While we wait upon the Lord for healing, whether that is instantaneous or takes a lifetime, let’s look at some items that can postpone or even stall your healing. Yeshua wants to heal us, it was a big part of his ministry while upon the Earth.

— Unforgiveness:
“AND WHENEVER YOU STAND PRAYING, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses (paraptōma).” (Mark 11:25)

King David said ‘who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults’ (Ps. 119:12). This is the same greek word paraptōma in the Septuigint. In many ways it is the unforgiveness of the heart that keeps us bound. We think ‘nobody sees this secret sin of mine’. Yet the Lord does. We all have faults and fall short of God’s standard from time to time.

According to the Mayo Clinic these benefits result from forgiveness:

Improved mental health
Less anxiety, stress and hostility
Lower blood pressure
Fewer symptoms of depression
A stronger immune system
Improved heart health

— Spiritual Oppression:
Can lead to a spirit of depression, heaviness or fatigue. Spiritual oppression is not the same as what is often called possession or demonization. Apostle Paul said ‘we are pressured (afflicted) in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair’ (2 Cor. 4:8). We need to break off the spirits of oppression. Depression in itself is not demonization, it is an attack. For sure Yeshua cast out demons and that is sometimes associated with physical healing. Demons can block healing but tend to work on the mind and emotions more than physical ailments. Notable examples are 1) the Blind and Mute Man (Matt. 12:22–24) and the Deaf and Dumb Spirit causing convulsions (Mark 9:17-29). Yeshua did cast out other unclean spirits and the result was clarity of mind and peace but not necessarily physical healing.

— Guilt (Unforgiveness of Self):
Isaiah 6:7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt [awon] is taken away, and your sin [chattah] atoned for. There is more to this story about holiness which I will cover in a few minutes.

— Sin/Iniquity/Transgression:
Chattah, which is most often translated as sin, means to miss the mark. Awon, often translated as iniquity, relates more to the inner character and points to an intentional twisting of a given standard. Pesha, often translated as transgression, is more of a willful rebellion against the given standard.

Psalm 51::
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my pesha [transgressions]. Wash me thoroughly from my awon [iniquity], and cleanse me from my chattah [sin]! For I know my pasha [transgressions], and my chattah [sin] is always before me. Against you, you only, have I chattah [sinned] and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in awon [iniquity] and in chattah [sin] did my mother conceive me.

The good thing is David did not die because of his sin. The bad thing is he paid the price in other ways. So physical maladies are sometimes related to sin/iniquty/transgression. I think the big take-away here is how sin/iniquty/transgression blocks healing. It is our seperation from God.

Is. 59:2 your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins (chattah) have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

You have been seperated from God because internally you twisted the standard.
He hides his face from you since you missed the mark.

Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked (rasha): but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
Wicked = Actively doing wrong and morally wrong

Exodus 15:26 And said, If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, and will do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that heals you (Jehovah Rapha).

Proverbs 3:1 My son, forget not my law (tôrâ); But let your heart keep my commandments (miṣvâ): 2 For length of days (forbearance or self-restraint, possibly rule), and years of life, and peace, will they add to thee.

— Negative Confesions:
Proverbs 18:21 Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Not only the tongue but also the beliefs of the heart … If you confess Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead (Rom. 10:9)

Luke 6:45 The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

— Self Doubt and Unbelief:
James 1:5-8: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Asking for wisdom or anything from God requires confidence.

Does God want to heal me? Closely tied to self-doubt is just plain unbelief.

Mark 6:4 Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is without honor only in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own household.” 5 So He could not perform any miracles there, except to lay His hands on a few of the sick and heal (therepeo) them. 6 And He was amazed at their unbelief.

— The sin of familiarity causes many to remain ill:
The “sin of familiarity” is a spiritual concept where becoming too casual or accustomed to spiritual leaders, divine truths, or miracles leads to disrespect, lack of honor, and contempt, ultimately hindering one’s ability to receive blessings. This mindset causes people to take things for granted, causing a “red light” for the flow of grace and power in their lives. Muriam and Aaron where too familiar with Moses. She contracted leprosy, he did not, at least visabily.

How casually do you take your relationship with Yeshua? Is he just your good buddy?

— Pride:
King Uzziah contracted leprosy because he assumed what what ordained by God at the temple only for the Priests to burn incense was ok for him to do (2 Chr. 26). He had leprosy for the rest of his life. This just goes to show you that no matter how great a leader might become the sin of pride can make one unclean. There is another case of pride in the great Syrian leader called Naaman who was advised to do a simple task.

2 Kings 5:9–11:: So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed. 11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.

Sometimes it is the simple, even obvious things we miss that are key to our healing. Remember, Naaman had a terrible skin disease, maybe not leprosy itself but bad enough. He also had pride, meaning he expected a big display or ceremony for healing. Do we often expect the Lord to act a certain way? Does he arrive on the scene and wave his hands and call on his father to heal us or does he just give simple instructions he wants us to follow? Remember what Samuel said to King Saul ‘obedience is better than sacrifice!’ And when the healing evangelist comes to town we want to rush to his/her service. It is not that there are not certain gifts of healing in the body of Christ so much as our attitude toward obeying what the Lord instructs.

— His suffering atonement, our sin:
This is related to Sin/Iniquity/Transgression but I want to contrast here how that is related to what Yeshua did at the cross.

Matthew 8:16 says “when the even came, they brought unto him many that were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick (therapeuō): so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities (astheneia), and bare our sicknesses (nosos).” (Mattiyahu [Matthew] 8:16-17)

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. (Is. 53:4)

ḥŏlî (khol-ee’) = grief, disease, sickness, affliction, sadness, evil, or calamity
maḵ’ōḇ (mak-obe’) = sorrow or pain

(Septuigint) He bore our sins (hamartías) and suffered (odynátai) for us, and we considered him to be in pain and in hurt and in harm.

Three things I want to point out here regarding the Septuigint. One: he bore our sins, not just our griefs. The Masoretic texts tell us it is our griefs but it is more than that. Two: we often neglect the second part of this verse. It is about him. He suffered, he was in pain and in hurt and in harm. Three: Only some bible versions speak of our infirmities and our sicknesses (pains). This appears to be reading something into Isaiah not supported by many bible translators (our infirimities vs. our griefs) and our sicknesses vs. our sorrows). What we do have is an affirmation in the next verse regarding our trespasses and iniquities.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our trespasses [Hebrew: pesha, Gr: anomias], he was bruised for our iniquities [Hebrew: avon, Gr: hamartias] the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed (rapha).
Note: In 1 Peter 2:24 the word healed here is iaomai

So I might be reading into this text as much as some bible translators but it appears to me that the reason we have infirmities and sicknesses is because of our trespasses and iniquities. Whether that is a personal statement or corporate statement I cannot say but I am just trying to be faithful to bible translation. Just going back to the idea of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience but is possible Matthew had a slightly different version of the Tanakh available. But what is obvious is the healing ministry of Yeshua. And it would be amiss if I ever said all suffering in sickness is tied to our sin/iniquity/transgressions. It is just one avenue to explore.

Mt 8:1–3 When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured.

Healing from leprosy is spelled out in great detail in Leviticus 13 & 14. The idea that priests would examine a leprous person so much dismisses the notion that it is a highly contageous disease because you cannot get it through casual contact. Here Yeshua reaches out and touched the man. He was firstly willing to reach out to an austracized member of society. Secondly, while making him clean it shows both compassion for the outcast and cleansing from impurities. That is, the effects of spiritual uncleanness.

I like what John said in the epistle.

1 John 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

It is not just coming to Jesus and saying “heal me!”. It is about keeping his commandments and doing what pleases him. Let’s not forget his stringent requirements at the sermon at the mount. There are lots of blessings (beatitudes) offered for those that do and act rightly. Many just want a quick fix. We cry out “Jesus Save Me!” while never really repenting of our sins or for that matter the sins of a nation as did Isaiah.

The seraphim touched my mouth with a glowing coal and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for (Is. 6:7).

Isaiah realized he was a man of unclean (impure) lips and lived amongst people of unclean lips. We want our healing yet are we ready to say ‘woe is me’ before getting healed. Even the lepers had to confess their sins yet they had already suffered greatly. What a day and hour we live in when unclean lips seem to permeate society, even at the highest levels.

I am hoping the Lord hears your cries and moves upon your situation to bring healing, hope, and restoration. In the end it might be one thing blocking your healing or even a combination of things.