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Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, man has been affected by the consequences of sin. These consequences affect us spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically and relationally. As a result we experience woundedness, and bondage. The solution for this is spiritual healing and freedom.
I. Who heals?
A. God is Healer
God stated in His Word, “I, the Lord, am your healer.”
Look at the following Scriptures and record what they say regarding God as Healer.
Ex. 15:26
He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
Ps. 103: 2-3
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
Ps. 107: 19-20
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. 20 He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.
Ps. 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Jer. 17:14
Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.
B. Jesus is Healer
In the O.T. It was prophesied that Jesus, our Messiah, would also be Healer.
Isa 53:5
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Isa 61:1-3
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,a 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.
Look at the following scriptures and record what they say regarding Jesus as Healer.
Matt 4:23-24
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.
Mk 6:56
And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
Lk 6: 17-19
And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
1 Pet. 2:24
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
C. Believer’s Role in Healing
Now we want to look at the role of believers in healing today.
*Look up the following Scriptures and record what they say about the role of believers in healing.
Mk. 16: 17-18
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
Jn. 14:12
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Acts 5:16
Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.
Jas. 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
II. Why do we need healing?
We need healing because sin and woundedness resulted from the Fall. Man is a sinner as a result of the Fall. We need to look at how man’s relationship with God was affected by the Fall.
A. Man’s Relationship with God before the Fall
1. Man was created by God in His own image
God is tripartite: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Scripture tells us God possesses a soul:
mind (Rom. 11: 33-36), will (Dan. 4:35), and emotions (1Jn. 4:8). God came in human form in the person of Jesus Christ ( Jn. 1:1, Jn. 1:14). God is Spirit (Jn. 4:24).
Rom 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” 35“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” 36 For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Dan. 4:35
He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”
1 Jn. 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Jn 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jn 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jn. 4:24
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.
Look up the following Scriptures and record what they say about man being created in the image of God.
Gen 1:26-27
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Gen 5:1
1This is the written account of Adam’s family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God.
Gen 9:6
“Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.
What does it really mean to be created in the image of God?
It means we are eternal beings (spirit), that live in a body and possess a soul (mind, will and emotions).
Man is tripartite consisting of three parts.
*Look at 1 Thess. 5:23 and note the 3 parts of man.
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we need to define the 3 parts of man.
*See Diagram: Man is Tripartite being
Body (Soma): Sense Consciousness, (5 senses)
Soul (psuche): Self Consciousness, (mind, will, and emotions)
Spirit (pneuma): God Consciousness, (eternal part of man)
2. Man was created for God’s glory
Record what this verse says about man
*Look up Isa 43:7
everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
3. Man was created to have fellowship with God
*look up 1 Cor. 1:9
God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
4. Man was created to procreate and to rule the world
*look up Gen. 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Man was created an eternal spiritual being in the image of God. His spirit is alive unto God meaning he was in fellowship with God.
Man in his soul also related to God in a positive way. In his mind he knew God. In his will he chose to obey God. His emotions were positive and in harmony with God.
At this point in time he was to live forever for God’s glory.
God instructed him to be fruitful and to multiply and to rule the world.
B. Man’s relationship with God after the Fall
1. Man was no longer in the image of God
He was now in the image of man.
*Look up Gen 5:3
When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.
2. Man could no longer glorify God in his fallen state.
*look up Rom. 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
3. Man no longer was in fellowship with God
*Look up Isa. 59: 2, 1 Jn. 1:6, 2 Cor. 6:14
Isa. 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
2 Cor 6:14
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
4. Man no longer in authority over the world
*look up Jn. 14:30; Jn. 16:11; Luk. 4:5-7; 2 Cor. 4:4
Luk. 4:5-7
The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
2 Cor 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Healing begins at one point in time when we enter into a personal intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
Scripture shows us that man’s relationship with God is restored through Jesus Christ. Everything that was lost when Adam and Eve sinned is restored.
C. Man’s relationship with God because of Christ.
1. Man is again conformed into the image of His Son.
*look up Rom. 8:29
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
2. Man is able to glorify God
*look up 1 Cor 6:20
you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
3. Man is again in fellowship with God
*look up 1Jn. 1:3, 1 Cor. 1:9
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
1 Cor 1:9
God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
4. Man has power and authority over Satan
look up Eph 2:6; Rev 12:12
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
Rev 12:12
Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
Man’s dead spirit is brought alive at the moment the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within. This is spiritual healing. Man now has fellowship and intimacy with God.
The Holy Spirit begins to work from the inside out to bring healing to our soul, i.e. mind, will and emotions.
*look up Rom. 12:2
Paul instructs us to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is. When our minds have been transformed by renewal through the Word, we then make decisions that line up with God’s Word.
We now choose to obey God’s will. We also choose (by our will) to submit the control of our actions and emotions to the Holy Spirit.
*look up Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 4:22-32.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Eph. 4:22-32
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;..
Often healing of spirit and soul brings healing in the physical body also. However, even though redeemed, man will still die physically.
Man was still a spiritual being but his spirit was no longer alive unto God. He no longer had fellowship with God.
His soul part was no longer related to God positively. In his mind he no longer knew God. In his will he no longer chose to obey God. This was sin or rebellion. His emotions were now negative (fear, guilt, shame, anger) and out of harmony with God.
His physical body and the body of all his descendants would now die.
Thus we see that ALL men are in need of healing since SIN entered the world.
Look up Gen. 5:3 and record what it says about all men since Adam.
When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.
This verse tells us that all men since Adam have been born in the likeness of Adam, that is a sinner.
*Look up the following scriptures which show man is a sinner.
Rom. 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
Rom. 3:9-10
What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.
As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
Rom. 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Isa. 53:6
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Since SIN entered the world man’s relationship with God has changed. Sin affected us spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally. We see then that SIN is the root cause of ALL of man’s problems.
III. WHAT is healing?
Healing is the restoration process whereby we become whole people
– spiritually
– mentally
– emotionally
– physically
We believe that the healing process begins with spiritual healing.
*Look up 1 Thess. 5:23. Note that the ‘spirit’ is mentioned first, then ‘soul’, then ‘body’.
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
IV. When are we healed?
Healing begins at one point in time-the moment we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is justification. The believer is then in a continual process of being healed and made whole. This is sanctification. This healing process continues until the day he dies. It is at this point glorification occurs.
Sanctification (Healing Process)
Justification________________________________________________ Glorification
V. How are we healed?
A. Deal with Sin
We recognize that in Christ ALL sin has been forgiven (past, present, future). The Word tells us to confess ALL known sin and claim the truth of 1 Jn. 1:9.
– Look up 1 Jn. 1:9 and James 5:16
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
It is not enough just to confess sin we MUST Also have a repentant heart. We MUST turn away from sin, trusting God to keep us from ongoing habitual sin.
B. Walk in forgiveness
We MUST believe God has forgiven us. There is NO other way to get rid of guilt and shame. Once we have been forgiven by God we are instructed to forgive others, even as we have been forgive.
*Look up Matt. 6:14-15; 2 Cor. 2:10-11
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
2 Cor. 2:10-11
Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
It is very important that we ‘forgive ourselves’, i.e. that we accept God’s forgiveness, believing what He says to be true. We must now live as people who are cleansed, forgiven, and free!
C. Study the Word of God
We must study the Word to learn who God is, and who we are in Him. We MUST begin to live in the light of what we have learned.
*Look up ps. 119:11,15,16,92,93,94
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. 12 Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees. 13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. 15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.
92-94
If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. 93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life. 94 Save me, for I am yours; I have sought out your precepts.
D. Recognize and Exercise Authority over Satan
Christ defeated Satan on the Cross. Because we are identified with Christ, we too have power and authority ‘in His name’, over Satan.
*Look up Col 2:15; Eph. 1:18-23; Eph. 2:6
We are seated with Christ in heavenly places far above ALL rule and authority, that is Satan and his demonic host.
VI. Where do we go for healing?
We believe that we must seek healing in and through Christ and the Word of God.
*Look up Ps. 107:19-20
We have have said that our need for healing is caused by the root problem SIN. In order to be healed we must be freed from sin’s penalty and power in our lives. Christ has set us free from the PENALTY AND POWER of sin through the cross. Therefore, all who humbly go to the cross will receive forgiveness and healing.
We say that we believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Therefore, we need to go to the Word of God for the answers to our problems.
We say that Jesus Christ is the source of forgiveness and healing. Therefore, we need to go to Him for healing.
We say that we believe in the power of the Spirit of God to produce abundant life. Therefore, we need to appropriate that power in our daily living.