God hates sickness. It was not his idea - he created a paradise where human beings were meant to live forever. Illness came as a result of Adam and Eve breaking God's will by following the devil's advice to eat of the tree of knowledge. Death forces immediately began working, "death penetrated to all men" (Romans 5:12). As a result, we have sickness among us. Since then, the Bible has been interested in resolving this sickness problem.
How did God solve this problem? He did it by sending "the last Adam," Jesus, to earth. He was born as a human being. Jesus demonstrated God's will concerning sickness by healing everyone who came to Him. From Him we know what God's theology of sickness and healing was. His preaching and healing practices harmonized perfectly with the Father:
“My food,” Jesus said, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work» (John 4:34).
Jesus declared war against disease. In the case of Peters mother-in-law who was ill, it says that He "threatened" the disease. It is only enemies you threaten - not friends:
«So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and began serving them» (Luke 4:39).
But his work does not end there. The cross was the day of reckoning. Then Jesus received God's judgment for all the sins of man. At the same time he paid for all human sicknesses, which was the consequence of sin. (Isaiah 53: 4-5; Matt 8:16, 1 Pet 2:24).
Jesus' resurrection - the crowning
Through Jesus' physical resurrection God confirms that all sin is atoned for (1 Cor 15: 17-20). God can forgive and save all who come to him. But if we say A, we must also say B: Jesus' resurrection is also a confirmation of God wanting to heal all people here in the present, and later give them a new, immortal body through His resurrection. "We shall be like Him" (1 John 3: 2). We are then clothed "imperishable" (1 Cor 3:54 ). Our resurrection is the final triumph of the cross and sickness final end. It is God's final period to the fall in the Garden of Eden.
Sickness no longer longer has the right to stay in our bodies. Jesus has paid us free from sickhness and the power of death.
If we say that God wants to forgive all people their sins here in the present, without simultaneously asserting that God wants to heal all here in the present, we are limiting the power of the cross. We have indeed a "mortal body" that one day will die (Romans 6:12, Hebrews 9:27), but Paul says, however, that we should "consider" ourselves "alive for God in Christ Jesus" (Rom 6:11 ). We should apply the belief that Jesus' healing power, is for both for salvation and health: spiritual and physical healing. God wants to "give life to your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom 8:11). It could mean that God will keep sickness away from us () or heal us if we get sick (James 5:14-15).
Many "shots" against the enemy
The methods of healing are many. After over 40 years in this service, I see more and more clearly that many are not healed because their view of healing is too "simple". One puts it this way: "One should not pray several times for healing, it is enough to pray once and then you should expect something to happen." This is nicely put, and it may work sometimes, but illnesses are of a complex nature and because of our own complex backgrounds, this answer does not cover all cases regarding sickness. To gain a greater success in the healing ministry, we must look at the many different methods of healing that is presented in the Bible. Moreover, we must find the cause of the disease and then solve disease problem by use of the method suitable for those who are sick. I write a lot about this in my books «Jesus, the Healer from Nazareth» and «The Keys to Your Healing» (only in Norwegian at this point).
I tend to compare disease with an invasion by a foreign power on God's territory. Our bodies are not made for illness. It is a "temple for the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 6:19) and not a temple for the fallen angels. Illness reminds us of the fall in the Garden of Eden. Healing reminds us of Jesus' victory on the cross, and God's demonstration by waking him up from the dead.
If we look at illness as an alien invasion, unwanted power - what shall we do? We must not capitulate and surrender. If, for example, cancer were to show up in our bodies - what do we do then? Do we give up? No, we must put on the "armor of God" (Eph 6:13) and in faith go against the enemy. Since Jesus has won the victory over sin and sickness on the cross, we have beforehand victory over diseases.
«I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you» Luke 10:19.
Snakes and scorpions illustrate the devil, demons and their works. Every time they attack us, we put a stop to it, by the power of the gospel. God wants us in His name to declare war against Satan and follow in the footsteps of Jesus:
«But the Son of God came to destroy the devil’s work.» 1 John 3:8
Prayer as a weapon
There are many aspects of prayer. One aspect of the prayer is that it is a weapon. Through continuous prayer of Moses the Israelites triumphed over their enemies, the Amalekites:
«As long as Moses held his hands up, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning». Exodus 17:11
With his hands raised in prayer the Israelites went forth into battle, but when his hands got tired and his concentration on prayer weakened, Amalek prevailed. The solution was that the two men, Aaron and Hur helped hold up Moses' arms while he prayed.
When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. Exodus 17:12-13
It was a day of concentrated war in the spiritual world. The Amalekites were finally defeated, thanks to the tireless intercession of Moses. He held out until the enemy was defeated. Had he stopped when his arms felt heavy and weak, the Amalekites would have won over Israel. There were probably several hundred "prayer shots" against the enemy!
This story shows that victory over an enemy involves several prayers, continually praying. Jesus mentions the same prayer principle. He said that "we should always pray and not grow weary" (Luke 18:1). Jesus himself prayed often and long (Luke 5:16, 6:12). Paul writes about the "persistence in prayer" (Ephesians 6:18). We are to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Why? Invisible, evil forces are behind things happening within us and around us. We must not forget that we are in a war. Paul told Timothy, "Fight the good fight of faith" (1 Tim 6:12). He called Timothy a "soldier" (2 Timothy 2: 2). It is a war between Satan and God, and we are involved in this war. We declare war against all forms of disease.
Diseases represent a force
What I have learned through over 40 years in the service, is that diseases represent a force. It is not "neutral". The point here is, we meet force with force. We meet minus power with plus power. The disease has close to personal characteristics. When the disease has entered into the body, it consolidates its position. It came into your body because it found an opening. It feels almost at home, and it is enjoying its "house". The cancer grows and spreads, MS increases in power and fibromyalgia moves to various places in the body.
Sickness represents a force. We can see that clearly when it comes to cancer. The cancer industry has been described by many as the world's second largest industry, one notch behind the oil industry. Cancer researchers are trying to solve the cancer mystery without having made any breakthrough. So diseases represent a force. Should we get rid of diseases, we must first of all declare war on them. We war not only with medications, we have spiritual weapons: the Word of God (the sword), persevering faith, prayer and confession of faith. We need the power of God's Spirit to heal. It takes more power to heal cancer than removing a wart.
Jesus states:
« And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick». Luke 5:17
When the woman with the issue of blood was healed, the following happened:
«At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him». Mark 5:30
We send the power of God against cancer and other sicknesses. If we are to win victory, we need to pray for the sick, even be consecrated to possess a spiritual power that is greater than the force that the disease represents. Otherwise the the disease wins. The disciples experienced failure when they were trying to heal a possessed boy who had a disease resembling epilepsy. They were not consecrated that day. It ended with Jesus healing him. (Matthew 17:14-20)
Not only must we meet a force with a force - we must meet the force with a greater force than the force that the disease represents.
Within seven days the Israelites went 13 times around Jericho in prayer. It was the first step towards victory. Finally, they sparked the spiritual power they had gained through these seven days of prayer by coming with a proclamation of victory: «The men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed » (Joshua 6:20). We must persevere in prayer for the sick. In addition, we also proclaim Jesus' victory over the disease so that the walls of Jericho fall.
My advice: Seek prayer often
In the recent past I have told the sick who are contacting me, "I view your illness as an enemy that has invaded God's property, your body. An enemy does not run away only because we want the enemy to depart. We must declare war against the disease and the devil, who introduced diseases on earth. If the disease does not disappear with the first shot, do not wait a few months before shooting the next bullet. In our world the enemy would have taken over large parts of the country if the only resistance he met was just one shot, and the next shot came two months later."
Let's use the strategy of the Bible with many prayer bullets. If it works for you, and you do not mind, please feel free to contact me for example, every three days, and I will say a prayer of faith against the disease. I never get tired of praying for the sick.
Many have begun to use this strategy in the fight against disease. The third day represents victory over sin and sickness, because Jesus rose on the third day. Then the gospel was complete.
Nobody knows when the last shot hits. One man was healed of whiplash the 4th time I prayed for him. One woman called me and said that she was healed when she contacted me the 7th time. Another said: I was healed of a chronic sinus infection when you prayed for me for the 10th time. A woman who had HIV, called me about 40 times. Then something happened in the body. Two new blood tests showed that she was well. This was 21 years ago. She is today alive and healthy. Had this woman given up along the way, she would surely now have been deceased. The goal is to free yourself from all diseases. This is how Jesus ministry was:
They were exceedingly astonished, saying, He hath done all things well! He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute speak» (Mark 6:37).
I'll gladly accept prayer requests from you every third day or when it's convenient for you.
