When God says, I will, the healing power most Christians never access, will flow into your body making it whole.
There was a man so diseased that society had cast him out. His skin was rotting off his body. Everywhere he went, people ran from him, screaming, Unclean! Unclean!
No doctor could help him. No medicine could touch him. He was a leper, living dead, just waiting for death to finally claim him.
He heard about a man coming down from a mountain, a man who could heal the sick. A man who had power over every disease, every sickness, every demon.
And as Jesus came down that mountainside with crowds pressing around him, this desperate leper did something that could have gotten him stoned to death. He broke through the crowd and fell at Jesus’s feet.
What happened next has the power to transform your life today.
What Jesus said to that leper, he’s saying to you right now.
Let me tell you what happened. The leper cried out, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Now pause right there.
This man wasn’t questioning Jesus’s power. He knew Jesus could heal him. His question was about willingness. Lord, if you are willing… Have you ever wondered that?
God, I know you can heal me, but will you? Here’s what I love about Jesus.
Matthew 8:3 tells us, Jesus put forth his hand and touched him.
Think about that. Nobody had touched this man in years. Everyone avoided him like the plague. But Jesus reached out his hand and touched this rotting, diseased body.
And Jesus said five words that changed everything. I will, be thou clean.
Not maybe, not if it’s my will, not let me think about it.
And immediately, not gradually, not over time, but immediately, his leprosy was cleansed.
The disease that no doctor could cure, that no medicine could touch, vanished in an instant at the word of Jesus.
Listen, church. If you are definite with him, you will never go away disappointed. The divine life will flow into you, and instantaneously you will be delivered.
This Jesus is just the same today. And he says to you, I will. Be thou clean. But wait until you hear what happened next.
The very next case was a Roman centurion, a military commander, who came to Jesus with a desperate plea.
Lord, my servant ( most likely his adopted son, if you look at the word in the Greek) is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.
Now, here’s what’s beautiful. Jesus didn’t hesitate. He didn’t say, let me check my schedule. He didn’t say, I will think about it and pray. Jesus said immediately in Matthew 8:7, I will come and heal him. Did you catch that? Jesus was willing to come.
He was eager to heal. He wanted to help this desperate man’s son.
But the centurion said something that made Jesus marvel. He said, Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof but only speak a word and my servant will be healed. This Roman soldier understood something most Christians today don’t understand. He understood authority.
He said, I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go.’ And he goes, and to another, ‘Come.’ And he comes.
This man was saying, Jesus, you don’t have to be physically present. Your word has authority over sickness. Just speak the word, and my servant will be healed. Jesus was amazed.
Matthew 8:10 says, Jesus marveled and said to those who followed, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.’
And then Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go your way, and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.’ 13 tells us that his servant was healed that same hour.
Brethren, do you understand what this means? The word of the Lord is sufficient today. You don’t need Jesus to physically come to your house. You don’t need a special prophet to lay hands on you.
If you will dare to believe God’s word, you will see a performance of his word that will be truly wonderful.
But there was a woman in Australia who discovered this truth in a way that will shock you. I was ministering in Liverpool when a desperate woman approached me after a meeting. Her eyes were red from crying. She grabbed my arm and said, please, you have to help me. My husband comes home drunk every single night. He’s destroying our family. He’s destroying our home. Will you pray for him?
Now, I could have told her to bring her husband to the meeting. I could have told her I was too busy, but I remembered what happened in Acts 19:12, where God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
I said to her, do you have a handkerchief? She looked confused but pulled one out. I prayed over that handkerchief and told her, when your husband comes home tonight, Tuck this under his pillow. Let him lay his head on it.
She went home and did exactly that. That night, her drunken husband stumbled into the house and collapsed on his bed. He laid his head on that pillow.
But listen carefully. He laid his head on more than just a pillow that night. He laid his head on the promise of God.
Mark 11:24 declares, Therefore, I say to you, Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
The next morning, something incredible happened. The man woke up and went to work. On his way, he stopped at the first saloon, as he did every morning, and ordered his usual beer. He took a sip and immediately spit it out. You’ve poisoned this beer! he shouted at the bartender. The bartender was shocked. Sir, I’ve done no such thing! But the man couldn’t drink it. He stormed out and went to another saloon. Same thing happened. Then another saloon. Same result. Everywhere he went, he couldn’t drink the alcohol that had enslaved him for years.
He came home that night, bewildered, and told his wife, everyone is trying to poison me. Every bartender in this city has conspired against me.
His wife looked at him with tears in her eyes and said, can’t you see the hand of the Lord in this? Can’t you see that God is making you hate the very thing that’s been destroying you?
Those words pierced his heart. The truth hit him like a thunderbolt. He fell to his knees right there and gave his life to Christ.
The Lord set him free from alcoholism in one night. You see, beloved, you cannot shut God out. If you will only believe, he will shut the devil out.
But that’s not the most powerful testimony I have to share with you. I received an urgent telegram. Come quickly, 200 miles away. Desperate situation.
I traveled to this town and met a heartbroken father and mother. They were weeping uncontrollably. They led me up a staircase to a bedroom, and what I saw there would have terrified most people.
A frail young woman was on the floor. Five strong young men were holding her down, and they could barely contain her. This small woman had supernatural strength. She was thrashing, screaming, her face contorted.
As I entered the room, the demons looked at me through her eyes. They used her lips to speak, and they said with a mocking voice, We are many. You cannot cast us out.
I looked right back at those demons and said with authority, Jesus can.
Brethren, any man who is filled with the knowledge of Jesus, filled with his presence, filled with his power, is more than a match for the powers of darkness.
1 John 4:4 reminds us, Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
I began to command those demons to come out in the name of Jesus, and one by one, they came out, giving their names as they left. 37 demons, count them, 37 evil spirits that had tormented this precious young woman. When the last demon left, she collapsed.
But this time, she wasn’t unconscious from demonic control. She was free. Completely, totally, absolutely free.
They were able to give her back, her child. That night, there was heaven in that home. The father, mother, son, and his wife were all united in glorifying Christ for his infinite grace.
The next morning, we had a precious time breaking bread together. All things are wonderful with our wonderful Jesus. Now let me show you what the Bible says about all of this.
Matthew 8:16-17 gives us the key to understanding everything I’ve just shared with you. It says, When evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed. And he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, ‘He himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.’
Did you catch that phrase? Himself took our infirmities, not He might take them, not He will take them if it’s his will.
He took them, past tense, finished, done, accomplished. When Jesus went to Calvary, he took your sickness with him. He bore your infirmities in his own body on the cross.
Isaiah 53:4-5 declares, Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 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.
By his stripes you are healed. Not, you might be healed. Not, you will be healed if you’re spiritual enough. You are healed. The work is finished. The price is paid. The victory is won.
Hebrews 2: 14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Jesus took your flesh so he could take upon himself the full burden of all your sin and all the consequences of sin.
On that cross, God laid upon him the iniquities of us all.
On that cross, the results of sin, including sickness and disease, were dealt with once and for all.
This is not just good theology, church. This is your reality. This is your inheritance. This is what Jesus purchased for you with his own blood.
Now, here’s where most believers stumble. Here’s what most Christians will never do.
They will read these stories and say, “That’s wonderful”. That’s beautiful. I’m so glad God healed those people. And then they go right back to their sickness, their fear, their doubt, their unbelief.
But I’m here to challenge you today. I’m here to provoke you to faith. I’m here to tell you that spiritual mediocrity is not acceptable for a child of God.
Most Christians will never step out and pray for the sick. Most believers will never believe God for the impossible. Most people in the church today have more faith in their doctor’s diagnosis than they do in God’s word.
Listen to me carefully. I am not telling you to stop going to doctors. But I am telling you that Jesus is the great physician, and his word is more powerful than any medical report.
The centurion understood something crucial. He understood that Jesus’ word has authority.
He said, Just speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
Do you believe God’s word has that kind of authority? Or do you believe your symptoms more than you believe Scripture?
When God says in His word that by Jesus’ stripes you are healed, do you say, Amen?
Or do you say, But I still feel sick?
When God says that Himself took your infirmities, Do you believe it, or do you keep claiming your disease as your own?
I want to tell you something that might make you uncomfortable. Your lack of healing might not be because God is unwilling. It might be because you are unwilling, unwilling to believe, unwilling to step out in faith, unwilling to let go of your unbelief.
Jesus said to the leper, I will. He’s saying the same thing to you today. The question is not whether God is willing. The question is whether you are willing to believe his word over your circumstances.
Starting today, I challenge you to pray for the sick. Don’t wait for a special anointing. Don’t wait until you feel super spiritual.
Just step out in obedience. When you hear someone is sick, lay hands on them. Pray for them. Believe God’s word over their symptoms.
I challenge you to speak healing over your own body if you’re dealing with sickness. Stop claiming your disease. Stop saying, My cancer, my arthritis, my diabetes. That’s not yours. Jesus took it on the cross.
Start declaring, by his stripes, I am healed. I challenge you to have the audacity of faith like that centurion.
Stop limiting God. Stop putting God in a box. Start believing that Jesus’ word is enough.
Most Christians will read this message and do nothing. Most believers will be inspired for a moment and then go right back to spiritual mediocrity.
But you, yes you reading this right now, you can be different. Will you dare to trust Jesus at his word? Will you dare to step out in faith? Will you dare to believe that the same Jesus who healed the leper who delivered the demon-possessed woman, who set the drunkard free, wants to work through you today?
Beloved, the truth is so simple, it’s almost offensive. Jesus said, I will. That’s it. That’s all you need to know. He is willing to heal you. He is willing to deliver you. He is willing to set you free.
The same Jesus, who walked the shores of Galilee 2,000 years ago, is alive today. He is the same yesterday, today. and forever. And he is saying to you right now, I will.
The question is, will you believe him? Will you step out of the boat like Peter and walk on water? Or will you stay in the boat with the fearful, doubting crowd?
Will you be like the centurion with audacious faith? Or will you be like the religious leaders who limited God with their unbelief?
The choice is yours, church. But I promise you this. If you will dare to rest your all upon him, things will take place, and he will change the whole situation.
In a moment, through the name of Jesus, a new order of things can be brought into your life. All things are possible if you will only believe.
Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, I thank you that you took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. I thank you that by the stripes of Jesus we are healed.
Right now, I speak to every sickness, every disease, every infirmity that is attacking God’s people.
I command it to leave in Jesus’ name. I declare that cancer must bow, diabetes must flee, pain must go, depression must lift.
I pray for audacious faith to rise up in every heart reading this message. Give them the courage to step out and pray for the sick. Give them boldness to believe your word over their circumstances. Let them never again doubt your willingness to heal.
You said, I will, and we believe it. We receive it. We declare it. In the mighty, powerful, all-sufficient name of Jesus. Amen.
I believe with all my heart that as you have learned about God’s willingness and power to heal today, you have been activated into a new dimension of faith.
Starting today, make it your daily practice to speak healing scriptures over yourself and others. Begin every morning declaring Isaiah 53:5 and Matthew 8:17 out loud.
When you hear of someone who is sick, don’t just say, I will pray for you. Actually stop and pray for them right then. Step out in faith and watch God move.
But knowing Jesus is willing to heal is just the beginning. What if I told you there is a supernatural power available to you right now that can literally shake your surroundings when you pray?
What happens when a dying man, whom doctors have given up on, encounters the same resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead?
How can you tap into this explosive force that transforms impossible situations into testimonies of God’s glory?
By Smith Wigglesworth