In this lesson, we will show you how to deal with a sick person for whom you are going to pray.
We are healed by acting upon the Word. The one who is sick must act upon the Word for his healing.
In my name…they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (Mark 16:17–18)
If you pray for him according to this Scripture, he must act upon the Word that he shall recover.
In order to do this, he must be convinced in his mind of the fact that it is God’s will to heal him. As long as a child of God has a doubt as to God’s will in healing, he will not be able to positively act upon the Word, declaring that he is healed.
So the first thing is to show him from the Word that it is God’s will to heal. In doing this, there are three things you must make clear:
- Sickness and disease have their origins in spiritual death.
- God’s attitude toward disease.
- How God has dealt with disease and the provision He has made for healing today.
THE ORIGIN OF DISEASE
Spiritual death, which entered the world by Adam’s disobedience to God, has been the soil out of which has grown the reign of disease over man’s body. If man had never died spiritually, his body would never have become subject to disease. Sin and disease are twins. They are both the works of Satan. Sin is a disease of the spirit; sickness is a disease of the body. They are not from God.
We can further see that sickness and disease originate in Satan by studying God’s attitude toward disease.
GOD’S ATTITUDE TOWARD DISEASE
We can best find out what God’s attitude is by studying the attitude of Christ, who came as the revealed will of God.
There are several instances where the attitude of Christ toward disease is clearly shown. One is found in Luke 13:10–17. On the Sabbath, after freeing a woman from an infirmity that she had had for eighteen years, Christ was criticized by the rulers of the synagogue.
His answer was, “Ought not this woman…whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?” (verse 16). He plainly stated that Satan was the cause of the infirmity that had bound her physical body.
Another incident is found in Luke 5:18–25. A man with palsy is brought to the Lord and Christ said to him, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee” (verse 20).
When the scribes and Pharisees questioned this statement, Christ replied, “What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?” (verses 22–23).
In reality, Christ is saying, “Which is easier? What is the difference? To forgive sins that are the result of spiritual death, or to heal the disease of the physical body, which is also the result of spiritual death?” In either case, Christ was dealing with Satan’s lordship over man.
Read Matthew 8:16–17 and Mark 1:32–34. This shows that it must have been God’s will to heal, for Christ healed all who came to Him.
HOW GOD DEALT WITH DISEASE IN REDEMPTION
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. (Hebrews 2:14)
Since disease is Satan’s work in man, if God is to destroy the works of Satan, He must deal with disease. He must provide a redemption for the body of man from disease as well as for the spirit from sin. God shows us in His Word clearly that He has made provision for the healing of man’s body.
In Isaiah 53, the Holy Spirit has given to us a glimpse of what took place within the spirit of Christ when He was on the cross.
Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains—he hath carried them, And we—we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and afflicted. And he is pierced for our transgressions, Bruised for our iniquities, The chastisement of our peace [is] on him, And by his bruise there is healing to us. All of us like sheep have wandered, Each to his own way we have turned, And Jehovah hath caused to meet on him, The punishment of us all. (Isaiah 53:4–6 YLT)
God’s Word reveals to us that when God made Jesus sin, He made Him to bear our disease and pain, which were also the products of spiritual death. At the same time that God laid upon Him our iniquity, He laid upon Him our diseases and pains, and because of His being bruised, by His bruising, we are healed from the power of disease.
Christ bore our sins and the penalty that we might be free from sin, its power, and its judgment. Upon the same ground, He bore our diseases and pain. He carried them that we might be set free, that we need not bear them. God made Him to be our sin-bearer and our sickness-bearer. Him who knew no sin was made sin and Him who knew no sickness was made sickness.
Christ’s ministry upon the earth was twofold, constantly affecting the souls and bodies of men. His death was twofold, bearing our sins and diseases. He is the same today, and the twofold ministry of blessing for soul and body has continued from His earthly ministry to the present time.
He bore man’s spiritual death that he might have life, and in His Word, He made provision for man’s salvation. He bore man’s diseases and in His Word, He made provision for man’s healing.
In the commission He gave to His disciples to a world for whom He had died, He showed that the twofold ministry was to continue.
First, the commission is to meet the spiritual need of man: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:15). Then comes the second part of that commission, where He meets the need in man’s body: “In my name…they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:17–18).
Our right to the healing purchased for us in His redemption has been given to us in the authority of His name. This is what you must show to the individual before you pray for him. When he understands that healing is his to the extent that he will be able to act upon the Word of God, God will confirm His Word in his life as He confirmed it in the days of the apostles.
QUESTIONS
- Why must a child of God know that it is God’s will to heal him?
- Explain the fact that disease did not come from God.
- Give and explain several instances that reveal how Christ looked upon disease.
- How has God dealt with disease?
- What provision has God made for man’s healing today?