Recently I have read the following words in one of the Christian groups: «Apostle Paul lost his faith when he left the sick Trophimus in Miletus (an island in Malta), also when Epaphroditus was ill close to death for his ministry in Christ»; «the believers in Corinth had little faith, because many of them were weak and ill, and many died». These words motivated me to write in short about physical illnesses of the believers. The topic is really actual and wide.
I believe that the basic reason of our illnesses is the demonic attacks (spiritual pressure caused by Satan). God didn’t create Adam sick, crippled or with allergy. But illnesses came together with Devil. And I discard all these stories that God allows illnesses into our life in order to test us, or to punish us, or to purify us.
I can testify about my own life in Christ that illnesses came to me many times. One of them was a part of my life for 10 years, when I was a believer already. But God’s promise definitely tells us that we are healed by His wounds! We believe this truth, and we stick to it no matter if we take medicine or not. At this I want to add that Devil is not going to step back as long as we live on earth and he also knows about God’s promises and is going to attack us with illnesses all the same. I am far from reproaching a believer who has been sick for many years or who has died in Christ that he was short of faith for healing. I knew a christian woman who died in a car accident in spite of the fact that she was quite of age and was a believer for a long time already and didn’t have illnesses. At this she was struck by car when returning home after a Sunday church service. That is, when it goes about healing, not everything depends on our faith or on doctors. But everything depends on our devotion to Jesus and His plans.
EХAMPLE. A sister-minister from another church asked me to pray with fasting for the healing of her sister, who was close to death from cancer. I asked her to tell me the story of her illness. And she told me that earlier God had healed her from cancer and that she witnessed about it from the church stage. A thought came to my mind to talk personally to her sister. And while we talked I explained to her that a stage testimony was not enough to thank Jesus for her healing (Mark 10:52). Such a miracle must be followed by life full of devotion to Jesus and His Gospel (Mark 10:52 to follow Jesus), by separation from the world for ministry to God. God returned her life having healed her for His own purposes. He does everything for His purposes in spite of the fact that sometimes it may seem to us that somebody has too much of His mercy and grace in his or her life. That is, nobody explained to her in the church where she witnessed, that she must now fully dedicate her life to Jesus. In the end I told her that if she decided to do it right now, I would gladly agree to help her in her needs. She told me she realized what I was trying to tell her, and that she needed to think it over. We prayed about her healing, and asked God to reveal to her what it means — real devotion to Him. I waited for her call, but she never called me. In a month she died. It was her personal choice. I’ll ask you a question: «What do you think: does God have many active disciples nowadays?» I will give you the answer: «He is very short of them!» And if this woman took a decision to devote her life to Jesus, would He have healed her again? Or doesn’t He have enough power to do it again? But God refused to do it seeing her heart. There was no devotion in it. This situation shows that initially God healed this woman «in advance» just because of His mercy, but after that, in order to oppose the demon who brought cancer into her life, she had to radically devote her life to God and prove this devotion in everything she did after that. But all she had done was simply glorifying God for this healing, while she continued to live simply for her family, children, grandchildren.. It wasn’t God who sent her cancer again, it was Devil who returned to the empty house and found it clean and cozy. Just think how many believers lose their healing because they don’t want to radically devote all their lives to Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are healed and they continue to live in freedom, but they live just for themselves, not for Jesus, and as a result they lose their healing or their freedom.
For the period of my Christianity I was ill for many times, and illnesses continue to attack me. And it often seems I am close to death. But while I continue to follow Jesus, the illnesses walk away somehow, though not forever. So all our life in Christ is full of fight and full of devilish attacks. But the good news is that we are on the side of the Winner! Halleluiah!
We shall not discuss the recipes for healing. This is the subject of another sermon. But the fact is evident — illnesses are going to attack you in your life and ministry. Devil invented nothing new. Attacks through finances, illnesses or relatives with children are his regular and never-changing weapons. And the bigger is the ministry, the more fierce are his attacks. This is the reason why many people don’t feel like devoting themselves to God — because they know they’ll have to fight a lot..
We shall not speak about sin or refusal to forgive other people — which results in illnesses. Crushing the expectations of some confessions which are bathing in these «revelation», we shall not waste time on this because the days are very short. They are endlessly trying to make a sick brother or sister repent of his or her sins and in fact this is a waste of time.
I remember when illness came in an instant without any reason. I was fighting it, confessing God’s promises, crushing the works of the Devil, but all the same I was suffering from this illness. I heard versions that God put somebody to bad in order to snatch him (or her) out of this fussy life, in order to speak to him or her. I will say, that God can do whatever He likes to! But I didn’t have such experience in my life. So we shall not waste time to regard such situations. So I want to sum it up: «Through Jesus Christ we have access to healing from each and every illness!» For by His wounds we are healed! Amen!
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