SICKNESS

SICKNESS IS NOT FROM GOD :

John 9:2 "And his disciples asked him saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?"

The disciples asked a question that still puzzles many people today. Why is a child born with a physical defect? Is it a judgment of God upon the parents for some sin, or is it possibly God's judgment upon the child for sins that God knows he will commit?

Jesus Himself had previously linked sickness with sin. In this instance, however, Jesus said this blindness was not caused by this man's or his parents' sins.

This has led many people to interpret the rest of this verse as saying that God made this man blind just so that He could heal him and be glorified thereby. From this thinking, many doctrinal teachings have risen about how sickness and other problems in our lives are actually blessings from God, intended to bring glory to God and correction to us. This reasoning, however, does not line up with the other truths of God's Word.

It was not God who made this beggar blind. This man was not born blind because of any one person's sins but because sin in general had corrupted the perfect balance that God had created in nature. Therefore, some maladies happen, not as a direct result of an individual's sins but as an indirect result of sin in general.

Deuteronomy 28 settles forever the question of whether sickness, poverty, and oppression are really blessings in disguise. God says that sickness and poverty are curses - not blessings from God. Christ redeemed us from these curses of the law so that now the blessings may come upon us through Him (Galatians 3:13). God's curses have been placed on Jesus and removed from those who accept Jesus' sacrifice. You are blessed!

MAKE YOUR TEMPLE A HOUSE OF PRAYER :

MARK 11:17 - Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves’.”

It would be great if every time we prayed, the answers came quickly. Thank God for immediate results, but what do we do when the results are not immediate? The promises of God are there for us, but when they have yet to manifest in our circumstances, what should we do in the meantime?

Jesus showed us what to do. After He had cursed the fig tree, the tree did not wither immediately. (Mark 11:14) What did He do then? He went to the temple in Jerusalem and cleansed it, saying that it should be a house of prayer and not a den of thieves. (Mark 11:15–17) After cleansing the temple, when the disciples saw the same fig tree the next day, it had dried up from its roots! (Mark 11:20–21)

Today, you are the temple of God. (1 Corinthians 3:16) And your temple should be a “house of prayer” or it becomes a “den of thieves”. These thieves, or powers of darkness, will steal and rob from your temple, which is your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19) They will steal and rob you of your strength, health, youthfulness, wisdom, hopes and dreams.

So make your temple a house of prayer by praying in tongues frequently. (Ephesians 6:18) When you pray in the Spirit, you are praying perfect prayers. This is because the Spirit Himself makes intercession for you when He prays through you in tongues. (Romans8:26)

“Pastor, how long must I pray?”

Well, how often in a day does the enemy attack you with fears, anxieties and worries? How often does that disease in your body remind you that it is there? How healthy and whole do you want to be?

Beloved, as you make your temple a house of prayer, the powers of darkness that have been stealing or robbing from you will be driven out of your life completely. You will see the manifestation of what you have spoken over your circumstances and you will see the withering of what you have cursed!

OUR FAITH IS A CATALYST :

'...The message...did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith...' Hebrews 4:2 AMP

A catalyst facilitates change; it makes things happen! For example, Alka-Seltzer without water has no effervescence, flour without yeast produces no bread, seeds without sunshine means no flowers, blue without yellow means no green, an egg without sperm means no baby, a spark without air produces no flame. Faith makes God's Word work in your life. Without it, nothing happens. Talking about the Israelites, Paul said, 'When the good news of deliverance...came to them...the message...did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith.' Kristin Armstrong says: 'Without specific catalysts certain results can never be achieved. To make spiritual progress, it's not enough to read the Bible or listen to sermons. The activating ingredient to understanding is faith. After we hear God's message, we must on it... Maybe you're experiencing bitterness or anger because of a failed relationship and God told you to put those emotions behind you, but you lack the will to do it. Let me encourage you; trust God's Word and act in faith. His promises will bloom in your life, once you activate your faith.' Faith is not intellectual assent, or paying lip service to what you read in God's Word. It's acting on it, confident that God will do what He promised. There's a difference between faith and trust. You may believe a chair will hold you, but, only when you sit down and put your full weight on it, are you trusting it. Getting the idea?

TREAD WHERE JESUS TREADS

PSALM 65:11  You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance.

Regardless of what experts say about the current economic situation, I have good news for you. As a child of God, your blessings this year are not dependent on the ebb and flow of the stock market. You can expect good things to happen to you this year because God’s Word declares it: “You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance”!

“Pastor, God’s Word says it, but how do I see it?”

Great question! The key to experiencing the blessings lies in Psalm 65:11 itself—“Your paths drip with abundance”. In order to see His paths dripping with abundance, you would need to follow Him, wouldn’t you? So to experience the Lord’s goodness and abundance this year, keep listening to and beholding His grace and finished work. It’s easy to follow His leading when you are tuned to and meditating on His grace. And when you tread where He treads, you will run right into the blessings that He has already prepared for you!

 LOVE CONQUERS FEAR

John 9:27 "He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?"

JOHN 9:6-27
   
This man showed great courage in confronting these religious leaders. Even Peter later backed down for fear of this same group of men (Lk. 22:54-62). Certainly one thing that gave him this boldness was that he knew what Jesus had done for him. And even beyond the physical healing, he knew that Jesus had healed him because He loved him. It's our security in the Lord's love for us that gives us the strength to face rejection from others. As Proverbs 28:1 puts it, "the righteous are bold as a lion." The antidote for fear of men is a large dose of the love of God.

One of the greatest truths of the Bible and one of the hardest to comprehend, is that we are the objects of God's love. God didn't just pity us or feel some sense of moral obligation to save us. He saved us because of His infinite love for us (Jn. 3:16). An experiential understanding of God's love is the key to being filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19).

Paul prays in Ephesians 3:19, that we would experience the love of God which passes mere knowledge about it. How can we know the love of God if it passes knowledge? This sounds like a contradiction. It's not. The knowing is experiencing it. The end result of having understanding and experiential knowledge of God's love is that we will be filled with all the fullness of God. God's love is the key that opens the door to everything that God is. God is love (1 Jn. 4:8).

It's not just a casual acquaintance with God's love that we need, but an intimate understanding and experiential knowledge of the depths of God's love. Just as a tree's roots provide stability and nourishment for the tree, so our revelation of God's love is the foundation upon which everything else we receive from God is built.

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