Is it “God’s will” for you to have sickness and disease?
Published by Rob Skiba January 19, 2015 at 4:07 PM
So, I just saw an Internet article about the actress Yolanda Foster, who apparently is suffering from Lyme Disease. In it she is quoted as saying, “I guess God gives his hardest battles to the strongest soldiers”
Source: http://www.tmz.com/2015/01/19/yolanda-foster-lyme-disease-real-housewives-of-beverly-hills/
While I can certainly feel sorry for her suffering, I can’t accept that attitude, which appears to be VERY common in people suffering from various sicknesses and diseases (especially among Christians). I think the Bible says something about the fact that it is the Devil (thief) who comes “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” and that God came “that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). So, why do so many have it completely reversed?
I hear Christians all the time essentially “blaming God” for whatever ailment they have – even doing it “nicely” thinking it is somehow “His will” that they suffer so miserably. What I find most ironic about that mentality is these same people are spending hundreds of thousands on pharmakeia and other “medical” treatments… apparently trying to subvert the “will of God” for their lives. If you REALLY believe it is “God’s will” for you to have the disease, then don’t be a hypocrite – suffer on and die as miserably as you imagine He wants you to. Can’t you see how this mentality is contrary to Scripture and makes no sense at all??
Now, there may be things in our life that YHWH has ALLOWED to happen to us due to our own poor choices (like not eating right, etc.), but there is a big difference between that and it being “His will” for you. His will was PERFECTLY made manifest in and through Yeshua, who came to forgive, heal and set you free from the works of the Devil (and fallen man). Where do you EVER see Him putting sickness and disease on anyone in the New Testament? My Bible shows Him HEALING people everywhere He went.
If we want/expect/hope for healing in our bodies, I think it has to begin with putting the blame for it where it belongs (and in the case of Lyme, it belongs squarely on the shoulders of Project Paperclip Nazis and Plumb Island) and trust YHWH for our HEALING! He’s the one who TAKES AWAY our sickness, disease and sorrow, not puts it on us. How can we pray to Him for healing if we’re stuck on the idea that He gave us the problem to begin with? That’s double-mindedness. No. The Devil is the one who wants you sick, broken and ultimately dead, not healthy and whole. Get mad at him. Blame him.
Look, I need healing in my own body too. So, I get the frustration when it is not coming quickly or manifesting as we believe it should. But this I know: YHWH wants us healthy and whole, not sick and broken. Trust Him. Call out to Him. Believe and have faith that He loves you and wants you well. He proved it by sending Yeshua to take away all of the pain and letting us know through the prophet Isaiah that “by His stripes we WERE healed.” He is so amazing, that hundreds of years before Christ even came, He wrote about future events in past tense.
Yeshua trained His disciples to do what He did. Then He commanded them in the “Great Commision” to teach others to do the same. And this is my “Trump Card” to those who would say otherwise…
John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Indeed, it wasn’t long before Yeshua left that His disciples began to walk in the same power He walked in…
Acts 3:
1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God:
10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
When Peter was later put on trial for healing the lame man, he said there is none other name under heaven whereby men may be “sozo” (your Bible probably says “saved” and while it is certainly true that “salvation” comes ONLY through Yeshua, the context of Acts 4:12 is healing). The same is true for James 5:
James 5:
14 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:
15 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.
Again, I don’t get why the KJV translators put “save the sick” when the Greek word “sozo” ( http://biblehub.com/greek/4982.htm ) should clearly be translated here in the context of “heal the sick.” The word is accurately translated elsewhere though. For instance:
Mark 5:
21 And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.
22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,
23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; [sozo] and she shall live.
24 And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.
25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. [sozo]
29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; [sozo] go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
He is our forgiving, healing and delivering Savior. Don’t blame Him. Trust Him for your healing and deliverance through the “salvation” He so freely offers to all who will simply have faith and believe in Him for it.
– Rob Skiba
I think one of the greatest lessons we have to unlearn is that the gifts of the spirit were done away with.
It’s something I have struggled with my whole life. It never seemed true as I heard the sermons about it, the rhetoric about the gifts being done away with, then reading the scriptures which obviously teach the opposite.
We are so indoctrinated from birth to believe the lies, Our minds in constant confusion about those contradictions. Especially when the teachers, like snake charmers, that we somehow were taught to respect and believe, have passed those lies on for generations.
It’s no wonder that we have such a hard time learning to trust God again. It’s a lot to take in, to unlearn and relearn the true gospel as it was given us by Messiah.
We have family members, suffering from any number of maladies right now, that we should be able to easily heal by the name of Jesus. So if I go up to my loved one and say: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and be healed. Shouldn’t that work? Every time?
It’s a very difficult issue. Probably because we make it that way. I don’t know. Seems to me someone just has to have the faith of a mustard seed – either the victim or the one who comes to bring healing in the name of Jesus. I’ve personally seen healing take place in powerful, immediate ways. But then, I’ve also seen people (including myself) who have to “walk it out.” So, I really don’t have a solid answer aside from, either the Scriptures are true or they aren’t. If they are, then according to the Scriptures posted here, healing is supposed to work, when declared in faith. I think it was a lack of faith that dreamed up the (bogus) doctrine of Cessation.