Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the things I see happening around me, to my friends and family and in the wider world. I’d just been thinking that the effects of disease were becoming one of the greatest impacts on humanity…and the fear that comes with it. Fear of pain, fear of treatments, fear of loss of finances or function, fear of finality.
As I sit, pondering this, it strikes me that our health is one of the enemy’s greatest battlegrounds. In ill health we become vulnerable, physically, mentally, spiritually.
“We live in a fallen world.” I hear this so often and many Christians accept disease as a natural course of life because of that statement.
So, when dis-ease manifests itself in whatever form, we do the tests, follow the protocol, without questioning options, without prayer…and push God to the back seat of our decision-making processes.
I’ve had breast cancer and a mastectomy so I’m not in much of a position to refute that statement as it stands. But as I write, I wonder if it is not the disease itself, but my response to it and its processes that is the problem, where instead, I am called to display the Power and Sovereignty of God over the enemy’s attack.
The enemy wants to see me vulnerable… helpless… and choose a fear response over what God’s Word clearly says about my victory through Christ Jesus. I get that good people die. Godly Christians succumb to death. My perception of God’s goodness is challenged in those moments of questions, heartache and loss.
That is part of this conundrum! Is disease the enemy in itself? Or am I driven to my choices outside of Christ by my fear of death?… (over which Jesus is victorious…)
Hebrews 2 :14-15 TPT says, “Since all his “children” have flesh and blood, so Jesus became human to fully identify with us. He did this so that he could experience death and annihilate the effects of the intimidating accuser who holds against us the power of death. By embracing death, Jesus sets free those who live their entire lives in bondage “(to fear).
Many beautiful souls I have sat with in their end moments, in my nursing years and personally, have passed with no fear of their future, confident in their belief Heaven was just on “the other side” and peace was their portion.
As painful as it is to watch and be helpless in the situation, my response still has to be one of praise to the all-knowing and Sovereign God in trust, making the deliberate choice in the face of such tragedy and grief, to praise God, believing that God has the greater perspective over and above my situation. Having been in that situation, faced with my mortality, I understand just how difficult it is to maintain that place of praise…. or to even begin there in the face of a diagnosis. Yet, in faith, Jesus should be our first port of call. I can say, in all honesty though, that I began in a place of pleading…and eventually…. I came to that place of release to God, over that which I had no control.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will make straight your path”….even in those times…no especially in those times…when I have no reason or answer to what is before me.
So, I go back to my initial thought process and ask “What should my response be to disease, in whatever form that personal state of being “ill-at-ease is?
I relate to you my own testimony of going through the upheavals of breast cancer. It was disorientating and challenging to be faced with such fear…fear of what was ahead of me in treatments, tests and their trajectory. My diagnosis came in the midst of my husband’s mother’s last weeks of devasting breast cancer, so that visual was right before me, as was her impending death and funeral.
In that, I found myself in desperation, on my knees before God, pleading for mercy initially, then realising I had a part to play in this situation. To be on my knees, absolutely…but not as yet another victim…another chalk mark on the enemy’s victory board, but reaching out claiming by faith, His love, strength and faithfulness…and healing. Using the account of the haemorrhaging woman as my focus and intent, I would just reach out in belief that I would be healed. I was confused then by the path God took me on. I prayed for healing, believing in its possibility right up until the anaesthetist put me to sleep. I woke with no breast. That was tough!
It has been a journey of discovery of God’s grace, not outcome. I had to surrender my need for certainty of outcome and/or the pathway to certainty. Jesus is my certainty. That was trust…in His ultimate love for me. Once I realised this and released that, and allowed God to move, heal, provide, and give grace to my circumstances, everything changed.
It became clear as I sat in the day infusion ward each week receiving treatment that the other five people in my immediate space…and in each chair in the other 6-8 pods or rooms of 6 chairs each…that this was not just happening to “me”. This was spiritual attack on a grand scale…and to me, it seemed the enemy was winning!
So, each week I prepared for my treatment day, making cards and little gifts of essential oils, and during treatment, I would write in the cards messages of hope, encouragement, verses of scripture and links to uplifting songs and of God’s love. As I left, I’d leave the bundle with the head ward sister for her to distribute to those patients who needed some love each week. It became a ministry shifting the focus from what was “happening to me” to bringing Jesus’ heart, in the smallest gesture, to someone else who was hurting.
Its not a pat-me-on-the -back claim but to present the idea that sometimes God places us directly in enemy territory. To do that, we need to be in “camouflage” so we can infiltrate the space undetected. Once the enemy had me in that chair and the IV in, he could smile and go off to someone/ somewhere else. But God used me in that space while the enemy’s back was turned! So, I planted seeds in the enemy’s turf, with no knowledge to date of its impact… but I know God used that small act of obedience and kindness to His advantage. That is just one small example.
1 Corinthians 10:13 says, ” We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature and timing of every test and trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out victoriously.”
On the other side, I have been given a mandate to heal the sick. Matthew 10:8 quotes Jesus saying,
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils: freely you have received, freely give.”
I am to recognise and confront the enemy and disease with fearless authority in Jesus’ mighty Name and not allow the enemy to dictate my response to something Christ conquered through His surrender, death, and resurrection so I could be free. I’m promised freedom but not told what that looks like….and what I perceive it looks like or should be is very often not what God has in mind.
Either way, it does not release me from the charge to place my hand of faith on someone in need, to release the Spirit of God into their situation in the moment. The outcome of that encounter is also not in my hand or control.
Freedom very often is healing and victory over disease. Believing in, receiving and TAKING the healing in a release of my faith sometimes requires patience. Faith and patience wins.
Psalm 27:13 – 14 says,
“Yet will I believe with all my heart, that I will see again your goodness, Yahweh in the land of life eternal. Here’s what I learned through it all: DON’T GIVE UP: Don’t be impatient: be entwined as one with the Lord. Be brave and courageous and never lose hope. Yes, keep on waiting…for He will never disappoint you!”
Faith says “I HAVE IT” …. In the face of no evidence.
Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. Faith is all the evidence required to prove that which is still unseen.”
And sometimes freedom may well be an attitude of fearlessness in the face of that disease, standing in faith of God’s healing, on this side…or sometimes on the other side of death. That is God’s call…and even in circumstances where I feel helpless in the face of a loved one who is dying, when I do not understand God’s reasons for not stepping in to heal, I am called to trust that He is GOD. Psalm 139:16 says, “You saw who you created me to be before I became me. Before I’d ever see the light of day, the number of days you planned for me were already recorded in your book.”
He is Sovereign and my response, according to 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18, is to:
“Rejoice”.
When??
“Always”.
Why? Because our praise ushers in “God’s peace that transcends human understanding “Philippians 4 :7
“Pray.”
When?
“Continually”
Why? Because “prayer with our faith-filled requests brought to God with overflowing gratitude, not only gives peace but it guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. Phil 4:6 TPT
” Give thanks”
When?
“in ALL circumstances”.
Why? Because it shifts our focus from our circumstances to Him and His capabilities.
“Keep your thoughts continually focused on all that is authentic, real, honourable, admirable, beautiful, respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind…and on every glorious work of God….
“Because this is God’s will for me in Christ Jesus.”
What makes these statements so profound is my inability to achieve this in my frail human capacity. What sets me apart from the worldly responses in times of difficulty, pain, loss, tragedy, unanswerable questions is the strength I am given in those unspeakable moments through exercising my will to push despair, hopelessness and fear aside in an act of obedience…in an act of exercising my faith in Jesus Christ. I can rejoice, pray and give thanks because my love for God is greater than my need for certainty and outcome and His love for each of us is beyond our comprehension…as expressed in Ephesians 3: 19 ” Endless Love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding!”
So, if I trust in the God who tells me to call Him…Father…the One who loves me beyond measure….who had planned my destiny before I was conceived…who is my Provider, Defender and Author and Perfecter of My faith, then the outcome as I perceive it should be, is not my focus.
Instead it is the “Means”, Jesus Christ, and my trust in the finished work of the cross for my release from that which Satan uses, sometimes dis-ease, to attempt to separate me from the knowledge of all that I am to God and all He is to me.
Hebrews 12:12 says, “So be made strong even in your weakness by lifting up your tired hands in prayer and worship. And strengthen your weak knees, for as you keep walking forward on God’s paths, all your stumbling ways will be divinely healed.”
Psalm 138:8 says, ” The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; your mercy and loving kindness, O Lord, endure forever-forsake not the work of your hands.”
I leave you with this Scripture from
1 Peter 5:8-11 from the Passion Translation, as my prayer and great desire for you.
“If you bow low in God’s awesome Presence, He will eventually exalt you as you leave the timing in His hands. Pour out all your worries and stress upon Him…and leave them there! For He always tenderly cares for you.
Be well balanced and always alert
because your enemy, the devil, roams around incessantly like a roaring lion looking for its prey to devour.
Take a decisive stand against him and resist his every attack with strong, vigorous faith!
For you know that your brothers and sisters around the world are experiencing the same kinds of troubles you endure.
And then! After your brief suffering,
The God of all loving grace, who has called you to share in His eternal glory in Christ, will personally and powerfully restore and make you stronger than ever!
YES. He will set you firmly in place and build you up!
And He has all the power needed to do this…forever!
Amen.”
Naomi Roorda.
References:
Quoted Scripture: The Passion Translation
Review, Editing and comments:
Anna Mellor, Jeff Roorda, Sandy Clancy, Neidra Jennaway…with thanks as always xx