HEALING IS THE WILL OF GOD FOR YOU

By Pastor Mitch Horton | July 2007 | Posted in • Featured Content | (0) Comments I was raised in a denominational church and frequently heard this prayer: Lord, heal so-and-so if it be Your will. Then, if the person who was sick didn't receive healing, the inference was that, in that particular case, it wasn't the will of God for that person to be healed. So you could never really know whether or not it was the will of God for you to be healed if you got sick. And since faith begins where the will of God is known1, you could never really have your own faith in God to heal you. The will of God for healing was somehow measured on a case by case basis and determined by the outcome. In this lesson, I want to help you understand the will of God concerning your healing, and I want to help you get yourself in line with God to receive healing from Him if you are sick. God's Word is His will, just as your word is your will. When a person makes out a will, they are placing in print what they want to be done with their personal property and belongings. Well, the Bible is God's will for us. To know God's will, you will only find it written in His will, the sixty-six books we call the Bible. God's will for our health is not found in circumstances, but in His Word! I want to establish, first of all, that healing is always the will of God for the believer! It is the perfect will of the Father for every believer to be healed of sickness and disease. What we must do is learn to get ourselves in position to receive God's best for our lives. 2 It's the will of God for us to be healed because God is as interested in our bodies as He is in our spiritual nature. We are made in the image of God: spirit, soul, and body3. Our bodies, as well as our spirits, belong to the Lord4. We are made in the image of God, and this image refers to our bodies as well as to our spirits5. The body is included in our redemption in Christ. We are to bring glory to God in our bodies as well as in our spirits6. He wants us to present our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice7. There is a close relationship between the spirit and the body. What affects one will affect the other. Emotional and mental stability can contribute to physical well-being, or our minds and emotions can hinder our health. A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones8. Our whole being was affected by Adam's sin. In fact, all of creation has been affected, and the cure for the spiritual, physical, and natural effects of the curse are all found in the redemption provided by the death and resurrection of Christ9. We have spiritual and physical needs as a result of Adam's sin. Just as surely as it is the will of God to forgive all of our sins, it is equally His will to heal all of our diseases10. "Most people would admit that God can do anything He wants to do! But faith begins when you are really convinced that God not only can but wants to heal you." God's will for the healing of our bodies is clearly seen by understanding the origin of sickness and disease. Sin and sickness have their origin in the fall of man. Everything was perfect in creation11 until the introduction of sin and disobedience. When Adam sinned, Satan gained a legal foothold on the earth and on man, and only through redemption in Christ is this legal foothold removed. Time and time again, sickness is directly referred to in the Word of God as a work of Satan12. To have faith in the Father to heal you, you must first of all be convinced that it is His will to heal you. As mentioned earlier, faith begins where the will of God is known. A person must be convinced that it's God's will for him to be born again before he can have faith to be saved. And, likewise, we must know that healing is God's will before we can have faith in the Father to heal us. Faith for healing rests not only in God's ability to heal us, but in His willingness to heal our bodies. Most people would admit that God can do anything He wants to do! But faith begins when you are really convinced that God not only can but wants to heal you. A man with leprosy approached Jesus as He came down a mountain, and said, Lord, I know that you have the ability to heal me if you only want to. Jesus immediately showed that His willingness equaled His ability to heal him by saying, I will, be cleansed! And the man was healed of leprosy. If it was Jesus' will to heal this man, it has to be the will of God to heal us, or Jesus shows partiality. And there is no partiality with God.13 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 14 We know God's will by looking to His Word. Paul prayed that the believers in Colossae would be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding15. He was really praying that God's Word would be revealed to them, so that they would know God's will. In his book Christ the Healer, F.F. Bosworth says, "If sickness is the will of God, then every physician is a lawbreaker, every trained nurse is defying the Almighty, every hospital is a house of rebellion instead of a house of mercy, and instead of supporting hospitals, we ought to do our utmost to close every one." 16 The will of God in healing can also be seen in the seven redemptive names of God. God's redemptive "Jehovah names" express His will that continues through successive generations. Jehovah literally means the eternal, self-existent, unchanging God! Each of God's Jehovah names reveals His unchanging will through time. God has been and always will be Jehovah Jireh our Provider17, Jehovah Nissi our Victory,18 Jehovah Shalom our Peace,19 Jehovah Raah our Shepherd,20 Jehovah Tsidkenu our Righteousness,21 and Jehovah Shammah our personal Presence.22 The last of His covenant names is Jehovah Rapha our Healer.23 If God never changes in the first six covenant names, then why would He change in His seventh name as Jehovah our Healer? Healing is also found in the atonement of Christ24 for our sins. Healing is clearly revealed in what we call "The Great Redemptive Chapter," Isaiah 53.25 Notice Isaiah 53:4-5: "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." The Hebrew word for griefs26 is literally sickness, and the Hebrew word for sorrows27 is pains. Jesus literally took our sickness and pains on His body and bore them for us so that we could be free from them, in just the same way that He personally bore our sins so that we could be free from them! The words borne2and carried2refer to the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement bearing away the sins of the Israelites. According to Leviticus 16, on the Day of Atonement, the priest would offer two goats as a sin sacrifice. One goat was slain, and its blood was placed on the mercy seat30 on top of the Ark of the Covenant to atone for or cover the sins of the Israelites from God's view, as His presence hovered over the ark in the Holy of Holies. The scapegoat was the second goat which was not killed, but was led into the wilderness. There the high priest laid his hands on the goat and symbolically confessed and transferred onto the goat all of the sins of the Israelites for that year. Then the goat was released into the wilderness to bear and carry the Israelites' sins to an uninhabited place, typically removing the sins to a place where they were never to be found again!31 So, just as Jesus bore our sins, He likewise bore or carried our sicknesses for us so that we could be free from them. Matthew 8:16-17 is a divine commentary on Isaiah 53:4. "When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.'" I think that God must have known that religious people would seek to spiritualize Isaiah 53:4 and say that it refers only to our sins. But it's obvious to any thinking person, in the light of the Hebrew words in Isaiah 53:4, and of the reference to healing the sick in Matthew 8:16-17, that God was showing us clearly that Jesus bore our sicknesses at the same time that he bore our sins! That same sacrifice takes care of both the sin and sickness problem! Once you've established in your own heart that it's God's will to heal you, the next step is to put yourself in position to receive healing. In this lesson, I want to show you how to receive healing by exercising faith in God's Word.32 Since faith begins where the will of God is known, once you know it's God will to heal you, it's then necessary to get yourself in position to receive the healing that's been provided. Since faith comes by hearing God's Word,33 the first step in receiving by faith is to get God's Word about healing firmly planted within you! In fact, the order in Jesus' ministry in the four gospels was teaching, preaching, and then healing.34 Please notice that in the four gospels, Jesus usually didn't minister healing until the seed of God's Word was planted through teaching. The best way to plant the seed of the Word in you for healing is to find scriptures concerning God's will to heal you and meditate35 on them. Meditation in the Word builds the capacity for faith. The Word will build a knowing, a conviction within you, that God will heal. Once that conviction is strong, it's time to act on the Word! The best way I've found to act on the Word is to go to Mark 11:23-24,36 and use these verses as a basis to initially exercise your faith. It's worked this way for me for over 30 years now. Whether you have someone pray and lay hands on you, or you just pray on your own, the important thing is to believe you receive. Once the command of faith has been spoken to the mountain of sickness, you must begin at that moment to believe you receive your healing. That is, you believe that you have already received the healing before there is any change whatsoever in the symptoms. Faith must have corresponding actions to work as it should.37 If you believe that you receive, then do all you can to act as though you believe you receive. Talk like you believe you receive. If someone sees your symptoms and asks you how you're doing, tell them you're fine, and that you believe you receive your healing. I find ways to act my faith when I'm believing I receive. I'll grunt through the discomfort, and I'll do the things I would do if the manifestation of the healing were there. Faith acts. Be pragmatic and practical, but find ways to demonstrate your faith. Believing you receive is one of the most challenging things you'll do as a believer, because we are programmed by the world to believe only what we see. But we are to look at the things that are not seen by focusing our attention on the Word.38 Let every thought, word, and action affirm that you believe that God has already answered your request. Your job is to believe you receive; God's responsibility is to manifest the healing in response to your faith. Remember, if you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.39 Meditate in the Word, then release your faith by believing God has answered while the symptoms still rage, and then act your faith in practical ways. God honors His Word. He watches over it to perform it.40 It will not return void to Him.41 He longs to heal you, because healing is provided in your redemption in Christ! _________________________________ Resources & Endnotes 1. F.F. Bosworth, Christ the Healer (Grand Rapids MI; Fleming H. Revell, 1948) 49. I first found this phrase in this classic book; I encourage you to read it and to use it as a reference guide to understand the whole counsel of God concerning divine healing. 2. Many believers don't know it's the will of God to heal them, and they perish for their lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6) Later in this article, I'll mention the reasons people often don't receive healing. 3. See 1 Thessalonians 5:23. 4. See 1 Corinthians 6:13-20. 5. Genesis 1:26-27 reveals that God made us in His image and likeness. This means in His image physically as well as spiritually. There are many Theophanies or appearances of God in scripture. God has eyes, ears, hands, arms, feet, and bodily parts just like we have. And God is concerned about every part of our being, inside and out. 6. We're groaning physically as we wait for the redemption of this heavy clay pot we live in. (Romans 8:23) We are to give glory to God with our bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) 7. Romans 12:1 8. Proverbs 14:30 – Amplified Bible. See also Proverbs 3:7-8; Proverbs 16:24. 9. All that Adam lost in the fall is fully recovered in the sacrifice of Christ for us. Redemption from sin, healing for the physical body, freedom from Satan's rule, a glorified body at the return of Christ, and the lifting of the curse on the earth with the restoration of the new heaven and new earth are all a part of our full and complete redemption in Christ. God's plan in Christ is to restore to fallen humanity all that was lost in the fall of man. 10. See Psalm 103:3; Matthew 9:2-6; Mark 16:15-18. 11. See Genesis 1:31. Everything God made was very good. 12. Notice Job 2:7; John 10:10; Acts 10:38; Luke 13:16; Luke 4:18; 1 Corinthians 5:1-5. There is no sickness in the millennium when Satan is bound (Rev. 20:3) for that one thousand year period. (Isaiah 33:24, Isaiah 11:9) Jesus dealt with sickness the way He dealt with demons. See Luke 4:35,39 and Mark 9:17. If sickness is of Satanic origin, with the fall of man and Satan gaining a legal dominion over humanity, then the sacrifice of Christ must be its remedy! 13. Romans 2:11 14. Hebrews 13:8 15. Colossians 1:9 16. Bosworth 67. 17. Jehovah Jireh literally means The Lord will provide. See Genesis 22:1-14; Philippians 4:19 is the New Testament fulfillment. 18. Jehovah Nissi means The Lord our banner, or Victor, or Captain. See Exodus 17:8-15 and 2 Corinthians 2:14 19. Jehovah Shalom – The Lord our Peace. Judges 6:24; Ephesians 2:14; Romans 5:1 20. Jehovah Raah – The Lord our Shepherd. Psalm 23:1; John 10:11 21. Jehovah Tsidkenu – The Lord our Righteousness. Jeremiah 23:6; 1 Corinthians 1:30 22. Jehovah Shammah – The Lord is Present. Ezekiel; Hebrews 13:5 23. Jehovah Rapha – The Lord your Physician or Healer. Exodus 15:26; James 5:15; Matthew 8:17 24. The phrase atonement of Christ is used loosely to describe what Jesus did for us in His death and resurrection. Atonement actually means covering. Jesus' blood doesn't cover our sins; it removes or remits them! 25. This entire chapter shows Jesus vicariously bearing our sin penalty. I encourage you to read it often. 26. The Hebrew is choli and means sickness or disease. It's translated sickness or disease in Deuteronomy 7:15, 28:61; 2 Kings 1:2, 8:8; 2 Chronicles 12:15; 1 Kings 17:17 and 2 Chronicles 16:12. 27. The Hebrew is makob and means pains. It is translated pains in Job 14:22 and in Job 33:19. 28. Borne is the Hebrew word nasa and means to lift up, to bear away, to convey, to remove to a distance. 29. Carried is the Hebrew word sabal and means to assume a heavy burden. It assumes a complete removal of the thing that is borne! 30. Leviticus 16:15; see also Hebrews 9:6-7. 31. Please take some time to read Leviticus 16 in its entirety. The two goats are a type and shadow of Jesus becoming our lamb of sacrifice and actually dying two deaths. He died spiritually and physically for our sins on the cross. His spiritual death took Him to Hell, where he completely paid for our sins. The goat that was let go in the wilderness is a type and shadow of Jesus bearing our sins in Hell! 32. Healing is received two ways: through the manifestation of spiritual gifts (gifts of healings, working of miracles, and the gift of faith – see 1 Corinthians 12:1-11), or through the exercising of faith in God's Word. You can't always receive by spiritual gifts, because they operate as the Spirit manifests them, and you just can't make them manifest when you want. But you can always receive by faith in God's word. 33. Romans 10:17 34. This is mentioned over and over in the gospels. See Matthew 4:23; Matthew 9:35; Mark 6:16; Luke 5:17: Luke 6:6; Luke 6:17; Luke 9:1-2,6,10-11; Luke 13:10,22; Luke 21:37-38; Luke 23:5. 35. There are many books available today that have done it for you! The healing scriptures are laid out for you. All you need to do is to pick up the book and meditate. To meditate the Bible way, you can do several things. First, you can say a verse over and over again out loud. Or you can quietly roll the scripture over and over in your mind. Think about it. Say it over and over within you, like you're talking to yourself, except you're allowing the Word to revolve over and over in your own mind. This exercise will be faith. You'll know when it's time to pray, because you'll have a strong confidence that rises within you! 36. Mark 11:23-24: "For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." 37. See James 2:14-25 for details. Don't just hear and believe, but act! See James 1:22 and Matthew 7:24-29. 38. 2 Corinthians 4:18: "While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 39. Mark 9:23 40. Jeremiah 1:12 41. Isaiah 55:11