Tag Archives: sickness

The Keys To Heaven Are In Your Pocket

Jesus didn’t hand the keys of heaven to a special class of super-apostles and then lock the rest of us outside the house. When Peter opened his mouth and said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” Jesus didn’t reply, “Nice try, now step aside while the professionals handle this.” He said, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

The rock is the confession. The keys belong to everyone who makes the same confession with the same faith that Jesus is the Son of the living God. Romans 10 says you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, and that is where the kingdom sits—inside people who agree with God out loud. Ephesians 1 says He adopted us into His family. Grown adopted sons get keys to the house. Heaven is the house. He did not give the Father keys to hand to the Son and then wait. Put your hand in your pocket. He gave you the keys, because you are a son in the house. The house is heaven.

Stop and think about what He actually handed you. Not keys to the garage. Not keys to the family cabin. Not keys to some distant relative’s condo. Keys to heaven itself. The place where the throne sits. The place where the Father dwells. The place the angels call home and the saints call the final destination. He looked at the ones who confess His Son and said, “Here. These are yours now.” That is not a metaphor for “feel encouraged.” That is the Owner of the universe putting the master set in your pocket and telling you to start using them. Adopted children eventually get house keys. He treated you like a son who has come of age. The kingdom is His house, and He just gave you access…and receiving in faith, you just banked reward in heaven. Unlocking her healing unlocked more of that for her too.

Think about how ridiculous the scale is. Imagine if God had walked up and dropped the keys to the Andromeda Galaxy in your hand. Two and a half million light-years of stars, wonder, and systems. “Here, rearrange this if you want. Call me if you get lost.” Or the Sombrero Galaxy—edge-on, dust lane and all, a hundred thousand light-years across—and He just slides the key across the table and says, “Go play.” You would lose your mind. You would tell everyone. You would not spend the next forty years asking Him to unlock the front door of your own house while those galactic keys sat in your pocket. Yet that is exactly what most believers do. He gave you something a hundred million times greater than Andromeda or the Sombrero. Heaven is not a galaxy. It’s something much, much greater. And God gave you the keys to it. Heaven is the throne room. The place where the decrees are issued. The place where what is bound stays bound and what is loosed stays loosed. He put those keys in your hand.

Think about what that means the next time you see a sick Christian. Jesus looked at the woman bent over for eighteen years and called her a daughter of Abraham—something He did not casually throw at the crowd whose father was the devil. She was already in the covenant and still bound by Satan. Ignorant believers can still get chained. The one who knows he holds the keys does not stand there begging God to unlock something God already handed over. He speaks. “Be healed.” That is not asking the Owner of the house to use His own keys. That is the son using the keys the Father placed in his pocket. What you unlock on earth is unlocked in heaven. Free that woman from the chains and she now has energy, time, and clarity to pursue the promises, store up treasure, and expand the kingdom. Every time you receive a blessing by faith—health, provision, open doors—you are not merely collecting stuff on earth. Because you did it the spiritual way, by asking and receiving in faith, you just banked reward in heaven. Unlocking her healing unlocked more of that for her too.

Some people still pray like they are standing outside the house knocking. “God, would You open this door for me?” He already gave you the keys. He is not going to open it while you hold them. Moses stood at the Red Sea with the Staff of God in his hand and started a monologue about how the Lord would fight for them. God interrupted and told him to stop crying out and use what he already held. The same thing happens when you treat the keys of heaven like a souvenir. Next time you catch yourself asking God to unlock something, picture Him looking back at you and saying, “I gave you the keys. You unlock it.” He gave you keys to heaven itself. That is a hundred million times bigger than if He had handed you the keys to the Andromeda Galaxy and told you to go rearrange stars. And He expects you to use them.

The kingdom is not expanding because God is hunting for volunteers willing to beg. It expands because sons who confess the Son of God pick up the keys He already put in their pockets and start unlocking things. Stop asking the Owner to do the job He assigned to you. Take the keys. Unlock the healing. Unlock the provision. Unlock the door. If a weapon is formed against you, lock it up on earth, and God will lock it up in heaven. Think about it. God did not say to Himself, “What I lock on earth, I will lock in heaven.” He said it to you. It’s your responsibility to lock and unlock, and God will back you up.

What you unlock on earth is unlocked in heaven. That is not a suggestion; it is your responsibility as a child of the house. That is the house rules for the adopted. You hold the keys to the place where the throne sits.

Next time you pray, see heaven’s keys in your hand. Pull them out of your pocket and see yourself unlocking or locking something. Don’t worry. God gave you the keys to use them. He likes to see a son using the family keys.

To Reject Healing Is To Reject The Kingdom

Jesus did not hand the seventy-two a clipboard titled “Repent of Your Sins or Burn” and send them out as traveling guilt machines. He told them to walk into the house and drop an authoritative pronouncement: “Peace to this house.” If a son of peace is there, the blessing stands. If not, it returns to you undiminished. Stay. Eat their food. Heal the sick who are there. Then announce, “The Kingdom of God has come near to you.” Matthew stacks the power works right after the announcement—heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received; freely give. The direct words Jesus gave them do not open with “tell them to repent of their sins.” Mark later summarizes what the disciples actually did, but the commission itself packages the spoken blessing, the healing, and the Kingdom announcement as the entry point. That is the picture.

The rejection that gets the dust wiped off the feet and Sodom-level judgment is rejection of that package. The messengers brought an authoritative peace that touches material life, demonstrated the Kingdom by healing the sick and breaking Satan’s oppression, and announced that the Kingdom had drawn near in connection with those works. People get offended at God wanting to bless them with physical wholeness and material goodness. Think about that for two seconds. The faithless preach the opposite. They act like the core charge is “repent of your sins or you’re toast,” and treat healing and material blessing like optional extras or even spiritual dangers. But in the text, the Kingdom comes near by healing the sick and casting out demons. The authoritative peace is loosed over the house. What you bind on earth is bound in heaven; what you loose on earth is loosed in heaven. You go in and loose the blessing of God for healing, goodness, and prosperity in that life. If they reject that, they reject the King who brings those things.

Jesus answered John’s disciples the same way. They asked how they would know it was Him. He did not send back a hellfire pamphlet. He said, go tell John what you see and hear: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Then He added, blessed is the one who is not offended because of Me. He was not warning people against being offended at a sermon about sins and hell. He was warning them against being offended at the good things—the physical and material blessings God was doing. The faithless get particularly unbelieving right there. They can talk about spiritual goods all day, but when God shows up to heal the body, cast out the demon, and speak material peace and wholeness into a life, they flinch. That is the offense. And the judgment still stands.

The gospel is a whole package. Good things, both spiritual and material. Forgiveness is in it. Righteousness is in it. The blessing of Abraham is in it. Healing is in it. By His stripes you were healed. The same blood that purchased the removal of the record also purchased the removal of the curse, including sickness and poverty. God wants to give these things more than you want to receive them. The initial breaking-in is the healing and the blessing. You demonstrate that the Kingdom has come near by the power works. Then you tell them, you see all these good things—the healings, the peace, the demons fleeing—you cannot have the fullness of this unless you repent and believe, and then all those good things are yours. Enter in. But the proof that the Kingdom has drawn near is the healing. The way the Kingdom proves it has come near a person is the sick rising and the demons leaving.

Our responsibility is still to do it. Go pronounce “your peace” in authority. Heal the sick. Cast out the demons. Announce that the Kingdom of God has come near. If a ministry refuses to do this, boycott it. Reject it. They are a ministry of the faithless doing faithless things. They are not advancing the Kingdom; they are stalling it while Satan uses the body as a middle finger at the finished stripes and the enthroned Christ. The dust is for those who reject the package. For those who receive it, the peace sticks, the sick rise, and the Kingdom expands in power, not just words.

Speak the peace. Command the healing. Receive the good things God already purchased. The Kingdom has come near. Do not be offended at it.

Faith: Winning the Path of Wisdom

Picture this: you’re standing on the narrow sidewalk of wisdom, the kind Solomon warned his son about. One wrong step and you plunge into endless darkness. Your blood runs cold at the thought of betraying the King of kings

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. How true this is. The fear of God can be seen in context of Scripture as something more mild as worship or reverence, or your blood turning cold in dread. As King Solomon wrote, paraphrasing ( Proverbs 20:2, & 24:21-22): my son, if you betray the king, expect the wrath of the king. Your blood should turn cold in fear if you betray the king. This is right and good. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7, NIV). The same truth echoes in Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 9:10. Fear is not a one-time emotional spasm; rather, Godly fear, is the strength of mind to get on wisdom’s on-ramp. It keeps your feet planted on the narrow way while the darkness of human speculation yawns on both sides. Step off that sidewalk and you are not merely lost—you are swallowed.

However, the part to remember here is the word “beginning.” The fear of God will cause you to begin to walk on the path of wisdom, and it will keep you on the path without turning to the left or right. Think of a sidewalk and on the sides where the sidewalk ends, it plunges into endless darkness. You do not want to stray off this path.

If fear is the beginning of wisdom, what is the advancement of wisdom?

First, know the love. Paul prayed it for the Ephesians and I pray it for you right now: that you “may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18-19). Notice the order. It is not your love for God that strengthens your inner man. It is His love for you. When that reality sinks in, you stop focusing on your stumbles and start receiving the fullness of God Himself. You stop crawling and start standing tall in the throne room as a legitimate son who already has a room prepared in the Father’s house. There is no more condemnation. Jesus already took that. Your judgment day is behind you; only grace and a brilliant future lie ahead.

When you know the Father loves you the same way He loves Jesus (John 17:23), your inner man swells like a sail in a hurricane. Prayers that once sounded timid now blast through the heavens. This is not sentimental fluff; it is deductive reality. God said it; therefore it is so. The stronger the inner man, the faster you sprint down the sidewalk of wisdom.

The second turbocharger is faith itself—the Flash of the spiritual realm. Hebrews 11 parades the heroes, not the moralists. Abraham lied about his wife, yet faith made him the father of nations. David committed adultery and murder, yet faith made him a man after God’s own heart. The chapter ends with the summary: “These were all commended for their faith” (v. 39). Why no chapter on “Heroes Who Kept the Marriage Bed Pure”? It is not because a pure marriage bed is unimportant, but without faith it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6). Faith is the deductive application of God’s revelation to your situation. You take the premise “My word shall not return void” (Isaiah 55:11), add the premise “Whatever you ask in my name will be done” (John 14:13-14), and the conclusion is as certain as 2 + 2 = 4. That is why James 5:15 can say, “The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up.” No exceptions listed. Faith does not guess; it agrees with God that He is correct when He says, “ if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:223-24).

You can keep every rule in the book and still be a total disappointment to heaven if you refuse to believe God for healing, wealth, miracles, and power. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. Period. The faithless can polish their halos all day; God is not impressed. But one man who believes “whatever you ask in my name will be given you” (John 15:16) and actually expects it—that man makes heaven cheer.

This is why Peter, right after Jesus predicted his betrayal, still got the same promise as everyone else: “I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Peter fell hard, but he never lost his room in the Father’s house. Jesus restored him in love, and Peter used that restoration to strengthen the brethren. That is what faith does. It turns your worst failure into fuel to win the path of wisdom.

Look at the centurion in Matthew 8. He understood sovereignty better than most theologians I know. “Just say the word,” he told Jesus, “and my servant will be healed.” He saw reality itself obeying Jesus the way soldiers obey a commander. Jesus called that great faith and upgraded the miracle on the spot. The centurion didn’t crawl in fear; he ran straight into the throne room with confidence and walked out with a healed servant. That is how sons advance on the path of wisdom.

And here comes the baptism of power that turns the Flash into a supernova. Jesus commanded the disciples to wait for the Spirit so they would receive power (Acts 1:8). Peter’s first sermon links repentance, forgiveness, and then the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39). The promise is for you. When that power hits, you do not crawl—you run. Mountains that once loomed now hear your voice and obey (Mark 11:23). Sickness that once mocked you now flees because Satan, not God, is its author (Acts 10:38; Luke 13:16). This is applied eschatology right now: the age of Jesus on the throne, empowering His body to do greater works (John 14:12).

Paul says, “Run in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Losers sit down in fear and baby-crawl, congratulating themselves on staying “on the path.” Winners blast forward on faith and power. The faithless will tell you otherwise. They will say, “God sovereignly gave you that cancer to teach you something.” That is not sovereignty; that is blasphemy dressed as piety. God is the metaphysical author of all things, yes—my Systematic Theology spells it out in the metaphysics section—but on the relational level where He commands us, He is Healer, not disease Santa. Claiming God authors your sickness is the same as claiming you are an Egyptian or Philistine under direct curse. If you are in Christ, you are under Abraham’s blessing, not Adam’s curse. Jesus already carried those stripes (Isaiah 53:4-5; Matthew 8:17).

The same Spirit that raised Jesus is in you. The same authority that commanded storms to be still is yours. The baptism of the Spirit is not optional decoration; it is the supercharger that turns ordinary Christians into heroes who turn rain off like a faucet (James 5:17-18).

Self-debasement is almost always unbelief dressed up stupid. If someone whines about “God’s mysterious sovereignty” while their congregation stays sick, broke, and powerless—they have already stepped off the sidewalk into the dark. Faith-fumblers peddle endless suffering. They are not walking the sidewalk of wisdom—they are face-down in the ditch, eating gravel and calling it “deep.” They reject baptism in the Spirit, reject healing on demand, reject prosperity as part of the gospel, and then wonder why their prayers hit the ceiling.

Do not follow them. They are blind liars pretending to be wise. If they are not baptized in the Spirit, they have rejected the very power that proves election. If they teach suffering is their teacher, they have rejected the love that strengthens the inner man. Their blood should run cold, because they are leading people to betray the King, and their blood now stains their hands.

Faith applies God’s Word deductively to yourself; faith in this sense is a biblical syllogism applying God’s word to you. It is wisdom in action. You take the premise “God cannot lie” (Titus 1:2), add the premise “By His stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24), and the conclusion is inescapable: I am healed. That is not positive thinking. That is wisdom 101. No induction, no human speculation, no “maybe.” Just “God said, therefore I am.” When you live that way, reality obeys because the same God who spoke the universe into existence has decided that your faith-filled words carry His authority. That is how you run the race to win it.

Paul said, “Run in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24). You cannot win by crawling in fear. You win by believing every promise is “Yes” in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20) and then marching into the throne room like the co-heir you are.

So here is the straight talk. The fear of the Lord put you on the path. Good. Stay on it. But for the love of God, stop sitting there shaking. Get up. Know how wide and deep His love is for you. Then run—flat out—by faith. Believe for the healing. Believe for the miracle. Believe for the financial breakthrough. Believe for the power that makes demons scream and sickness flee. God is not looking for careful crawlers; He is looking for sons who will make Him proud. He wants to point at you one day and say, “That guy right there—he pleased Me. He took Me at My word. He ran the race like a champion.”

The path of wisdom is the path of faith, because faith is simply God’s knowledge applied to yourself with understanding. And on that path there is no condemnation. So fear the Lord—yes. But then run like the Flash in the other direction: straight into the arms of the Father who loves you more than you can imagine and who has already said “yes” to every good thing you will ever ask.

Know His love until your inner man explodes with strength. Then blast down the sidewalk on the rocket fuel of faith, baptized in the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. The finish line is not survival; it is “Well done, good and faithful servant.” The heroes of faith are waiting to cheer you on. The faithless are already tumbling into the darkness they chose. Choose wisely. Run like the Flash. Win the prize. God is pointing at you right now, saying, “This one pleases Me because he has faith.” Let Him be right.

Jesus the Healing Hero – IS the Gospel

Right from the opening pages of the Bible, God doesn’t ease in with pleasantries. He drops the declaration of war and victory in the same breath. After the fall, He turns to the serpent and says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Think about that for a second. Before Adam and Eve even finish sewing their fig leaves, God is already pointing to Jesus—the promised Seed—and saying, “This Hero is coming to end you.” Satan gets a bruised heel. Jesus gets total conquest. That’s the opening scene of the whole story. The protoevangelium is not some poetic footnote; it is the explosive launch sequence of redemptive history, the first unmistakable shout that the Seed of the woman would march straight into the fight and settle the score once and for all.

Satan didn’t charge in like some obvious monster. The coward used lies. “Did God really say?” he whispered, and the doubt took root (Genesis 3:1). They ate, and God kept His word exactly as He said He would. The curse hit creation hard—thorns, pain, death, the whole mess (Genesis 3:16-19). And from that day forward the devil has exploited it nonstop, hammering people with his favorite dirty weapon: sickness. It’s how he oppresses, how he victimizes, how he keeps humans under his thumb. Sickness isn’t neutral. It’s bad. Straight-up evil. Let’s be real—Scripture never once calls disease a helpful life coach or a mysterious divine favor. Jesus looked at that woman bent double for eighteen years and named the culprit outright: “Satan has kept her bound” (Luke 13:16). John 10:10 draws the battle line with zero ambiguity: the thief steals, kills, and destroys; Jesus brings life to the full. The fingerprints don’t lie.

That’s why when Peter stands up for the very first official gospel sermon to Gentiles in Acts 10, he doesn’t start with abstract theology. As Vincent Cheung points out in “The Dividing Line,” Peter tells the classic hero-versus-villain story God loves telling. “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38). Satan is the bad guy. Sickness is his bad tool. Jesus the Hero shows up anointed with power and starts setting people free from it—one healing after another. God is perfectly happy framing the good news this way. No need to complicate it. The simple showdown works just fine. Peter could have opened with justification by faith or the doctrine of election—glorious truths, no argument there—but the Spirit led him to lead with power and healing, because that is how the gospel first detonated into the Gentile world. Goodness and healing are welded together in the same sentence. Oppression and the devil are welded together in the same sentence. The Bible refuses to separate them, and frankly, neither should we.

Peace comes through violence and conquest, not some polite negotiation. The Son of God appeared for this very reason—to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). He didn’t just rescue us from the judgment we deserved; He yanked us out of the original villain’s grip too. Forgiveness? Yes. But also tangible freedom right now. Notice Satan’s go-to weapon is always sickness. That’s bad. Healing is good. Jesus healing every single person oppressed by the devil is the Bible’s hero story preached at the launch of Gentile ministry. Matthew 8:16-17 makes the connection unmistakable: “He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.’” The cross wasn’t only about sin. The same atoning work that substituted guilt for righteousness, substituted sickness for healing. Isaiah 53:4-5 and 1 Peter 2:24 stand shoulder to shoulder—by His wounds you have been healed. The Greek tenses shout finished reality. Not “maybe someday.” Not “if it’s God’s will in some vague sense.” Healed. Period.

Picture the devil showing up at the cross like a landlord waving an overdue rent notice marked “sickness stays forever,” and Jesus just rips the contract in half, spikes it to the wood with the nails, and laughs out loud while every demon in the vicinity does the fastest tactical retreat in history. The same Spirit and power that rested on Him to destroy oppression now rests on us. Stop playing victim to a defeated snake. You’re seated with the Hero who crushed his head (Romans 16:20). The devil is not your personal trainer. He is a conquered foe whose only remaining strategy is to convince you the fight is still fair. It isn’t—come on, the head is already crushed.

The faithless try to muddy the water with their “maybe God is using sickness to teach you” nonsense. That’s like cheering for the villain in the movie because it “builds character.” Dumb. Jesus already bore our sicknesses and carried our pains so we wouldn’t have to. By His stripes we are healed. It’s like the devil is still trying to collect rent on a house Jesus already foreclosed on, burned to the ground, and turned into a victory bonfire while the angels roasted marshmallows over the flames. The same Spirit and power that rested on Him to destroy oppression now rests on us. Stop playing victim to a defeated snake. You’re seated with the Hero who crushed his head (Romans 16:20).

Command that sickness to leave in Jesus’ name. Lay hands on the sick and expect recovery (Mark 16:17-18). Believe like the victory is already yours—because it is. The gospel is still advancing through power, healing, and authority in Christ. Live it out loud. The Hero won the war. Now go enforce the victory.

Let me press this a little deeper, because the stakes are eternal. When Jesus sent out the Twelve and then the Seventy-two, He gave them authority over all the power of the enemy and told them to heal the sick (Luke 9:1-2; 10:9). That commission did not expire at the end of the first century. The same Jesus who walked the shores of Galilee is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The same Spirit who raised Him from the dead lives in every believer (Romans 8:11). If sickness were somehow God’s loving tool, then Jesus would have been working against the Father every time He healed someone. That is theological insanity. The Father anointed the Son precisely to destroy what the devil had built. Every miracle was a preview of the age to come crashing into the present. Every healing was a declaration: the kingdom is here, the curse is broken, the Hero has arrived.

When Christians remain in sickness, besetting sins, broken relationships and poverty, it is Satan’s middle finger at God shouting, that Jesus’ kingdom is not here and the curse is not broken and the Hero did not arrive.

Some will object that not everyone gets healed instantly. Fair observation, however, because it is based on observation it is logically irrelevant for knoweldge. Notice what Jesus never did: He never blamed the Father for the delay. He never told the sick to embrace their condition as a gift. He blamed unbelief when it blocked the flow (Mark 6:5-6), and He trained His disciples to keep pressing until faith rose. Paul left Trophimus sick, not because sickness was God’s will, but because the apostolic team was on mission and timing mattered (2 Timothy 4:20). Yet the same Paul commanded the church at Corinth to examine itself so they would not be weak or sick (1 Corinthians 11:29-30). Sickness was the exception to be judged and removed, not the rule to be celebrated. The New Testament pattern is relentless: preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead. That is not optional flavor. That is the normal Christian life.

Think about the woman with the issue of blood. She had suffered for twelve years, spent everything on doctors, and grew worse (Mark 5:25-26). The doctors could not help because the real oppressor was not a germ or a hormone—it was the kingdom of darkness. She touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed instantly. Jesus called her “daughter” and sent her away in peace. That is the gospel in miniature. The Hero sees the victim, feels compassion, and ends the oppression on the spot. He is still doing it. The same power that flowed through His robe now flows through His body on earth—you and me. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead and put Him above all names, times and places is the same power the works in us who believe (Eph 1:19-21).

So grab your spiritual eviction notice, look that defeated snake square in the eye, and say, “Not today, not tomorrow, not ever again—your lease was canceled at Calvary, and the new Landlord is moving in with healing, power, and zero tolerance for your sh@t.” The gospel is not a theory to be debated in seminaries. It is power to be demonstrated in streets, homes, and everywhere. Peter preached it that way to Cornelius’ house, and the Holy Spirit fell while he was still speaking (Acts 10:44). The same thing can happen when you open your mouth with the same message.

The devil has had two thousand years to refine his lies, but the Hero has already crushed his head, and God’s truth is indomitable. The blood still speaks. The name still works. The Spirit still moves. Sickness is still bad. Healing is still good. And Jesus the Healing Hero is still the gospel.

Watch the kingdom advance exactly as it did in the book of Acts. The victory is already yours. Now go enforce it with joy, with boldness, and with the full expectation that the same HERO who healed all who were oppressed by the devil, is now sitting at the Power’s right hand, doing it through you.

Our Identification With Christ

We live in a time when too many Christians treat Jesus like a historical figure trapped in the pages of an old book—as if His ministry was a one-and-done spectacle for the crowds in Galilee. But Scripture paints a far different picture: one where our connection to Him is so profound, so ontologically woven into the fabric of reality, that when God looks at us, He sees the exalted Christ. “God did all this to give us unshakable confidence to ask and receive, by showing us how intellectually, relationally, and ontologically we are identified with Jesus” (S.T., page 654). This isn’t some feel-good theology; it’s the bedrock of how we operate in ministry today. Because we’re united with Him—not the earthly Jesus under the law, but the resurrected King pouring out His Spirit—we do the works He did, and even greater, in the same power. Let’s unpack this, drawing straight from God’s Word, and expose the faith-bumblers who’d rather limit God than let Him loose. Limiting God is like trying to cage a cosmic supernova—spoiler: it doesn’t end well for the cage.

Consider the closeness Scripture describes between Jesus and His body, the church. It’s not a loose association, like distant relatives at a family reunion. No, it’s as intimate as a head to its limbs—where the head goes, the arms follow; what empowers one, surges through the other. Paul captures this in Ephesians 2:6, declaring that God “raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Think about that: right now, in God’s sovereign mind, you’re not scraping by down here; you’re enthroned above every principality, every sickness, every obstacle. This identification means that when God sees you, He sees Jesus. God thinks that right now, I am seated with Jesus in the heavenly places. As Jesus is, so am I in this world. The only reality is the reality that God’s Word creates and sustains. There is no other truth or reality. God thinks I am identified with Jesus, as part of Him. Would God deny Jesus a request? Of course not. Thus, God would not deny me a request, because in God’s mind He considers me as part of Jesus. If we miss this, we mock the gospel, trampling the finished work of Christ as if it left us half-redeemed—not identified with Jesus as part of His body—and limping along until heaven. Frankly, that’s not just bad theology; it’s a cosmic insult, like handing back a gift from the King because you prefer your old rags. Ouch—talk about a divine facepalm.

This union isn’t abstract metaphysics for theologians to debate in ivory towers. It is reality because reality is based on God’s thoughts and words. He considered the old Oshea to have died with Jesus, and a new created Oshea is defined as part of Jesus. By God merely thinking this about me is what creates, shapes, and upholds reality. You cannot get more reality than “God thinks so.” Thus, this has direct implications for ministry. Look at how Jesus Himself operated. In Luke 4:14-19, after His baptism, “Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee… He stood up to read… ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.’” Here’s the key: Jesus, as a man born under the law (Galatians 4:4), didn’t rely on His divine nature for miracles. He ministered through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, just as Acts 10:38 confirms: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power… healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” Even the Son of God modelled dependence on the Spirit’s power for healing, deliverance, and proclamation. Why? Because He was born under the law and operated miracles as a man would; by this, He was the forerunner showing the church how to operate as humans empowered by the Spirit. “Jesus came as a man, born under the law, and even ministered God’s power as a saint does—by the power of the Spirit” (p. 654). He wasn’t flexing inherent deity in isolation; He was demonstrating how Spirit-empowered humanity crushes Satan’s works. Picture Jesus as the ultimate tutorial video: “How to Wreck the Devil’s Plans in Three Easy Steps.”

Now, fast-forward to the ascension. Jesus doesn’t leave us orphaned or downgraded. Instead, He commands the disciples in Acts 1:4-8: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the Promise of the Father… for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit… But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me.” This isn’t optional equipment for apostles only—it’s the same Spirit, the same power, poured out on all believers for ministry. Peter echoes this in Acts 2:33, noting that the exalted Jesus “received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit” and poured it out. The result? The early church exploded with miracles, healings, and bold proclamation, far beyond what one man in one place could do. “After His resurrection, Jesus commanded the disciples not to minister or spread the news until they were clothed with the same power of the Spirit.” If Jesus needed the Spirit’s anointing to start His ministry, how much more do we? Yet some theologians act like this power fizzled out after the apostles, as if God got bored with miracles. That’s not cessationism; that’s Satanism, limiting the Holy One of Israel like the Israelites did in the wilderness (Psalm 78:41). God bored? As if the Creator of quantum physics and kittens runs out of ideas.

Jesus promised we’d do “greater works” than He did (John 14:12). Not because we’re superior, but because He’s now on the throne, multiplying His power through a global body. In His earthly ministry, He was localized; now, through us, His reach is exponential. “As great as it would be to be identified with Jesus under the law in His earthly miracle ministry, it is still a limitation, because what we have is greater. This is why Jesus promised we would do greater works!” Imagine: the same Spirit that rested on Jesus now rests on you, empowering you to command mountains (Mark 11:23), heal the sick (James 5:15), and cast out demons (Mark 16:17). It’s not arrogance; it’s obedience. Faith isn’t wishing; it’s assenting to God’s definition of reality. When you speak in Jesus’ name, reality bends because you’re so identified with Him that your decree carries His authority. This is true and it is reality because God’s sovereign mind thinks so.

Satan trembles at this, which is why he peddles doctrines that sideline the Spirit—calling miracles “for then, not now,” or faith “presumptuous.” But as Vincent Cheung might say, such views are just human pride masquerading as piety. Critics will cry, “But we’re not Jesus!” Exactly the point—we’re better off now, identified with the glorified One. Paul warns in 2 Corinthians 5:16, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.” If you evaluate Jesus—or yourself—from a human viewpoint, you’ll cap God’s power at what your carnal senses perceive. You’ll pray timidly, heal sporadically, and witness anemically. But embrace your union: you’re a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), co-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17), partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). This means ministry isn’t imitation; it’s reality based on how God’s sovereign mind thinks about His own creation. Heal like Jesus did—lay hands, command sickness to flee—because the Spirit’s power flows through you as it did Him. Preach with authority, knowing demons flee at His name through your lips. And yes, expect greater: more salvations, more miracles, across more territory. “The power of the Spirit is so contested by many… When Jesus on His throne becomes central, the baptism of the Spirit for power becomes central” (S.T., page 399).

The same Spirit who empowers also convicts of sin (John 16:8). But what was the sin the Spirit comes to convict the world of? All? No. The Spirit’s ministry is to convict the world of the sin of unbelief—because they do not believe in Jesus. They do not believe He is God’s Son. And because they do not believe He is God’s Son, they do not believe the things He preached and did. What are some things Jesus said? “Jesus answered, ‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours’” (Mark 11:23-24). The Spirit comes to convict us of the greatest sin, which started with Satan’s temptation to Eve: “Did God really say?” It is the sin that leads and opens the door to all other sins. It is the defining sin of the faithless; they refuse to believe God and they refuse to believe Jesus Christ.

Unbelief stopped Jesus in Nazareth (Mark 6:5-6), not besetting sins and not Satan. If sickness lingers or prayers seem unanswered, it’s not God’s will changing—it’s our faith needing sharpening, or perhaps a fresh infilling of the Spirit’s power. Pray in the Spirit (Jude 1:20), building yourself up in God’s love. “Sickness is Satan’s victory lap. Jesus did not just patch up boo-boos; He threw haymakers at the devil’s disease factory” (Systematic Theology, page 648). Join the fight; wield the power. Because who doesn’t love a good spiritual smackdown?

Look at how Jesus kicked off His Galilean ministry in Luke 4:14-15—He returned “in the power of the Spirit,” and suddenly news spread like wildfire, with Him teaching in synagogues and getting glorified by everyone. This isn’t some vague spiritual high; it’s raw, divine dynamite exploding into action. Jesus, as a man born under the law, didn’t launch His world-shaking work until after His baptism, when the Spirit descended like a dove and empowered Him to heal, cast out demons, and preach with authority that left jaws on the floor. The Holy Spirit wasn’t just tagging along; He was the engine, turning Jesus’ steps into a kingdom invasion that demolished Satan’s strongholds. And here’s the kicker—Jesus didn’t hog this power. In Acts 1:8, He promises His followers the same deal: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,” turning ordinary folks into unstoppable witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. This isn’t optional fluff; it’s the blueprint for Christian life. If we’re co-heirs with Christ, why settle for powerless piety when the Spirit’s ready to supercharge us for miracles and bold proclamation? God’s not stingy—He’s lavishing this power on anyone hungry enough to receive it. Without the Spirit’s baptism, we’re just playing church while the devil throws a party.

The faithless treat this power like an ancient relic gathering dust in some theological museum, when Scripture screams it’s for now. Jesus returned in the Spirit’s power after fasting and facing down Satan, emerging not weakened but weaponized for ministry—teaching that silenced critics and healings that restored the broken. That same Spirit, poured out at Pentecost, isn’t a one-time fireworks show; it’s the ongoing promise for Abraham’s kids through faith (Galatians 3:14). When Acts 1:8 hits, it’s Jesus saying, “Wait for the download—then go conquer.” This power isn’t about flashy showmanship; it’s God’s sovereignty flexing through us, making the impossible routine. Think about it: if Jesus needed the Spirit’s anointing to crush the devil’s works (Acts 10:38), how much more do we? Yet, some peddle a gutless gospel, ignoring this dynamite because it messes with their unbelief. Nah, the Spirit’s power is our birthright—grab it, and watch reality bend as we advance the kingdom, just like our Lord did. Anything less is selling short the God who turns water-walkers into world-changers. Pro tip: Don’t be the guy who brings a squirt gun to a divine water fight.

In closing, our identification with Christ isn’t a doctrine to shelve; it’s dynamite for daily living. Because we’re one with Him, we minister in the same way—Spirit-anointed, faith-fueled—and with the same power, only amplified. Don’t know Him from a human viewpoint anymore; know Him as the enthroned Lord, and yourself as seated there too. Speak to storms, sickness, and souls; watch heaven invade earth. If that sounds radical, then it exposes that your heart is hard. As Scripture says regarding the disciples’ surprise at Jesus’ miracles: they were surprised “because they did not consider the loaves.” Jesus expected them to extrapolate the miracle of multiplication of material substance to be a regular activity. Their inability to see miracles as common and regular indicated their hearts were as hard as stone. Let us cast off any stony parts of our hearts and put on a heart of faith and the Spirit. Miracles, the Spirit, and healing are the gospel. And if critics scoff, well, they’re just cheering for the wrong team in this cosmic showdown. Don’t wash your hands with them, unless you wish to partake of their judgment.

It Is By Jesus’ Name & I Have That Name

“Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God…

By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see…

…how he was healed? Then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ,” (Acts 3:3-8,16; 4:9-10. NIV).

Peter’s statement would get him kicked out of most American churches. He totally bypassed affirming God’s will and said, “what I have, I give.” Peter affirmed his will and what he already had. What Peter had, is the authority to wield Jesus’ name to heal. Peter did not need to ask for God’s power, because Peter said he already had it. Peter did not need to ask God for authority, because Peter already had it. Peter did not need to know if it was God’s will to heal this person, because it was Peter’s will and the cripple’s will to heal. They had the will to be healed, and that was all the will they needed. Peter did not need to know God’s will about healing, because Peter already had Jesus’ name to throw it around however He wanted. If he wanted someone healed, it was his will, because, “what I have, I give.”

God gave Peter His name to use, just like God created Peter with two arms. Peter does not need to ask if it is God’s will, every time he moves his arms.

Jesus did not say, “ask God to heal them.” He said, “you heal the sick and cast out demons.” Peter obeyed Jesus. He did not ask God to heal the cripple. He did not even pray, in the normal sense. Peter commanded the healing, just like he was told to do it. Jesus did not tell us to ask God to move our mountains, but for us to use faith and move it ourselves. If you sit there and wait for God to “sovereignly” do something, you will sit there as a cripple your whole life and die that way.

Jesus gave Peter His name to wield like Grayskull giving He-man the sword of power to wield. When He-man was fighting bad guys, he didn’t stop and phone in a friend, or call Grayskull’s hotline and ask if it was Grayskulls’ will if he should take out the enemy. The reason he-man was given the power sword, was to take out bad guys. He doesn’t need to ask. At one point the sword did not belong to He-man. However, it was given to him to wield as his own power. The power is ultimately not He-man’s but Grayskull’s, but was granted to him to wield as his own power.

In the same way the Name of Jesus has been given to all His disciples to wield as their own power (John 14-16). Jesus told us to heal the sick and cast out demons. Peter said, when Jesus healed sickness He was freeing people from Satanic bondage(Acts 10:38). Thus, by healing the sick we are also casting out the demon powers and tearing down the gates of hell.

Like He-man, we don’t need to phone heaven’s hot line and ask if it is “God’s will,” to take out the enemy and expand God’s kingdom. God gave us the power and authority so that we don’t have to keep asking. Does a soldier need to ask the general every time he fires his weapon at the front lines? Yet, according to Peter, healing is front line warfare against the kingdom of darkness. And still many Christians relate to God with this so-called “will of God” nonsense, as if they are oblivious that bullets are flying over their heads. God armed you and commanded you to fire back. You don’t need to ask. Command the sickness to leave, or that is, withdraw the sword God gave you and attack Satanic bondage. Tear down the gates of hell.

Some complain, “but it’s God’s power, not yours; you are stealing God’s glory.” Yea? And you are the only one who doesn’t see it. When an Olympian shooter, wins a medal, do they give the glory to the gun or the person? I have never seen an award ceremony at the Olympics, where a person in the crowd stands up an shouts, “but the power was the gun and bullet, not the person; you are stealing the gun’s glory!” The reason I have never seen this, is because everyone there has an IQ over 35. The gun did not shoot itself. By giving the glory and medal to the person, does not conclude they are denying the power belongs to the bullet and gun. Well, everyone understands this except pastors and theologians.

Jesus said, “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” And yet, we know by healing, the probability is very high, we are casting out demons. Thus, by healing you are casting out the kingdom of demons and have caused the kingdom of God to march in.

“In a world where everyone’s asking for divine permission like they’re waiting for a bus, Peter strides in with the authority of Jesus’ name, saying, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you.” He’s like the He-Man of healing, wielding the “Power Sword” of Jesus’ name without needing to dial up heaven’s customer service to check if it’s okay.

Peter doesn’t wait for a sign from above or a special prayer meeting; he just commands healing like he’s ordering a pizza. “Walk,” he says, and the cripple does, jumping and praising God like he’s at a divine dance party.”[1]

It is true that if your sick then you want to be healed to feel better, be more productive and produce more fruit in expanding God’s kingdom, but healing is not merely a private issue.

It is true that some sickness is a result of the fall of Adam. God decided to speak a curse into the earth. This spoken curse causes sickness. Yet, Jesus has become a curse for us, so that as a substitute He experience our curse for us, so that in exchange we do not experience the curse; rather, we experience the blessing of Abraham, which includes healing, miracles and the power of the Spirit.

However, with what Peter said in Acts 10:38, shows us that all the people Jesus healed in the gospels (hundreds, and thousands of them), that the sickness was caused by demons harassing them. Think about that carefully. At the very least, we can say sickness caused by demons is not a small or minority cause. We can say at the very least, that sickness is in large part caused by demons, even in context of knowing some sickness is by God’s curse.

Thus, because sickness is by a large part caused by demons and not God’s curse, it means healing is in large part a soldier’s business, rather than personal business. That is, even if you were a masochist, and wanted to moan for God’s so-called glory, because sickness is largely a soldiers business, under the command of God to cast out demons and tear down the gates of hell, you don’t have a choice in the matter. You must confront sickness with the name of Jesus, and destroy it. You must cast out the kingdom of demons and bring in the kingdom of God, by the powerful name of Jesus.

Rather than merely focusing on the faith aspect I want to keep the focus on, “the Name of Jesus.”

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” John 14:12-14.

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit–fruit that will last–and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” John 15:16.

“Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” John 16:23-24.

This passage in John is the same where Jesus keeps saying, “love one another.” Thus, both direct interpretation and the context shows Jesus is saying this applies to all His followers. Jesus has commissioned us with His name. His name has been engraved and tattooed on our tongues. Such gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. Every believer has the name of Jesus stamped on their tongue, whether they choose to use His name or not. Its always there.

How dumb can a person be, if they have Jesus’ name stamped on their tongues, but they never use it? They have His name, but they refuse to use His name to be full of joy, by healing and miracles? Surely, they cannot blame the “will of God,” when the “will of God,” in the form of Jesus’ name, is engraved on their tongues, and God commanded them to use that name to ask for anything and get it? In this sense the “will of God” is stamped on the tongue, with God’s command for them to ask what they “want” and get it. “God’s will,” is not holding their healing back, it is their unmoving tongues and lack of faith in the name of Jesus, that is holding their healing back.

You don’t need to ask if it’s “God’s will” every time you want to use your arms, and the same is with healing, or asking forgiveness or any good thing given you to by the finished atonement of Jesus Christ.

[1] Grok AI personal, 2024 summary of my essay.

Sickness by Words, Healing By Words

Sickness, cancers, diabetes arthritis and the like, did not come into the world because people were not eating the right foods or not getting their 10,000 daily steps. They came into the world because God opened His mouth and spoke a curse against all reality, because Adam and Eve refused to believe what God said. Sickness and health problems is a result of sin and God speaking a curse against mankind.

The main point is that sickness is a result of words spoken, not a result of eating or exercising. Sickness and health problems is not a natural aspect of reality. Sickness came by words spoken by God with power.

Now, take a guess how sickness is removed? It is removed by the same way it came into existence. It is removed by words, spoken with power. The bible never condemns medicine or doctors, but it never endorses it either. The bible exclusively says health comes by righteousness and faith. The only exception is a command not to be a glutton. Thus, if you eat 10,000 calories of donuts and sugary drinks, you are being unrighteous. Proverbs and the Psalms says over and over, that health comes by righteousness and faith. It never attributes health to how you eat.

The bible does not condemn doctors or supplements. And so, there is nothing wrong in taking a vitamin, or changing your diet because it seems to make you feel better; however, the bible always endorses supernatural healing and never endorses doctors or medicine. Some need to meditate on this truth for many days to let it sink in. On this foundation think about how much time you spend on thinking about doctors, medicine and health reports and how much money a year you spend on human help that the scripture never endorses? Now think about how much time you spend on thinking about all passages in the bible that talk about healing by miracle power and how much time and money you spend on developing your faith to perform supernatural healing? You probably give more money to humans to save your health than you give to God in all your tithes and offerings. It is no wonder why you are still suffering.

Because many so-called Christians use their observations as a greater starting point for knowledge over the scripture, they end up being man-focused. They focus on what other men tell them about what they observe, or what they see and feel about health and sickness. For every one time they read a verse about health being related to righteousness, and faith in God’s promise, they think about food, doctors and their observations relating to health 1000 times more. They are the pinnacle of man focused. It’s all they think about, when it comes to health and sickness. And then they wonder why they still hurt. As in all things, God is our foundation, not man. He is our healer. He is our savior. He will deliver and heal.

Jesus Christ became a curse for us by substitutionary exchange, and by this we are also given the blessing of Abraham. This blessing includes health and supernatural healing, among other things. The curses of the law included all sickness not recorded (Duet 28). Thus, every sickness, every arthritis and every pain is a curse from God Almighty. But Jesus became our curse for us. We receive the removing of God’s curses by faith in Jesus Christ, just as we receive forgiveness and righteousness by faith in Jesus.

How did we receive forgiveness, by faith in the heart and confession with the mouth. The same is for healing. We believe Christ was already our curse for us, we believe by His stripes we are already healed, and then we confess it in faith. Jesus in John 14-16 says many times and in different ways, we have been given His authority, given His spiritual power, and given the right to use His name to ask for anything, which includes healing. This is why Peter said, “What I have, I give, in Jesus Name, Walk.” We have the same.

Jesus went so far as to teach us that we do not tell God about our mountain, but to use our authority in Him to open our mouths and command the mountain to move.

And now we are full circle. We started with God opening His mouth to speak a curse on reality, which brought sickness into our bodies. But now in Jesus Christ, God has put His words and authority in our mouths. Thus, we remove sickness by opening our mouths and commanding the sickness to get out. If you act sinfully, by not speaking in faith and asking God, or commanding the sickness to leave, then it will not, because you are acting in unrighteousness. Sickness came into our bodies by words spoken with power, and they also leave our bodies by words spoken in power.

The Devil Is Making You Sick, Not God

I’ve heard that tired tale more times than I care to count: Jesus is the kind of shepherd who snaps the legs of a wandering sheep to keep it from straying. Sounds compassionate if you’re into Eastern pagan mysticism, but crack open your Bible and you won’t find it. Not once.

Some folks picture God up there playing cosmic orthopedic surgeon, breaking legs to “teach lessons.” Not in my Bible. The script flips hard: it’s not the Father handing out fractures. It’s Satan slinging sickness like cheap candy on Halloween.

Let me hit you with a straight question. When Paul dealt with the man sleeping with his mother-in-law, who did he hand that guy over to? Paul said he delivered him “to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved” (1 Corinthians 5:5). Paul was letting the guy’s “legs get broken,” so to speak. But who actually did the breaking? Who ministered the sickness? God or Satan? Paul handed him straight to Satan. The devil was the one swinging the wrecking ball. The sickness, on the human level, was Satan’s will—not God’s.

God’s not your sickness Santa Claus. That’s the devil’s gig.

This was an extreme case—an outlier sin among believers. Same with the Corinthians who trashed the Lord’s Supper and dishonored the blood of Jesus. Paul brought discipline, and you could say God worked through Paul, yet even then God wasn’t the one dishing out the sickness. Satan was.

God sovereign? Absolutely. He controls every atom, every thought, every faith, every unbelief, every election and reprobation with the same direct, absolute power a programmer has over his code—only infinitely more. He is the metaphysical author of all things, including sin and evil. But Scripture denies pantheism. On the human, relative level—the level Jesus and the apostles mostly preach from—God doesn’t minister sickness to His own. If you don’t mostly speak on the human level in theology and doctrine, then you stop talking like the Bible.

Jesus never said, “God willed this boy blind.” He said, “Your faith has healed you.” We say the same.

Take Job. No New Covenant, no Abrahamic blessing yet. God sovereignly pointed Satan at Job—essentially baiting the fight. God orchestrated it all. But who actually inflicted the boils, the loss, the destruction? Satan. God didn’t swing the hammer. Satan did. Same with King David’s census. Scripture says both God and Satan “incited” David. Two categories. Metaphysically, God is the only real cause. On the human level, Satan ministered the sin.

Even in Job’s story—where God plays the ultimate Director of “Temptation Island”—Satan’s still the one holding the wrecking ball. Jesus never walks around saying, “Here’s a cold for your sins.” He says, “Your faith got this. Now walk.”

Remember the woman bent over for eighteen years? Jesus didn’t blame the Father. He said it was Satan who bound her. Satan ministered the sickness; God, faithful to Abraham’s promise, ministered the healing. Peter nails it in Acts 10:38: Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” Satan is the priest of darkness—his ministry is sin and sickness. Jesus is the High Priest of God—His ministry is righteousness, wealth, and healing. If you’re inside the Contract with Jesus, He pours out good things, not evil ones.

“But God sometimes gives sickness!” some bark. True in one narrow sense, but check the category. Who does God personally strike? His enemies. He didn’t send Satan after Egypt’s firstborn—He sent His own angel. Why the switch? Egypt wasn’t a Contract insider. They were outsiders, under condemnation. God wanted to destroy them Himself. Same with the Philistines and their tumors after stealing the Ark. Outsiders. Enemies. God cursed them directly. Their sickness was God’s will.

That’s huge. If you stand up and say, “God gave me this sickness,” you’re identifying yourself as a reprobate Egyptian or a cursed Philistine. You’re claiming to be God’s enemy, under His curse, not His salvation. If God is attacking you with disease, your first concern isn’t healing—it’s escaping hell.

There’s one more category: sickness as the curse of Adam’s Fall or the law of Moses. But Galatians 3 shouts it: Jesus became that curse for us so that, in substitutionary exchange, we receive the blessing of Abraham—miracles and the baptism of the Spirit. We don’t carry curses anymore. We carry blessings. Just like forgiveness, you receive it by faith. Doubt it, and James and Jesus both say don’t expect the exchange.

If you’re on Team Jesus, you’re in the healing line, not the disease queue. Claiming God gave you the flu is like saying you’re still on the naughty list. Spoiler: that’s not the team you signed up for.

As a Contract insider, God doesn’t minister sickness to me. He ministers healing and miracles. Sickness only hits me two ways: Satan’s direct attack or lingering curses I’ve already been redeemed from. I’ve been rescued from both.

This matters. When you see sickness as Satan’s will—not God’s—you’re not only free to fight it, you’re commanded to. Jesus didn’t suggest, “Maybe cast out a demon if you feel like it.” He commanded it. James didn’t whisper, “Resist the devil… if it’s convenient.” He commanded, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Even if the sickness came as discipline, the standing order is still the same: cast it out. Resist. Make Satan run.

You do not have permission to let the enemy bulldoze you. As a soldier in God’s kingdom, you don’t get to sit there while Satan’s kingdom beats you down. You’re commanded to expand God’s kingdom with truth and power. They retreat. We advance. The only way? Faith and power. Take the authority Jesus already gave you. Heal the sick. Cast out demons. Command mountains to move.

In my Systematic Theology 2025, I lay out the full deductive case: God authors all things metaphysically, yet on the relative level we fight like the victors we are. Sickness is Satan’s glory, not God’s. Healing is Jesus slamming His fist into the devil’s smug face—again and again.

So if you’re sick right now, blame the right culprit. Satan’s your unwanted health advisor. As a card-carrying member of the Jesus Club, you’re commanded to kick him to the curb, resist like you’re in a cosmic tug-of-war you were rigged to win, and heal like you’ve got divine health insurance that never lapses.

In this divine comedy, you’re strengthened to be the victor, not the victim. Now go expand the kingdom. The devil’s already lost—make him feel it.

Sickness Is Satan’s Glory, Not God’s

Oshea Davis.

The Arminians are wrong about God’s sovereignty. God does directly and absolutely control and predestine all things. However, this is about ultimate metaphysics, which the Bible speak on less, while it mostly speaks on the human level—the level where God commands us, relates to us, and where we slug it out day-to-day. It’s how the Bible mainly talks to us, so we’ll follow that pattern here. Talking any other way most of the time just means you’re not talking like the Bible.

God says in Isaiah 54:15, “They will surely gather against you, but not by me.” He quietly assumes His own sovereignty but speaks straight to us on our level. God is more God-centered than anyone, yet He has zero problem saying, “I didn’t cause them to gather.” Jesus—the most God-centered man who ever walked the earth—said about both healing and forgiveness, “Your faith has saved you.” In Acts 10:38, Peter says all the sick people Jesus healed were oppressed by the devil. So the Bible has no problem declaring that sickness isn’t from God. It’s from Satan or the curse.

And this matters. Big time. If we think sickness comes from God, we won’t fight it. That’s one reason Jesus went full wrecking-ball mode on sickness while religious tradition sits back and sighs. Jesus saw sickness as Satan’s direct smack in the face to Him, His Father, and His people. So He smashed it wherever He found it. The only time He didn’t obliterate the sickness (which Satan was causing) was when unbelief got in the way. Let that sink in: unbelief could stop Jesus, but Satan couldn’t. Jesus was a one-man divine demolition crew against every disease the devil hurled.

So here’s the truth: sickness is Satan flipping the bird at Jesus’ atonement. Healing is Jesus slamming His fist—again and again—into Satan’s smug face. There’s a real war here. You’re either with Jesus in this fight or you’re against Him.

In the substitutionary atonement, Jesus took those 39 stripes in exchange for our healing. It’s already done. In the Father’s mind, our sicknesses were lifted off us and slammed onto Jesus with every lash. Jesus carried our sicknesses in our place. The verse right before it (as the Spirit explains through Matthew) says He “bore” (Hebrew nasa) our sicknesses and diseases and took them away. It’s the exact same word used in verse 12 for Jesus bearing our sins, and in Leviticus 16 for the scapegoat when the high priest transferred the people’s sins onto it and sent it off into the wilderness. Pure substitutionary atonement language—and Isaiah 53 applies it straight to our sickness and healing.

Yet many still pin sickness on God—not just in some ultimate metaphysical decree sense, but right here on the everyday, relational level. That’s flat-out wrong. In our New Contract with God, sealed by oath and blood, God promises to always deal with us in certain ways. We’re promised forgiveness, imputed righteousness, and healing—the blessing of Abraham and constant good. It’s fish for fish, healing for healing. If Jesus is my High Priest and Mediator forever, He doesn’t flip in and out of the role. If He gave me sickness, He’d be a minister of sickness. If Jesus hands out sickness, then His gospel ministry turns into one of pain and torment. But Jesus is only a minister of healing—He takes sickness away. He doesn’t dish it out.

This stands out sharply in one powerful example. Jesus sometimes told certain Jews they weren’t Abraham’s children because they refused to believe—proof they didn’t belong. So when He calls someone a daughter of Abraham, it’s a big deal. Remember the woman bent over for 18 years? Jesus declared she was a daughter of Abraham—not an outsider, but an insider to the blessings in God’s contract with Abraham. In that very context, He said Satan had bound her, not God. God’s contract with Abraham included supernatural blessing and healing, not sickness. It was the opposite. So in God’s relationship with her, Satan delivered the sickness, not God. Jesus used the Abrahamic contract as the reason she had to be healed. It wasn’t optional—it was necessary. God keeps His contracts. He doesn’t break them.

Because she had a legal standing in God’s contract for healing, and because Satan had inflicted the sickness as a curse and weapon against God’s kingdom, Jesus wiped it out. Unless we see things the way Jesus did, we won’t hit sickness hard with God’s healing power. If we don’t recognize our insider status with God—or realize sickness is Satan’s attack to ruin us (and by extension, God’s kingdom)—we’ll just let Satan roll right over us. We’ll take his cheap shot, slap a shiny “For God’s Glory” sticker on it, and call it a day.

That’s not just wrong. That’s demonic.

When Satan attacks a believer with sickness, he sidelines a soldier and stalls God’s kingdom advance. Just like in earthly warfare, an injured soldier pulls other soldiers off the front lines to carry and care for him. This is why it’s often smarter in war to injure than to kill. Satan plays the exact same dirty tactics with Christians. Injuries in our army are the enemy’s glory. Sickness in Christians is Satan’s glory—not God’s.

A person’s mind is seriously broken when they can’t tell good from evil, or God’s glory from Satan’s victory lap. When a so-called Christian refuses to attack sickness with God’s healing power, they’re letting Satan hammer God’s kingdom—and they’re strangely okay with it.

Jesus Was the Real Victim in this Story

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40 NIV)

Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” (Mark 5:36 NIV)

The saying is true, you are either in faith or fear. Jesus puts these as opposites. He says, “only believe,” with no mixture of fear. He says in Mark 4 that the disciples had fear and zero faith. They don’t mix well. If you have fear in your heart about a sickness, then you realize you don’t have faith. This is how it works.

Jesus was the real victim in this story. He was asleep with His head on a cushion and was woken up for something He expected the disciples to deal with, without disturbing Him. I am not trying to be funny here. It is no joke being woken up from a good nap from something so minor as a deadly storm, which only a little faith could destroy and remove.

The prayers of many people are like the disciples in this story. They pray as if Jesus is teaching that He likes it, if we cry out in fear for His help over something like deadly weather or sickness. People repeat the disciples fearful cry as a model for prayer, when Jesus rebukes it as how not to pray. Jesus was upset with their fearful cries for help. Think about that. Because God is merciful He might answer some fearfully cries of unbelief, but don’t expect it.

The point that made it a bad prayer was no faith. It is ok to ask for Jesus help if you have faith, but here is Jesus’ point. If they had faith, then they did not need to ask for Jesus’ help. That’s how you know you have faith.

We do not have every lesson Jesus told the disciples at this point, but Jesus’ reaction gives us enough details that He expected them to use their faith, and deal with the situation, without waking Him up.

This also brings up the issue of where the storm came from. Of course in the ultimate level God causes all things, but the bible mostly deals with the human level. Peter in Acts 10:38 said it was not God, but Satan who was victimizing all the people in Israel with sickness and diseases. When Jesus was casting out diseases He was fighting demons, not God, because the sicknesses came from demons not God. When you have an insider relationship with God He relates to you in blessings. The contract in Jesus’ blood stipulates that God only relates to us in blessings (it could include discipline, but not curses). Thus, whether it is a sickness, or a deadly storm, in human level, it was not from God. When you rebuke it, you are not rebuking God but demons and the curse. Jesus teaches us to not tell God about our mountains, or sickness or deadly storm, but to use our faith and we command it to move and die. Jesus has given us the power and authority to do it, and expects us to do something. Don’t wake Him up and tell Him about a storm, when you have the Staff of God in your mouth. Open your mouth. You divide it. You heal it. You cast it out. You calm it.