Some Christians are in the habit of compromising their faith, especially when they get unexpectedly afflicted by the devil with an ailment or sickness.
They will profess to believe in the promises of God for healing, when everything seems to be well with them; but as soon as the enemy’s attack begins, they will start acting more and more like the unbelievers.
For example, if the enemy strikes them with something like a slight headache, they will first of all take their medication or pay a visit to the doctor’s office, before remembering to stand on the authority that they do possess in the name of Jesus against it.
Whatever they had been confessing several times about their faith for healing disappears immediately from their mouth. They will start considering their feelings, instead of keeping up with the confession of their faith for healing.
This is because they are more focused on the headache itself, than on God’s promises of healing for their body, from the onset of the attack from the enemy. The headache itself is a spiritual attack that needs to be dealt with by the Spirit and the promises of God.
However, their unrenewed mind has been mechanically trained to react to such attacks like the people of the world. The Christian who is standing in his position of authority over sicknesses and diseases, draws from the deposits of the Holy Spirit in his life, to dislodge every attack of the enemy against him.
We do acknowledge that we are living in an increasingly sensual and emotional world. A world that ploys on the feelings of people by determining for them, what is scientifically, socially, culturally and politically correct for them to do on every occasion.
But for us as the people of God the Bible remains the only solid foundation for everything in this world.
Feelings will constantly change and keep on evolving, for as long as we are living in the physical body.
Everyone on the earth has one or another form of opinion or understanding of various types of feelings concerning all things. It’s however not everyone on the earth who does have the Spirit of God within them, so as to be able to make sound spiritual judgments, about the will of God for their lives when they are sick.
The devil uses the feelings of men to manipulate them into making sensual decisions about their lives, without the opportunity to even consider what God’s word says about such decisions.
And if their mind is not being constantly renewed with the word of God, it might be too late for them to revoke such decisions when their lives are in danger. Many people all over the world do die every day as a result of this.
We all make daily decisions about food and about our health that does affect our lives. People do get sick because of what they are saying concerning their physical body or their health. Words are very powerful and important.
Everything we are observing around us can be easily judged with the mind. And everyone on the earth can do that, whether or not they are Christians.
But to be able to make spiritual decisions especially about the healing and health of the body, the mind must be brought down to the obedience of Christ for us as Christians (2 Corinthians 10:5).
And this is where many Christians are missing it. The mind that is not being renewed with the promises of God, will react to the spiritual attacks of the enemy in the body based on feelings, sights or smell. But a spiritual man will react spiritually, because he knows that such things do not affect the things of the spirit.
As the Apostle Paul once said:
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.”
Romans 8:5-7 NIV
A carnal mind is concerned about feelings, sights and smells. Those are the things that causes such a person to be reacting in the flesh like the unsaved people of the world.
But a spiritual man who is mindful of the things of the spirit acknowledges such concerns, but also realizes that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus dominates over them (Romans 8:2).
It’s important to note the use of the phrase “the mind governed by the Spirit” in relation to the spiritual man who has already renewed his mind. His mind has gone through the process of transformation, so as to be aligned with the spirit of the inner man within him that is already born of the Spirit of God.
Paul said again:
“But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
I Corinthians 2:15-16 NKJV
The spiritual man judges all things with his renewed mind and by his spirit that is born of God.
This is how such a person is able to discern if a sickness has spiritual underlying causes or not. A spiritual man has been trained to discern the mind of Christ in all situations.
We can observe from the healing miracles of Jesus, that He would often first address the demonic oppression situation, which had caused sicknesses in people before healing them. And in all of such situations as soon as the demons are casted out, the sick people recovered fully from their ailments.
The devil is very tricky. He uses demonic oppression to make the body sick. And he will often do it without impunity when it comes to Christians.
Now, let me get this straightened out for anyone without understanding. A Christian is not and cannot be possessed by demons. A Christian has to be possessed by the Holy Spirit, so that his life can be led by the Holy Spirit.
However, the devil can still use demonic oppression to apply pressure on the physical body of any Christian, so as to make him sick, especially if he doesn’t know how to do spiritual warfare in warding off such demonic oppression from the devil.
This is because it is only the spirit of the man that has received Jesus Christ as the Lord of his life. The mind and the body are still the same, but will need to be transformed, after that spiritual encounter with Jesus.
But unfortunately, it’s not every Christian who is born of the Spirit of God, that are actually being transformed into the image of Christ, by the Spirit and the living word of God. Many do not often go beyond that spiritual encounter with Jesus of being born again.
The devil sees that as an opening into their lives. So, he afflicts their physical body with ailments or sicknesses, in his quest to make them to renounce Christ.
That’s why it’s important for us as Christians to constantly be renewing the mind with the word of God, because we believe in Christ with the heart, but the mind is not capable of going through such spiritual experience. The mind needs to be renewed after getting born again of the Spirit of God.
The mind that is constantly being renewed with the word of God, is able to deal with demonic oppression before it can affect the body so as to make it sick.
This implies that we should be alert in the mind and in the spirit, so as to be able to deal with the devil more effectively. As the Apostle Peter once advised us:
“Be well balanced and always alert, because your enemy, the devil, roams around incessantly, like a roaring lion looking for its prey to devour. Take a decisive stand against him and resist his every attack with strong, vigorous faith. For you know that your believing brothers and sisters around the world are experiencing the same kinds of troubles you endure.”
1 Peter 5:8-9 TPT
Our initial reaction to the attacks of the devil matters a lot. If you’re reacting like the people of the world, it is because your mind had not yet been renewed to be established on the promises of God for your life.
You may have the knowledge of those promises for your healing, but you are not yet established in them, through the process of the renewal of the mind.
The good news is that God can still work with you on the level of your faith. He will work with whatever you are making available for Him to heal your body.
If it’s in the doctor that you do have faith for God to use in healing you, then be sure that you are praying for that doctor very well. Pray that the Lord will give him the wisdom to be able to make the best decision about your situation. God can work through the doctors also to heal you, if you’re praying for them.
And if you do have faith in the prescription medications, be sure that you are praying over those medications before taking them. Pray that they will not have any negative effect on your body system.
Every time before you take any medication pray over it, believing in your heart that it will work only to do what you are saying with your mouth to it in prayer.
You have the power over your body and the medication. You can use your faith with words to direct the course of the medication in your body system. But be sure to pray in the name of Jesus.
I can recollect the testimony of a young man who did this. One day the Lord instructed him in a dream to stop taking certain medications. He was directed by the Lord in the dream to be taking more bed rest instead.
Immediately he realized that he had been working too hard, and not getting enough sleep. He knew immediately that his bad sleeping habit was what brought the sickness on him. So, he started doing as the Lord had directed him to be doing.
On his next visit to his doctor, he was surprised that the doctor confirmed, what the Lord had instructed him already to be doing. The doctor informed him that he was going to take him completely off the prescription medication. And there was no need for him to be seeing the doctor again.
Yes, God can work with the doctors, if that is what you have faith for in healing you. But you will have to put your faith in it, for Him to work through them.
A lot of people will not do anything with their faith, as they are following their doctor’s orders. They are relying on their unrenewed mind to use only, what medical science says without their faith in God to heal them.
In most cases such people are ending up with underlying side effects from taking their prescription medications. This often complicates their ailments for them.
The mind needs to be renewed, so as not to be reacting soulishly to the attacks of the devil. The devil wants you to react with your feelings and the unrenewed mind to what he is doing to make you sick, but you have to resist him with faith filled spoken words, in affirming the promises of God for your healing.
The Bible informed us about a man who once had leprosy. He had approached Jesus with a question about his healing.
This man was not even sure if it was God’s will for him to be healed. He had approached Jesus with what was on his mind about his unique situation, since no one was supposed to touch him at all. He must had been thinking that if Jesus was doing such numerous outstanding miracles, He should be able to heal him also.
That of course is not how faith in God works. What he had asked Jesus to do for him is exactly the attitude of many religious people today, to the healing ministry of Jesus. They like to ask God to heal them, if it’s His will for them to be healed.
Of course it’s God’s will to heal the sick. This leper had told Jesus:
“ .. Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Matthew 8:2b NKJV
The Bible says about Jesus’ response to the man:
“Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”
Matthew 8:3 NKJV
Most religious skeptics today will not even consider the response of Jesus to this leper – “I am willing.”.
To them Jesus will heal the sick, if it’s in His will to heal them. And sometimes they will say that He does not heal anymore. That’s what an unrenewed religious mind will often say about the healing ministry of Jesus.
One touch from Jesus healed this leper, even though it was against the law for Jesus to had touched the man with leprosy on his body.
Do you believe that you are healed once hands had been laid for you to be healed?
Many Christians do believe that God’s word settles everything for them. But when that very word of God comes to test them, they are not different in behavior from the people of the world.
They have a struggle going on within the mind, which many of them have not been able to overcome. They do have faith in God for many other things that are scriptural, but they are not exercising their faith at all for their bodily healing.
The struggle of your mind and your spirit.
These people are not different from the Israelites, when the Prophet Elijah confronted them about the worship of Baal, by asking them:
“ .. How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.”
1 Kings 18:21 NLT
The word “hobbling” as used in the New Living Translation suggests the exact spiritual situation in Israel at the time. They were struggling in between two public opinions about the worship of God and Baal.
To “hobble” for a sick Christian suggests a struggle in between the opinion of the doctor and the promises of God.
Israel was having a severe famine at the time. Yet it’s amazing to note how they responded to the word of the Prophet, who was being used by the Lord to deliver them.
They were in pain as a nation and when God’s word of healing and deliverance came to them, they had chosen to remain silent. They had chosen a wait and see approach in response to the word of the Prophet of God.
Many people who are sick in the world today are just like these Israelites in their attitude towards divine healing.
They are hobbling in between what the mind is telling them to do in response to being healed, and what they do believe within the heart.
They are in pain, but they have decided to exhibit a wait and see attitude towards the word of healing and deliverance from the Lord.
Therefore, they are not getting healed because their mind is not being renewed by the word of God.
They do have a knowledge of the promises of God concerning healing. But just because those promises are stored up in the brain, does not necessarily mean that the mind is tapping into them to be renewed.
In most cases the mindset of these Christians has been trained to believe in the word, that their unrenewed minds had stored up before they got saved.
There is an enemy’s stronghold that still has to be dealt with in their lives, so that they can begin to think, talk and act like God for their spoken words to manifest healing for them.
When a man is struggling between two opinions, his mouth may be confessing the promises of God, but the stronghold of his mind is preventing those words, to manifest the power of God in his life.
The stronghold of the enemy in such a Christian has to be brought down to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-6); for him to be able to start exercising his faith with power, so as to be healed.
This requires a transformation by the renewal of the mind in God’s word for that believer in Christ Jesus.
As the Apostle Paul said in the Passion Translation of the Bible:
“Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.”
Romans 12:2 TPT
A Christian who is “imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around” him, is already “squeezed in” to believe and act in the thinking mold of that world’s culture.
Whatever the ideals and opinions of that culture says is more important to this person than what the Bible says.
There are Christians today like that, who are believing more in the opinions of others about their sicknesses, based on what they are reading on the internet and from the social media.
They are not even considering their doctor’s opinion or what the Bible says about their situation. They are comparing their situation with the personal experiences of others on the internet and the social media. Their faith in God’s word has therefore been rendered powerless to heal them.
You can’t be transformed through biblical meditation to be healed, if you are not going to allow God’s word to renew your mind, away from that opinion and cultural mold system.
A Christian must be willing to be transformed by the word of God. This is how God is able to pour of Himself into his life. Everything that God does on the earth is through His word.
The process of healing is therefore spiritual and not temporal. It’s not of this world. The healing of the body is something that the unrenewed mind of man can never be able to grasp, so as to be able to comprehend it. We need to have faith in God to be able to possess healing for the body.
And faith is always now, just as healing is always now (Hebrews 11:1).
Faith in God does not call things as they are appearing physically before us. Faith sees into the spirit world and brings the things of that world where God is, into physical manifestation as we keep on saying what the word of God says about the situation.
You may probably not be feeling better in the body initially, but faith does not operate in accordance with your feelings.
Faith is only moved by what God’s word says. It calls what is seen in the spiritual realm into the physical realm.
You may sound monotonous to yourself as you are doing this initially. But your faith is still working, even though you’re not seeing anything in the physical.
As you continue in this way there will come a time, when your faith will get to the tipping point, before overflowing into physical manifestation.
There is a tipping point in the process of renewing the mind with the word of God, when faith will kick in and things will begin to change. And it’s important for us as Christians not to miss that moment.
A lot of people often quit before their faith gets to the tipping point. They will meditate on God’s promises for a few days, and then they will quit meditating without reaching that tipping point.
The tipping point for faith to kick in is the moment when you will know that you are already healed, and nothing can ever change it.
You may not see anything changing at that point physically, but you do know within yourself that you have it already.
The woman with the issue of blood knew about this moment. The Bible says about her that:
“When she heard about Jesus’ healing power, she pushed through the crowd and came up from behind him and touched his prayer shawl. For she kept saying to herself, “If I could touch even his clothes, I know I will be healed.””
Mark 5:27-28 TPT
She had heard about the healing power in Jesus. That was how faith came to her to be healed. She had heard about what God was doing through Christ Jesus to heal the sick.
But what she had heard was not enough for her to have had faith for healing without exercising it. That was why “she kept on saying to herself”.
Whatever you keep saying to yourself is what you are exercising faith for. If you keep on saying what the world around you is saying about your situation, that’s what you are going to get. If you keep on saying what God’s word says, that is what you will have.
As Jesus said:
“For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”
Mark 11:23 NKJV
The faith of this woman got to that tipping point moment, as she eventually got the opportunity to do exactly what her faith had been saying.
She eventually touched the end of the prayer shawl that was on Jesus, and immediately power was released to heal her.
I do remember the testimony of a woman who had been sick of paralysis for over twelve years. She had heard about a miracle crusade that was coming up in her town. She had kept on saying to herself that, if she would be able to get herself to the crusade she would be healed.
The moment when her son got her into the meeting hall changed everything for her. She started feeling her hands and her toes.
And just before the Preacher could begin to preach at the crusade, she got out of the wheelchair and started walking, and later running around the hall to the amazement of everyone.
Her faith got to the tipping point as soon as she got inside the hall. She had done what she had been telling herself that she was going to do.
From that moment onwards the Spirit of God and her faith joined forces together for her healing to start manifesting. No one prayed for her to be healed, but she was completely healed.
As you keep on saying the same thing over and over again, your spiritual eye will become opened to begin to see your body as being healed.
It’s important not to be calling things as you are seeing them physically during that time. Faith calls those things that be not as though they are (Hebrews 11:3).
Start proclaiming that you’re healed!
If you take a look at every promise of God about healing in the scriptures, you will observe that they are always in the past tense. They are never in the future tense.
Why is it so? Well, God is not going to heal you. He had already healed you by the stripes of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 53:3 and 1 Peter 2:24).
All that is needed for you to do is to be exercising your faith for healing.
We release our faith through proclamation to possess what had been given to us by God. Faith works through proclamation, as we keep on saying the same thing that is believed with the heart.
That’s how we are able to take hold of everything that belongs to us in Christ Jesus. You can’t stay quiet to possess your possessions from God. The devil does not want you to proclaim what you believe with your heart. And that includes your healing.
Faith in the promises of God is not tangible, for the unrenewed mind to be able to relate with it. That’s the spiritual truth about the living faith. The mind is however susceptible to feelings, taste, smell or sight:
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
II Corinthians 5:7 NKJV
Faith operates in and from the realm of the spirit. That’s why you must allow your faith in God’s word to transcend what’s on your mind, so as to heal you.
A lot of people do believe in healing for as long as they can relate with it physically, rather than in the spirit. They want to see themselves healed before they can believe in healing. Their faith is based on what they are seeing.
However, what you had learned from the world around you, can become the biggest stumbling block for your healing miracle. If you’re leaning more towards the culture of the world to be living like them, it will become the biggest hindrance to your faith.
We are living in a world that is so reliant on material things. The world around us is materialistic and constantly changing.
And faith is of the spirit realm. So, you do need the spirit man in you to be able to live by faith.
There is nothing permanent on this earth. The only thing that is permanent and does has the ability to change everything else, is your faith in God.
The ungodly people around you don’t and can’t see or perceive the world of the Spirit of faith, from where God’s power flows to heal you.
They don’t and can’t understand why you have to be proclaiming the same thing over and over again. It’s something that they can’t relate to. It’s something that is not tangible to them because of their lack of faith in God.
That’s why the word of God about healing has to be preached for them to have faith to be healed.
It’s the only way that faith can come to them, for them to be able to believe in healing (Romans 10:17).
When you want people to believe in healing, you have to proclaim it, for them to hear it and believe in it.
A Christian cannot be living like the ungodly people of the world, while proclaiming God’s promises of healing, and still expect God’s power to flow through that proclamation.
That’s why we were commanded to come out of the world and be separated to the Lord.
Your spirit man must take charge and become the master over your soul and your physical body, for the power of God to be able to flow in healing you. This is how you can effectively ward off the influences from the belief system of this world.
Unfortunately for many people of God today their spirit man has become the prisoner of their unrenewed mind. The voice of the spirit man within them is speaking, but they can’t hear anything. The voice of their mind speaks louder than the voice of their born-again spirit man to them.
When you are facing a serious health problem, it’s therefore important that your spirit man takes mastery control of the situation.
You need to be hearing from God and hearing Him clearly. Your mind has the tendency to control your decision-making process, at that time of the problem.
But there is an inner witness within your spirit man, that will always nudge you towards the perfect will of God.
And at that critical moment you’ll have to be listening for that inner witness. It is a gentle still voice that will allow you to begin seeing yourself coming out of the crisis.
If you’re listening to the noise from the people around you, more than you are paying attention to God’s promises, you will never hear the voice of that inner witness. The voice of the inner witness can be easily drowned by the noise of the people around you.
So, be very careful about the crowd that you are hanging out with. Some people have the tendency to pull down your faith. And there are others who are there to build you up.
You can begin to tap into the inner voice’s witness by spending more time than before, meditating on God’s promises of healing.
The Holy Spirit uses God’s word to impart our spirit man with the nature of God, so that we can know the will of God and be able to walk in it.
As Jesus said:
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”
John 16:13 NKJV
This is how the Holy Spirit ministers God’s perfect will for our healing to our spirit man.
As we learn to be quiet in the mind, the Holy Spirit will begin to use God’s word to communicate the will of God to our spirit man. That’s how you will know the truth that will make you free from that health problem (John 8:32 NKJV).
That’s how you will begin to know God’s perfect will in the midst of such a problem. You will begin to discern what steps you are to be taking, so as to get healed and come out of it.
Some people know how to keep quiet physically while their mind is still mentally active.
Especially at night when they are lying down and getting ready to sleep. The mind has the ability to keep on running and worrying about many things. You can travel so fast in your thoughts at such times. And if you’re not careful the devil will take a hold of your thoughts through it.
That is the moment when you will need to be quiet by thinking and meditating on the promises of God to you about healing. It will allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you directly through the voice of your inner man.
Then the voice of your inner man will become the dominant force in your life. And because you are born of the Spirit of God, your inner man hears the voice of the Holy Spirit only.
Faith for healing grows out of the word of God and not out of the word of the unrenewed mind. But if the heart of the believer in Christ is slow to respond or hardened towards the promises of God (Mark 4:16-19) about healing and good health; the mind and the physical body will react to it by creating symptoms of the sickness in the body.
That’s how people do get sick. They get sick because they are slow to respond to the word of faith about their healing.
Others have hardened their hearts towards the word of God. They will not even pay attention to it, so as to be able to receive it.
This happens most especially when you are allowing the wrong that people have done, to take root in your heart. You are creating an opening for the symptoms of sicknesses and diseases in your body, by entertaining such thoughts of wrong doings against you (Mark 11:25).
Be quick to forgive and forget about those offenses. You can’t let the evil that others had done to prevent you from being blessed, healed and healthy in your body.
A heart that is slow and hardened towards forgiving others cannot be productive with the word of God.
You can hear and read God’s word, but it won’t take root in your heart, because of the absence of forgiveness from your heart.
So therefore, love people, forgive and forget about what they have done to offend you. Healing flows easily through a forgiving heart. Your real life is a miracle that’s about to begin as you do this.
Chose to walk in forgiveness.
By saying these words out of your mouth, you have chosen to let go of the offenses of other people against you. It will open up your heart for healing to flow through it and heal your body.
So, say these words:
“Heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus to take my place on the cross. As I had been forgiven by You, I choose today to forgive (name the person), just as You forgave me in Christ Jesus.
I thank you for teaching me to walk in love towards (name the person) every day from this moment onwards. I release (him or her) and myself from those past offenses right now. I love (name the person) and bless (him or her) from the bottom of my heart in Jesus’ name. Amen”!