Chapter 1 lays the foundation for understanding Christian healing ministry as a continuation of Jesus's own ministry. Stephen Seamands emphasizes that healing was central to Jesus's work and insists that it must also be central to the Church’s mission today

In Chapter 2 of Follow the Healer, Stephen Seamands emphasizes that Jesus’s healing ministry flows from His deep love and compassion for people. Seamands highlights that healing is not just about demonstrating God’s power but is fundamentally an expression of God’s love, as shown in the story of Lazarus (John 11). Compassion is the driving force behind Jesus’s healings, and believers are called to imitate this love in their own healing ministries. Seamands encourages focusing on love, patience, and trust in God, especially when healing doesn't happen immediately.

Compassion is presented as the central force behind Jesus’s healing ministry. Seamands explores how Jesus’s compassion was not just an emotion but a deep, visceral response that led to action, such as the healing of the leper in Mark 1:40-41. He connects this to the believer’s call to minister with the same heart, suggesting that suffering can deepen our ability to offer true compassion to others. The chapter emphasizes that without compassion, healing ministry can lose its effectiveness and fail to reflect Christ’s love, urging believers to make compassion the driving force in all aspects of ministry.

Seamands shifts focus to the spiritual warfare that often accompanies healing ministry. He argues that healing involves battling against spiritual forces of evil, drawing on examples of Jesus casting out demons and healing those oppressed by evil spirits, as seen in Mark 1:23-27 and Luke 13:11-13. Healing is not just about physical restoration but also about spiritual liberation, where believers are called to exercise the authority of Christ in the face of evil. Seamands calls believers to recognize that healing is a cosmic battle where Christ’s victory brings freedom, wholeness, and healing.

Seamands highlights the relationship between healing and forgiveness in this chapter. He explains that sin and brokenness are often interconnected, and forgiveness can play a vital role in the healing process. Using examples such as the healing of the paralytic in Mark 2:1-12, where Jesus first forgives the man’s sins before healing him physically, Seamands underscores that the spiritual act of forgiveness can unlock physical and emotional healing. He encourages believers to recognize the importance of releasing bitterness and offering forgiveness as part of the holistic healing ministry that Jesus exemplified.

In this chapter, Seamands explores the concept of healing community, arguing that healing is not just an individual experience but also a communal one. He points to the early Church in Acts 2:42-47, where believers lived in deep fellowship, caring for one another’s physical and spiritual needs, creating an environment conducive to healing. Seamands urges modern churches to foster similar communities of love, support, and prayer, where people feel safe to share their wounds and experience healing together. The chapter emphasizes the importance of unity, vulnerability, and accountability within the Body of Christ as critical components of communal healing.

Seamands turns to the theme of perseverance in healing ministry, acknowledging that not all prayers for healing are answered immediately or in the ways we expect. He draws upon Jesus’s teachings on persistence in prayer, such as the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8), to encourage believers to continue praying for healing even when it takes time or appears uncertain. Seamands also reminds readers that ultimate healing is found in the resurrection, where all brokenness will be made whole. This chapter serves as an encouragement for believers to maintain faith, patience, and hope in the face of delayed or partial healing.

Seamands addresses the mystery of healing in Chapter 8, acknowledging that healing ministry often involves questions without clear answers. He discusses the reality that sometimes healing does not occur, even when faith is strong, and explores the tension between trusting God for miraculous intervention and accepting the limits of human understanding. Seamands draws on the experience of Job, who suffered despite his righteousness, and emphasizes that trust in God’s goodness must transcend our need for explanations. The chapter encourages believers to embrace the mystery of healing, resting in God’s sovereignty and love even when His ways remain unclear.