The story is told of a man who purchased passage on a cruise liner for himself and his family, paying the full fare for their grand adventure across the ocean.
Each day he and his family huddled in their quiet little berth consuming the sparse provisions they had packed for their trip. One day a steward noticed their emaciated faces and asked them why they were not enjoying the banquet with the other passengers. The father told him that he had only purchased passage on the ship but not the meals.
The steward explained to the man that his ticket covered passage and meals for his entire family. After dining on mere morsels for days, the family joyfully sat down to enjoy what had belonged to them all along.
David tells us in Psalm 103:2-3, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.”
Many people do not receive their healing because they do not understand the continuum of time.
I can think of many instances of this in our meetings from around the world, one particular woman in Kazakhstan comes to mind. She was a worker at the Italian embassy and had a vision problem, needing glasses in order to read properly. She had been attending the healing meetings during the week and was hopeful that something would happen, but so far had not noticed any changes.
We would serve tea on the breaks, and this woman came up in the line behind my husband to get her cup of tea. I remember this very specifically, she picked up the tea bag and when she did, she began to shout, “I can see! I can see! I can see!”
She had prayed for the healing for her eyes and though it did not happen instantaneously, later in the week she picked up the teabag and could read the fine print on that teabag.
When did her healing begin? Her healing began on the day that healing was ministered to her—on the day that she believed she received!
In every situation of sickness and disease, we have three witnesses. The first witness is the pain, or what your senses are telling you about the symptoms you’re experiencing. The second witness is the Word of God, which is the truth, if you will, that God gives to speak in your situation, that by His stripes we are healed (1 Peter 2:24).
The third witness we have is the sick person. The pain is declaring that the sickness and disease is not healed, the symptoms are still present and the Word is not true. The sick one, however, has the opportunity to declare the truth—“By the stripes of Jesus, I am healed.” If we line up and agree with that Word, we find the deliverance that we need!
Today I feel impressed to pray together. Pray along with me, “Thank you Jesus, I see my body upon the cross. You paid the price, You were beaten and You were bruised for me. I thank You, Jesus, that the senses, the readings, the pain, the reality of what I have sensed and seen upon my own flesh was put upon you 2,000 years ago, and now I cast all of my care on You. I cast all of the sickness upon You.
I turn it all over to You, and I declare that I receive a new body, completely made whole, competently restored in the image that You created me to be, whole, healed and healthy. Thank you Jesus, I receive it now. Amen!”
Many of us have been taught that sickness is essentially the errand boy of God, delivering a particular message for your life that will bring you to a new opportunity or a higher walk with God. I want us to look at this, because this to me is one of the most insidious lies that we can find.
If God is the One sending sickness to make you captive, and then takes it away and turns you from your captivity, I would submit to you that God is a little bit confused. If Jesus is the One who sees our sicknesses and releases us, the children of God, the children of Abraham, the daughter of Abraham, from the spirit of infirmity as He did in Luke 13:12, then is Jesus in direct opposition to God, the One who supposedly offered and desired and sent the messenger of sickness and disease?
Matthew 7:11 says, “If you then being evil know how to give goods unto your children, how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good gifts to them that ask Him?” If we believe that God is sending sickness and disease as a tool in His hand to teach us something, if we believe that it is the will of our Father’s heart to bruise us, to beat us, to harm us through sickness and disease, then we have a conflict of understanding. Because in fact, we see from scripture that it is God’s desire to answer our prayers for healing and every other area of our lives!
Some time ago we held a Tent Festival in Karaganda (Kazakhstan), and I preached about healing based on Matthew 18:19: “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”
I taught that we can agree to ask for something in prayer and the Bible guarantees that the Father will give us everything we ask for. Two elderly women in the tent were friends. One of the ladies had eyeglasses with very thick lenses. She told me, “I’ve not been able to see anything without my glasses for forty years.” Her friend who had come with her had had pain in her legs and had been walking with a cane for almost twenty-five years.
Both women listened to my sermon and believed in the Word of God. They decided to agree in prayer for their healing. They said, “OK. We are agreeing in prayer and asking you, God, to heal us. We believe that what you said is true and if we agree right now in prayer, you will heal us. Father, we are agreeing in the name of Jesus that our eyes and legs are being healed right now! Amen.” Both of them were healed the same moment and that is why I know their story. They started shouting right away, “I can see!” “I am walking! I can walk! My pain is gone!”
Just like these elderly women, you can receive your healing. Believe in God’s word and confess it with your mouth, say aloud, “By Jesus’ stripes I am healed!” It is very important to say the words of faith. You are not lying, you are saying what God says. It is important to speak it because your heart fills with faith that you are healed.
Call a friend and ask him or her to pray and agree with you to ask God for healing, and the Father will respond to your faith!
Perhaps you can think of someone that you have wronged? Or perhaps someone has wronged you? If you have not allowed yourself to forgive you may be affecting your health! Are you an angry person? Have you considered the negative impact anger has on your health? According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, when you’re chronically angry you’re in a fight-or-flight mode—which can have effects on blood pressure and heart rate.
Forgiveness can get you out of the anger mode and eliminate harmful toxins that may be damaging your body. When you learn to forgive, your heart will thank you—because forgiveness has been shown to lower blood pressure. A 2011 study of married couples in the Journal of Personal Relationships, showed that when the victim in the situation forgave the other person, both experienced a decrease in blood pressure.
In 2006 we were conducting meetings in Puerto Rico. One particular medical doctor noticed that his patients were being healed and took great interest in the miracles. Even though he was initially skeptical, he realized our emphasis on people connecting with Jesus would bring freedom from stress, and often people didn’t even recognize they were healed! God’s peace had entered their spirit, soul and bodies, and with His presence came healing.
This doctor told us that of the female patients he treats, many convince themselves that they are sick. Interestingly, often when running the required tests to identify a problem, he finds nothing. Yet in a matter of a few weeks or months, the same patients will return with evidence of the illnesses they were convinced already existed.
Research shows that DNA actually changes shape according to our thoughts. As you think negative thoughts, toxic thinking re-wires your brain in a negative direction, forcing your mind and body into stress. On the contrary, every positive thought releases life-giving chemicals. Imagine what the brain does when you smell a rose or look at a beautiful picture, or when you read the word of God! Jesus is called the “Prince of Peace,” and when an individual receives His life into their spirit His presence fills them—often driving out sicknesses and disease.
Did you know that the majority of sickness plaguing the world today results from chronic illness and not infectious disease? Chronic Disease is defined as a long-lasting condition that can be controlled but not cured. Chronic illness is a worldwide problem. As described by the Centers for Disease Control, chronic disease is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States.
Lee Jong-Wook, former Director General of the World Health Organization, stated in a 2005 report that of a projected 58 million deaths in 2005, approximately 35 million or 60% would be the result of chronic disease. He also projected those staggering figures to increase by another 17% by the year 2015.
Come to Jesus today and give Him your weaknesses, fears, cares and sicknesses. The scriptures say, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” Wherever you are today, I want you to know that God is with you—and He hears you right now!
Scriptures: Acts 10:38
A woman from Congo-Brazzaville was plagued by severe migraines. On the day she attended one of our public meetings, a rain storm suddenly rolled in. While most of the crowd fled for cover, this woman pushed closer to the platform, refusing to leave.
My husband, who was speaking at the time, made the decision to continue solely because of her. After the meeting this woman couldn’t wait to talk to us. She said, ”With each rain drop that fell tonight the pain lessened in my head. I was desperate! I could not go on living this way any longer. When the rain came down it was like a cool, healing balm from heaven. The pain, fear and depression all vanished. I was going to take my life tonight if the pain did not leave!”
Though plagued by a chronic condition, this woman instantly found new life! What did she do? She brought her problem to Jesus. She was determined to get her healing. Like the woman in scripture with the chronic blood disease, she said to herself she was going to get what she needed! Jesus said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Scripture: Matt 11:28 (NIV)
