5 thoughts on healing

Psalm 103:3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

God is sovereign. He heals. He doesn't heal. When He heals, He heals anyway He chooses. God cannot be fit into someone's theological healing box.

God heals by "means,"* using doctors and medicine. 
At times doctors and/or medicine do not heal. Anytime doctors and/or medicine heals someone, it is God healing. Notice the following texts.
Matthew 9:12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
Jeremiah 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
Isaiah 38:21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.
1 Timothy 5:23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.
Luke himself was a physician, and it doesn't seem that he gave up his practice just because he became a believer.
The Bible speaks both positively and negatively toward doctors and medicine. We are not condemned for using doctors, but we should not put our trust in doctors. Our trust should be in God. We should not use doctors and medicine as an alternative to God. King Asa of Judah sought only the physicians and not God. He was condemned for that (Cf. 2 Chronicles 16:12).

God heals by "means" that are not "medical". (e.g. mud & spit, anointing, prayer)
   God heals in answer to prayer. Genesis 20:17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. James 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
   God uses water to heal. 2 Kings 5:14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
   God uses anointing to heal. James 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
   God uses mud of clay and spit to heal. John 9:6-7 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
On numerous occasions, for reasons unknown to us and for His sovereign purpose, God has chosen to heal using means that are not medical in nature. Any means he chooses is at His disposal.

God heals by no means at all. 
God speaks and it is done.
Matthew 8:8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
John 4:52-53 Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.  So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth...
John 11:43-44 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth...
While Scripture demonstrates that God has and does use "means" when healing mankind of the his diseases and afflictions, it also demonstrates that God heals by no means at all. He speaks and it is done. He can wills and it is done. Though He may choose to do so, an omnipotent God requires nothing beyond Himself to accomplish His will.

God does not heal. 
As God chooses divinely to heal. He also chooses not to heal.
2 Kings 13:14 Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died.
2 Timothy 4:20 ...Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.
Is healing in the atonement? Yes, if we understand that correctly. But it does not mean, as some suggest, that all one has to do is "claim" their healing, or have enough faith. The Branches of the Vine Ministries web site tells us "that physical healing is part of the atonement paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ, and that it is always God’s will to heal every person and in every case." Tom Brown states, "Healing is part of man's redemption in Christ; therefore it belongs to every believer." Tell that to the prophet Elisha, who was "sick with the sickness whereof he died." Tell that to Paul, who asked the Lord three times to remove his thorn in the flesh. A full reading of the whole Bible shows us beyond the shadow of doubt that it is not always God's will to heal every person in every case. In fact...

God makes some sick.
The power of disease and healing is completely in God's hands. Not only can He heal, but He also can make sick. He "kills and makes alive." All power is in His hands.
Micah 6:13 Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.
John 11:3-4 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
Deuteronomy 28:27 The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
Acts 12:23 And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.

Conclusion. 
There is no "God in a box" -- no "one size fits all" theology of healing. God heals as He pleases. Disease and death are part of the human condition. This will continue to be until we receive the ultimate healing of the atonement -- our resurrection bodies that are immortal and incorruptible (1 Corinthians 15:52-54).

* Means is a human action (surgery, prayer) or natural element (medicine, diet, spit) than God operates through in the accomplishing of His will. This is opposed to the direct operation of God in which no means is used.