darlene@christianmagazine.org

Healing: Part I

Are you sick? If so, God doesn’t want you to be sick. God doesn’t want anyone to be sick. I don’t care what the devil says or what other people tell you; our Heavenly Father is not a cruel God that withholds healing from His Children. I know there are many skeptics out there that believe God picks and chooses who He will heal. That it isn’t His Will to heal everyone thus He allows many to continue to suffer.

They think this because many of our brothers and sisters in the Lord are sick and suffering, and many have died. Although this may be true, we simply can not base our faith on what we see going on around us, we must base our faith on the Word of God. Remember when Jesus was walking on the water and he bid Peter to come to him. Peter started out walking on the water too, however he began to sank when he took his eyes off Jesus and started looking at what was going on around him. We must keep our eyes on Jesus. (Matthew 14:29-31)

If you’re sick, God wants to heal you. He sent His Son to take the stripes on His back for your healing. (1^st Peter 2:24) Yes, your healing. Your healing has been bought and paid for by Jesus Christ, so now all you have to do is reach out and receive it by faith. For example, let’s say you place an order for a product of some kind. After your order is processed, it is then packaged and shipped to you. When your package arrives, it is delivered to your door by your mail carrier. When your doorbell rings it is then up to you to open the door and reach out and take that package. God ordered healing and Jesus paid for it. All you have to do is open your spiritual door—so to speak—reach out and take your healing by faith.

If you have sickness in your body, if you are able, why don’t you rise up and as an act of faith go to your front door, open it and say, Jesus, I receive my healing. It has been bought and paid for, delivered to me, and now I receive it by faith.

You may think this sounds crazy, but when we do our part in the natural realm, God will do His part in the supernatural realm.

We read in St. John 9:6-7 where Jesus spat on the ground and made clay of spittle. He then anointed a blind man’s eyes with it. Those standing by—his disciple’s and anyone else that may have been there—must have thought that Jesus was crazy for making mud from His own spit. And, they probably thought the blind man was just as crazy for allowing Jesus to rub the mud in his eyes. And it must have sounded even crazier to them when they heard Jesus tell the blind man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. I don’t know how much water was in the pool of Siloam at that time, but who would tell a blind man to go and wash in a pool? A blind man could fall in, you know, and drown. Nevertheless, no matter how crazy it all may have seemed, the blind man did as he was told and he received his sight. Jesus used natural means to bring about supernatural healing.

Do what you physically can in the natural, to activate the Word of God in your life. If you’re bedfast but you can still talk, then speak the Word of God into your situation. Maybe you’re not bedfast but you are in a wheelchair, if so, then get those wheels rolling. Take a ride through your house praising God for deliverance and for the day when you will rise up out of that wheelchair and walk! Do something to activate your faith. If you can do nothing more than whisper one healing scripture a day. Do it! On the other hand, if you can’t utter a word, think and mediate on the things of God. Be creative, you can do something. If you can move only one finger up and down, then do that! Don’t just lie there, do something!

God wants to heal you. God would have never allowed His Son to go through all the pain and humiliation He went through if He wasn’t going to follow through with His Plan of Salvation—which includes healing and deliverance.

God’s healthcare plan provides healing for everyone. However, I will concede to the fact that although healing has been provided for everyone, not everyone is healed. This could be because of a number of hindrances such as, lack of faith, sin, disobedience, attacks of the devil, just to name a few. Whatever the hindrance, it must be dealt with before healing can occur. If you’re a born again Child of God and aren’t getting well, ask God to show you what the hindrance is. Maybe you’re holding unforgiveness in your heart towards someone. Or, perhaps you’re hanging on to something that God wants you to let go of. Whatever the hindrance, it can be resolved with a little help from the Lord.

To those of you who are not saved, you need to give your heart to Jesus so you can start receiving the benefits of God’s healthcare plan. Psalm 103:2-3 says,

And 1^st Peter 2:24,

Don’t be misled by the negative religious campaigns going on against healing. Don’t believe those that teach healing isn’t for today. That God allows people to suffer for His glory. God doesn’t receive glory from watching people suffer, He receives glory when they are healed by His power. Allowing His Children to suffer would only suggest that God is weak in power, or that He is a neglectful, abusive parent.

And, don’t believe the negative campaigners when they use the suffering of Job and Paul’s thorn in the flesh as examples to justify their message of doom and gloom. Read the Word for yourself. When you do, you’ll find that God is a good God and One that is more than ready to heal you.

No doubt you’ve heard messages preached that God wants us to suffer. Most of them refer to Job when preaching their message of suffering. However, the Book of Job was written long before Jesus came and destroyed the works of the devil. (1^st John 3:8). God has now provided us with a new and better covenant through the shed Blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 12:24). For God to allow satan to attack us now would be in strict violation of the new covenant He, Himself, set in motion. Is He going to do that? No.

So, let’s get with the new program, shall we? God is not going to send His Son to take the stripes on His back to provide healing for us only to turn around and give the devil permission to come and take it away. Jesus said in St. John 10:10,

God sent Jesus to destroy the works of the devil and to provide us with abundant life. Jesus rendered the devil powerless against those of us who believe.

Rest assured, God is not going to reinstate the devil’s power just so he can come after you.

Now you may say, oh but what about Paul’s thorn in the flesh? Wasn’t that a sickness? God never healed Paul. Well, let’s talk about that. When we read 2^nd Corinthians 12: 7-10 we do learn that something was definitely going on in Paul’s life. However, Paul makes it clear in verse 7 that sickness wasn’t the issue. Paul said about midway of that verse, "There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of satan to buffet me." Paul identifies his thorn as being the messenger of satan. He didn’t say there was given to me a sickness to buffet me, he said, there was given to me the messenger of satan to buffet me.

Paul’s thorn was nothing more than the devil following him around and causing him trouble. It was not a sickness that God allowed in his life. God is not a cruel God and would never withhold any good thing from His Children. So, if Paul’s thorn had been a sickness, I believe God would have healed him. Psalm 84:11 says,

Also, I want to mention something Andrew Wommack wrote in one of his articles. He said, and I quote,

In closing, I want to simply caution you to be careful not to allow anyone, or anything, hinder you from receiving your healing. Take care of any issues that may be stopping you from receiving. You may have a life threatening illness but God can heal you if you have faith in Him. "…With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)

Copyright 2008 by Darlene Osborne