Doubting Thomas
An Excerpt from Proximity: Jehovah Rapha by Jermaine Coore
4 Doubting Thomas
An excerpt from chapter four of Jermaine’s book Proximity: Jehovah Rapha. More details about the book, including how to purchase, are at the end.
We are a spirit encased in or enclosed in a body. While we are accustomed to experiencing things on a natural level, the reality is that our predominant way of living is a spiritual experience. In Genesis 1, God created the spirit of man and the spirit of woman, or the spirit of male and the spirit of female (Genesis 1:26-28). At the beginning of Genesis 2, he gave the male a body (Genesis 2:7), and near the end of the chapter, he gave the female a body (Genesis 2:21-22). This order of events details the layers of our earthly experience. This chapter will focus on the doubt that stems from natural facets of our earthly experience.
While an increase in faith immediately offsets and neutralizes any agenda of doubt, having an accurate calibration of the weight of spiritual mechanisms compared to natural mechanisms in your life will enable one to perceive transactions occurring between Heaven and Earth and hold on to them.
We must realize that it is not what we experience on the natural level that determines, verifies, or informs what happens to us spiritually, but it is the opposite. What we experience spiritually dictates what we experience naturally in our natural man.
Thomas was not around when Jesus presented Himself to the disciples after His resurrection; Thomas only heard of Jesus’s return. Because he only heard of Jesus’s return, he doubted. He said, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).
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Thomas delegated the reality of the resurrection to his ability to see and feel it. Thomas was in this state for eight days. Jesus reappeared to the disciples and instructed Thomas to examine His body, feel the places where He had been pierced, and confirm the areas where He’d been stabbed. It wasn’t until Thomas could see and feel Jesus’ body naturally for himself that Thomas received the revelation that Jesus Christ, indeed, was the resurrection. Jesus responded, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
Jesus, being man and God, and being fully aware of what takes priority over the other, understood Thomas’s doubt but also noted that those who could believe despite not seeing or feeling naturally as Thomas did were blessed because of it. This blessing is what stands at the crux of receiving deliverance and healing, but still having signs or flares of bondage and pain in the body.
Jesus is aware that for some of us, it will require us to see the healing and deliverance or feel it before we believe. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses…” (Hebrews 4:15a). Because he’s not consumed with the outward appearance but looks at the heart, most of the building blocks or catalysts to receiving healing and deliverance or facilitating it ride on one’s belief, despite their experience.
But why are there still remnants of bondage and pain after receiving deliverance and healing? Sometimes it takes a moment or a season or two for your natural man to catch up to your spirit man. We understand this more in terms of revelation.
We come into an awareness of a profound principle, or the awareness of now knowing a thing, but also have to grapple with it because of what we previously knew before that moment. It sometimes takes a while for the revelation of a thing to overhaul, outrank, or take priority over things you may have previously known that contradicted it. So too, it is, as you experience healing and deliverance.
About the Book
Proximity: Jehovah Rapha is a powerful exploration of what it means to live close to a God who heals. Drawing from Scripture, theology, and practical wisdom, Jermaine Coore guides readers into the “secret place” described in Psalm 91 — where God’s presence brings healing, deliverance, and transformation.
This book dismantles misconceptions about sickness and sin, addresses the role of faith in receiving miracles, and challenges the spirit of doubt with the hope of Christ. Each chapter unpacks key biblical principles:
The Secret Place — cultivating intimacy with God as the foundation of healing.
Who Sinned? — shifting from blame and condemnation to grace and belief.
Received by Faith — learning how faith activates and sustains healing and deliverance.
Doubting Thomas — overcoming skepticism and choosing to believe.
More than a study, this is a discipleship companion — equipping believers to walk in wholeness and become conduits of healing for others. Whether you are seeking personal breakthrough or longing to minister God’s power to a hurting world, Proximity: Jehovah Rapha will inspire, equip, and call you deeper into the presence of the One who heals by diving into the lived reality of believers summoned to a continual encounter with a God deeply committed to healing them and willing to heal those in their vicinity through them.
About the Author
Jermaine Coore is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary and author of Proximity: Jehovah Rapha. Jermaine’s earliest recollection of healing and deliverance can be traced back to a small Pentecostal storefront church in New Brunswick, New Jersey. From there, his exploration of the topic traversed denominations, non-church like settings, and various modes of intercession, such as movies, music, and literature.
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