Today’s assumption that I would like to examine is the following:
Assuming that Jesus died to take away our sickness gives people false hope. Healing is not part of the atonement [what we can receive from Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross for mankind], as evident by the many godly Christians who are sick.
Why did Jesus die on the cross? Of key importance, Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3; Romans 5:8). Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). He came to take away sins (1 John 3:5). Now this begs the question: If Jesus died to remove our sin, then why do many godly Christians still sin? Why do they struggle with sin when Jesus’ blood purifies us from all sin (not just from the penalty of sin, but also from the power of sin to have dominion over us)? (1 John 1:7,9) Does this mean that the removal of sin or victory over sin is not part of the atonement?
How do we reconcile the testimony from the Word of God that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (and that Christ died for our sins to remove them) with the fact that Christians still choose to sin and to operate under sinful mindsets? Although forgiveness, salvation, and reconciliation with God is available to everybody, is not there a faith appropriation required on our part to receive that gift of eternal life? (Ephesians 2:8-10)
Likewise, could it be that healing is provided for us "by his stripes," but that on our end we must come to a place where scales are removed from our spiritual eyes and we see the gospel afresh, trust God, repent of things in our lives that hinder God's love, and position ourselves to receive His free gift of healing when our obedience (or sanctification in some area of our life) is complete? It would be only by God's grace that our eyes can be opened to see God rightly and receive healing from a broken heart and from sickness, not by our striving or human efforts to receive healing from Him. So what would that journey of seeing God rightly and getting to know Him as He who "forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases" (see Psalm 103:3) look like?
Just as the atonement provides for the removal of our sins (and yet our experience and the Word tells us that Christians still sin), then is it possible that the atonement also provides for the removal of our sicknesses (and yet our experience and the Word tells us that Christians still get sick)? In some cases, is it possible that we appropriate the healing God made available to us when we learn to repent of the toxic mindsets that physiologically cause many diseases and syndromes (which may require a journey of learning how to give and receive love as we get to know God better)?
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
--John 15:1-17 NKJV
What happens if a branch of a grape vine becomes disconnected from its life-giving source? Won’t it get sick, shrivel up, and die? If Jesus and His love is our life-giving Source, and we don’t connect to His love in intimate fellowship for whatever reason, then what will happen to us? If we fail to rely upon and to live in the reality of God’s unconditional love, acceptance, grace, patience and kindness towards us, and fatherly discipline, then what will happen to us? Won’t we become filled with insecurities and fears, becoming more prone to the toxic mindsets of rejection, bitterness, self-pity, anxiety, depression, accusation, guilt, shame, and other tormenting thoughts?
If we disconnect ourselves from God’s perfect love and stop listening to His voice (of which a primary or confirming way may be through talking with Him in friendship while we "chew" thoughtfully on His Word, the Bible), then what will happen within our physical bodies? Are not most diseases and sicknesses the result of excess cortisol-drip into our bloodstreams? What causes “the stress hormone” to be released disproportionately into our bodies, thereby resulting in bodily breakdown and sickness? Isn’t it from mindsets filled with fear, guilt, and shame? Where do those emotions come from? Are these emotions not indicators that in some area(s) of our lives we have become disconnected from fellowshipping with our Source (or from seeing Him rightly), whose perfect love casts out fear, removes shame, accepts us unconditionally, and fills us with joy, peace, hope, and confidence?
Prayer:
Daddy God, I love You so much. Thank You for loving me with the same love with which You love Your Son, Jesus [John 17:23]. I’m so glad that You have freely accepted me in Jesus, the Beloved [Ephesians 1:6]. I am no longer a slave to the rejection mindset when I realize what You have done for me, that You have adopted me as your beloved child [Romans 8:15]. Jesus is not ashamed to call me His brother, and I thank You for removing all shame as You open my eyes to the reality that I am an honored member of Your family. [Hebrews 2:11] Who can successfully reject me or accuse me in any way to discourage me when I belong to You and am secure in You? Who can separate me from the love of Christ? [Romans 8:31-38]
Thank You for giving me eternal life, and this life is in Your Son [1 John 5:11]. You made Him who knew no sin to become sin for me, so that in Him I might become Your righteousness [2 Corinthians 5:21]. In the path of the righteous there is no death, and I thank You that I get to enjoy reconciliation and right standing with You every moment because of what Jesus did for me at the cross [Proverbs 12:28; Romans 5:8-11]. Thank You that I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by trusting Your Son who loved me and gave Himself for me [Galatians 2:20].
Christ in me is the hope of glory [Colossians 1:27]. When Christ who is my life appears, then I also will appear with Him in glory. Because my life is hidden with Christ in You, I can put to death whatever is not of You [Colossians 3:3-5]. I thank You that because my identity is in You, I consider myself dead to anything that hinders love, having nothing in common with those things [Romans 6:11]. As your grace and unconditional love and acceptance teaches me to renounce anything that hinders love in my relationships, I thank You that as I sow to please Your Spirit, I reap the benefits of eternal life [Titus 2:11-14; Galatians 6:7-8].
Daddy, thank You that Christ bore my sins in His own body on the tree, so that I, having died to sins, might live for righteousness. Thereby it is by Christ’s stripes that I am healed [1 Peter 2:24]. For as You teach me how to love, then as I trust You by loving others in response to Your leadership, You love gets perfected in me [1 Thessalonians 4:9; 1 John 4:12-21]. Then my fears, anxieties, and insecurities are cast out, and physical healing shall be a bonus byproduct when the cortisol-drip decreases and the body can heal itself the way You so fearfully and wonderfully designed it to. I praise You that I am fearfully and wonderfully made [Psalm 139:14].
I thank You that I can fellowship with You Daddy, Jesus, and Your Holy Spirit every day at any moment [1 John 1:3; 2 Corinthians 13:14]. I love You and thank You for the incredible hope that I have in You. Loss of hope makes the heart (and consequently the body) sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life with healing in its leaves [Proverbs 13:12; Revelation 2:7; 22:2,14]. Jesus, You are my tree of life, the Vine that nourishes me and empowers me to love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Your words of love and grace are a tree of life that bring healing [Proverbs 15:4; 12:18]. Your good news refreshes my bones and resets my immune system to homeostasis [Proverbs 15:30]. I’m so glad that as I get to chew on your words all day in loving conversation with You, then my mind is transformed [Romans 12:2; Colossians 3:1-2; Philippians 4:4-8], my brain gets rewired, and the effect is “good medicine” released to my body [Proverbs 3:7-8; 4:20-22; 17:22].
In Your name,
Amen! (So be it!)
For more information on my background, the healing journey, or discovering who God is, I recommend the post “The Humble Father.”
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