SHAMMAH OUTREACH MINISTRIES APOSTOLIC, PROPHETIC, HEALING AND MIRACLE GATHERING February 8, 2014 By: Sandra Benaglia Smith EMOTIONAL MENTAL PHYSICAL SPIRITUAL MESSAGE - DIVINE HEALING Jesus said that believers will lay hands on the sick, and the sick will recover (Mark 16:18). The job of the minister is to train the body of Christ so that they can do the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:11-12). The day of the one-man show in the body of Christ needs to come to an end, and we re literally seeing that take place in our meetings. Would you like to see the blind receive their sight or the lame walk when you pray? Do you desperately need healing yourself? Here s the good news whether you re praying for another s healing or receiving your own, it s available to every true follower of Christ! Jesus gave every disciple who believes the power and authority to do the same works that He did. What a statement! But it is absolutely true. 1
John 14:12 says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. All believers will do the same works that Jesus did; it s not limited to ministers. There s just a shortage of "believing believers". There is a difference in a Christian and a Believer! A Christian may believe - but then they sway - they sway from left then they sway from right...they don't really stand firm or believe the anointed mighty Word of God - they don't believe it is for them -- or they think it was only for Jesus' time...the Apostle's time... Where as a true Believer of the Word of God will not compromise with His Word - they will not be shaken, they will not be swayed and they will not be moved. TO BE A "TRUE BELIEVER" WHO HAVE TO BELIEVE IN THE WORD OF GOD. God has already placed His healing power within us, and it is now under our authority. It isn t up to God to determine who receives healing; it s up to us! What a powerful statement! It s our failure to understand and use the authority we have that is keeping God's healing power from flowing as it should. It's imperative that we discover what we have and learn how to release it. Here's another indispensable basic truth you must know and understand about healing: It's never God's will for us to be sick; He wants every person healed every time. That's nearly-too-good-to-be-true news, but that's the Gospel. 2
Most Christians don't know or believe that. They think the Lord makes them sick, or at the very least, He allows Satan to make them sick to either punish or correct them. That kind of thinking will get you killed; it's not what the Bible teaches. One of the most elementary principles in God's Word is given in James 4:7. It says, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." This verse clearly teaches that some things are of God, and some things are of the devil. Notice it doesn't present a third category: from God through the devil. No! Sickness has nothing to do with God! Submit to the things of God, and resist the things of the devil. It's that simple. To believe that God allows or approves of Satan's actions defies the logic of James 4:7. It eliminates our responsibility to resist and places ultimate responsibility for everything back on God. The widely-accepted doctrine that God controls everything is a deception. If Satan can confuse and deceive you on that issue, he's got you! Why? Because you'll stop resisting. No one wants to resist God's will, and if you think that God is behind your sickness, you'll submit to it. That violates the instruction of James 4:7, it won't get you healed, and it lets Satan have his way in your life. You must believe God always wants you healed. It's so simple, it takes help to misunderstand. But sadly, most Christians receive plenty of help from religion in misunderstanding this. Look at it this way: If God wanted you sick, for whatever reason, then why visit the doctor or take medication? It would seem more logical to allow the sickness to run its course so God's purpose could be accomplished. Of course I think that's foolish, and hopefully, so do you. 3
What's the bottom line on God's will for our healing? His Word reveals that to us in 3 John 2, which says, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." John revealed that the Lord wants us healthy just as much as He wants us to prosper emotionally and mentally. When Peter preached the Gospel to Cornelius in Acts 10:38, he summarized the ministry of Jesus by saying, "How 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." Today some preachers are saying that healing is of the devil, but that's not the message Peter gave. Notice what Peter said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Not only was Jesus doing good when He healed people, but He healed all that were oppressed of the devil, not of God. That scripture clearly proves that sickness is not from God. Isaiah 53 should end all debate. It was written prophetically about Jesus, the Messiah. Isaiah 53:4-5 says, "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But 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." These verses reveal that physical healing is a part of the atonement of Christ. The Lord redeemed us from sickness just as much as He redeemed us from sin. He would no more want us to be sick than He would want us to sin. Those are radical statements to many Christians because we've been taught that forgiveness of sins is what salvation is all about. Well that's certainly a vital part of salvation, but that's not all that Jesus accomplished. We were also healed by His stripes. 4
Sickness is not of God just as sin is not of God. Thank You, Jesus! Just in case anyone might be thinking that the healing spoken of in Isaiah 53:4-5 is not physical but only emotional, the Bible gives a commentary on Isaiah's prophecy. In Matthew 8:16 Jesus healed all the sick people brought to Him, and verse 17 says this was done "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." Therefore, Scripture comments on itself and makes it very clear that the healing spoken of by Isaiah is referring to physical infirmities and sicknesses. If Jesus bore our sicknesses, then we don't have to. AMEN!!!!! Everything in the Bible tells you Give no place to the devil. That word give no place is a military term. It means once you take ground don t give it up. You take the high ground and you hold on to it and you don t give it up. When my son died I threw myself into the battle. I said, I am going to find how to win. I will never except it. I tell people the the same thing every time and now things have changed - I am no longer a swaying Christian...begging God for something He already did -- I am steadfast, solid and a true believer of the Word of God - and I take my healing whenever I need it and receive it by faith and it is done! Satan is the author of sickness, not God, but he lies to people and makes them think that has God put sickness on them. Or he tries to make them think that God is using sickness to teach them something. God does not need the devil to teach you anything! This type of thinking makes us angry and is actually preached in many churches today. You see, thinking like this almost cost me my life suffering from over 30 years of bulimia and anorexia! When I went to believers in the past, this is what people told me. I didn t learn anything. Instead, I became bitter and almost turned against God. When my son past away from cancer at 8 years old..that thinking is what people would tell me. I knew it was wrong, but I did not know how to appropriate what Jesus already did for my son at that time. 5
Later, after many years of study and experience personal divine healing to my own body and now in ministry, I learned that if I spent time teaching people about the double cure that Jesus not only died for the remission of our sins but also for the healing of our bodies I could change their wrong thinking. And when people saw that it was God s will for them to be healed, it was easy for them to receive what was rightfully theirs. Healing promises are found throughout the Old and New Testaments. Isaiah's prophecy about Jesus bearing our grief and carrying our sorrows was quoted by Matthew in the New Testament in relation to Jesus healing every single one. Matthew quoted Isaiah 53:4 this way in Matthew 8:17: "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias [Isaiah] the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." The following verse, Isaiah 53:5, makes it very clear that this was speaking of physical healing when Isaiah said, "But 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." Couple this with the example of Jesus healing every single person who came to Him for healing, and the truth that healing is a part of Christ's atonement is undeniable. Jesus said that He did exactly what He saw His Father do (John 8:28). If God is the author of sickness, as some teach today, then Jesus failed to follow His Father's example. He never made one person sick, and He never failed to heal a single person who believed. As Peter put it in Acts 10:38 (emphasis mine), "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." Notice the word "ALL" (emphasis mine) in that verse; and also notice that those who were sick were oppressed of the devil, not God. The Lord would no more put sickness on someone than He would make a person sin. We've been redeemed from both. Am I saying that since healing is a part of the atonement, Christians don't get sick? No, not any more than those who have received forgiveness of sins never sin again. Freedom from sickness and disease has been provided just like the freedom from sin; but Christians still sin, and they still get sick not because God wills it but because of other reasons. 6
This leads to another point that I believe is a major factor in causing people to disbelieve that it is always God's will to heal. It is often said or implied that people who get sick are sick because of some sin in their lives. That's too simplistic. That is one reason, but only one reason. Jesus told the man He had healed at the pool of Bethesda, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee" (John 5:14). Sin is one reason why people are sick. It's not God who sends the sickness as punishment, but sin allows the devil to release his death in us; but not all sickness is a direct result of the suffering individual's sin. Failure to present this truth properly has caused many people to disbelieve it's always God's will to heal because according to their thinking, the sick person would have to be bad or evil in some way; yet they know there are many godly people who are sick and die. Not all sickness is caused by something we do. Regardless of the reason, however, there is always something we can do about it. We can believe God, and He will heal ALL our diseases (Ex. 15:26, Ps. 103:3). If it is God's will to heal all our diseases, why isn't everyone healed? That's a simple question with a complex answer. The bottom line is faith. The prayer of faith saves the sick (James 5:15). Prayer doesn't save the sick; "the prayer of faith" saves the sick. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. I know some of you are accusing me of violating my own teaching from what I said before. I said it's not always something we do that causes sickness. Now you think I'm saying it's our failure to believe that brings the sickness. That's not what I'm saying. Let me clarify. 7
There are three major reasons why all our problems happen. One reason is our own personal sin. God doesn't "get us" when we sin, but we reap what we sow. An alcoholic gets liver disease, not because God is punishing him, but because he did it to himself. Second, the devil is a foe who fights us with all types of problems. We make his job easier when we yield to him through sin, but ignorance is also an in-road for Satan to our lives. Sometimes, we experience Satan's opposition not because of sin or ignorance but simply because we are in a war, and we are a threat to him. Third, many of our problems are just the natural result of living in a fallen world. A wound can get infected, not because of your personal sin and not because of a demon; it is just the result of the corruption that entered the world through sin. I'm not saying that all sickness is a result of sin or failure in our lives. There is always something we can do to stop the sickness, and that's to believe God. Faith in God's healing atonement is what overcomes sickness, but it's not just believing that God can heal. It has to be more specific than that. A person can have faith and yet have that faith misdirected. We aren't waiting on God to heal us. By His stripes we WERE healed (1 Pet. 2:24). It's misdirected faith for us to just wait on God for healing. The Lord will meet us where our faith is, but His best is now. "Now faith is" (Heb. 11:1). Faith must believe that God is (Heb. 11:6), not that He was or is going to be. Faith is now! We have to aggressively take the authority God has given us and bring that healing into manifestation. 8
Let s discuss why people sometimes lose their healing after they ve received it. I ve had people say to me that they felt perfectly well for a period of time after I laid hands on them. Then, all the symptoms came back, and they were worse than they before. This is a simple problem to address. The reason people lose their healing is because they were healed through another s faith. Sometimes folks receive healing through a special manifestation of the Holy Spirit, such as through a word of knowledge or the gifts of healing, for example. But when they get back home, they re on their own; they re operating on their own faith. When I began to question certain people who lost their healing, I found out that as soon as the symptoms started coming back on them, they said, Well, I thought I was healed, but I guess I m not anymore. Because they didn t know how to resist the devil, they took all of their symptoms back. At the first sign of a symptom, they wavered in faith and believed the symptom over the truth of God s Word. Then they probably said something, such as, Well, I thought I was healed, but I guess I wasn t. You see, you have to stand your ground against the devil. At the first sign that a symptom is trying to come back on you, tell the devil, No, you re not putting that back on me. I m healed. Then quote First Peter 2:24, Matthew 8:17, and Isaiah 53:4 5. Remind the devil of what the Word says. Unfortunately, instead of rising up and meeting the devil with the Word of God and commanding his power to be broken, many people yield to him. Why? Because they don t have a foundation of God s Word in their lives. They re depending on others to carry them with their faith and prayers, and that will only work temporarily. To receive permanently, you must use your own faith. When you know the power and authority of the Name of Jesus and that you have a biblical right to that Name, the devil won t have any power over you. Then when symptoms try to come back on you, you won t be filled with fear. 9
You ll just simply laugh at the devil and say, Satan, Jesus whipped you more than two thousand years ago. Now leave my body! And he ll have to leave. You can t maintain your healing if it has come as a result of another person s faith or through the gifts of the Spirit, unless your faith is developed in the Word of God. But beating the devil is as simple as standing your ground and resisting him. He doesn t have any choice but to flee (James 4:7)! Build Strong Faith Through the Word of God Faith begins where the will of God is known. Rest assured that God wants you well. I know this goes contrary to popular Christian doctrine. We re constantly told that it s not us but God who is the Healer, and I agree with that totally. But, I also believe that God has placed His healing power under our authority, and it is up to us to release it. If we don t take our authority and become commanders instead of beggars, God s power will not be released. There needs to be a radical renewing of our thinking on this issue. That s what the Lord was speaking of. He has already healed everyone who will ever be healed. He did it two thousand years ago when He bore our stripes on His back. Then He deposited His resurrection power inside every believer (Eph. 1:19-20). He s done His part, and now it is up to us to do ours. 10
REMEMBER: John 14:12 says, o Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. All believers will do the same works that Jesus did; it s not limited to ministers. It's time even now - in the body of Christ to become a believing believers - believe in the infallable Word of God that by His stripes we WERE healed...bought and paid for. We need to take the authority He has given us and become commanders instead of beggars. This is a powerful truth that works, and it s the reason we see so many miraculous healings in this ministry. We aren t just praying for the sick; we are healing them in Jesus name. 11