Series: The Finished Works; Healing
Sunday 12 August 2018- Kobus Swart

(John 19:28-30); 1 Cor. 6:19; (James 4:7); Luke 10:18-19; Luke 6:18-19; (Isa. 53:4-6); (Job. 1); (Job 42:10); Song of Solomon 2:15; Rev. 12:9-11

I am going to add another dimension to last week’s Word. Jesus had done everything He had to do when He said “It is finished” (John 19:30). The question that I have is: why are there so many believing Christians with disease and sickness that does not get healed in spite of multiple prayers even by healing ministries? I want to talk about “squatters”. What is a squatter? In America, for example, there are farmers with huge farms. Some farmers do not even visit parts of the farm because it is so big and it is not cultivated. Squatters move onto the property without the farmer knowing. They stay there, they do not go underground but are visible. If they stay there long enough, and they can even pay the portion of the taxes on that property, that area becomes theirs legally.

Likewise, the enemy comes in as a squatter into what is God’s property: your body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1 Cor. 6:19). Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit! How can the enemy take possession of my body or parts of my body and legally claim ownership? That is what happens when we as Christians go through some phases of ignorance. Some Christians believe that if they have a sickness they must not talk about it because if they talk about it they give the enemy more rights. That is wrong! You must acknowledge it when the enemy has touched you in a portion of your body with a sickness and recognize it. Then resist the devil and submit to God (James 4:7). If we ignore it and we fail to acknowledge it, the enemy gets deeper and deeper and takes ownership. This is something we need to take seriously.

Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you (Luke 10:19). Here is the real translation from Greek: Behold I give you liberty to do as you please. I give you the power of choice and the power to influence and change all situations even to the level of governmental and rulership power including judicial decision-making power like that of a judge. This is legal language in the original translation! And you are to use this power and operate in it in any and over all powers of the enemy. And given this power and authority that I gave you, the enemy will not have power to violate, bring unjust consequences or perpetrate crimes against you.That is what Jesus said. He has given us governmental power to rule like that of a judge. This is not against your neighbour, but against the enemy when he comes onto your body with some disease as a squatter secretly moving in. If you continue to ignore it, he takes more possession and he takes legal ownership of it! He gets the “title-deed” of it! It is not surprising that in the previous verse Jesus said: I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning(Luke 6:18). As with squatters, when the enemy comes at you in an open and notorious way, that means taking ownership of the land. In our case as people, it can be trauma or chronic illness or chronic poverty, (eg. In your business you always suffer losses), and people around you can see that there is something wrong. That means there is an enemy trespassing in your territory. The finished works include perfect healing. The finished works of Jesus were not just to deal with the sin nature. It includes our bodies. He bore our diseases upon himself (Isa. 53:4-6). Why do we accept sickness? It is time to wake up. Part of breaking the new ground, part of moving forward, includes what we are talking about now. Go into the courts of heaven, identify the platform that you gave Satan to accuse you before God, to withhold and block God’s blessings to you.

Let me remind you of the story of Job. Satan was standing amongst the sons of God. When God asked Satan where he had come from, he replied: “From roaming the earth” (Job 1:6-7). God felt good about his servant Job. Satan noticed and he is checking us out! Satan found an accusation against Job: “Job is serving you because of Your blessings. Take Your blessings away and You will see” (Job 1:9-11). Job did not turn against God but he had battles within himself. When he forgave his friends who also accused him, God restored to him double what he had lost (Job 42:10). Forgiveness is powerful. You cannot walk with unforgiveness, with anger or with hatred. Stand before the Lord! Catch the foxes for us, The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards, While our vineyards are in blossom(Song of Solomon 2:15). Watch out for the little foxes; the enemy comes in as “little foxes”. They come in secret and we must recognise their presence and not ignore it. The blood of Jesus has redeemed us. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death(Rev. 12:11).

These things must be absorbed; take it in because the enemy is going to test you. We stand on the finished works of Jesus, the blood of the Lamb. We do not submit to sickness, we submit to God! Some people build an emotional attachment to a disease that has been in their body for a long time. We have been bought with a price and Jesus’ blood is the only payment that satisfied the Father. The enemy cannot remain like a squatter. Jesus blood paid the price of all “taxes” needed for us to have a relief from any disease or sickness or whatever it might be. I am speaking this over you that will not know what sickness and disease is! We can walk in divine health! We need more than divine healing, we need divine health! It is ours by virtue of the cross, by virtue of the blood of the Lamb! Do not allow squatters to settle! Pick it up quickly, identify it, recognise it and say: “Out!”