| Healing and Hindrances to Healing Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. God wants you well. 3John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers. As you mature in your walk with the Lord, you will prosper and be in health. God wants us to have a long life, it says so in Psalm 91:16. Jesus came in the flesh for a purpose (to destroy the works of the devil) 1 John 3:8 says � for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. He was anointed by the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38) with power and He went about healing and doing good because God was with Him. How many did He heal? (ALL that came to Him). There was not anyone who came to Jesus (whom, if they believe) weren�t healed. We need to settle that in our heart. God in His Word has provided a number of ways for us to be healed. 1. The Laying On of Hands - (Mark 1:40) We can receive healing by the laying on of hands Remember the Leper came to Jesus and said �if you will I can be made whole� and Jesus said �I will� and He reached out His hand and touched him and said �be cleansed�. (Mark 8:23) The blind man who came to Jesus, He took and little mud and a little saliva and mixed it together and laid His hands on the blind man�s eyes and the blindness was healed. So we know God heals by the Laying on of Hands. (Luke 7:11-15) Remember the widow�s son at Nain and Jesus was coming though town � there was a funeral procession. What did Jesus do? He went up to the open coffin and He laid His hands on him and said, �arise� and the man rose from the coffin. 2. Those who laid hands on Jesus - We also know that people came and laid hands on Jesus. Mark 6:53 (read) vs. 55 �they heard of Him. Faith comes by hearing. They heard Jesus was in the house, so they went to Him. verse 56 says ��and as many as touched Him were made well� (whole). How many that touched Him? Every single person that touched Him were healed. (made whole). (Luke 8:43) The woman with the issue of Blood (the same thing) - she pressed through the crowds and touched Jesus. She said �I know that if I can just lay my hands on Jesus� garment I will be made whole�. She reached out and touched Him and she was healed. 3. The Anointing of Oil - (James 5:14). ...is any sick among you ? The Prayer of Faith will save the sick � so the anointing of oil will heal the sick. 4. The Name of Jesus. - The authority that there is in the Name of Jesus. In the Book of Acts they didn�t pray for the sick, they simply said �in the Name of Jesus� . Remember Peter and John were on their way to the house of prayer and met a beggar man outside the gate beautiful. Did they pray for them � NO! They simply said �in the Name of Jesus, be healed. (Acts 3:1-8). In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth RISE UP and walk. The Name of Jesus healed the man. (Acts 8:5) Philip went to Samaria and a revival broke out. Why? Because Philip preached Christ to them. He preached the Name of Jesus to the people, and when they heard the Name of Jesus, faith came. Jesus has a Name that is above all names � it�s the only name under Heaven by which man can be saved or healed or delivered or set free. How about Aeneas? (Acts 9:33) There was a sick, paralyzed bed-ridden man for 8 years and Peter went up to him and said �Ananias, Jesus Christ healed you.� He didn�t pray, or give him a list of verses, he just said �Jesus Christ healed you�. That Name which is above every other name is enough to heal you and set you free. 5. There�s healing because of the head of your household. The word �Sozo� (Greek) means �healing� for the whole man. In Acts 16 Paul and Silas were in prison, shouting, worshipping and praising God and the prison doors opened up. The jailor came to him saying �what must I do to be saved�? (He and his household were saved - Acts 16:22-32). Household salvation happens by the head of the house. In Acts 18:8 Crispus (ruler of the synagogue) and his household were saved when they heard the name of Jesus. In Acts 10:4 Cornelius and his household were saved and delivered. As Peter preached Jesus Christ to them, the Bible says that �as he was speaking the Holy Ghost fell on all those that heard.� 6. Healings can come through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. - 1 Cor. 12 lists the gifts of the Holy Spirit of God. One of those gifts is �Gifts(s) of Healing(s). Because there are many different kinds of gifts for healing(s). There�s also the working of miracles, the gift of faith, discerning of spirits etc. and we see how God uses all those different manifestations of the Holy Spirit to heal. The man in the tombs. Jesus had the discerning of spirits operating in His life and said �you foul unclean spirit � come out of him, Mark 5:8. Paul, in Acts 16 (going to prayer - a woman came along and said) (vs.16) �these men are servants of the most high God� and after a few days of listening to that his discernment began to work. The gifts of the spirit work only by the Holy Spirit. We can�t turn discernment on and off � it�s as the Holy Spirit wills (1 Cor 12:11). The Holy Spirit gives us an anointing for these things as His spirit comes into operation. Paul knew she had a �spirit of divination� (the Holy Spirit showed him). He commanded that spirit to �GO� (vs. 18). 7. We can receive healing by agreement - Matt 18:19 says if any two agree� It doesn�t say anything about prayer, it says that if any two will come into agreement, God is in the midst of that because God is a God of agreement (not division). (Amos 3:3) Can two walk together, except they be agreed? 8. Special Miracles - Paul (with the prayer cloths in Acts 19). When the cloths were laid on them they were healed (by a special anointing/miracle). In Acts 5:5, Peter�s shadow healed. They didn�t even have to touch him, his shadow was anointed by the Holy Spirit. Things haven�t changed today, God is the same God. He�s the same yesterday, today and tomorrow (Heb. 13:8) 9. Speaking to the mountain - Mark 11:23-24. What you say will come to pass. It�s doesn�t say speak about your mountain (but speak �TO� your mountain (to your problem). A lot of people speak about their mountain. Sick people tell others they are sick. Speak TO your sickness. Tell it to leave in the Name of Jesus. GO! I don�t think Jesus spoke to any demons � He simply said �GO�. Mark 16 talks about things that believers shall do (vs. 17-18). Believers shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. That�s not might recover, that�s shall recover. It depends on how much faith you�re using. If you�re saying things like: � I�m not really sure if the Name of Jesus will work for me or � Maybe I�m not holy enough to lay hands on someone, then forget it. You have to believe. These signs shall follow �believers�. Suppose you have �high blood pressure� and you go around telling everyone about it � it can shoot up even higher by confessing it. This is what you need to do� Take that Scripture that says �Speak to that thing in the Name of Jesus Christ� and speak to your blood pressure. Start to say things like: � Thank you Father that my Blood Pressure is 120/80 and that it stays there. � I thank you I consistently have a Blood Pressure of 120/80 in the Name of Jesus. That�s what the Word tells us to do. Call things that are not as though they were - God did! (Gen 1). Begin to enter in your Covenant with God. That�s why it works � because we are in Covenant with Almighty God through the Blood of His Son Jesus Christ. It happens because of our Relationship with Father. It�s the same with sugar diabetes. Instead of looking at readings, taking samples and worrying and confessing you�re Diabetic � NO, you start to SPEAK to Diabetes. Father I thank you my blood sugar is normal in the Name of Jesus Christ. Begin to speak that into existence. Call the things that are not as thought they are (Rom 4:17). Begin to enter into your covenant with God. It doesn�t matter what it looks like � it matters what God�s Word says. Whatever your problem is: Speak to it. e.g. Back pain. You don�t deny it if you�re in pain but you confess �By His Stripes I have been Healed. (2000 years ago) Thank you Jesus I have been made whole. Either this word is true or it is a lie. You should declare �God is my doctor and by His stripes�� As you begin to take that step of faith and get up and do your normal thing (pain is only a symptom). If the doctor says �spinal fusion� � let the Holy Ghost operate on you. You don�t deny it if you�re in pain but the Word says you have been healed (past tense). Psalm 107:20�He sent His Word and healed us. Speak to whatever part of your body isn�t working today. Just start to say �Father I thank you I am fearfully and wonderfully made� � I thank you that every organ functions in the perfection that you created it to function � I thank you my pancreas secretes the proper amount of insulin � I thank you my heart is a healthy and strong heart � I thank you Lord that every time I breathe my lungs are being filled with the life of God � I thank you Lord that my back is well Whatever the �thorn in your side� is � you don�t have to have that. Paul had a �thorn in his flesh�. Many people believe that God said �My grace is sufficient for you (so bear it) NO! What he meant was �My grace is powerful enough to HEAL YOU. Jesus didn�t say suffer with it. That�s not what it means. That�s a religious mindset. Luke 13:10 - the woman with a spirit of infirmity for 18 years. Jesus laid hands on her and she was healed (she straightened up) and glorified God. Did the people standing there rejoice? No. The ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, �you can�t do that on the Sabbath.� What did Jesus answer �Hypocrite�! Jesus was up front with people. He would ask �if you lost a donkey wouldn�t you rescue it? and ought not this daughter of Abraham whom �satan� has bound be free. Did God bind her? No! (Who�s the author of sickness ? Satan !) Jesus said �be loosed�. She persevered, she wasn�t taking no for an answer and her faith healed her. Cancer has a life to it. It grows if you don�t do something about it. God�s Word is spirit and life. Jesus called her sickness a �spirit of infirmity� � it had a life to it and that life had to be cast out � and Jesus did (vs. 12 � He loosed her from that spirit). Even when cancer is cut out it can come back somewhere else in the body because � You can�t cut out a spirit. � You can�t pray out a spirit � You have to cast out a spirit. That�s what Jesus said �Believers shall lay hands on the sick� they shall speak in new tongues� they shall �cast out� demons and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them - Mark 16:18. There�s a life to cancer. If you leave it alone it will continue to grow. Cast it out! 10. God heals through our Faith - Ten lepers came to Jesus and He said to them �go and show yourselves to the priest� (an Old Testament law in Leviticus). Also in Luke 17:12 the lepers were outside the community, they couldn�t come in because they were considered unclean. They had to shout �UNCLEAN�, so people wouldn�t come near them. Jesus said �go � - and as they went they were healed � FAITH. They could have argued with Jesus and said �I don�t feel any different, or look any different, I still have leprosy� � but �as they went� they were healed. In Matt 15:22-28, the Canaanite woman who had a demon possessed daughter. She came to Jesus and He said �it�s not good to take the children�s bread� (she was not Jewish). She had no covenant with Jesus but wanted her daughter healed desperately. Many today are like that saying �they can�t be healed, they are not under the covenant. She came to Jesus because she �heard� about Him. She heard He was a �Healer� and a �Deliverer� and she worshipped Him. What did Jesus say �Great is your faith�. Her daughter was healed from that moment on. Jesus healed them ALL who came to Him. Faith comes by hearing. (Rom 10:17). Our faith can heal us. Jesus said to her �let it be unto you according to your desire� (vs. 28). 11. God heals through His Word - Psalm 107:20 �.He sent His Word and healed us. Psalm 103 �forget not all his benefits, who forgives all our iniquities and who heals all our diseases. Jeremiah 1:12 �God stands behind His Word to perform it in our lives. The centurion in Matt. 8:5 � he came to Jesus because of his sick servant and Jesus said �I�ll come to your house� and he said NO � I understand authority, just �speak the word and my servant will be healed.� Jesus �spoke� the Word and his servant was healed. God heals through His Word! Jesus faced satan, and in every battle He faced him with the Word. He was the Word in the flesh - Emmanuel The devil didn�t argue, or carry on, he simply left (because of the Word). Jesus only had to say �it is written� satan. Jesus spoke the Word of God. Prov. 4:20-22 says �My son, attend to my words; incline your ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. The Word health in the Greek is �medicine�. The Word is medicine to your flesh. If you have a sickness take his Word as medicine. Go to Jesus, He�s the great physician. So many people put their faith in a pill but instead of that �go to the Word�. 12. There�s healing in Communion - There�s healing in discerning the Lord�s supper. The Lord says that�s why there�s so many sick and weak among you because they have not correctly discerned the Lord�s Body (1 Cor 11:29-30). If we can understand in Exodus 12 and the Passover Feast where the Blood was placed over the doorposts and lintels, there was protection because they ate the Lamb and the Lamb was healing to their bodies because the Word says in Psalm 105 where there were 3 million Jews leaving and going into the Promised Land, God says there was not one sick or miscarrying womb among them. The Old Covenant was a covenant with Jesus Christ. He�s the Lamb � the Lamb of God. Jesus� body was broken for you and me so we could be healed. If we could grasp the fact that in the Old Testament not one of over 3 million was sick or feeble. We live under a better covenant and His Blood is enough to save us and heal us. 13. Laughter - Laughter does good like a medicine � Proverbs 17:22 (no side effects). The Joy of the Lord is our strength � Nehemiah 8:10. If you need strength today, you need to worship God. Get into the presence of God and that will be your strength. When you don�t feel up to doing something or going somewhere because you feel down � confess �His Joy is my strength.� You will change. We cannot base on beliefs on how we feel, not on our circumstances, not on the doctor�s report but on what God says in His Word. Our faith should be based on the living Word of God. Begin to meditate on what God says until it becomes life to you. Let�s look at some traditions or mindsets that hinder our healing. #1 Doubt. Doubt means you don�t have sufficient information yet. The unsaved �doubt� because they don�t yet have the information that you and I have for faith to come. #2 Unbelief. That�s when you have the information but you don�t believe it. The Israelites did not enter in because of �unbelief� � Hebrews 3:19. Also in Mark 6:5-6 Jesus could only heal a few in His own home town because of unbelief. Yes, Jesus will heal you but there comes a time you need to stand for your healing. There have been people healed who a few years later were back in the same old sickness. Why? They never got into the Word or never went to church. Why? Because the enemy comes immediately to steal the Word � Mark 4:15. #3 Fear. Fear is the opposite of Faith. Fear (or worry) will stop faith from operating. Faith can only work through the Word of God. #4 Wrong Teaching. If you believe wrong, talk wrong, be think wrong. God says �My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge� � Hosea 4:6. Proverbs 23:7 says �as a man thinks, so is he�. God says �cast all you cares upon me (for He cares for you). He wants us to stop worrying and give it to Him. If you believe that Jesus died and is still on the Cross, then it�s all over but if you believe Jesus died and is risen � then Hallelujah and the days of miracles are not over. #5 God doesn�t heal everyone! This Bible says that God never changes, He�s the same yesterday, today and forever � Heb. 13:8. That means if he healed someone back then, He�s still healing today. If Jesus only healed one person, that opens the way for me. #6 Sickness Glorifies God. e.g. �I�m suffering for Jesus� or �I have this cross of sickness to bear�. Well, I glorify God a whole lot better healed than when I was sick. The unsaved will not want to serve a God that wants us sick or poor. If sickness glorified God then Jesus was forever taking the glory away from God because He was forever healing people. Jesus does not work against Himself. The Bible says �a house divided against itself cannot stand.� Jesus was working with the Father. In John 9 when the people asked why the man was born blind � was it him or his parents or just born blind?. Jesus said �neither� to the 3-part question. There is no sickness in Heaven � God can�t sent it down. Sickness comes because of our disobedience, when we take ourselves out of the protection of Jesus and put ourselves into the enemy�s camp then we�re subject to sickness and disease. #7 Hope. Someday God will heal me. Instead of Faith they put their �hope� in God. Their faith is in �tomorrow�. Heb. 11:1 says �now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.� Faith is the substance � not hope. Faith is now. Faith is. My faith is in believing what Jesus did for me 2000 years ago. Already done! It�s not what He�s coming to do for me. He�s not coming to do things for me, He�s already done it. He�s coming again to receive a bride without spot or wrinkle. #8 Unforgiveness. Jesus said in Mark 11, when you come praying, if you have odd against someone, �forgive them and I will forgive you�. If you want God to forgive you, you have to forgive them. Those people who say �you don�t know what they did to me�, or �you don�t know how much they hurt me � that doesn�t matter, we�re not walking by what they did, we�re walking by what God says, and God says to forgive by faith (the feelings will come later). We don�t want to block God from working in your life to bring that healing that you need. #9 Speaking. Be careful what you�re speaking e.g. I have MS, or I have Diabetes, how will you ever get healed, if you�re taking yourself into MS or Diabetes. You have to stop confessing to everyone what your symptoms are. Instead, start saying �By His stripes I have been healed.� Even if the doctor gives you a negative diagnosis, then you will have to decide whose word is true � is the doctor�s true or is Jesus Christ�s true? Whose report will you believe? #10 How you see yourself. The Bible says that without a vision the people perish. How do you see yourself. Do you see yourself well, or sick? The woman in Kings 17 whose son died, what was her confession? �All is well� (but her son was dead). Now the prophet Elijah had something to work with � Faith. Again, with Lazarus in John 11, he died also, and was dead four days. His flesh was already rotting. What did Jesus say to his sister Mary? ��only believe�. The key to healing is God�s Word. In John 5, the man at the pool of Bethesda who had an infirmity for 38 years, and Jesus knew he had been in that condition all those years. Jesus said to him �do you want to be made well�? What was the man�s excuse? �I don�t have anyone to put me into the pool.� There are people who want to be sick, because they believe that�s the only way they can get attention. There are people who love self-pity or simply believe they can�t. My question to you is this, �do you want to be made well� . You need to tell the enemy �no more devil, I�ve had enough�. Jesus also told people to �take up your bed and walk�. Don�t wait for people to do for you, but be healed. #11 Receiving Healing. The biggest hindrance to healing today is receiving it. It�s not that God doesn�t give it or doesn�t want to give it or hasn�t paid the price, it�s us � we have a difficult time receiving it. For example, Jesus died for the entire world but they have difficulty receiving it. Jesus died for our freedom, we are not all free. Jesus died to forgive us and to get rid of our guilt complex, we have a difficult time receiving that. When we have gotten into sin after we�re saved, we have a difficult time forgiving ourselves (we feel unworthy, we feel like a sinner) we�re basing this on our feelings and not on the word of God. God says He has thrown our sin into a sea of forgetfulness and He remembers it no more. #12 Tradition. Don�t let tradition stop your healing. The Pharisees were always saying that it was illegal for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath. Instead of rejoicing that people were getting healed, the Pharisees were grumbling and complaining about it. As well, many people want to �feel� their healing first and then believe, but the Word says you were healed 2000 years ago, believe that. God tells us to walk by Faith and not by sight. Right in the middle of your fear, or in the middle of your pain, or in the middle of your sickness, right in the middle of the doctor�s report, begin to Praise God and declare �Jesus, this was laid on you, and I don�t have to bear it and I thank you that I�m healed�. Believe that Jesus took it all on the Cross, It is Finished! Put unbelief out of your house today. Arise, Shine, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon you. (Is. 60:1) |
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