How to Confront the Rebellion of Sickness and Disease — Part 1

Paid For • Deposited Within • Release It

“We should get angry at the stubborn rebellion of sickness and disease, while always being moved with compassion toward the people who are suffering.” There is something about sickness and disease that we as believers should refuse to become comfortable with. We should never become angry with the person who is hurting, nor should we condemn someone because they are battling sickness. Our hearts should be filled with compassion toward people. At the same time, we can develop a righteous anger toward the sickness, disease, pain, and oppression attacking them. We can love the person while confronting the intruder.

Jesus gave His followers a clear command concerning the sick. Mark 16:18 says, “They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” These were among the final instructions Jesus gave before ascending into heaven. Mark 16:20 then tells us what happened when the disciples acted upon those words. They went everywhere preaching, “the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.” Notice the partnership. The disciples went, and the Lord worked with them. They preached, prayed, laid hands on people, and acted upon what Jesus had commanded. God confirmed His Word. If we are going to confront the rebellion of sickness and disease, we must understand three important truths: Jesus paid for it, God has deposited His Spirit and power within us, and we must release what He has given us through faith and obedience.

Paid For

Healing was not an afterthought in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Isaiah prophetically looked toward the cross and declared, “Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” He continued, “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” (Isaiah 53:4–5). Jesus bore it. That truth must become more than a theological statement. It must affect how we respond when sickness attempts to invade our lives or the lives of people around us. If Jesus bore it, we don't have to make peace with it or believe we need to carry it.

First Peter 2:24 declares that Jesus “bore our sins in His own body on the tree” and concludes, “by whose stripes you were healed.” Matthew also connects the healing ministry of Jesus directly to Isaiah's prophecy. Matthew 8:16–17 describes people who were demon possessed and sick being brought to Jesus. He cast out the spirits with His word and healed those who were sick. Matthew then directly connects what Jesus was doing with Isaiah's prophecy concerning Him bearing our sicknesses. The Lord redeemed us from sickness just as much as He redeemed us from sin. God would no more want us living under sickness than He would want us living under the bondage of sin.

This is why we need to see His will clearly. Acts 10:38 gives us one of the clearest pictures of Jesus' ministry: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power,” and He “went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.” Jesus went about doing good and healing. Sickness and disease are never an expression of God's love toward us but something we are called to resist. Think about the picture of a shepherd. Would a loving shepherd deliberately put disease upon his sheep and then call that disease an expression of his love?

Yet many people believe that when they become sick or begin hurting, it must automatically be God's will. They say, “God is sovereign. Maybe He is trying to teach me something through this sickness.” But then we go to the doctor. If we truly believe sickness is God's will for us, why doctor up? Why take medicine? Why seek treatment? Why try to get better? Our actions often reveal that somewhere inside us we know sickness is something to resist.

This is why our minds must be renewed. Faith for healing begins with knowing what God has said and allowing His Word to change how we think. Second Peter 1:3–4 tells us that His divine power has already given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him and His promises. Knowledge matters because faith is based upon knowledge. We cannot consistently believe for something we don't know God has provided. Romans 12:1–2 teaches us about transformation through the renewing of our minds. We cannot allow experiences to become greater authorities than Scripture.

Sometimes people build their theology around what happened rather than around what God said. They prayed once and didn't see the result they expected, so their theology changed. They watched someone suffer, so they adjusted what they believed about healing. Their experiences became the lens through which they interpreted God's Word. But we must allow God's Word to interpret our experiences rather than allowing our experiences to rewrite God's Word. Many people don't let the Bible get in the way of their theology. Sickness must be viewed as an intruder. If an intruder enters your house, you don't make him comfortable simply because he has managed to stay there for several days. You don't give him a bedroom and tell him he can become part of the family. You confront the intruder.

Deposited Within

The second truth we need to understand is that God has not left us powerless against sickness and disease. His Spirit and power are at work within His people. Ephesians 3:20 says God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” Notice where Paul says the power is working: in us. We should stop begging God to deposit what He has already placed within us.

Jesus said in Luke 17:21, “The kingdom of God is within you.” We are not empty vessels desperately trying to convince a distant God to come near. The Holy Spirit lives within the believer. Acts 3 gives us a powerful example. Peter and John encountered a man who had been lame from birth. The man was sitting near the temple asking for money. Peter looked at him and said, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6). Pay attention to Peter's words: “Such as I have give I thee.” Peter understood that something had been entrusted to him. He wasn't standing there begging God to somehow deposit something into him that he didn't possess. Peter was using what had been placed within him through his relationship with Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

This does not mean that we heal people through our own human power. We operate under the authority of Jesus while the power belongs to God. Matthew 10:1 says Jesus gave His disciples power over unclean spirits and to heal all manner of sickness and disease. There is an important distinction between power and authority. Power is the miracle-working ability; authority is the right to exercise what has been given.

Think about a courtroom. When a judge orders a bailiff to remove someone from the courtroom, the bailiff doesn't act because he is more powerful than the judge. He acts because authority has been delegated to him. The authority behind the command gives him the right to act. The same principle helps us understand our position in Christ. We don't heal or deliver through our own power. We operate under the authority Jesus has given us while recognizing that the power belongs to God.

Jesus also spoke about the keys of the kingdom in Matthew 16:19. Keys represent authority—the ability to access and act upon what has been entrusted to us. But possessing a key and using a key are two different things. You can have the key to a door in your pocket and stand outside the building all day. The key has not lost its authority. The problem is that it hasn't been used.

This is where the enemy works through deception. The enemy doesn't have to take God's power out of you if he can convince you that you don't have it. First Peter 5:8–9 warns believers to be sober and vigilant because our adversary walks about seeking whom he may devour. We are then instructed to resist him steadfast in the faith. How does he attack? Through doubt, unbelief, lies, circumstances, symptoms, and experiences designed to undermine our confidence in what God has said. The enemy wants symptoms to speak louder than Scripture. We must guard the deposit.

Release It

Knowing that Jesus paid for healing and understanding that God has placed His Spirit within us brings us to the third truth: we must release what God has given us. James 1:22 says, “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” There comes a moment when revelation must become action. Sickness is an intruder, and we don't have to treat an intruder like an invited guest.

James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Resistance is not a suggestion. It is a command. Notice something powerful in that verse: James says the devil will flee from you. God and the devil have already met. Jesus defeated him. We are not waiting for Jesus to defeat Satan again. We are standing in the victory Christ has already accomplished and resisting what attempts to operate contrary to what God has said. Again, if Jesus bore it, we don't have to make peace with it.

But we must never allow this truth to make us hard toward people who are suffering. Our anger should be directed toward sickness and pain while our hearts remain compassionate toward the person. We confront sickness while loving people. That distinction matters. Someone suffering doesn't need our condemnation; they need our compassion, our faith, our prayers, and our willingness to stand with them.

Then we must step out. Mark 16:20 says the disciples went everywhere preaching, “the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.” They stepped out—and God confirmed His Word. Authority accomplishes nothing when it is understood but never exercised. We can attend conferences about healing, read books about healing, listen to sermons about healing, memorize healing Scriptures, and talk endlessly about the authority of believers. But eventually someone has to step out and pray for a sick person.

Passivity among believers can hinder what the Holy Spirit desires to accomplish through them. Ezekiel 33:31 describes people who heard God's words but would not put them into practice. They listened, but they did not act. Information without application produces spectators instead of participants. God did not call us to sit in the stands watching a few people participate in the works of the Kingdom. Our responsibility is to believe His Word, submit ourselves to Him, and release what He has entrusted to us through faith.

This is where healing ministry becomes practical. Someone tells us they are hurting. Instead of only saying, “I'll be praying for you,” perhaps we stop right there and pray. Someone tells us they are sick. We compassionately ask, “Can I lay hands on you and pray?” We don't have to manufacture anything. We don't have to pretend. We don't have to force something to happen. Our responsibility is obedience.

Jesus said in Mark 16:18, “They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Jesus didn't tell us to remain passive. He told us to put our hands on sick people and believe Him. The disciples went, and the Lord worked with them. They acted, and God confirmed His Word. That pattern challenges us today. Instead of only asking what God can do, perhaps we need to begin asking what He has already paid for, what He has already deposited within His people, and what He is now telling us to release.

Jesus paid for it. His Spirit and power have been deposited within us. Now we must release it. Renew your mind with God's Word. Refuse to allow experiences to rewrite what God has said. Understand the authority Jesus has given His people. Guard your heart against the enemy's lies, doubts, symptoms, and circumstances. Stay compassionate toward hurting people while refusing to make peace with the sickness attacking them.

Then step out. Lay hands on the sick. Pray. Believe. Put the Word into practice. We are not called to be spectators. We are called to participate with the Holy Spirit in what Jesus told His Church to do. Paid For. Deposited Within. Release It. Confront the Rebellion.

Love Pastor Steve