Healing and Health

We have seen from my two previous messages that as far as God is concerned when Jesus died on the cross He has provided mankind with salvation and healing. If you are not sure read 1 Peter 2:24 again. Because of this fact it is not appropriate for Christians to ask God to heal anyone. And if you are sick you don't ask God to heal you. The only thing you need to do is to receive it, thank Him, praise Him and walk in the healing you have received from God even in the midst of your symptoms of sickness, pain and discomfort. If you think it is not easy or impossible then read on.

Prerequisite for healing

In order to receive your healing you need to do three basic things:

1. You must hear the Word of God.

2. You must release your faith in God's Word and not your faith in your symptoms, not in your circumstances or in the words of your spouse, your friends or your fellow believers.

3. You must believe and trust the truth of God's Word. You must believe His Word whole heartedly in spite of what your symptoms tell you. You must believe that God cares about you whether you feel Him near you or not. God is omnipresent; He is everywhere and He covers everything.

The Bible says, "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those heart is loyal to Him" (2 Chron. 16:9).

Biblical facts concernign sickness, disease and healing

The following is a list of Biblical facts about sickness, disease and healing. Some I have already mentioned in my previous messages:

1. Sickness does not come from God and He does not send sickness upon anyone. It is possible that someone close to you is a faithful and lovely Christian, recently got sick and died of a horribel disease. You can be sure God did not put it on him or her. God does not specialize in making people sick. Sickness or disease does not come from heaven because there is no evil in heaven. If sickness comes from heaven then God must be the source of it. No, God is the source of healing and not sickness. The devil is the source of sickness and disease.

2. God permits sickness but He does not ordain sickness. Sometimes God allows sickness to come as a result of man's sin, rebellion, disobedient to God's Word or lack of knowledge of God's Word. Sometimes He allows sickness to come to humble us - like Paul's thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7).

3. God said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you" (Ex. 15:26, NKJV).

Obedient to God's Word will keep you from sickness - He will not permit the devil to come near you. God will build a hedge around you as long as you do what the Bible says. In other words, health comes from following His Word!

4. Just as faith comes by hearing God's Word sickness comes by hearing the devil's words. Sickness comes from the devil and so if you open the door for the devil sickness will come. So the choice is yours - You can either choose to hear and obey God's Word or choose to hear and obey the words of the devil.

5. God sent both His written Word and His Living Word unto us. The written Word reminds us of the Living Word Jesus Christ (John 1:14). Therefore when we confess Christ we confess His Word.

Jesus said, "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 10:32).

The right confession of His Word is very important in the sight of God. If we confess the things of God we'll possess the things of God and if we confess the things of the devil we'll possess the things of the devil (sickness and disease).

That is the reason why God said through Isaiah, "And the inhabitant will not say, 'I am sick'" (Isaiah 33:24).

Some God's people are so possessive that you often hear them say: "I have a headache". In other words, they are saying: "This headache is mine". Well, if this headache is yours you can keep it and why would God take what is yours away from you?


6. If I can't say "I am sick" then what should say? Well, say what Peter said, "... by whose stripes you were healed".

But what if I have the symptoms? Am I going to lie about it? No, you don't lie about symptoms because symptoms are real and the devil is also real! You should ask yourself - Who is more real, your symptoms or God? If God is more real then why do you major on the minor? If you feel all the pain in your body then you should get rid of it. How do you get rid of it? You should push the Word in and push the devil out!


Matthew said, "... that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 'He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses'" (Matt. 8:17).

Now, if He took our infirmities then we don't have it and if you take it then He doesn't have it. It is either you are set free or you are still in the bondage of sicknesses.

Jesus said, "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).

The Lord's Prayer says, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10).

If God's will is truly done on earth as it is in heaven then we should be free from any sickness or disease.

The word "disease" means exactly what it says - "dis-ease" or "no ease" or "no comfort". If we have disease then we are being tormented. But the Comforter (Holy Spirit) has come to set us free.

7. God's healing is not faith healing. God's healing is supernatural but the so-called faith healing is not of God. Your faith can't heal you but your faith in God's Word will heal you! See the difference? you are likely to find many "faith" people even in the Christian Church. These people like to generate faith in themselves by saying, "By faith I'm not sick" or "By faith I have no fever". What if someone says to you: "If you don't have a fever how come you are burning up"?

When the symptom is there you must recognize it or otherwise you are found lying. The symptom is put there by the devil to attack and torment your body. But knowing who you are and knowing what you are, you can speak the Word of God even if you don't feel like it. Ask yourself - which is greater, your pain or the Word of God? One thing about the devil is he is persistent and he will not quit; you have to punch him out with the Word of God.

8. Paul said, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which is God's" (1 Cor. 6:19, 20, emphasis added).

If your body is in pain with sickness and disease are you glorifying God with your body and spirit? Furthermore, if you are sick with pain you simply can't claim your body is truly the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is an insult to God to say that! Your body can't be the temple of the Holy Spirit and the house of the devil at the same time. Never listen to the lies of the devil.

Yes, it is difficult to praise God when you are in pain. But you must not stop praising God. The Bible says: Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). The devil can't come betwee you and God because the One between you and God is Jesus Christ!

God's recipe for health

God has recipes for many things. God has a recipe for manna. He created manna to feed His people in the wilderness. God has a recipe for milk and honey. He also has a recipe for new wine. When Jesus turned water into wine He used the kind of recipe thaken from the natural and made it into supernatural. And because He has recipes for all these things He must have a recipe for health as well. My Bible says He has!

God's Word is His recipe for health

God is speaking to believers because non-believers will not read His Word:

"My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh" (Proverbs 4:20 - 22, NKJV, emphasis added).

Notice that life and health go together; when you have health you have life and when you have life you have health. In fact life and health are two things all men seek after above everything else, even money. How are you going to use your money if you are sick and diseased?

Jesus said, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).

Note the contrast here: The devil comes to steal your life by killing and destroying you with sickness and disease but Jesus comes to give you abundant life! The abundant life that Jesus speaks about is a life without sickness and disease.

John said, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and in health, just as your soul prospers" (3 John 2).

Surely John was spreaking about true prosperity and abundant life!

Let us study this passage of Proverbs phrase by phrase:

1. "Give attention to my words". The primary key to receiving healing from God is hearing.

Jesus said, "Take heed what you hear" (Mark 4:24). He also said, "Take heed how you hear" (Luke 8:18). Putting the two together, it is what we listen to and how we listen to it that counts. We must listen to His Word (not the devil's words) attentively.

Notice what Jesus said is totally in line with what Exodus 15:26 says concerning the healing power of God's Word.

2. "Incline your ear to my sayings". To incline is to bend down and in order to incline your ear you have to incline your head. It is an attitude of humility and meekness in receiving His Word.

James said, "... and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:21).

3. "Do not let them depart from your eyes". The word "them" refers to God's words and God's sayings. The key thought in this command of God is "focus". Lack of focus gives rise to distraction - especially by unbelief and the devil's sayings.

Jesus said, "The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, the whole body also is full of light; but when thene eye is evil, they body also is full of darkness" (Luke 11:34, KJV, emphasis added).

Here Jesus was dealing with the way we use our eyes. The phrase, "When thine eye is single" means we need to form a single image or focus. When we focus only on Jesus the result will be manifested in the whole body: "Thy whole body also is full of light".

I believe if your body is full of light it does not have room for sickness and disease. Sickness is from darkness but health is from light:

Prophet Malachi said, "But you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings" (Mal 4:2, NKJV).

The "Sun of Righteousness" speaks of Christ. If you fear the Lord, Christ will arise in you with with righteousness of God and healing of God. And a condition for healing and health is to fear God! A Christian who does not fear God will not get healed and enjoy good health!

4. "Keep them in the midst of your heart". God's Word is spirit and it must be taken in the midst of your heart where your spirit is.

If your doctor give you some medication for your ailment it will not do you any good unless you swallow the medicine regularly. Similarly, you can be a good born-again tongue-speaking Christian, go to Church regularly and listen to anointed sermons. But if you don't get the Word of God inside your spirit it will not do you any good and you are not going to get healed if you are sick.

Conclusion

If you have followed all the above steps, His Word will keep you healthy and will give you life (Proverbs 4:22).

God's recipe for health works for me and I believe it will work equally well for any Christian who believes.

Every Christian should have a sign following him:

Jesus said, "These signs will follow those who believe" (Mark 16;17). What you believe is what is going to follow you. If you believe the healing power of His Word the sign following you will be good health.