God Does Not Heal the Guilty

But there is still hope

God does not heal the guilty.

But there is still hope.

Why? Because while God does not heal the guilty, he does heal guilt.

Where does this idea come from? From observation and practical experience.

For several decades, I have made a point of reading many, many accounts of healing through prayer, both from my church and from other denominations. I have also observed my own thoughts both when healing takes place and when it does not.

What I have learned is: One of the things meant by Faith is that you believe God is the cause and creator of all things. Once you clearly see that God is in charge, healing follows. Prayers are answered.

But guilt is the idea that you are in charge.

If you feel guilty, you believe the problem exists because of something you did, that you caused something bad—which is the same as saying God is not the only cause and creator. You, now, are the cause of this bad thing.

And, in my humble experience, healing never comes so long as you hold to this idea.

God, I want you to make me thinner. I’m so fat because I overeat. I feel so bad that I did this.

As long as you hold that you have the power to make your body fat, rather than God maintaining your body, God grants you that power, and you stay fat.

God, I want you to heal my husband; he’s got this problem because he’s so slothful.

As long as you think your husband has more power than God, that his sloth can trump God’s maintenance of his being, God lets you believe that.

God does not heal anything we feel guilty about—because that would be robbing us, his beloved children, of the free will He gave us, of our choice to believe that we created our situation.

But He does heal guilt.

I cannot tell you how many testimonies I have read that include something like: “I suddenly saw myself as His innocent child.” “I suddenly realized that in His eyes, the bad thing I did had never happened.” “I stopped blaming myself for the accident.”

And then, they were healed*. Their prayers were answered.

*—Brief notes: 1) I have used dashes for years. I will keep using them because I love them. This does not make me an AI. 2) I use the word healed to mean a discordant situation of any kind was resolved into harmony. I do not merely mean a healing of a physical body.

I read a Near-Death Experience once where a woman was told by an angel that to have one’s prayers answered, one had to do three things:
Believe God wants to grant your prayer (God is good.)
Believe God can do it (God is omnipotent.)
Take an action, however small, that shows that you believe it will happen. (Demonstrate faith.)

This makes a lot of sense to me, and it fits the mold for healings I have read about or experienced.

If we trust God is good and can help us, and we move forward as if he will, he does…unless something stands in the way.

That something is often either guilt (us thinking our actions have more power than God) or unforgiveness (which Jesus speaks against quite clearly.) Or some related idea, such as “I am unworthy.”

These ideas—guilt, unworthiness, unforgiveness—stand in the way of healing because they assign cause to something other than God. “My bad action made this situation.” “My unworthiness means I don’t deserve this good thing.” “This other person’s actions are so awful that they trump God’s ability to set things right, so I hate them.”

But these ideas themselves can be turned over to God, and once they are gone, the way is clear. We see our innocence and return all power to our Creator.

God heals us and sets all to right.

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalms 103:12)

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: (2 Corinthians 12:9 to: )

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from [guilt]*, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:22)

*KJV says an evil conscience but it is translated guilt in other versions.