This one question took me some time to come around on. You see, I grew up my whole church life under a certain religion; I learned about God, sin, being baptized, and where I would go if I weren't baptized, HELL!! I still remember being told either be baptized or go to Hell. Nice sales speech to a little kid, huh. When I would read the Bible and not understand a verse, or it seemed to contradict what I was taught, the answer from my grandmother or preacher would go something like this, "Oh, the Bible isn't for everyone's understanding, just anointed ones. Maybe one day when you are older and wiser you will understand." This religion taught me that there is a God, and all things in life are under his complete control; and that if you were sick, diseased, lame, blind, or "fill in the blank", it is because God wanted you to be.
I grew more spiritually when I read the Bible with a childlike wonder, and then again once I became born again. I knew I had the Holy Spirit with me and this time when I read the Bible it didn't seem so hard to understand anymore. It took me just a short read of the Bible to turn my "religion" thinking around. Praise God!
Is it God's will for me to be sick? I could answer this question with one verse and this argument would be over, but I will give a few more for entertainment purposes.
"I do not seek my own will but the will of the Father who sent Me" (John 5:20). Then again, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (John 6:39). And Jesus went about....healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of diseases among the people (Matthew 4:23). "...they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them" (Matthew 4:24). To me, that right there would say No, it is not God's will for me to be sick!
Let's keep going...
As Jesus went about healing and performing miracles, the religious leaders accused Jesus of being a ruler of the demons he was casting out (Mark 3:22). But Jesus said, "How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand" (Mark 3:23-24). That tells us that if he were evil, then he would be causing His own kingdom to fall by casting itself out. That tells me that God does not send sickness, disease or evil! He did the opposite and got rid of them!
In Luke 5:12-13, you will find where a man with leprosy came to Jesus asking for healing, saying, "Lord, if You are willing..." and Jesus replied "I am willing..." So, if Jesus came to do God's will, and He is willing to heal and healed all who came for healing and cast out all demons, then why would one even dare think it is God's will for us to be sick or diseased? Psalms 103:3 says "He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases."
While going through the Bible, I found tons of verses that would suggest to you and I that it is NOT God's will for us to be sick, diseased, poor, famine, blind, deaf, etc. And that my friends is only taking from the Gospels, I haven't even pulled Peter or Paul in on the subject.
May I ask you a question? Do you like to be sick? If you believe it is God's will for you to be sick, then why ever go to the doctor? Wouldn't that mean that the doctor is Satan and you are trying to counteract God's will (sickness) with medicine (Satan)? Or is Jesus wrong and a kingdom that is divided can be so against itself? If it is God's will then it would only be right not to take any medicine and go along with the sickness or the disease, right? So sickness is good and that would make God just a "meanie"? If you truly believe it is God's will for you to be sick then all of these questions are in line with your belief. Kind of puts it in perspective doesn't it?!
God wants you well! God wants you healed, and have life and have it abundantly!! Know that any sickness or disease is from the evil one, Satan, and know that Jesus has given you authority in this world!!! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever! (Hebrews 13:8)
Rebuke! Command! You have already overcome, in Jesus' name, Amen!!!!!
Friends, I urge you to fill the void in your heart. If that emptiness is still there after all you have tried, call upon Him. Call upon Jesus to come into your heart. Fill that longing that only Jesus can fill. Jesus is the Truth, and the Life, and the Way. Ask Him into your heart, make Him your Lord and Savior. Your life will never be the same. God bless you!
With Love and Prosperity,
Christopher
Wow what a great way of putting that argument to rest. Either believe the bible in its totality or dismiss it all, only a fool thinks he can pick and choose.
ReplyDeleteI have this friend who is going through some stuff in his life that could learn from this.
You see he is terminally ill and the doctors arent giving a good prognosis. We got into this discussion about gods will and he is so intent on his sickness being a GIFT from GOD. I replied maybe a gift from A god but not THE GOD. (The bible does distinguish this by the way, expains it in the front of most bibles, anyone else ever wondered why sometimes god was spelled upper or lower case. Well Jesus himself said there are many gods but only one to be followed). This seems to be such a hard debate as we have got into it time and time again. It always ends with either me not wanting to offend or some statement like well "I believe and am a follower of Christ and I am sick so it must be from him." What does one say combat this backward way of thinking. Its almost as if you want to just say "I am sorry you are reading the KJV, arent you, well you need to reread and just focus mainly on the Gospel and the words of Jesus"
Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteIn this post "Is it God's will for me to be sick?", I believe you will find the answers on how to combat "God's will or not God's will". If you wanted to help your friend out, tell him about the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). Remind him of Galatians 3:13, Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law (Sickness, Disease, Poverty, etc.). Also another common verse 1 Peter 2:24; Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live to righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed (also found in Isaiah 53:5). Tell him to inbed these truths into his heart. God wants him well, to have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).
I have heard of someone tell another that they are so thankful to God for giving her husband a sickness, cause if it weren't for that sickness that caused hospitalization they would have never found the cancer. So she praised God for the sickness and prayed for him to get well. For me, that sentence right there is just backwards. She praised God for the sickness, then she asked God to take it away?! As I said before, if this is truly from God then let the sickness stay, don't have life abundantly!
People may get confused cause the end is a positive result, so they praise God for the sickness. However, this is a wrong way of thinking! It is written that God causes all things to work together for good to those whom He loves (Romans 8:28). He does not cause sickness, but no matter what the circumstance is, He can cause a positive result. Do not think that just because your bad situation ended positively, that God cause the situation. He merely turned it for good!
God bless!
With Love and Prosperity,
Christopher