That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. — MATTHEW 8:17

Based on what the husband said, I knew they weren’t absolutely sure it was God’s will to heal his wife. So I asked him, “How are you going to find out if it’s God’s will to heal her?”

He looked at me sort of startled and said, “I thought you’d lay hands on her and pray. And if it is God’s will, He would heal her. And if it isn’t, He wouldn’t.”

“No,” I said, “I can’t pray, because she wouldn’t be healed.”

“Well, what are we going to do? How are we going to find out whether or not it’s God’s will to heal her?” he asked.

I knew that I had to move them into faith. I had to move them into the will of God. So I said, “What if the Word of God said that Jesus took your wife’s infirmities and bore her sicknesses? Would it be God’s will to heal her?”

“Certainly it would,” he said.

I turned to Matthew 8:17 and laid the Bible in his wife’s lap. I told her to read the verse out loud. The minute she read it, her husband jumped off the altar and said, “The first half of my prayer wasn’t any good, was it? We’re going to have to throw it away.” Well, I didn’t tell him, but the whole prayer wasn’t any good. He could throw the whole thing away.

He said, “The Bible says that Himself [Jesus] took our infirmities, and that includes my wife’s infirmities.”

I said, “You see that, but does your wife see it? You’re not the one who needs healing.”

I turned to his wife and she said, “I see it.”

The husband said, “It’s God’s will then. We’ll just have to throw the first part of that prayer away. All we have to do now is pray that God will give us faith so that she can be healed.”

“No,” I said. “I can’t pray yet. Sit back there on the altar. We have to talk some more.”

Confession: Jesus took my infirmities and bore my sicknesses. By the stripes of Jesus, I am healed!