Why Are So Few People Healed of the Common Cold and the Flu?
It seems strange that while the common cold and flu are almost universal ailments, so few Christians seem to walk in victory over them. It seems that there are many more testimonies of people getting healed of drastic illnesses than getting healed of sore throats, coughs, fevers, and so on.
Part of this may be that people wouldn’t get excited to read a headline that says, “Man Healed of Runny Nose in Healing Crusade!” so the more “sensational” (but not more supernatural) healings get the headlines: “Deaf, Dumb and Blind Man Healed – Plays Pinball to Prove It!” So part of it may be a publicity problem. But part of it isn’t – many Christians, even ones healed of more dire troubles, seem to fall victim to these little annoyance tools of the devil.
This is unnecessary. All illnesses were included in the curse for breaking the Law (Deuteronomy 28:61) and Jesus bore that curse in our place (Galatians 3:13), redeeming us from having to suffer any part of it. No Christian ever needs to get as much as a headache. You are redeemed from that cold that all your relatives have. You are redeemed from this year’s strain of the flu that is in that person in the elevator who just sneezed on you. It is just as much God’s will to heal you of these “minor ailments” as it is His will to heal quadriplegics of theirs.
The problem is not that the sick person does not desire to be well, but that the relatively small annoyance of putting up with the symptoms may seem to outweigh the effort required to stand in faith. In other words, we don’t want to be healed badly enough! We live in the flesh too much.
If you were told you had two weeks to live because you had terminal cancer, you would surely do everything in your power to hear God’s promises and receive your healing. However, our attitude with a cold is often “I can live with it.” Yes, you can live with it, but you can also live without it if you will act on the good news that Jesus was made sick in your place and He purchased your healing from ALL sickness. The Lord your Physician is longing for you to receive the health that is rightfully yours.
Because people have a stronger desire to be healed of bigger illnesses, the result can be that they get healed of the bigger ones and then fall victim to the smaller ones.
There is no special secret healing method just for colds and the flu. You get healed of these in exactly the same way that you get healed of any other illness. Faith works just the same for all of them. Just make sure you’re serious (not playing around) when you pray! “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16). Stop letting the devil rip off your time with these nuisances and believe God for your healing now!
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