It is true that God can do everything, but how do I know that He is willing to heal me? I do not know His will. Perhaps the Lord is not willing to heal me. What should I do? Let us look at another story. Mark 1:41 says, "And He was moved with compassion, and stretching out His hand, He touched him and said to him, I am willing; be cleansed!" Whether or not God can do something is not the question here; rather, it is a question of whether or not God is willing. No matter how great His power is, what does it matter if He is unwilling to heal? If God does not want to heal us, the greatness of His power will be of no consequence to us. The first question that has to be settled is whether or not God can, but the second question that also has to be settled is whether or not God will. The Lord said to the leper, "I am willing." The Old Testament tells us that leprosy is a very filthy disease (Lev. 13—14). Whoever contacted a leper was defiled. However, the Lord's love was so great that He said, "I am willing." The Lord Jesus stretched out His hand and touched and cleansed the leper! The leper entreated the Lord, and the Lord was willing to cleanse him. Can it be that the Lord will not heal our illness? Can it be that the Lord will not answer our prayers? We can all say, "God can" and "God is willing."
It is not enough for us to know that God can and God will. We need to know one more thing—God has done. We need to go back to Mark 11:24, which we quoted earlier: "All things that you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and you will have them." This tells us that God has done something already.
What is faith? Faith is not just believing that God can and will do something but also believing that God has done something already. God has accomplished it. If you believe that you have received it, you will have it. If you believe and are confident that God can and will do a certain thing because He has given you a word concerning it, you should thank Him, saying, "God has done it!" Many people's prayers are not answered because they are not clear about this point; they still hope that they will receive something. However, to hope means to expect something in the future, whereas to believe means to consider something as being done. Genuine faith says, "Thank God, He has healed me! Thank God, I have received it! Thank God, I am cleansed! Thank God, I have recovered!" When faith is perfect, it will not only say "God can" and "God wills," but also "God has done."
God has listened to our prayers! God has accomplished everything! If we believe that we have received it, we will receive it. Very often, our faith is a faith that believes in what we will receive. As a result, we never receive anything. We should have the faith that we have already received. Faith is always a matter of "having been done" rather than of "will be done."
Consider a simple illustration. A person has just heard the gospel. If you ask him, "Have you believed in the Lord Jesus?", he may answer, "I have." You may then ask, "Are you saved?" If he says, "I will be saved," you know that he is not saved. Suppose you ask him again, "Do you really believe that you are saved?" If he says, "I will surely be saved," you know that he is still not saved. You may want to ask him again, "Are you really sure that you will be saved?" If he answers, "I think I will," his words do not sound like someone who is saved. If one says, "I will be saved," "I will surely be saved," or "I think I will surely be saved," there is no guarantee that he is saved. If the person says, "I am saved," he has the right tone. Once a man believes, he is saved. Any faith, if it is faith at all, believes in what has been accomplished. For example, once a person possesses faith at the time of his salvation, he immediately says, "Thank God, I have received." Let us lay hold of these three things—God can, God wills, and God has done.
Faith is not a psychological exercise. Faith is receiving God's word and believing with much assurance that God can, God wills, and God has done. If you have not received His word, do not take the spiritual risk of trying to tempt God. The exercise of psychology is not faith. Take illness as an example: All who are healed through genuine faith are not afraid of a medical checkup (Mark 1:44). The result of a medical checkup for those who have experienced a genuine divine healing will prove that it was a genuine healing rather than something psychological.