Bible Study Notes:

"Healing" is the PROCESS by which we receive relief from pain, deliverance from symptoms, reversal of deterioration, regeneration of bodily functions and restoration to full health, physically, mentally and spiritually. It can be gradual or instantaneous.

I also would like to emphasize that I am a fellow seeker for healing and health and don’t pretend to have all the answers. And we discussed that healing comes to us three ways: through the natural healing processes of our bodies, through doctors and medicine, and also through what is commonly called "faith" or divine healing, although the source of all healing is God.

So far we’ve discussed 25 hindrances to healing, including: 1. Failure to ask:; 2. God doesn't answer prayer today; 3. Don't really want healing; 4. Fearful of health; 5. Jesus is not willing to heal; 6. Not worthy; 7. Demonic influence; 8. Unconfessed sin; 9. Disobedience; 10. Unforgiveness; 11. Poor Health Habits; 12. Addiction; 13. Lack Of Fasting; 14. Influence Of Others; 15. Unrighteous Covenants; 16. Anxiety, 17. Not Wanting To "Bother" God, 18. A "Thorn In The Flesh"; 19. Spirit of Infirmity; 20. Fearful faithless friends; 21. Ignorance of the Word, 22. Making a mockery of God’s Servants, 23. Rebellion, 24. Strife; and 25. Condemning rather than forgiving.

Hindrance to Healing # 26 - Revenge isn’t "sweet"

In Yellowstone Park, Dale Carnegie once was observing the grizzly bears, who can whip any animal in the west except the buffalo and Kodiak bear. "He noticed that the grizzly would only allow one animal to eat with him – the skunk."

"Of course, in a fight the grizzly could have thrashed any skunk. He probably resented the skunk and yearned to get even with him for his brazen impudence. But he didn’t. Why? Because he knew the high cost of getting even."

Romans 12:17–19 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

The Bible very simply says, "Do not try to get even". When someone wrongs you, forgive them and then let God handle it. Live at peace as far as it depends on you. Not only will you be obeying God, but you will be avoiding a lot of illness that comes from a spirit of revenge.

Dr. S. I. McMillen in "The High Cost of Getting Even" from his book "None of These Diseases" has this to say about grizzly bears and vengeance. "Smart grizzly? Certainly much smarter than many human beings who spend weary days and sleepless nights rummaging through their polluted memories, brooding over worm-eaten resentments and scheming venomous revenge."

"Why does man ignore the high cost of getting even, when his vengeful spirit may even cost him paralyzing strokes or fatal heart attacks?"

Romans 12:20-21 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Instead of revenge, be kind to your enemy, Paul advises. Overcome evil with good. Dr McMillen continues: "For centuries scoffers have ridiculed advice of Jesus to, "Love your enemies." They scorned it as impractical, idealistic, and absurd. Now psychiatrists have shown that this radical and life-changing attitude would prevent many of the ills man brings upon himself through resentment of his enemies."

Some of the diseases that resentment and a spirit of revenge can bring upon you according to Dr. McMillen are: strokes, heart attacks, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, colonic cancer, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and many others.

Dr. McMillen comments: "In life’s frog ponds, we may be able to croak our fellows, but it could truthfully be written on many millions of death certificates that the victims croaked from "irritable grudge syndrome". We have heard people say, from between clinched teeth, "I’ll get even with that skunk if it’s the last thing I ever do!" Too often, they have foretold the truth."

Most of us don’t get even by literally killing the other person, as happens in so many "grudge" films we see today. No, we kill them with our tongues. OUCH! How many people have you slain this week by gossip? Again, don’t answer to me, tell God!

As Dr. McMillen comments: "Running people down exposes us to a host of diseases of the body and mind. Expressing animosity toward others calls forth hormones from the pituitary, adrenal, thyroid and other glands. In excess, these hormones can cause diseases in almost any part of the body."

Dr McMillen wisely states that: "I have found that the moment I start hating a man, I become his slave. I can’t enjoy my work anymore because he even controls my thoughts."

"My resentments release excessive stress hormones and I become fatigued after only a few hours of work…The man I hate hounds me wherever I go. I can’t escape his tyrannical grasp on my mind…I am, indeed ,a slave to every man I hate."

Hebrews 12:14-15 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

Brooding on thoughts of vengeance can make you miss the grace of God, and will allow a bitter root to grow up in your heart that will cause you trouble and defile you.

Defile here in Greek is miaino {me-ah'-ee-no} literally meaning 1) to dye with another color, to stain, and by extension 2) to defile, pollute, sully, contaminate, soil, to defile with sins.

So you are "staining your soul" with sin or making yourself "unclean" if you allow bitterness to dwell there. Recall that the cause of a lot of illness in the New Testament was "unclean" spirits. When you let a root of bitterness grow in your heart, you are "opening the door" for an unclean spirit to come in and make you sick or even kill you!

This is why the writer of Hebrews is begging us to "make EVERY effort to live in peace" and to walk in holiness. Are you walking in resentment and bitterness towards someone? Are your hours spent in planing vengeance? How to you react when someone, on purpose or not, annoys you?

Dr. McMillen asks: "Did we slam the door, refuse to eat, sit and pout, or gossip about them? An honest appraisal should make it clear whether we are allowing God’s Holy Spirit or satan’s carnal spirit to control our daily lives."

Dr. McMillen concludes: "When the ‘natural man’ is shamefully wronged, he can’t resist the temptation to get even – even though it means paying the high price of his own health. However, if we who know the Lord drive His nails into everything in our lives contrary to His Word, Christ will crucify our carnal spirits… [get] rid of the disease-producing spirit of retaliation."

Matthew 5: 43-44 "You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Luke 6: 27-28 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."

Revenge is NOT sweet. It will destroy your health and make you a slave to the person you hate. Instead, love your enemies, do good to them that hate you. Overcome evil with good, and walk in health!

This fear reaction is GOOD if we are running from a would-be burglar, or facing some other kind of real danger. But often this same fear reaction comes upon us when there is no external cause for us.

Psychologists have found that our bodies react this way if we even THINK of a fearful situation. If we continue to be fearful in this way, over a period of months or years, the hormones that are pumped into our blood streams can be harmful to our health.

According to Dr. McMillen in "None of These Diseases", some of the harmful effects from by prolonged "fight or flight" reactions are: overwork and fatigue, fear and hate, exposure and injury, hurry and tension, arthritis, mental disease, vascular disease and gastrointestinal disease.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

What is behind this constant fear is actually an oppressive demonic spirit of timidity, deilia {di-lee'-ah} in the Greek, meaning timidity, fearfulness, and cowardice.

The word deilia is NEVER used in a positive sense, as in fearful reverence for God. It is ALWAYS a negative, nagging type of fear that invades your whole life and robs you of power, love, self-control, and needless to say, your health.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

One way to overcome this fear is to let God’s perfect love drive it out of you. As it is a spirit, it is subject to the authority of Jesus Name and can (and should) be cast out. Perfect here is telios, which means mature or complete. Love cannot be formed completely in you if you allow fear to dwell there.

Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

A sure cure for fear’s bondage is meditating on your sonship through the Holy Spirit. Whatever your insecurities are, you need not be in bondage to them. Just cry, "Daddy, God help me" and He will meet your needs. Don’t let fear "eat you alive" and affect your health.

Now I’ve stated several times in the course of this study that I believe that doctors and medicine are a source of healing for us. Although some believers will not make use of doctors and medicine, I believe that their knowledge and wisdom comes from God and can be a boost to health, particularly if our faith is not developed enough yet to trust God for healing for our disease.

However, some believers give doctors the status of God and depend on them for more than they can deliver. Some things are still beyond their knowledge, and some things are out of their control. Also, we tend to try to cure ourselves first, or run to doctors, before seeking healing from God.

Jesus was criticized for not being able to do great works in His hometown. And why couldn’t He? Because of unbelief. But medicine was not very advanced in Jesus’ day, and sometimes the "cure was worse than the disease". So I’m sure that people were VERY interested in whether the physician himself had tried his own cure!

Jeremiah 8:14-15, 22 "Why are we sitting here? Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there! For the LORD our God has doomed us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against him. We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there was only terror… Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?

Jeremiah recounts a time when there was no healing from physicians or cures. Why was that? Because the people had rejected God and were not looking to Him as their source. They had sinned and not sought repentance. And they were looking to doctors to cure what only God could.

Some people go from doctor to doctor seeking a cure, take medication after medication, and never seek the Great Physician, the Lord Jesus Christ. They are putting all their faith and hope in doctors and medicine, and not seeking healing from Jesus.

Mark 5:25-26 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.

This happens sometimes. Either the doctors don’t have the knowledge yet to cure our problem, or either they misdiagnose what’s wrong with us. In either case, this poor, desperate woman had spent ALL SHE HAD on doctors, and instead of being healed, she grew worse!

Medical bills are one of the main causes of bankruptcy in this country today. It’s a sad fact that many spend all they have, lose their homes, and get "head over heels" in debt due to the high cost of medical care. And are still not cured.

Mark 5:27-29 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

This woman heard about Jesus, then faith rose up inside of her. And her thoughts were filled with faith. And she released that faith when she reached out and touched the hem of Jesus garment. And IMMEDIATELY the bleeding stopped and she KNEW that her suffering was over.

Oh, if we only had HALF the faith in Jesus that we do in doctors and medicine! If we would LISTEN to the Word and really HEAR what it says and fill our thoughts with faith and belief, instead of doubt, we could reach out and touch Him and be healed.

Now I’m not against medicine and doctors. But when they come to the end of their knowledge, when they cannot cure you or misdiagnose you, what will be the source of your healing then? How will you exercise faith for a major disease, if you haven’t learned how to trust God for a minor ailment? Place your trust and confidence FIRST in the Great Physician and be healed in Jesus Name!

Dr William Sadler in his textbook of psychiatry wrote: "Prayer is a powerful and effectual worry-remover. Men and women who have learned to pray with childlike sincerity, literally talking to, and communion with the Heavenly Father, are in possession of the great secret whereby they can cast their care upon God, knowing that He careth for us. A clear conscience is a great step toward barricading the mind against neuroticism."

He continues: "Many are victims of fear and worry because they fail properly to maintain their spiritual nutrition…The majority of people liberally feed their bodies, and many make generous provision for their mental nourishment; but the vast majority leave the soul to starve, paying very little attention to their spiritual nutrition; and as a result the spiritual nature is so weakened that it is unable to surmount its difficulties and maintain an atmosphere above conflict and despondency."

We’ve talked some in a previous lesson about this man born blind who Jesus healed. This healing caused quite a "ruckus" as people were debating whether it WAS the same blind beggar they had seen begging. Some demanded that he produce his healer, but the man didn’t know where Jesus was at that time.

So they brought him to the Pharisees. Apparently they were concerned because this miracle occurred on the Sabbath. They didn’t care that a miracle had occurred – that a man who had NEVER seen now had vision. They didn’t care that a beggar man would now be able to make a decent living and support his family.

To be fair, SOME of the Pharisees WERE in awe at this healing. However some accused the Son of God, the Lord of the Sabbath, of not knowing how to KEEP the Sabbath. And this is one characteristic of legalism that hinders healing:

But the parents confirmed that this indeed was their son that had been born blind, had been blind all these years, and now had sight. They "didn’t have a clue" as to how it happened. But they advised the Pharisees that their son was of legal age and could answer for himself.

The parents were afraid that the Pharisees would throw them out of the synagogue if they told the truth about their son. The synagogue was the center of not only religious life, but community life as well.

The Pharisees were getting more and more angry. They accused Jesus of being a sinner. But the man who had received sight didn’t argue theology with the Pharisees. He made a simple statement of fact: "I was blind but now I see!"

Again, Paul tells Timothy (and us) not to have ANYTHING to do with foolish and stupid arguments which lead to quarrels. A legalist will be quick to tell you that HIS arguments are neither foolish nor stupid. But Paul said that the Lord’s servant MUST NOT quarrel PERIOD.

Instead we must be kind to everyone, willing to teach, not resentful if someone disagrees, but gently instructing those who oppose the Word. The Lord’s servant teaches IN HOPE always that the listener will come to knowledge of the truth and escape from the trap of the devil.

Is legalism a trap of the devil? You betcha, and through it he takes captives to do HIS will, all the while they believe they are doing God’s will! I think of all the varieties of false doctrine, that legalism is the sneakiest, because it preys on those who at some level truly WANT to serve God!

So when the man healed of blindness would NOT budge from his secure position in Jesus, the Pharisees REALLY got angry and started insulting him. They began to show their badges of religiosity "We are disciples of Moses!" – and claimed that they didn’t know where Jesus comes from – that is, declared they didn’t know what the source of Jesus power was.

I have heard SO many Christians calling other Christians names and insulting them because they were not in agreement! This is a direct violation of a command of scripture and a SURE sign of a legalistic spirit!

Jesus also compared this to making wine. When you put grape juice into a container and leave it, it ferments creating wine. In Biblical days they put it into a leather pouch. If this pouch was old, when the wine fermented and expanded the skin would burst. It was not flexible enough to expand.

The man born blind simply stated the obvious. What WOULD be the source of Jesus’ power, if not God? Would God give a sinner the power to heal the blind? Would the devil be interested in reversing the evil he had done in this man’s life?

Isn’t it interesting that a blind beggar, despised and rejected by the "holier-than-thou" Pharisees had more spiritual knowledge that those who had supposedly dedicated their lives to serving God?

Now the Pharisees were REALLY enraged, and threw more insults at this man who had the discourtesy to be healed on THEIR Sabbath. Who was HE to lecture THEM? There we see another characteristic of a legalist: he/she is not willing to be taught of God by whomever God sends his/her way. A true servant of God is teachable, and finds delight in learning of God’s goodness by observing a leaf, or a sparrow, or even a beggar healed by God’s grace.

Then the Pharisees threw him out – that is, they excommunicated him from their synagogue. Well, he was probably better off, wasn’t he, because they obviously were not teaching the truth!

But this brings up another characteristic of legalists: they are exclusive instead of inclusive. That is, they are always judging whether other people are "as good as" they are, and if you "don’t measure up" they exclude you from their company.

Jesus taught that we should be inclusive – accepting and loving of each other whether we agree or not, whether we are of the same social standing or not, recognizing that we are all one in Christ Jesus.

Legalists are ultimately men-pleasers rather that God-pleasers. They have an inclination to argue and create controversy. They refuse correction, are not willing to change (after all, they are RIGHT), and are not teachable. And they are quick to become angry and hurl insults when they are challenged.

How does legalism hinder healing? Well, all of these characteristics fit in with the hindrances we’ve already talked about don’t they? Such as: lack of obedience, rebellion, anger, strife, etc. But there is an overall element in the legalist’s reasoning that keeps him from receiving from God.

You see a legalist believes that he/she EARNS favor with God by their good works. We know we are saved by grace through faith, not of works. A legalist may declare they are saved by grace, but their efforts to please God through following a set of rules and regulations makes a lie of this declaration. Because they will quickly tell YOU what you are doing wrong, and if you’d only follow THEIR formula you’d make God happy!

The legalist also believes that they receive from God on the basis of THEIR good works. They will try to base receiving healing on their own worthiness, not their faith. If they haven’t been working very diligently for God, they do not expect to receive anything from Him. If they have been working hard, they demand to be given what they need, such as healing, based on their own merits.

But the man born blind that Jesus healed on a Sabbath day didn’t expect healing to begin with. He was just begging for a living, "minding his own business", when a MAN came along, anointed his eyes with saliva and mud, and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.

And the man obeyed. Obedience to God’s Word IS important, but it must be based on FAITH. We obey God because we believe in Jesus and want to show our love and gratitude to Him, not to "earn brownie points". Faith is an action word – it implies trust that leads to obedience to God.

Then we saw that this man’s faith was tested. If he had begun to doubt what Jesus had done, if he had let the legalists talk him out of his healing, he may have ended up a blind beggar again.

Now Jesus had HEARD about this man’s trials and WENT TO LOOK for him! His faith had attracted the attention of Jesus. Keep in mind that the man born blind did not know where Jesus was. But Jesus knew where the man was. And as he had manifested faith, Jesus sought to give him a greater vision of Himself. He had seen Jesus with his eyes, now Jesus was going to teach him to see with his heart!

YOU HAVE SEEN HIM! Jesus said. YOU ARE TALKING TO HIM. Praise the Lord! Isn’t that just like the Lord? He comes to the ones who have been blinded all their life by sin and brings them sight!

Now the man born blind could see Jesus both physically and spiritually. His eyes of faith had been opened and he recognized Jesus as Lord, made a public confession of his faith, and then worshipped Jesus.

Now some modern thinkers will tell you that Jesus never claimed to be God. This is rank nonsense. And this is one of the occasions where Jesus accepted worship. God alone is worthy of worship. Receiving worship identified Jesus as God.