Why We Pray for Healing & Expect Miracles - Pastor Dave

September 6, 2026 | Dave Hess | Romans 5:12–14

Why do we pray for healing? Why do we expect miracles? The answer isn't rooted in wishful thinking or religious optimism. It's rooted in the central storyline of the entire Bible.

Sin destroyed us. But God has always been in the business of restoration.

The Atmosphere Changed

When Adam and Eve turned away from God in the Garden, something fundamental shifted. Romans 5:12 tells us that death entered the world through sin — and death reigned. But it wasn't just physical death. It was separation from God. The intimacy that defined life in the Garden — walking with Him, knowing Him fully — was lost.

And the effects spread everywhere.

Romans 8:22 says all of creation has been groaning — experiencing a common calamity. Disconnection. Disorder. Disease. In every realm: spiritually, emotionally, physically, relationally. What God designed to flourish began to decay.

But from the very beginning, God made a promise: He would restore all things.

A God Who Makes Covenants

The story of restoration in Scripture is really the story of God making and keeping covenants — agreements sealed through sacrifice, binding God's heart to His people.

To Adam, He promised that a Seed would come to crush the enemy's authority (Genesis 3:15). To Noah, He bent the rainbow toward heaven as a sign that His judgment would no longer fall on all the earth (Genesis 9:13). To Abraham, He promised that through him all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3).

Each covenant built on the last, and each one pointed forward to something greater.

The Old Covenant — Better Than We Often Think

When Moses led Israel out of Egypt, God established a blood covenant through the Passover Lamb — a covenant that would cause sin's destructive power to "pass over" His people. And this covenant came with remarkable promises.

"I AM the LORD, your Health." (Exodus 15:26)

That promise was not abstract. Three million people — severely beaten and poorly fed as slaves in Egypt — left with "not one weak or feeble among them." (Psalm 105:37) That is a miracle of staggering proportions. God's covenant covered their physical bodies.

He promised to bless their food and water and remove sickness from among them (Exodus 23:25). He promised provision and power in every area of life to those who walked in covenant obedience (Deuteronomy 28). And He declared, "Your God will restore everything you lost." (Deuteronomy 30:3)

The terms of this covenant were simple — love the LORD with everything you have, love your neighbor, and take care of yourself. Interestingly, even the practical instructions in Leviticus reflect a God who cares about whole-person health: wash your hands, eat well, guard your body.

The Old Covenant was not a bad covenant. It was good. But it couldn't take people all the way. It worked toward reversing the curse while pointing to the One who would break it entirely.

The Messiah We Were Waiting For

The word Messiah means "the Expected King who would deliver and restore." And the prophets painted a vivid picture of what His arrival would look like.

Isaiah 35 declares: "Your God will come to save you. The eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. The lame will leap like a deer, and the mute tongue will shout for joy." This was not poetic language. It was a specific, physical promise about what healing would look like when the Deliverer arrived.

Isaiah 53 goes deeper. Written centuries before the crucifixion, it describes a Wounded Healer — one who would first carry our sicknesses before bringing healing. In the Talmud, written some 500 years before Jesus was born, the rabbis anticipated the Messiah this way: "When the Messiah comes, He will sit among the poor and the suffering sick. He will be a Wounded Healer — One who will first carry our sicknesses in order to bring us healing." (Sanhedrin 98a)

Isaiah 53:4–5 says: "Surely, He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows… He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed."

The Hebrew word for "healed" there is rapha — and it means complete healing throughout. Not partial. Not spiritual only. Complete.

Jesus Fulfilled Every Promise

When Jesus arrived, He didn't come to start a new religion. He came to fulfill every promise God had ever made.

He said it plainly in Matthew 5:17: "I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them."

And then He went around doing exactly what the prophets said the Messiah would do. After healing Peter's mother-in-law and delivering others from sickness and demonic oppression, He said directly: "This was done to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 'He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.'" (Matthew 8:17)

He wasn't making a theological argument. He was demonstrating it.

Acts 10:38 may be the single verse that best summarizes Jesus' entire ministry: "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him."

All who were under the power of the devil. Not some. Not the ones who had enough faith. All.

Why We Still Pray for Healing

This is why we pray. Not because healing is a possibility. Not because God might feel generous on a particular day. But because healing is part of the covenant. It is woven into the character of a God who has always identified Himself as the LORD our Health. It is fulfilled in Jesus, who bore our diseases as well as our sins on the cross.

The same God who walked through Egypt leaving not one weak or feeble person behind is the same God who sent His Son to heal all who were oppressed. And the same Jesus who is the same yesterday, today, and forever is the one we come to when we pray.

We pray because He restored. We pray because He promised. And we pray because the Word became flesh — and every promise God ever made was fulfilled in Him.

📖 Romans 5:12–14 | Romans 8:22 | Genesis 3:15 | Exodus 15:26 | Psalm 105:37 | Isaiah 35:3–6 | Isaiah 53:1–5 | Matthew 5:17 | Matthew 8:17 | Acts 10:38