Scripture and Healing

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Eph. 3:20). There are two very remarkable things that we're told in this verse of scripture, and I want to take a look at these two items and point out what they really mean to us as believers in Christ. First of all God is able to do more for us than we can even comprehend enough to ask. That's really, really big, I have to say. But it's that second part that I would like to focus on here, because in fact it is the second part that is responsible for the first part, according to what the verse says. So God is able to do far more for us than we can even know, and he is able to do it "according to the power that worketh in us." So let me get you to think about this a little bit here. Have you ever been healed in mind or body by faith in Jesus? Have you ever prayed for someone in affliction, and they were healed as a result? Have you ever been in sin and Jesus literally washed your sins away and brought you into a whole new scope of living, according to his holiness in you? I'm talking about the new birth experience there, but have you ever sinned after being born again, and he once again washed you clean when you asked, and renewed your spirit in pureness? Have you ever been in really deep despair or distress over something, and then poured your heart out to God and he lifted you above it all, filling you with joy and peace again? Okay, I think you're getting the point of what I'm asking here, so let me move on. These things that I've asked about are generally some of the things that every child of God has experienced, once they've been in the journey for just a little while. Everything that I mentioned here, and plenty more of like manner, are things that are done for us through faith in Jesus and by the power of God. Since being freed from sin is the chief thing that Jesus died for us to achieve, I would like to cite one scripture that makes my point for me: "For the law of the Spirit of LIFE in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and DEATH" (Rom. 8:2).

So the holy Ghost is referred to here as "the Spirit of life," which means of course eternal life, or God-life if you will. The Spirit is in fact the divine, eternal life that indwells both the Father and the Son. What did Jesus come here to provide us with? He plainly told that himself in one place: "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (Jn. 10:10). So Jesus came to provide us with 'life,' and the 'more abundantly' part simply means divine, ETERNAL life. That is what we did not have, because we had sin, and "the wages of sin is DEATH" (Rom. 6:23). Note also how Jesus said he came to give us life, in the same breath that he said 'the thief' comes "to steal, and to kill, and to destroy." The truth is that the thief in question here is the devil, who we are told in another place "had the power of death" (Heb. 2:14). So I'm working on building a contrast here between 'life' and 'death.' More pointedly I am wanting to bring out a contrast between things that pertain to life, versus things that pertain to death. But let me go full circle with the holy Ghost first. Jesus said he came to provide us with 'life,' which is obviously divine life, seeing we already had human life. Romans 8:2 calls the holy Ghost 'life,' and that brings us to what John the Baptist said about what Jesus was coming to provide for us: "I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost" (Mk. 1:8). There it is, John and Jesus were saying the same thing about what Jesus was coming to provide, because the holy Ghost is "the Spirit of life;" and Jesus said he was coming to give us life, whereas John said Jesus was coming to baptize us with the holy Ghost. Same exact thing when we shed the light of Romans 8:2 onto these two statements. One more element to this equation which also takes us back to our text verse is something that Jesus said just before he left this world to go back to his Father: "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence... But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:5,8).

So the holy Ghost is in fact "the power that worketh in us," that is able to accomplish things above what we can comprehend. It is very important to understand what the holy Ghost is, as well as what it is not. The Spirit of God, or the Spirit of Christ [it is called both], IS the LIFE of both the Father and the Son. it is NOT a confusing 'third person' of a confusing 'trinity.' Because the holy Ghost is literally eternal life, it puts to death EVERYTHING that pertains to death! Life destroys death even as light eliminates darkness. So we needed life from God in order to eliminate our problem of both sin and death. That is why Romans 8:2 says that the Spirit delivers us from sin and death, because that is THE TRUTH! But I want to go back to the questions I asked earlier, about our experiences that we have had since receiving God's Spirit into our lives. ALL of the things I mentioned are examples of how the LIFE of God has overcome things in our lives and the lives of others, that pertain to DEATH. For instance, sickness pertains to death. Despair pertains to death. Mental and spiritual oppression pertain to death. All of these are the works of the thief who seeks to rob, and kill, and destroy. Satan wants us to believe that he still has "the power of death," meaning the right to inflict on us death and things that pertain to death. He does not. Jesus made a memorable statement about that: "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (Rev. 1:18). Jesus is the ultimate enemy of death, even as light is the ultimate enemy of darkness. Because he conquered death and everything that pertains to it, those things are in a lot of trouble when confronted by someone who has Christ, and comes against those enemies by faith in him. "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (II Cor. 3:17). So having the holy Ghost IS having Christ, and that sets us at 'liberty.' At liberty from what, one may ask? From sin, death, and everything else that pertains to death. So God's Spirit IS Christ in us, and it IS life, and it IS "the power that worketh in us." What this means is that if we "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," we have power over sin, death, and everything else that pertains to death (Rom. 8:1,4).

These works against death are not to be done only in ourselves, but we have that power over these elements in the lives of others who will give us the space and license to minister to them. This is why we can do the works that Jesus did, even as he said we would to (Jn. 14:13; Mk. 16:16-18). And to be certain, the works that Jesus did are the works that "destroy the works of the devil," all of whose works are things that pertain to death (I Jn. 3:8). The scripture is not joking when it says that Jesus has "abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (II Tim. 1:10). Apart from death there is only eternal life, and that life is in Christ; and it is in us as well if we have been baptized BY HIM with that same life. So the same "power that worketh in us," which is able to do "exceeding abundantly above what we ask or think;" is in fact the very life of God that puts to death everything that pertains TO death. The same power that works in us unto LIFE, is the exact same power that puts sin, death, and all of the works thereof, to DEATH! I believe the best way to look at it is to think of how darkness cannot exist in the presence of light. And as the scriptures says, he has "abolished death, and brought LIFE and immortality to LIGHT through the gospel." Again, this means that "WHERE the Spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY," from death and everything that pertains to it. So we need to understand that the same life and power of God that delivers us, heals us, lifts us out of oppression, etc; can be channeled out of us to others as the means of destroying the works of the devil that pertain to death, in the lives of a dying and desperate world. We are not only ABLE to exercise this power of life over death, and light over darkness; but we have been automatically commissioned and ordained to do so upon receiving the holy Ghost into our lives. Jesus did not say that it is "evangelists who believe" that would do these works; but rather "THEM that believe" (Mk. 16:16). And we should always remember that this life and this power is "able to do exceeding abundantly above what we ask or think." That is the truth, that is the will of God, and that is what we need to believe and act like we believe. Period and amen.