Enforce Your Healing Rights

God made a lot of promises to His people in the Bible, but you'd have to agree that many Christians today are not living the blessed, abundant life that God promised. Why? First of all, it is not because God was lying, or that He chooses to bless some people over others. God doesn't want to see His people lead lives full of pain, suffering or misery. Christians are meant to be an example to the world about how great and wonderful God is.

One of the things God promised His people is health and healing. 

"Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases" Psalm 103:3

“So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days." Exodus 23:25-26

But, you may ask, why do I still get sick or have that painful symptom?

Your sickness/disease is NOT from God

Firstly, the world we live in is a fallen world, with pain, sickness, and disease. But it is extremely important for you to know and believe that God did not give you your sickness or disease. 

Some people believe that God made them sick as a kind of test or punishment. This is NOT true. God is not punishing you, because all your sins have already been forgiven. Jesus already bore all your sins on the cross. 

God said, 

"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Hebrews 8:12

"Who forgives all your iniquities" Psalm 103:3

Nor is sickness a test from God to make you stronger or to teach you some lesson. When Jesus walked on earth, He didn't go around healing some people and giving others diseases to teach them something! He cured all the sick people who went to Him. And "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." Hebrews 13:8. 

If you really believe sickness is some test to teach you something, would you then pray for your children or loved ones to be "blessed" with some teaching, too? Of course not! You wouldn't want your child to be sick, neither does your Heavenly Father want you to be sick.

So, why are Christians still suffering from sickness and disease?

I believe that one of the reasons is the lack of knowledge of their healing rights. God says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6. 

God has promised us health in the Bible, but do we really believe it? And why must we believe it for it to take effect, can't we just be healed because God has promised it, and He's all powerful, so He should just heal us whether we believe it or not?

Sometimes miracles do happen and God steps in. But more often than not, we need to take some action, too. It's like we are hanging off the side of a cliff and God is reaching down to to rescue us. But we may also need to stretch our hand up for His hand to pull us up.

Here's a shopping analogy to help explain why you may need to take some action regarding your own healing:

You decide to become a member of a tennis club, and upon joining, you are given a membership brochure with information about the club, when and where they hold classes, and additional benefits of being a member.

The next day, you head out to the local sporting shop to buy some tennis equipment. You pay for the equipment, then leave. What you didn't know, though, was that members of the tennis club enjoy a 20% discount off all tennis equipment at that shop. The information was in the membership brochure, but you had not read it. As a result, you didn't inform the salesgirl you were a member, and you didn't receive your discount. The shop was willing to give you the discount, but because you did not speak up, you didn't benefit from it.

Healing can work the same way. You are a member of a club, ie. a Christian. Being a member entitles you to certain benefits given by God. But you also have to speak up and enforce your benefit ie. healing in order to receive it.

Why do things work this way?

Well, it doesn't always work this way. People can get healed without prayer. But it's better to pray bold prayers than not to take any action at all. If you are suffering from some sickness or are in pain, why not remind God of His promise that He will heal you? When you pray words like, "God, you said you are a God who heals all my diseases, so I know you have healed this disease/this pain of mine!", isn't this a bold and faithful statement of your trust in Him? 




The Benefits of God - Psalm 103

This is another of my favourite psalms, especially the first five verses, which list the benefits of God. 

Verses 1-5 are quite short so it is good to memorize, as it is a very handy prayer to pray as you go about everyday life. Of course you can always pray using your own words, but there's power in quoting God's Word, too, and sometimes when you are in the midst of your emotions, it can be hard to express yourself.

Pray these words under your breath whenever you are feeling down, want to pray for healing, long life, protection, or when you just want to worship God!  

Psalm 103:1-5

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

I believe in the truth of the Bible (see previous post The Bible - the basis for everything) so when I read these verses, I believe them. Literally.

The benefits of God we are entitled to as Christians:

• God heals ALL your iniquities - your sins have ALL been forgiven (due to Jesus' work on the cross);
  
• God heals ALL your diseases - the question of Will God heal me? is answered!
  
• God redeems your life from destruction - this includes an early death. God will save you from your life being destroyed by destructive habits, behaviour, drugs, alcohol, etc.
  
• God crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies (self-explanatory)
  
• God satifies your mouth with good things and renews your youth.
  

Psalm 103 Praying Tips:

Here are some tips when praying Psalm 103:1-5 that I find helps me. I visualise each line as I pray it. This helps the words become a lot more meaningful and real to me as well.

When you are saying, "all that is within me, bless His holy name!", feel your entire body, all your limbs and organs praising God... 

When you pray the words, "who heals all your diseases", imagine your body in perfect health, or imagine God immediately healing the parts that are troubling you at that moment, and visualise them healthy...

If you are walking in a dangerous area or you suddenly have a fearful thought like - what if a car appears and hits me? - recite "who redeems your life from destruction" and visualise yourself protected and walking past without anything happening.

When you say, "your youth is renewed like the eagles', imagine your whole body regenerating and youthful!




Faith for Healing - Mark 2:1-12

I remember a sermon I heard a while back that left a strong impression. It was about how Jesus sees our faith, and in this particular case, our faith for divine healing.

A lot of times, we may hear people say that you have to have faith for healing. So, what kind of faith do we need?

3 of the 4 gospel stories describes an incident where Jesus healed a paralysed man. (Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26). All 3 versions are basically the same. Jesus was in a house in Capernaum, and a lot of people were gathered there to listen to Him preaching. Then some men (Mark mentions 4 men) brought a paralysed man who was lying on his bed to the house but they couldn't enter due to the crowd of people there. So, what did these 4 men do? They climbed to the rooftop of the house, and broke through the roof above Jesus. Then they carried the paralysed man up to the rooftop and lowered him down through the opening. 

So, picture this in your mind: Jesus is sitting inside a crowded house, preaching, and there's some noise coming from above, and then suddenly a man on a bed is being lowered from the roof. So Jesus looks up. What does He see? 

The bed? A man lying on a bed? The heads and hands of 4 men as they lower the man on the bed (presumably with ropes of some kind)? The hole in the roof? 5 people about to interrupt His teaching?

I suppose He did, but He saw something else, too...

"Jesus saw their faith" - Mark 2:5

That's such a beautiful line! When Jesus saw the 4 men lowering down their paralysed friend, Jesus saw their faith! The 4 men believed that Jesus would heal their friend, and went to great lengths to enable Jesus to see him (carrying a man up to a rooftop and lowering him down takes some strength!) and the paralysed man believed Jesus would heal him, too - he allowed the 4 men to carry him up and lower him down - what if they had dropped him halfway?

Basically, all 5 men believed that Jesus COULD and WOULD heal the man. That's the faith we need to have for healing! Jesus can heal you and WILL heal you, too! In today's context, we can't physically go to where Jesus is preaching, but He's left us His Word in the Bible. And we can't physically break a hole in a rooftop to show our faith, but we can go before Him boldly in prayer.

How do we pray boldly? There's no fixed words, but compare the two versions:

1. Thank you for your healing Jesus, I know You are my healer. I thank you for healing me of this disease/pain/sickness etc.

2. Please Jesus, heal me, if that is Your will..

Which version do you think shows a bold faith?

Click to read the full story (Mark 2:1-12)

Mark 2:1-12
1 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. 2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. 3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. 4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, 11 “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Just a few comments about the rest of this story. Jesus forgives the paralysed man his sins (for Christians today, we are blessed because Jesus bore our sins on the cross and all our sins have been forgiven!). Then some people there got a bit upset because they thought only God can forgive sins (they did not recognise Jesus was God). Jesus knew what they were thinking, so He asked them which was harder - to forgive sins or to say to the paralysed man, get up and walk? 

Answer: It is harder to tell the paralysed man to stand up, because it will be obvious one moment after whether he actually stands or not. To say your sins are forgiven, well, it can't be seen physically. So Jesus showed them His power on earth to forgive sins (the "easier" option) by doing the more "difficult" option - healing the man and showing them physical proof right away.