Can Christians avoid sickness and disease, or is it just part of life? I think that’s an interesting question and my opinion is yes! Read on to discover how I came to that conclusion and avoided a deadly disease.
My Scripture Story
It starts with a scripture that has always stuck with me. In John 14:30, Jesus is speaking with his disciples, preparing them for his death:
I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me (NIV)
Some versions read, “he has nothing in me.”
He explains that Satan is about to show up on the scene, but he has nothing in him. What does that mean? It perplexed me for years until I heard a teaching on healing. The teacher said that sometimes people don’t get healed because they won’t let go of things such as unforgiveness or bitterness. I don’t think that’s always the case, but it got me thinking.
I realized that when Jesus said that Satan had nothing in him, he was saying that Satan had nothing to attach himself to in Jesus’ life and, therefore, had no “right” to kill him. Jesus was going to let Satan crucify him because that was what God wanted to happen, not because Satan had the upper hand.
This concept sent me to some other scriptures. Genesis 6:3:
Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be 120 years.” (NIV)
I don’t know anyone who has lived that long. When TV shows the world’s oldest people, they are generally decrepit and often have serious vision problems. Deuteronomy 37:7 says that Moses died at 120, and his eyes were not weak, and his strength was as in his youth.
That really caught my attention! Moses was no more special than you or I. He did great things when he submitted to God, but he started as a murderer. If God will do it for Moses, won’t he do it for the rest of us?
That brought me to Exodus 15:26:
He said, “If you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you.” (WEB)
Although it sounds like God will make you sick if you do wrong, I think it is a consequence of doing wrong. We were all taught to look both ways before we crossed the street. There were probably times in my very young life when I didn’t do that, and thankfully, I didn’t get hit by a car. But if I continued doing that, eventually I would get hit. It would be a consequence of not looking both ways.
None of us are perfect, so how do we avoid sickness and disease?
Avoiding Sickness Scriptures
James 5:15: Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed (WEB)
Are sins making us sick? We may think of big things, but many are the little things that add to our lives over time. Eventually, enough sin fills the bowl; it tips over, and we end up sick.
I believe we sometimes think of scriptures as metaphorical, not realizing that they could be quite literal.
Proverbs 18:8:
The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels:
they go down into a person’s innermost parts (WEB)
The definition of innermost is the very deepest within. In other words, gossip will go deep into our bodies. That is not a good thing, but the opposite is also true. Proverbs 15:30 and 17:22 state:
The light of the eyes rejoices the heart.
Good news gives health to the bones. (WEB)
A cheerful heart makes good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (WEB)
How I Avoided a Deadly Disease
About fifteen years ago, I had a dream that I was going to get cancer. (That’s why I spent time doing dream interpretation you need to hear!) At first, I ignored it because I didn’t think it was true – until a week later. I was in bed, and at 4:00 AM I was half awake and half asleep as I rolled over. I heard a voice say, “You’re going to get leukemia.” Leukemia is an incurable blood cancer. If you are in this situation, where you or someone in your family has leukemia, please understand that I am NOT saying this will be your story. I’m telling you mine. Of course, I freaked out when I heard that and needless to say, it woke me.
The first thing I did was test the voice. Was what I heard true? I asked the Lord, is this true? I had a short dream that I was standing in a funeral home looking at myself in a casket. Jesus walked over to me and said, “You will get leukemia. You will not survive it, but you will be with me.” His voice was very kind, gentle, and loving. But at the same time, I was probably about 40 and knew some of the plans for my life. I decided there was no way I was leaving this earth at this time and in this manner! But I still didn’t know what to do. A Bible verse popped into my head, “What you bind on Earth will be bound in heaven, and what you loose on Earth will be loosed in heavens.” (Matt 18:18). I bound leukemia until I figured out why this thing wanted to attach to me. I truly had no idea what I was doing so I asked the Lord if that worked. I immediately got a picture in my head: I was down on one knee and had the mouth of a giant alligator held shut. Woohoo! Success!
From there, I went back to that scripture: Here comes the prince of this world, but he doesn’t have anything in me. Proverbs say a curse undeserved will not rest on a person (Pro 26:2). Curse is kind of a loose term, but in the Bible, sickness, and disease are sometimes equated to a curse. If this is true and the scripture says it can’t stick if it’s undeserved, then am I doing something that is opening a door for that? And the Lord said to me very clearly, you have bitterness, unforgiveness, and anger towards a particular person. I didn’t think I held those things, and if you had asked I would have said no. but God knows the heart. It turned out there were four people that I had to deal with. I repented for holding onto the unforgiveness, etc.
The following Tuesday, at 4:00 AM, as I rolled over, I heard, “You’re going to get deep vein thrombosis.” When I heard that I knew the leukemia threat had been downgraded to deep vein thrombosis. Thrombosis is also a blood issue where blood clots develop deep in leg veins. It has the potential to be deadly. I bound that and asked the Lord what else I needed to deal with. I can’t tell you who the people were, but it kept going.
One week later, on a Tuesday morning at 4 AM, I rolled over and heard, “You’re going to get lymphedema.” Lymphedema causes extremities like legs to swell and puts fluid into the bloodstream. I bound it and keep working on my issues!
Another week goes by and it is once again Tuesday at 4:00 AM. I rolled over and heard a very angry voice say, “OK! I’m just going to give you a really, really, really bad stomach bug!” I almost laughed at that one! It took about four weeks to get through the issues, but finally, God told me I had made it to the other side.
You can believe it or not. It is my opinion that if I had not repented for the people that I was angry with I wouldn’t be here today. I think the leukemia was not far out, and knowing I wouldn’t survive it, I probably wouldn’t have bothered to treat it.
That is my story of how I began a journey of avoiding sickness. I am going to take a deep dive into what causes sickness and disease. Much of it comes down to the concept of wholeness—having nothing in you.
Until next time under the palm, be blessed!
