Healing is God's covenant blessing for the believer

Divine
Healing

12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;
14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,
16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.
17 And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came TO HEAR HIM, AND TO BE HEALED OF THEIR DISEASES;
18 And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: AND THEY WERE HEALED.
19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, AND HE HEALED THEM ALL.

   - Luke 6:12-19

In this particular lesson we are going to cover the subject of "Divine Healing" and how it relates to you as a child of God. In our lesson entitled "Keys to Answered Prayer", I shared briefly that there is a belief in certain religious circles that miracles, signs, and wonders ceased with the death of the apostles. These Christians are teaching a doctrine of cessation, meaning "ceased to be". There's three problems with this kind of doctrine:

#1) It is unscriptural - When something is unscriptural, that means it is diametrically opposed to Scripture. In Exodus 15:23, we see that God Himself says "...I AM the Lord that healeth thee." He didn't say "...I WAS the Lord that healeth thee." Also, speaking of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Bible declares Him to be a present day Healer in I Peter 2:24. It says "...by whose stripes YE WERE HEALED."   That's past tense language. In other words, if I was healed two thousand years ago, then I am healed now. How? Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus!

#2) It is an Antichrist doctrine - The Bible teaches us in I John 4:1-3 that any spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist. The word "antichrist" is made up of two words: anti (against), and christ (the Anointed One and His anointing). Jesus is the Anointed One of God, and according to Isaiah 10:27, His anointing is the burden removing, yoke destroying power of God! Just in case you haven't figured it out yet, sickness and disease are burdens that need to be removed and yokes that need to be destroyed! That's one purpose of the anointing! (Acts 10:38)

#3) It is a doctrine of devils - I Timothy 4:1 speaks of the emergence of doctrines of devils in the last days. The word doctrine simply means "teaching". Well, we are living in the very last of the last days, and the doctrine of cessation is one of these teachings of devils that has surfaced. Why does God's Word refer to this as a teaching of devils? The reason why is because it is an antichrist spirit. It is teaching against the anointing. There is an anointing to heal the sick. The devil doesn't want that to prosper. If it succeeds, many people will be healed and come to the Lord. The spirit of faith will begin to spread throughout the Body of Christ until God's people are finally walking in their redemptive right to be healed and to walk in divine health.

Now that we have laid that foundation, there are several things you need to know about divine healing. First of all, you need to know that divine healing is the will of God. In our opening text above we read in verses seventeen through nineteen that multitudes of people came from Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre, and Sidon to hear the Word of God and be healed of their diseases. Not only the sick, but the oppressed as well; and the Bible says that Jesus healed them all. Notice it didn't say He healed a few or some. It didn't even say He healed many of them. It says He healed them all! The reason why Jesus healed them all is because divine healing is the will of God.

There are people who believe that God cannot heal certain diseases. Still, there are others who believe that there is no cure for certain diseases. Well, the Bible says that Jesus healed them ALL! What medical science cannot do in that it is finite, God is able to do because He is infinite in His ability and willingness. Glory to His holy name! It is our responsibility to study and meditate what the Word of God has to say about the subject of healing so that we can build our faith to receive it. Understand this my friend: faith begins where the will of God is known! As I said in one of our previous lessons concerning our inheritance, you cannot receive something that you don't know is the will of God for you. You will not exercise any faith for it because you do not know that it belongs to you.

   The Bible says in III John 2 "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." There are several things I want you to see in this verse. First of all, notice I highlighted the word "wish". It is the Greek word euchomai, and it means "to pray". In other words, God is speaking by His Spirit to us through the Apostle John saying that He is praying above all things that we would prosper and be in health, which leads me to my next point. God not only wants you to prosper financially (we'll discuss that in our next lesson), but physically as well. That is what this phrase "...in health..." means. It means to walk in divine health. Finally, the last clause of this verse says "...even as thy soul prospereth..." Remember this: your financial and physical prosperity cannot exceed the prosperity of your soul. Your "soul" represents your mind, which is "the seat of the will, the intellect, and the emotions". And the Bible says that we are to renew our minds so that we can prove what the will of God is for our lives (Romans 12:2 / John 7:17).

   Thus far we have established that divine healing is the will of God. Second of all, we need to know that divine healing is a benefit of the new birth. It is a sad commentary that many of God's people do not know that salvation isn't the only benefit to being born again (saved). As a result, there are millions of Christians living in sickness and disease, because they are ignorant of the fact that healing is a benefit of being born again, also known as the new birth, or being saved. Let's look at a couple of scriptures that deal with this:

My people are DESTROYED for LACK OF KNOWLEDGE... - Hosea 4:6

      He sent his WORD, and HEALED THEM, and DELIVERED THEM from

from their DESTRUCTIONS. - Psalms 107:20

   Notice that God's people are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge. What knowledge? God's Word! I also want you to notice that when God sends His Word to us (through Ministers, Books, CD's, TV, etc.) that we as His people are healed and delivered from our destruction. So it's important for us to see that if we are ignorant of God's Word concerning divine healing as a benefit of the new birth, we will experience destruction as a result. Why? That's what sickness and disease does; it destroys the body. Where does sickness and disease come from? Satan. How do we know that? Because Jesus said in John 10:10 that "The thief does not come, except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (NKJV)

Jesus said that He came to bring life. So the only other nemesis He has as an opposite is Satan, because he is the author of death, both spiritually and physically. That makes Satan, the thief. Also, the life Jesus came to bring is not only eternal life, but abundant life as well. Abundant life includes healing. The Amplified version says abundant life is having life "...to the full, till it overflows." Glory be to God! If you are not living in divine healing and health you are not living life to the full, till it overflows. There is no reason why you should not be enjoying life to the full. Jesus came that you might have it. If you are not experiencing divine healing and health, it may be that you have not received it as part of your inheritance. You cannot receive any of your inheritance apart from faith. Which brings me to my final point - healing must be received by faith.

2 This only would I learn of you, RECEIVED YE THE SPIRIT BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW, OR BY THE HEARING OF FAITH?
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
5 He therefore that MINISTERETH TO YOU THE SPIRIT, and WORKETH MIRACLES among you, doeth he it BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW, OR BY THE HEARING OF FAITH?
6 Even as Abraham BELIEVED GOD, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of FAITH, the same are the CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM.
8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would JUSTIFY THE HEATHEN THROUGH FAITH, preached before the gospel unto ABRAHAM, saying, In thee shall all nations be BLESSED.
9 SO THEN THEY WHICH BE OF FAITH ARE BLESSED WITH FAITHFUL ABRAHAM. - Galatians 3:2-9

As we read this particular passage of Scripture, we can readily see that the ministry of the Spirit, which includes miracles of healing, is done by faith. Therefore, it must be received by faith. Healing is a work of the Spirit that is part of our redemptive rights. It must be received by faith because it is a gift of God, and God's gifts are freely given, therefore, they must be freely received. Salvation is received by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), Righteousness is received by faith (Romans 3:22), the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is received by faith (Galatians 3:2, 5), etc.

   Now then, because healing is received by faith, you must hear the word of God on the subject. Why? Faith comes to you by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Therefore, the more you study and meditate on the Word of God concerning the subject of healing, the easier it will be to believe God for it. There are nineteen instances in the Gospels where Jesus told individuals that their healing or miracle was received according to their faith. That places personal responsibility on you as an individual to build your faith to a place where you can receive your healing from God. Unfortunately, many Christians are receiving healing and miracles based on another man's faith or anointing. The problem with that is they're going to struggle to keep their healing if the symptoms reappear, because their faith has not been built up to the point where they are exercising it for themselves in order to keep it. No, my friend, you make sure you're being responsible with the faith God has given you by meditating in the Word of God and then acting on what you know. Only then can your faith grow to the place where you are believing God for yourself (Romans 12:3 / I Thessalonians 1:3 / Hebrews 10:23).

CONFESSION OF FAITH:

Heavenly Father, I thank you that You said in Your Word in Exodus 15:23 that You are the Lord God that heals me. I also thank You that You sent Jesus, the Word, to heal me and deliver me from destruction. Therefore, according to I Peter 2:24, I declare that I was healed by the stripes of Jesus two thousand years ago. And if I was healed then, I am healed now. The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead continually makes alive my mortal body. As I meditate in the word of God day and night, faith comes to me so that I can believe and receive my healing. As a covenant child of God, I walk in divine healing and health as part of my redemption. Thank You for it in Jesus name!