Big Healing Book - Is “Receiving” Only for Unbelievers?

Is “Receiving” Only for Unbelievers?

If you are a believer, haven’t you already “received” healing and every other New Testament benefit? If so, doesn’t that mean that Mark 11:24 only applies to unbelievers? This issue has caused enough confusion to warrant its own separate discussion. This confusion often manifests in this kind of question: “1 Peter 2:24 says that I was healed, but the preacher just called a line for people to receive their healings. How can we receive what we already have?”

My answer is that you “have” it legally but still need to “receive” it to have it become a reality in the natural realm. I’m aware that some preachers disagree, teaching that healing is already in your born-again spirit and that therefore you don’t need to “receive” it. I consider that technically inaccurate, for reasons I explain in another article, though it’s certainly not catastrophic if someone believes that way.

A preacher who claims that only an unbeliever should exercise Mark 11:24 may go on to claim as “proof” that receiving and healing are never linked again after Jesus rose from the dead. That statement is false, as I will prove below, but arguments from silence are dangerous to begin with. Let’s take a little detour on that issue.

When Arguments from Silence Work and Don’t Work

If Scripture says nothing at all, an argument from silence is dubious at best.

For example, Jesus made His will to heal clear in the gospels, where in many cases, everyone got healed of everything. But there is no case where He said, “No, I won’t heal you for some mysterious reason known only to Me” or, “Wait, it isn’t God’s perfect time yet.” That is a valid application of an argument from silence.

For another example, Colossians 2:15 declares that all principalities and powers were already defeated at the cross. The fact that no one in the New Testament tried to directly engage these defeated beings in prayer to try to defeat them is a valid argument from silence.

However, the idea that “receiving” is not for us today because of a (supposed) lack of Scriptures showing that we should do it after Jesus rose is on thin ice because Jesus DID preach receiving and there is NO other Scripture directly contrary to it that applies to the Church Age. I will prove below that “receiving” IS for the church age based on post-resurrection Scriptures. But suppose there weren’t any such Scriptures. Mere silence is not a disproof.

If mere silence is a disproof, we can also “prove” that we should not have church buildings, robed choirs, youth outings, children’s church, fundraisers, lyric projection systems, church anniversary services and many other common things.

Receiving Healing After the Resurrection

Here are some Scriptures that prove that receiving and healing are linked after Christ’s resurrection:

Acts 9:12:
And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

Acts 9:17-18:
And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

Acts 22:13:
Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.

Notice that in none of these verses did Ananias say, “Brother Saul, release the healing for your eyes that is already in your born-again spirit!”

The idea of receiving healing by faith is implicit in this verse:

Acts 14:9:
The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,

The man had faith to be healed, not faith that healing was already in his born-again spirit so that he didn’t need to “be healed.”

Even more conclusive proofs that “receiving” is definitely for today now follow.

Receiving the Holy Spirit

A born-again believer can receive the Holy Spirit. You are not automatically baptized with the Holy Spirit just because you are born again; you must “receive” Him! That is an obvious proof that “receiving” is for present-day believers.

Acts 8:17:
Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

Acts 19:2:
He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

Notice that there is no statement that “they already had the Holy Spirit baptism along with healing and every other spiritual blessing ever since they were saved, so they simply released the Holy Spirit baptism that was already in their born-again spirits.”

The Holy Spirit has been legally given but still needs to be received.

Problems with Believing Mark 11:23 Is for Today but Mark 11:24 Is Not

If Mark 11:24 is not for believers, Mark 11:23 cannot be for believers either. Splitting these verses violates sensible Bible interpretation because these two verses are conjoined by the word therefore. Thus, they must stand or fall together as far as whether they are for believers today.

Mark 11:23-24:
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

However, I have yet to hear a preacher who claims that Mark 11:24 is not for today advocate the logical follow-up that Mark 11:23 is not for today either. But by such a preacher’s logic, you would have to rule out Mark 11:23 as well. Such a “ruling out” would lead to this statement: “There is no need to command sickness to leave your body because you are already healed of it! Your healing is already in your born-again spirit. Release your healing instead of commanding sickness to leave.” However, I could not agree with such a statement, which I think would confuse people more than help them.

Jesus said we would do the works He did and greater (John 14:12), and clearly that will be done post-resurrection. Jesus rebuked sickness, so we should expect to do the same today, which is consistent with Mark 11:23.

Luke 4:39:
And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.

Therefore, Mark 11:23 is for today. But that means that Mark 11:24 must be also be for today!

However, Mark 11:24 says that if we believe that we receive things, we shall have them. Believe and receive in the Greek are both present-tense verbs, but shall have is a future-tense verb. Jesus did NOT say that if you believe that you already have received something (past tense), it is yours (present-tense). This shows that there must be a sense in which something that is legally yours in the present must be received for it to be “yours” in experience.

Faith Accesses What Grace Has Already Provided

Romans 5:2:
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Grace has provided healing for you and it is already yours in the legal sense, but it is NOT automatically yours in the experiential sense. If it were, no Christian would ever get sick! You must access your paid-for healing by faith just like the man in Acts 14:7-10 who exercised faith to be healed. Faith is the bridge that brings what grace has already provided into the natural. Even if you prefer to say that you are releasing healing, appropriating healing or activating healing, there must be some faith-based bridge that brings your healing from the realm of paid-for to the realm of “there it is in my body.”

Other Proofs That “Receiving” Is for Believers Today

The writer of Hebrews definitely thought that we can still approach God and receive from Him today. The word translated obtain in the verse below is the Greek word lambano – the same Greek word translated receive in Mark 11:24!

Hebrews 4:16:
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Receiving must be for us today, given that we are commanded to do it!

James also considered receiving to be a present-day matter.

James 1:5-7:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

James 4:3:
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

John also agreed taught that we can “receive” today:

1 John 3:22:
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

If what you’re asking for were already in your born-again spirit, there would be no need to “ask for” or “receive” anything because you would have already “received” it.

Thus, Scripture is clear that “receiving” definitely is for believers today.

Believe You Receive or Believe You Have Received?

One teacher cited the fact that some translations render Mark 11:24 as saying “believe you have received” instead of “believe you receive.” Unfortunately, those translations are among the less Greek-faithful ones. The explanation was that you must believe that whatever you’re believing for is something you have already received as opposed to receiving it when you’re praying.

Well, whatever it is must be LEGALLY yours already, as otherwise there is nothing for you to receive. However, there is a difference between receiving what’s legally yours and believing that you have already received what’s legally yours! Both are possible cases, but in the second case, you wouldn’t be praying in the first place – why would you pray about something that you already “have” in the final sense? Mark 11:24 is about moving from something being legally yours (the first case) to being yours in experience as well (the second case).

The more Greek-faithful translations (KJV, NKJV, Young’s Literal Translation, among others) render Mark 11:24 as saying “believe you receive,” which is correct, because the Greek word translated receive is definitely a present-tense verb. The “some translations” mentioned before simply got it wrong.

Conclusion

Believing that you receive when you pray is definitely for us in the Church Age, and it is a powerful way to receive healing even when no one else is around.