How To Receive Divine Healing**

A.B. Simpson

Dear friends: I never feel so near the Lord, not even at the Communion Table or on the borders of eternity, standing beside the departing spirit, as when I stand with the living Christ, to manifest His personal touch of supernatural and resurrection power in the anointing of the sick. Be quite sure, beloved, that you are doing something that is dearer to God than it can be to you; that you are not going to be wring from Christ, by force or persuasion, a blessing that He is not willing to give, but you are coming into the very line of His own will. It is not that your will is overcoming His, but your will to be healed because He wills it, and you have His Holy Word under you and at the back of you, as your authority for what you do. For seven years, I believed that Christ healed a great many people. I saw Him heal some I prayed for, but I could not take it for myself, because I was not quite sure that it was included in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as purchased and finished for all who accepted Jesus fully. I did not feel that it was my redemption right. I thought it was something I might have, or might not. It was a reality when it came, but it was an uncertainty in each particular case; and, never, till I saw it in His Word, in the redemption of Jesus, as my redemption right, could I stand upon it and take it, without hesitation or doubt. You cannot have it, if there is a grain of doubt, consciously or wilfully, mingling with your faith; you must come, believing; God does not require much faith, but what you have must be entire. There must be no “perhaps,” or “if” in it; there must be no questioning whether it is His word and will that you should realize it, for He has invited and bidden you. He has provided it for you, and will be grieved if you do not take it.

It may be simpler to many hearts to look at it this way. The personal ministry of Jesus when on earth is our first ground for claiming healing. He was anointed to heal all who had need of healing, and did heal all who really touched Him. The poor leper came and said, “Lord, if Thou wilt,” and He said, “I will.” He never said anything but this to anybody, for He is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” Christ’s own work on earth was uniform – He healed all who came to Him for healing, all who touched Him and really believed on Him; and He is still the same.

The second ground is His death on the cross. On Calvary, in His own body, He bare all our bodily liabilities for sin. Everything that was ever against you, every claim against your body was met by His body. And there is now no reason why that body of yours should be punished a second time for anything which His body has borne already, and once for all. The atonement of Christ takes away sin and the consequences of sin for every believer who accepts Him.

The third ground is His marvellous resurrection. His death would not have done it if He had not risen. His death took away your liability to disease, but it did not give you the life that would sustain you. You wanted a positive fountain of real vital energy, therefore Jesus rose in the body, and that form which the disciples saw, was His bodily form. He stood among them with hands, and feet, and brain, and heart, exactly like your own, and to-day, in the heavens, if you could see Him, He is a man just like ourselves. He has such a heart as man, only glorified; such a brain, such a set of nerves and vital organs. His body is not for Himself, nothing that He has is for Himself, all the fullness of Christ is for His Church, His spiritual fullness has sanctified your soul, His bodily energy vitalizes your body, and you can take it, you have a right to take it, today. I take it afresh today from the living Christ – His nerves, and heart, and brain and bodily strength for my own life. I think whole people need it as much as sick people. It is like the water which Christ turned into wine. It is a better kind of health. I have been trying it in all ways, and working on it for four years. We who are well can take it; and live on it, day by day, and I do take it every morning, and it has given me many times the strength of my natural energy.

Now, you have seen Christ on earth healing; you have Christ crucified putting away the causes of disease; then you have Christ, the living One, a Fountain giving out – always His own life; so that He does not put into you today a little bit of health that only heals the old disease and staunches the old wound; but He, the living One, comes into you, and henceforth lives in you Himself in your body, so that your bodies are members of Christ, and you are “members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.” Oh, is it not wonderful? “Handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have.” The bones of Christ are for your weak bones. Have you weak knees and limbs? Well, if you cannot stand upon your own bones, you can stand upon the bones of Christ, which he lends to you, and gives to you, and with which He holds you up. Have you a weak heart? Never mind that. Don’t wait to see if that heart is better, but take His great throbbing Heart, and let His life be the impulse of your physical life. It is not something you receive, or something you thought you had secured, but it is Somebody, it is Christ you get. It is Jesus Himself, your Life, manifested in your mortal flesh. Now that is the foundation of it. There is a great deal that could be added, but this is enough for today.

How are you to take it? First, be sure to be definite. Don’t indulge in any generalities about this thing, any haziness, any sponginess, softness, or half and half believing; come right out to a definite point, and cross it, and put a stake down, and mark it forever; and date from this afternoon till the great day of His coming, as an epoch in your life when something was settled, and passed out of your hands forever, so that you have no more to do with it. Be definite. In what respect? First, definitely settle it forever, so that you will never discuss it any more, that this is God’s Word, that this way of healing is His way; and don’t come here to be anointed, and then go away and talk to your pastor and Christian friends, to see whether this is true or not, for this would be mocking God, deceiving your own soul, and wearing out and corroding your capacity for faith. This is a dreadful thing to do. I have known a great many do this, and then, after going back, seem to become like an old rusty nail, without any grip, and with nothing left to take hold of. Come now, and commit yourself to God’s truth first. Say “This is God’s truth, and I stand upon it.”

Secondly, commit yourself and your disease, your life and your strength to Him, and say, Lord, not only is this true, but this is true for me, and this is mine. Thou dost offer it to me in Thy Word, as my redemption right, purchased for me and paid for, that if I do not take it, nobody is the richer, and I let it go by default. Now, Lord, I come today, and unworthy in myself, I simply claim it because it is given me for Jesus’ sake, and I solemnly and definitely take it now. I just step up here and put down my name for it, and henceforth, Lord, remember – remember in every trial of life, and remember in the great day – that today I take Thee as my physical life, just as I have taken Thee as my spiritual life. And now, from this moment, I believe it is mine, and, God helping me, I will never doubt again that from this moment it is given to me according to Thy Word.

I remember saying that to God with an awful sense of its solemnity, and I do not think He has permitted me to doubt once since. Just for a second there came a doubt, and it seemed to me, that if I cherished it, I and lose with God, that I just staggered for a moment. Then I recovered, and felt I dared not raise the question again. God could not lie: it was His Word, I took it and, whether I felt it or had any sense of it or not, I just went out and acted as if it were true, and I found it true.

Then, one thing more – be sure you use it for Him. It is an awfully sacred thing to have the very blood of Christ flowing in your veins; it is a solemn thing to have the life of Jesus quickening your heart, and lungs, and nerves, and it would be a dreadful thing to defile it by contact with sin and the world. I could no more go now and spend an evening for my own selfish entertainment, that I could go and deliberately walk in to sin. I feel this life belongs to Jesus; I feel it is Jesus Himself; and He expects me to walk through the world as He walked, and to use every breath, thought and power constantly for Him.

Now, there is another question which I must not overlook. I feel I should be speaking only to part of this company, if I did not say a word about it. The question will come up in your mind, “Am I myself right with God; am I in a position where I have a right to claim this?” Well, dear friends, it is a very important, a vital question; and you must settle it before God, because any doubt about your own position or standing would hinder the rest of faith. You must be right with Him yourself. But it need not take you a month in order to get right, you can get right here where you are, if you are really willing to be led by the blessed Holy Spirit. If there is any sin you are conscious of, lay it at His feet, thoroughly – and utterly, claiming the atoning blood, and now believe that it is forever cleansed and washed away, and then take Him as the rectification of it, as the righteousness over against it. Are you conscious of being wrong with anybody, or wrong with Him? Instantly let the will and the whole being yield and surrender in the purpose of obedience at any cost, and then go forth from this place to lose no time in living this thing right out practically. I believe, before coming here, you have done this, but if it should be that you are conscious of anything that the Lord would frown upon, before you go any further, put your will in His hands, choose His will in the matter, and then, remember He will accept that will, and will enable you to carry it out promptly.

Are you conscious of a lack of faith, or a lack of holiness or spiritual power? Take the Lord Jesus Christ Himself for that as well as for the healing. One of my greatest stumbling blocks was this – I found healing was promised to the obedient ones, to those who are righteous with God, and I could not feel conscious of being so myself. But then the Lord showed me that He was my righteousness as well as my healing, and that He was my faith as well as my healing, that I was not anything but a babe, and that He did not expect anything from me in myself, that He knew when He took me, that I was helpless and useless; and so I threw myself upon Him and covenanted with Him that He should be to me righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and so, to this hour, if I need faith for anything, I don’t try to work up faith, I don’t agonize in prayer until I get a certain degree of faith; I just say, “It is Thy faith, not mine; Thou hast it for me, just as Thou hast the blood, and the power, and the cleansing; it is all Thine, and I just borrow it for the time. Lend me Thy faith for this hour;” and I take His faith, and depend upon it to be mine, I go forward and act as if I had it, and I find that He meets me and gives me the blessing of confidence in His healing and His power. I trust this will help you. Are you conscious of being weak or wrong? I wish you were more conscious of it. God expects nothing from your own natural life. Let the whole thing be done with, and just identify yourself with Jesus, and say, “Jesus is within; not I, but Christ; He is my righteousness, and my faith, and He is my bodily life too.” He does not promise you that you will never be sick, He does not promise you that you will never die; but He does promise you that, until your work is done, until His purpose is fulfilled concerning you, He is the strength of your life, your victory for bodily as well as spiritual infirmity and oppression. Just go forth now, and walk in His strength, moment by moment, step by step, with sweet and thankful rest.

Be sure that you do not depend upon the anointing, be sure that you do not depend upon the touch – these are like Gehazi’s staff. Be sure that you do not depend on any feeling. Be sure that you are not looking for any thrill or any consciousness or any physical sensation. Keep your mind off all these, and just reckon that a definite transaction is being finished between you and a definite, honest Christ today – that He means it, you mean it, and that it is settled forever. That is what trust is. It is an insult to God to have anything less. It is as much as to say that He does not mean what He promises, and that it is a farce. It is truly awful for us to act so. It is intensely real with Him, and it must be so to you.

Now, dear friends, will you do this, not in your emotional nature, but just with your will? Do you choose and purpose and determine – feeling or no feeling – that you will take His Word, and that you will put in your personal claim to Him to be your righteousness, your faith, and the power to keep you right; and for the grace to consecrate your life in the future? If so, you may say, Lord, this is all that I can do, but this is what Thou dost expect of me, as far as I know, with the very best light I have, and with a true and honest heart, I take Thee thus. Now, Lord, I believe Thou hast taken me, and here, before these witnesses, and before the great judgment, do I settle this question forever. I commit my whole being to Thee, and henceforth it is Thy care, and it is Thy responsibility; and now, Lord, Thou art mine – Thy body is mine, all Thy strength is mine, and day by day I shall draw upon it to my utmost need, for all the services Thou hast given me to do.

Then, begin to go forth, walking and stepping out, quite like one who is healed, quite like one who has a Christ walking by your side and giving you all his physical strength to lean upon; and don’t be too careful of yourself; don’t be rash and silly, trying to show how strong you are, but when He calls you to any service, just calmly go forward, and rationally do it, expecting Him to give you the necessary strength to carry you through. And when you have got through, don’t expect to have a spell of weariness and reaction, but just take Him for the reaction too, and don’t first lie down when you are tired, but get to your knees and pray it off, and then lie down. I cannot sleep mightily things for the heathen world. He is waiting for us to count Him faithful to do mighty things for the Christian church. He is waiting for us to trust Him to do mighty things in the way of healing. We spend too much time in imitating the men of Nazareth, where He could not do “many mighty works…because of their unbelief.” I have now and then seen such glimpses, during this Conference, of what our God could do, and what our God would do, if only a little band of us understood His heart, if only a little band of us would get from the human to the divine side of prayer. If we could abandon our own energy, and that strange, almost blasphemous idea of working upon God until we compel Him to do a thing, and see the glorious reality, that God only waits for our united trust to move.

**The Word, Work and World, (July-August, 1885): pp. 204-205.

Source of Information: A.B. Simpson, How to Receive Divine Healing