DOES GOD WANT YOU SICK?
The banner headline from The Post Express, a Nigerian newspaper on Saturday, December 8, 2001 screamed out
"Bonnke Raises Man from Death in Onitsha.
From Rigor Mortis Corpse to Resurrection Man!
reported by field correspondents Robert Murphree and George Canty"
The man in the headline referred to as Bonnke is Reinhard Bonnke, a German Evangelist. The man raised from the dead is Pastor Daniel Ekechukwu of the Power Chapel Evangelical Church in Onitsha. Pastor Dan was in a car accident on Friday morning November 30th, where his head hit the windshield and the steering wheel punched into his body. He was pronounced dead by two different doctors at two different hospitals and released to a mortuary where the embalming proceedures were commenced. Pastor Dan’s wife Nmeka had heard in her mind the scripture from Hebrews 11 "Women received their dead raised to life again" and demanded Pastor Dan’s body be brought to the church where Bonnke was preaching. At 5:15 Sunday afternoon, two days after dying with his body already stiff, Pastor Dan openned his eyes and sat up!
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever."
(Hebrews 13:8)
What Jesus did 2,000 years ago when He walked the face of the earth, He is doing today! However his greatest miracles seem to be occurring in the poorer third world countries. Here in the USA with our advanced medical facilities, we tend to be less dependent on God for healing. In the third world countries, it is often be healed or die.
In many of our churches we have jettisoned the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12), we have allowed our expectant faith to die and we have replaced moral absolutes with design your own Christianity. Has the Holy Spirit left these churches and we don’t even know it? Has rigor mortis set in and we are busy rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?
The foundational cornerstone for healing is the revealed will of God. If we are unsure about God’s will for healing today, we will always be waffling and confused in our minds when we pray for healing. If we don’t nail down the Father’s will for healing, we will always struggle to receive healing. James 1:6-8 describes this condition.
"He should ask in faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, since he is a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways." (Ja 1:5-8)
What is God’s revealed will concerning healing? God’s revealed will is embodied in his son Jesus Christ! When we look at the Son, we see the Father.
"In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son." (He 1:1)
"Jesus answered and said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, a son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing; for what he does, his son will do also. For the Father loves his Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed. (Jn 5:19-20)
"Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work." (Jn 4:34)
To understand God’s revealed will for healing, we need to look at Jesus and see what he did about healing and listen to Jesus for what he said about healing. What Jesus did and said is the Father’s last and complete word on healing for his children.
What did Jesus do and say when people came to Him for healing?
"A leper came to him (and kneeling down) begged him and said, "If you wish, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, "I do will it. Be made clean." (Mk 1:40-41)
"When it was evening, they brought him many who were possessed by demons, and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick, to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet: "He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases." (Mt 8:16-17)
"Jesus said to them in reply, "Amen, I say to you, if you have faith and do not waver, ... whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive." (Mt 21:21)
What Jesus didn’t say about healing is very important also. He never said: It wasn’t your time to get healed. He never said: This sickness is doing you some good. He never said: It’s building your character. He never said: Offer it up. Jesus never looked for something good about sickness. He always approached it as an evil to be conquered and told us to do likewise.
"Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. (Jn 14:12)
"Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness." (Mt 10:1)
What does the bible teach concerning sickness and disease?
"Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed." (Is 53:4-5)
"He pardons all your sins, He heals all your ills." (Ps 103:3)
"He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." (1 Peter 2:24)
"May the God of peace himself make you perfect in holiness. May he preserve you whole and entire, spirit, soul, and body." (1 Thes 5:23)
The overwhelming thrust of the bible is that God wants divine health for us in spirit, soul and body and that’s exactly what the cross of Jesus Christ has provided for us!
If we have faith to believe that our sins are forgiven when we repent, we have faith to be healed and even to raise the dead. For it is not us doing it, it is Jesus! Our faith and trust is in Jesus. It isn’t about our faith, it’s about God and HIS faithfulness. It’s about the character and nature of Jesus who is truthful, reliable and faithful. We put our trust in Jesus, fix our eyes on him and not on our situation or circumstances.
We can do nothing, but all things are possible for Him. Jesus lives in us and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, resides in us. All we need to do is fix our eyes on Jesus and give Him thanks and receive what He already has provided for us!
Right now, whatever your needs are, turn to Jesus and entrust your entire life to Him who loves you immensely. Repent of any sins that come to mind and ask Him to heal you of whatever you need healing for. Say out loud:
"By your stripes Jesus I receive healing for _______________" Thank you Jesus for healing me. I will love you and follow you all the days of my life, not by my power or my strength but by the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen
***** JESUS IS LORD *****
