Why Doesn’t God Heal Every Person You Pray for? How can you Keep the Faith when Your Prayers Go Unanswered?

Any person who has torn his ACL before the start of football season or lost a parent to cancer has wondered, “Why didn’t God heal?”

The consequence of sin is death. Every apostle and disciple in the Scriptures who worked healing miracles eventually died. Lazarus, whom Jesus himself raised from the dead, died twice. The men and women who were healed in this study will eventually grow old and die too. We must remember that healing by the laying on of hands was never meant to be an end in itself, but a sign that pointed man towards his true end: healing of sin and restoration of relationship to God in Heaven. Healing ministry is mystical participation with God as a sign to the unbeliever. While the minister of healing cooperates with the Holy Spirit in bringing healing to another, it is the power of the Holy Spirit that determines when and if the temporary physical cure will manifest.

As the Scriptures proclaim, "My son, when you are ill, do not delay, but pray to God, for it is he who heals. Flee wickedness and purify your hands; cleanse your heart of every sin. Offer your sweet-smelling oblation and memorial, a generous offering according to your means. Then give the doctor his place lest he leave; you need him too, For there are times when recovery is in his hands. He too prays to God that his diagnosis may be correct and his treatment bring about a cure." Sirach 38: 9-14

Our hope is that, through a temporary physical healing, man may come to believe in God, repent of his sins, and join the body of Christ through sacramental initiation... so that when he does meet death, he is ready. Our great hope is to die with Christ so that we may rise with Christ and experience the joy of Heaven - a place where there is no sickness, no tears, and no death.