We all know someone who was sick or injured at one time, and usually the person recovered under a doctor’s care. Sometimes, though, their health continued to deteriorate, and no one could do anything to save them. Situations like this are frustrating at best and heart-breaking at worst, and it’s a helpless feeling having to stand by and watch loved ones suffer. But when we study our Bible, we see that healing is actually God’s will for those who believe the promises He makes to us.

All throughout the Bible, we see examples of God’s healing power. Depending solely on doctors to keep us healthy can be hit or miss, and it’s always expensive. But one day when a woman who was in a predicament sought out Jesus when He was preaching to the people, she was instantly healed. “And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering’” (Mark 5:25-29, 34, NIV). Jesus has been called the Great Physician, the Author of life, and the Prince of Peace, for good reason.

When God heals us, we get peace along with healing. Now, being a doctor is a noble profession, but none of them can give us the peace that comes from Jesus Christ! Jesus had compassion on the people He met, and He e cast out evil spirits and healed paralytics, deaf, mute, and blind people, and even resurrected the dead on several occasions. Imagine how their families and friends felt while witnessing this firsthand.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m not putting down doctors, but despite all the education and book learning they soak up, there are some things that even they can’t do. Wise doctors admit as much. When they’ve done all they can, faithful prayer causes miracles. “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5:15).

There’s a link between healing and forgiveness of sins, and there was a reason Jesus was whipped and beaten before His crucifixion. “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5, NKJV). God heals us not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually as well. There’s a definite connection between the mind and the body. When we know we’re forgiven, spiritual healing of the soul begins on the inside and moves outward.

The story of Jesus and the leper shows that healing and cleansing are also linked. “And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him” (Luke 5:12, 13). Spiritual cleansing is just as much God’s will as physical healing. It’s ours by faith!