Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. (Acts 14:19-20)
When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!”…The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted. (Acts 20:9-12)
Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand….But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. (Acts 28:3-5)
Living in the healing power of God should be as natural to us as eating and sleeping. There should be no struggle and no need to work up to it. Jesus took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. He suffered the curse of sin and its effects. Although we can receive healing through prayer, it is not even necessary to pray for it. One who has faith can assume it and enforce it. He never has to beg for it and wonder if he will obtain it. Healing is not a hit-or-miss or case-by-case matter. It is an accomplished reality, and we live in it by faith.