That is a strong statement and one that many in the Body of the Christ do not believe. Many think that God has for some reason to put sickness on them to teach them a lesson or He “Allows” it on them for some purpose. It is NEVER the will of God to have any believer sick nor in poverty and He will NEVER put that on you, He has promised!
Gal 3:13-14 ~ Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus the Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
There is a lot mentioned in that one passage and this post will not even start into the blessing of Abraham nor the promise of the Spirit, we will just look at the first statement, that the Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.
While the curse and blessing in Deu 28 represented the nation of Israel at the time, it is applicable today in an example of what God will or will not do. Here is the curse of the law as God described it:
Deu 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
Deu 28:16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
Deu 28:17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu 28:18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Deu 28:19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
Deu 28:20 The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
Deu 28:21 The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.
Deu 28:22 The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
Deu 28:23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
Deu 28:24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Deu 28:25 The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
Deu 28:26 And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.
Deu 28:27 The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
Deu 28:28 The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
Deu 28:29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
Deu 28:30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
Deu 28:31 Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.
Deu 28:32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.
Deu 28:33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:
Deu 28:34 So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
Deu 28:35 The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.
Deu 28:36 The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
Deu 28:37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
Deu 28:38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
Deu 28:39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
Deu 28:40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.
Deu 28:41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.
Deu 28:42 All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.
Deu 28:43 The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
Deu 28:44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
Deu 28:45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:
Deu 28:46 And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.
Deu 28:47 Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
Deu 28:48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
Deu 28:49 The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
Deu 28:50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:
Deu 28:51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.
Deu 28:52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
Deu 28:53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:
Deu 28:54 So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave:
Deu 28:55 So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.
Deu 28:56 The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,
Deu 28:57 And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.
Deu 28:58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;
Deu 28:59 Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
Deu 28:60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
Deu 28:61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Deu 28:62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.
Deu 28:63 And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.
Deu 28:64 And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.
Deu 28:65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
Deu 28:66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:
Deu 28:67 In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
Deu 28:68 And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
God was clearly serious about transgression and would thoroughly judge those that turned away from His commands with this curse.
Jesus was made a curse for us so that we would not face the curse of the Law anymore. God poured out all His judgment for us upon the Christ on the cross. For those that are His, He will NEVER afflict them with this curse. The Lord still chastens us to help us grow and stay on the right path, but He does not and cannot bring this curse or any part of it, upon us as Jesus already took it.
We clearly see in 28:61 that He did not limit the curse to just the known sickness at that time nor specific ones, but “Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law”. That is every sickness to ever afflict anyone!
Why then do Christians get sick some some die of sickness? Well simply, it is our own fault as we either bring it upon ourselves by our actions or allow the enemy to do so without standing up for our rights. Some might say that they know of a person that was so close to God that they almost walked on water, that they seemed to never have one bad thought nor did the ever sin. First, time for a reality check, we cannot see into the heart of another and know what they truly face, so you can only make assumptions about them, you do not know their battles. Everyone who lives in a fleshly body will have a daily battle without anyone even knowing about it.
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Let’s look at it this way, God clearly does not want us sick nor in poverty, this does not bring glory to His name (and do not even go with the “He can use sickness to get glory” stuff, if we are healed and made whole by His hand, there is not greater glory, nor greater witness than that!). If it was His will for us to be sick then He would not have included all the healing Scriptures such as these obvious ones:
Jas 5:14-16 ~ Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Isaiah 53:4-5 ~ Surely he hath borne our griefs, (took our infirmities, bare our sicknesses, according to Mat: 8:16-17) and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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.
I Peter 2:24 ~ Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; By whose strips ye were healed.
Mar 16:17-18 ~ And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Psalms 107:20 ~ He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions
Psalms 103:1-5 ~ Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquites; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Joh 14:12-14 ~ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
So, if it is God’s will for us to be whole and it brings Him glory, then the problem is not on His side and there is only one other side and that is ours. If we act in true faith without doubts we will receive, every time without fail. For many though, having that kind of faith for ourselves can be hard, it is easier to believe for others than ourselves. That is where James 5:14-16 comes in as there is supposed to be Elders in a close walk with God who trust Him and always have “faith without doubts” to pray for people as a last line of defense. Trust comes from spending time with God and deep relationship, continually partaking of His promises.
It is a lot like the filling of the Spirit, some believe, seek God on the matter and receive, others deny the experience or perhaps only seek for a short time and never receive. Did God without from them? No, they just did not take claim on what was theirs by faith.
I might have written before about this, but here it goes again. I heard an old tale about a person taking a cruise and it goes something like this: There was a man who had saved up money for years to be able to go on a cruise. He gets on the ship and for the next week he is carried all over the world to see wonderful sites. The entire trip he does not eat one thing as he only saved enough money for the ticket, so he went without. When the trip was over they started to leave the ship and the captain spotted Him and asked if there was something wrong with the vast array of food they had as he noticed the man did not eat anything throughout the trip. The man replied to him that he did not have enough money and the captain told him that it was all included in the price of the ticket. The captain did not withhold anything from him, no one was being unfair, the man simply did not know what was included and never received.
Brothers and Sisters, it is all included in the price Jesus paid. We must take it though and truly believe in our hearts that it is ours. We can only blame sickness and poverty on either ourselves or the enemy that is about steal, kill and destroy. But God is always there to heal you and make provisions you need when we come with faith.