Nr. 202: IS IT GOD'S WILL TO HEAL YOU?

Nr. 202:

IS IT GOD'S WILL TO HEAL YOU?

Millions of people who are sick or afflicted today could be enjoying perfect health! Perfect health is in God's carefully laid plan for their lives. He purchased their healing - at great cost to Himself - and made it avoidable for the asking.

Many of these suffering people are people who pray a great deal. They have prayed for healing again and again. Many have passed through healing lines in some of the greatest healing meetings under some of the most effective healing ministries of our time, and yet they are not healed. They pray much, but receive little.

Some prayers for healing are not sufficient to bring deliverance. According to James 1:6,7, one must not only ask, but must ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

The person who prays for healing, adding the words, "If it be thy will," is openly confessing to the Lord that he is not at all sure he will receive healing. The "if " in the petition denotes doubt. This type of prayer cannot possibly be classified as asking "in faith, nothing wavering." Praying this way for one's healing is a waste of time, for God said very plainly, Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord! (James 1:7).

Remove the "if"

There is only one way to take the "wavering" out of your asking - take the "if" out of your petition. You must be convinced that it is the will of God to heal you! Until you are fully convinced of this, real, unwavering faith cannot exist. There will always be doubt about whether or not you will be healed. In fact, you cannot even be assured that God has heard your prayer until you are sure that you have prayed according to His will. For this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us (I John 5:14).

How, can we ask without wavering when we, are not even sure that God is listening? Surely we don't expect God to answer prayers which He has never even heard!

Not until we are sure that God has heard our prayer, and we know our petition has met with His approval - that it is according to His will - can we ask "in faith, nothing wavering."

Until you ask in faith, unwavering, you cannot receive! But if you have faith ... nothing shall be impossible unto you (Matthew 17:20). When you do ask in faith, heaven itself guarantees the answer!

Before you pray for healing, go to God's Word and learn whether or not it is His will to heal you. If it is not His will, don't ask Him to do it! Don't waste time saying meaningless prayers that won't be heard in heaven. But if it is God's will to heal you, then leave the "if" out of your petition. Come to God in perfect confidence with unwavering faith and receive your healing!

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him (1 John 5:14,15).

Listen to the Word of the Lord!

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth (3 John 2). This verse clearly tells us that it is the will of God for His children to be in health. Since it is His will for us to be in health, it cannot - at the same time - be His will for us to be sick! It is God's will to heal you!

The leper of Mark 1:40 must have been somewhat doubtful about the will of God concerning his case, for he besought Him, saying, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. But it didn't take long for him to find the will of God. Jesus promptly answered, I will; be thou clean (Mark 1:41).

God wills to heal the sick! If He wills to heal one, then He wills to heal anyone - everyone. He wills to heal YOU. For there is no respect of persons with God (Romans 2: 11).

In James 5:14, God asks, Is any sick among you? To whom is He referring? He refers to any person who is sick! ANY - the same word He used when He said He is not willing that ANY should perish but that ALL should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). If salvation is for all who will repent, then healing is for all who will believe and act upon God's promise in James 5:14,15. 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!

Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all his benefits; Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases (Psalm 103:2,3). These benefits are for both soul and body - salvation and healing! Christ forgives ALL sins and He heals ALL diseases! So don't just remember some of His benefits, but claim all of them. Healing is the will of God for you!

In the beginning, God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them (Genesis 1:26,27). God's creation was strong, powerful, handsome, clean, pure, and healthy! And it is God's will that his creation remain the way He made them - healthy, clean, and pure.

Satan was jealous of God's pure and healthy creation, and wasn't satisfied until he had made his way into the Garden of Eden. When he entered, two unclean spirits followed him in - sin and sickness. Through disobedience to God, mankind lost his purity and became sinful. Then he lost his health and was susceptible to sickness. The double curse of sin and sickness is the result of man’s disobedience to God.

Was man ever redeemed from sin? You say, yes! The majority of professing Christians of all faiths will tell you that Christ died upon the cross to redeem mankind from sin. However, many of these same people fail to recognize that when He was crucified, He also took man's sicknesses upon himself and supplied redemption for the body as well as the soul.

A Double Cure For A Double Curse!

As Christ stepped from His heavenly throne in glory to redeem the world from the double curse of sin and sickness, two angels of light and hope followed Him. They were salvation and healing - a double cure!

The Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). The works of the devil are sin and sickness. So God came to destroy not just one, but both. He came to save you and heal you!

Isaiah 53:4,5 says, Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Matthew 8:17 quotes the prophecy of Isaiah 53, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. First Peter 2:24, also quoting from this prophecy, declares, Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree ... by whose stripes ye were healed. It is clear that Christ bore both sin and sickness for us. If He bore them, then we need not bear them. For if we must remain sick, the sufferings of Jesus were in vain.

To clinch the matter, we go back to Isaiah 53:5. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement, of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. This verse was written before Calvary. Peter, looking back to Calvary, says, "By whose stripes ye were healed" (1 Peter 2:24). Accept this redemption and the works of the devil will be destroyed. Every sin will be blotted out and every pain, sickness, and disease will vanish! Satan cannot legally afflict you with that which Christ has already borne for you. Tell the devil so! Believe God for deliverance now!

Under the law, sickness and disease recognized as the curse for disobedience. Moses quotes God as saying, If thou wilt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments and wilt keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I brought upon the Egyptians: for I AM THE LORD THAT HEALETH THEE (Exodus 15:26). Deuteronomy lists every sickness and plague which God said should come upon the people under the law as a result of disobedience. Consumption... fever...inflammation...extreme burning...botch...emerods ... scab... itch...madness [insanity]...blindness...astonishment of heart [known today as "nervous breakdown"]. And, then, so none may be overlooked, every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed (28:22,27,28,61). This is the curse of the law. But you have been redeemed from the curse of the law! Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree (Galatians 3:13).

You are redeemed!

It is the will of Satan, not the will of God, for people to be sick. This is a proven fact, for when Satan is banished from the earth, there will be no more sickness, pain, or tears.

God wants us to live, not die! According as his divine power hath given unto us all things in to life (2 Peter 1:3). It is the will of God for us to be partakers of His divine nature, which is health, and strength, and holiness. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these [the promises you have been reading, and many, many more] ye might be partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).

Nevertheless, before you can receive any benefit from these precious promises you must make them your own. You must claim them, believe them, and stand firmly upon them, refusing to believe any argument which Satan may bring against them. Satan will give no ground until you make it very plain to him that he can hold that ground no longer.

About 1500 B.C., God promised, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight ... I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord that healeth thee (Exodus 15:26). We know that nearly three million people enjoyed perfect health, by obedience and faith in this promise, for we read Psalm 105:37, There was not one feeble person among their tribes.

Much religious teaching today would make God merely the once - great "I was." But Hebrews 13:8 says, Jesus Christ [IS] the same yesterday, and to day and for ever. And Malachi 3:6 says, I am the Lord, I change not. So, if He has never changed, He is still the great "I AM." By believing God's promises, God's people can still be as healthy and strong today as His people were in 1500 B.C. We are still serving the same God, but under a better covenant, which was established upon better promises (Hebrews 8:6). The three million people who came out of Egypt all believed God's promise. There was not one feeble person! They were all strong and well! They believed that, if the promise was for one, it was for all. If it wasn't for all, then it wasn't for anyone.

The reason so many millions remain sick today is because they refuse to believe these wonderful promises:

And he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick (Matthew 8:16).

And Jesus went about all the cities ... healing EVERY sickness and EVERY disease among the people (Matthew 9:35).

And great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all (Matthew 12:15).

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing ALL that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him (Acts 10:38).

Healing was God's will for His people before Jesus came to earth. It was His will for them during the time of Christ's earthly ministry. And it is God's provision for His people TODAY!

Accept it-NOW!

I have asked many people who came to me, asking prayer for their bodies, "Is God going to heal you?" and received the answer, "I know He is able, if it is His will." These precious people believe (though they cannot back up their belief with scripture), that they are being allowed to suffer to bring patience or long-suffering to their lives. Many believe that sickness may be keeping them in the will of God, or that it may be for the glory of God. Some feel that their sickness is an evidence of God's love toward them. Others feel that God is chastening them through sickness. Yet they insist they do not know why they are being chastened. It never seems to occur to them that they might be able to free themselves of the chastening, by correcting a fault in their lives.

Will a wise and loving father punish his child over a long period of time, refusing to let him know the reason for the punishment? And will not a wise, loving, and obedient son turn immediately from his sin, in order to please the father, and avoid further punishment from the same fault? If sin has separated you from God, so that He cannot hear your prayer, repent now, and God will hear your prayer and heal you. Believe God now for your healing.

Others coming to me for prayer say, "I want to be healed, but if this isn't God's time, then I'll just have to suffer until it is God's own 900 time to heal me."

If it is right for the suffering to wait patiently and endure their sicknesses until some other time in God's perfect will, then it would also be proper to tell the sinner that he cannot be saved today, but must be patient and wait in his sins until it is God’s time to save him. Nonsense! Behold, NOW is the accepted time, behold NOW [today] is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). If salvation is for all, then healing is for all. It is for YOU! NOW! TODAY is the day God wills to set you free from sin and sickness. Settle it here and now! It is God’s Word! God WANTS to heal you NOW! Believe it! Receive it!

Don't ever again be guilty of praying, "Heal me, if it be Thy will."

Raise a hand to heaven now and say, "Jesus, I am so glad that it is Your will to heal me now."

Ask in faith, nothing wavering, and deliverance is yours!