Divine Health: HOW TO RECEIVE YOUR HEALING AND DELIVERANCE

Healing Confessions

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While it cannot be denied that the New Testament teaches that God did heal many people supernaturally in the first century, there are many in the church today who would be keen to downplay the present day relevance of such examples for those presently suffering with various forms of sickness and disease. The ministry of divine healing in the name of Jesus has been especially controversial in the last century, and has stirred up much religious feeling on both sides of the issue.

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In some cases people have rejected divine healing because they could not accept some of the doctrines and practices of those who advocated it. Yet the Scripture does speak on this issue, and it is of great relevance to those who are sick and suffering, if perchance Jesus Christ might still be willing to demonstrate his compassion and power by healing them. Our standard of reference for discerning truth must be the Scriptures themselves, and not the pronouncements of popes, reformers, theologians, pastors, teachers or evangelists — although all of these may have something worthwhile to say at times.

Many times the church has sought to comfort the sick with religious notions instead of effectively ministering divine healing through faith in the name of Jesus. The seriously ill may be encouraged by such ideas as these: All these notions and others like them may be quite comforting to the minds of the sufferers, but that does not mean that they are the pure truth of God at all!

In fact, such words may in fact lead to religious pride or to distorted views of the character of God. Sometimes sick Christians will hold on to such ideas with more tenacity than to any of the Scriptural encouragements to faith for divine healing. These religious notions can therefore become barriers to what God wants to do in producing expectation and faith for healing in the sufferer.

The Good News is that God is healing people today through faith in the name of Jesus. All kinds of miracles have taken place. We have Scriptural reasons to believe that God wants to heal us when we are sick. Some have confused notions concerning what is meant by the Will of God. It is believed by some that whatever happens is the Sovereign Will of God. Prayer may be offered for healing, and if the sickness persists, it is concluded that the sickness must have been the will of God! This is not faith. In fact it is merely natural hope mixed with uncertainty. Some point to examples of Christians, even great Christians, who were sick and died sick.

Some even believed they would be healed. This does not prove anything one way or the other. We are not called to judge the spirituality of such Christians. Nor should we use their example to determine what the Scriptural teaching is. We would do better to judge experiences by the Word of God, than to judge the Word of God by experiences.

We know that not all come to repentance — even though God would like them too. There is another interesting verse in this regard in Luke 7: This means that what happens is not always the will of God. It can be seen through the ministry of Jesus to the sick, for Jesus perfectly revealed the will of God on the earth. It is seen in the many promises concerning divine healing in both the Old and New Testaments.

And we will consider many of those great and precious promises concerning divine healing in the sections below.

It just shows how serious human choices are. God respects our ability to choose and will faithfully administrate the outcome of those choices — be it through judgements or blessings. Nothing takes God by surprise — and yet there are many choices people make and things people do that were not desired by our loving Father.

Today more and more people are thanking God for the healing they received from God, which was accomplished by a direct action of the Spirit of God in their bodies. All the time cases are reported of deaf ears opening, cripples walking, internal organs being healed, backs straightening and so on. Jesus Christ is still doing it! All these principles are relevant to us in building up our faith in these areas. We should not allow the traditions of men to neutralise the impact of these Scriptures to us.

They come without any reference to the cross of Christ and they lead people away from the true knowledge of God rather than to the foot of the cross. Satanic healings transfer the problem from the body to the soul of man. Those who have been to occultic healers often become mentally disturbed and confused. This should not lead us to be fearful of the godly ministry of divine healing, however. Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

We have nothing to fear of the ministry of humble, Christ exalting men who teach the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God, call people to true repentance and faith in Him and give all the glory to God for the miracles and changed lives that come as a result. 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.

The Word of God has a key role in divine healing see also Ps. It can be health to all our flesh — leaving no room for sickness and disease in our flesh. It is difficult to spiritualise this passage and say that it is really talking about healing for our spirits or souls — since it specifically mentions our flesh — with no ifs or buts about it. If you are sick you need to get your ears and your eyes onto the Word of God itself and off negative reports, unbelieving theologies, religious traditions and the pain itself.

God is Almighty but also a God of integrity, and sooner or later He will back up His own words when they are mixed with faith. Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save [heal] the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. This is a New Testament instruction that many sick Christians do not put into practise.

The implication here is that the elders of the church should be willing to come to the bed of the sufferer, and able to pray the prayer of faith for healing. Here we have two very unambiguous promises concerning divine healing. Although this promise is primarily valid for those engaged in evangelism Mark Rather, it is shown to be part of the curse of the law, which is detailed in Deutoronomy These Scriptures clearly reveal that sickness and disease are curses and not blessings. Thankfully, under the New Covenant, we have the declaration of Galatians 3: This Scripture actually reveals that when Jesus hung on the cross the tree , he became a curse for us.

In this way, He took the curse of sickness we justly deserve. The next verse tells us that it was so we could experience the blessing of Abraham. It was important enough to God for Jesus to pay the price for it when he suffered on the cross. So a real part of what God makes available for the Christian is the provision to be delivered of the curse of sickness and come into the blessing of God. Sickness may be at times a judgment on the disobedient, but it cannot be viewed as a blessing. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

For when I am weak, then I am strong. Thus many sick Christians today have been taught that since their prayer for healing has apparently been denied by God, they are in the same situation as Paul. They see that God has given them this sickness for the purpose of character development — that they might exhibit fortitude and patience in their suffering and thereby glorify God. We can see that also in the book of Joshua it referred to a harassing person or people.

Therefore the most likely conclusion is that Paul was at some time in his ministry under intense demonic attack. This view is in line with the text itself. The thorn was given lest Paul be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations. God did not want Paul to become haughty, arrogant or puffed up by the great revelation knowledge he received. Therefore he permitted Paul to get into circumstances where he would need to continue to depend on God and His power, and not on what Paul already knew and understood.

Our true wisdom is to humble ourselves before the Lord and receive His help against our spiritual enemies who can stir up much trouble for us at times. One thing is clear. God wanted Paul here to humble himself and get more grace from God, so that he could overcome these demonic assaults. Indeed, the Christian life will have many battles with evil spirits.

By humbling ourselves we receive grace from God to not only live patiently and righteously in these trials, but also to rebuke them and eventually clear the demonic opposition out of our path, no matter how strong and persistent it may seem to be. In the midst of these attacks we are supposed to gain spiritual strength. We are not supposed to just let the devil walk all over us. It is true that Paul at times was physically weak Galatians 4: Epaphroditus, a co-worker of Paul was sick at one stage, but God had mercy on him and healed him Php 2: What can we make of all this?

These passages were included in the word of God to guard us against extreme positions and harsh judgments against those who at some points in their lives may have battles with sickness. The fact is, we live in a fallen world and the Kingdom of God has not been fully manifested. At times Christians, especially front-line missionaries may have to battle with sickness brought on by such factors as overwork, poor quality nutrition or water supplies, or demonic attack. God never guarantees that our prayers for the healing of others will have immediate visible results.

In the case of Trophimus, Paul could not wait until the manifestation of healing came, because he had kingdom work to do and it was time to move on. God healed Epaphroditus and none of these men died of sickness as far as we know. We must look after our bodies in the natural sense and not abuse them even in times of revival. Otherwise they may wear out and we will die before the time. God expects us to use wisdom and not to work ourselves to death or eat poorly if we have the opportunity to protect our health by eating well in moderation.

There may still be times when Christians, even spiritually advanced Christians, will struggle with demonic attacks on their health.

But God has given us His word and His promises concerning healing. The reality is that battles are not always won instantaneously, but that is no reason to give up the fight, to give up hope or to cast away our confidence or the confession of our hope. The truth is that Paul often exprerienced the supernatural strengthening of God in his body in order to complete his mission. How else could he have got up and preached in the city immediately after he had been left for dead by those who stoned him outside the city Acts After so many beatings with rods in which the bones of his feet were likely broken in many places, how could he continue his travels?

Paul also knew the supernatural intervention of God in divine healing — and we should expect it too if we are serving the Lord. Many times it is the sufferer that is glorified when he patiently endures his sickness without complaining. People will praise and glorify such a person. But God receives a greater glory when all can see that He has truly intervened in restoring to health the sick person. When we receive the fulfillment of the promise of God, God is glorified 2 Corinthians 1: This is the better way to glorify God. We should seek to follow the New Testament pattern of glorifying God with regard to our bodies.

Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever! Well, God in heaven is not a child abuser. If we disobey Him or permit idols to have a place in our hearts, then it is true that we are opening the door for Satan and his demons to afflict us. But this is not the same thing as God needing to use sickness to teach us a lesson. Although there may be times when we are battling sickness and cannot understand why God is permitting it to continue, we do need to be faithful to God as Job was. However, even Job sinned by allowing negative fear into his life and being self-righteous.

Fear attracts the thing we fear, and expresses a lack of trust in God, which is sin. We should not model our lives on Job, as wonderful as he was in other areas, but rather on Jesus. Another point to remember is that Job was not an Israelite and did not have the promises that we have in the Bible. God had not made a covenant of healing with Job as far as we know, as He did with the Israelites. Statistically, this represents an amazing miracle.

God established a covenant of healing with the Israelites which Job himself knew nothing of. Since we have greater promises and covenants available to us than Job did, we should not use him as a model of the relationship of sickness to the believer. Also, if our life is not upright as Job was, how can we be sure than we are right in comparing ourselves with Job?

But even if we have come into that level of holy living, we should believe all the promises of God concerning healing.

Sickness is not the only way that a person can suffer. We will suffer at times and our loyalty to God will be tested, but let it be suffering that glorifies God and not ourselves. The Bible does not teach this, so why should we? Indeed, if the age of miracles has passed, how can anyone be born again of the Spirit of God? Only apostles or those close to them can heal the sick, so it happens no more.

There is no solid reason to doubt the words recorded in John Even in the writings of the early church fathers we find references to many healings and miracles done through believers, even the raising of the dead. The teaching that only apostles or those close to them can heal the sick is unbiblical, and contrary to both Scripture and the testimony of history. Seriously, there is no solid Scriptural support for this idea. It is not enough to point to the teachings of noted Christian leaders to defend this doctrine, for in many places, the testimony of church history is against this foolish doctrine.

Even if there was only ONE genuine occurrence of one of the supernatural gifts of the Spirit in our time this idea would be proven false! There is too much evidence of self-denying true followers of Christ who have solid testimonies of the gifts of the Spirit working through them, for this idea to be taken seriously any more. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but THEN face to face. Some see then that the gifts ceased when John finished the Revelation, others when John died, and still others, when the church councils finally authorised the NT Canon in the 4th century AD. Then there will truly be no more need for the gifts of the Spirit.

They will be swallowed up by something far more complete. Until then however, they will be needed wherever the gospel is preached and the church of Christ falls short of the fulness of the measure of the stature of Christ. Now people only see Him imperfectly. The proof of this is the disagreements about the will of Christ that can be found everywhere in the church. When we see Him, we will be like Him.

We still only know in part, for no man living has the complete revelation of everything that the Bible truly teaches about the Lord. Scholars are disagreed about minor textual variations concerning what the original Scriptures exactly said, word for word. Partial knowledge has clearly not passed away amongst Christians.

So why should we say that tongues and prophecy have? If this be so then clearly this passage of Scripture points to a future fulfilment, and was not fulfilled in the 1st or the 4th century A. When the canon was completed, not all Christians had access to it all, and not all could read.

The need for God to reveal Himself through the gifts of the Spirit was totally unchanged as far as those Christians were concerned. The purpose for the supernatural gifts of the Spirit was not and is not to establish true doctrine — but rather for the building up of the body of Christ.

People still need the personal encouragement that comes through the Holy Spirit speaking and acting directly through people to them. The need therefore for healing, prophetic confirmation of the specific will of God, supernatural wisdom and knowledge is just as real now as it ever was. And praying in other tongues will still build up any Christian who takes the time to do it. So many millions of sincere Christians have discovered that these gifts are working in their lives and have received personal benefit from them. While counterfeits may exist, their existence only suggests the existence of something real that could be counterfeited.

There is no other Scripture which can support this theological assumption which remains unproven and has been demonstrated to be positively harmful in destroying faith for the some of the very things God ordained to build us up. This doctrine, which is as old as the Scribes and Pharisees who accused Jesus of casting out demons by the prince of demons Matthew While some manifestations of spiritual healing are demonic in their origin — such as those coming through people believing in a New Age, Satanic or Hinduistic philosophies this does not mean that genuine divine healing no longer exists.

How could that be so if James 5: If this passage was meant to show that healing the sick and casting out demons are sinful, satanically inspired activities, then many prominent New Testament figures were clearly guilty of this charge! Not only Peter and Paul, but also non-apostles like Philip the Evangelist, Stephen the first martyr and Agabus the prophet were guilty. Actually, healing the sick and casting out demons is supposed to follow every believer, according to Mark They are not showing forth the will of the Father in the way Jesus Christ expressed it to a world in pain and darkness.

It is not one or the other, but both that fully express the will of the Father. But if the doctrine of divine healing is true, how could Christians ever die? This is really not as great a problem as it may seem at first. The simple answer is: Although many Christians do die with sickness in their body this does not mean that all do or all should. After God has satifisfied a man with long life Ps.

Those who die as martyrs are a special category and obviously do not die because of sickness. Our bodies are still mortal and as such cannot inherit the kingdom of God. They are affected by the Adamic curse and no longer have the capacity to live forever. They must be put aside at some stage before we can receive our new resurrection bodies. Only then will that promise for our bodies become a practical reality. Unless you are satisfied with long life already, you ought to be able to experience your healing well before you receive your resurrection body!

This is not to deny the Sovereignty of God, but rather, it is to affirm His Faithfulness and the integrity of His Word. Things will get better, at least in the soul of an obedient Christian. But God has something for the body too! At the cross Jesus already legally accomplished your healing and deliverance. What is necessary now is to follow Him in all things and let Him make some changes to your life. One of them, if you are sick and in pain, will be your healing.

In this passage Isaiah the prophet foretells the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary. Just as Jesus bore our sins and the punishment for our transgressions, he also bore the curse, which includes sicknesses and the pains they produce. Jesus would not have done this if God wanted us to always bear our sicknesses and pains ourselves. These words really mean sicknesses and pains respectively. That is why Matthew, when quoting this passage in Matthew 8: This implies a physical interpretation for the Isaiah prophecy.

Just as salvation has been provided for all men in the area of forgiveness and spiritual regeneration, so it has also healing been provided for by the same sacrifice. But people need to appropriate the benefits of Calvary by repentance and faith, and so it is also with divine healing. Faith takes hold of the provision of Calvary. We may need to add patience to our faith in order to inherit the promises Hebrews 6: God is interested in our total healing and salvation. Therefore we are wise if we co-operate with the way He is leading us. Many times God will begin by addressing a spiritual or emotional problem in our lives before He gets around to removing the physical infirmity or disease.

Thus God may first lead a person let go of bitterness and resentment in their life — thus freeing them emotionally, before the manifestation of the physical healing can come. We cannot tell God the way He must heal us. We need to realise that God does want us to be well — but the way He wants us to receive that wellness may not be known to us. We really need to be dependent on the Spirit for all things.

True faith is based on relationship with God, not formulas and principles. Failure to understand this has led to a lot of grief and disappointment amongst those who have been looking to the Lord for divine healing. We will consider below different ways which God may use in order for us to actually receive our healing, which He provided for us at the cross. Faith has an important role not only in divine healing, but also in our salvation, and everything we do in life.

It is possible to have great faith in God for certain areas while being full of doubt in other areas where God has spoken. Many believe God for the salvation of their soul that believe nothing definite regarding the healing of their body. Some have faith to pray effectively for revival or even for the healing of others and yet do not seem to have any confidence in regard to the healing of their own body.

Some have faith for their healing and yet do not even have faith for salvation! It is therefore a mistake to consider that having faith in one area means that there is nothing more God is expecting you to believe for in life. We ought not to judge people whose faith is deficient in a particular area, but rather encourage them with the Word. The Lord gave me the message in January of that year even though we didn't minister it until April.

The message speaks much about covenant. In March of that year we were ministering at a church in Capetown, South Africa, and the Lord showed me that the pastor's sister was in the hospital with terminal cancer. The pastor confirmed this. Evie and I went with them to pray for her -- she had terminal, pancreatic cancer and was only given a week to live.

I simply shared with her the revelation the Lord had given for the convention -- that because we are in covenant with Him He is obligated to heal us -- then Evie laid hands on her and prayed for her. She was instantly healed, jumped up from the hospital bed and ran around the room. A similar thing happened in Anchorage, Alaska, a few years later when I was there to minister deliverance to an alcoholic. I always like to go to major hospitals when I'm in town and pray for people who want it. I prayed for a lady who was in the hospital there to die; she had returned home from M.

Anderson in Houston which is recognized as the best cancer facility in the world. I shared the same revelation about covenant and the Lord being "obligated to heal you. If you're a Christian, God is in covenant with you. Most Christians don't have any understanding about covenant; that's why I devoted an entire chapter to it in The High Calling of God. The New Covenant is a legal agreement between you and God if you're a Christian and have become a part of the Covenant. That means God has certain obligations and you have certain obligations.

God's obligation is to heal you when you pray; your obligation is to stand in faith believing you receive but it must be true faith. Your part is to "resist the devil and he will flee from you" James 4: How do you resist him? With your faith in the Word of God. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

He will try to devour you but if you stand "firm in the faith" he will be unable to. I've learned that what Smith Wigglesworth said many years ago is true. That's why you need to spend quality time every day in the Bible meditating the Word of God. This renews your mind and allows you to "think the thoughts of God" cf. When we think the way God does we see things differently and it builds our faith. This complete vision is given in my book, Revelations from God.

He was not dressed as He normally is when I see Him in a brilliant white tunic-type robe with a very wide, pure gold belt around his waist but rather as an Old Testament prophet. He spoke to me about the Gift of Working of Miracles -- how it functioned. The vision was in response to some prophetic words over me from 10 years before that I would teach on the Working of Miracles.

Although I have seen all the miracles from the Scriptures many times including the raising of the dead I did not understand how the gift functioned. The Lord explained it to me in this vision. Then before He left I asked Him about people receiving miracles from Him and He said, "Anybody can receive a miracle from me by following these three three is God's perfect number steps: He said, "Find it, you must find Scriptures to support what you are believing Me for. He is in covenant with us and He "watches over His Word to perform it" Jer. At this point in the vision I "knew" that I had every single promise!

I had powerful faith! That is what will happen when we follow these three steps. Now, there is a difference between miracles and healings; they are two different Gifts of the Holy Spirit. I define healing as a restoration of health to a part of the body whereas a miracle is more creative, e. It requires a miracle to grow out a leg because the bone must be lengthened. I've seen the Lord do this hundreds of times over the years. But the Lord will perform whichever one -- a healing or a miracle -- you need if you'll obey these steps.

Step one is easy; it's steps two and three that are a problem for most Christians. Most Christians have never fasted even one day. Step three is especially difficult and is the precise reason we ask people who need help, "What are you doing about it? I believe the Apostle John was the closest to Jesus of any of the twelve. He wrote the Gospel of John and three letters.

It's in the original Greek that we see and learn from John about faith and "believing. All the time we see people healed or miracles but many lose their healing after a period of time. Because true faith and true "believing" as John shows us is not a one-time thing. For example the admonition, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" in Greek which the Amplified Bible points out is literally, "Believe and keep on believing.

Quite frankly, it's a sad commentary but most Christians lose their healing. The reason people lose their healing is because they don't "Keep on believing. Anything you receive from God will be contested by the devil. He doesn't want you to have it! Healing or a miracle is no different. Both were healed under Kathryn Kuhlman's ministry the last time she was in Houston.

Both got out of their wheel chairs and pushed them to the front of the platform at the Astrodome. But one let her doctor talk her out of her healing and she was back in the wheelchair within a month and died soon thereafter. Did Jesus want her healed? Of course, He healed her.

Have Questions? We Have Answers!

But, you see, she didn't "keep on believing" and when the devil sent his counterattack she accepted it rather than doing what the Scriptures say we are to do -- resist the devil by being firm in our faith. If you need healing or a miracle then I encourage you to follow these three steps and receive your miracle; then write us with your testimony so we can put it on the web to encourage others and increase their faith.

Sister Timmons on Healing and Miracles. Many years ago before my husband and I were married I was in a car accident and sustained a lot of damage. I broke my back, pelvis, ribs and tore tendons, etc.

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