Exodus XV. XXVI: I am the Lord that healeth thee
**Sin in the soul and sickness in the body both bear witness to the power of Satan - and the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:8)**
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed and go unto thine house (Matt. 9:6).
***At the 1st Advent - it was more difficult for the Jews to believe that Jesus could "Pardon Sin" than in was for them to believe in his ability to restore Health. With the contemporary Church and the present "Belief System" - it is just the opposite***
*Unbelief and certain circles of Theology - may attempt to separate these two gifts, but they are always united in Christ. He is always the same Savior both of the soul and of the body, equally ready to grant pardon and healing. The redeemed may always cry: Bless the Lord, 0 my soul and forget not all His benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities and healeth all thy diseases (Ps. 103:3) & (Hebrews 13.8)*
***The more we give ourselves to experience personally "Sanctification by Faith" - the more we shall also experience "Healing by Faith" - These two doctrines walk abreast. The more the Spirit of God lives and acts in the soul of believers, the more will the miracles multiply by which He works in the body***
**Faith in God is nothing else than the full opening of the heart to receive everything from God; therefore man can only receive divine grace according to his faith; and this applies as much to divine healing as to any other grace of God - And Faith comes by hearing - and hearing - by the word of God - Romans 10.17**
***God prepared a body for His Son (Heb. 10: 5). The word was made flesh (John 1:14). In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9). Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree (I Pet. 2:24). And now Jesus, raised up from the dead with a body as free from sin as His spirit and His soul, communicates to our body the virtue of His glorified body. The Lords Supper is the communion of the body of Christ; and our bodies are the members of Christ (I Cor. 10:16; 6:15; 12: 27)***
Know ye not... (I Cor. 10:16)
God wills that this discipline should bring us into a more intimate communion with Him; He would make us understand that we have regarded our body as our own property, while it belonged to the Lord; and that the Holy Spirit seeks to sanctify all its actions. He leads us to understand that if we yield our body unreservedly to the influence of the Holy Spirit, we shall experience His power in us, and He will heal us by bringing into our body the very life of Jesus; He leads us, in short, to say with full conviction, The body is for the Lord.
God chasteneth us for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness (Heb. 12:10). If a man... purge himself.., he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the Masters use, prepared unto every good work (II Tim. 2:21)
- (I Cor. 1:30)
***The Spirit of healing is also the Spirit of sanctification***
***Sanctification is not something which you can accomplish yourself - it is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of holiness alone who can communicate His holiness to you and renew it continually***
Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of God? (John 11:40) *God is ever seeking to make us true believers. Healing and health are of little value if they do not glorify God, and serve to unite us more closely with Him; thus in the matter of healing our faith must always be put to the proof*
***It is the work of the Holy Spirit, who intercedes here on earth in us and by us, and as such, it is as efficacious, as indispensable as the work of the Son interceding for us before the throne of God. It might seem strange that after having prayed with the certainty of being heard, and having seen therein the will of God, we should still need to continue in prayer. Nevertheless it is so. In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed three times in succession. On Carmel Elijah prayed seven times; and we, if we believe the promise of God without doubting, shall pray until we receive the answer***
*Sickness is a discipline occasioned by sin (or shortcoming), and that healing, granted to the prayer of faith, bears witness to His grace which pardons, which sanctifies, and which takes away sin*
Psa 66:18 - If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me
*It is noteworthy that in several languages these three words, salvation, healing, and sanctification, are derived from the same root and present the same fundamental thought. (For instance, the German Heil, salvation; Heilung, healing; Heilichung, sanctification*
***Absolute dependence upon God is the secret of all power in work. The branch has nothing but what it gets from the vine, and you and I can have nothing but what we get from Jesus***
O Christians! you know this world is perishing for the lack of workers. And it needs not only more workers. The workers are saying, some more earnestly than others, We need not only more workers, but we need that our workers should have a new power, a different life-that the workers should be able to bring more blessing.
***Lord Jesus, nothing less than the sap that flows through Thyself, nothing less than the Spirit of Thy divine life is what we ask. Lord Jesus, I pray Thee let Thy Spirit flow through me in all my work for Thee. I tell you again that the sap of the heavenly Vine is nothing but the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is nothing but the life of the heavenly Vine, and what you must get from Christ is nothing less than a strong inflow of the Holy Spirit***
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