DON’T BE ROBBED OF YOUR HEALING (CONTINUED)
The Devil is a Liar!
John 8:44, NLT tells us plainly: For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.
What does this scripture tell us about the devil?
- He is a liar.
- He cannot tell anything but lies.
- He hates the truth (the Word, both written and living; Jesus is the Truth) and those who stand in the truth (believers)
- Even worse, the devil is a murderer.
Look at John 10:10, (AMP version): The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). Whatever you have already received from God, whatever answer to prayer you need, or whatever unmet need you are believing for God to meet…the devil will try to interfere, to keep you from receiving, and then when you have received the promised blessing; he will try to take it from you or make you lose it!
- First, the devil will lie to you. He will tell you, “You’re not really healed. Nothing happened when they prayed.” or “You’re going to wind up out on the streets. God’s not going to help you.” or “You’re not good enough, You don’t deserve it, He did it for others, but not for you,” and so on.
(Can you think of something the devil has said to you or is likely to say that you now know is a lie?)
- Secondly, he will try to steal from you, either by lying to you, getting others to come against you, or causing you loss, lack, sickness, broken relationships or other adverse circumstances.
- Thirdly, both of the scriptures we read call the devil a murderer. He will try to kill or destroy your relationship with God and others, your mind, emotions or body, your finances, job, your home or other things you hold dear.
How Do We Overcome the Enemy?
1. Be alert, watchful and strong in faith: Don’t get distracted or weighed down by your problems. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and stand firm in your faith. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. (1 Peter 5:7-9, NLT)
2. Repentance: We all miss it or mess up sometimes, no matter how hard we try to do right. God is merciful and kind. He gives us chance after chance after chance. Throughout the Gospels after healing various people, Jesus said, “Go and sin no more.” Why?
Sin separates man from God: But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2, NKJV)
Sin brings consequences: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23, NKJV)
Repentance gets rid of sin: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9, NKJV)
3. How did Jesus overcome? Getting back to our opening scripture, let’s look at Luke, chapter 4. 1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” 5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” 8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” 9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: ‘ He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’ 11 and,‘ In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” 12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’” 13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
The devil, whom we’ve already established as a liar, tried to get Jesus to abort God’s plan for Him to save mankind. Notice that Jesus mentions several key principles for victory over the evil one:
- Live by the Word of God (verse 4 and throughout)
- Faith and obedience (verse 4)
- Commanding the devil to leave (verse 8)
- Worship God (verse 8)
- Refusal to tempt or test God (verse 12)
Notice that throughout these verses, there is a common thread. Jesus both “spoke” and referred to the “Word” of God. When we are standing against the enemy who is trying to steal our healing or victory from us, we must stand firm in two things:
- Stand firm in our confession. Listen to what our tongues are saying. Do our words line up with what the Word of God says? If not, we need to get the negative words (and thoughts) OUT and make room for God’s Word only in our mind, heart and mouth.
- Stand firm in “living” the Word of God in obedience and faith to “every word of God.” Check our schedules. Have we become too busy? Have other things crowded out our time in God’s Word, studying, praying and confessing His good promises?
4. The blood of our Lord: The devil is not only a liar and a murderer; he’s an accuser. Have you ever noticed that right after a major blessing or victory, along comes little, nagging doubts or accusations? Like “You didn’t really get healed…That prophecy she gave you is too good to be true!…Do you remember last week when you did such and such…?”
Let’s read Revelation 12, verses 10–12, to see how to get rid of the accuser: Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death (emphasis mine). (Revelation 12:10–11, NKJV)
Look at the bold portion, “And they overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.” We’ve already talked about the importance of our testimony (faith in Jesus and positive confession). Let’s examine the rest of the scripture.
Jesus’ blood is the foundation of our victory as overcomers. The devil cannot stand against the blood of Jesus. He was defeated at Calvary when our Lord’s precious blood was shed for our redemption, salvation, healing, deliverance and everything else good. There are many scriptures that tell of the power we have through Jesus’ blood to overcome sickness and every attack of the enemy.
The blood of Jesus is your number one weapon against Satan. Whenever he tries to steal your peace, rob you of your healing, deceive you out of your victory or knock you over the head with yet another thing that has gone wrong… just let him know that Christ is in you, and He has already won the victory! Say, “Devil, I speak the blood of Jesus against you. Now, flee!” or “I apply the precious blood of Jesus to my (name the body part), and I am healed by His stripes.” (Isaiah 53:4–5, 1 Peter 2:24 and Matthew 8:17)
5. Walk in the love of God: The world’s love is conditional, but there is never any offense in God’s love. As Christ hung on the cross, battered and bruised, barely recognizable as a human being, He gazed down at the very ones who had spit on Him, mocked Him, and placed Him on that cross and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” His love bought our freedom. Can we do anything less? Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8. NLT)
When asked by the rich young ruler what the most important commandment was… Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37–40, NLT)
Jesus placed loving others on the same level as loving ourselves! And in 1st John 4:20, the writer points out that we cannot love God whom we have not seen if we don’t love our brother and sister whom we have seen.
What does love have to with standing against your enemy? First John 4:8 says that “God is love.” The devil cannot overcome God; therefore, he also cannot overcome you when you are walking in God’s love. Where the presence of God (who is love) is, no sickness, lack or evil work can exist!
Don’t let the enemy use any of the tactics outlined above to rob you of your healing, or any other blessing of God, that is promised in the Word of God for you!