Psalm 103:3 :He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
Many people around the world and around us may be seriously sick. But Jesus is the One who brings healing and restoration. When we look at Psalm 103:3, there is a presumption that healing from diseases comes as sin is forgiven. Of course, not all diseases may be associated with direct sin, but sin is still the root and source of all sickness. Although the blind man in the Bible was born blind to glorify God and was not due to his direct sin, his blindness comes from a broken world that resulted from the original sin with Adam. We can make the argument if Adam had not sinned, would he have been born blind in a perfect world? If Adam had not sinned, then Jesus would not had to come like that and die for us, nor would HE be dealing with the blind man. Therefore, sin is still the root of all misery.
What is a disease? Definition of disease: “a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that has a known cause and a distinctive group of symptoms, signs, or anatomical changes.“
Therefore, a disease is a malfunction within your body, organ, cellular system, or any body system, such as cancer. Sin is a disease that has brought a structural malfunction into the timeline of life and brought death.
Beloved Deacon Ben had recent surgery and had his gallbladder removed. But he was still experiencing complications and pain. The doctors had performed tests and were awaiting the results, but Deacon Ben was in constant excruciating pain. Whether one believes their condition is from sin, coincidence, or aging, one must still explore the idea of receiving full forgiveness through proper repentance. If we just pray for healing and not explore the idea of auditing our lives for hidden sins, whether they be intentional or not, we may be ignoring the message from God, which is being brought through great suffering. It is not important to conclude whether our suffering or disease is due to sin or not. It is more important to ask the Lord to reveal any hidden sin so one may come to true repentance. If there are intentionally hidden sins, such sins must be brought to light so that one may receive healing and restoration. Otherwise, more pain may be endured to bring one to repentance. But regardless, pain and suffering are used to bring one to full surrender and brokenness but many are too prideful to seek humility and submission.
After the test result, Deacon Ben is now diagnosed with possible stage 2/3 cancer in the lymph nodes around where his gallbladder was located. He will be receiving chemotherapy right away. A CT scan was performed to determine if we are in stage 4. Receiving chemotherapy treatment is no walk in the park. For most people, there is no initial pain, but the side effects can be a very bad experience.
Please pray for Deacon Ben and his family. Healing comes when the heart is restored back to God. Yes, God may heal people out of grace with no repentance as the gifts may be given without repentance but in our church where you all know too much and may have acted, God requires something from all of us. We all know too much and been given extreme grace if I can term it like that.
In this recent year, the Day of the Lord has been emerging for some of our people but as we move into a new era (year 2025 and beyond), the Day of the Lord will be more pragmatic. There may be many small days of the Lord before the Big Day of the Lord and HE brings His rewards whether that be blessings or discipline. What does pragmatic mean? It means you will experience more of HIM in this natural world as HIS Word comes alive for all of us.
Pastor Steve Kim
Comments:
When people get sick, we think emotional support is what one needs. The one who is sick may be looking for emotional support or attention. This will not heal or save anyone. Emotions can be easily influenced by your flesh. Emotions are usually mastered by baby Christians who have no spiritual discernment. We must be a spiritual people to discern the circumstances so we can move into the proper remedy.
Our prayers will be more effective and this is a solitude time for Deacon Ben to reflect his relationship with God and to mend any tears and unresolved issues with Father God.
What do we need to be praying about? We need to pray that people humble themselves and surrender to God’s touch, pass their tests, and be restored.
When Job was touched, his friends who had initiatively come to give him emotional support made it worse. They had no idea what was going on.
Job had to face and deal with his ordeal. Who can help him? Not even his wife was a help. She could not handle the tests.
In this type of situation, people have two types of paths.
Path 1: if their focus is on people, they will get mad and wonder why people do not care, come to visit, show attention, or give emotional support.
Path 2: Seek God with all your heart, and who cares whether people care or not cause they cannot save you nor heal you.
Pastor Steve Kim