Is Doubt Blocking Your Breakthrough? Biblical Truth About Healing and Faith

What are the two things that can keep God's blessings, His promises and his healing from our lives?

We're going to explore what it is we have to do to open back up the flow, to open back up the path to God so that our will aligns with him and that we can experience more of his blessings, more of his promises and healing, if that's what we need.

Welcome to Faith Fueled Living, the podcast that equips you to live well spiritually, emotionally, physically, and purposefully.

Each week, we'll dive into conversations and biblical truths to help you strengthen your faith, pursue meaningful work here for your whole self, and live in line with what matters most.

All right, let's dig into today.

So the two things we're going to get into are how our doubt in the Lord and what he's capable of can hold back the goodness of God in our lives.

We're also going to talk about unbelief and how the one thing that God that can stop us from, from getting those blessings and the healing from God is, is our unbelief or our lack of belief that he can and will do it for us.

So we're going to dig into scripture, we're going to dig into some ideas around this, and we're going to dig into how do we start changing our heart and start believing God for what he shows us is possible and what he promises is possible in our own lives.

That we may have heard mixed messages about this.

We may have heard things like, well, I want healing if it's God's will.

So we're going to flip that around and we're going to really dig into scripture and what it says about this, right?

There's many places in scripture that talk about that God can heal.

And we're going to go through some of those today.

And another place he says, therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

So, like I said, there's so many scriptures that talk about healing.

There's so many scriptures to talk about that he'll fulfill his promises, right?

He'll do what he says he'll do.

He did it back then and he's still doing it today.

Okay, So I love what Unfold the script says, and it says, jesus cannot heal where there's unbelief.

We have to act in bold faith, right?

So we have to believe it.

And then act on it.

And I'm going to share some stories with you today about people doing just that.

They the that post also goes on to say, your doubt makes you unreachable.

Guys, this is so important.

I've shared different episodes over the years about believing God for His promises, believing him for his healing.

I'll share some of the past episodes in the show notes.

So if you want to dig deeper into this, I had two great episodes that came out last November.

One was about a doctor healing his stage four brain cancer when they told him he only had months to live.

And the other was a woman that wrote a book called Healed to Healed Kathleen Johnson, which I'll be sharing some of her book again today.

But she shows testimony after testimony of people being divinely or miraculously healed by God and then those people going on to become healers around the country, around the world, and how they healed so many other people through their testimonies.

Okay, in the book Healed to Healed, the author Kathleen Johnson says some things.

She says nothing is impossible for him.

Faith is about opening your hands to let him.

The only place that Jesus couldn't do miracles was when someone had a lack of faith.

It wasn't their sin, it was their unbelief.

They doubted in him.

And she explains that God won't force himself on you.

He won't override your will.

And so that is where many times maybe we don't see a promise, God's promises or blessings in our lives, or maybe either ourselves or someone we know hasn't been healed.

There's many reasons for that.

But the biggest challenge or issue is our unbelief, our doubt, and that God can and will do it for us, that we believe and then we act on it.

And you know, the thing is, is we need to believe anyway.

Let's say we had a past disappointment, someone we know or love passed away.

And so we might be questioning God.

God, if you didn't save that person, if that person isn't healed, how can I expect that he'll do it for me?

But we have to believe anyways.

And we have to then just take it to God and ask him about that.

In that book I was referring to Heal to Healed.

One of the people that she highlights is TL Osborne, and he says the failure of many to be healed today when prayed for is never because it is not God's will to heal them.

And we must be humble.

And remember, as it said in the book, I didn't see everything happening in the unseen realm.

We cannot be healed or get his promises because of unbelief.

That's in Mark 6, 5 and 6.

Or because of unworthiness, not believing that we are worthy or that God wants it for us, that we deserve it, that a reference to that is in Romans 8:32.

Or unforgiveness.

Bitterness, right?

In other words, the things that God says us says for us to let go of.

If we're holding on to these things, trauma.

But unforgiveness can block healing for us.

But only God can see our heart in the full picture.

We won't always know that, but just know.

Maria Woodworth Etter says the gospel isn't complete until it is demonstrated.

And healing is never just for us.

We have to remember that when God heals us, it's to give glory to God.

It's to share our testimony with other people so that they'll have the hope and belief in God.

It will take their unbelief or uncertainty about it and it will help them believe for the healing power of Jesus that were promised.

TL Osborne also says God wants to heal all who are sick just the same as he wants to save all who are sinful.

And another thing that I really like that was said in that book, Heal to Heal says faith that moves without visible proof is the kind of faith that pleases God.

In other words, when people are healed because they believe God even when they didn't see it with their own eyes, another healing that is so powerful.

Okay, another scripture around this is for no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ.

And so through him, the amen is spoken by us to the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 1:20 E. Stanley Jones, who's also someone that she talks about in her book is says this when your will coincides with his, the full resources of Christ are behind your life.

And I like this idea too.

In surrender, you align your will to an almighty will and you begin to do things you could not previously do.

Lay it all down, make space and yield.

God will only make a way when you surrender.

So good.

TL Osborne also says God's power is always available, just waiting for someone to believe it says speak it and act on it.

That is so important.

That's when miracles happen, he says.

But throughout that book, Heal to Heal.

And then I also have a couple other books on healing.

One's called Revealing the Healer, which is another great book by Yvonne Attia.

But that is so important.

First of all, we have to have belief.

We have to fully believe God for the promise or the healing.

Sorry.

And then.

And we have to believe it is done right.

Like, I believe you, God, for it.

And I know it is done right.

Thank him for it, Lord.

I know you have healed me.

But so many people in the book, yes, many of them are miraculously healed in that moment because they fully believed God for that promise and for healing.

But there's so many others where they believed it so deeply.

And then they acted, meaning they were bedridden.

Something major was wrong with them.

They were on their deathbeds, and they put one foot out of the bed.

In other words, they didn't just believe God for it.

Right.

They got to the end of their rope.

They surrendered everything.

And they.

They didn't just believe it.

They spoke it, they believed it, but then they acted on it.

Right.

In other words, they showed the type of faith that God is looking for because they believed God for it.

So they tried to step out of their bed or whatever it was.

They could have just fallen to the ground because of their body's weakness and illness.

Yet God came through.

Right.

He began to heal them.

Sometimes it's miraculous or immediate, and other times it takes time.

But we can't give.

We can't let our faith, our belief falter.

Because that is sometimes when people start to see some healing and then they backtrack because they stop believing God.

Right?

They question it again.

Like, oh, maybe he's not.

No, God says, like, ask for the promises.

He.

He says what he says he'll do.

And he says he will provide us with healing.

He will heal us.

He doesn't say, if it's my will.

And so many times I think we were taught that somehow I know I was, that, you know, sometimes we pray for people feel better.

You know, people that are sick pray for miracles.

But I feel like I also heard or learned that if it's his will, but actually it doesn't say that in the Bible.

Okay, so let's see.

I'm just trying to see who said this real quick.

All right.

I believe it was.

Lester Sumrall says healing is not a peripheral promise.

It is central to the covenant from Genesis to Revelation.

You'll find healing God's redemptive plan.

Okay.

Kathleen Johnson also says in her book there's two primary ways of healing.

By faith in the word of God and then by a manifestation of the Holy Spirit within us.

And so that's what we have to keep remembering and then go for it.

Also, there's three Things that can stand in the way of us getting healing.

Three lies and it's.

Or three obstacles believers face to healing.

I mean, I'm sorry, believers face and getting healing.

And it's Randy Clark in her book that says this, but says unbelief in God's will and promise to heal.

For us, it's unworthiness that it's not.

It's for others, but not for me.

Right.

And then the third is fear.

You know, we just let fear stand the way.

Or as I mentioned earlier, it might be that we are holding on to something that God tells us to let go of, like unforgiveness.

Right?

So in other words, if our heart is still full of unforgiveness or bitterness or anger or resentment or something, you know, all those types of things, we may not have that open signal that, that may block us from getting God's healing or getting a promise that he, you know, shows us in Scripture, Right.

That we, that he still does today.

He still promises that blessing.

So we have to realize that we may have work to do in order to get the blessing that he's.

That he promises people because we can't hold onto those things.

In other words, we have to empty our vessel.

We have to empty our hands, open our heart, you know, make it, you know, get rid of the hardened places.

And then we have to believe him for the promise, believe him for the healing, and that is how we get towards these promises.

All right, so in her book, she talks about someone that says prayer without faith doesn't just fall flat.

It actually dishonors the very one it's addressed to.

He warned that asking again and again without believing is simply unbelief.

Basically, it's believe it, get up and believe it.

God has no limits.

He is unstoppable.

Okay?

Another scripture right around this is Deuteronomy 7:13.

It says, Lord will love you and bless you.

He will bless your children and the crops of your land and the cows of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

The Lord will protect you from all sickness.

So once again, through and through the Bible, we are told these things.

Okay?

Another person that was highlighted in Heal to Heal is John Wesley.

Many of you probably heard that name before.

And he says God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.

And I sort of alluded to this earlier, but there's going to be times where we don't know why someone isn't healed or we're still holding on to an illness or something.

Right?

A diagnosis, but we have to remember our role is to pray.

God's will is to heal.

And there are some things that we can consider now, if this has to do with someone else, it's not our place to try to tell them why they did not heal, because we do not know that reason.

Our job is just to reconfirm for them that God wants healing for all of us.

He wants wholeness for all of us.

That is continuously seen and shown through the Bible, and it's shown to us through the people of the Bible in those stories.

But some things that can happen is does the person or do you want to be healed?

I know that might sound crazy, but in other words, is there a part of you that still has the unbelief, or is it a part of you that doesn't feel like you deserve it?

Right?

Because of something in your past, your holding on to shame, you're holding on to something you did wrong.

Or maybe you just think, like, why me?

Why should I be so lucky?

Or are you or someone else holding on to sickness or the identity of sickness?

If we just like trauma or something hard, hard thing in our lives, are we holding on to the victimhood of it?

Right?

Are we identifying as a victim instead of saying, how do I step in to be a victor?

What is next for me, Lord?

How can you heal me and show me my future not where you've been, but where you're going?

And so are you holding onto an identity that's keeping you from being healed?

Or as I said, it may not be you, it may be someone you know and love.

You can't just say to them, change your identity.

It's not that.

When I say it's not that easy, I mean, they have to come to that, right?

But your prayers and giving them prayers of healing can help the testimonies of other people who have been healed.

Those stories build on our belief.

They increase our faith.

And the biggest thing I can tell you is the more times you read scripture that tells you the promises for your life, the blessings that God says you can have, the healing that he says he wants for every single one of us.

And then hearing the stories, the testimonies of people that have been healed, it changes you.

It shifts something within you.

And that is what we need.

So people that need to be healed, that want to be healed, that want to be better, that want more blessings in their lives, we have to stop talking of what we've walked through, what we're walking through, you know, it's much like the words we say the thoughts we say are keeping us stuck often in the lack that we are or have.

Like always saying, I'm so poor, I never have any money.

I never have enough.

Well, we don't want to speak that over our lives.

And that's not biblical.

I mean, in other words, in the Bible it says God will always provide for us and all these things.

Well, let's start speaking those words over our lives instead of lives that are keeping us stuck or sick or stagnant.

Okay.

The next thing is another thing is in John 5.

6, Jesus asked the lame man who was unable to get up for, I think, decades, he says, would you like to get well?

In other words, we can say we want to get well, but are we holding on to something that's keeping us from getting well?

Is.

Are we holding on to something that's keeping us from saying to the Lord, yes, Lord, I want healing.

I want you to make me well with all of my mind, body and spirit.

I am asking you and I want to claim it.

Okay, so in.

In, let's see, in Mark 6:56, this is where we even see healing happen.

When someone touches the cloak of Jesus.

And in books like Healed to Heal.

But in many other books, they show how people have even been healed by watching a testimony on tv.

They have healed by reading a letter.

A letter was sent to them, a testimony.

They're in an audience of 10,000 and people have divine healing.

In other Words, we don't always have to have hands laid on us.

We don't always like, healing is here for us.

It's when we believe.

And so the mark 6, 56 says they begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Inspiration must turn into activation.

Kathleen Johnson says in her book In Other Words, we can be inspired by a testimony, but we have to turn on the blessing or the promise of healing.

How do we do that?

It's by our belief, by speaking out loud and then acting.

Acting in the sense that God is doing it in us.

Right, like the blessing is here.

The blessing is coming.

And then remember as I talked about, about our words matter.

Your words matter, your thoughts matter.

Stop speaking death and life draining victimhood over your life, over your body, over your mental health, over your spirit.

Start speaking that good medicine over yourself.

Start speaking God's word over yourself.

Stop giving in to what is there now and start speaking life into yourself.

Okay?

So in her book, Randy Clark explains how, like I said earlier, if we receive healing, it's not just for us, it's to share with other people so that they will build their belief, that they will know God will do what he says and does do what he says.

He will do what he promises.

So Randy Clark says, if given correctly, a testimony does not bring glory to the person healed, but to the healer in the name of Jesus.

So once again, we aren't just given healing for our purpose or benefits.

It's also so that other people come to Christ both for salvation, but also for healing which were promised.

And it says in her book, she says three things that testimony can do.

It can be the seed right of hope.

It can be the sword, meaning that it cuts through doubt and unbelief and builds.

It builds us up to somebody that does believe, we believe it, that he can do it, God can do it, and that he will do it in us.

And it's a signal that God still heals today.

Amen.

He's always healed.

Let's see.

Let me just see.

Okay, I already read that.

Let me see what I haven't shared yet.

And then many of you have probably heard of Christine Caine.

I believe she's in the UK and she says she also had her own healing, miraculous healing.

And then, you know, definitely with all of her ministry she does, she definitely speaks to healing and she shares her testimonies.

She says God is able to take the mess of our past and turn it into a message.

He can take our trials and tests and turn them into a testimony.

No matter what you've walked through, friends, no matter what you walk through, no matter what you're still walking through, no matter what sin you've done, because we've all sinned and are sinners, God can use it for his good.

He can turn it around and he can make it your ministry.

He can make it your testimony which will change lives.

Okay, just a couple other things I want to share with you.

So in the same book I was referencing earlier, Kathleen says Jesus waits for us to believe an act of his word.

In other words, it's the faith plus action.

And Andrew Murray, which is a big time healer that she talks about, says God grants healing to glorify the name of Jesus.

Let us seek to be healed by him, that his name may be glorified.

Oh, and then I mentioned Maria Woodworth Etter earlier.

She also says this and it was so good for each Jesus.

And hold on to God until the signs follow there is something wrong unless they do follow.

Don't wait until you have any special gift.

Believe that you can do it and it will be done.

And Andrew Murray also says God is ready to manifest the all power of his Son and to do it in a striking way in body as well as in soul.

Let us ask great things in his name, and we shall see God do wonders by the name of the Holy Spirit.

How good is that?

Oh, and this was.

This is a really powerful quote as well by George Williams that says, in the spiritual world, God's truth will overcome any fact.

Hear that again.

God's truth will overcome any fact.

So good.

Okay, so let's wrap up today's episode.

Okay, so I just want to wrap up with a few additional thoughts.

And one is a question that Mark Batterson shares in his book when his wife has gone through cancer.

And it's that they've realized that sometimes a diagnosis, a problem, a health issue, or could be a mental.

Mental health issue is, what have you come to teach me?

In other words, is there a lesson learned or something that we're holding on to that we have to release before there can be healing?

So he says, when we face a problem, our predominant prayer is to ask God to change our circumstances.

I have no doubt God can do that.

But sometimes the circumstances we ask God to change are the very circumstances God is using to change us.

So once again, about the healing or promises, right?

And blessings that God wants for us, sometimes we have to change, right?

God's trying to change us before he can fulfill a promise or healing or a blessing.

And so we still want to know that God can do these things and that he will in our lives, right?

So we want the belief and we want to believe him for it.

But obviously he works on his own timing.

And it is not always a timetable that we understand, right?

As humans and in the world that we live in.

But in the spiritual realm, things are happening, but we do not always understand the timing of the spiritual world.

Okay, I did allude to this earlier, but once again, what we believe is, so we have to believe God for the healing, but we also have to change our thoughts, as I said, because, you know, just like the whole, we need to hold our thoughts captive.

We need to be focused on good and worthy things.

You know, there's the scripture about that.

I don't remember the exact scripture, but let's see.

Natural Blondie was sharing about being sick, and then Then healing, finding, healing.

And she shares some things that are really relevant about this.

One is if you believe you're sick, you will be sick, but if you believe you're well, you will be free.

And she said healthy people that she noticed it wasn't about their biology, it was about their belief.

They trusted their bodies and they trusted themselves.

They expected to thrive.

They didn't attach meaning to temporary symptoms.

They allowed them to pass without fear.

They believed they were well, so they were, end of story.

She explains in her own journey.

I started to heal when I stopped believing there was something wrong with me.

She says, the more I strengthen my belief in God, nature, my body and myself, the healthier I became.

Healing is in your control.

It is a byproduct of your belief.

So once again, yes, ask God for the healing right, and for the promises and for the, the, the blessings.

But you also have to understand that he designed your body to be well, to be in a state that is healthy.

Mind, body and spirit.

But if we continue to taint it with unhealthy patterns, if we continue to be stressed and anxious at every turn, if we continue to believe we are sick, if we continue to believe we are the diagnosis, we cannot be healed when we do not believe that we can now be the well person.

We cannot be healed if we do not believe that our body is miraculous in and of itself, right?

The way it works, the way it regenerates, we have to believe God for it.

But we also have to believe that our body and our mind is capable of being well, of identifying as a healthy body, a healthy person.

So it's all tied together and we have to change our patterns and our habits.

Of course, it doesn't mean God can heal us if we're doing things we shouldn't be.

For instance, we're not ever moving our bodies.

But we are meant to live in a rhythm and cycle, right?

With nature moving our bodies, not just being on our computers.

247 hunched over.

So my point is, is yes, God heals.

He still performs miraculously miraculous healing.

But we also have action to take, right?

Because sometimes it's God's word and his divine healing that heals us, but sometimes it's doing what we can do.

Because God doesn't need to perform a miracle if it's within our power.

Meaning if we start living in a rhythm in a way that God designed us to live, we stop living in a stressed out, over burdened, over busy, exhausted life.

When we start changing those things, when we stop telling ourselves that we are a sick person, then we start changing, right?

On a biological level, on an epigenetic level.

So in other words, this can happen in more than one way, but we've got to shift our beliefs and who we are and who we believe in, and for what?

And Robert second says something that kind of spoke to what I just said, but in less words, more succinct way.

Prayer is medicine.

Worship is medicine.

God's word is medicine.

But then he goes on to say that also fresh fruit and vegetables are medicine.

Exercise is medicine.

Alone time with God is medicine.

Sleep is medicine.

In other words, God gave us everything we need, right, to thrive.

But sometimes we need more than that, right?

We need him for divine healing.

But other times we just need to go back to what he's already given us, right?

The, the roadmap for being healthy and thriving, which is in the Bible, right?

It's doing all the things that, that said, prayer and worship, praise and thanksing, thanking him, time with God, silence and solitude, and then eating and moving in ways and sleeping that are healing to our bodies.

Yes, sometimes we need more than that.

But sometimes where we need to start is looking at our current patterns, our current thoughts and our current habits and seeing.

Lord, where do I need to shift?

Lord, where do I need to change?

And where do I need your help so that I can change my patterns and habits and thoughts and beliefs?

And I love what Cody Jefferson says.

He says, what if the miracle you're praying for simply requires movement?

It's that faith and action piece we talked about earlier.

In other words, he says miracles happen as people move in process.

When you take action, when we've steward what we already have, he says some miracles won't happen until you move with what Jesus has already put in your hands.

So whether you're looking for a blessing or a miracle, a promise from God, sometimes he's asking us, just be faithful and move, right?

So that's the boy with the fish and the bread.

When the disciples started passing those things out, it made more, right?

The blessings started when they started moving.

They started giving the food out.

When the woman, the widow, had nothing, she believed her husband had passed.

And she didn't know how she was going to pay the debtors and the collectors or creditors.

But it was when the prophet told her, what do you already have?

And she had oil.

And he said, go collect more vessels, right?

More jars.

And it's when she started pouring, the oil, continued to fill every jar she collected.

It was in the action, it was in the movement.

When the People that were sick and the examples and healed to heal.

When people, in revealing the hero healer, when they went up in belief but took action to stand on that altar, when they asked someone out of faith and belief to put hands on them, they were taking action.

So it is through belief and then movement that God can really perform the promises and blessing and healing and miracles he wants to perform in and through you and so that he can use your testimony for other people.

So we have to fix our focus, right?

Fix our sights on Christ and then what he already shows us and promises us, right?

And he didn't just do it then in the biblical times, he does it now.

He does it today.

He always has.

He's never stopped.

Okay, the last thing I want to encourage you in, in this episode is this.

Are we giving up before the breakthrough?

Are we giving up before the blessing?

Are we giving up before the promise?

Are we giving up before we experience God's healing?

So Neil Brewer was saying, he shares a story that during the gold rush, there's a young man who thought he was looking for gold and he couldn't find it, and he just thought it was failure, right?

Like he thought, oh, you know, there's no gold.

But he said, what if the young man thought.

Let me say that again.

He said what the young man thought was failure was just unfinished.

He says, we as humans put deadlines to things.

We give it a due date.

What if the breakthrough is only three feet away?

We see a closed door, we pivot, we move on.

When a waiting drags on, he said, it's the story we tell ourselves in the middle.

But here's the thing.

He says it's the in between, space, impatience, trust is worship.

And he just explains that when we try to force our way out of delay, we aren't following the God who led us there.

And, you know, that's kind of the point is he's just saying, sometimes the miracle's coming, the promise is on its way, the blessing is there is movement.

God is aligning us for blessing.

God is working in us to have healing, but we get impatient.

We don't see it coming soon enough.

So instead of saying staying consistent, instead of having faith and belief that it is coming, that he has already done it, we stop.

How many times have you heard that story?

It's when somebody quit, they don't ever get the blessing.

They don't build the business, whatever the thing.

But it's the people that kept being consistent.

They kept believing God for the promise, no matter how long it took and then the breakthrough happens.

That is what we need to do, friends.

We need to keep going to God.

We need to keep discerning what he's trying to tell us and what lessons he wants us to see, what word, what scripture he wants us to be praying on, how he wants to use us in the world, how our story and hardship and how what he does in our lives, the goodness that's there, how he can use that and wants to use that testimony, and how he expects us to use that testimony for his good, for the glory of, of God.

So we just have to remember that this is a process.

And today I really shared this because, like I said, in the fall, I shared a couple episodes about believing God for healing, believing God for miraculous and divine healing and breakthrough.

You know, I don't share those episodes all the time, per se.

And then also this was just on my heart that this is probably one of the biggest challenges that most believers, at least in the US and maybe some other countries have, which is maybe we were told that God only wants to heal sometimes.

Or some people, or we were.

We noticed or saw other people saying, well, you know, it was like lukewarm, like, well, God heals sometimes, right?

But.

But he doesn't always.

And we don't know why.

Well, that's not what he promises us.

He says he wants us all to be healed.

Healed.

He wants us to have salvation, and he wants us healed.

He wants us a whole, the whole of us to be well.

And so that doesn't mean if there's cases where we don't see people getting well that that negates God's promise.

It just means we don't know the whole story.

We don't know his timing, and we don't know what that person is holding on to that is blocking God's promise or blessing or healing.

But what I do know is fill yourself up with healing and blessing testimonies.

Read more books by Christian authors.

Read more books on topics of the things that you are struggling through.

And if it's unbelief or doubt, start asking God to change your heart.

Start asking God to put in front of you scripture and testimonies that will open you up to become somebody that has a fire and belief that God can and is and will do it in you and in the people that you love.

So like I said, I hope today is just.

There was something in this episode that just, you know, switched something on for you that made you maybe think about what is something that you need to look at in your own beliefs or your unbelief and what is it that you need to bring to God?

So like I said, I am no expert in this area, but it was on my heart and I just wanted to share some of the things that are in some of the books I've read about healing and about just believing God for His promises.

So I hope that it blesses you and until next time, I hope you have a great and I just wanted to remind you, if you haven't already joined my community, head over to KristinFitch.com you can grab one of my workbooks or devotionals completely free and then you'll get my weekly Faith Friday emails to just lift you up and help you just have a new perspective on your faith in all different aspects of your life.

So go grab that now.

I can't wait for you to be a part of my broader community.

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