Is it God's will for me to be healed?
Part four.
Hey, welcome to today's little lesson, another special edition in Central Africa, in the
DR Congo, we're asking a question, "Is it God's will for me to be healed?"
And if you are sick, this is an important question for you.
And if you ever might be sick, this is an important question to you.
If you know anybody who's sick or diseased, this is an important question for you too,
because maybe you could be a blessing to them and encourage them to have faith.
And we cannot deny that faith is part of the equation.
Right?
Jesus did say, in Matthew 21:22, "Everything you ask in prayer, believing you will receive."
So the antithesis of that is everything you ask in prayer that you don't believe you won't
receive.
James echoed that.
He says, "Does any of you lack wisdom?
Let them ask of God who gives to all men generously and without reproach and it will be given
to him."
But that's not where James ends.
He says, "But, let him ask in faith, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea,
driven and tossed by the waves."
Now listen this.
"Let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord."
You see, people get mad about that, but okay, you're getting mad about the Bible.
James, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said that.
You don't have faith, don't expect you'll receive anything from the Lord.
But all things are possible to him who believes.
And so if your understanding of healing is all based on the experiences of other people,
good people who didn't get healed and health and wealth preachers who didn't get healed.
As I talked in that previous little lesson, you're making a big mistake.
Look at what the word says.
Here, we read from Exodus 15, verse 26.
God says, "If you'll diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God and do what
is right in His eyes."
So here's the obedient stuff.
Right?
"And give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes."
So this is a pretty straight line thing too.
It's not like just be casual in your relationship and in your obedience to me, man, get with
the program buddy, get with the whole program buddy.
If you'll do that, I will put none of these diseases on you, which I put on the Egyptians,
for I the Lord am your healer.
So there's a relationship between health and obedience, and obedience and health.
And again, people get mad about that too.
Well, I'm sorry, I'm just reading from the Bible.
Don't get mad at me, I'm just the messenger boy, I'm the newspaper delivery guy.
I didn't write it.
Okay?
And so, if I would get sick right now and die, live on this camera, that doesn't change
what we just read there.
You can assume that I missed it somewhere.
Don't assume that, "Oh, it wasn't God's will for David to be healthy.
It must've been God's will, God's sovereign, you know."
And so, I guess it was His will for David to die, right then.
Come on, come on.
Wise up.
Look at what the Bible has to say.
God cannot lie.
And so, if any Israelite found themselves sick, what they needed to do was examine themselves
and see, am I diligently listening to the voice of the Lord my God?
Am I doing what is right in His eyes?
Am I giving ear to His commandments?
Am I keeping all His statutes?
And if they come up with the answer, no, I'm not, then what should they do?
They should repent and straighten it out, and then God is good, God is gracious, God
will keep his promise to them, because He's not a liar.
They be healed then if they do that.
Didn't Jesus say to one guy one time after He healed him, "Go and sin no more that nothing
worse may befall you."
Is that in the Bible anywhere?
Yeah.
So am I telling you that, "Oh, the reason that you're ill is because you sinned."
No, what business do I have to tell you that?
But I can tell you that it could be.
It could be.
And you need to take a look at yourself, examine yourself.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, let's go further.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, and he said, "For this reason, many among you are weak
and you're sick, and a number of you sleep."
Why?
Because you didn't judge yourself.
You didn't do what I just said the Israelites needed to do.
Judge yourself.
And so, he said, "So therefore you get disciplined by the Lord."
So God's discipline can come in the form of weakness, sickness, and premature death.
And from that verse in Corinthians, it becomes obvious, Paul considered that not to be God's
best, that's not normal.
That's not the normal Christian experience.
That's the abnormal Christian experience, because we're supposed to be obedient.
We're supposed to be following Jesus.
We're not supposed to be weak and sick and dying because we didn't judge ourselves.
But if we refuse to judge ourselves, examine ourselves and repent of what we find ourselves
guilty of, well then we're not in position to receive God's best.
Yeah, sure.
So, again, I'm just telling you what the Bible says.
So I, the Lord, am your healer.
But it's contingent.
You experiencing me being your healer is contingent upon you doing what I say.
Amen.
And we got these guy's preaching about healing and they make it all about faith.
And there is no doubt, faith is a component.
But they're oftentimes preaching to people who are not a positioned to receive healing,
not because of any faith problem, but because an obedience problem.
They're doing what they know they shouldn't be doing, or vice versa, they're not doing
what they should be doing.
And, hey, we're all in this together.
And I've certainly fallen short myself many times.
And I'll tell you what, but when I find myself sick or, again, when I get a cold I realize
that oftentimes I just got a cold.
Or if I cut my finger or something.
But if it's something serious, I seek the Lord.
And I have had a couple of serious things at times, and I seek, the Lord.
"Oh, Lord, I want to be in your will.
I want to be in a position for your blessing.
So show me."
And of course God shows us.
You don't have to drag anything up for yourself to condemn yourself.
God shows us.
He loves us.
God loves us.
All right, well let's look another promise.
This is a faith building promise from Exodus chapter 23, again to the Israelites, but this
is from the God who never changes.
He said, "You shall serve the Lord your God."
Exodus 23:25, "And He will bless your bread and your water and I will take sickness away
from you."
Why?
Well, He's the healer.
He's the healer.
Nothing's too hard for Him.
He's the healer.
Well, look at Deuteronomy chapter seven in verse number 15.
Again, a promise to the Israelites.
"And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of
Egypt, which you knew, will He inflict on you, but He will lay them on those who hate
you."
So, once again, a revelation under the old covenant of Jehovah Rapha, the God who is
the healer.
And when Jehovah Rapha showed up on the earth in the form of the person Jesus Christ, what
was He doing?
He was forgiving sins and He was healing people, and He healed a lot of people.
Okay?
So let your faith be encouraged today by this.
Okay?
Look to the Lord as your healer.
Oh, my goodness, He's good.
And His mercy endures forever.
I hope to see you next time.
God bless you.