By His Stripes We Were Healed

"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." — Isaiah 53:5

For several decades there has been theological debates and conversations over whether God still heals physical sickness. No one wonders about spiritual healing or healing of the soul, but physical healing for some people seems outside of Gods will and or power. There is only one reason for this and that is that some judge Gods willingness to heal by their own or others experiences rather than by his word. Experience matters, but should not determine what we believe about God. Scripture is clear. "Our God heals." So here is the truth about healing. Healing in the bible is promised but not guaranteed. Just as none of Gods promises are guaranteed since they are all received by faith. When a person does not believe that God heals, they are less likely to receive healing. If a person does not want to be healed they are less likely to receive healing.

In John 5 Jesus asked the lame man "do you want to be healed"? To most who suffer with an affliction, the question seems ridiculous. However it is not. The same question could be asked to anyone who has never hit their knees and asked God to heal them. It can even be asked to the person who enjoys the sympathy or assistance that they receive because of their sickness. My point is that not everyone seeks to be healed by God. Some have made themselves content with the help of medicines. While medicine is helpful when you need it, and should be used when necessary, nothing can match being healed.

I remember the days it was in 1996 when my daughter was bedridden after suffering a uterine inversion during child birth. Afterward she spend a few days in intensive care and was released on heavy pain medication. For the next 9 months we watched as my daughter grew weaker and weaker until finally she wss bedridden and living in excuciating pain. I prayed and asked God to heal her. Because of her extreme pain level we took her to several doctors but no one could diagnose her. They kept refilling her pain medication.

One night in my desperation I said "God if you don't heal her she's going to die. The next morning I felt the Lord speak to my heart and say "Take her to church" It was during the thunderous praise and worship on that Sunday morning that my daughter was completely healed by God. It was a miracle.

Healing isn't something you're begging God to consider. It's something He already planned for and paid for. I think about what it cost. The stripes that Jesus bore were his torn flesh. Every lash Jesus took was intentional. Isaiah doesn't say He was wounded by accident or that healing was a side benefit of the cross. He says the chastisement — the punishment — that brought us peace was laid on Him on purpose. Your wholeness was in the plan from the beginning. When you're lying awake at 2 a.m. wondering if God sees what's wrong in your body or your mind or your family, remember: He didn't just see it. He already dealt with it at the whipping post before He ever got to the cross.

Here's what I've learned after four decades of walking with people through pain — healing doesn't always look like the movie version. Sometimes it's instant. I've seen it. But it can also be a process you walk out in faith while your feelings haven't caught up yet. The Israelites didn't feel free the moment the blood was on the doorpost. They still had to pack, still had to walk, still had to trust in the wilderness. "By His stripes we were healed" is past tense — it's already finished in the spirit. Your job now is to walk in agreement with what's already true, even before your body or your circumstances fully catch up.

In my personal testimony, I truly believed that God was going to heal her for the entire time. I kept declaring "By His Stripes we were healed". I kept believing. Not because I thought my daughter deserved to be healed. But because i knew that God is good.

This is where so many of us get stuck. We treat healing like something we have to deserve for God to give us, when really we need to receive what He's already given. There's a difference between begging and receiving. Begging keeps you on your knees wondering if God will move. Receiving stands up, and thanks Him for what's already done, and walks in expectancy of the realization. That's faith.

Faith isn't pretending the pain isn't real. It's declaring that the price is paid and the wound doesn't get the final word. I want you to notice something else in this verse — it doesn't say "by His stripes you might be healed" or "you could be healed if you're good enough." It's not performance-based. You didn't earn this and you can't disqualify yourself from it either. Whatever you're carrying right now — a body that's fighting you, a mind that won't quiet down, a heart still bleeding from something someone did to you years ago — none of it is too much for what Jesus already absorbed. He took stripes for the exact thing you're facing. Nothing you carry surprises Him, and nothing you carry is bigger than what He already bore.

So today, I want to invite you to do something simple but powerful: speak it out loud. Not as a wish, but as a declaration of what's already true. "By His stripes, I am healed." Say it over your body. Say it over your mind. Say it over your family, your finances, your future. You are not waiting on God to decide whether to heal you — you are walking out a healing that was settled at the cross. Beauty really does come from ashes, and wholeness really was purchased with stripes. Receive it today, and keep walking in it until what's true in the spirit becomes visible in your life.

Beauty for Ashes Life-Changing Ministry

Healing Scriptures

Exodus 15:26 – "I am the Lord Your God who heals you.

Psalm 30:2 – "Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me."

Jeremiah 17:14 – "Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.

1 Peter 2:24 – "...by his wounds you have been healed."

Jeremiah 30:17 – "But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,' declares the Lord."

Matthew 8:17- This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Isaiah 53:5 - But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

Acts 3:16 - And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.