"If I had stronger faith, my asthma would be healed and I wouldn't need my inhaler."
How it sounds in your head: Some kids at church camp got prayed for and were healed instantly. I got prayed for too, but I still wheeze without my inhaler. Maybe there's secret sin in my life blocking my healing, or I don't believe hard enough.
"And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
-- 2 Corinthians 12:9Word-of-Faith extremism that makes healing dependent on the sick person's faith level rather than God's sovereign grace.
He's witnessed or heard about dramatic instant healings while his own condition persists. The inhaler in his pocket feels like a daily scoreboard of his faith's inadequacy.
Paul had a 'thorn in the flesh' (likely a physical condition) that God refused to remove despite Paul's requests. God didn't heal it, not because Paul lacked faith, but because His grace was SUFFICIENT and His strength perfected in Paul's weakness.
I REFUSE the lie that my inhaler means weak faith! IT IS WRITTEN that Paul - who raised the DEAD - lived with an unhealed condition because God's grace was SUFFICIENT. God's strength is made PERFECT in my weakness, not in my perfect health! My asthma doesn't block the BARAK blessing any more than Paul's thorn blocked his apostleship. IT IS WRITTEN there is NO condemnation in Christ. Whether God heals me instantly or provides an inhaler, BOTH are His grace! I am fully loved, fully blessed, fully HIS - inhaler in pocket and all!
Your Father isn't withholding healing to punish weak faith. He's the One who gave medical researchers the knowledge to CREATE your inhaler as a gift of His provision, just as surely as He could speak instant healing - both flow from the same loving hand.