Healing has nothing to do with our goodness, but God's goodness. It is from His goodness that He has given everything. From the earth He gave us in the beginning, to the Son He gave to bring us back to Him, all He has is good and it has all been made available to us through grace.
It is frustrating, then, that anyone would be deceived into believing that God would send sickness or, worse, withhold healing from His children. How many times have we heard in a conversation that a sickness was a "blessing in disguise" or that it was intended to teach us something? If that were true, hospitals would be full of Rhodes' Scholars and cemeteries full of experts in their field.
In Acts, we learn that the ministry of healing was a good thing. It was a fruit of the abundant life Jesus promised in John 10:10.
"You know about Jesus from Nazareth. God made him the Messiah by giving him the Holy Spirit and power. Jesus went everywhere doing good for people. He healed those who were ruled by the devil, showing that God was with him." – Acts 10:38 (ERV)
If we are to understand that Jesus did good things, including healing, then sickness must be the opposite of good. We read that Jesus's healing ministry was for the benefit of those oppressed by the devil, which means that sickness can only be a tool of the enemy. There is no way sickness is a blessing of any kind. It is only bad and the end result is death, for the thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10).
Healing is the restoration of a person to his or her normal, healthy state. It is wholeness in every physical, emotional, and mental area of a person's life. The Hebrew word for wholeness and peace, shalom, may also be interpreted as a state of being with nothing missing, broken, or out of order. In other words, when we minister healing, we are setting things right, just as God always intended.
"Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good." – Genesis 1:31 (NKJV)
Healing is important in the ministry of the Church as we share the Good News with the world. It is a core element of Jesus' message.
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel ... He has sent Me to heal ..." – Luke 4:18 (NKJV)
There is no good reason, then, that anyone would want to be sick. There are many reasons people don't receive healing, but the fundamental reason is a misunderstanding of God's goodness. The devil is a loser, liar, and father of lies. The enemy strives to smear the good name of our God, and all his weapons are marshaled against His reputation.
We are not subject to his lies any longer. The deception is over and God has already won the war. When Jesus came in the flesh, the enemy's days were numbered. We were set free from his oppression. Now that healing and all other miracles are ours, there is nothing keeping us from experiencing the good life except our own minds. It is up to us to receive and give from God's goodness.
When we lay hands on those who suffer sickness, we know that they shall recover because Jesus said they would. Healing is a good thing that is part of salvation, and not just an add-on. As we go forth, fulfilling the Great Commission, going "about doing good, and healing all that [are] oppressed of the devil," we can trust that we are fulfilling God's will.
Jesus said His father feeds the birds even though they do not reap or sow, and He thinks far higher of us (Matthew 6:26). If healing really is the children's bread (Matthew 15:26), shouldn't we pull up to the table and eat?
Our Father is good and He wants good things for us – including healing. In that we can believe.