Brandon,

Thank you for the comment. You are correct, the core issue is the relationship between faith and the will of God. The requirement for God’s intervention is either: Faith + Will of God = Healing (in this instance), Or, Faith (alone) = Healing

My contention is the latter because in my view the existence of true Bible faith is the indication that the requirements of the promise of God have been met, and therefore, the answer is the will of God.
I will respond directly to your individual statements below:

<em>I liked the post, but would like to expand it a little. After reading it looks like what you are saying is that, if you have true faith, you are in Gods will. So if I pray to have someone “healed” and they are not, then I can deduce that I am not in Gods will and do not have true faith (strawman agrument, I know).</em>

To have true faith you must me in the will of God. If someone is not healed it does not necessarily mean that it was not the will of God for them to be healed. It may be that the will of God for them to be healed was not sufficiently known and believed. It was His will but they could not take advantage of that fact because of a lack of faith. A mature faith in the word of God concerning a particular issue, in this case, healing, takes time to grow.

I believe it is always the will of God to healed. I challenge you to go to the Gospels and find a passage where someone did not get healed where anything other than doubt or unbelief is mentioned as a reason. I do not know of any. Also, I believe it is interesting to note that Jesus never mentioned the will of God as a reason someone would or would not be blessed. Faith, or the lack thereof, is the only criteria directly mentioned. The ‘if’ always pertains to whether one has faith or not. Like in Paul’s writings, the Gospels agree with the fact that, ‘all the promises of God are always yes and amen, in Christ Jesus (II Cor 1:20).

Jesus only prayed a prayer with an ‘if’ in it once, and it concerned His seeking the will of God. He never used an ‘if’ when praying about things (cursing fig trees) or people (healings, raisings from the dead) or actions (calming the seas). Again, Jesus never uttered, “If it be God’s will, you will be healed.”
<em>
In this I do not agree. We can have faith, believe in God and His eternal promise by what Christ did for us on the cross and still not have a prayer of healing answered.</em>

What scriptures do you base this viewpoint on? Does faith come from God? I believe it does. We ‘hear’ from God and faith comes (Rom 10:17). I believe this ‘hearing’ is the coming alive of the written promise of God to our heart -the moment the seed of the word becomes harvest. It is at this time that the ‘things hoped for’ become reality (Heb 11:1). If faith in the known will of God is not absolute then what is it? What good is it? Faith by definition must be absolute, especially if it is based on the heard word of the Lord. How can one stand if it is not sure? How can one really be sure of anything from God?

If faith comes from God, then how can we have faith outside of His will? It is either “Faith Alone Plus Nothing,” as Luther would say, or Faith plus something. I believe it is faith alone because faith is the indication that all is there and is ‘witnessed’ to by God (Heb 11:2). When Jesus looked out over a crowd He did not have to know everything about each individual (of course He could have), all He needed to know is their faith level. It represents all else.

<em>I am not going to speak for Ryrie but the way I look at what he is saying is that we must pray Gods will over the individual, not necessarily what we want. If it is Gods will, then they can be miraculously healed.</em>

Yes, we must pray God’s will, but that will must be established prior to praying, not after. Otherwise, prayer becomes a way of just throwing things up against the wall to see what sticks. The Bible tells us to be perseverant and steadfast in prayer. How can we do this if take the attitude ‘if it happens it is God, and if it doesn’t happen it is not God?’ How does one know whether to fight on or let go? We must seek God prior to the prayer so that we know that we are praying the will of God and we know that we Will receive the answer (I John 5:14, 15). What other meaning can there be for, “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and THEY WILL BE GRANTED YOU” (Mark 11:24?

The interesting issue here is, ‘does God’s will always happen?’ Before you immediately say, ‘yes of course,’ think about all the scriptures that tell us that we must pray for God’s will. If is just happened then why pray for it. We would only then have to sit back, say a ‘if it be thy will’ prayer, and go on our way.

<em>“The prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick” does this refer to a physical or spiritual healing? We know that the Lord is more concerned with our spiritual health and not our physical health. The word study for this passage needs to focus on the word restore.</em>

I am sorry but I really disagree with your statement. It minimizes the miracles of Jesus. The majority of the miracles were physical in nature. The physical miracles of Jesus were not an add-on or side issue. They were not meant to authenticate His ministry, but rather they were a core part of His message and mission – to undue the effects of sin and pain. Acts says that, “Jesus went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.” That is spirit, soul, and body.

Yes, I would rather someone die of sickness than be healed and then go to hell, but that is not the point. It is not an either/or proposition. The Lord is concerned with the whole man. He is touched with our pain, both spiritual and physical. I believe the context is about physical healing. Other translations use the following words: “will cure them,” “make the sick person well,” “save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up..” The physical benefits of the Gospel must not be minimized.

I hope my answer did not overwhelm you or your comment. It just poured out of me..

God Bless,