How Salvation and Healing Comes

By Patrick Strickland

The scriptures declare in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by a word of God. The Greek actually reads, "...and hearing through a word of Christ." We know that Christ simply means "anointing" or "anointed one."

One can read the bible all day and never get faith. One can quote the scripture for a healing all day long and never get any results. But the moment that one hears Him speak an anointed word into one's temple, then they have faith to accomplish what He desires--not before.

A person may ask what does healing have to do with faith for being saved?

The answer is simple. "Saved" is the Greek word "sozo" and simply means "to be whole-physically, mentally and spiritually." It includes healing by His stripes and forgiveness for our sins through the cross. Healing is just one side of the coin of being saved. Forgiveness of sins is the other.

Remember, when Jesus healed a paralytic, the Pharisees objected to him saying "thy sins be forgiven." Jesus forgave the paralytic. Then He also healed Him to prove that He had the authority and power to do both.

Faith is in the hearing of an anointed word. Faith cannot come just by speaking scriptures. So if the anointing is not present to give faith to the individual through an anointed word that one may hear, then they'll never have it to be made whole (Saved).

Let us deal with the condition of the sinner before someone is saved. I have heard many preachers declare that salvation is like a bowl of fruit that is set before all men to partake of it. Those who choose to pick up an apple, or pear enjoy the benefit of salvation. Those who don't partake of what has been freely given for all to enjoy will burn in Hell forever. When salvation is presented in this light, it clearly depends upon a person choosing whether they may enjoy salvation or not. It assumes that the person is in their right mind and is capable to choose salvation for themselves. Let us consider though the real condition of all of mankind.

1. We all love darkness more than light.
2. We are blind.
3. We are deaf.
4. We are paralyzed.
5. The things of God are foolishness to us.
6. We are slaves to another--sin is our taskmaster.
7. We call good evil, and evil good.
8. We are unclean --either because of playing in the tombs, or because we have leprosy (spiritually speaking).
9. We are not in our right minds due to the continual torment that fear has imparted.
10. We are deceived because we are not doing the word of God.
11. We seek our own interests not the Lord's.
12. We are spiritually dead.
13. We are subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of Him (God) who subjected us to it.
14. Because we cannot hear, we do not have faith.
15. Without faith it is impossible for us to please God.
16. We were made to lack by elohim (Psa 8, literal translation).

No matter how nice we make salvation appear to the unsaved, they are incapable of reaching out to take it. If we can perceive it, there really is nothing appealing about it in the least. In fact, from the viewpoint of the sinner, we are trying to make them eat a plate full of garbage that has been allowed to putrefy for years before being served. Needless to say, we have not even considered the fact that we do not have permission from our master, sin, to even reach out and take the fruit. We are not even our own, even though we believe we are. We are slaves to the "god of this world." We need to be made whole (saved) just so that we can make a proper decision. We need to be purchased by another before we can get permission to take a hold of salvation. "He who the Son sets free, is free, indeed."

Unless God intervenes in that man's life and allows that man to be apprehended by the anointing (Christ), that man will never come to the Lord. Without God's intervention in our lives it is impossible to be saved (made whole).

In my own personal life I have never seen him give me any answer when I sought Him for a healing without him speaking to that particular situation first. I considered myself to have faith, but my faith was proven to be in vain every time. Nothing came to pass for a healing or provision of what I asked for. But every time He showed up in my life and showed me just what he was going to do in my life, then every time the miraculous happened. If he works this way in healing, which is one side of the coin of salvation, then he must act this way in making us whole by forgiving us of our sins, which is the other side of the coin. One will NOT have faith till someone speaks with the anointing of the Lord to deliver them.

You can argue all you want but man's fallen character is clearly spelled out in the Bible. We cannot choose to partake of the grace of salvation unless the lord first chooses us for it. "You have not chosen me but I have chosen you."

But how do we come unto Christ? (By this method, and for this reason:)

"That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." (1Cor 1:29-31)

If one truly gets to choose him then one has the opportunity to glory in the flesh, that is, in one's ability. As we read no flesh will get to glory in His presence!!!
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Galatians 3:23-26 "But before faith came, we were kept under the LAW, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our child escort to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a child escort. For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." (Note: The Greek word "pedagogos" should not have been translated "schoolmaster" as did the KJV. It is a word to describe an adult who accompanies a child to school; he is NOT a teacher.) Note "faith" came AFTER the law.