Spiritual Barriers to Healing

There can be many barriers to healing and we list several below. But it is important to note that God is God and we are NOT. He can do anything He wants and though His promises for us are amazing and need to be appropriated, ultimately, our purpose is solely to bring Him GLORY!

In ease and peace or pain and suffering, may I glorify His name! Just because we may not receive physical healing this side of heaven does NOT mean we are doing anything wrong!!!

Remember - if God chose to heal everyone of every disease then no one would experience death! God didn't keep the Apostle Paul from getting his head chopped off or keep Peter from being crucified upside down. He didn't prevent the death of countless martyrs and He doesn't heal every cancer patient.

However, we do not want self-imposed BARRIERS to healing possibilities:

1. Ignorance - Paul exhorted us 19 times in his writings, "Brothers, I don't want you to be ignorant..." regarding spiritual truths, commandments, blessings and daily life. When most people spend more time watching TV than reading the Word of God, it is no wonder they question His goodness in time of trouble.

2. Unbelief - The degree and depth of doubt we have regarding the goodness of God is called sin. Hebrews 3 warns us, "See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God." When trouble comes, our reaction can be a valuable indicator of unbelief. While there may be a time for normal, fleshly reactions, we, "do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope." (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

3. Unconfessed Sin - We Americans have a created ingenious ways to cover-up and re-interpret sin. We justify behavior as normal that God calls an abomination. Though it is NOT my job to judge anyone's choices, as a doctor, I am hired to give a correct diagnosis no matter how painful it may be to hear. God's truth can be equally painful to accept, hence, the never-ending attempts to re-interpret truth to our liking. If we have unconfessed sin in our life, it will be a major barrier to peace and health. Ask God the He, through His Holy Spirit, reveal to you any wicked way in you that needs to be laid at the foot of the cross. The Holy Spirit convicts, NOT with guilt and shame, but with love and kindness, calling you into perfect fellowship. If we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins!

4. Un-forgiveness of others - When we harbor anything in our heart against anyone, it can be a root of bitterness. Forgiveness is a choice that need not include the participation of the one you are forgiving. Forgiveness doe NOT mean that you are excusing the debts and wrongs that someone did to you, it means that you are choosing to not collect the debt! If you want God to "tear up" the IOUs He has against you; then you must "tear up" the IOUs you have against others.

5. ANY involvement in Anti-God, Occultish behavior - This includes obvious things such as satanic activity to many things that have become perfectly acceptable by our culture. Seemingly 'harmless' things like fortune-telling, horoscopes, and playing in Eastern theology can open the door to what is described as "magic" that is to be banished from a believer's life. Any idolatry in any way, shape or form, even ignorantly, must be dealt with! Ask God to reveal this to you.

6. Entering into False Covenants - Groups like Free Masonry and other 'secret societies' require ceremonial agreements that are in direct conflict with God the Creator, His Son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit. Connections to such groups, whether directly or through past generations, can be a huge barrier to receiving God's blessings.

7. Being under a particular Curse - The GOOD news is that Jesus has been made a curse so we can be release from every curse! The bad news is that others CAN and we DO place curses on ourself through various means that need to be renounced. This can be as simple as you constantly saying negative statements like, "I'm so tired," "I have terminal cancer," "I'm never going to get better." 

Ultimately there are TWO sources of spiritual problems in life that reveal itself emotionally and physically - Our fleshly resistance to Truth as in the seven barriers above, or demonic oppression. 

The solution for all of the above, fleshly barriers is the CROSS. The solution to demonic oppression is deliverance. Both are possible through the help of God's Holy Spirit and other loving believers.

"I will not die but live,
    and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
The Lord has chastened me severely,
    but he has not given me over to death.
Open for me the gates of the righteous;
    I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord
    through which the righteous may enter.
I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
    you have become my salvation."

-Psalm 118:17-21