| The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. Mk1:14 "Repent and believe the gospel." Jesus ministry began with the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. The manifestation of the efficacy of the cross is experienced through repentance. Salvation in my conscious life is the result of repentance. I experience rebirth through confession and faith. Now salvation is more than when I die I go to heaven. Salvation is peace, freedom, prosperity, and health. If that is the case, then the prerequisite for healing is also repentance. Jesus could do nothing for the Pharisee and the scribe because they would not repent. In fact, in Jesus own town he could do no mighty work because of the sin of unbelief. It never quite dawned on me before how important repentance is for healing and healing being one of the benefits of salvation. John the Baptist was necessary for Jesus ministry of healing. Preaching a gospel of repentance is necessary for healing. The epistle of James puts it this way: "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed." (Jm5:16) In other words, repent, pray, and be healed. "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance... (Mk2:17). Here Jesus links healing directly to repentance. The spiritual component to healing lies with repentance. When one repents, one removes the spiritual block to healing. That spiritual block is a spirit, whether it is a spirit of anger, rebellion, fear, self-hatred, guilt, bitterness, unforgiveness, or lust. Remove the spiritual block and healing will come forth. "Then he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons... (Mk1:34). Mark is very clear. Sickness and spiritual malady go hand in hand. Before Jesus healed, he preached repentance. If Jesus preached repentance, can we do anything less? The pathway to many sicknesses is yielding to sin, yielding to fear, anxiety, stress, bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, and resentment. These spiritual maladies lend themselves to physical illness, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, you name it. In order to deal with the fruit, one must remove the root. "...a curse without a cause does not come." (Pr26:2). When you repent, renounce, and resist the devil, healing takes place. It doesn't matter if you are saved or unsaved. It doesnÕt matter if you are baptized with the Holy Spirit and praying in tongues. The devil is after you, to tempt you, to get you to yield to the demons which bring about sickness and death. "The wages of sin is death." (Rm6:23) If you yield to that demon, sickness will follow. If you resist that demon, Satan will flee from you. But you must submit to God and to submit is to repent. If you have a physical illness, chances are, you have yielded to some spiritual sin like bitterness or anger. If you have sickness, recognize who the enemy is, take responsibility for yielding to the temptation, repent of the wrong doing, renounce the sin and refuse to entertain it anymore, resist the counter attack of the devil, proclaim Jesus as Lord and praise him, and restore others to the kingdom. We are spirit. We have souls. We live in bodies. That body is affected by the soul and the spirit. The devil knows this. By recognizing Satan's strategy, one can successfully walk in divine health and live in peace and harmony. Fight the good fight of faith. Amen |