Are You Sick & in Pain? – Part 4
Have hope! Your healing is done and paid for already!
There is perhaps only one occasion in the New Testament when the Lord Jesus requested the Father or pleaded with Him to do something in prayer. That was in the garden of Gethsemane when he said, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.” (Luk 22:42). He was pleading with the Father to take away the suffering if it was His will. He clearly knew the Father’s will, yet He pleaded with Him to spare Him if possible, knowing the intensity of the pain, both physical and spiritual. In all the other instances in the Scriptures, when He ‘prayed,’ in the context of healings and miracles, He either commanded, touched or laid His hands, gave God’s counsel, or simply blessed in faith, and the work was done. There are a few important things that we can learn from this passage.
First, it is important to know if it is God’s will, to heal us today. Why is this important? It was the Father’s will that His Son should suffer and die for us, and therefore it had to be fulfilled. But is it the Father’s will that we suffer sickness and disease still? If it is still the Father’s will, then why did Jesus take the stripes on His body? This is critical because many in the church still pray as if God’s will is not clear to them. Therefore, they often pray prayers like, “Father, if it is your will, please heal so and so.” We must simply believe, based on the Scriptures, that it is the Father’s will to heal us today. Has not the Son of God demonstrated it well enough throughout His ministry? He healed all who came to Him for healing, without exception. It is essential for us to believe this truth because then we will begin to pray with total faith according to the will of God. Those who do not believe that it is God’s will to heal today, should not expect to receive divine healing from Him. (Jam 1:6-7).
By the way, if it is not God’s will to heal us, why would we eagerly go to the best doctor we can find to seek help. Do we want to go against the will of God and pick a fight with Him? If that is what you believe, you must remember what the Son of God said: “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Act 9:5). Is it not simply better to suffer the sickness and its consequences if it is God’s will?
Second, it is the Father’s will to heal us so much that He required His only begotten Son to suffer and die for us so that we may be saved. That leads us to the word saved in Greek, ‘Sozo,’ the meaning of which is very important for us to understand. It has multiple meanings, which include save (from which comes salvation) as we traditionally understand it, and in addition, it means to make whole, heal, deliver, protect, preserve, and so forth. God’s saving is not just taking us to heaven after we die; it also includes making us whole while we are in this world and empowering us to live in it untainted by sin and its corruption.
A little while before the Lord Jesus was arrested, he prayed, “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine name those whom thou hast given Me…” (Joh 17:11). Continuing the same prayer, He said, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” (Joh 17:15). This is one of the reasons why He has given us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to abide with us forever. It is to help us live in this sin-saturated world without being tainted by its evil. Also remember that it is now, in this sin-corrupted world, that we need healing, deliverance, protection, and wholeness, for we will not need it in heaven for sin and corruption do not exist there.
Third, the way in which most of us pray. As I mentioned earlier, the Lord Jesus prayed a pleading prayer only once in the entire New Testament. There are several instances when the Lord went by Himself and prayed to the Father, and He may have prayed prayers just as He taught His disciples (Mat 6:9-13). But in the context of working healings and miracles, He never did that. He always commanded, touched or laid His hands, gave God’s counsel, or simply blessed, and the work was done. I am not saying that we should not cry out to our Father or bring our supplications to Him. We can and should, but in the case of ministering healing and deliverance, we need to follow what the Lord Jesus has shown us.
Fast forward a little. Let’s look the way the Apostles ministered. We cannot see the Apostles praying pleading prayers for the sake of healing, deliverance, or miracles, but they faithfully and consistently did what their Master taught them. They too commanded, touched or laid their hands, gave God’s counsel, or simply blessed. Even their mere presence was enough for the miraculous power of God to be manifested (Act 5:12-16). (Please check the instances in the book, The Acts of the Apostles. Act 3:1-10, Act 9:17-18, Act 9:32-34, Act 9:40-41, Act 14:8-10, Act 16:16-18, Act 19:11-12, Act 20:10-12, Act 28:1-6.) This is the simple truth according to the word of God, and yet often we refuse to believe it.
What we pray and how we pray expresses what we believe. Every time the Lord Jesus healed a person, cast out demons, or did a miracle, he did not plead with the Father, but He just was, and spoke as who He was, the Son of God, who had authority over all things. God calls us to be like His Son (Eph 4:13, 15). We should learn and remember something very important from this because, in Christ, today, we are the children of God. When we truly believe this truth, we will stop pleading with the Father and begin to emulate the Son of God to be like Him in every way. Father doesn’t have to respond to our pleading, for He has already made a way for our healing and has given us the power to appropriate it, all through His Son, Jesus Christ. He expects us to grow up and be mature like His Son.
In Christ we have His authority and power because He has given them to us. Remember who we are.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Rom 8:14-17).
So we too need to learn to be like Him and walk like He walked in His power and authority. We are seated with Christ (in Him) in the heavenly places at the right hand of the Father, far above all principality, power, might, and dominion. (Eph 1:19-21, Eph2:4-6). Which means that we ought to think with His mindset (1 Cor 2:16) and enforce the victory of Christ by commanding the devil and his demons, who puts sickness on us, to get out of us just as He did. We must command, not plead or request, sickness and pain to go out with total faith in the name of Jesus. Does it sound scandalous and blasphemous? Remember that He has given us His power and authority to walk this earth as He walked. Scripture commands us to do so (1Joh 2:6).
We must minister healing to our body by speaking life to it and commanding it to be healed, trusting the Holy Spirit to move and glorify the name of Jesus (Joh 16:14), because that is His job. As we lay hands on the sick, rivers of living water, the Holy Spirit will flow from us (Joh 7:38) and will heal, deliver, make whole, and give life where needed. When we have obeyed the Lord in these things, we should follow up by checking our bodies in faith to see if the healing has manifested. And as you do this, give the Lord Jesus the praise, honor, and thanks He deserves. Never give up or be afraid, for He is for you and not against you.
Some of you may say, “Brother, you are taking this too far. There are many nice things said in the Bible, but just relax. These things may have happened then. But it is not for today.” To you dear friend, let me ask, “If these things were only for then and not today, what makes you so sure that you will make it to heaven? That your sins are forgiven?” The same work of the Lord Jesus Christ in which you have put your trust for eternal life is the same work by which He paid for your healing, deliverance, and wholeness. If you believe that it is enough for your salvation, you have to believe that it is enough for your healing too, and then you will begin to see His power manifest in your life. Fight, my friend, for we are in a battle. Put on the full armor of God and stand firm against the devil. Do not allow him to steal, kill, or destroy you anymore.
Dear friends, I have tried to be as brief as possible considering that this is such a vast topic. If you have any questions regarding this please feel free to message or comment. I will try to answer as best as I can.
It is a joy to share with you what the Lord is doing in and through our lives. Thank you for praying for us.
Please share ‘Resurrection Life’ with your friends and family and bring them along in our journey with the Lord. All glory to the One who rose from the dead, never to die again – our Lord Jesus Christ.