Your Covenant Right To Divine Healing
Sickness and disease has been one of the devastating enemies of the human race. Man has been in the struggle and fight against them.
Why? They cause discomfort and constitute a serious threat to the optimum functioning of man. They ultimately result in cutting short human life and continuity of human existence. It is not all sicknesses and diseases that can be explained medically. Even when sickness is medically diagnosed, sometimes the real cause is not discovered. Some direct demonic activities are responsible, as we will find out today. The main goal of sickness and disease is to weaken, overpower and eventually destroy the person afflicted by them. Through this message you will come to a positive and definite knowledge of God’s will for your divine healing. It is God’s will for you to be healed of sickness and disease, but it is God’s perfect will for you to be in divine health. Divine healing as defined by Dr. Lester Sumrall is recovery from an abnormal physical or emotional aberration. It is a restoration to health and victory over the curse. It is operating in your sonship right.
Divine healing is one of your covenant rights. It is not a privilege for you to be healed. It is your right. As a child of God you have no business with sickness and disease. The English use the word “Dis-ease” because it causes uneasiness to the body. Every disease is a discomfort.
There are some vital questions that will be answered with the scriptures in the course of this message:
1. What is the origin of sickness and disease?
2. What is the source and causes of sickness and disease?
3. Is divine healing for us today?
4. Is it God’s will for me to be healed?
5. Why are many in the church not healed?
6. How do I receive my healing?
7. How do I maintain my healing?
1. What is the origin and source of sickness and disease?
God is a master planner. When He created man, He placed him in the garden of plenty and perfection. He gave him dominion and authority over all his creation, to conquer and subdue them. Man was God’s representative on earth. God provided everything that man needs to make life comfortable (Gen 1:29-31, 2:5,8-9,16-17). There was no sin, sickness or disease in the Garden of Eden until Adam and Eve rebelled against God by eating the forbidden tree.
Gen 2:16-17 - 16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die
When God created man he did not create him with eternal life in his physical body. I know this will be surprising to you. Among the trees that God planted in the garden is the tree of life. It is among the trees that God permitted man to freely eat. What is the purpose of the tree?
Rev 22:2-3 - 2In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.
The tree of life is for the healing of the body (nations). Sickness and disease cannot stand in the presence of this tree. It is for healing. The tree eradicates all forms of curses. The tree has no season because it produces its fruits all year round. God primarily drove man out of the garden because of this tree not just because he sinned. Though sin is a secondary reason. After man lost the access to the tree of life, sickness and disease became a mirage to man.
Man first died spiritually after the fall. Spiritual death ushered in physical death and sin ushered in sickness and disease. Sin is an agent of spiritual death and sickness and disease are agents of physical death. Sin is the front-runner and gateway of spiritual death while Sickness and disease are the front-runner and gateway of physical death. Sickness and disease ultimate goal is physical death.
In examining the Old and New Testament scriptures, you will notice that sin is related to sickness, disease and plague. In most cases they occur when men sin against God.
In Number 21:4-9, the people of Israel murmured against Moses and were attacked by fiery serpent.
In John 5:3-15, we find the healing of the impotent man at the pool by Jesus. Look at verse 14.
John 5:14 - Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
They brought a man sick of palsy to Jesus see what he first said:
Mark 2:5 - When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
Can you see how sin and sickness are related? Jesus first forgave their sin before he healed them.
The Apostle James said:
James 5:14-16 - Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
A person whose spirit is healthy will rarely be sick in his body. The spirit is the source of life to the body.
John 6:63 - It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits for nothing….
Romans 8:11b - …He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
An unhealthy spirit occurs when one is not in right relationship with God. A person whose spirit is low, beaten down with sin, discouragement or depression can pick up disease with ease.
2. What is the source and causes of sickness and disease?
God made man with a complete and perfect physical, mental and spiritual state (Gen 1:26-31). God is not the source of any evil. However God can allow evil, sickness and calamities to occur.
1John 1:5 5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
James 113Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
It is very unfortunate that many people think that God is the source of sickness. They believe that he brings sickness in their lives to humble them. They use the following scriptures to support themselves.
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 - 7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
It was an agent of the devil that brought the thorn in the flesh that Paul had. God is not an agent of the devil. Satan was the source of the thorn.
Another fallacy is that God brings sickness as a punishment. The scripture used in this fallacy is:
Exodus 1526and said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you."
The sentence “I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians” would have been translated from the original translation as “I will permit none of the diseases on you which I have permitted on the Egyptians”. God may permit sickness as a result of sin but he is not the source. This is clearly shown in the case of Job. God permitted Satan to try Job after Satan accused God of preferential treatment on Job. See what the scriptures said:
Job 27So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
The fall of man opened the way for the devil (Gen 3:14-17) to afflict man with sickness and disease.
Satan is the major source of sickness and disease is the devil.
1 John 38He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
John 1010The 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.
In Luke 13:11-16, Jesus openly acknowledges that Satan is the one who bound the woman with a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years.
Luke 1316So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound--think of it--for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"
In Mark 9:25, we again see a relationship between Satan’s works through deaf and dumb spirit in a young boy. When Jesus cast the spirit out the boy was set free.
Mark 9 25When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!"
The scripture summarizes this in Acts 10:38. It called Satan an oppressor. Satan oppresses with sickness and disease.
Acts 10 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Medical personnel may call a disease that stiffens the joints “arthritis” or “rheumatism”. But in biblical terms, the cause is the oppression of the devil through the spirit of infirmity. Deafness may be called “deadened ear nerves”, but biblically, the source is a spirit of deafness. A lad who could not speak may be said to have “undeveloped vocal cord”, but biblical term is a dumb spirit. The eye specialist may call blindness “glaucoma” or “cataracts”, but biblically it is a blind spirit.
Any oppression in human life is an activity of the devil. The devil is out to steal, kill and destroy.
The causes of sickness and disease:
a. Sin against God and man. Sin opens one’s life to sickness and activities of demons
Psalm 107:17-20 17Fools, because of their transgression, And because of their iniquities, were afflicted. 18Their soul abhorred all manner of food, And they drew near to the gates of death. 19Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. 20He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.
b. Disobedience to God’s law. There is a direct link between disobedience to God’s commandments and sickness, disease and affliction.
Deut 28:15,21-22,59-61 15 "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 21The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. 22The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. 59then the LORD will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues--great and prolonged plagues--and serious and prolonged sicknesses. 60Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. 61Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the LORD bring upon you until you are destroyed.
c. Partaking of the body of the Lord unworthily. People who take part in Breaking of Bread with un-confessed sin in their lives expose themselves to a grave consequence of sickness and disease.
1Corinthians 11:27-30 27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
d. Generational Curse. A man can struggle with a particular disease or affliction as a result of generational curse. A lot of people are carrying problems today of which they know nothing.
Genesis 9:20-25 20And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 24So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25Then he said: "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren."
e. Demonic Affliction. The scriptures show us that there are different types of demonic afflictions.
i. Demonic affliction of the body. This type of affliction results in sickness and disease that sometimes defy all medical treatment. This could be physical, in form of sickness and disease that defy all medical treatment
Luke 13:10-12,16 10 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. 12But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity." 16So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound--think of it--for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"
ii. Demonic affliction could be mental, like any form of insanity (organic diseases, such as psychoses and neuroses), brain fatigue, epilepsy and all forms of substance abuses/addictions
Matthew 15:22,28 22And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed." 28Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Mark 5:1-8 1 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes.2And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me." 8For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!"
Mark 9:17-26 17Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not." 19He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me." 20Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 21So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. 22And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." 23Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." 24Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" 25When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!" 26Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead."
iii. Demonic affliction could be emotional, like fear, restlessness, anxiety, nightmares, hypertension, frustration etc.
2 Timothy 17For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
f. Ignorance – Ignorance of right kinds of food to be taken or not be taken at a particular age eg eating foods rich in cholesterol at age 40 and above is inimical to health. Long periods of fasting without water can damage the kidneys.
Hosea 4 6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
g. Breaking Natural Laws – God has set in motion natural laws that guide the universe. If one breaks the laws when he is not supernaturally endowed can result to accident, epidemic, sickness and disease.
Acts 209And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.
3. Is divine healing for us today?
If God healed people who have a covenant right with Him in the Old Testament then will He not heal us in the New Testament. Some people who do not believe in divine say that God healed in the time of the Apostles because he was establishing the Christianity. This is a lie from the pit Hell. If that is so then sickness and disease should not exist now because the Church has been established. The scriptures tells us in:
Hebrews 138Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Malachi 36"For I am the LORD, I do not change; …
God is ever faithful to his words.
4. Is it God’s will for me to be healed?
It is God’s will for to be healed. All people Jesus healed he did inquire to know if it the will of God because he already know that it is the will of God.
Matthew 8:2-3 2And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." 3Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Jesus knew that it is the will of God to heal the sick. The scripture said that he went about doing good and healing all. Not healing some but all.
It is the will because God made a healing covenant with his people, which he will not break (Ex 15:26; 23:25).
Healing is the children bread. Jesus paid the price for our healing.
Matthew 8 17that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses."
1 Peter 224who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.
5. Why are many in the church not healed?
Many are not healed because of ignorance to their redemptive rights in Christ. They do not avail themselves the opportunity of studying the scriptures.
Some are not healed due to lack of faith and unbelief. Jesus demands faith in most of the people that he healed.
Matthew 1358Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
Matthew 17:19-21 19Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."
Individual and collective faith is required in receiving divine healing.
6. How do I receive my healing?
a. Confess all known sins
James 5:15-16 15And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
b. By faith
Matthew 1528Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Mark 534And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction."
c. By the anointing of the Holy Spirit
Acts 1038how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
d. In response to prayer of faith and anointing oil.
James 5:13-15 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
e. By the Word of God
Psalm 10720He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.
Matthew 816 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,
f. Positive confession of the Word of God against any sickness or disease in your body will dislodge, weaken and cause it to wither and die
Proverbs 1821Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
Isaiah 3324And the inhabitant (of Jerusalem in Zion) will not say, "I am sick"; The people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity.
Conclusion
You determine how long that sickness or disease or that affliction will stay in your body. Why don’t you renounce and reject it now and be completely free in the Name of Jesus. Jesus said:
“Every plant, which my Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up” Matt 15:13.
Let us pray.
