Tag Archives: 2 Corinthians 5:17

Don’t Tolerate Sickness!

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When you know who you are in Christ, you don’t tolerate sickness and disease.

I could stop right there with that revelation alone and add, ‘The End’; but I digress. Notice the above sentence reads “when you know who you are…”

Scripture teaches us to call those things that are not as thought they were (Romans 4:17). But I like to quote Romans 4:17 this way: “I call those things that are not as though they already are”, present tense.

Why do I quote Romans 4:17 this way? Because as a believer, I choose to live and operate through Jesus Christ in the “now”. I do not live in the past. I became a new creature in Christ when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I am a new creature in Christ—present tense (2 Corinthians 5:17). I know that I am the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus (Romans 3:22). I have already accepted God’s free gift of Love through His death on the cross. I already know that through Him I live, I move and I have my very being (Acts 17:28), so why speak or confess something different than the truth?

I know that He was bruised for my transgressions. I know that the chastisement of my peace was upon Him. I know that by His stripes I am [already] healed. So, if I know these things, then my response to sickness and disease of any kind should reflect what I already know.

Whether the issue before me is redemption from sin through His blood, or protection from sickness and disease, according to the Bible, healing is available to me, now. Praise the Lord!

Blessed children, we have the very Word of Christ at our disposal. The aforementioned scriptures should be at the forefront of our minds and out of our mouths at the slightest hint of sickness and disease. With the internet and cell phones in nearly every purse and pocket, we have instant access to the Word, which is the most important resource we have to crush sickness and disease in faith; so we are without an excuse to subdue the enemy. We have power over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19) in every situation and under every circumstance with the authority of God’s Word. Yes, saints, we are that powerful; so powerful we don’t have to tolerate runny noses, allergens or even an upset stomach. Now that’s a revelation of walking in the present, in the now, and in the WOW!

Sickness has no right to rule and reign in our bodies! For the born-again, spirit-filled believer, sickness and disease are demonic intrusions that attempt to trespass against the temples that Jesus paid for with His own blood. We are bought with a price, the blood of Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:23). And secondly, we are not under the curse because Christ became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). Sickness and disease are a byproduct of sin; they are not a fact of life—at least not my life, because I’m not receiving that! I’m not tolerating the symptoms of sickness and disease in my life because I don’t have to; Jesus paid a HIGH PRICE for my redemption and when sickness tries to come against me, I rebuke it in the Name of Jesus. I will not be fodder for that nasty ole devil and neither will my body. I will not allow myself to be a punching bag for Satan. Satan has nothing on me. I have sown many prayers for others who have come under attack for the smallest of discomforts and not just the large things like cancer, heart disease and diabetes; and those seeds sown in prayer come with a return, so I am expecting miraculous results in my own life and so should you. I am redeemed and so are you. I do not want my brothers and sisters to be under Satan’s wicked attacks! Saints, we can no longer give place to the devil. If we give him an inch, he will take a mile; so as soon as you feel even the slightest twinge of sickness coming against your body, take authority over it immediately and stand your ground with the Word of God.

Now, let me make this very clear, we have the power and the authority we have because GOD is good. We are nothing without Him in our hearts and we have because He gives. The Bible says, we love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19) and because the Word of God is true, we know we can quote His words over our circumstances and expect dynamic results.

Does God speak then not act? Does He promise then not fulfill (Numbers 23:19)?

We can count on Him to keep us healthy at ALL times because He loves us. It would take a sick twisted fruit-loop to say they love someone then leave them with sickness and disease; thankfully, our God is not like some twisted humans; He says what He means and He means what He says. It is we dear brothers and sisters who get the messaging of Jesus messed up. When we listen to the doctrines and the mindsets of men over the messaging of God’s Word, we set ourselves up for failure. God has not called us to fail but to succeed and to be blessed. I don’t know about you, but I have yet to find a scripture where God said sickness and disease are a necessary part of life. It is the thief who comes to steal, to kill and to destroy (John 10:10). It is the thief who comes to rob people of their time, their money, and their resources and in some cases, their loved ones.

Now, for those who haven’t exercised their faith muscles to this level don’t lose heart, just begin now; begin somewhere. God knows that for many, a quick call to the doctor or a quick run to the drug store for relief is sometimes easier than trying to stand on faith; but try your best to start somewhere; and if you have to call a doctor or grab a pill, don’t beat yourself up over it. But at least try to take authority over symptoms right away so you can begin stretching those faith muscles. Speaking for myself, I am glad I learned to push through with rebuking even the common cold. Less money for drugs and doctors means more money for me and more money for the kingdom. Woohoo! But no matter where you begin, know that God’s will is always healing and just to drive that truth home, consider Luke the Physician, whom Jesus chose as one of His disciples. Isn’t it interesting that in every account we have where Jesus is healing in the Book of Luke, there isn’t one mention of Luke being called upon to dole out a shot, write a prescription or a give a person a pill? Luke had zero to say about medical healing in his writings about his travel with Jesus. Perhaps we should let that sink in for a minute.

So what’s the point? Don’t tolerate sickness. You don’t have to accept it, succumb to it or invite it into your body. If you are the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus, then the enemy has no legal authority to harass you in your body—ever! And if you have scriptures already memorized in your arsenal, you can aim those darts at the wicked one and subdue his attacks. There is nothing more powerful than the Holy written Word of God so don’t give place to the devil. Submit yourselves unto God and watch the devil flee (James 4:7). You do not have to accept sickness, disease or infirmity ever saints; the Word of God makes this abundantly clear.

Yes We Can Be Holy

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Yes, we can live holy lives. We ask God to forgive and He does; not only does he forgive, but He remembers our sin no more (Hebrews 8:12). The scripture says be ye holy for I am holy (1 Peter 1:16). If it wasn’t possible to be holy then God wouldn’t have commanded us to be holy as He is holy. It is possible. We often hear some people say, “I am a just sinner saved by grace.” There are two schools of thought at play here: (1) I am a sinner and (2) I am saved by grace. We are either one or the other, we cannot be both. Sweet and bitter water cannot come forth from the same fountain. If we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus after repenting of sin, we are under grace; we are no longer under the bondage of sin. Once we’re under grace, we remain under grace and we are told to remain under grace; for God has made us a new creature in Christ; behold, old things have passed away and now we are new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

It is “religion” that keeps people at the cross after accepting salvation. It is “religion” that keeps people in bondage to the past—in bondage to the old man. When we become born-again we are washed in the blood of the Lamb and the old man is cleansed, he is renewed. We are no longer under the bondage of the old—we are no longer just a sinner saved by grace; we become new men in Christ Jesus and therefore, we should walk as new men and women in God. Yes, before we accepted Jesus we were merely sinners; but now we are the redeemed of the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:20) and the law of sin and death no longer applies (Romans 8:2). We are no longer under the curse of sin (Galatians 3:13) for Christ has redeemed us from the curse, being made a curse for us; so now we have the privilege of grace and grace is where we are supposed to remain after we have received God’s precious gift of the cross. We are not to return to the cross every time we have a misstep. We are to go directly to the Father for restoration when we fall short of the glory.

So how do we live holy once we understand we are no longer slaves to sin but we are redeemed to grace? We live according to the instruction of the Word. We accept that we are no longer strangers to the great gospel of grace but now we are grafted into the Family of God (Romans 11:17); and we walk in our title as Children of the Most High. That’s the first step. The second step is to speak the Word. Our words are powerful, we must be careful about what we say—what we confess. We have to go from reading the Word to speaking the Word over our lives. Even medical science has taught us that positive confession has a definite impact on a person’s attitude and character. Positive confessions and positive affirmations foster an environment of victory, whether a person is saved or unsaved. If we hear something often enough it takes root in our soul and when we saturate ourselves in God’s information, then we begin to develop godly character; that information promotes an environment of confidence and we will naturally gravitate towards dispositions and attitudes that reflect godliness. Righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Ghost are attributes of people who have developed holiness in their walk with God (Romans 14:17). The fruits of this holiness are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These fruits are the evidence of holy living.

If we are made in Their image (Genesis 1:26) and through the sacrifice of Jesus we are grafted into the family of God, then we do indeed possess the ability to live holy and thus we are no longer old sinners saved by grace. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21); and if we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, then His DNA runs through our veins and thus His disposition and attitude runs through our spirit. Glory! If a Believer can only see themselves as an ole sinner, they will struggle to accept this truth. It is only after we really understand who we are in Christ that we can begin to allow ourselves to see ourselves the way He sees us: as a holy people, a royal priesthood, (1 Peter 2:9), a member of The Family. Hallelujah! What wonderful news! What an amazing God we serve! This is such great news saints! So let’s not become weary in well-doing. Let’s continue to “work” the Word of God in our lives and see ourselves as He sees us. We are under grace and grace gives us the capacity to receive the finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross. Once we leave the cross, we are members of the Royal Family of God and membership has its privileges. We are indeed capable of being holy like Jesus, our sample Son. We can be holy and live holy because He has made us worthy to sit in high places with Him (Ephesians 2:6).

Let us get rid of the “religious” spirit that has held us in bondage, and take our rightful place as son’s and daughters of the Most High God and begin to speak holiness over our lives. Be persistent to do this and when the enemy tries to come against your thinking, remind him of who you really are—you are the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus, you are no longer a slave to sin. Some days it may not look like we’re the righteousness of God; after all, trials will come and we can sometimes fall into old thinking patterns, but we must bear in mind what HE says about us in the Word. In our own perspective, we may not see ourselves as a holy people and a royal priesthood, but from God’s perspective, we are the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus; and therefore, we can be holy.

We must continue reading the Bible; confessing God’s Word over our lives; praying in the Holy Ghost; and making changes to our speech and to our understanding as God develops our faith from glory to glory. Yes, we can live a holy life, but it begins by understanding who we are in Jesus so Holy Spirit can be given full reign to shape and develop our character in a way that produces godly results. The Bible says, “He who is able to bridle his tongue and not offend in word and deed is perfect” (James 3:2). The scripture doesn’t say here that controlling the tongue is impossible; however, we must realize it takes time to develop Biblical thinking patterns that reflect God’s character in us. It will happen if we do not give up on the process. Controlling what comes out of our mouth is critical to having the victory over old mindsets. We must ask Holy Spirit to show us where we may be speaking words of negativity and death over our lives and He will correct us. It will take time to get the flesh “under” the obedience of the Word, but we cannot return to broken thinking. If we have a misstep, we must quickly repent and get back on track with what the Word of God says about us. The Bible says, “Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:4). It’s doable saints; we can have whatsoever we desire when we pray if we believe (Mark 11:24) and we know Jesus desires that we walk like Him in ‘word’ and in ‘deed’. So praise God! With Him truly ALL things are possible! Let’s seek to be holy like Jesus and trust God with the process; we are no longer sinners; we are indeed saved by grace.