Hi Everyone,
I am going out of town soon so this will be the last post until I return; the next post will be on November 16th.
This week the “Wednesday’s Words to Live By” includes a partial review of God’s grace teaching; the Scripture is from Deuteronomy 7:15a:
New International Version (NIV): “The LORD will keep you free from every disease.”
English Standard Version (ESV): “And the LORD will take away from you all sickness.”
New Living Translation (NLT) - Isaiah 53:5: “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.”
New Living Translation (NLT): “And the Lord will protect you from all sickness.”
***All Scripture is taken from www.biblegateway.com***
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Deuteronomy 7:15a was a prophecy of what was going to happen. I like all the versions above but I think the ESV corresponds best with Isaiah 53:5: Jesus was beaten (Dictionary.com’s definition of beaten is: to strike violently or forcefully and repeatedly) so we could be whole (Dictionary.com’s definition of whole is: total; entire or complete sum; altogether; every part, member, aspect) - nothing, missing, nothing broken, nothing lacking in our lives; to walk in total peace with God, the peace Jesus gave us in John 14:27; the peace that Paul talks about in Phil 4:7: “...which exceeds anything we can understand." His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. God’s peace will open the door for His grace and power to flow (“How to Live in Peace All The Time” by Dr. Larry Hutton).
Also, Jesus was whipped (Dictionary.com’s definition of whipped is: to beat with a strap, lash, rod, or the like, especially by way of punishment or chastisement; flog; trash) so we could be healed.
Since this already has happened, we are already healed! I am going to take the other two versions above and combine them together with the first version to make a declaration of what Jesus has already done (you can use this as a daily declaration): Jesus will take away from me ALL sickness, protect me from ALL sickness, and keep me free from ALL diseases. According to dictionary.com, here are the definitions for sickness and disease; they are not the same:
- Sickness – the condition of being ill; ill health
- Disease - a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, posions, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavorable environmental factors
No matter what the cause of sickness or disease, Jesus has already conquered the cause and bore OUR sickness and disease in His own body; they have no legal right to touch our body!! I am not denying the sickness or disease but I am denying them a right to live in my body or touch my body because Jesus has already bore every sickness, every disease, every pain and everything else (including negative emotions) that would ever attack us! Negative emotions (stress, anger, anxiety, bitterness, unforgiveness, fear, effects from abuse, etc.) will keep us from walking in the peace of God which will also have a reaction on our bodies. As Dr. Hutton said in his teaching on “How to Live In Peace All The Time:”
“Faith never denies reality, faith changes it!”
God wanted us well! Healed! Whole! Jesus did just that; again, He took all sicknesses and diseases away from us – I cannot stress that enough. He said “It is finished!” Therefore, it is finished! When these things come to us, we must take our shield of faith and quench those fiery darts and keep quenching them until they leave! Don’t get weary; God is faithful and He will do what He says He will do! Trust Him and believe when you speak to every mountain, they will move.
Sickness, disease, or any other plague has no legal right to be on or in our bodies and we must not allow it to remain. We are already healed and God’s healing grace keeps our healing in place. Isaiah 53:4 said, “Jesus carried our weakness...,” weakness here means, disease and sickness. Therefore if Jesus has already carried our diseases and sicknesses in His body, why do we need to carry them in ours? We don’t! The enemy is going around AS a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour; he is looking for someone, anyone to steal, kill and destroy them by any means necessary – but this will not work! Remember, he is a created being just like we are and he is NOT greater than God and he DOES NOT have more power than God Almighty; the Creator of the universe and ALL living creatures!! Psalms 24:1-2 says:
1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. 2 For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths” (NLT).
Romans 8:26-27 says: 26 “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will” (NLT).
God is saying today to us what He told Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is all you need; My power works best in weakness” (NLT). God told Paul this after he asks God three times to remove his thorn in the flesh. After God did not remove the thorn, Paul finally got the revelation of what God had said because in verses 9-10, Paul said: 9 “So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (NLT).
Jesus has healed us because of God’s grace! What is grace? It is much, much more than God’s unmerited favor. According to seekgod.org’s web site, “Grace is an undeserved free gift, undeserved favor, and undeserved love. Only through Jesus Christ we are offered grace, a free gift. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8). God has already given us His grace for healing! He loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die so we could live! We must accept Jesus to activate our grace! We cannot have grace without Him!
We must grow in the grace that God has given; if we do not know we have grace or do not know what it is, grace will not do us any good. 2 Peter 3:18 tell us to grow in grace: “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen” (KJV).
How do we grow in grow? We grow in grace by transforming our minds to the truth of God’s Word. We must know God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and by knowing the Trinity, we will know what our inheritance is; what our covenant benefits are. Until our minds are transformed to what Jesus HAS done, we cannot receive our healing grace. Once our minds are transformed, we will be able to receive and apply the Word of God, which is health to our flesh, to every circumstance and situation in our lives (Proverbs 4:22).
Your thought life can nullify God’s healing grace in your life. It’s not that God’s healing grace is not present to heal in your life, it’s just you cannot receive because of your thinking. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.”
Let’s embrace the grace of God, not only for healing, but His full grace that He has provided for us through His Son Jesus! Again, we do this by renewing our minds to what His Word says and believe what Jesus has already completed for us.
Now also, the Holy Spirit is living inside of us, comforting us, teaching us, so we cannot lose! All we have to do is not allow our bodies or any other situation or circumstance cause us to waver in our faith! God’s grace IS sufficient for us!
Shalom,
Dr. Hooks
“Healer by Kari Jobe”
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