Compiled by: Herman Abrahams (Pastor), Cornerstone Faith Ministries, P.O. Box 740, Westridge 7802, Rep. of South Africa.
E-Mail: Mentorship2003@yahoo.co.uk
Note to the reader:
If you have been blessed with this sermon compilation, I would be honoured to receive an e-mail from you simply stating where in the world you are based; I do not need any other information. This is merely so that I can have the pleasure of giving thanks to Almighty God, that all over the globe, the ministry which he has entrusted to me, is blessing the body of Christ and helping to extend the Kingdom of God.
Thank you.
Herman Abrahams,
Cape Town, South Africa.
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This sermon was taken out of my archives on my computer. It is one that I’ve preached in my church a while back in obedience to the Lord. I often glean from other sermoncentral contributors; I however, did not have on record as part of this message any sermoncentral contributors. I’ve indicated my sources wherever I’ve borrowed quotes and/or illustrations from others. If by any chance I’ve omitted any Bibliographical references, please note this has not been deliberate, it’s just that the message was prepared some time back and I cannot now recall all my sources unless I’ve specifically recorded them at the time of writing.
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God’s Plan Of Health For The Whole Man
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INTRODUCTION
• One of the covenant names of God is in Ex 15:26, where the Lord says: I AM THE LORD THAT HEALS YOU.” – Hebrew ‘Jehovah Rapha’ – The Lord our Healer.
• It is God’s intention that we be completely healthy in Spirit, Soul and Body. (Free from sin, delivered from emotional distress and completely healed in our bodies).
One of the major pre-conditions to walking in divine health is that we walk in obedience to God’s will. :
1. PAY ATTENTION TO HIS WORD, and WALK IN OBEDIENCE TO HIS WILL.
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[I.e. that we have a clear conscience before God. Heb 9:14, 1Jn 1:9, Pro 28:13.]
A] Exodus 15:22-27 (empahasis vs 26)
The Waters of Marah and Elim
22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
25 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. 26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
B. (Also Proverbs 4:20-22)
2. GOD’S WORD ITSELF IS HEALING TO OUR BODIES – JESUS IS THE WORD
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A) PROV 4:20-22
[NIV] 20 My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. 21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body. (NIV)
[KJV] My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh (Kings James version).
• Through His Word, God promises us that He would be medicine which would bring health to all our flesh.
• We need to believe God’s word and take it as our medicine – the condition is that we walk according to His will.
• When a doctor gives a person medicine, directions for taking it are on the bottle – this is what is happening in this portion of scripture.
VS 22: “Health to all their flesh" - This means health to one’s total physical body.
N.B. The alternative translation for the word ‘health’ is ‘medicine’.
B) DEREK PRINCE TESTIMONY (Miraculously healed by God after no medical treatment could help him)
‘I saw very clearly that there were four specific directions for taking God’s word as medicine for the physical body. These are the directions:
1. Attend to my words.
2. Incline thine ear unto my sayings (‘listen closely to what I am saying’ NIV).
3. Let them not depart from thine eyes.
4. Keep them in the midst of thine heart.
“I began to read the Bible three times every day, after meals, because that is how people normally take medicine. I said, "God, you have said that these words of yours will be medicine to all my flesh and I am taking them as my medicine now, in the name of Jesus." Within a few months, God’s medicine, taken that way, achieved the result God promised. I was totally healthy in every area of my body.’ (Derek Prince).
“The directions that are on God’s medicine bottle are simple but very effective" says Derek Prince.
3. REGULAR DOSAGES OF GOD’S WORD WILL INCREASE MY FAITH FOR HEALING.
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• PROV 4:20-21 “attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.”
If I must do all the above, I’m going to need regular dosages of the Word of God – this will increase my faith for healing.
Rom 10:17
17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
KJV: 17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
PLEASE TURN TO YOUR NEIGHBOUR AND SAY:
“faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
4. GOD’S WORD IS POWERFUL TO HEAL US
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It is not a “dead letter” as some religious sects would want us to believe.
A} Hebrews 4:11 –13 (main emphasis vs 12)
11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
B} Psalm 107:17-22 (emphasis vs 20)
17 Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. 18 They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death. 19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. 20 He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. 21 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. 22 Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.
5. God’s people have always prayed for healing.
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A) Genesis 20:17
17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls so they could have children again.
God’s divine touch upon a broken body or mind is not merely a New Testament phenomenon from the days of the apostles and the Early Church. His ability to perform the miraculous is not and never has been restricted to a certain time frame in church history. God is no respecter of persons, for Hebrews 13:8 declares, “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.”
ILLUSTRATION
Healing - Doctors Have Faith in Faith
A survey conducted by the American Academy of Family Physicians shows that ninety-nine percent of doctors believe a relationship exists between faith and physical healing. Recently, more than one thousand health-care professionals met at Harvard Medical School to examine the connection between spirituality and healing.
Doctors’ faith in faith was bolstered by a California study of the effect of prayer on recovery from heart problems. About two hundred heart patients were assigned to Christians who prayed for them, while an equal number, a control group, received no known prayers. Neither group knew about the prayers, yet those who received prayer developed half the complications that were experienced by those in the control group.
A similar study by the Dartmouth Medical School examined the effect of prayer on healing when the patients prayed for themselves. The death rate six months after bypass surgery was 9 percent for the general population but 5 percent for those who prayed for their own healing. And none of the deeply religious patients died during the period of the study.
[The Associated Press, quoted in “Religion in the News,” Signs of the Times, March 1997, p. 4]
6. God’s Plan has always been to heal His people.
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A) EXODUS 23:25-26
25 ’Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.’
God is a healing God, and His very presence births the hope of healing, deliverance, and restoration. Chronicled in every book of the Bible is God’s power to heal. The Bible is the believer’s handbook for living, and only through its sacred pages can we discover the nature and character of God, along with the benefits and blessings that belong to you and me as His children. (Benny Hinn)
CONCLUSION
Miracles still happen! And they are available to you and me!
Spirit-filled believers have been given the authority by God to lay hands on the sick and see them recover. (James 4:15-16 and Mark 16:18)
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Additional helps
Other Biblical References to the promises of God to be our Healer.
Ex 23:25,26 “I will take away sickness from the midst of you….and I will fulfil your days.”
Num 21:8,9, Jn 3:14 An Old Testament type of Christ, who has made a sin offering for us, 2Cor 5:21, and brings healing to those who look up at Him.
Deut 28:15-68, Gal 3:13 We have all broken God’s laws and deserved the curse of the law, which is a curse of poverty, destruction, and sicknesses, but Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.
Ps 103:3 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases.”
Mal 4:2 “The Sun of Righteousness is risen with healing in His wings.” When Jesus arose He delivered us from the power of sin and sickness. The tomb is empty and we have been healed.
Pro 4:20-22 “My son and My daughter, attend unto My Word, incline your word unto My sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to all those that find them, and health, healing and medicine to all their flesh.”
Jam 4:15,16 “The prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has
committed any sins, they shall be forgiven him.”
Also: 3Jn 2, 1Cor 12:9,30, Mk 16:18, Lk 10:1,2,9.
