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1) Healing was provided in old covenant; we have a better covenant.

2) Jesus demonstrated God’s will to heal us.

3) God commanded believers to pray for the sick and he promised to answer the prayer of faith.

4) Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.

1 Peter 1:18-19
18Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1 Peter 1:18-19 (KJV)

• Redeemed (Greek) – to buy and rescue from loss, ransom.
• Jesus bought and rescued us from loss.
• God wants us to be healthy and well.

3 John 1:2
2Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
3 John 1:2 (KJV)

• Even if you are living in good health now today, at some point you will need to use your faith to maintain that good health.  That is why you put that faith in your heart now and speak it over you and your family now.  That way it will be there when you need it.

1) Healing was provided in old covenant; we have a better covenant. – TOP

Exodus 23:25-26
25And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
26There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.
Exodus 23:25-26 (KJV)

• God promised in the old covenant that he would take away sickness.

Hebrews 8:6
6But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
Hebrews 8:6 (KJV)

• Our covenant is obviously better.

2) Jesus demonstrated God’s will to heal us. – TOP

John 6:38
38For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
John 6:38 (KJV)

• If you want to know God’s will just follow the life of Jesus.

John 14:9-10
9Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
10Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
John 14:9-10 (KJV)

• Jesus did healing, so apparently that is what the father wants for us.

3) God commanded believers to pray for the sick and he promised to answer the prayer of faith. – TOP

James 5:14-15
14Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
James 5:14-15 (KJV)

• Why would God command us to pray for the sick if he didn’t want us to be well?

4) Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. – TOP

• There was no sickness in the world until the devil showed up.

1 John 3:8
8He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8 (KJV)

Acts 10:38
38How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
Acts 10:38 (KJV)

. . . curing all who were harassed by the devil . . .
Acts 10:38 (Moffat)

. . . curing all who were overpowered by the devil . . .
Acts 10:38 (Williams)

. . . curing all who were under the devil’s tyranny . . .
Acts 10:38 (Knox)

3 Revelations you need to know to stay well.

1. God’s will is not being fully done on earth yet.

• A lot of people think that all things that happen are God’s will in the world, and ultimately God’s will is always being done.

Revelation 21:2-4
2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Revelation 21:4 (KJV)

1 Peter 5:8-9
8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
1 Peter 5:8-9 (KJV)

• If it is all God’s will, then what is the point of resisting the devil?  The devil is against God’s will, and we have to stop him from stopping God’s will in our lives.

Ephesians 6:16
16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Ephesians 6:16 (KJV)

• Faith has a 2-fold effect.  It pushes away evil and it brings God’s will into your life.

1 Timothy 6:12
12Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12 (KJV)

• Some people think that God allows sickness and disease into our lives to train us and give us a lesson and draw us closer to God.  That is hogwash.  Sickness and disease is from the devil.

John 10:10
10The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
John 10:10 (AMP)

• This scripture clearly points out that the devil is the one doing the stealing, killing, and destroying.  Jesus came in contrast to that.
• If God wants us to have and enjoy life in abundance, then how could be giving us sickness and disease.  It is the devil that comes to destroy our lives, not God.

Mark 4:36-39
36And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
37And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
38And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
39And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Mark 4:36-39 (KJV)

• We are going to have storms in life.  They are going to happen.  That does not mean that God put it there for us to draw closer to him.  Jesus knew that storms are not from God.  That is why he rebuked the storm.  He chose to resist the storm, resist the devil.  That is what we need to do.

• Don’t be a weanie Christian.  We need to fight the devil.  We need to know that when sickness and disease come, it is an attack straight from the devil.  In war, if you are attacked, you don’t sit idly by and just say oh well, there is a reason for this, we will learn from this attack.  No, you stand up and fight.  We do not have to live always on defense where we just adjust to what the devil throws our way.  We need to get on the offensive and use the weapons at our disposal.  That is the attitude we need to have against the devil.  Our faith is our shield, and the Word is our sword.

Luke 4:38-39
38And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her.
39And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.
Luke 4:38-39 (KJV)

2. Jesus took our sins and sickness on the cross.

• We know the following verses in Isaiah are talking about Jesus because in Acts 8, God uses Phillip to tell us that these verses are about Jesus.

Isaiah 53:3-8
3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isaiah 53:3-8 (KJV)

• In verse 4, grief means infirmities and sicknesses, and sorrows means pains.  Therefore, he bore our infirmities and sicknesses, and carried our pains.

Matthew 8:16-17
16When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:
17That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Matthew 8:16-17 (KJV)

• These verses in Matthew are the interpretation of Isaiah 53:4.  It basically means that sin, sickness, disease, and pains were all taken care of on the cross.  It was already done.  The price has already been paid.

1 Peter 2:24
24Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
1 Peter 2:24 (KJV)

• This is Peter’s same interpretation of Isaiah 53.  Our healing was already taken care of.  It has already been done.
• Jesus was cursed to free us from the curse.

Deuteronomy 28:15
15But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
Deuteronomy 28:15 (KJV)

Deuteronomy 28:61
61Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Deuteronomy 28:61 (KJV)

• It is clear from these verses in Deut. that all sickness and disease is a curse.  Curses are not from God.  They are all from the devil.

Galatians 3:13
13Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Galatians 3:13 (KJV)

• Past tense.  Christ hath, that means in the past, he hath redeemed us.  He has rescued us from loss.  We have been ransomed.
• Faith is not a feeling or a belief.  It is an act.  Faith is acting like God’s word is true and acting on it by speaking it in your life