A thief in your house and a disease in your body are similar in that they both come to steal.
The thief steals your belongings the way disease steals your health and quality of life, your joy,
your peace, your comfort, and your savings, to mention a few.
When a thief tries to break into a house, the tendency for most people is to resist him.
You wouldn't just wilfully open your front door and usher him in!
Because you know he wants to come and take what you own, so you defend your stuff.
Yet interestingly enough, the same mindset is not carried by many, when it comes to disease in their bodies. Instead of resisting disease like they would a thief, they embrace and accommodate it through their attitude and their words.
Could it be, that God's people are not fully aware of what belongs to them, regarding redemption from sickness and disease? Could it be, that the reason they give up on healing is because they don't know that good and perfect health is already theirs?
You'll Only Fight For What's Yours When You Know It’s Yours
When you see somebody steal another person’s belongings, your level of concern may not be strong enough for you to intervene and get involved. But when it's your stuff they are taking, you would do everything in your power, to get back what's yours. Because when you own it, and you know you own it, the attitude is completely different.
Similarly, there are certain things you'll not fight for, simply because you don't know they are yours. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why many of God's people give up when disease comes knocking at their doors. They have a “whatever will be, will be” attitude towards it. Some even wrongly believe that the sickness in their lives is the will of God, or that God is trying to teach them a lesson.
Do you teach your own children lessons by putting disease in their bodies? How then, can your loving Father in heaven, who knows how to give good gifts, put disease in your body? Others even go the extent of believing that their suffering brings God glory.
This couldn't be further from the truth. Scripture clearly states in John 10:10 that “the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy”. It's the thief that does it. The great news however, is that Christ came that we may have life and have it in abundance. I don't know about you, but good and perfect health sounds like abundant life to me!
Christ bore all your sicknesses, diseases and infirmities in His own body, that you may be in health.
Meditate on this truth, because divine health is yours to have, and to keep.
John 8:31-32 says that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. This implies that when you lack knowledge of the truth, you are likely to live in bondage, although you have been set free from it.
God Wants You Well
The truth you must know, that will set you free, is that God wants you well.
The reason why beauty companies use women (and men) who have radiant and youthful looking skin to promote their skincare products is because they need them to reflect the 'brand promise'. Because the general assumption of potential buyers is that the advertisers are also users of the product, and since they have no experience with it themselves, they look to the advertisers to see what the product will do for them. And you're therefore less likely to purchase the product if their skin appears wrinkled, dull, and old.
In a similar way, God wants you well, so that you can be a better witness of His goodness.
If what the world ever sees in God’s people is poverty, misery and suffering, it'll not want to have what they have, nor be keen to follow the God they follow. It's when they see you live the life of abundant health, peace and joy, that they'll want to know who your Father is.
Perhaps you're now wondering what I wondered myself, after coming across this truth.
"If God wants us well, and Christ has paid the full price for our redemption, why then do God's people still fall sick?".
Remember we are dealing with a thief. And what are thieves notorious for? Do they not break-in through closed windows and locked doors? We live in a fallen world, amongst thieves, and that's what thieves do. We contend with sickness, sorrow, evil and death.
However, the right mindset to have, should disease gain entry into your body, is to remember that it doesn’t belong there, and therefore it can’t stay there, the same way a thief in your house doesn’t belong in your house and can't remain there forever.
It’s Not Denial, It's Getting Back Your Power
If a thief breaks into my house, I don't deny that he's in my house, but I deny the right for him to remain in my house. I don't learn to live with the thief, I want him out of my house. I don't start calling him "my thief", I want him out.
Because something tells me that if I make the thief feel at home in my house, he'll go into all the rooms to see what else he can take, besides what he initially came for.
Something tells me that after he has raided my entire house, he'll come after the house itself and attempt to put me out.
Is it not the same as with a disease that started off small and confined, that you entertained with your words and has now spread to the rest of the body, threatening to take your life?
Why then, do we claim diseases that have invaded our bodies as ‘my disease’? Why do we confess that 'we’ll just have to learn to live with it'? It's not your disease any more than it's your thief. You don't own it. Don't claim it.
Get The Thief Out of Your House
Generally, whatever you feel you deserve, you'll not resist. So let me make this clear. As a child of God, whatever sickness or disease you may be dealing with, have dealt with in the past, or are expecting to deal with in the future, that's not your portion. You've been redeemed from the curse of the law and sin which includes sickness and disease.
Christ has paid in full, for every known and unknown disease. He took all the infirmities and sicknesses that were meant for you and I, and carried them in His own body, so that we wouldn't have to. You've been released from this bondage.
The book of Proverbs 4:20-22 says that the Word of God is life and health to one's body. On this basis, it would be wise to find and read scriptures on healing, and meditate on them daily, the same way you would take your medication daily.
Let His promises abide in you. Confess them and declare them over your life. For therein lies the power of God to bring you to full and complete restoration.
You've Been Set Free
Perhaps you've just received some disturbing news about the state of your health, or you've been been dealing with some health issues for some time now. Maybe you feel discouraged and you've lost hope for recovery. I bring good news!! The finished work of the Cross set you free.
The thief was defeated at the Cross and can no longer keep you oppressed.
When your body and its symptoms seem to suggest otherwise, as they sometimes may, bring your body back into agreement and alignment with the finished work of the Cross. Bring it into subjection of the Word of God and speak healing over it. Declare your confessions of faith that health and healing are yours. Declare that you are healed. And should your health take a turn for the worse, declare it all the more. Declare it until you see it. That's how you fight the good fight of faith.
Health and healing are yours, beloved. When you begin to understand the redemptive power of the Cross, you will live your life expecting good health and confessing good health. And if your health gets compromised, expect good health and confess good health, because that's what you rightfully own in Christ Jesus. And you take it back from the thief that tries to steal it from you by saying what God says. God says you are healed. So say "Im, healed", and receive your healing by faith.
God says with long life He'll satisfy you. Therefore expect to live until you are satisfied. And not just to live, but to live well. To live abundantly. This is your portion, in Christ Jesus.
"The spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to bind up the brokenhearted, to comfort all who mourn, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."