Dear friend, I pray that in every way you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul is prospering. 3 John 2 MOUNCE
Healing and health in this life can be a controversial issue, especially when it comes to God's role and will concerning health. Ask the average Christian about healing and the answers will differ greatly. Some regulate healing to only the "Bible days." Other Christians and even ministers believe prayer for healing is generally acceptable but to believe God will actually answer that prayer with tangible results is fanaticism and extremism.
What is God's view of healing? One need look no further than the life and ministry and redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Healing was always part and parcel of Jesus' work on earth.
The religious tradition of man only sees Jesus' healing power as a means to attest to and prove His identity as the promised Messiah. They relegate His healing ministry to only the time of His earthly walk. They fail to see His true motive behind healing. Jesus healed to reveal His Father's, endless Love. Throughout the Gospels, we see it recorded Jesus was moved with compassion and healed the sick. What's changed? Is Jesus any less compassionate? Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever, Jesus is still moved with compassion to heal you!
Let's look again at Luke's Gospel, the 13th chapter. We see a powerful truth concerning healing and a revealing answer as to where sickness comes from. Look again at Jesus' words;
So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” Luke 13:16 NKJV
Where do sickness and disease come from? Who is its author? Jesus gives us the complete answer but its application is two-fold.
Jesus reveals to us the author of sickness and disease is satan himself. Jesus didn't mince words. He didn't hesitate to uncover the work of the enemy.
Notice here in Luke 13, Jesus didn't assign this crippling condition as the handiwork of God. He didn't declare this ailment was God's design to lead this woman into a place of humility, deeper trust, becoming a better witness for the Lord, to develop her character, and bring her to a better place of piety. Jesus identified the ailment as incapacitating bondage and the culprit as the devil.
The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows]. John 10:10 AMP
Jesus came to heal and make whole. The enemy, the thief, came to steal and kill and destroy. Anything in your life that is stealing, that is killing, that is destroying is the work of satan and not the work of God.
The religious tradition of man assigns sickness to the work of God and satan. They are very disingenuous and highly crafty and deceptive when they speak of sickness being the work of God.
One notorious proponent of mischaracterizing God in order to discredit any ministry, minister, or believer who promotes divine healing cited King Uzziah as a proof text that God makes people sick according to His sovereignty. Any honest simple check of Scripture can see how that is a subversion of Scripture. Even secular sources agree.
Uzziah, abiding under the Old Covenant, brought the curse upon himself by disobeying and disregarding clear instructions God had detailed about offering incense. This brings us to the second application of how satan afflicts. There exists a curse on this earth.
If we go back to the beginning, we see when man fell, so did creation. Because of the fall, this planet is a fallen and fractured creation. When God declared the ground was cursed for Adam's sake it wasn't that God brought this curse or created it. God was revealing that because of sin, the result is a fallen and fractured creation.
Who tempted Adam? It wasn't God. It was the enemy. So in essence the enemy indirectly is the author of the fall. Why do we see disasters, droughts, desolation, or devastation on earth? Why do we see dejection, despair, depression, discouragement, distress, or downheartedness among us? We see all these terrible things because we live in a cursed, fallen creation.
Be it satan's work indirectly through a fallen creation, or his demonic hand of oppression, sickness, and disease all have their origins with satan. This doesn't mean we are proverbial sitting ducks living on this earth. It doesn't mean we can do nothing but sit and suffer.
Jesus wore the crown of thorns for us in His Finished Work. Thorns are representative of the curse. Jesus bore the curse for us. Because of this, we can resist the work of the enemy in our life.
We don't have to earn our redemption. We don't have to struggle and strive to get our Father's attention. We don't have to perform well enough to receive His Goodness and Love. It is by Grace through Faith we receive redemption.
If sickness and disease strike, know it's not the work or will of God for you. Stand strong in the Finished Work of Christ and your perfect right standing with God. Because of the blood you are accepted and approved by God. Trust Him knowing all your sins are forgiven and cleansed once for all time.
In your Righteousness, put a demand on the supply of healing that Redemption procured for you. Feed on God's Word concerning healing. Speak out His promises, speak to that mountain of sickness to be removed, speak to the enemy and order him to flee, speak forth, commanding that sickness to leave your body. Partake of holy communion and remember Jesus' perfect work, it's the meal that heals.
In summation, know who God is, always good and always for you. Know God's will for you, healing and wholeness. Know who the author of evil and sickness and disease is, the enemy satan, never our Father. Put your complete trust in Him. God is a Good God and the enemy, who is defeated, is a bad devil.
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