And when God does not fit neatly into our small minds, that is probably a good sign, because he is God.

In Luke 4:14-21, Jesus enters the synagogue in Nazareth, unrolls the scroll of Isaiah, reads the prophecy about the one the Spirit of the Lord has anointed to proclaim good news, deliverance, and recovery of sight, and declares: "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." The kingdom the people had been waiting for over centuries is here. God heals because his kingdom is being established on earth.

And yet, at other times, Jesus speaks of that kingdom as a reality still to come: "Your kingdom come" (Matthew 6:10). The parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13) shows a kingdom that grows slowly. At the last supper, he announces that one day we will eat and drink with him in his Father's kingdom.

So is the kingdom of God here, or still to come? The answer is: yes. Both. The kingdom has already been inaugurated, but is not yet fully accomplished. And as a disciple of Jesus, this is the very tension you are called to live in.

Loic tells the story: in 2018, he injured his knee skiing. A big lump on the back of it, barely able to walk. The specialist told him, "You have run too much, you will never be able to run again." At the same time, his family was preparing to move to Quebec, and his wife Suzanne was expecting their son Louis. He prayed for his knee. The night Louis was born, his knee was completely healed. A few days later, the specialist laughed about it: either the injury was still there and hidden, or it was a miracle. In 2026, eight years later, Loic runs, plays soccer, does high impact sports. The kingdom of God is here.

But in 2017, his father was struck with a sudden, aggressive cancer. The whole family prayed with faith. His father was convinced he would be healed. In November 2017, his father passed away. The kingdom of God is not yet fully accomplished.

In this tension, the gifts of healing are a foretaste of the perfect health you will have one day, when the kingdom is fully here.

2. God is not a vending machine

When Loic was little in Switzerland, his greatest passion was candy. In Swiss train stations, there were Selecta vending machines. In front of these machines, his parents faced some of little Loic's biggest meltdowns. A vending machine works 99 percent of the time. You choose, you pay, you press the button, you take your item. An almost foolproof method.

We would love for healing to work the same way. A recipe: step 1, step 2, step 3, and healing arrives.

Except that is not how Jesus healed. Once he spoke a word with authority. Another time he made mud and put it on a blind man's eyes. Another time he touched someone. Another time a woman touched the edge of his garment. Another time he responded to the faith of the sick person. Another time to the faith of the sick person's friends. Another time he healed from a distance.

So what is the formula? There is no formula. And it is still the same today.

• Sometimes God heals through the healthcare system. He gives wisdom to the doctor, you receive the right medication, and God heals you. The sixteenth century surgeon Ambroise Pare used to say, "I dressed the wound, God healed it."
• Sometimes God heals through creation. Your child scrapes their hand, you put on a bandage, the body does its work. God has placed countless miracles within creation itself.
• Sometimes healing comes through the confession of sin. James speaks of this, because there can be a link between a hidden sin and an illness. But be careful, this is not a general rule. Do not place an unnecessary burden on people who are already suffering.
• Sometimes God heals in a supernatural way, but it takes time.
• Sometimes God heals in a supernatural and instant way.
• And sometimes God does not heal, and he says, as he told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

This is why Paul speaks of the gifts of healing in the plural. It is not on demand. You cannot decide when you will display this gift. There is no method to master. On the other hand, you do have a responsibility: pray for the sick.

God is not a vending machine because he is not a method you can own or control. And he is not simply a free healthcare provider either. In Jesus' day, the crowds came because he healed. For many, he was an extraordinarily effective and entirely free dispenser of care. They wanted the healing, not the relationship.

The same trap still exists today. You can want healing more than you want a relationship with Jesus. God still heals today, yes, but the greatest miracle is the restoration of your relationship with him. What do you truly long for the most? What Jesus does for you, or Jesus himself?

3. Praying with faith, even a small faith

The Bible constantly invites us to pray with faith. In almost every healing account, faith appears. Jesus tells his disciples that with faith as small as a mustard seed, you can move mountains. To Martha he says, "Believe, and you will see the glory of God" (John 11:40).

This puts pressure on you. You might tell yourself, "I cannot pray for healing, I do not have enough faith."

We need to redefine faith. Faith is not a weapon by which we demand things from God or force him to submit to our will. Faith is an act of self renunciation, the abandonment of any claim to accomplish anything by our own strength, and the confession that God can do all things. "Lord, I can do nothing. But you, you can do everything."

Faith draws its power not from the spiritual energy of the one who believes, but from the supernatural effectiveness of the object of that faith, God himself. It is not the act of faith that produces the miracle, but the object of that faith. In other words, you can have a small faith in a great God who still works miracles today.

No matter how weak your faith may be, Jesus knows how to find the faith that is available. Sometimes in the sick person. Sometimes in the one who prays. Sometimes in the sick person's friends. Sometimes in the crowd, in the congregation. And if you feel like you have no faith at all, pray like that desperate father in Mark 9:24: "I believe, help my unbelief!"

The song born out of grief

Loic tells the story behind the song "You Are the God of Miracles." It was written by Chris Kelala [pastor's note: exact spelling to be verified] in 2015. In December 2014, his wife, pregnant with their third child, noticed that the baby's heartbeat was fading. They stopped everything. They prayed with faith, they prayed for healing, they even prayed for resurrection. But their son died. Instead of blaming God, instead of giving up, Chris wrote this song. It is a right way to stand in the tension: believing that God is at work even when he does not act the way we imagined.

4. Praying with love, without imposing our expectations

Paul writes it in plain terms: you can perform spectacular miracles, speak in the tongues of angels, give your body to be burned, if you do not have love, none of it is worth anything (1 Corinthians 13). This chapter is placed right in the middle of the two great texts on spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12 and 14) to remind you of the essential thing: love.

When you pray for someone, what drives you? Do you still pray for the sick at all? Jesus himself was moved with deep compassion. Do you still carry that kind of compassion?

If love is your motivation:

• You will not force someone to confess sins that do not exist.
• You will not blame someone for their lack of faith.
• You will respect the person's own process.
• You will not impose your expectations of healing on others.

Loic tells a rather funny story: at a conference, a very sincere pastor prayed five times over his knee. Each time, he asked, "Is it better?" Loic checked, touched it, no. By the fifth time, embarrassed, looking for the nearest exit, Loic finally said, "I feel like it is a little better" which was not true. The pastor gave glory to God, and Loic went back to his seat. The point? Do not impose your expectations. The Holy Spirit acts as he wills.

Three stories from Louis Delgado

Louis Delgado, head of operations at the chapel, has witnessed several healings. Loic tells three of them.

His mother. Shortly after his conversion, his mother was diagnosed with a cyst on her back. Louis simply placed his hand on her back and prayed silently. Nothing dramatic. A few days later, at the doctor's office, there was nothing left.

His college classmate (2007). She confided in him that at age 7, she had started vomiting bile about twice a week, and needed to go back to her home country to have surgery. Louis told her, "Let us fast and pray." She wanted to stop, saying it was not working. Louis kept fasting and praying. One day he received a conviction, the gift of faith, a special assurance for a specific situation. He looked her in the eyes: "Go back to your country, the doctors will say there is nothing to operate on." Fast forward to October of that same year, the file from Canada said there was a problem, the file made on site said there was nothing. And since June, she had never vomited again. Louis then reminded her of what he had told her before: "You used to say you had never experienced anything from God?" She came back to God, was baptized, and now lives for him.

The couple in Peru (2009). A young woman loved a man who had AIDS, but she did not want to marry him in that condition. The man went to see Louis. In a small dark room, without much faith that day, Louis prayed, "Lord, our prayers are not always the best. But you are able to heal. May your will be done. Take his life." A month later, blood tests showed zero trace of the virus. They were married within the year.

And still today, Louis' father in law suffers from severe depression. He prays for him every day. The miracle has not happened yet. The Holy Spirit acts as he wills, but the Holy Spirit does act.

So no matter your circumstances, no matter your disappointments, no matter how great or small your faith may be, pray with faith, pray with love, because God is still at work today.

Key takeaways

• God still heals today. The Bible and experience both testify to it, even when healing does not always come the way we expect.
• The kingdom of God is "already here" and "not yet fully accomplished." The gifts of healing are a foretaste of the restoration to come.
• God is not a vending machine. There is no formula. Jesus healed in a thousand different ways.
• Faith is not a weapon for demanding things. It is a trusting surrender to a great God. A small faith is enough.
• Love and compassion are the true motivation for praying over the sick. Without love, everything else counts for nothing.

Personal application

• Is there a prayer for healing that God did not answer the way you hoped? Can you, today, make peace with that tension without giving up your faith?
• What do you truly long for the most: what Jesus does for you, or your relationship with him?
• Who could you start praying for regularly regarding healing, a loved one, a coworker, someone from your church?
• When you pray for someone, what motivates you: the desire to see a spectacular miracle, or compassion for the person?
• What would happen in your community if you decided together to be "an ordinary community that prays with faith in an extraordinary God"?

Verses cited

• 1 Corinthians 12:9-11 - the gifts of healing and of faith
• Luke 4:14-21 - Jesus in Nazareth, Scripture fulfilled
• Luke 4:38-41 - Peter's mother in law healed
• Luke 5:12-26 - the leper, the paralyzed man
• Luke 7 - the centurion's servant, the widow of Nain's son
• Luke 9:1-6 - Jesus sends out his disciples
• Acts 3 - Peter and John heal a paralyzed man
• Acts 5:12-16 - healings through the apostles
• Acts 8 - the mission in Samaria
• Matthew 6:10 - "Your kingdom come"
• Matthew 13 - the parable of the mustard seed
• 2 Corinthians 12:9 - "My grace is sufficient for you"
• Mark 9:24 - "I believe, help my unbelief"
• John 11:40 - "Believe, and you will see the glory of God"
• 1 Corinthians 13 - the hymn to love
• James 5:13-18 - prayer for the sick, the example of Elijah

FAQ

Does God always heal when we pray with enough faith?

No. The Bible shows that God still heals today, but not systematically, and not according to a formula. Loic's father, who prayed with solid faith, died of cancer. Louis Delgado's father in law, whom he prays for every day, still lives with severe depression. The Holy Spirit "apportions to each one individually as he wills" (1 Corinthians 12:11). Faith is not a lever that forces God to act, it is a trusting surrender to a God who can do all things.

How can I pray for a sick loved one without hurting them?

By letting love be your motivation. Concretely: do not force anyone to confess sins that do not exist, do not blame the sick person for their lack of faith, respect their process, and do not impose your expectations of healing. If the miracle does not come the way you hoped, do not pressure the person into pretending "it is getting better." Pray with compassion, listen, hold their hand. That alone is already a great deal.

Do I really need a "gift" to pray for healing?

No. Your responsibility as a disciple is to pray for the sick. The gifts of healing are plural precisely because they are not on demand, it is the Holy Spirit who distributes them as he wills. You are called to step out in action, with the faith you have (even if small), in a God who is great. James 5 reminds us that Elijah "was a man with a nature like ours." If you are an ordinary person with ordinary faith in an extraordinary God, you are exactly the right person to pray.