The Cost Of Healing

We have just spent the last three lessons looking at examples of enemy counter-attack in various people's lives. You may have found this a study to be bit depressing (or maybe alarming), because the stories I shared are not stories of overwhelming victory. They are stories about the reality of spiritual warfare, and they demonstrate what enemy counter-attack looks like in real people's lives.

I did not share this to scare you or to depress you; I shared it to motivate you. I want you to prepare for battle so that you won't be caught off guard; so you won't be easily taken out. The simple fact is that we are in a war, and if we move in God's power to heal the sick, the devil is likely to view that as an attack on his kingdom, and he is likely to fight back by counter-attacking us. That is a simple fact, and we need to know about it so we can prepare for the counter-attack and stand in victory.

This is not a bleak or overwhelming situation, and we don't need to be frightened by it. Why? Because the Lord has given us spiritual armor and He has given us weapons for the warfare. He has given us every thing we need to win the battle and to walk in His victory. However, the stuff that God has given to us won't help us unless we take it up and use it to fend off the enemy's attack.

Jesus has given us authority over the devil. We see this in Luke 10:19 where Jesus said: "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

Jesus gave us His own authority to use to accomplish His purposes, which means that means we are not powerless in this battle. In fact, since Jesus is so much more powerful than the devil, that means we also have more power than the devil does--because we tap into Jesus' power. In short, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us and empowers each of us (as per Romans 8:11) in the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 6 talks about how God has given us spiritual armor to protect us in the battle. Unfortunately, that armor doesn't do us much good if it is hanging in our closet. It won't protect us unless we wear it. Likewise, the authority that Jesus has given us won't do us much good unless we use it.

Using God's authority is a bit more complex than simply making a decision to move in His authority. There are spiritual principles that come into play here. For instance, we can't use God's power when we are in rebellion or in willful disobedience to Him. We can't use His power to accomplish things contrary to what He wants to do. Remember, Jesus said, "I only do what I see My father doing." If we want to move in His authority, then we have to embrace His agenda and lay down our own agenda.

Here is an analogy that might help. If you want to get dressed in a suit of real physical armor, say mid-evil style armor, you are going to have to take off some of your "street clothes" and maybe put on some special undergarments that are designed to fit with the armor. For instance, a lady wearing a dress with a full skirt and high heals isn't going to be very successful in stepping into a suit of armor, unless she changes first. Can you picture her trying to put the leg plates on over her skirt, or trying to put the boots on over the high heals? That wouldn't work very well, would it?

Also, the armor is going to be hard and painful in some places as the metal rubs against your body (like your ribs, shoulders, elbows, etc). So you may need to put on some specialized clothing with built-in pads to protect vulnerable areas of your body from being hurt by the mental of the armor pressing/rubbing against it.

We must follow a similar principle to put on spiritual armor. There are some things in our live that we need to "put off" (or get rid of) so that the spiritual armor has a chance of fitting us correctly. We need to close the doors in our lives where the enemy can easily move in to attack us...intentional sin, unforgiveness or bitterness, rebellion, gossip, jealousy, etc. In addition, we need to put on certain things, such as godly habits and right attitudes to have the right padding for our armor. And, of course, we have to actually put the armor on over the padding.

Ephesians 6:14-17 spells out some of the armor for us:

14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

I don't want to do a whole in-depth teaching on the armor here, as there are many excellent books written on that subject. But let's briefly highlight some of what is involved in these pieces and get an idea of what we need to protect us from enemy counter-attack:

1. Truth - Embracing God's truth and rejecting the lies of the enemy. It sounds simple, but our heart gets in the way and the enemy's lies can feel so real to us and take us out. When we embrace God's truth, those lies loose their power over us.

2. Righteousness - Living holy before God and behaving in the way that you know will please Him. It also entails going out of our way to avoid things we know would displease God. But it also entails receiving the forgiveness and cleansing of Jesus, which makes us righteous before God. Then when we know we are truly forgiven, we do not have to live under the enemy's cloud of condemnation or rejection.

3. Preparation of the Gospel - being attuned to the Spirit's leading and available when He calls on us to be His witness...whether it is in modeling (demonstrating) His presence in our life in a difficulty, or in moving in His power to heal the sick or whatever He wants to do, or by spoken word. The key here is not the doing of these things (though we do them)--but it is the preparation. In other words, the key is our ongoing relationship to the Holy Spirit. It involves things like knowing His voice, being submitted to His leading in all things, being careful not to grieve Him, etc.

4. Faith - This is basically knowing down deep in our inner most being that God is good, that He is faithful, and that He is in control. Then it is calling forth His will and His reality to replace the false reality that the devil tries to surround us with. Among other things, we need to keep up our faith in the basics...that God loves us and takes care of us, that our sins are forgiven (even when we mess up big time or make an ugly mistake) and it is an inner confidence that these things can't separate us from God's love because of what Jesus did for us.

   Some people view faith as the "doing things" (like moving mountains). That is an aspect of faith, but I don't think it is what this verse is talking about here. It says that faith will quench the fiery darts of the evil one. What are those darts? They are mental/emotional things like condemnation, rejection, feeling God is mad at you, feeling disqualified. They are also physical things like financial trials, dangers, false accusations, sickness, etc.

   The faith that overcomes these things is a confidence in God and in His faithfulness. It is knowing we don't have to do everything perfectly for God to love us. It is the assuredness that God is our loving Daddy Who wants to take care of our every need in a way that allows us to latch on to His provision. In short, faith is knowing deep within our spirit that God is faithful and that He is able to do all things.

5. Helmet of Salvation - This is knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are saved (because of what Jesus did to you). It means that you have embraced the Spirit Of Adoption and truly see God as your Father Who loves you and Who will take good care of you. It means you know that your sins (past, present and future) cannot separate you from God; it is an assuredness that when you repent and run back to Him, you know He will receive you with open arms. It means that you don't feel a need to introduce an artificial separation between yourself and God before you repent and become instantly restored. It means you have a confidence that it is OK for you to draw close to Him and you have the expectation that He will meet you and reveal Himself to you because of the personal relationship that you have with Him.

6. The sword of the Spirit - God's word is powerful...both His written word and His prophetic word. I strongly encourage people to really get to know His written word...read it, study it, understand what He is like from it, memorize it. When Jesus battled (and defeated) the devil in the wilderness during His 40 day fast, He used the Word. Jesus quoted Scripture to counter each lie and each temptation that the devil threw at Him. And since Jesus is our role model, that means we should also be using His word to defend against enemy attacks and temptations.

Now lets talk about preparing ourselves to wear this armor, and let's have this talk in the context of healing ministry. We know that if we do what the Father is doing, we will need to prepare for enemy counter-attack. That is because the devil feels attacked when we step out in God's power to advance His kingdom (like healing the sick). If it builds up God's kingdom, that means it tears down the devil's kingdom. And if the devil thinks that we are attacking him, he is likely to fight back by attacking us.

What are the things that we can do to better defend ourselves against enemy counter-attack?

1. Count the cost. We need to be aware that moving in God's power yields enemy counter attacks. We must not be afraid of it and we must not allow ourselves to be caught off guard when it happens.

2. Be careful to be led of the Lord rather than manipulated by the needs of others. We need to strive to be doing what He is doing and to avoid doing things that He is not doing.

3. Keep up our quiet times to tune in with the Lord for any warnings, leadings, or directions that He gives us.

4. Keep examining ourself (our hearts, our actions, our motives) with the Holy Spirit so we can close any "open doors" that the enemy uses to attack us.

5. Consider routinely breaking curses against us.

6. Live healthy--don't invite attacks on our health through things like exhaustion, being overweight, eating unbalanced diets, etc.

7. Be sure to be covered by prayer...your own and the prayers of others who have agreed to intercede for you.

8. Stay closely connected with other believers. You are more vulnerable when isolated.

9. Understand our spiritual atmosphere so that we won't be disappointed by unrealistic expectations of what we hope God might do.

We will talk more about each of these 9 things in our remaining lessons.