I had a supernatural encounter in 1988 when the God of the universe called me into His Kingdom.  I was radically saved and on fire for life, and on fire for God.  I voraciously devoured His word.  I was enamored, intrigued, and excited about His power, His love, and life that I tasted with every word sown in my heart.  I was walking on clouds.  The whole world was changed from my viewpoint.  My eyes were opened.  I believed every word in the bible.  Jesus healed every single person that asked or pressed in to be healed.

He sent his disciples out to heal the sick and tell them the Kingdom of Heaven was near.

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

– 1 Peter 2:24

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

– Isaiah 53:5

I was excited and thought, “God’s no respecter of persons so I can do this too!”  If you want to meet the enemy step out of the boat and start walking in faith.  I was instantly confronted with well-meaning people who began to warn me, “Slow down.  You need to be grounded.  He used to heal.  He can still heal, but it may not be His will.”  I was confused.  I knew His word is true.  I could sense it deep within my spirit.  I ignored the bad advice and went out praying, speaking “By His stripes you were healed!”  You know what happened?  Nothing.  Not a thing, well no miracle, or no instant healing.  No biblical type healing.  I was confused again.  Why?  I began to shrink back.  I began to get grounded with the people who reached out to me, you remember the ones with the “bad advice.”  I am not saying what I did was smart, I’m just telling you the truth.  I settled into where people lived and believed.  I distanced myself from what His word said, “He heals all of your diseases (Ps 103).”

I struggled with the truth in my spirit and what I saw with my eyes for years.  I literally mean years.  I remember trying to believe this and praying against colds and sniffles but no quick evidence, if you know what I mean.  Everyone recovered but nothing like what Jesus did in the gospels.  For years I would “try,” but in 2008 the Lord showed me my heart and I saw all the times I said I believe His word but then lived according to the world.  I came to a place, thank God, where I decided His word was true whether I understood it or not, whether I saw it with my natural eyes or not – and that included healing.  We have eyes in our heart that see into the spirit which is eternal.  I believe His word and I can see it with the eyes of my heart.

There is not one instance in the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John – that Jesus turned a person away and did not heal them.  Not once.  Jesus is the exact representation of the Father (Heb 1:3).  These verses clearly say, in past tense, by His (Jesus) wounds you have been healed!  We only receive by faith.  If you don’t believe that then I don’t know what to tell you – I guess you don’t believe the Word of God!  Without faith it is impossible to please Him (Heb 11:6).

My three-year old daughter came down with a fever, and we prayed.  The fever got worse.  We kept praying and your heart just hurts for your baby suffering.  The fever just kept getting higher and our concern, pressing towards fear, also kept rising.  I sat in our living room holding her in my arms, praying.  I was reading the scriptures above and also Ephesians where it says we, believers, are seated with Christ in the heavens, far above all rule, power, and dominion.  I thought and said, “This includes fevers.  We are seated with Christ, by His stripes we were healed.  We are seated above all forms of evil, including sickness.  There is no one in heaven with a fever!”  By the stripes of Jesus my baby girl was healed.  I remembered when Jesus entered Peter’s house and his mother-in-law was suffering with a fever that Jesus rebuked.  She got up perfectly well and began to wait on them.  Fever’s aren’t good, not if Jesus rebuked them.

I kept praying, “We are seated with Christ, my baby is healed by His stripes.”  After a while, as I was praying over and over, I had a momentary flash in the spirit that we were seated with Christ in the heavens.  It was a glimpse that lasted about as long as it takes to blink your eyes, and at that moment my worn out, weary, sick, fevered little girl sat straight up in my arms and smiled.  She looked around and hopped off my lap and started playing with her older brother.  I stared at my wife, and being the man of faith I am, asked her to get the thermometer :).  We had been checking her temperature every 10-15 minutes and it kept getting higher and higher.  We checked her temperature, as she played, and it was 97.8 – PERFECT!

She was healed instantly by the stripes of Jesus, Praise God!!! 

I am still learning, but I am heading in the right direction.  You are too!  Today meditate on what Jesus did for you.  He not only gave himself that you might have eternal life, but by his wounds you have been healed!  Stand against the works of darkness and let His light shine through you by faith today!