5 Biblical Keys to Overcome a Major Hindrance to Healing

What is disease? Well, it's the exact opposite or the lack of ease. And anybody that has disease in their body knows this. It's not easy. It's not a life of ease. And if you have disease, I know you'd rather be well, because any sane, normal person does not want to live with disease or pain in their body. But what's even better than that is not only do you want to be well, but God wants you to be well. And he wants you to be well so much so that he sent Jesus to be the sacrifice, not just for your sins, but so that you could be healed in your body. As a matter of fact, 1 Peter 2 24 tells us this very clearly, by whose stripes you were healed. Now that's past tense. So in the mind of God, you were healed. But as you know, if you've been watching me for very long, I usually emphasize in every episode that healing doesn't just drop on you like ripe cherries off of a tree. Healing is always received by faith. And so it requires your faith to receive the goodness of God. Another thing about healing is God won't force it on anybody. God doesn't force his goodness on people. He's a perfect gentleman. He offers it to us, but we have to freely receive it of our own will and accord. But when it comes to receiving healing, there's something very important that I feel we need to talk about today. It should be easy and it should be received by faith. But there is one condition that will always hinder your faith from working and keep you from receiving this healing power in your body. And that is if you continue to worry about your body, if you continue to worry about the condition of your health. As a matter of fact, worry is one of the most major hindrances to healing that I know of. Now we're going to look at what Jesus taught about worry today in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 25. And I'm reading from the New Living Translation. He says, that is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life, whether you have enough food and drink or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns for your heavenly father feeds them. And aren't you more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? You know, it's interesting when it comes to sickness and disease, most people are concerned, you know, they might not get better. They might be afraid that they're going to live with something unpleasant the rest of their life. But a lot of people, they're actually worried about dying. Depending on your diagnosis, you could have a diagnosis that could lead to death. And so people fear death above all else. But Jesus is saying here, can all your worrying about death, because really fear and worry are one in the same, can all of your worries add a single moment to your life? Absolutely not. It's the craziest thing about worry in life. We're all tempted to worry about things. And yet worry is not an effective solution. It never helps. And so I want to talk about this today. You know, the reason worry is not effective is it's the opposite of faith. So like I started out saying, it requires faith to receive healing. But if you're going to continue to worry about your health, if you're going to continue to worry about your outcome, you're going to short circuit the power of God, because worry is fear. Really, you could say fear in disguise. It's the opposite of faith. And we know from Hebrews 11, six, that God requires faith because it says without faith, it's impossible to please him. Now notice when we read from Matthew here, Jesus telling us not to worry. He didn't actually suggest that to us. He commanded it. He didn't say, well, maybe you might want to try to give up worrying. He said, do not worry. That's very firm. And so as Christians, we have to understand, you know, we're so quick to recognize certain sins in life. I mean, everybody knows stealing is a sin. People know that murder is a sin. People know that adultery is a sin. But few Christians are willing to admit that worry is a sin. But listen, anything that Jesus commands us to do, and we don't do it, that puts us in a place of sin. And we don't want to be sinning. So we're going to talk about this today, how to overcome this. Now in first Peter chapter five and verse seven from the Amplified Classic, this is one of my favorite scriptures. It says, casting the whole of your care, all your anxieties, all of your worries, all of your concerns, once and for all on him. For he cares for you affectionately, and he cares about you watchfully. Notice in this verse, he didn't say cast some of your cares or some of your anxieties on him. It says cast all of them. And then let's take this a step further. It also tells us how often. He didn't say cast your care on the Lord every day when you think about it. He said, cast it once and for all. Now I know a lot of people will think, that's impossible. How can anybody do that? Well, let me tell you how you do it. You do it one day at a time and you do it by faith. Now, what do I mean by that one day at a time? The first time you make the decision, I'm going to cast all my cares on the Lord and you get them over on him. You get your cares into his hands and you just do it as an act of faith. But here's what's going to happen. The devil will see to it that the thought comes back to you. Now let me just let you know something that just because the thought comes back doesn't mean you've taken it back yet. Now you'll have the opportunity to take it back, but you need to pass up these opportunities on a daily basis. And so that's what I mean by daily. Daily he'll try to bring the care back and daily you're going to have to say, nope, that's not my care. I cast that care on the Lord once and for all. And now because it's in his hands, he's taking care of it and I don't have to figure out how to fix it. I'll tell you, it's so liberating if you learn how to do this. And God has blessed us with these verses to show us how. So this is something that we have to make a one-time decision. I am not taking the cares of life anymore and I can't think of anything. I mean, I'll just, I guess I'll speak for myself. I can't think of anything that you would be more tempted to take the care of than your health. And so that's, you know, something that we talk about quite often in our episodes is how to receive healing. But again, you've got to give up the worry habit if you're going to properly receive healing from God. You know, when you're diseased or sick or have symptoms in your body, naturally speaking, you have every reason to worry. You're worrying about what's going on. You worry about quirks and pains that you haven't yet received a diagnosis for. And I want you to know how the devil works. He'll take any tiny quirk, any tiny symptom, and if you think about it long enough, he'll have you thinking you're dead next week. He always blows things out of proportion, but you don't want to go there. You want to catch it every time a wrong thought comes. You want to catch it and you want to cast it down. Now, since worry is going to hinder our healing, I have some steps for you to live worry-free. And they're taken from Philippians chapter four, verses six through eight. So I'm going to read that to you first. It says, be anxious for nothing. I think the Amplified Classic says, But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, I mean all the thoughts that you might be trying to think, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, and whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. And so we've got some good instructions here for how to overcome worry. Number one, recognize worried thoughts. You know, the only way you're going to recognize those thoughts is if you start paying attention. And a lot of people don't pay attention to what they're thinking. You know, you've probably had this happen to you. You could just be sitting there and you're thinking about one thing, maybe a harmless thing. And before you know it, that leads you to the next thought, to the next thought, to the next thought. Before you know it, you're worrying and you didn't even know you were worrying. Kind of reminds me, if you ever read the children's story, if you give a moose a muffin, you know, that's a story of distraction. One thought leading to another. But finally, at the end of the book, he does come back to the original thought. And you know, we cannot allow our thoughts to wander in life if we're going to live victorious in Christ. You have to be aware of what you're dwelling on throughout the day. Now know this, God's thoughts will never lead you to worry about anything. But Satan's thoughts always lead you to worry. So if you find yourself being tempted to worry, know this, the thought didn't come from God. And so going back to the scripture that we just read, we're going to see that we have to pull ourselves back to thinking God's thoughts to be worry-free. You know, it's an interesting thing about God. He never tells you anything that causes you to worry. He always tells you things that bring comfort and peace to your life. And so we do well to just think on his thoughts and concentrate on his thoughts. Now, number two, every time a worried thought comes, you need to speak to it. Because like I said before, worry is actually fear in disguise. So when worry comes, you need to say, fear, I resist you in Jesus' name. Worry, I resist you in Jesus' name. I refuse to worry. I command worry and fear to go from me in the name of Jesus. And that leads us to number three, take what you're tempted to worry about to God in prayer. Now we read this from Philippians, it says, and everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. So time and prayer is going to lead us into the peace of God. Because we can tell the Lord, this is what I'm tempted to be worried about. But I know this is what your word says about it. And I know you're faithful to watch over your word to perform it. And I know you're going to see me through to the other side in victory. And then you boldly declare, I believe I'm healed by the stripes of Jesus. I refuse to worry about my body. I refuse to worry about my health. And I thank you, Father, for your good word, for your healthy, wonderful promises that I can meditate on. You know, prayer and thanksgiving are just simply talking to God. And so you're better off talking to God about this situation than telling everyone, you know, oh, I've got these horrible symptoms in my body. That won't change it. That just leads to worry. Now let's look at step number four. Spend quality time meditating upon healing scriptures every day. You know, we've got to become acquainted with God's word in order to use it as a weapon. And so that comes through reading, reading his word, and it comes through meditating in his word. Now, it's not just enough to know that God wants you well. It's not even just enough to know that God's word promises healing or that you can be well. But we've got to get that word in our heart in abundance so that we believe it by faith. And that's what meditation is for. Now, when we know God's thoughts, the beauty of that is we'll quickly recognize when the wrong thoughts start surfacing. And really, it shouldn't be too hard to recognize if something's talking to you and telling you you're not going to make it, you're not going to be healed this time, you're not going to be able to get on the other side of this, and you're going to have to live with this the rest of your life. Those thoughts never originate with God because they contradict what God has said about it. So any thought that's not a good report, you need to reject it. And you need to meditate upon what do we read in Philippians 4? Whatsoever is true, whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is of good report. And that will help you get on the other side. And then let's go ahead and look at one more thing, rejoice. You know, rejoicing is a tool. Satan hates it when you rejoice because he knows rejoicing is a sign of victory. He knows that you've gotten on the other side of that because you're not worrying about it anymore. When I see people who are in a state of worry, they're fretting, they're cowered over, their facial expression shows the concern. But when you see someone who's rejoicing, you know they're not worrying. And so I can't think of a greater statement of faith than just rejoicing that you're on the other side, that by his stripes you're healed, that you are coming out victoriously. So keep your burdens and your cares on the Lord. And as you do that, your faith will be able to operate like it should. The healing power of God will begin to flow into your body, and it will drive out every symptom of disease and pain. And know this, disease is the opposite of ease, so your faith is going to take you into a life of ease in Jesus' name. Now I want to pray for you today if you've been struggling with symptoms of disease or maybe even just worry in your life. Father, in Jesus' name, we pray for those who are watching. We command the spirit of fear to go from them in the name of Jesus. And Father, I thank you that they're learning today that they can cast those cares on you and not take them back. And Father, not only that, we thank you that as they cast that care on you, that now your healing power is flowing from the top of their heads to the soles of their feet, and it's driving that disease out of their bodies. And Lord, we thank you for the testimony of their victory through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Please write to us and share your testimonies with us, because that's encouraging for us, and it's good for you to share. Also, I want to invite you to like and share this video with other people, especially those you know that it will help. And if you haven't subscribed, please become a YouTube subscriber to our channel. Until next time, remember that God has a great purpose for your life, and it's so much bigger than you know. God bless you.