Matt 8:8
8 The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.
NKJV
My Comments:
The story behind this verse talks about how a Roman Centurion (or officer) came to Jesus asking for healing for his servant. When Jesus said that he'll come to the centurion's house, the response from the man was "Only speak a word, and my servant will be healed."
Jesus was amazed at what the centurion said and He said to the crowd around Him that He had not found anyone with such faith and confidence in Him; even in Israel. And He said to the centurion that "As you have believed, so let it be done for you"
Kenneth Copeland said once that "One Word from God can change your life!" Sometimes that's all it takes, just one word from the Master's lips that can change your life and turn your situation around. The Bible is full of God's promises concerning bodily healing!
If you're facing sickness, you don't have to memorize the entire Bible in order to obtain healing in your body; just find one promise in His Word concerning your healing, stand on it, believe it and as Jesus said to the centurion, "As you have believed, so let it be done for you!"
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Don't Just Wait For An Elder - Pray!
James 5:14-15
14 Is anyone among you sick? 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 will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
NKJV
My Comments:
James wrote that when a person is sick, he should call for the church elders and have them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of Jesus, and that he would be well as a result of such a prayer.
As much as it's written in the Bible, people have turned it into a church tradition where they say that only the church elders should come and pray for the person who has been struck with sickness. As such, there are cases where people have died as a result of their sickness before the elder could reach them.
Notice however that James writes in v15 "The prayer of faith will save the sick." I want to state my belief that we don't necessarily need to have the church elders come to pray for the sick. Going on the principle of Mark 11:22-24 where Jesus taught His disciples on having faith in God, I believe that God is no respecter of persons in regards to believing Him for Divine Healing.
Jesus also said that "Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." (Matt 21:22). Therefore all it takes is you having faith in God's ability to heal you; that would encourage you to be able to pray that prayer of faith for yourself even in the midst of your sickness!
14 Is anyone among you sick? 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 will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
NKJV
My Comments:
James wrote that when a person is sick, he should call for the church elders and have them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of Jesus, and that he would be well as a result of such a prayer.
As much as it's written in the Bible, people have turned it into a church tradition where they say that only the church elders should come and pray for the person who has been struck with sickness. As such, there are cases where people have died as a result of their sickness before the elder could reach them.
Notice however that James writes in v15 "The prayer of faith will save the sick." I want to state my belief that we don't necessarily need to have the church elders come to pray for the sick. Going on the principle of Mark 11:22-24 where Jesus taught His disciples on having faith in God, I believe that God is no respecter of persons in regards to believing Him for Divine Healing.
Jesus also said that "Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." (Matt 21:22). Therefore all it takes is you having faith in God's ability to heal you; that would encourage you to be able to pray that prayer of faith for yourself even in the midst of your sickness!
Sunday, February 17, 2013
God's Healing Power Is Always Present - In Us!
Luke 5:17
17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
NKJV
Luke 24:49
49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.
NKJV
Acts 1:8
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
NKJV
Acts 10:38
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
NKJV
My Comments:
In the course of His ministry, we read that Jesus was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit; and that the 'power' was always present to heal the sick.
There are many different Greek words used for the word 'power', but in the above portions of Scripture, the word that is used commonly is the word 'dunamis' which refers to 'miraculous power'. It is from this specific word that we derived the word 'dynamite', which is well known world-wide.
However, notice also that dunamis could also refer to 'abundance'. In a way, we could consider dunamis to be 'an abundance of miraculous power'. This is important as when Jesus was about to ascend back to heaven, He instructed His disciples to wait until they were endued; or empowered with dunamis - an abundance of miraculous power before going into all the world to preach the Gospel.
And as we read it in Acts 2:4, they received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, and from that point on, they just went out and did what was commanded of them. We do not find in the Bible any particular point in time after Acts 2:4 where the disciples questioned as to whether that 'power from on high' was still present with them. They just went about preaching the Gospel and healing the sick and we read how the Lord confirmed the Gospel through the signs promised in Mark 16:17-18.
Likewise, we have the Holy Spirit, who is the Source of that dunamis or miraculous power living on the inside of us. And we know that there's always an abundance of that miraculous power because we have the Power Source!
17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
NKJV
Luke 24:49
49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.
NKJV
Acts 1:8
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
NKJV
Acts 10:38
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
NKJV
My Comments:
In the course of His ministry, we read that Jesus was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit; and that the 'power' was always present to heal the sick.
There are many different Greek words used for the word 'power', but in the above portions of Scripture, the word that is used commonly is the word 'dunamis' which refers to 'miraculous power'. It is from this specific word that we derived the word 'dynamite', which is well known world-wide.
However, notice also that dunamis could also refer to 'abundance'. In a way, we could consider dunamis to be 'an abundance of miraculous power'. This is important as when Jesus was about to ascend back to heaven, He instructed His disciples to wait until they were endued; or empowered with dunamis - an abundance of miraculous power before going into all the world to preach the Gospel.
And as we read it in Acts 2:4, they received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, and from that point on, they just went out and did what was commanded of them. We do not find in the Bible any particular point in time after Acts 2:4 where the disciples questioned as to whether that 'power from on high' was still present with them. They just went about preaching the Gospel and healing the sick and we read how the Lord confirmed the Gospel through the signs promised in Mark 16:17-18.
Likewise, we have the Holy Spirit, who is the Source of that dunamis or miraculous power living on the inside of us. And we know that there's always an abundance of that miraculous power because we have the Power Source!
Friday, February 15, 2013
What He Bore, We Need Not Bear!
Isa 53:4-5
4 Surely He has borne our griefs [sickness, disease] and carried our sorrows [pain] ; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
NKJV
Matt 8:16-17
16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,
17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses."
NKJV
1 Peter 2:24
24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness -- by whose stripes you were healed.
NKJV
My Comments:
The above portions of Scripture contain one of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity; that not only did Christ bear our sins upon Himself at the Cross of Calvary, He also bore all our sicknesses and pain upon His body when He suffered on the Cross.
In Isaiah 53, the prophet Isaiah prophesied of the coming Savior, and what He would do for mankind in His atonement for the sins of mankind. However it must be noted that when Isaiah 53:4 was translated into English, the translators used an alternative meaning to describe the words 'griefs' and 'sorrows'.
In Hebrew, the word 'griefs' is the word 'choli' which more often than always refers to sickness or disease; and the word 'sorrow' is the word 'makob' which refers mostly to pain. By rewording Isaiah 53:4, it would therefore be more accurate to read it as
4 Surely He has borne our sickness (disease) [choli] and carried our pain [makob] ; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
In Matthew 8:17, Matthew is inspired of the Holy Spirit when He describes the ministry of Jesus and quotes Isaiah 53:4, correctly translating it as "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses".
Peter, in his letter to the Church states in 1 Peter 2:24 that Jesus bore our sins in His own body on the tree (or cross) in order that we need not bear them. He ends it with the statement "by whose stripes you were healed".
In the context of this particular passage, commentators say that it would have been referring to spiritual healing. However, I would like to comment that without God, Man was spiritually dead to start with and you can't heal something that's already dead to begin with; it must be recreated anew.
In order to be reconciled to God, we have to be born again through the Spirit, as Jesus spoke to Nicodemus in John 3:3, and Peter confirmed by writing that we were born again through the Word of God (1 Pe 1:23). Therefore I believe Peter was writing that not only were we able to live a new life of not having to bear our sins, we could also live a life of not having to bear sicknesses or pain because Jesus already bore them for us!
This is a promise that we can stand on in regards to believing God for healing, that not only could we believe that all our sins were borne by Jesus upon the Cross, He also bore all our sicknesses and pain. Therefore we need not bear them because He already bore them!
4 Surely He has borne our griefs [sickness, disease] and carried our sorrows [pain] ; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
NKJV
Matt 8:16-17
16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,
17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses."
NKJV
1 Peter 2:24
24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness -- by whose stripes you were healed.
NKJV
My Comments:
The above portions of Scripture contain one of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity; that not only did Christ bear our sins upon Himself at the Cross of Calvary, He also bore all our sicknesses and pain upon His body when He suffered on the Cross.
In Isaiah 53, the prophet Isaiah prophesied of the coming Savior, and what He would do for mankind in His atonement for the sins of mankind. However it must be noted that when Isaiah 53:4 was translated into English, the translators used an alternative meaning to describe the words 'griefs' and 'sorrows'.
In Hebrew, the word 'griefs' is the word 'choli' which more often than always refers to sickness or disease; and the word 'sorrow' is the word 'makob' which refers mostly to pain. By rewording Isaiah 53:4, it would therefore be more accurate to read it as
4 Surely He has borne our sickness (disease) [choli] and carried our pain [makob] ; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
In Matthew 8:17, Matthew is inspired of the Holy Spirit when He describes the ministry of Jesus and quotes Isaiah 53:4, correctly translating it as "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses".
Peter, in his letter to the Church states in 1 Peter 2:24 that Jesus bore our sins in His own body on the tree (or cross) in order that we need not bear them. He ends it with the statement "by whose stripes you were healed".
In the context of this particular passage, commentators say that it would have been referring to spiritual healing. However, I would like to comment that without God, Man was spiritually dead to start with and you can't heal something that's already dead to begin with; it must be recreated anew.
In order to be reconciled to God, we have to be born again through the Spirit, as Jesus spoke to Nicodemus in John 3:3, and Peter confirmed by writing that we were born again through the Word of God (1 Pe 1:23). Therefore I believe Peter was writing that not only were we able to live a new life of not having to bear our sins, we could also live a life of not having to bear sicknesses or pain because Jesus already bore them for us!
This is a promise that we can stand on in regards to believing God for healing, that not only could we believe that all our sins were borne by Jesus upon the Cross, He also bore all our sicknesses and pain. Therefore we need not bear them because He already bore them!
Thursday, February 14, 2013
The Church - To Preach, Teach, and Heal!
Mark 16:15-18
15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
NKJV
My Comments:
Continuing from the previous post regarding hearing the Word of God in order that faith might come, we have Jesus' last command [The Great Commission] to His disciples before He ascended back to God. In His list of signs that would follow the person who believed; notice what He said, that "they [being the Believer, or Christian] will lay hands on the sick, and they [being the sick] will recover."
Based on the authority of the Word of God, what this should produce in the Christian is faith that when they pray for the sick, they can expect the person being prayed for to recover!
But also note that prior to Jesus talking about the signs that would come, He commanded His disciples to go preach the gospel everywhere. It was an exact replication of how He went about healing the sick! They were to preach and teach the gospel before healing the sick. They couldn't stir up the faith of the sick if the people didn't even know that they could be healed.
So likewise in today's environment, how much more the Church should be able to fulfill the Great Commission, preaching and teaching the gospel; and being able to produce faith in the hearers that they can be healed!
15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
NKJV
My Comments:
Continuing from the previous post regarding hearing the Word of God in order that faith might come, we have Jesus' last command [The Great Commission] to His disciples before He ascended back to God. In His list of signs that would follow the person who believed; notice what He said, that "they [being the Believer, or Christian] will lay hands on the sick, and they [being the sick] will recover."
Based on the authority of the Word of God, what this should produce in the Christian is faith that when they pray for the sick, they can expect the person being prayed for to recover!
But also note that prior to Jesus talking about the signs that would come, He commanded His disciples to go preach the gospel everywhere. It was an exact replication of how He went about healing the sick! They were to preach and teach the gospel before healing the sick. They couldn't stir up the faith of the sick if the people didn't even know that they could be healed.
So likewise in today's environment, how much more the Church should be able to fulfill the Great Commission, preaching and teaching the gospel; and being able to produce faith in the hearers that they can be healed!
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Come To Him, Hear And Be Healed!
Luke 5:15
15 However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.
NKJV
Rom 10:17
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
NKJV
My Comments:
Throughout the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke; it shows that when Jesus went about healing the sick, more often than always the healing ministry was preceded by Him teaching and preaching to the people. By doing so, it can be seen that He gave the sick faith that they could receive their healing.
Paul, in writing to the Church at Rome, wrote in Romans 10:17 that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Notice that it says "by hearing", not "by having heard". The conclusion that we must reach is that we have to keep going back to the Word of God for faith to come! If faith comes by hearing the Word, it can be concluded that the opposite can hold true, that faith goes by NOT hearing the Word! This principle will work in whatever area you have a need; whether it be financial, healing, spiritual, etc.
To qualify the above, it would help if you can dig deep into the Word of God for His promises concerning the issue that you're facing. I doubt that if you're have a health issue, that faith would come by you reading the entire book of Revelation concerning the Second Coming of Christ, though anything's possible.
In the very first book of the Bible, Genesis; the writer was inspired of God to mention that everything reproduces after its own kind, or type. An example of this would be that if you planted an apple seed, you'd expect an apple tree to grow, not an orange tree.
Jesus, in teaching His disciples, compared the Word as to seed (Mark 4:14), and our hearts being the ground that the Word (or seed) is sown in. Therefore by going on the principle that everything reproduces after its own kind, we can therefore conclude that if we want healing in our bodies, we'd best find God's promises concerning healing that we can base our faith on.
15 However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.
NKJV
Rom 10:17
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
NKJV
My Comments:
Throughout the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke; it shows that when Jesus went about healing the sick, more often than always the healing ministry was preceded by Him teaching and preaching to the people. By doing so, it can be seen that He gave the sick faith that they could receive their healing.
Paul, in writing to the Church at Rome, wrote in Romans 10:17 that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Notice that it says "by hearing", not "by having heard". The conclusion that we must reach is that we have to keep going back to the Word of God for faith to come! If faith comes by hearing the Word, it can be concluded that the opposite can hold true, that faith goes by NOT hearing the Word! This principle will work in whatever area you have a need; whether it be financial, healing, spiritual, etc.
To qualify the above, it would help if you can dig deep into the Word of God for His promises concerning the issue that you're facing. I doubt that if you're have a health issue, that faith would come by you reading the entire book of Revelation concerning the Second Coming of Christ, though anything's possible.
In the very first book of the Bible, Genesis; the writer was inspired of God to mention that everything reproduces after its own kind, or type. An example of this would be that if you planted an apple seed, you'd expect an apple tree to grow, not an orange tree.
Jesus, in teaching His disciples, compared the Word as to seed (Mark 4:14), and our hearts being the ground that the Word (or seed) is sown in. Therefore by going on the principle that everything reproduces after its own kind, we can therefore conclude that if we want healing in our bodies, we'd best find God's promises concerning healing that we can base our faith on.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
He Healed Them All
Matt 4:23-24
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.
24 Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.
NKJV
Acts 10:38
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
NKJV
My Comments:
In the passages above, the root word 'pas' is used repeatedly in reference to the word 'all'. It contains the following meanings: all (manner of, means), alway (-s), any (one), daily, ever, every (one, way), as many as, no (-thing), thoroughly, whatsoever, whole, whosoever.
What this tells us is that Jesus healed whatever kind of sickness that was present in His time. There was no sickness or disease beyond His ability to deal with! God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and He had Divine ability backing him in healing everyone who came to Him.
Not only that, it also says that He healed everyone who came to Him who had various sicknesses and disease! He had no racial bias towards healing only a specific group, the Bible says He healed them all! And it was a complete healing, He didn't leave anyone partially sick with a hope of full recovery!
The Bible also says that Jesus is still the same as He was yesterday, and as He will be tomorrow (Heb 13:8)! He never changes! This encourages us that as we go to the Father in the Name of Jesus, we can have confidence that what He did 2,000 years ago for those who were sick, He still does for us today!
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.
24 Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.
NKJV
Acts 10:38
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
NKJV
My Comments:
In the passages above, the root word 'pas' is used repeatedly in reference to the word 'all'. It contains the following meanings: all (manner of, means), alway (-s), any (one), daily, ever, every (one, way), as many as, no (-thing), thoroughly, whatsoever, whole, whosoever.
What this tells us is that Jesus healed whatever kind of sickness that was present in His time. There was no sickness or disease beyond His ability to deal with! God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and He had Divine ability backing him in healing everyone who came to Him.
Not only that, it also says that He healed everyone who came to Him who had various sicknesses and disease! He had no racial bias towards healing only a specific group, the Bible says He healed them all! And it was a complete healing, He didn't leave anyone partially sick with a hope of full recovery!
The Bible also says that Jesus is still the same as He was yesterday, and as He will be tomorrow (Heb 13:8)! He never changes! This encourages us that as we go to the Father in the Name of Jesus, we can have confidence that what He did 2,000 years ago for those who were sick, He still does for us today!
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