Welcome back to the final part of our series about how because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, your healing is unstoppable! We’ve had quite a journey over the past month, and we’ve seen quite a lot of things! And today is going to be just as great, because for the climax of our series, we are going to crush one of the most prevalent false beliefs regarding healing: that you will not get healed because God is testing you.
This is one that I have heard over and over again, and it’s a big hindrance and a stumbling-block for a lot of people.
So today, we are going to set all of the theology of man aside, and look directly at Jesus, and what He has said regarding testing and trials, and through this we will be able to see clearly how and why your healing is indeed unstoppable!
Let’s begin today by examining some of the more basic things that Jesus taught regarding testing and trials. You may be surprised how different the teachings of Jesus are, compared to what most modern churches and pastors teach – and I would humbly submit to you, that if what we have been taught and believed does not line-up with the truth of Jesus Christ, it’s time to throw away those false beliefs, and realign our thinking and believing with Jesus Christ.
So let’s begin by looking at Matthew 6:9-13:
“After this manner therefore pray you: Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For your is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”
What we have here is Jesus’ response to His disciples when they asked Him to teach them how to pray, and at the tail end of His response in verse 13, we can see that Jesus says something very interesting!
Jesus instructs them to pray that God specifically does not lead them into temptation!
Now this is interesting because it flies directly into the face of a commonly held belief – a man-made idea that somehow God does lead us into temptation; either as a test, or sometimes as a punishment (I’ve heard both).
The word used for “temptation” in the verse is πειρασμός (peirasmos), and it means trials, testing and temptation. And so here Jesus very clearly instructs His disciples to pray for our Father in Heaven to not lead us into such things.
Now since Jesus would never instruct people to pray in opposition to God’s will, we can therefore logically conclude that leading us into temptation, testing or trials is not the will of God – therefore He does not do it! In-fact in the second half of the verse, Jesus names such things as evil.
This is confirmed for us in other scriptures, such as when Jesus instructs His disciples to watch and pray that they do not enter into temptation, while Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:41, Luke 22:46).
Furthermore in James chapter one, we see some interesting details also. In James 1:1-4, we can read this:
“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations;
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
Again, these verses are familiar to many Christians, but we often don’t stop to consider the details of what they are saying to us. Notice in verse 2 it says: count it all joy, when you fall into diverse temptations.
You see, temptations, testing and trials are something that you fall into – they aren’t something that you purposefully walk into; nor are they something that your Father in Heaven leads you into either – you fall into them.
Here, James is addressing his Jewish brothers and followers, and telling them to count it as a joyful thing when they encounter trials… not to be happy about the trials in and of themselves (they fell into them, remember) but that through the trial, their faith – their information about God would be made to endure, and they themselves would be made complete (ultimately through their acceptance of Jesus Christ).
Yet some people have taken these encouraging words of James to his brothers, and built an entirely new and man-made doctrine around them, of a God who leads people into trials and tests them for various reasons… and they have created a god who is as unstable as the wind and unreliable as a roll of the dice.
My friend, this should not be! These kinds of ideas very often place a stumbling-block and barrier between us and God, they hinder us from receiving His healing power, and everything that Jesus paid such a high price for us to have. And the worst part of it all, is that it sabotages the character of God… causing us to think that He is actually the one afflicting us (or withholding healing) when in-fact He is the one who sacrificed His Son to provide healing!
This is made even more clear for us further down in the chapter of James 1, verse 13, which says:
“Let no man say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted of God’: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man”
It doesn’t get any more clear and straightforward than this, my friend. When you are experiencing a temptation, test or trial – you can be absolutely certain that it is not from God! Quite simply because He does not tempt, test or trial anyone!
It is very important that we understand and settle this point in our soul, because so many people have had their faith and belief crippled by this false idea that God is somehow the architect of their suffering, or that He is complicit in it, and by believing that lie they actually sabotage themselves from their only source of help and way out: which is actually God Himself!
Think about it… If a person believes that God is actually the source of their trouble (or complicit in it), then they will never truly see Him as a source for help, or the way out of it. So you see, it is a very subtle, and very dangerous trap – and for some, it is deadly.
Friend, my hope and desire for you today, is that you allow what we have plainly seen in scripture to speak to your mind and spirit; beyond the traditions and theologies of man. See the nature and the character of God for what He plainly says – God is not testing you, trying you, or giving you trials, because He simply does not do such things.
However He is the way out of every temptation, test, and trial.
God is not withholding your healing, nor did He give you that sickness. On the contrary, He is your Healer, and through His sacrifice, that sickness has been judged in the body of Jesus Christ, and your healing has already been bought and paid for. (Isaiah 53:4-5, 1st Peter 2:24)
I encourage you today, receive all of what Jesus paid for you to have. Your healing is indeed unstoppable; now live that reality… own it! It is yours!
Be blessed.