An Introduction to The Cause of Pain, Suffering and Sickness, and How the Word of God Heals Us
by Mihran Kulhanjian
My dear Friend,
Healing comes from God. His very nature is to heal. God restores and replenishes. In the Old Testament He is named Yahweh Rapha, which means "the Lord who heals us." Know this: all sickness and disease comes from Satan, not God. God does not cause sickness. He wants all to be well and healthy, and prosperous, because it is the will of God that we, the children of God, receive His grace. And His grace is love, safety and protection from all harm and salvation to all who believe. Healing comes from our faith. It is impossible to please God without faith and unbelief keeps healing at bay for many. When we heed His Word and abide in Him, He delivers us from death and assures us victory and peace. We are promised a complete salvation from death and illness, as Jesus said: "Ask in my name and I will do it" (John 14:13-14). This is a promise. Jesus cannot lie. He keeps His promises. He was perfect, sinless. There was no iniquity in Him.
And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
If we ask in faith in the name of Jesus, God cannot deny us. This goes for all things including healing. Let's now see what Jesus said in John 11:41-42:
....“Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me,..."
The Father always hears Jesus. Jesus is our advocate. When we pray in the name of Jesus, Jesus prays to God for us. This is why when we ask in Jesus' name, He will do it and we shall have it. This is appropriated for health, to heal us, because the Lord is the great healer and He has promised to save us from death and destruction.
Satan is our accuser. He is saying we are no good and belong as the children of wrath. But Jesus is saying to the Father: "They are mine. They (the born again) belong to me. I love them and they follow me. I will heal them for they are my sheep. I am their Shepherd. When You, Father, see them You see Me, for I live in them for they abide in Me."
In faith we are healed; and we have all been given a measure of faith [Romans 12:3]. We were healed when Christ died on the cross for us. He bore our sin and sickness, the evil that Satan attacks us with. But we are healed by what Jesus accomplished on the cross. The healing is for our spirit, soul and body. He covered it all for us. He put our sin and sickness to death on the cross once for all. Believe it. Isaiah 53: 5 says:
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
Peter affirms this in 1 Peter 2:24 by his confession:
who[Jesus] Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
We are commanded in Matthew 10:8 by Jesus to:
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
Why are we not healing the sick, raising the dead and casting out demons? What are we waiting for?
Jesus said:
they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16-18).
Serpents are referred to as powerful demons. We thank God and ask Him to bless our food and drink and it will not harm us in anyway. Jesus proclaimed that we "will lay hands on the sick and they will recover." Let us then lay our hands on the sick so that they will recover.
Jesus told us in John 14:12:
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
We not only do the works Jesus did, but Jesus said we will do "greater works." The Holy Spirit is in every born again believer. Jesus said "he who believes in Me." Do you believe in Him? Then do the works of healing He commands.
Miracles and healings did not cease with the first century Christians. Christ did not dismiss healing. It is alive today. But we, in faith, must appropriate what Jesus commands for our healing and the healing of others. If you do not have faith for healing you must get faith. And you get faith by hearing (receiving) the Word of God, living it and believing it.
We learn in Romans 10:17 that "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." If you do not have faith, turn to the word of God. I read my Bible aloud, proclaiming His Word aloud. I want to hear and receive the word of God, resonating out of my mouth. Faith is a gift from God and the just shall live by faith [Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17]. Being justified by Jesus Christ, every true believer shall live abundantly and healthily by faith. Belief, without doubting and you will have it. You will have health. If you have trouble with faith, ask in prayer as you hear the word of God, that God fill you with a good measure of faith. If you are sincere, He will do it; and you will be on your way to recovery. No matter how serious a condition you might have, God will heal you when you earnestly seek Him in faith, and you take the authority given to you by Jesus to heal in His name.
Faith is dong the things God tells you to do.
In faith we believe the promises of God. In Mark 11:24 Jesus said:
Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Do you believe? I do. And I have seen with my eyes the healing power of the Lord, by the power of His name. We choose to believe or not to believe. We come to God with a humble heart or we stay away with bitterness and an unforgiving heart, a hardened heart of worldly pride. We have a choice. Most choose evil and do not even know it, because wide is the gate that leads to destruction. Humble yourself and receive Jesus and the truth of His promises of healing. Follow the path that few choose. Walk through the narrow gate and fear God. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10). "The fear of the Lord is to have evil" (Proverbs 8:13). The path is not difficult if you are serious, fearing the Lord and His righteousness is joyous and healthful. Relying on Jesus and His word is a comfort not a burden.
Without faith we can only be healed by someone else's faith and belief, by someone else's anointing. But this should not be the norm. We have the power and authority in the name of Jesus to heal ourselves. Unbelief kills heeling; and many Christians do not have belief. Why is this? Because they do not know the Word of God, nor His promises for health and life. They do not know the truth of God, nor is their faith and belief real; they give in to the devil's lies instead of believing and appropriating God's promises. Do not give up, and do not give in to the devil's lies about your healing and the healing of others. We must persevere and endure as Jesus said. We have power and authority to overcome Satan, his lies and deceptions. Do not fall for the wiles of the devil with unbelief. Our weapon is the Word of God. It is our confession. Confession means "saying the same as." We believe the word of God and confess it. So we say to the devil: "By His [Jesus'] stripes I was healed (past tense). I command you, sickness, pain, inflammation, cancer, to leave this body now. In the name of Jesus I am healed by His stripes and by the blood of the Lamb I am healed. Pain, you have no authority over me. I rebuke you pain. I reject you." We talk to the problem and we cast it out. This is how Jesus healed. He spoke to the problem. Remember, He spoke to the fig tree and is withered and died. We do the same with any pain or infirmity we have. Then we take action. "For faith without works is dead" (James 2:20). We have the authority in Jesus' name to put the devil in his place. And that place is out of us forever as we are the children of God, the children of light and darkness cannot reside in us.
Let us give attention to God's words in Proverbs 4:20-22 and particularly to the last sentence (And health to all their flesh):
My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart;
22 For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.
It is the truth: For they are indeed life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Not only will we have good health but also a long life as Proverbs 4:10 explains:
Hear, my son, and receive my sayings,
And the years of your life will be many.
In Proverbs 4:20-21 we are given precise directions from God:
- Be attentive to my words (God's words in the Bible and the voice of the Holy Spirit).
- Incline (listen carefully) with your ears to what I am saying (Pay attention in all seriousness).
- Do not let my sayings go, do not let them depart from your eyes (Keep God's word with you and in you always).
- Keep what I say in your heart (Love His Word).
If we want health we must abide in the Word of God and not stray from the One who generously gives health, peace and love. And we must understand what He has given us. It is by a lack of knowledge that we perish. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). Not understanding God's Word and applying it in our lives for our health, leads many Christians into sickness and premature death. God offers us the answer, but few truly seek Him for the answer to health. Health is in His Word. His instructions are in His Word. And we must believe in faith that His Word is the truth and that He is faithful to deliver what He has promised.
Salvation in this life from sickness and salvation from death is a gift from God. The atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross delivered us from all sickness, disease and death. This is the truth of the atonement and the truth of God's love for the human race. But only His children will receive this salvation because it is His true children whom abide in Him and His Word, appropriating His will on earth. Nonbelievers of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be healed by the Lord because there is no belief. When God heals a believer, it is because He chooses the believer to do something for Him. For instance, when Jesus blinded Saul of Tarsus, He choose Saul (now Paul) to be the apostle to the gentiles. After three days of fasting, Paul was heeled from his blindness so that he could fulfill the work Jesus had planned for him. Paul now believed that Jesus was Lord. However, rare this might be, we know that God can heal anyone at anytime. Nonbelievers, upon gaining faith, as Paul did, may and have been healed by God to show others His mighty work, that they might believe.
There are many other hindrances that prevent nonbelievers and also Christians from healing which will be covered in the book. We must know that healing is temporary in this life and sickness and diseases can return when we turn from the Word of God and do not obey His commands by living carelessly without following His instructions. And we must understand that demons may also be the cause of illness and other infirmities.
We must abide in the Lord if we want to remain strong and healthy and healed. And believe that the devil will not stop attacking the believer simply by being a believer. Satan hates the children of God, and he will come after them. But what do we do? We resist the devil and he will flee. We put on the whole armor of God [Ephesians 6:11-14], rebuking the Devil and his demons in the name of Jesus. Jesus has given us the authority and the power in His name to kick the devil out of your life. The devil and the demons are afraid of Jesus and they must obey Him to leave the person in which they torment or have occupied.
We have been healed by Jesus' death. Our sins and sicknesses have been forgiven and healed; but we must have faith and believe this to manifest this healing in our body. Unbelief is what keeps healing from manifesting in the physical. Believing that you are healed comes with faith in His Word. Drawing from the Old Testament, Peter expounds on the words of the prophet Isaiah. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote the truth that we have been healed by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ:
It is by His stripes (the stripes are the markings on Jesus' body after flogging). Jesus "died for our sins, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness," that we are healed (Isaiah) and whose strips you were healed (1 Peter). Healing was put in the past tense. Healing in now. We have been healed in our spirit as true believers and must now appropriate this healing to manifest physically. God's work is done. It is now up to us to take and use the power and authority Jesus has given us in His name to be healed. We do not beg or wait for God to heal us. We take command and use what God has provided for us in His Word to heal.
In Mark 11:23 Jesus said:
For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
Jesus explained to His disciples about faith and how faith works. Jesus is saying speak to the problem (the mountain). We speak to our sickness, our disease, our pains and as Jesus taught: "I command you pain in ...... to leave now, in the name of Jesus. You do not belong in this body I was healed by the stripes of Jesus--leave now." I am healed. Repeat and thank God for your healing. Praise Him. Give Him the praise He deserves. You spoke believing and commanding in the name of Jesus.
We draw on the power and authority Jesus has given us. "It is impossible for God to lie" (Hebrews 6:18), so everything Jesus says is absolute truth. Everything written in the Word of God (the Bible) is absolute truth. It is up to us to apply what the Bible says about healing if we want healing.
We cannot please God without faith.
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
We receive the gift of health from our faith, our belief in Him and His Word, that He if faithful and true. And we must keep in our heart knowing "that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." We don't casually seek Him, we diligently seek Him. If we want healing, we seek and love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. It is through our faith that we are saved by His grace [Ephesians 2:8-9], and it is by your faith we are healed.
There is nothing we must do but believe; then we act on our belief. And if we believe we physically take action. Our spirit is healed. We now, with belief manifest healing in our body. If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that He was raised from the dead, we shall be saved [Romans 10:9-10], and we shall be healed. Healing is wrapped up in a complete salvation. We are either healed from our sickness and disease in this worldly life, which is temporary, or in heaven where we are permanently healed, receiving our perfect, pain free, glorified body at the rapture or at the resurrection of the dead in Christ.
In the Beginning
Pain and disease all came about when man rebelled against God. Pain, suffering sickness and death came upon man when man disobeyed God in the Garden. Man was protected by God while in the Garden, but once he sinned and went against God, man was no longer protected—he was accursed and Satan took over. Man relinquished his authority of the world to the devil. And both the man and the woman [Adam and Eve] were removed from the Garden.
In Genesis 3:14-19, God reveals to us His accurse on man because of man's disobedience:
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”
The Apostle John explained in 1 John 3:8:
"He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil."
Furthermore:
"The thief [Satan] does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).
The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10), and he does this through sickness and diseases and death. He also plants lies in our mind from worldly physicians and others who deceive us with untruth regarding health and healing. He also sends us capable doctors who assist in administering healing from God. Doctors do not heal. God heals us by using good doctors. However, not all doctors are being used by God. So pray that God reveals a doctor for you.
We must understand that all sicknesses, disease and death are the works of the devil and Jesus came to destroy these evil works. "For I am the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26). He is the great doctor, the great physician. In Galatians 3:13 Paul further explains:
"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”).
We were a curse, and Jesus became a curse for us, cleansing us. And we are justified by our faith in Him and what He did. But we must accept what He did if we want to be healed. God does not break His promises. He is faithful and good and He wants all to come to the knowledge of truth and healing in spirit, soul and body.
I will expand on much of what I have written in this epistle in the text, and I will also share with you many of my healings and how I applied the Word of God and His promises to heal. We were healed by His stripes. This is what we must proclaim. This is what we must confess. This is clear in the word of God. He has completed the work of healing and it is now up to us, the born again, to administer it.
Where is your faith? Who do you put your faith in? I put my faith in God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He died so that we might be healed and live and come to the revelation of truth. But we have to know how to appropriate His promises on healing. And we must believe His Word and His Word on healing. Sadly, most do not believe. Remember, Jesus cannot lie. When Jesus said "ask anything in my name, and I will do it." Anything means anything including good physical health and a sound mind. Jesus and the Word of God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The ministry of Jesus and his first disciples, the twelve and then the seventy, were preaching the gospel, healing the sick and casting out demons. This is what all disciples should be doing now, today. Why are we not doing this? Weak church leadership is not abiding in the full gospel; that is, they are not dealing with healing the soul and body, but only the spirit. Jesus dealt with healing the spirit, soul and the body. The church is also to blame because many have become soft on the knowledge of the word of God. More time must be spent on reading the Bible and physically and mentally applying what it says. God gave us His words in writing so that we would know His words and draw on them daily to combat the evil that surrounds us. The devil attacks as moments of weakness. Therefore, we must be confident in using the power the God given authority to expel the evil one and all negative thoughts toward our healing.
Do not pull the plug on healing. Remove all negative thoughts out of your mind and put your mind on the word of God. Put your mind on Jesus and why He died for you. He died to save you from the evil works of the devil. You were born a child of the devil. But by His death and resurrection, you do not have to remain condemned, for you have been redeemed, bought back by Jesus. Believe in Him, His death and resurrection and the work He did, which was the acceptable sacrifice to God.
Now I want to talk to you about the words you use. Control the words that come out of your mouth. Proverbs 18:21 says:
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
A fool’s mouth is his destruction,
And his lips are the snare of his soul. (Proverbs 18:7)
The mouth of the righteous is a well of life,
But violence covers the mouth of the wicked. ( Proverbs 10:11)
What we say, we believe and for many, they are killing themselves by their tongues. By confessing the word of God, walking with Him in agreement, those are the people eating its good fruit of life. What we say has great power, death or life. Believe it. In Proverbs we can learn a lot about ourselves and others by the words that come out of our mouth. "A fool's mouth is his destruction" and "the mouth of the righteous is a well of life." A well of life is good health. Do not ever say things like "My back is killing me" or my "tooth is killing me." or "I'm not getting better." Cut all negative thoughts about your healing out of your vocabulary. You are a child of God. God did not make you a second class person. You are His workmanship. God did not make you a complainer. He did not make you a whiner. You are His wonderful creation. He healed you. Even when you are in pain, He has already healed you in the spirit (if you are a true believer), you now have to manifest your healing in the flesh with the Word of God, calling on His promises for healing. It is the lack of knowledge that is killing people and keeping many in pain. Pain and sickness is horrible. But Jesus has given us "the believers authority" to defeat illness, pain, disease, viruses and cancer in the name of Jesus. Yet, not all will be healed in this world. For this is a mystery that only God knows. He does not reveal everything to us, but that which is in His word is revealed. We must trust God when we are not well and when we are well, thank Him daily for your life and good health. Do not dwell on your sickness, but thank Him for all that you what He has done for you. Jesus said in Mark 5:34:
“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
Jesus told the young woman, that it was were faith that has made her well. Her affliction was to be healed as she left. Most times healing is not instantaneous. Instantaneous healing is called a miracle. Divine healing or supernatural healing most often occurs over a period of time: it could be minutes, hours, days or even years. We must trust God and His promises regarding healing. Many in the New Testament were healed as they went. Unbelief holds healing at bay. Even when we feel sick and there seems to be no sign that we are healing, we must believe we are healed, because we are. When we ask in Jesus' name the manifestation of healing in our body may take time. This is natural. Do not give up.
Recently, I took my mom to a doctor to get a checkup. As of this writing my mother is eighty-six. As I was filling out the information for her in the reception room I came to a question regarding race. "Race?" The doctor wanted to know my mom's race. I wrote down "human." There is only one race: the human race. There are many ethnicities, and many different skin colors, but one race. We are all of the human race. God created one race: the human race. And every person of the human race who receives Jesus, and asks in His name will be healed. This is a promise of God. Do doctors know that there is only one race?
Every person of the human race is accursed. We are not born as children of God, but children of this world, which is a fallen world of sin. We are born as the children of wrath, the children of the devil and only through the grace of God, He has given us, individually, a choice to come to Him and to believe in Jesus Christ to live and be healed. If one does not believe in Jesus the Lord and Savior of the world, then condemnation remains on the person. It means nothing in this world to have a long life without Christ. Eternity is a long time. Why would anyone want to spend it in hell with pain and suffering, and separated from the Creator who knit us in our mother's womb?
A good heart filled with love is like medicine. We are told in Proverbs 22:17:
A merry heart does good, like medicine,
But a broken spirit dries the bones.
The Lord is my physician, my healer, my doctor. I consult Him first and always before I consider a visit to the doctor's office; and so should you. Recently, I turned sixty and I feel better today relying on God, my healer, than when I was twenty. At twenty I was a false believer, as lukewarm and one can get. The Holy Spirit will tell me what I need to know. And He will tell you what you need too. Consult Him. Go to a quiet place and listen for His voice. We ask in His name and He gives it to us. "I am the Lord who heals you" (Exodus 15:26). He is the Lord who heals us. Ask in His name and He will give it. Most Christians do not know how to ask because of unbelief. They have been conditioned to rely on drugs and doctors. They have also been conditioned to neglect and abuse their own body, the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The Scriptures are for our benefit, for health, prosperity in all things, and success. God instructs us in Joshua 1:8-9 that His word shall not depart from us:
Yes, we will have good success when we abide in the Lord. We are commanded to be strong and courageous. He is with us in sickness and in health, in good times and bad times, wherever we go. It is the will of God that we are healed. Let us proclaim that "I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord" (Psalm 118:17). God has plan for us to live and prosper in health.
In my book, "I Am The Lord Who Heals You," I hope to bring you closer to God's word on healing and how to appropriate healing with God's promises for healing.