Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
—Matthew 17:19-20
When the Lord Jesus sent His disciples into parts of Palestine, He endued them with a double power, to cast out spirits and to heal all sickness and infirmity. (See Matthew 10:1.) He did the same for the seventy who came back to Him with joy, saying, “Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name” (Luke 10:17).
On the day of the transfiguration, a father brought his son who was possessed with a demon to the disciples, beseeching them to cast out the evil spirit, but they could not. After Jesus had cured the child, the disciples asked why they had been unable to do it themselves. He answered, “Because of your unbelief.” (See verse 20.) Unbelief, not the will of God, was the cause of their defeat.
Today, divine healing has almost entirely disappeared from the church. Two reasons are usually offered. The greater number think that miracles were limited to the early church in order to establish Christianity, but that circumstances have changed.
Other believers say that if the church has lost these gifts, it is because she has become worldly. The Spirit acts so feebly in her because she has not remained in a direct and habitual relationship with the full power of the unseen world. That if men and women would live the life of faith and of the Holy Spirit, she would again see the manifestation of the same gifts as in former times.
The Bible does not grant us to believe that the gifts of healing were granted only to the early church. On the contrary, the promise that Jesus made shortly before His ascension appears to be applicable to all times. (See Mark 16:15–18.) Jesus still heals both soul and body, and the Holy Spirit is always ready to give us some manifestations of His power. When we ask why this divine power is not seen more often, He answers us, “Because of your unbelief.” The more the Spirit of God lives in the souls of believers, the more miracles He will work in the body. By this, the world will recognize what redemption means.