In what ways do you need healing? Whether it is physical or emotional, we all have wounds that need to be healed. Scripture offers plenty of examples of Jesus and his followers healing people with physical and spiritual ailments, and there are many modern stories of miraculous recoveries from people of faith. So we know that God can work miraculous healing in peoples’ lives. Then why does it seem that God answers some prayers for healing and not others? It may be that healing is taking place, it just doesn’t look like you thought it would.

Fr. James Kubicki recently stopped by The Inner Life™ to discuss faith, healing, and how they can make us more like Jesus. He began by acknowledging that nothing is impossible for God, and that no wound or pain is too much for God.

“There are no limitations. Because God is not limited, God is infinite,” Fr. Kubicki said. Then why is it that some prayers for healing don’t seem to be answered?

“In some cases we may be praying for healing and we think, ‘Well God doesn’t hear my prayers,'” Fr. Kubicki said. “And the truth is God is all-knowing. God knows and hears our prayers. Or then we’ll say, ‘Well, God doesn’t answer my prayers.’ And the response to that is no, God answers every prayer. But sometimes the answer is no.”

While for some this may seem like a confirmation that God does not love them, in fact the opposite is true. If God answers no to a prayer, it is because he has some greater purpose in store. And if this seems like God is callous in the midst of our suffering, it is helpful to remember that Jesus himself was told no in his own prayer to the Father. After all, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.”(Hebrews 4:15)

“This is where we have to look to Jesus, where in the Garden of Gethsemane He was praying a very deep prayer. It was so intense that He sweat blood as He was praying. And his prayer was, ‘Father, let’s do this another way. Let’s save the human race another way, let this cup pass me by.’ And the response basically was, “No, this is the way that we will prove to the world our love.’ And we have to keep that in mind,” said Fr. Kubicki.

Fr. Kubicki pointed out that sometimes we are being healed, even when it’s not in the way we initially desire. He said, “There may not be the kind of healing that we’re praying for. And maybe the deeper healing is, like Jesus, to embrace the will of the Father, trusting even through an illness or burden that we’re carrying, that if we offer it to God, God is going to do bigger things than we could imagine, and better things than even our physical healing at that moment.”

“That’s where the faith and trust come in, which really, really are challenging,” he acknowledged. “Because we like to see instant results and, and we like to see our prayers answered the way we want them to be. … Sometimes the healing that goes on is not a physical healing, but it’s that emotional healing where we surrender in an act of faith and trust and don’t give up our faith – even when we don’t see prayers answered the way that we would like to see them answered.”

Listen to the full conversation below, and tune-in to The Inner Life weekdays at 11:00 a.m. Central on Relevant Radio® and the Relevant Radio App.

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