MEDICINE FROM ABOVE
Dr. D. K. Olukoya
Isaiah 53: 4-5 says, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” The above passage is in the past tense because it was a settled case. God wants to touch you and heal you everywhere you are hurting. That is His own will.
Many years ago, a certain man was celebrating his 60th birthday. People brought cakes, wonderful cards and so many other things as gifts. He was a multi-millionaire but was on a wheel chair. After sometime, the people gathered round him and started to sing a song to wish him a happy birthday. Then one of the guests said to him, “Sir, make a birthday wish.” The man said, “What good is it to be rich if I am forever going to be on this wheel chair. I want to get out of this wheel chair.” There are sicknesses and there are sicknesses.
Money cannot buy you health. It may buy you drugs but cannot buy the medicine from above, which God gives free of charge. Unfortunately, there are more sick people in the world today more than ever before in history. At a time when there are more doctors, more medicine and more hospitals, yet more people are sick. There are more hospitals, more clinics, more and better medical equipment, more and better techniques both in developed and under-developed countries, yet there are more sick people. I never could believe that a day would come in developed countries when the hospital beds would be so full that patients would be arranged on the corridor and the doctors would not be able to diagnose the problem of the majority of the people.
In the past, people used to think that only people from countries that are over-crowded and poor or where they are very superstitious suffer from diseases and sicknesses. Now, things have changed. Even comfortable people who are very rich have their own diseases such as heart disease, overweight, cancer, etc. So there are various grades of sickness. One of our pastors abroad told me that one day, somebody who was a pilot phoned him and said, “Hello sir, are you the pastor of MFM?” “Yes,” the pastor answered. He said, “Anything you know how to say begin to say it now, because I have a gun and I'm about to blow my brain out.” God helped the pastor and he was able to convince him not to kill himself. That is another kind of sickness. It is not a Nigerian one; not many Nigerians would want to shoot their brains out.
The only way out is through God’s word which is filled with healing from cover to cover. Exodus 15: 26 says, “And said, 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 statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” This was a life-saving guarantee to the Israelites. This promise was so effective that many many years later, David could say in Psalm 105:37, “He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.” None of them was sick.
Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 58: 6 declares as follows: “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” Verse 8 says, “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.” There is living healing power in the word of God. Proverbs 4: 20-22 says, “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.” Another version of the Bible says, “…And medicine to all their flesh.” You find this spread out through scriptures. That was in the Old Testament. Now, we have a better covenant.
In fact, one out of every seven verses in the gospel is about healing. Jesus Himself devoted two third of His time ministering to the sick, all kinds of sicknesses ranging from spiritual leprosy, which is sin to physical sicknesses. Look at the powerful scripture in Acts 10: 38. It says, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Matthew 8:16 says, “When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Matthew 9: 35 says, “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” Matthew 12: 15 says, “But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence. And great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all.”
Beloved, the Bible is a healing book. It teaches without a doubt that God wants to heal you. Whenever healing prayers are being said, do not take anything for granted because in so many lives, the seed of infirmity has already been planted. It may not have grown to a level where you can recognize it. But if you kill it at the seed stage, it will not develop into anything. Although a serpent is very dangerous, a small boy can destroy it at the egg stage. But once it becomes a big python, then it becomes a problem. So, healing prayers are both preventive and curative.
The Bible is a healing book, it depends on whether you believe the Bible or not. God has said in His words that He would heal you, do you believe His word? If you believe God, then you have to co-operate with Him for your recovery. This is why some people say, “God said it, I believe it, I receive it.”
If Jesus tarries in coming, all of us would have to die one way or the other. It is very sad sometimes when you see some people doing bad things that would shorten their lives and warn them against it, instead of repenting, they would say, “Please leave me alone, one would surely die of something.” If somebody has to die of something, must you speed up the death? Remember that, that life does not belong to you. As a believer, even if it is time for you to die, you are supposed to depart in peace because His servant must depart in peace. I do not believe that a child of God has to be rolling on the floor, crying in pain or going all over the place, and suffering before he dies. If you die out of persecution for Jesus, fine. His servant must depart in peace if he has to depart at that time. So, you do not have to be terribly sick in order to die. The best way to die, is for you to close your eyes here and open them in heaven. So, disease is not necessary for death. A righteous person can lie down to sleep and wake up in heaven. That is why Psalm 104: 29 says, “Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.”
So far, we have settled the fact that it is God’s will to heal. The next thing is the issue of faith. It is so easy to talk theory, but it is the practicality of it that matters. In Mark 9:18, a certain man was complaining to Jesus about his son. He said, “And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him and he groaneth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away; and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.” That was his complaint to Jesus. In verse 23, Jesus gave him an answer. “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Verse 24: And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” What he was saying was this, “If my faith has been battered by problems, and has become low, help me.” This passage exposes the faith problem, which troubles many Christians. Actually, the problem is not the presence or absence of faith, rather, it is a struggle between positive faith and negative faith, between belief and unbelief. The truth is that everybody has faith, the difference is how the faith is used. If you do not have faith, you will not buy a tin of milk from the market without asking them to open it. You believe that when you take it home, you will see milk inside, so you have faith. The fact that you sit down on a seat without checking whether you will fall down or not, means that you have faith. So, faith is like the gear in your vehicle, which can be shifted forward or backward. It depends on where you are shifting your own. When you shift it forward, you are exercising positive faith, and when you shift it backward, it does not go anywhere. What does that mean? It means on Monday, you have powerful faith, by Tuesday, the faith is gone, by Wednesday, you have a large one again, and by Thursday, it is gone. Friday, you have it, Saturday, it is gone, Sunday, you have it, forward and backward. Such a person will not go anywhere. That is why the Bible says that a doubter is like the waves of the sea, tossed here and there. It then made a very fearful pronouncement: “Let not such a man think that he can receive anything from the Lord.” You do not have to draw up more faith or try and pump it up until it is a very big size. Faith simply means believing what God has said in His word and that He will do what He has said. It is having the confidence that God will keep His promises. Whereas, negative faith has many forms:
1. Fear: Fear is a forerunner of calamity, the creator of bad things. It brings captivity, confusion, frustration, inner conflict, tension and defeat. It is the favourite weapon of the enemy. It is negative faith. You have faith, no problem, but you are exercising it in the reverse direction.
2. Doubt: Another form of negative faith is doubt. This one is cruel and destructive. When there is trouble, a doubter blames God. When there is blessing, a doubter will fear whether it would last. As you are reading this bulletin, you have sufficient faith to heal you of any sickness. It depends whether you are going forward or backward or whether it is negative faith or positive faith. The Bible says that faith without work is dead, meaning that, you must act on the word of God and do what God asks you to do. That faith must be expressed in action. You do what God tells you to do, and then expect Him to do His own side. It was Noah that built the ark, but it was God that flooded the earth. It was Moses that stretched out the rod, but it was God that parted the waters. It was Joshua and his people that marched around Jericho, but it was God that fell the wall. It was Elijah that smote the water, but it was God that parted the water. It was Elisha that threw the stick into the water, it was God that made the iron’s head to swim. It was Naaman that dipped himself into the water seven times, but it was God that healed his leprosy. So, you do your own part and He will do His own part. Do not come to a meeting, expecting nothing to happen. You come with expectancy believing that what God has said in His word, you will receive it.
Many people confuse feeling with faith. Feeling has nothing to do with faith. Our healing is not dependent on how we feel but what God has promised and what His word declares. There may be no immediate sign of healing when you pray to be healed. But as soon as you are exposed to the healing power of Jesus, your healing has come. When you begin to say, “God has healed me, and by His stripes I am healed", His healing power would be released. It is now your turn to set your faith loose. Activate your faith so that you can touch the hem of His garment. You may ask, how can I activate my faith to be able to drink the medicine from above? I will tell you.
Know that the Bible says that God has given to every man the measure of faith. The fact that you have picked up this bulletin shows that one way or the other, you believe that there is power in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is sufficient to get you through. But if you are going to expect something dramatic to happen before something supernatural happens to you, then, you will be hindered.
HOW TO ACTIVATE YOUR FAITH TODAY
1. See yourself the way God sees you. You too should say like Apostle Paul: “I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me.” That is how God sees you. You may be looking at yourself somehow else. Paul could see what God could see. God does not see you being hospitalized, He does not see you roaming about with infirmities and diseases. He sees you as a person who can do all things. So, you need to see yourself the way God sees you. God can see a person one way, and the person could picture himself another way. One of the outstanding statements of God was to Saul. He said, “Though you are small in your own eyes, but I have exalted you to be the king of Israel. I made you king and blessed you.” So, see yourself the way God sees you.
2. Replace every fear with love and power. 2 Timothy 1: 7 says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” So, replace the thoughts of fear with thoughts of love and power. That is, replace every thought of sickness with thoughts of health. Replace every thought of death with thoughts of life. Visualize your healing, see yourself strong and well, see yourself absolutely whole from the top of your head to the sole of your feet.
3. Take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there. Take those burdens to the Lord today and leave them there. Believe that He alone can best handle it.
4. Confess your healing with your own mouth. You speak it with your own mouth. Confess what the Lord has done in your life with your own mouth. Say it to anybody who will care to listen. This is how we can light up our faith.
5. Be obedient. There is something called the obedience of faith. When God says, “Do this,” just do it, do not rationalize or analyze His word. Do not even think about the history of the problem because if you do, you will reduce the effectiveness of the power of God in your life.
Luke 4: 18 –19 says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to bring deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind. To set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
It is exciting when a blind person sees. But know for sure that there are many kinds of blindness. There is no blindness as bad as spiritual blindness. So, take your burdens to the Lord today and leave them there. No matter the hard blows you have received, His power sets at liberty them that are bruised.
The first thing to sort out is spiritual sicknesses. If you do not that, the physical healing will not come. Therefore, if as you are reading this message, you are not born again, that is, you have not given your life to Jesus, it is time for you do so. You have to do so as a first step towards enjoying God’s divine blessings.
PRAYER POINTS
1. O Lord, let your hand of miracle, healing and deliverance be stretched out upon my life, in the name of Jesus.
2. O Lord, terminate the life of any sickness in my life, in the name of Jesus.
3. I rebuke every refuge of sickness in my life, in the name of Jesus.
4. Every spirit hindering my healing, fall down and die, in the name of Jesus.
5. Every knee of infirmity, bow, in the name of Jesus.
6. Any power that does not want to see me around, you shall not be seen again, in the name of Jesus.
7. I command death upon all sickness, in the name of Jesus.
8. Every power constructing coffin for me, enter into your coffin, in Jesus’ name.
9. Every Jericho of infirmity, fall down and die, in the name of Jesus.
10. I receive my divine healing today, in Jesus’ name.
