Virus Alert! When Should You Panic?
Gary Keesee • March 4, 2020
I'm just going to go there right away...
You shouldn't panic.
Yes, you should be taking precautions. But you shouldn't panic.
Why?
I'll show you. But you need to go get your Bible.
Go on and get it. I’ll wait...
You have to have your Bible with you because this is warfare and your Bible is your weapon.
Sickness and disease are spiritual battles. When you’re fighting those battles you have to know your legal rights. You have to know what the Bible says. You can’t try to fight just knowing what I say or what some other preacher says.
You have to know the Bible for yourself.
Let’s begin by looking at Matthew 8:16.
It says in my Bible that Jesus restored to health ALL
who were sick. What does your Bible say?
How about Matthew 4:23? What does that say?
Matthew 9:35?
Matthew 12:15?
Matthew 14:14?
Matthew 15:30?
Matthew 19:2?
Matthew 21:14?
Acts 10:38?
I could keep going.
But that’s Jesus, you say. Of course He healed everyone.
Well, look at Luke 9:1.
Jesus gave the disciples the same power He had to heal people. Now look at Luke 9:6, then Luke 10:1-9. This is where Jesus appointed 70 others to carry on the mission of preaching the gospel and healing people.
In Mark 16:15-18 we read that Jesus authorized and deputized the church to do the exact same thing. He said if we believe and are baptized that we have His power, His spirit, and that we’re to go out and lay hands on the sick so that they will get well.
You see, the promise of healing is everywhere in the Word of God.
What’s the deal then? Why are some people healed and others are not? Well, look at Tracy's story:
In 1997, Tracy Pickett started going numb in her toes. She was afraid. The numbness would start in her toes and would travel up her body. She compared it to having a stroke. It would strike the right side of her body and she wouldn’t be able to walk or use her body properly. She couldn’t even brush her hair.
That went on for three years. Then she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.
Tracy knew she needed God. She went to her mom’s church for prayer, but then her mom told her she needed to find Jesus for herself. And Tracy listened. She says she sat on her bed and started reading her Bible from the beginning. Then, Tracy found what she was looking for. She saw that Jesus had healed all
of our diseases and that the word ‘healed’ was past tense.
But Tracy says she was still really dealing with symptoms – symptoms so bad that she felt her life was being stolen
from her. She says she kept on asking God to heal her, begging Him, and trying to be "good" in order to get healed.
But it wasn’t working.
In 2007, a friend told Tracy that she should watch what she was saying out of her mouth and to find more teaching on healing. She did. She learned that God is not a liar—He’s a healer— and even though she was still dealing with symptoms, she was already
healed.
Tracy has been walking in health ever since.
She received her healing.
Notice this: Tracy stopped trying to GET healed. She had revelation that she was ALREADY healed.
But what was the catch?
She had to enforce it. She had to start saying out of her mouth that God had healed her regardless of what people might have said to her, what it might have looked like, or what she felt like.
Tracy found out exactly what the Bible says. She became confident when she began to study the Word of God.
She learned what is legal and not legal according to God. Then she began to enforce it.
One critical thing that prevents us from receiving our healing is our lack of confidence.
When you’re not sure what you believe, you’re not confident.
People aren’t confident that it’s God will to heal because they don’t know the Word.
We have to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s God’s will to heal EVERY time or we can’t possibly be confident.
We’ve been taught that God allows sickness, that He uses it to teach people things, or that He’ll heal when He’s ready to heal.
We’ve lost confidence.
None of that is Scripture; none of that is the will of God.
Once you know the will of God, you can know that justice will be served for you. The only way you know the will of God is to study the Word of God.
Another thing that prevents us from receiving our healing is tradition.
The Bible says in Matthew 15:6 that tradition nullifies the Word of God.
What is tradition? It’s the passing on of beliefs or customs from generation to generation. How many times have you heard, “I don’t believe like that,” or “My church doesn’t teach that?”
Who cares what your church says? Who cares what I say? You need to know what the Bible says about it!
What has been set up in your mind about yourself? What have you learned or possibly adapted to that does not line up with God’s Word?
Let’s change it.
Let’s change your mentality. Let’s stop saying, “Help me” and start saying, “Let’s find out what God’s will is.”
Let’s get to where you’re thanking God that you’ve already
been helped.
How?
Get in the Word of God. Guard your heart and make sure you’re putting faith in there. Put faith and the Word of God in your heart before anything comes into your life.
Because sometimes you don’t have time to get your Bible and search for verses.
They need to be tucked in your heart so you’re prepared.
Have the Word of God in your heart. Know and be convinced of what the will of God is.
Use your words. Enforce it. Don’t be intimidated. DON'T PANIC.
Don’t let the situation appear bigger than God.
I hate what the devil does to people. I hate sickness. I hate what people put up with. They need to be taught there is a new way of living that Jesus ALREADY paid for.
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