Wisdom from Jesse Duplantis

Excerpt taken from "God Keeps His Promies", Covenant Magazine, 10/09

Reasons That Chrisitans Die Sick

     There are a lot of reasons why people can die even after they've prayed for healing--too many to mention in this little article. 
     Sometimes, they don't really believe in healing. They might profess it with their mouth because they think it's the right thing to do, but inside they feel it's just part of life...and part of death.
     Other times, they secretly want to escape this life. You'd be surprised how many people claim they want healing and secretly just want to go home to Heaven.  They've already given up in their heart. They're tired of fighting their body and the devil--they've become weary in well-doing. They simply don't want to do it anymore.
     Other times, there is a huge amount of fear present, and it just cancels out the force of faith.  You'd be surprised how many people claim they're standing on the Word, but live in fear of death the whole time they're laying in the hospital bed.  They ball and squall one minute in fear, and then pull themselves up and clain strong faith when a fellow Christian walks through the door.  That's like trying to drive cross-country and stopping every fifteen minutes for a coffee break.  You won't get anywhere soon. 
     Also, you'd be suprised how often other people hinder the healing process. Many times, Christians will come to pray and lay hands on the sick, but when they leave the hospital room, the immediately stop believing.  They just prayed a great prayer--of doubt--and they don't believe that the person will be healed any more than they believe the moon is made of cheese.  They came to just give it their best shot with God.  That's what I call gambling at the Gospel casino.  Their faith is cracking before they hit the door, and that's no good for the sick person!
     Other times, a person has no foundation in the love and mercy of God.  They wonder still if He loves them enough to heal them.  They may have a lot of issues surrounding worthiness and so, they feel that they can't boldly approach the throne of grace in their time of need.  They may pray, but they cannot release full faith in God because they aren't really sure that He'll come through, which means that they aren't sure God loves them. 
     There are so many other situations surrounding the death of sick Christians, none of which have anything to do with the sovereign power of God.  Do a study for yourself in the scriptures on those that were healed under Jesus' ministry.  Notice the deperate "must-have-it" type of faith that some had.  Notice the single-minded focus on the healing power of God.
     Yet, you will also see in researching the scriptures that there was also a time when Jesus could not heal anyone.  Was it because He didn't have the power? No, it was because He was dealing with a group of people who didn't believe that He was Who He said He was.  They were unsure of Him as God's Son. Surety is a critical part in receiving healing.

The Spirit, Mind, & Body Work Together

     It's important to establish strong faith for healing before sickness ever arises because it's much harder to play "catch up" in your faith when your body is physically weak.
     The boyd responds to the mind and the spirit.  But if the mind is arguing with the spirit, what do you think the body will do?  Nothing!  it will keep on doing its own thing until a stronger voice tells it what to do.  The body is just a vessel for the real you--the combination of your recreated spirit and your soul, which is your mind, will, and emotions.
     Walking in love towards others is also a critical part of receiving healing.  After all, how can we expect our faith to work when we're not walking in love?  Galatians 5:6 tells us that faith actually works by love.  If we're in unforgiveness towards another person or sowing seeds of discord, that stops our faith from working.  Faith is crucial to receving healing power; so love must also be paramount in our lives.
     Your spirit is strong, but your mind needs conditioning--transforming--and the way to do that is to saturate yourself with the Word of God.  Let it renew your mind so that you believe it, because that's when you're going to receive it in your boddy.  Your body will listen to what your mind is saying, so line up your mind with the Word.

--Jesse Duplantis