A Thorn in the Flesh, or not Abiding in the Vine?

I have been thinking about healing, specifically whether God wants to heal on all occasions. There are very many verses that tell us about God's desire to heal. Here are a few examples, but there are hundreds more:

Exodus 23:25-26 (New International Version)

25 Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.

Deuteronomy 7:14-15 (New International Version)

14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. 15 The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.

Psalm 103:2-3 (New International Version)

2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,

Furthermore, we know that Christ has taken away our sickness through His death:

Isaiah 53:4a (New International Version)

4a Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows

John 8:36 (New International Version)

36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

(Surely this includes freedom from sickness).

John 10:10b (New International Version)

10b I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

(Can one live a completely full life while under the burden of sickness?)

We also know that healing was a very central part of Jesus' ministry.

Acts 10:38 (New International Version)

38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

He also empowers and calls us to heal in His name:

Matthew 10:1,7-8

1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

7 As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

So this is all good, but we always don't see it. We see some miraculous healing, and we praise God for those. We also see natural healing and praise God for those. However, we don't always see healing take place. I think that it is important to understand why we don't always see healing (not within the time frame that we would like, anyway). I can think of two explanations:

1. God is using the illness to build the faith or the character of the affected individual, or that of other people, or He is waiting for an opportune time to display His glory (as in the below verses).
   

   John 9:1-3 (New International Version)
   
   1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
   
   3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

   
   Both Paul and Timothy had physical aliments; Paul had poor eyesight (Galatians 4:15, 6:11) and Timothy had "frequent illnesses" (1 Timothy 5:23). Paul even had persistent demonic oppression (how else do we interpret "a messenger of Satan"?) in order to mature his character.
   

   2 Corinthians 12:7 (New International Version)
   
   7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.



2. There is something blocking God from working His healing. Possible blocks may be:
    
   
   (i) Persistent, unrepented sin. This doesn't include the times when we slip-up and are sorry about, or those areas of weakness in our life that we're working through with the Lord, but continued, willful disobedience. I do not believe that repented sin is a block, because as believers we have inherited Christ's righteousness and are free from the curse of sin.
    
   
   (ii) Lack of faith:
   

   Matthew 13:58 (New International Version)
   
   58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

   
   (iii) We do not have an intimate enough relationship with our Lord:
   

   John 15:4-5 (New International Version)
   4 "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

   
   (iv) We are not proclaiming the Gospel enough. A study of the healings in the New Testament show that healing almost always accompanies preaching of the Kingdom.
   

I must admit that I swing between these two opinions a little. Maybe they are both true, depending on the individual case. I would like to believe the second reason, because that means healing is available for everyone, even in this world. However, I see very faithful Christians who seem to have a very intimate relationship with Jesus, but who remain in terrible sickness. Could it be that they don't have faith enough to see their own healing? I am very reluctant to accuse other Christians of lacking faith (I know how hurtful that can be). At this point, I am leaning to the idea that we don't see healing because the Gospel isn't preached often enough and boldly enough. At healing meetings, the sermons invariable contain at least some evangelistic message.

This is an area in which I eagerly desire to gain more understanding. Please pray for insight and share what the Holy Spirit reveals to you.

Yours in Christ,
Waz