Today we continue our series, “Progress On Purpose.” I told you that God wants us to walk in “NEW LEVELS IN 2021!” But if we are going to do so, we must be intentional about our progress. With that in mind, as we lay the foundation for the year, I told you that I would discuss “Leveling Up” in five areas:
1. Spiritually
2. Financially
3. Physically
4. Internally
5. Externally
We have covered the first two thus far. Today we start the third: leveling up physically. In this section, I will cover the following:
1. Is health and wealth good or bad
2. Healing is the will of the Father
3. God wants you to live long and strong
4. Some things you can do to live long and strong
Yesterday we looked at the second and today we will continue to flow in this same vein.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. What the Bible says about healing (just a few scriptures).
(Isa 53:5 NKJV)
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
— The Lord allowed Isaiah to see 700 years into the future.
— It’s like Isaiah was translated to the foot of the cross. He looked up, saw Jesus, and said, “By His stripes, we ARE healed!”
(1 Peter 2:24 NKJV)
Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
— While Isaiah was looking forward to the cross, Peter was looking back at what Jesus and already done.
— Looking back, Peter tells us, “YOU WERE HEALED!”
(Exodus 15:25 ERV)
He said to him, “I am the Lord your God. If you listen to me and do what I say is right, and if you obey all my commands and laws, then I will not give you any of the sicknesses that I gave the Egyptians. I am the Lord who heals you.”
— Our Lord God heals us!
— Healing is His will, not sickness or disease.
(Exodus 23:25 ERV)
You must serve the Lord your God. If you do this, I will bless you with plenty of bread and water. I will take away all sickness from you.
— Taking sickness away is clearly part of THE BLESSING!
— This makes sickness part of THE CURSE!
(Galatians 3:13,14 ERV)
The law says we are under a curse for not always obeying it. But Christ took away that curse. He changed places with us and put himself under that curse. The Scriptures say, “Anyone who is hung on a tree is under a curse… Because of what Jesus Christ did, the blessing God promised to Abraham was given to all people. Christ died so that by believing in him we could have the Spirit that God promised.”
— We are no longer under the Old Covenant, that put a curse on us if we did not perform.
— We are no longer under performance-based religion.
— We are under the covenant of GRACE!
— Under this covenant, Jesus qualifies us!
— Jesus became a curse FOR us, so now we get to enjoy the Blessing of Abraham (natural blessing) AND the Blessing of Jesus (Spiritual blessing!).
2. Faith (what God’s Spirit is saying) vs. Sight (what your natural body is telling you).
In 2 Corinthians 4 and 5, the Apostle Paul taught us of what is almost like an alternate universe. It is a realm where God’s dreams for us live. It is a place where God’s perfect desires are on display. Once we are Born-Again, the Holy Spirit allows us to peer into that realm. We get to see what God planned for us. We get to discover our true purpose and potential. We get to discern God’s will, God’s best, God’s heart. But we can’t peer into this realm with our natural eyes. We must peer into this realm with our Spirit. And God expects us to live in the earth-based on what He allows us to SEE in His realm.
Faith is peering into God’s realm and then coming back to the earth realm and living off of what you saw. Faith is peering into God’s will and then coming back and aligning your will with His. This is why the opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is not fear. The opposite of faith is natural sight.
Before you were Born-Again you lived your life based on what you were able to see in the natural and on the input your body (your earth suit) received from this world — by what you were able to see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. But now that you are Born-Again you are supposed to live your life off based on what you SEE in the Spirit and on the input your Spirit receives from God’s realm. If you can understand that, then it makes sense why the Easy To Read Version of 2 Cor 5:7 reads, “We live by what we believe will happen, not by what we can see.” Paul’s point is that as believers we are not supposed to live by what we can see with our natural eyes, but rather by what we perceive in the Spirit.
a) You were born natural to this world. As you matured you learned to relate to this world by what you saw and by the input your senses received from this world. The day you were Born-Again everything changed. You are now natural to God’s realm. The supernatural is now natural to you. Now you are supposed to live by what you can SEE in the Spirit and by the input your Spirit receives from God’s realm.
b) Once you are Born-Again, the Bible teaches you to live by what you can perceive from God and not by natural sight anymore. God wants you to get to the point where what you SEE in the Spirit is more real to you than what you can see with your natural eyes.
c) The day you get to the point where what you perceive from God is more real to you than what you see in this world is the day you will be truly living by faith.
d) Faith makes decisions in this world based on what is revealed from God’s realm.
e) Faith perceives the will of God and stands on what is revealed, even when it ‘flies in the face’ of what you can see in this world.
If you go back to the two testimonies I shared yesterday, you can see a great example of this.
3. When it comes to receiving healing, you may need to change your language.
A religious person does not understand the difference between the covenants of The Law and of Grace; it teaches people to beg and plead for God to heal them. It is very important that we see healing under the correct covenant. We no longer have to pray for healing. If we understand the New Covenant correctly, we actually thank God for already providing it.
Before grace, the focus was on humans and what we did for God. Under grace, the emphasis is on God and what He has already provided for us. For example, Jeremiah 17:14 says, “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.” That’s a valid prayer for the Old Covenant. But under the New Covenant, we have to change our language.
Jesus changed everything for us! He qualified us. Our relationship with God is no longer performance-based. Under the Old Covenant, people brought animal sacrifices as atonement for their failure to fulfill the Law. Basically, as an atonement for the frailty of human effort. However, Jesus changed all of that. When Jesus died, Isaiah 53:5 was fulfilled. So now, we must say we “are healed,” not we “will be healed.”
Renewing our minds according to the finished works of Jesus Christ reminds us that healing is available to us, no matter what the doctor says.
The world still struggles with health issues, both emotional and physical, because it doesn’t understand how healing works under the covenant of grace. If we still struggle with these issues, it may be because we are not “in faith” and/or because we don’t understand what Jesus already provided.
*** Our healing is already waiting for us to receive it; we can’t help but be thankful when we reflect on this. We are the healed, on every level!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith for Healing:
Father, in the Name of Jesus, I confess Your Word concerning health and healing. As I do, I believe that Your Word will not return to You void, but it will accomplish what it says.
In the Name of Jesus, I believe that I am healed according to 1 Peter 2:24. Your Word says that Jesus Himself took my infirmities and bore my sicknesses (Matthew 8:17). Therefore, with great boldness and confidence, I stand on the authority of Your Word and declare that I am redeemed from the curse of sickness. I refuse to tolerate its symptoms.
Satan, I speak to you in Jesus’ Name and I proclaim that your principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places are bound from operating against me in any way. I am loosed from your assignment. I am the property of Almighty God and I give you no place in me. I dwell in the secret place of the Most High God and I abide under the shadow of the Almighty, whose power no foe can withstand.
Now, Father, I believe Your Word says that the angel of the Lord encamps round about me and delivers me from every evil work. No evil shall befall me, no plague or calamity shall come near my dwelling.
I confess that the Word abides in me and it is life and medicine to my flesh. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus operates in me, making me free from the law of sin and death.
I hold fast to my confession of Your Word and I stand immovable, knowing that health and healing are mine now!
I level up in 2021 in every area of my life and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith, in Jesus’s name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
