What is sickness? What is disease? Why are both of these ailments extremely prevalent in a society that is more technologically advanced than ever before? In an age where man can build super scud missiles,
devastating nuclear war heads, and can build space rovers that can roll on the planet Mars thousands and thousands of miles away, why has there not been a cure for the common cold? Why has sickness and disease remained an issue since biblical times?
The definition for sickness is to be in a disordered, weakened, or unsound condition. In other words, when one is sick, there is something that is within that individual that is out of alignment, lacking strength, and the internal infrastructure is fragile.
Disease is defined as a condition of the living animal or plant body or of one of its parts that impairs normal functioning. Disease is also defined as a harmful development.
Without question, our bodies are not built to resist sickness and disease. So what is the key to winning the battle of health and strength?
Well, the answer to these questions are definitely in the bible. But before we go any further, there is one thing that needs to be stately clearly.
Hosea 4:6 reads “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou has rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou has forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”
We are susceptible to sickness and disease because we do not prepare ourselves to battle against them. To be equipped to fight sickness and disease, we must obtain the knowledge of how to defend ourselves, and this knowledge is found in the Word of God. Sickness and disease, just like spiritual ailments such as anger, violence and immorality, can lead to spiritual and physical enslavement. There are three derivatives of spiritual enslavement that we must conquer in order to rebuke and repel sickness and disease – Bondage, Oppression, and Curses.
Bondage is the servitude or subjugation to a controlling person or force. Just like a man being in bondage through drug abuse or fornication, man can be in bondage, or under control of sickness and disease in the same manner. Is it a coincidence that some people are more susceptible to sickness and disease than others? I think not. Lacking the understanding that we have been set free from sickness and disease by the mighty work that Jesus Christ did on the cross, we will continue to live life with a slave’s mentality, freedom being hidden from our eyes through our lack of knowledge and understanding of God’s Word.
Isaiah 53:5 reads “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 lashes on Jesus’ body represent all sickness and disease. We don’t have to accept sickness and disease because we were pre-destined to be healed by the stripes of Jesus Christ. The important part of the verse is the present tense statement “we are healed.” Healing is not a phenomena that happened when Jesus walked on earth, but it is a phenomena for today, this hour and this very second.
Not only is sickness and disease a form of bondage, but it is also a form of oppression. Oppression is the unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power and a sense of being weighed down in the body or mind.