The Cost Of Healing

God's Deliverance

In our last lesson, we looked at some bible examples of times when God allowed the devil to attack, harm and kill some of His faithful servants. It is a sober truth--there are times when God does allow the enemy to attack and harm us, in order to fulfill some divine purpose.

But don't be dismayed by this. God doesn't allow the devil to have his way with every attack that he launches. In fact, God does come through for us in many cases.

For example, let's look at Daniel's experience. He was a mighty man of God who the devil tried to kill. Daniel was a high ranking official with a lot of power and authority, and some of the other officials were jealous of him. So they devised a plan to get him executed, by making it illegal to pray. (They did this because they knew that Daniel was a faithful man of prayer). Daniel was arrested, tried and sentenced to be executed for breaking this ridiculous law. The method of execution was to throw him into a den of hungry lions and leave him there overnight.

The devil prompted this attack against Daniel through these jealous officials. He did this because Daniel was actively building up God's kingdom, which tended to tear his down. But in Daniel's case, God delivered him. He sent an angel to shut up the lion's mouths and he delivered Daniel out of the lion's den safe and sound. You can read the full story in Daniel chapter 6.

There is another amazing story of God's deliverance from the same time period. It involved three godly Jewish youth (Meshack, Shadrack and Abednego) who been carried into captivity along with Daniel. They had been trained and then given influential government leadership positions. They remained faithful to the Lord, so He blessed them with wisdom and discernment, and He made them highly skilled in their respective jobs. They took stands for godliness and overtly honored God in every aspect of their lives, and that is why the devil tried to take them out.

You can read the full story in Daniel chapter 3, but I will give a short synopsis of their story here. One day, the king made a huge idol and commanded all of his leaders and government officials to bow down before it and worship it. These three refused to worship the idol, which made the king furious. So he ordered them to be executed by being thrown into a "burning fiery furnace." The heat from that giant furnace was so fierce that it killed the soldiers who threw them into it. It should have killed Meshack, Shadrack and Abednego as well, but God chose to intervene supernaturally and deliver them. He did it in such a spectacular way that the king ended up bowing down to Him, and worshipped Him instead of the idol he'd set up.

There are many other examples in the bible of God delivering His own a way that gives them an incredible testimony and brings glory to His name.

Different Types Of Attacks

I don't know why God permits the devil to attack His faithful servants instead of protecting them from the warfare--but He does. In some cases (like Jeremiah) the attack lasts for a season and God's deliverance comes later on. In other cases (like John the Baptist and Micaiah), God doesn't deliver them. Instead, the attack either kills them or takes them out for the rest of their lives. But in other cases (like Daniel, Meshack, Shadrack and Abednego), God's deliverance comes instantly. He rises up to protect His own from the attack, and to turn the situation around to His glory.

As far as I can tell, there are three different types of attacks. The first is those that God permits, so that He can works His glory in them (like parting the Red Sea). The second type is attacks that require us to suffer for His name's sake, so that some divine purpose we don't fully understand is accomplished. An example of this Jesus-- He had to personally suffer and die on Calvary to accomplish the greater good of our salvation. The third type of attack is the ones where God expects us to defend ourselves, to fight back and gain victory using the spiritual resources that He has given us.

This third type of attack is the one that we need to learn how to prepare for, and defend against. That way, we will not be taken out by it when it comes. The enemy of our soul hopes that he can catch us off guard. He wants to be able to inflict some level of harm on us simply because we are not prepared to fight back and fend off his attack.

Enemy Counter-Attack and Healing

We have been discussing how the devil attacks God's servants because he is at war with God. Anytime we do something to advance God's kingdom, the devil interprets this as a personal attack against his kingdom, and many times he chooses to fight back.

What does this mean to us in the context of healing ministry? It means that we need to be aware that healing is not just "doing good" for sick people--it is also warfare. Most of us see ourselves as simply praying for people and being thrilled as we see the power of God come and heal them. Our hearts are filled with compassion for the sick person, and we just want good for them. We don't tend to see that type of activity as a warfare situation, but the devil does.

That is because he is making people sick and spreading misery to get people into bondage, which expands his kingdom. So when you free them from that bondage, you are actively fighting against what the devil is doing, and tearing down his kingdom. To him, that is war. You become dangerous to him and his plans, and that is why he counter-attacks you...he is fighting back to defend his territory.

So the attacks against us are likely to increase as we step up to higher levels of ministering healing. And that is why it is important for us to learn how to effectively defend ourselves against those attacks.

Again, there are three types of attacks: those where God allows him to harm us, those where God defends us and those where God expects us to defend ourselves. In my experience, most of the attacks that come in response to healing ministry fall into the third category. That is why it is important that we learn what we can do to defend ourselves from these attacks.

We will talk about how to do that more in future lessons.