Mistake: Disobedience

While it is true that “The Lord is for the body” (1 Corinthians 6:13), it is equally true that “The body is for the Lord.”  If you are not planning to use your body to follow and obey Jesus Christ, there is little point in trying to receive healing.  Do you want God to just help you sin better?  Sadly, we have seen this happen in many cases when God has healed people.  When they just return to their old lifestyle and associations, the verse “bad company corrupts good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33) proves itself true.  They end up losing their healing, and it’s usually harder (though not impossible) to try to get them healed again after they’ve had their healing and lost it.

God made many wonderful healing promises in the Old Covenant, but they were conditional upon obedience.  God never said that people could run around to the Baal temple and the houses of ill repute and then “claim” healing from Him.

You can “get away with” more under grace, but Jesus still expects you to obey Him.  Given that you call Him Lord, it is only right that he actually be Lord of every area of your life.

You should be seeking and following God’s plan for your life.  If you’re called to the ministry and you’re running from that calling, you could find that “woe” instead of “healing” is unto you.  This paraphrases Paul, who was called to preach the gospel, who said, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” – 1 Corinthians 9:16.  While God did not specify what the woe would be for Paul, I would not be surprised if it would include disease.  Remember, Paul was a forgiven New Testament saint, but he still said that WOE would befall him if he disobeyed God’s call to preach.  If that could happen to him, it could happen to you.  Again, God does not demand perfection to avoid sickness, because none of us would be healed if that were the case.  However, deliberately saying NO to the known will of God can have disastrous consequences.  I know someone who did and ended up with sicknesses for which the doctors said that there was no medical explanation.  The explanation was spiritual – disobedience – but they don’t diagnose that kind of thing at the doctor’s office.

If you’re in deliberate disobedience, God’s wonderful protection promises in Psalm 91 do not apply to you, as they were written for those who are abiding in Him.  If you don’t abide in Him, and you can’t say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God; in Him will I trust,” and you don’t set your love upon God, you have failed the qualifications in that Psalm.  The rest of it does not apply to you.  God does not promise to keep evil from you, deliver you from trouble, or deliver you from the pestilence if you do not meet His conditions.

Disobedience can be deadly.  The bodies of many Israelites littered the desert after the people would not obey God – and these were people with whom God had made the healing covenant in Exodus 15:25-26.  Even this promise came with a condition: “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statues.”  The Israelites did not do these things.  They got into disobedience and missed out.

Deliberately disobeying God puts you in a position where you are siding against God and siding with the originator of disobedience – Satan.  This will result in Satan having access into your life, including via sickness, that he would not have if you weren’t giving him a place (Ephesians 4:27).  If you give Satan a place, he will bring his baggage and you won’t like it.

If you know of any area where you are holding out on God, repent immediately.  Do not hold onto known sin in your life.  It will make healing come a lot easier when you’re not fighting with the very Lord from whom you expect to receive healing!  It’s hard to reject God in one area of your life while trying to receive from Him in another area.