Therefore it is not just the mere addition of “in Jesus name” that delivers the goods to us. We should also ensure our ‘whatsoever‘ truly represents who and what Jesus is.

Therefore, if we are ever challenged in health, we know it is not from God, we must resist it.
Question is how do we resist sickness?

Why Christians Still Suffer Sickness and Disease

So far, we’ve said that God is interested in our spiritual and physical wellbeing (Isaiah 53;4-5, 3 John 1:2). We have also seen that Jesus carried our sicknesses, pains and sorrows on Himself (Isaiah 53:4-5). The reason Jesus did it all is so that we do not have to bear, carry or suffer any of these things. We are delivered from sin and its consequences.

Now, if Jesus did all this so that we can enjoy good health then why do Christians still fall ill?

Below, I share 4 possible reasons from scripture why this can be the case……

1. Ignorance about the Word of God on healing

In Hosea 4:6, God states that His people perish because of lack of knowledge.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. Hosea 4:6 NKJV

The devil will always cash-in on anyone’s ignorance of their identity, rights and privileges in Christ to keep such a one in bondage (John 10:10, Luke 13:16). If we believe that Jesus already took away our sicknesses and diseases, then He intends for us to be free of them. So God derives no joy in having is ill. But guess who wants us bound and in chains by sickness and diseases? The enemy of our faith! As we see in Luke 13:16, sickness can be a form of bondage by Satan…..

“So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” Luke 13:16 NKJV

The devil seeks to steal, kill and destroy, we should not let him succeed. However, we cannot appropriate and enjoy our benefits in Christ if we are unaware of what the Word says they are. In John 8;32, Jesus said it is the person who knows the truth that can be made free….

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32 NKJV

Give time to the Word of God. Lack of knowledge about the Word of God in any area of life will keep you in bondage.

2. Laziness in Practicing the Word

James 1:22 is a short but very strong verse of scripture…..

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” James 1:22 NKJV

If all we do as believers is; listen to the Word, listen to the Word and listen to the Word again but never act in accordance with what we hear from the Word, James 1:22 says we are DECEIVING ourselves. If we never bring ourselves to practicing what we hear from the Word of God, chances are that we may be lazy or we have not fully accepted the Word as true. So in a sense, not acting on the Word can sometimes be like dancing with unbelief.

God wants us living a life of faith and perpetual victory. And that is only possible when we learn to release our faith through our actions, starting with our words. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God in our mouths.

Today, align your words with God’s Word on healing in order to enjoy your healing benefits in Christ. Remain steadfast with your healing confessions and overtime, you will realize that the Word of God is health to all your flesh, the Word is living, powerful and sharp even as pertains to your health.

3. Making unwise and unhealthy lifestyle choices

Even though we are spirit beings, and dominate our world first in the spiritual realm, our bodies are the means through which we relate directly with our physical world. Our skin, eyes, ears, nose, tongue transmit signals from the world around us to our brains, thus helping us make sense of our world. However, our physical bodies are prone to wear and tear with each day. Therefore not making wise and healthy lifestyle choices can further cause more wear and tear on our bodies.

To fully enjoy our healing benefit in Christ, we must make healthy lifestyle decisions. Eat right (Daniel 1:12-16, Genesis 1:29, 2:16), Exercise right (1 Timothy 4:8), Get enough Sleep/Rest, Maintain good Godly relationships.

4. Not discerning the Lord’s Body

Speaking about the communion, First Corinthians 11:29-30 tells us to recognize that when we partake of the communion, we are actually partaking of the Lord’s Body. And we are that Body! So eating/drinking in a discriminating manner, with hatred and unforgiveness against one another, can make us weak, sick or to die.

“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.

We all sometimes feel angry, offended, betrayed etc, but we must learn to let go of them, we must learn to quickly forgive. We must commit to ourselves to Be More– more in faith, patience, longsuffering, kindness, peace, love (2 Peter 1:5).
And the more we yield to the leading and workings of the Spirit the easier it is to resist the impulses of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). Be led by the Spirit, walk in walk.

Love fulfills all of God’s law (Galatians 5:14‭-‬15). We are born of God, God is love and so we are love. Let us learn to exercise our love nature by making demands on it every time we are tempted to hate or not forgive (Matthew 22:37-39, 1 Corinthians 13:13, Matthew 5:24).

Friends, don’t let the enemy keep you oppressed and depressed. Christ has delivered us from sin, the curse of the law and from the devil’s dominion. He took our pains and sicknesses on Himself and By His Stripes we are healed. So, be knowledgeable about your identity, rights and benefits in Christ, make wise and healthy lifestyle choices and put on the garment of love at all times.

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Blessings & Love Always!

If believers are to lay hands on the sick to recover, then there is healing power in a believers hand (when used with the authority in the name of Jesus). But how best to prove this except by acting on it.

Everyone has a ‘baseline’ level of faith that when rightfully applied yields results. However in scripture, we also hear Jesus grade faith on different levels- little faith, faith, great faith (Matthew 14: 22-33, Mark 4:35-41, Matthew 16:8, Matthew 8:10, 26, Luke 7:9). In some other portions of scripture we also find faith ‘classified’ differently- Growing faith (2 Thessalonians 1:3), Strong faith (Romans 4:20), Weak faith (Romans 14:1-3), etc. James chapter 2: 14-26 also talks about dead and living faith. So faith has grades/levels. Point is; you can grow your measure of faith and the question is; how?

When I heard the story it sounded both dumb and ridiculous. What a dumb thief he must be! I mean people already saw him and being a closely-knit and cliquish neighbourhood, words would soon go round. Wouldn’t be long before someone identified him and pointed him out to the security parading the streets. Dumb thief.

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.

Considering the above truths, we shouldn’t have believers struggling to make ends meet. Every follower of Jesus Christ should naturally exhibit the hallmarks of the blessing; increase, expansion, influence, dominion, and enjoy security/protection. Statutorily, every Christian possessed all these things from the new-birth, unfortunately not every Christian fully expresses them as should. 

The Blessing of Abraham

If you have been with me on this study, remember that we took a side journey from the sub-topic “Victory Through Faith” in order to find out how Abraham became the ‘Father of Faith’. You can read a bit more about that here.

Today we conclude our brief study on Abraham by looking at ‘The Blessing of Abraham’.

What is the blessing?

God pronounced the blessing on man immediately after creating him (Genesis 1:28). However Adam’s sin and fall introduced the curse which brought in spiritual death, sickness and poverty. Through His death, burial and resurrection, the Lord Jesus settled the curse forever, did away with it and re-established the blessing (Galatians 3:13‭-‬14).

When we look at the first mention of the blessing, we gain an understanding of what the blessing means….

“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:28 NKJV

……be fruitful, multiply, increase, expand, dominate…

I find that the blessing is often mentioned alongside fruitfulness, expansion, increase, abundance, or influence in the scripture. Sometimes we find a combination of these mentioned.

From Proverbs 10:22, we see the value of the blessing….

“The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.”
Proverbs 10:22 NKJV

The Blessing Makes Rich! The Blessing Makes Rich!! The Blessing Makes Rich!!!

So the blessing is an empowerment to prosper.

What is the Blessing of Abraham?

We find the answer to this in Genesis 12:1-3….

“Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family and from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1‭-‬3 NKJV

If we want to line-list the Blessing of Abraham, we will have;

• I will make you into a great nation.
  • I will bless you.
  • I will make your name great.
  • You shall be a blessing.
  • I will bless/curse those who bless/curse you (I will personally fight your battles).

So, what do we see here? We see;

• Increase
• Expansion
• Influence
• Dominion/Authority
• Security/Protection

This is ‘The Blessing of Abraham’ and it pretty much covers everything anyone would want in life to feel successful, doesn’t it?

So did Abraham become all that God promised? Sure!

Genesis 24:1-2, summarizes for us that God blessed Abraham in all things….

“Now Abraham was old, [well] advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.” Genesis 24:1 AMP.

What exactly can fall under ‘all things‘?

Genesis 24:35 mentions some of them;

“The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great (wealthy, powerful); He has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and maids, and camels and donkeys.
Genesis 24:35 AMP

So Abraham put his hands to work and the blessing manifested.

Genesis 24:35 is actually a testimony from Abraham’s servant (as he went seeking a wife for Isaac from the house of Bethuel). According to his testimony, Abraham had become; greatly blessed, wealthy, powerful, an owner of flocks and herds, silver and gold, camels and donkeys and master servants and maids. I love the way Abraham’s possessions are mentioned in multiples- flocks, herds, camels, donkeys, etc. And talking about Abraham’s servants, I found it almost ‘mind-blowing’ that Abraham went to war (to rescue his nephew Lot) with 318 trained men born in his household! So how big was Abraham’s household? If he went with 318 men, how many were left behind? How many wives, children, mothers were not counted? So how exactly big was Abraham’s household? Talk about being blessed! In modern day, Abraham would have been described as a very powerful and influential person.

Abraham experienced the blessing through faith, obedience and patience.

I love the blessing of Abraham and I am so glad that I am an heir of Abraham. I am a partaker of this blessing.

Heir of Abraham

Yes, I am an heir of Abraham and the Blessing of Abraham is mine.

Someone says ‘Grace, how did you come about that?’

First, Abraham became the father of faith because he believed God’s promises and he was counted righteous through faith. Therefore because I believe God’s Word by faith also, I am an heir of Abraham. Abraham is my father.

I am a daughter of Abraham….and you are a son/daughter of Abraham.

“In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God,” Galatians 3:6-7 NLT

I am an heir of Abraham….and you are an heir of Abraham.

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Galatians 3:26-29 NKJV

Who is an heir? Someone legally entitled to the property or rank of another on that person’s death. A person who inherits and continues the work of a predecessor. A beneficiary, grantee, inheritor, successor.

I am an heir of Abraham and an inheritor of the blessing of Abraham….and so are you.

Yes, I share in the same Blessing of Abraham..

“What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.” Galatians 3:8-9 NLT

I am an heir of Abraham and I have the blessing of Abraham. I have the Blessing! God has empowered me to prosper. And just as God blessed the handworks of Abraham causing increase and expansion leading up to wealth, influence and dominion, even so the blessing causes the works of my hands to prosper, leading up to wealth, influence and dominion. I walk by faith, I walk in-step with the Spirit, I live by the Word and I inherit the blessing. I am blessed, my name is blessed, and I am a blessing to nations…..and so are you!

When God entered into a covenant with Abraham, it was to assure him that the promise will be fulfilled, that the blessing will not fail. As Christians we stay confident that the blessing will prevail because of the covenant made by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. The blessing will not fail.

Thank You Jesus!

Remember that you can access previous parts of this study as follows; Part 1: Study Background. Part 2: The Scope of the Christian Victory. Part 3: How Christians Gained Victory. Part 4: How Faith, Love and Hope Mix Together for Victorious Christian Living. Part 5: The Nature of God’s Love. Part 6: Characteristics of God Kind of Love. Parts 7 and 8:  Winning Through Love. Part 9: How to develop our love nature. Part 10: Giving Is Not (always) Love. Part 11:Victory Through Faith: Understanding Faith. Part 12: Victory Through Faith: The Righteousness of God. Part 13: The Stimulus for Faith. Part 14: The Faith of Abraham (A). Part 15: The Faith of Abraham (B).

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Blessings & Love Always!