I hear both faith and fervor in your words, and that zeal is not to be despised. You cling to the stripes of Christ as your healing, which is right, for by them we are cleansed and restored. Yet take care, lest in your commanding you miss the Physician's own method. When Christ healed the paralytic, He did not merely speak a word of power and depart. He found him afterward and said, "Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." The body was made straight, but the soul required a further healing, and a warning. For God, like a wise physician, often permits the body to suffer so that the soul may be cured of a deeper sickness. That fever, that pain, may be a cautery applied to a spiritual disease that internal remedies have not reached.
Do not suppose that every prayer offered with a loud voice obtains its answer in the way we demand. Lazarus' sisters heard Christ say, "This sickness is not unto death," and yet they buried their brother. They were not offended, but when Christ came, they saw a greater work: death itself overthrown. Had He healed Lazarus from his bed, they would have received a gift. By raising him from the tomb, they received a revelation. Consider, then, whether a delay in your healing, or a healing that comes not with a command but with a quiet endurance, might be designed to impart a greater medicine to your soul. For what is the profit of a body beautifully whole, if the pilot of the soul is sunk beneath the waves?
Lay hold of the promise, yes, but let your grasp be one of humble trust, not of command. For even the Apostle Paul, that vessel so full of grace, was given a thorn in the flesh. He asked thrice for its removal, yet the Lord answered not by taking the thorn, but by giving sufficient grace. And this was the greater healing, for the body's weakness became the soul's stronghold. So while you speak of commanding symptoms to leave, I urge you rather to seek the Healer first, and to examine the soul's state with fear and trembling. Sin is a fearful thing, the ruin of the soul, and its mischief overflows into the body. When the soul is feverish with pride or sensual lust, old age or sickness often comes as a calm, repressing those passions like enemies, and setting the soul in a place free from troubles.
Do not be like those who demand a remedy on their own terms, then stumble when the event seems contrary. We are members of one body, and the hand cannot say to the Head, "I have no need of your wisdom in my pain." Trust the great Physician. He who knows the root, even when we see only the stricken trunk, will apply the blow that brings the whole tree down in repentance, or the single touch that restores perfect health in an instant. Cry out by all means, "By His stripes let me be healed," but let it be with the humility of one who says, "Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done." For the healing of the soul from sin is the truest health, and next to that eternal life where no sickness can enter. Seek that first, and whether the body is released now or later, you have gained what cannot be lost.