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Oral Roberts
Evangelistic Association, Inc.
1 What to Do When Your
Healing Seems Slow in
Coming
by Oral Roberts

E very day in this ministry I

receive letters from people who
tell me how desperately they need a
healing in their lives. Many say they
have prayed and believed God for
their healing for weeks or months or
even years. . . and at first they were
full of hope. Now they are often
discouraged and at the point of
giving up, believing that their
healing breakthrough may never
come, or that there must be
something terribly wrong with their
faith because it seems so slow in
coming.
My friend, if you too have been
fighting what seems at times to be a
losing battle with sickness or
disease, I want you to know that I
understand how discouraged you
must feel. I care about you, and I
want you to be healed. But even
more importantly, I know God
wants you to be healed and made
whole in every fiber of your being.
That's why He called me to take His
healing power to my generation
over 35 years ago ... and that means
bringing this message of hope to you
today!
It's true that many times healing
is a gradual process. But sometimes,
because of our great need, we lose
sight of that fact. We want the
healing to come instantly. And when
it doesn't, or when it seems slow in
coming, we begin to "lay down" on
the inside. We say, "Maybe I just
don't have the faith for healing."
Sometimes we even blame God for
our situation. Yet, that may be the
very moment when God is trying to
speak to us . . . to show us that
there's still something we must do
before His healing power can be
fully released to work in our lives.
Maybe you have already done
all you know to do to put yourself in
position to receive the healing you
need and that God wants you to
have. If so, you may simply need to
continue "holding on" and waiting
on God's timing for your healing,
trusting that He knows something
about your situation that you don't
know.
But if you feel like so many
people who write me and say, "Oral
Roberts, is there anything else I can
do?" then I want to offer you these
suggestions. Based on the Word of
God and on my many years of
personally praying for those who are
sick, I believe God will honor your
faith as you consider what I tell you
and reach out to Him in childlike
trust and obedience to receive the
healing breakthrough you need.

Let Jesus Touch You

Again and Give Your Faith
a Boost
 Often God shows us great
spiritual truths in the simple,
everyday experiences of our lives.
But usually it's not until later—after
the experience is over—that we
begin to realize what God was
teaching us through it. Recently I
had an experience like that, and I
believe God showed me something
through it that will encourage you to
keep on holding on.
One evening I left my office and
got into my car to drive home. I put
the key in the ignition and turned it
on, but the motor wouldn't start. I
turned the key off, then back on
again. There was a clicking sound,
but nothing happened.
About that time one of my
associates pulled in beside me and
said, "Brother Roberts, are you
having trouble?"
I said, "Yes, I can't get my car to
start. I think my battery is dead."
He said, "Maybe it's not dead ...
just run down. Sometimes batteries
get low on water, and when they do
there isn't enough power to start the
engine."
He had some jumper cables, so
he raised the hoods of both cars and
hooked the cables to our batteries.
His car was running, and his battery
was good. My car wouldn't even
start because my battery was so
weak.
Then he said, "Turn the key." I
turned the key and, sure enough, the
engine started right up. He said, "As
soon as you can get a good charge
on that battery, it will work just
fine." And he was right. I didn't have
to throw the battery away, just give
it a boost by hooking up the cables
to a good battery, then later getting a
full charge.
Now you may say, "Oral
Roberts, what does a story about
your car battery mean to me?"
Well, I believe it can mean
everything to you. It can mean the
difference between your giving up
in your hope for healing or your
holding on. Because I believe our
faith can be compared to that
battery in this way:
Just because you or I pray once,
or twice, or even many times, and
the completed healing or
deliverance we need doesn't come
right away, it doesn't mean that our
faith in God is completely dead. It
may just mean that our faith needs a
boost, a boost that only Jesus can
give us.
So when your healing
breakthrough seems slow in coming,
let Jesus give your faith the boost it
may need. I believe He can do that
best when you read and listen to His
Word, when you read testimonies of
healing, and when you reach out to
receive the prayer of faith from
others. Remember, you may need to
go back to Jesus again and again,
hook up your faith "battery," and let
Him give your faith His boost.
I believe this is what happened in
the story of the man born blind,
recorded in chapter 8, verses 22-26
of Mark's Gospel. A blind man was
brought to Jesus, and when the Lord
touched his eyes He said, "Do you
see now?" The man said, "Lord, I
see men as trees walking." Then
Jesus put His hands again on the
man's eyes and made him look up.
And his sight was fully restored so
that he saw every man clearly.
The man was healed completely
only after the second touch that
Jesus gave him. He didn't get a real
breakthrough in his healing until the
second time.
Examples such as this one in the
Word of God remind us that we
need not become discouraged when
we are not healed the first time we
pray, or even the second, third, or
more times. And it doesn't mean
that there is anything wrong with
our faith, just as there was nothing
wrong with the blind man's faith. He
simply needed another touch from
Jesus and he stayed close to the Lord
until he received that touch.

Uncover the Real Problem

and Let It Out
You and I often mask our real
problem. We put a smile on our face
when our heart is being torn apart.
We appear to be fine but we're not.
Inside, where the eye cannot see or
the physician's skill or even a church
service may not be able to reach,
there's a deep need.
 The illnesses we have in our
bodies sometimes reflect those deep
needs—something that's spiritually
wrong, or something that's
happened in our past—that we need
to uncover and let Jesus heal. Even
the emotions we carry inside us, if
they're negative and harmful, can
affect our physical well-being. I
believe they can hinder and
sometimes even block God's healing
power in our lives.
A patient that we recently had at
the City of Faith Clinic is a good
example of the interaction our spirit
and emotions can have on our
physical bodies. I believe his story
shows us the miraculous power of
God to heal and restore the whole of
our being . . . when we finally open
up, take off the mask, and allow
Him to really minister to the root
cause of our problems.
The patient came to the City of
Faith Clinic suffering from severe
bursitis in his shoulder. For several
months it had been so bad that he
would lie awake at night and cry.
He had learned to tolerate a lot of
pain as a prisoner during the Korean
War, but the pain in his shoulder
was really bad.
In addition to that, when he
came to the clinic he was fed up
with organized religion. He had a
terrible temper and had trouble
getting along with his neighbors.
When he would go out in his yard,
his neighbors would all go inside,
because he had caused trouble for all
of them. He was angry with the
world and with life in general.
While he was at the City of Faith
Clinic he reluctantly talked, and
eventually prayed, with a prayer
partner who led him to the One who
could make him whole and change
his life—Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
When they finished praying, this
man felt a joy he had never known.
He looked up and started smiling.
Then when he went in to see the
doctor, he noticed that the terrible
pain in his shoulder was gone! The
doctor examined him and found
nothing wrong. The doctor said his
pain had been real, but now he was
healed.
The man I am telling you about
came to the City of Faith Clinic to
get help for his body, and he ended
up getting help for his spirit and
emotions as well. His attitude was
even healed! The Lord healed his
whole being and made him new.
This man's physical condition
was real, it's true. But even he
knows now that it was probably
severely aggravated by the negative
condition of his mind and emotions.
Can you see how our negative
emotions sometimes block or hinder
the fullness of God's power for our
healing?
You and I are not just physical
beings; we are spiritual and
emotional as well. And we were
made to function as a whole.
Therefore, it is absolutely necessary
for us to open up every area of our
lives to God so He can heal our
entire being.
If you know of something that
might be blocking God's healing
power from making you whole, I
believe this approach can help you:
First, tell the Lord about it. Then,
share it with a trusted Christian
friend and let them begin to help
you pray for the real source of your
problem—whatever that may be.
Now you may say, "Brother
Roberts, I don't have anyone that I
feel I can trust with this problem." If
that's true, then write down what's
troubling you in a letter and send it
to me. I am always honored to pray
with you and hold your needs
before the Lord. Because when we
step out in faith together, I believe
God steps out too, to meet us at the
point of our need.
God wants to do great and
mighty things in your life and mine.
And He will . . . when we do what
only we can do, and then expect Him
to do what only He can do.

Get Mad at the Devil

To deal with sickness effectively,
we need to recognize its true source
—that is, the one who really sends it.
In John 10:10 Jesus said, "The thief
[the devil] cometh not, but for to
steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I
[the Lord] am come that [you]
might have life, and that [you]
might have it more abundantly."
I want you to establish in your
mind once and for all that sickness
does not come from God—sickness
comes from the devil. LIFE comes
from God. And sickness is not life-
producing.
If you've ever read the
newspapers after a flood or an
earthquake, I'm sure you've noticed
how many bad things are blamed on
God. They are referred to as "acts of
God," as if God is the source of
destruction.
Even sickness is blamed on God.
Many people say when they are ill
that God is punishing them for
something they've done. They try to
make God the source of sickness.
But they've got it backwards.
God is not the source of sickness. . .
God is the Source of life and
wholeness. The devil is the source of
sickness! That's why Jesus said the
devil comes "to steal, and to kill,
and to destroy" but Jesus comes to
give us abundant life.
I know that it is not God's desire
for you to be sick in any way. Jesus
spent two-thirds of His ministry
healing the sick. It doesn't make any
sense for God to make people sick
and yet send His Son to make them
whole. For then Jesus and the Father
would be working against each
other.
So we must realize who the devil
is and what he tries to do, in order to
prevent him from stealing the health
we need. The devil is a deceiver. He
tries to deceive us into thinking that
God has put sickness on us or that
He doesn't want to heal us. He tries
to discourage us. If he can get us to
lose our hope, our belief that God is
going to heal us, he's happy. He
would like nothing more than to get
us discouraged and to steal our hope
in God.
That's why you and I have to get
mad at the devil and put him in his
place. When we're sick, you and I
cannot be complacent about our
sickness. The Bible tells us to
"submit yourselves therefore to
God. Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you" (James 4:7).
 You may ask, "Oral Roberts, how
can I resist the devil?" By knowing
what he tries to do! If we realize that
the devil tries to deceive us, to
discourage us, to put negative
thoughts in our minds that God isn't
going to heal us, we can resist him.
We can submit ourselves to God and
His desire to make us whole, and we
can reject the devil's desire to make
us sick.
If you've been listening to those
negative thoughts that God doesn't
want to heal you, I want you to get
mad at the devil and throw those
thoughts out of your thinking.
The devil is a liar. God does
want to heal you. His Word tells us
this over and over again.
 I ask you, who are you listening
to and who do you choose to
believe? An eternal liar and master
deceiver . . . or God?

Let the Word of Faith

Become Real in You
When I was a teenager dying
with tuberculosis, my sister Jewel
said to me, "Oral, God is going to
heal you." That excited me. But I
know now I didn't really hear Jewel
completely. I heard with my ears
only, not with my heart.
Later, my brother Elmer came
and said the same thing. "Oral, I'm
taking you for prayer. God is going
to heal you." I still heard with my
ears only. Elmer dressed me and laid
me in the backseat of the car, and
then drove me to where a man was
preaching and praying for people.
As I lay in the car on the way to
the revival meeting, suddenly my
heart began to hear. From deep
inside me I heard these words from
the Lord: "Son, I am going to heal
you." They were the same words
that Jewel and Elmer had said. Only
now I was listening to God and I
understood them. I finally heard
with the ears of my heart and I knew
I was going to be healed.
You may be in the same situation
I was when I was dying of
tuberculosis. You may need to let
the word of faith become real in you
by seeking to listen more and more
to God until you get a knowing in
your heart . . . until you can say, "I
know that I know that I know that
God is going to heal me."
My friend, are you listening? Do
you have a listening heart?
When it dawns on the inside of
us that God is going to heal us, the
hearing of faith takes place in our
heart. Then we begin to understand
it with our ears. Faith starts
becoming meaningful to us and we
know that we know that we know
that God is going to heal us. And
what we hear with faith can never
be taken from us because it gets into
our heart and it gets into our
understanding.
For myself, I have found that the
word of faith is not something I try
to work myself into . . . it is not
something I try to make myself
believe. I just look more and more to
God, the Source of my healing, and
listen to what He says deep inside
me. Then His knowing becomes real
in me.
If you have not heard the word
of faith in your heart, start listening
to what God may be saying to you.
Start listening with the ears of your
heart. When you do, you may hear
God saying, as I did, "My child, I am
going to heal you."

Receive God's Chosen

Delivery System for Your
Healing
Many times when you and I are
sick, we make up our minds HOW
we want God to heal us. We get in
our minds that God will heal us in a
certain way. And then we are
disappointed when we are not
healed that way. Oftentimes, we
block God's healing power from
being released in our life by not
being open to the many systems
God can use to heal us.
The biblical story of Naaman
shows us what happens when we
open ourselves up to GOD'S
delivery system of healing for us,
rather than clinging to our own
preconceived ideas.
Naaman was a famous general
in the Syrian army. He was dying a
lingering death with leprosy when
he heard about the healing power of
God in the prophet Elisha.
So Naaman gathered up his
men, got into his chariot and rode
over to Samaria to the house of
Elisha.
But instead of meeting Naaman
face to face, Elisha sent his servant to
speak to him. Elisha didn't even
come out to speak to the mighty
general. And, to make matters
worse, the message Elisha sent to
Naaman was for him to go wash, in
the muddy Jordan River, seven
times.
Naaman was furious! He said, "I
thought he will surely come out to
me . . . and call on the name of the
Lord his God, and strike his hand
over the place, and recover the
leper" (2 Kings 5:11). So Naaman
decided to go home.
But before he could leave, his
servants convinced him that he had
nothing to lose by washing in the
muddy Jordan. Humbling himself,
Naaman dipped in the water as the
prophet Elisha had instructed. And
when he did, he tapped into the
healing power of Almighty God.
The Bible says that "his flesh came
again like . . . a little child" when
he opened himself up to God's
delivery system of healing.
It's important to remember that
it wasn't the Jordan River and it
wasn't the seven dips that were all
important in Naaman's healing. God
was trying to reach inside him and
get him to respond so He could do
for Naaman what is His very
essential nature—love him, heal
him, and restore him. And when
Naaman opened himself up and
responded to the Lord, he was made
whole.
Perhaps like Naaman, you are
facing your healing with your mind
already made up exactly how you
want God to do it. You may be
trying to tell God that you don't
want to go His way.
Why not ask yourself, "What
have I got to lose by opening myself
up to God's way of healing me?"
That's what Naaman's servants
asked him. And Naaman's miracle
began when he said, "I'll do it."
Jesus said, "Except you become
as little children, you shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven"
(Matthew 18:3). A little child, by his
very nature, is trusting. And Jesus is
trying to teach you and me to trust
Him—to completely trust Him for our
healing. He is trying to teach us to
receive His healing power through
whatever delivery system He
chooses for us.
Your delivery system may be
prayer. It may be medicine. It may
be both. It may be the touch of a
man of God or the muddy waters of
a river. I don't know.
All I know is that Jesus loves you
and He desires to make you whole.
And He can do that best when you
trust Him and open yourself up to
receive His healing power through
the delivery system He chooses.
After all, God is the Source of all
healing regardless of how it comes
our way.

You May Need to See a

Physician
My family and I have always
sought prayer in times of sickness.
And we have always sought high
quality medical care, also. I've had
surgery that restored my health
several times. I believe that
physicians and nurses are an
ordained part of God's system of
healing deliverance for us.
Jesus himself recognized the
value of medical doctors and
affirmed the importance of their
work to those who are sick. He said,
"They that are whole need not a
physician: but they that are sick"
(Luke 5:31). Jesus was saying that
those who are sick need a physician!
When I need healing I gladly
receive both prayer and medicine,
but try to keep my eyes centered on
God, the Source of my healing. No
matter if God's instrument is a
physician or those who pray for me,
or both working with me at the same
time, I try to release my faith to God.
Neither prayer nor medicine is a
threat to my faith.
Some people think that after
prayer for healing they should stop
their medication for fear it will
hinder their faith, or their healing
from being manifested. My own
experiences through the years, and
the experience of hundreds of
thousands I have prayed for,
indicate that neither faith nor God's
healing power through prayer is that
fragile.
When you and I go to a
physician, it doesn't mean we have a
lack of faith in God. Likewise, when
we pray, it doesn't mean we have a
lack of faith in medical science. God
has given us both the natural—
medicine—and the supernatural—
prayer—for our healing.
So when your healing
breakthrough seems slow in coming,
remember that you may need to see
a physician. A miracle is a miracle
no matter what instrument God uses
to make us whole. God works
medical miracles and He works
miracles through prayer. Faith in
God is the real force that makes
prayer and medicine effective in
bringing forth the power of God to
give us the miracle of healing we
need.

You May Need to Simply

Receive
I believe one of the greatest
healing needs people have today is
to learn how to receive miracles
from God. Most of us have no
problem in giving to God, but
somehow we have never learned to
receive from Him.
Evelyn and I recently received a
letter that greatly disturbed us. It
was from an elderly friend of ours
who has been a faithful giver to the
Lord all her life. She has given and
given and given but somehow never
learned to receive.
In her letter, we could sense that
out of her frustration she had finally
become disappointed in God. She
believed He wasn't doing what He
said He would do in His Word. She
felt that God had failed her, when
really more than anything else, she
had only failed herself because she
had failed to learn how to receive.
Perhaps you, too, have been
planting seeds of faith for your
healing and now you simply need to
receive it. If you have never really
learned how to receive, then ask
God to help you. I know He is even
now waiting to help you open your
life to receive the best He has for
you. He wants to give you healing in
your body and wholeness in your
entire being. He wants to provide
answers to your questions and help
for every problem you face. But it's
up to you to receive.

Now Let Me Pray for You

My friend, if I were there beside
you, I would put my hand in your
hand and release my faith to God for
you. But since I can't be there, I want
you to pray right along with me as
you read these words. Let the faith
inside you rise up and go to Jesus.
Heavenly Father, I come to You
now, in the name of Your Son Jesus
Christ. I thank You that Your healing
power is present with us because of His
death and resurrection. I pray for this
one, Lord, who needs Your healing
power released in their life. Show them
that they need not give up, that there
may still be something they can do to
receive the healing they need.
Now, dear friend, I pray for you. I
pray that above all, your heart will be
encouraged. I pray that you will let
Jesus help you do what you can do. If
you need to let Jesus touch you again, if
you need to simply receive, or whatever
else you may need to do, I pray that you
will do what only you can do and let
Jesus do for you what only He can do.
Now I pray that you will feel the power
of God go through you, from the crown
of your head to the soles of your feet.
I pray that you will receive the
miracle you need. And I believe this for
you in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.
 I Love to Hear From
You ...
But more than that, I love to pray
for you and to write you back. When
you write a letter, I believe
something happens inside you—
your faith is released and goes to
God. Then God is better able to give
you the miracle you need.
Let me know your concerns
today so I can pray. And together
we'll watch Jesus do His miracles in

39
What to Do When Your Healing Seems Slow
in Coming

your life. Just address your letter to:

Oral Roberts
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74171

Or in Canada write:

Oral Roberts
Toronto, Ontario M4P 2G2

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