GOD'S PRESCRIPTION FOR HEALING

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 – “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

“But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.”

Deuteronomy 32:46-47 – “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you – they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

The words Moses spoke in these passages are God’s prescription for holiness and wholeness:

• love the LORD your God
• walk in His ways
• keep His commands, decrees and laws

 
God laid it out in very simple, easy-to-understand instructions that anyone could follow. He also included the beneficial side effects we would experience as we followed His prescription: 

• you will live and increase (Strong’s 2421 – eternal life, restoration of life and health, quickened from sickness, discouragement, faintness, death)
• the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess (this is the promise of our inheritance)
• you and your children may live (Strong’s 2421)
• you may love the LORD your God (promise of relationship with Him)
• you may listen to His voice (promise of communion/intimacy with Him)
• you may hold fast to Him (Strong’s 1692 - relentlessly pursue Him) having the promise of His ever present protection and provision)

God was saying that a life of wholeness comes out of an intimate relationship with Him. When we are in relationship with Him, we obey Him because we love Him. The benefits are not only for us, individually, but they will also be for our children. When we follow God’s prescription, our children are also inheritors of every promise God has made in His Word.

Unfortunately, every time these prescriptions were given to a succeeding  generation, they chose not to follow them. Instead, they rejected God, disregarded His Word, and disobeyed His ways, choosing to live a life of self-effort, a life of indulgence, and a life “free” of the boundaries God set in place for our protection. The consequences or side effects of disobedience are also listed in this passage:

• you will certainly be destroyed (Strong’s 6 – perish, vanish, be blotted out, done away with), i.e., without hope, eternally separated from God
• you will not live long (Strong’s 748 - continue, endure, survive)
• your children will be under a curse (implied) (cut off from eternal life, with no hope of restoration or quickening, i.e., a negative inheritance)

Just as the blessings affected our lives, our relationships, and our children, so also, the curses follow the same pattern. The history of mankind is the story of the degradation of God’s highest form of creation as man chose to live not out of his spirit, but out of his soul and his flesh. The presence of sickness, disease and infirmity are indicators that we have not followed His prescribed treatment.

Healing occurs when we choose to follow God’s prescriptive counsel, carefully practicing His instructions wholeheartedly with all of our heart (innermost part) and our mind, will and emotions (our soul). When we choose otherwise, we give satan the legal right to use everything in his power to divide and destroy our soul – our identity, and the purpose for which God created us - our destiny.

In his address to the nation of Israel, Moses offered the people a choice; the choice they made would have consequences that would affect every part of them – spirit, soul and body, both individually and corporately - as well as their descendants! The right choice would result in life and prosperity; the wrong choice would result in death and destruction.

The choices offered to Israel are the same choices God offers to us today. To receive the healing God desires to give us we must make some choices.

• The first step forward in the inner healing process is we must choose God’s plan of redemption through Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:9 - That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
 
Healing is a benefit God has provided for those who belong to Him. Psalm 103:2-3 - Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.  Healing is released when we are in relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and have received the wisdom and understanding that come to us through His Holy Spirit.

When we have a true conversion experience, at that moment, all our sins are forgiven and the guilt of our sin is removed from us as far away as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). At that moment, we are justified – in God’s eyes - as though we had never sinned and we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The condemnation (fear of punishment) that sin brought into our lives has been dealt with through the blood of Jesus; but the consequences of that sin – the default programming tendencies to sin that we inherited and practiced - have not been dealt with.  That is why we need the Holy Spirit who will guide us through a process called sanctification – where He transforms us by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). The process of sanctification is an ongoing process and will not be complete until we stand before Jesus in heaven.

• The second step forward in the inner healing process is that we must choose to receive and appropriate (to take exclusive possession of) the healing that is available to us through God’s Word, and allow the truth of God’s Word to renew our mind so we think and speak about ourselves differently.

We can no longer wallow in or practice negativity – in our thoughts, in how we speak about ourselves or others, or in how we relate to God. When we speak negative words over ourselves, we are denying the truth of God’s Word and we are failing to appropriate the healing and wholeness God has already made available to us. The only way we fully appropriate the healing God has made available to us is to declare it, receive it, and then walk in it, choosing not to go back to the old way of thinking and the old patterns of behavior.

• The third step forward in the inner healing process is that we must choose to put into practice what we have learned; and we must persevere in the truth we have received especially when doubt and unbelief threaten to strip us of our wholeness.

We must expect the enemy to challenge our new-found freedom, and we must be alert, watchful and ready to wield every tool and weapon we have at our disposal against the enemy of our soul for as long as it takes – even to the end of the age. That is the definition of “long-suffering” (endurance). Long–suffering is a Fruit of the Spirit and it is available to us because He lives in us!

How do we cooperate with the Holy Spirit to hold fast the healing we have received in our spirit, soul and body?

James 4:7 – Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

We’ve learned that the first tool we have at our disposal is “I submit my will, my rights, and all control to the Lord Jesus Christ.” That declaration sends shock waves through the unseen realm because when we declare that Jesus is our Lord, satan is already staggering backwards. Unfortunately, too many Christians practice resisting God and in so doing, they submit to the devil. Rather than calling the devil out as the liar he is, they agree with his strategies and then wonder why they are not healed or whole. (See my blog posting for October 2018 called “If God is Willing to Heal Me – Why Am I Still Sick?”)

We’ve also learned that we have a powerful and effective tool in the truth of the Word of God. Resisting the devil is accomplished when we use the truth against every one of his lies - every time he lies to us. We have an example to follow.

Matthew 3:17 – And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Immediately after Jesus baptism and public ordination at the Jordan River, he was “led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1)

God is a God of intentionality. He does nothing except what is for our good, and there is always a Divine purpose in the temptation. God knows that satan will take advantage of every opportunity he is given. In this passage, we see that satan was quick to take the bait: he attacked Jesus when he was physically weakened in an attempt to steal Jesus identity (what the Father had just said about Him) and His destiny. We can expect satan will attack us in our minds with his accusations, insinuations, lies, and temptations when we are at our weakest point – physically, mentally and emotionally.

Instead of wallowing in uncertainty, however, Jesus chose to put His full faith and trust in His Father; and to believe and declare what His Father said about Him. Jesus knew His Father was just waiting to show the devil who He would be for Jesus that day. When we choose to believe what God has said about us, we can expect the Father to show up for us in the same way and refute every lie satan has tried to plant in our minds.

We occupy the same position and possess the same promises Jesus received from His Father because we are co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17) and we have been raised up with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6). The devil is a defeated foe; we are already victorious in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57).

We have been given the same weapon Jesus used: the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). Because we are in Christ, we should operate out of the same level of trust in our Heavenly Father that Jesus demonstrated; we should have the same expectation Jesus did that God will always do what is best for us; and then we should do what Jesus did: He resisted every attempt of the devil to draw His attention away from who He was (His identity) and what His Father had promised to Him as His inheritance (His destiny).

Now is the time to choose healing and wholeness as your new normal! Now is the time to step into all that God has prepared for you, armed with the weapons and tools He has made available to you, so that you may begin to tear down every stronghold the enemy has constructed in your soul and walk in the fullness of Divine healing - in your spirit, in your soul, and in your body!

Be healed in Jesus Name!
Linda

(c)2019 Linda Sue Harper