Closing the Door on Death

When any illness comes, and especially one that is long‑term, the first thing to do is seek God until you know the reason for the sickness. You must get to a place where you can take a stand on what God intends as the ultimate end in order to stay on course in seeing that God's will is done. In doing this seek the Lord through prayer (alone and with others), Scripture and godly council until you are sure of God's will. As Christians we should avoid ungodly council according to Psalms 1:1 including doctors, books, etc. as well as our own understanding (Prov. 3:5) in determining God's will and purpose. These sources have documented well the progression of sickness and disease apart from God's intervention, but normally serve only to erode our expectation for the Lord to supernaturally intervene in our situation.

Today very few Christians take the time to really seek God about why He has allowed the illness to attack them. It seems that most people assume He wants them healed (and Scripture indicates they should) because they immediately seek medical help in an attempt to get better. Yet at the same time they leave the door wide open to death by saying "God's will be done" when they get a negative medical report as if to indicate that God may very well want them to or will allow them to die! The doctor's predictions are usually correct, but is that because that was the only possible result or because we believed him? One of the favorite Bible verses of Christians is, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding (Prov. 3:5)", but how much is it put into practice? Do we trust and believe God and His Word or the doctor's word? In finding God's will we should assume His will is to heal when we remember that Jesus represented perfectly the nature of God and that it is the devil who came to deceive, steal and kill. We must use all our resources to pursue God's will.

Although we had no idea that God wanted to heal Cora, we began getting strong indications that healing was His will in 1984. But it was not until 1987 that Cora became absolutely sure of this and then the rest of our family became assured of this over the next few years. As we have tried to set our faces like flint to see Cora healed as Jesus set His face to reach Jerusalem because it was His Father's will, we have experienced the devil's attack in many ways. Below are a few of his tactics we have faced.

1. Lies. Satan is the father of all lies and is very clever in using them effectively. Some of the lies he has told us are:

‑ God didn't really mean that He would heal all our diseases as He stated in Ps. 103:3. Yet we never saw Jesus when He was unwilling to heal someone that asked Him and He only said and did what His Father told Him (John 5:36, 12:47).

‑ Others have tried to trust God for healing and have died. It won't be any different for me, even though God has made His will known. The enemy is telling the truth about many others dying so you will believe his lie and let go of the Word God has given you. (see Hezekiah and Sennacherib in Is. 36 & 37).

‑ Even if I die it's okay because "to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21) and "death no longer has a sting as a Christian" (1 Cor. 15:55). These Scriptures are true when it is God's appointed time to die, but not if it has been determined that God's will is healing for His glory. My job is to seek to fulfill His will at any cost. Remember the devil quoted Scripture to Jesus in the wilderness.

2. Fear. There is fear of pain, situations that we may face, financial needs that can't be met and a host of others. But God repeatedly tells us in Scripture not to worry or be afraid. This fear is designed to make us want to die and to doubt God's love and daily provision.

3. Despair. The situation appears hopeless at times because you get worn down by pain, disappointment in not yet being healed and you doubt whether you heard from God correctly. But God's Word is seed and takes time to produce it's harvest. The parable of the sower tells us the devil sends affliction because of the seed to try to get us to let go of the seed. At these times you need the prayers of others and to wait on God for deliverance.

4. Worry. You become concerned about being a burden, financial needs, the toll it is taking on loved ones and even God's reputation if He doesn't heal you. These are distractions sent to trip us up and we must cast them off to run our race (Heb. 12:1). Remember His many admonitions not to worry since it will produce no good thing (Matt. 6:25‑34).

5. Being double minded. This usually comes out in some form of false humility like "I know it is His will to heal me, but even if I die I will still trust Him". Saints like Job or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who said such things had not heard from God that He was going to deliver them. On the other hand men like Abraham, Joseph and David believed that God would do what He had said and kept believing when everything appeared to go wrong until it was accomplished. That is the posture God wants us to take. James 1:7‑8 says a double‑minded will receive nothing from the Lord. You cannot be trusting God to deliver you and make funeral arrangements at the same time. Actions speak louder than words!

But the real power behind all of these works of the enemy is a stronghold that the devil has built in America against an accurate knowledge of the true nature of God. The Lord spoke to Cora and her prayer partner about this many years ago and we have become increasingly aware of how powerful and deadly this stronghold is. When we go to doctors and use medicine under God's direction, that is fine. But we have forsaken God and chosen to first go to doctors and trust in them to provide us with healing through their wisdom while asking God to bless our plan and guide the doctors. This is like the children of Israel worshiping the snake on the pole because God used it once to deliver them. God had to destroy it. And so today God is increasingly allowing our enemies to overtake us. However, instead of recognizing this and repenting, we have created our own concept of God that matches our experience but totally distorts Scripture. And Satan continues to fortify this until it becomes a Christian doctrine that we will defend to the death ‑ a stronghold!

When a stronghold in encountered, what does the Bible tell us to do? 2 Cor. 10:3‑5 tells us that the weapons of our warfare are mighty to the tearing down of strongholds while Eph. 6:11‑19 and 1 Thes. 5:8 lists our weapons as truth, righteous living, gospel proclamation, faith, love, hope of salvation, the Word of God, and persevering prayer. Recently the Lord has shown me that the first piece of armor listed is the belt of truth and that having truth is so essential in the proper use of the other pieces of armor. We must earnestly

ask God to give us truth in all areas, and especially regarding His true nature. We must be willing to let go of past concepts about God and dare to receive new truths about the nature of God as revealed through the life of Jesus in the Gospels. This is becoming our key to victory as we incorporate these truths in the use of the other weapons He has given us.

In coming to an understanding of the true nature of God, simply answer the question that Peter Marshall asked in his sermon. "Can you believe that Christ would ever have looked upon someone suffering from arthritis or cancer or leprosy, and have said, 'My friend, I am sorry for you. But you must be brave. God has sent this upon you for some good reason. Don't ask me to heal you.'?" Remember that Jesus only said and did what His Father told Him and that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8).

Is. 42:18‑25 provides an excellent summary of the church in America today. In this passage God asks who is as blind as His people who are robbed, enslaved, imprisoned, trapped, fair game for all, with no one to protect them? He said this was happening to bring them to repentance but they are not willing to hear His answer. Are we ready to listen to His voice yet, or must we see more and more perish before we are willing to give up our understanding and seek him for the deliverance we so obviously need? We must listen, repent and believe so that His Kingdom can come and His will be done on earth (in us) as it is in heaven.