I love what the Slavic people of the Former Soviet Union call healing. They call it, "The Children's Bread". Sara and I have found that to be true in thirty-six years of our ministry there. Crumbs still fall off the table and touch the unregenerate and unsaved but in a very special way, God has called His people up to His table where provisions have been made through Christ and Calvary for our atoning and healing.
Isaiah in the 53 rd chapter, looking forward to the finished work of the Cross says prophetically that "By His stripes we are healed." Then Peter in his Epistles to the Churches looks back on the completed work of the Cross says, "By His stripes we were healed." God links our salvation with healing through a prophecy from the Psalmist David who declares in Psalms 103:2-3 "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases." NIV
The link between sickness and sin is a strong one; however, it is not the only door of entry the enemy has used to attack humanity. Let's look at several hindrances to healing and then let's examine God's answer to each of these situations.
In the 9th chapter of John, the disciples ask concerning the blind man, "Who sinned, either he or his parents?" Jesus answered, "Neither he nor his parents, but rather this sickness was to the glory of God." The disciples knew there were consequences to sin, one of which is the area of sickness. However, Jesus made clear that not every sickness is linked with sin. James tells us in his Epistle that when we are sick, we are to call for the elders of the Church to be anointed with oil and it further declares, "The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." James 5:15 KJV This shows our need to be part of a regular Church Body so its covering and eldership can be available to us in our time of affliction and failure.
Another major area of sickness is demonic assignment and assault against our person. We have an enemy, the devil who wages war against God's people; oftentimes manifesting himself in the area of sickness and disease against the people of God, their bodies, their mind and their resources. Acts 10:38, God declares, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil: "for God was with him." Christ tells us that He has given us as believers power over all the power of the enemy, that he should hurt us in no wise. So in these two categories alone, sin and Satan's attack, we as believers have total victory, each and every time because of the Blood Covenant of Calvary. By far the majority of the source of sickness primarily come in these two arenas.
Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthian Church speaks to a portion of the Church who have not been able to discern the Lord's Body and have partaken of the Lord's Table unworthily. He says, "For this cause shall a man examine himself," and tells us that many prematurely sleep or die and many are feeble and sick among God's people for their coming to His table unworthily. This is not the unpardonable sin but like every other sin and short-coming in our lives, it must be addressed by a broken, repentant heart and Spirit; confessed to our Heavenly Father, asking for His forgiveness and thus receiving His release which often manifests itself with the blessing of healing.
Another area of hindrance would be harboring ill will against a person or persons; in so doing, hindering our healing. God's answer is to humble ourselves and pray one for another and confess our failures and short-comings to each other that we may be healed. James 5:16 KJV. In that same vain Matthew says, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses." Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV The Word further amplifies that if we regard or hold sin in our heart, God will not hear us when we pray. It is in the forgiveness of others that we bring release to ourselves and to them; thus opening the heavens and giving God the opportunity to affect our healing. An unforgiving Spirit often is manifested with arthritis and the drying up of the bones. A forgiving Spirit is often punctuated by a joyous heart which is our strength. The Word says, "A merry heart does good like medicine But sorrow dries the bones." Proverbs 17: 22 NKJV
An additional area that I would like to address is the slandering of God's servants. There are many things that God will tolerate but there are some that bring swift retribution and reaction from God's judgement; that is the slandering of God's ministers and servants. The Bible tells us, a servant rises or falls before His Master and the Master is the final Judge concerning a servants faithfulness in His House. We are not to judge but rather pray one for the other. Miriam in Numbers, chapter 12: 1-15 learned that lesson the hard way. Through haughtiness and pride, she announces, "Hasn't God also spoken through us?" Then God asks Miriam and Aaron to draw closer and as they do so, immediately Miriam is stricken with leprosy. We see God's heart in Moses who immediately pleads for Miriam's healing. God's reply however, is "NO, put her outside the camp and let her bare her shame for seven days." On occasion God says "NO" to healing for a reason and for a season.
In the 15th chapter of Exodus we see a God who makes covenant with His people that none of the diseases that came upon Egypt will come upon His people if they obey His statues and His ordinances. In our obedience to the law of God, there comes a protective covering of grace. As we look at God's laws, we are finding vast wisdom in the 21st Century that we have not known until recent years. For example: throughout the wilderness wanderings, Israel was told to wash its instrumentation and utensils with running water. Running water is aerating as it hits stones in a brook and becomes the closest thing in nature to a natural disinfectant with properties like hydrogen peroxide.
Israel is told to bury and to burn their refuge outside of the camp. Had the residence of Europe in the Middle Ages heeded this commandment alone, they would not have had the 'Black Plague' that ravaged and killed entire communities and hundreds of thousands of people.
God calls certain animals and describes them as being clean or unclean and tells His people not to partake of the "Unclean". It is only in recent years we are finding the wisdom of God through these statues and ordinances. As we learn more, we find the wisdom of God manifested at every turning. Moses declared, "The life is in the blood." and how many of our fore-fathers were killed by ignorant medical practices when they were bled to death in an attempt to remove sickness from their bodies. Trichina worms from eating pork, toxins from shellfish and contaminated tissue from non-cud chewing animals, plus un-bled live-stock at the point of slaughter have been the source of sickness to generations. All the while, God says, He will cover and protect His people from the diseases, common to their day if we walk in obedience to His Word.
Sickness never comes from God but comes through our fallen nature, a fallen earth and through Satan's attack. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of Light in Whom there is no variable or shadow of turning. However, God can even use the things that the devil means for evil against us and turn them into our eternal good. So when we are sick and when we are afflicted, cast all our cares on the Lord Jesus Christ for He cares for us. We call out in mercy, God responds in grace, either "YES", "NO" OR "WAIT AWHILE" until His work is complete in us and His glory is seen through us.
One of the Names of our God is "JEHOVAH RAFAH", meaning, "I AM THE LORD YOUR HEALER". True healing comes from heaven and the hand of our Lord Jesus Christ and are meant to be a testimony to a far greater eternal truth. God is our ONLY Salvation, our Healer and our Help in time of need. The greater truth is, God cares for your body but is more concerned for your eternal soul. He is the source alone for our Salvation, our healing and our health. Trusting Him and His Word in faith believing makes us candidates for Christ's divine intervention and the receiving of Jesus' miraculous mercies.
by: Richard Michalski
President/Founder of Impact Ministries International
