By His Stripes (III)
Why Christians Sometimes Feel Sick.
So far we’ve said that God is interested in having His children stay physically healed and He made adequate provision for this.
Secondly, healing is first spiritual but should manifest physically.
Thirdly, Jesus’ pain, agony and death wasn’t just a spiritual experience, he took it all in His body.
We ended the last part with a promise to search the scriptures for answers to this question: ‘Grace, I am a Child of God, but I still have symptoms of sickness and disease in my body, where is my healing?
The answer to this question is actually the thrust of this series. I am as interested in it as you are.
But before we get into that, I believe it is pertinent to first answer the question of; ‘Why do Christians experience sickness at all? We are Children of God, saved, righteous, filled with the Holy Ghost, healed by His Stripes, why do we still fall sick?’
Well, I searched the scriptures, and found 5 possible reasons why a Christian may fall ill.
- We live in a physical body which becomes worn and torn from use:
We are spirit beings but communicate with the world around us through our body. Our hands, feet, brain, eyes, ears, etc are various parts of our body which help us function on earth. God told Adam, ‘I give you the earth and all that is in it, use it for your good and remember to ‘tend and keep it’. We must make efforts to tend and keep our physical bodies. We should give more attention to ensuring it stays protected and preserved. We should eat right; God recommends more of plant-based food (Genesis 1:29 & 2:16), get some exercise, take advantage of the ‘little’ profit exercise gives the body (1 Timothy 4:8), manage your emotions (longstanding anger and bitterness can be detrimental to health) and get good rest.
Talking about Rest, I believe Christians need to give more time to rest. God Almighty rested on the 7th day, the whole day. He created the world in six days and rested on the 7th. Simple arithmetic just tells you that for the 144 hours God worked, He got 24 hours rest. And I mean rest from all work (whether secular or kingdom work). God is wise, spirituality is His domain. So do not confuse the need for rest with not being spiritual or not maximizing grace. I have come to see that sometimes, the remedy for some illnesses is sleep….Long deep sleep! It gives your body time to recover from tear and wear then you can work again. Get your 7th day rest 🙂
2. Sin brought sickness:
Deuteronomy 28 lists sickness as one of the curses of the law, a penalty for not keeping The Lord’s commands. There is a link between sin and sickness.
In John 9:3-4 Jesus told His disciples this;
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him…….” NKJV.
And if we remember well, almost every time Jesus healed someone he leaves them with an admonishment ‘go and sin no more‘. The good news for us as Christians is that we are carriers of the righteousness of God {through Christ} and we have the Whole Armor of God to keep well kitted at all times.
3. The devil is on a mission to keep Christians oppressed and depressed;
John 10:10a tells us this much
“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy..” NKJV
Thank God Jesus stripped him of all powers and gave all power to us. Our victory is in the name of Jesus Christ through faith in God’s Word.
4. Set up for God’s glory:
Going by Jesus’ response in John 9:3-4 above, some challenges can come to us (from the enemy) but end up as a set up for God’s glory; revealing the power of God to heal, save and deliver to, the us and other brethren.
5. Misuse of the Lord’s Supper;
“For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.” I Corinthians 11:29-30 NKJV.
I never understand how Christians comfortably harbor unforgiveness for so long. Truth is; feelings of anger, hurts and even envy come to everyone irrespective of level of spirituality, question is; ‘how do you handle them? That’s one way to measure the depth of your spirituality. Do you push them aside quickly or do they continue to define your relationships?
Jesus discourages service in His name while there is unsettled dispute between brethren. He says keep your service and sacrifice; I don’t need it. It is more important to Me that you’re living at peace with all men:
“leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
Matthew 5:24 NKJV
Clearly, Jesus gives higher priority to mercy, forgiveness and love than giving, service and sacrifice (Luke 11:42).
Remember the 2 greatest commandments?
“Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Matthew 22:37-39 NKJV
And 1 Corinthians 13 says all spiritual giftings and manifestations amount to nothing without love.
Love is the greatest of all!
Loving God is actually much easier than loving man. God is love Himself. He gave His Son to die for sin even before we knew we were sinners. He supplies all our needs. He protects us, etc etc. So we shouldn’t only be boasting about our love and reverence for God, we should boast more our love walk.
But man? he is inherently and desperately wicked ?. Having a preference to retaliate, cause harm, etc. (Jeremiah 17:9). That’s the natural man!
The rebirthed man is different because He has God alive in him. He reflects the life and Love of God.
He can love the unlovable man just the way God loves. That is agape.
I love how Galatians sums up the entire commandment of God;
“For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is fulfilled in one precept, “You shall love your neighbor’ as yourself [that is, you shall have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit].” But if you bite and devour one another [in bickering and strife], watch out that you [along with your entire fellowship] are not consumed by one another.”
GALATIANS 5:14-15.
If it still takes you a long time to push hurts and bitterness aside, work on it. But while you sort these out, steer clear of The Lord’s Table. Why eat yourself to weakness, sickness or death? 🙂
So, these are some of the reasons Christians become sick.
The good news is; you may become sick but you don’t have any reason to stay or remain sick because Jesus Christ paid the eternal price for sickness and disease. We are/were healed by His Stripes. That healing is available and accessible always
We should constantly work at taking care of our physical bodies, stay clothed in the whole armor of God, remain conscious of our righteousness in Christ and steer clear of The Lord’s Table if we have to.
In the next part, we’ll answer the question of ‘where is my healing?’ 🙂
Get My Book On Healing; “When The Doctor Says No”
To learn more about our healing benefits in Christ Jesus, follow this link to my book, “When The Doctor Says No” available online at
The Book is available in two formats; kindle and paperback. It is also available for order online from all amazon market places, meaning that the Amazon shop in your neighborhood should be able to supply you.
Stay Blessed & My love always.