I am sorry, friends, it has been a bit since I have posted. We have been busy celebrating birthdays (mine and Micah's) this past week in the midst of also trying to battle sickness in our household. There is still so much I want to share with you on what God has been speaking to me. The problem is that He seems to bring new things every day as well as hammer in points from previous days and I never feel like I have enough time to soak it all in and then regurgitate it here. Oh, the pressure of wanting to share the good news!!! : ) Anyways, here goes with another one of my "enlightenment moments" with God:
God did not come for us to be sick.
Can I say that again? God does NOT want anyone to be living in sickness or with disease. Much like I stated in the previous post that God did not come so that we could have stress...He also did not come so that we could have sickness. He came for us to have an abundant life. God sent His One and Only Son, Jesus, to earth to die for our sins and conquer death, disease and sickness once and for all. His final victory conquered these things so why would we ever believe He currently condones it or allows it as if it was His will? I believe He is consistently fighting AGAINST it daily, hourly, minutely, and momently for us. However, it is still here--people still get sick. If Jesus has conquered it, why is it still here?
Because we live on earth--in a fallen world--not in the realm of the final victory, but where we are still on the battlefield. Satan still roams on the battlefield and has the ability to deceive us, kill us, discourage us, and pull us away from God. It's what he does best--it's his only desire--to get more and more of God's created children to not believe and not trust in Him--it's his only way to still attack God. Sickness and disease still exist because Satan is still using them for his purposes--still using them as tools to help him win on the battlefield against God. It's as if we are his pawns...having us physically sick is like Satan laughing with glee. Doesn't that just churn your stomach? There is a spiritual battle going on all around us, friends, whether we choose to believe it or not. God has certainly won the entire war--He is the Victor, but there are many battles to fight between now and then and those battles, unfortunately, are not always won because we live in a sinful and fallen world. No matter what type of sickness you are going through (or your friend or family member is going through) you can be certain God is fighting for health in that battle--He would never fight any other way. There is no possible way His good and perfect will can bring sickness, death, or disease--it's literally impossible because they are not good. They are not of God. They are of this world and a tool of Satan to literally and physically hurt us, kill us, or somehow distract us from living life with complete trust in the Lord.
In the "Lord's Prayer" (found in Matthew 6:9-13), Jesus gives us specific instructions on how to pray. It reads, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." The current two keys line for me are: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" and "deliver us from the evil one." This has been revolutionary for me these last few weeks in a LOT of different areas. If we are to be praying for God's will on earth right now just like His will is carried out in heaven, then we must always be praying for health, wholeness, abundant life and joy. Scripture says in heaven there will be no more sickness, pain, crying, or death (Rev. 21:4, Is. 33:24) so why on earth would we ever pray for anything different here on earth? It is God's desire to see us healthy--on earth as we will be in heaven. It is also God's desire to see us delivered from Satan's schemes, trickery, and lies. We need to be praying for Satan's tools of this world (like sickness) to be thwarted and for us to be delivered from them by the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, I have concluded for myself I am done praying this typical prayer for people who are sick or in need of physical healing: "God, I ask for You to miraculously heal ________ from his/her sickness, but not my will but Your will be done." or "God, _________ is having surgery for _________ tomorrow. Please be with him/her and I ask for You fix the physical problem so he/she can live a healthy and whole life, but if that isn't Your will, then help me to be okay with and understanding of Your will." Do you find yourself also praying prayers such as these? The kind of prayers that tell God your true heart's desire but then leave "wiggle room" just in case it doesn't happen and your faith is shaken? Why do we do that? Why do we pray prayers like this? Here is my honest take of why I have prayed this way--I've doubted God would actually heal the person and I've been scared that if I pray for healing and God doesn't do it, I would then have a shattered faith in God. You see, my trust and faith in seeing God as good has always been dependent on whether my prayers for healing were answered. Somehow, I equated someone not getting better or even dying with God not being good. If He was good, wouldn't He have saved them? Wouldn't He have fought for them to have life?
I truly believe our sinful and limited minds have gotten it all wrong here. We have wrongly accused God for not coming through for us or others when sickness or disease is experienced. Like I said above, God is not the One condoning the sickness--He is the one fighting against it. It is what He gave His life for. Why would He die to win that final victory of war and then not fight for the same thing in the smaller battles happening from now until that final victory? He is always good whether the battle is won by Him or unfortunately by Satan. We, as His children, need to come alongside Him and fight for His Will to be victorious in EVERY battle--big or small. His Will is for health, life, and joy. I am choosing to turn my doubtful and questioning prayers to ones of solid Truth. God has commanded me to pray for His will on earth as it is in heaven, therefore, I will ONLY be praying for healing, life, joy, and victory over death--not because it's my heart's desire and not because it's my will, but because it is HIS WILL.
My new prayers for people who are sick (even with a common cold) will be this, "God, You desire me to pray for Your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven and I know the Truth of heaven is that there is no sickness, no pain, no death, no crying. God, I pray for sickness to be gone from ___________ because THAT is Your will. Nothing less. I will stand by Your side as You fight against the darkness of this world and be an aid to You in this battle. I will believe You to be True and Victorious and Good. I bind Satan and all his lies and schemes from effecting the life of ______________ because he/she is Your child and has been covered in Your protection. I will pray for complete healing and joy and wholeness for him/her because that is what they would experience in heaven and that is also what You have always wanted us to experience on earth as well. Amen."
And, friends, if that person does not get healed--if that prayer doesn't get answered with health--I will not lose my faith in God. I will not blame Him, believe He stopped fighting for them, or be angry at Him. I will be angry, here me on that, friends. I WILL be angry, but it will not be at God, it will be at Satan for his ugly role in these battles between now and the final victory. That is an anger and a hatred I will be proud to have because it will fuel my solidarity with the God who has overcome him in the end. It is only through Christ we can have victory over that stupid, selfish, terror of our lives, and I personally can't wait to one day see him completely defeated by the God I serve. I will gladly increase my hatred towards him if it means I pray for God's will even harder for myself, those I dearly love, and even a stranger on this earth. Satan will not win that battle in my life. I am God's, and I will chose to fight on His side of the battle line.
So, will you join me on the battle line, friends, fighting against Satan and all his schemes with the One and Only Victor leading us in the fight? It is an epic battle. It is His battle daily. It is our battle daily. Only with Him will we be victorious over the sickness, disease, and death of this world. He has not come that we may have sickness...he has come that we may have LIFE!
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