Series: Healing is for You!

(Some of the material for this sermon comes from the book titled, The Untapped Power of Praise, by Pastor Kenneth Hagin, Jr.)

Throughout history there has been a search by man for a cure for the ills, pains, and distresses that people face. Most often these are sought for physical ailments.

Even today, there are those that seek some kind of “cure” or relief for physical conditions and will try many things.

• The greatest cure known to mankind can be found in praising God.

The greatest deliverance known to man is within the reach of every believer on this earth—and it is found in praising God from a sincere heart of love and gratitude!

The praise cure—God’s cure—is a cure that never fails in any circumstance or situation. And it is both pleasant and effective. There are no bad side effects with this medicine.

• What’s also unusual about this cure is that as you learn how to implement it, this cure will always work for you—and there’s no charge for it!

The reason this cure is so effective and is guaranteed to bring results is that it is based on God’s Word! The praise cure was purchased and put into effect by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary when He paid for our redemption on the Cross.

But even in the Old Testament, God began teaching His children about the praise cure and its benefits. We need to look at some of the mighty exploits the children of Israel experienced as a result of praising God. The Bible says that what the Israelites experienced were examples written for our admonition and benefit (1 Cor. 10:11).

2 Chronicles 20:17, 20-25 | NKJV (17) You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.” (20) So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” (21) And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever.” (22) Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. (23) For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. (24) So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped. (25) When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much.

• The Israelites’ offensive weapon against the enemy was praise!

God could have told the Israelites to hold a prayer meeting. Or he could have given them any number of strategies. But instead, He said, “Don’t worry about the enemy. I will deliver you. Just praise Me and watch Me work”! Evidently the Lord knew something about conquering the enemy the children of Israel didn’t know.

• Praise is an effective weapon against the enemy!

The Lord knows the enemy can’t tolerate the praises of God’s people!

Psalms 22:3 | KJV (3) But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

Psalms 22:3 | AMPC (3) But You are holy, O You Who dwell in [the holy place where] the praises of Israel [are offered].

Psalms 22:3 | ERV (3) God, you are the Holy One. You sit as King upon the praises of Israel.

• Since God inhabits the praises of His people, the enemy flees at the sound of praise, because at the sound of heartfelt praise, God comes on the scene!

In her book, “Healing From Heaven,” Dr. Lilian B. Yeomans tells the story about a woman named Rosa Smith who went to China as a missionary many years ago when China was open to receiving the gospel. She then contracted smallpox. She faced dire natural circumstances: No vaccine. No cure. No hope of survival. She didn’t beg God. She didn’t pray and hope He would do something. She didn’t start a prayer chain.

In faith, she asked Him what she should do.

This is what He told her… Praise Me. Praise Me for My faithfulness to My Word. Then, He showed her a vision of an empty basket labeled “Praise.” He told her when she had filled it to the top, she would receive her healing. So—even as ill as she was—she began singing, shouting and praising the Lord. The doctors thought she was delirious and told her to be quiet, but she kept on praising. When they told her if she recovered, she would be disfigured for life, she praised louder than ever.

She shouted and sang and praised until the Lord showed her the praise basket was full and overflowing. Then, she fell asleep. When she woke up, all her symptoms had vanished, leaving no trace, not even a single scar. The world didn’t have an answer to her trouble. But God did.

Praise was the cure. Are you facing an impossible situation today? Praise is the cure. You can fill your praise basket to overflowing, forcing the troubles in your life to vanish and leave no trace of ever being there if you’ll do one thing: use the praise cure.

Here’s how you start.

1. Praise God for His faithfulness to His Word 

This is exactly what the Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah did.

Praise God for His faithfulness to His Word. His Word never fails. It never returns void. And He ALWAYS keeps His promises. Praise Him for it!

2. Keep praising God until you break through.

Some people want to throw up one or two “Hallelujahs” and call it a day, but that’s not how praise will cure your trouble. The missionary who was healed praised until her breakthrough came.

Something happens when you move over into a spirit of praise that keeps going until you break through. There’s power in praise—that’s why Psalm 22:3 says He inhabits the praises of His people.

Some people want to praise quietly to themselves. That won’t work!

You cannot sit there with your mouth shut and expect the praise cure to work for you. There is no silent praise. You’ve got to open your mouth!

Be loud. Be bold. Give confident thanks to God. You can’t afford to be silent.

Acts 16:25-26 | NKJV (25) But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. (26) Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.

Remember…Paul and Silas were praising out loud. Their backs were bleeding; they were in pain; their hands and feet were bound. It looked like the devil had won a victory. But he made one mistake… and you can imagine Paul saying to the devil, “You’ve got my hands and feet bound, but you should’ve taped my mouth shut—because as long as I can move my mouth, I can move a mountain. As long as I can move my mouth, I have authority.”

And their praises went through that prison and up to heaven. Then the power of God came down on that sound and set them—and everyone around them—FREE.

• If you dare to lift your voice in praise, not only will it set you free; it can set those around you free, too.

Keep praising. Keep praising. Keep praising. Fill up that praise basket until it is full and overflowing!

As we have discussed in previous messages, there will most likely be a process in receiving the manifestation of your healing.

Process (Dictionary) – a series of actions or steps taken to achieve a particular end.

• This process could be more appropriately named “the good fight of faith.”

1 Timothy 6:12 | NKJV (12) Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Because it is a process there will be an opportunity for you to quit and give up.

We need to understand this process so that we can walk through the process.

Although he specifically mentions eternal life, the same is applicable to whatever you are believing for.

“Lay hold” – (GREEK) – to seize, catch, or take hold of.

• The good fight of faith is a fight where you hold on to something and a fight where you say something.

The enemy is going to try and get you to let go of it and not to say it.

Abraham is our model of the good fight of faith.

Romans 4:11-12 | NKJV (11) And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, (12) and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

We must follow the steps of faith that God took Abraham through to receive the results.

Romans 4:16-21 | NKJV (16) Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (17) (as it is written, “I HAVE MADE YOU A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS”) in the presence of Him whom he believed–God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; (18) who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.” (19) And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. (20) He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, (21) and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

Abraham’s Steps of Faith Are:

1. Abraham believed what God had promised him. (v.18)

Abraham simply believed that what God said was true and he could base his life on it.

All Abraham had to go on was what God has said.

1. Abraham did not allow himself to be deterred because he was in a hopeless situation. (v.18)

Romans 4:18 | NLT (18) Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping–believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”

Hope = Expectation

2. Abraham cooperated and flowed with the process.

The power is released, and nothing happens that we can see. We have this idea that when God releases His power, something spectacular happens in the seen realm.

God did it in the life of Abraham; it was a process.

• • • God works just as much in the gradual things as He does in the big bangs.

3. Abraham did not dwell on how God was going to do this. That is being weak in faith. (v. 19-20)

That is trying to do God’s job. Worrying will never bring you to a point of solution. Those things belong to the Lord and are above your pay grade.

Instead, Abraham gave glory to God. When you give glory to God, you are making progress. You are taking steps forward.

4. Abraham was fully convinced in his heart and mind. (v 21)

Abraham convinced himself by the words that he spoke and what he focused on.

Nobody can persuade you like you can. You have the God-given power to persuade yourself.

Mark 11:22-23 | NKJV (22) So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. (23) For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

Did you notice that Jesus said in verse 23, if a person confesses something “and shall not doubt in his heart” – in other words, if he believes the words he is speaking with his mouth – he will have exactly what he says.

The word “doubt” is from the Greek word diakrinomai, which means to hesitate, to waver, to doubt, or to differ.

In context, Jesus is saying that when a person’s heart doesn’t differ from what his mouth is saying, the combination of his heart and mouth in agreement will always make things happen!

I call this concept “the heart-mouth connection.”

• For instance, if you believe in your heart that Jesus purchased your salvation, and you put your heartfelt faith together with the confession of your mouth, you can literally receive that salvation and make it an eternal fact.
• For instance, if you believe in your heart that Jesus purchased your healing, and you put your heartfelt faith together with the confession of your mouth, you can literally bring that healing into manifestation in your physical body.
• God’s creative power is released when the heart and mouth get into agreement on God’s Word!

That is why you must be aware about what you believe in your heart and say with your mouth, because when your heart and mouth get “in sync” with each other, it literally makes things come to pass!

Hebrews 6:11-12 | TPT (11) But we long to see you passionately advance until the end and you find your hope fulfilled. (12) So don’t allow your hearts to grow dull or lose your enthusiasm, but follow the example of those who fully received what God has promised because of their strong faith and patient endurance.

• Patience in this verse means to endure until you receive the results.

Luke 17:11 | NKJV (11) Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

Samaria was an area that Orthodox Jews did not go into because the Samaritans were half-breed Jews because they had at one time married Gentiles. Despite all of this, Jesus walked right through (in the midst) of this region. Why? Because religious tradition did not dictate to Jesus where He went or did not go and who He should talk to or not.

• • Jesus went anywhere there were hurting and/or hungry people.

He did not care about what people would say about where He went.

No matter where someone’s life might be, off course, and away from God, Jesus will pass right through the midst of their life to reach them like He did these people. He loves people that much. He was letting this society of outcasts know that He was available to them.

Jesus will never force Himself on someone, but He is available to everyone who will receive Him.

Luke 17:12 | NKJV (12) Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.

These men must have been deemed outcasts by the priest because of their physical condition of leprosy. They left their lives, their families, and their society. Therefore, it was not uncommon for lepers to live together in groups, because all they had was each other. They had to stay a certain distance from other people.

Also, if someone caught leprosy, it was believed that they had come under the judgment of God for some reason. They were looked down upon because of this mindset. They did not receive compassion from others in society because it was believed that God had done this to these people. God does not put sickness and disease on anyone! These lepers came as close as they could to Jesus and the other people without violating the guidelines of the law.

Luke 17:13 | NKJV (13) And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

They would not have called out to Jesus for help unless they had heard something about Jesus. They were in a hopeless situation but somehow, they received hope that Jesus could and would help them.

Many people needing healing would cry out for mercy. Sometimes, they would not say, “heal us” but “have mercy on me.” They would cry out for God’s mercy.

• • This tells us that healing is a flow of God’s mercy.

Psalms 145:8-9 | NKJV (8) The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy. (9) The LORD is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.

2 Corinthians 1:3 | NKJV (3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

God has more than one mercy. Forgiveness of sin is one and healing is another.

Matthew 9:27 | NKJV (27) When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”

Matthew 15:22 | NKJV (22) And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”

Matthew 17:15 | NKJV (15) “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

• • Anything that their life needed, God’s mercy could fulfill!
  • The mercy of God contains all the help of God!

Luke 17:14 | NKJV (14) So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

Luke 17:14 MSG Taking a good look at them…

The word was given to them, “Go show yourself to the priests” before there was any physical change in their bodies. The ONLY reason to go show themselves to the priests would have been if they were cleansed (healed). The men turned and went believing the words of Jesus and “as they went”, they were cleansed. The removal of leprosy is referred to as a “cleansing” and not as a “healing”. The process of leprosy was stopped at that moment. No more damage to the skin was taking place.

• • When we need a miracle, He will give us a word to obey.

To go and show themselves to the priests meant they were to go somewhere they weren’t supposed to be among people. This required faith to obey this instruction.

Luke 17:15-16 | NKJV (15) And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, (16) and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

He must have not seen anything when he first went, but as he obeyed what Jesus said to him, he was healed.

“…loud voice…” (GREEK) megas phōnē

This man got loud in his giving of thanks. He was a Samaritan. He did not know the formal way to worship God. He had not been taught.

Before now, he was visibly a leper, but now he was very loudly healed!

Luke 17:17-18 | NKJV (17) So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? (18) Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”

Jesus was expecting all of them to return to give thanks! Returning to give God glory for what He has done for us is important to us and it is important to Him. Only one returned to express proper gratitude for what they had received. Are we showing proper gratitude to the Lord for what He has done in our lives?

Gratitude keeps the door shut from allowing the devil from being able to steal what we have received.

Luke 17:19 | NKJV (19) And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” (KJV – “whole”)

When the man returned and worshipped Jesus, Jesus called that “faith”.

• • Worship is one of the highest flows of faith.

The other lepers were healed of leprosy, but this man was made whole. The process of leprosy was stopped in all ten of the men, but this man had received what was taken by the disease restored and made whole. This man’s worship gave him something the others did not receive from Jesus.

Jesus was disappointed that the others did not return because He wanted to make them whole too.

• • Worship connects us to the mercy and the healing power of God.

Two Ways You Can Receive Your Healing

The Healing Stream of Prayer

• You can pray the prayer of faith to receive healing for yourself, or someone can pray the prayer of faith for you.

Mark 11:24 | NKJV (24) Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

James 5:14-16 | NKJV (14) Is anyone among you sick? 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. (15) And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. (16) Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

There are three things that we can note from this scripture:

1. James asks the question, “Is there any sick among you?” implying that it could be that there would not be any sick people in the group, and everyone was walking in healing by faith.
2. It proves that healing is for everyone. James said “anyone” meaning that it was available to whosoever would receive it.
3. Then we see that it is the prayer of faith that will save the sick. The Greek word for “save” is the word “sozo” and can be translated “deliverance from sickness, to heal or restore health.”

• You can also pray the prayer of agreement found in Matthew 18:19.

Matthew 18:19 | NKJV (19) “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.

The Healing Stream of the Anointing

• Another method of receiving healing is being ministered to with a tangible anointing.

Acts 10:38 | NKJV (38) how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

There are many methods in the Scripture of ministering healing, but the most prominent one seems to be the laying on of hands. It was a point of contact through which the healing anointing could be transferred. The Bible also mentions that people touched Jesus’ clothes, or that He spit upon someone, and they were healed.

Mark 5:30 | NLT (30) Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from Him, so He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched My robe?”

What was the power that went out of Him? It was the healing power of God. It was the power with which He was anointed.

• This stream of receiving healing is available today when the anointing is present.

There is something that you need to understand about this stream of healing and that is there is a role you play as a receiver. When healing is ministered by a tangible anointing, the power of God is present to heal, but the person has a part to play too.

• It’s the person’s faith that gives action to the healing power of God that is transmitted to him, say by the laying on of hands.

We use our faith to give action to the power of God.

Mark 5:34 | NKJV (34) And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

It was her faith that received from that anointing that was present on Jesus to heal.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 | NKJV  (7) But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:  (8)  for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,  (9)  to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,  (10)  to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.  (11) But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

The Gifts or Manifestations of the Spirit are wonderful and should be in operation in and through the Church, but you cannot always guarantee that God is going to move spectacularly through the Gifts.

• God moves in the Gifts of the Spirit as He wills.

Therefore, we do not always know when God will move in this way.

Why wait to receive something that has already been purchased for you and given to you by the Lord?

• We must always remember that when the Gifts of the Spirit are not in operation, people can always be healed through faith in God’s Word.

1 Peter 2:24 | NKJV (24) who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.

If you were healed, then you are healed right now! We just need to learn to receive by faith what is already ours.

• Healing is not a promise of something to come; it is a fact of our Redemption in Christ!

That is why we must teach and preach the Word of God so that faith can arise in people’s hearts to receive.

Romans 10:17 | NKJV (17) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

• We may not know when God will move this way, but we do know that God’s Word ALWAYS works!

Psalms 107:20 | NKJV (20) He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.

Not discounting the Gifts of the Spirit, healings and miracles can occur simply by teaching people the Word of God and by getting them to exercise their own faith for healing.

Whether I am anointed for healing or not, God’s Word is always anointed. God’s Word is always the same whether I feel the anointing or not.

Here is the key: Base your faith on God’s Word and not on the anointing!

You can be healed in an environment where the healing anointing is not present.

• You can receive your healing by faith because there is a healing anointing in God’s Word.

Just in the same manner, you activate the healing anointing that is contained in the Word of God through your faith.

The healing anointing and faith in God’s Word both yield the same results – Healing!

Acts 10:38 | NKJV (38) how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Very often, God will do miracles to show people Who He is and that he loves them very much.

Matthew 15:29-31 | NLT (29) Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down. (30) A vast crowd brought to Him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn’t speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus, and He healed them all. (31) The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking, and the blind could see again! And they praised the God of Israel.

Acts 8:5-8 | NKJV (5) Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. (6) And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. (7) For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. (8) And there was great joy in that city.

For new followers of Christ, God will help them with miracles out of His great love and mercy for them.

As we grow and mature in our walk, those miracles seem to become fewer and fewer. Why? Because there is a greater way for us to live as believers.

The danger is this: if you look at Jesus’ ministry and what happened in the Book of Acts and think that unless healing happens that way, then it is not healing, you are wrong.

It is just as much healing whether it takes time or not.

2 Kings 20:5-7 | NLT (5) “Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of My people. Tell him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the LORD. (6) I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My own honor and for the sake of My servant David.’” (7) Then Isaiah said, “Make an ointment from figs.” So Hezekiah’s servants spread the ointment over the boil, and Hezekiah recovered!

This shows us that there was a gradual healing in the word “recovered.”

Mark 16:15-18 | NKJV (15) And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. (16) He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

(17) And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; (18) they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

When we are always looking for the instantaneous miracle, we miss God’s wonderful way of healing called “recovery.”

Why is the process of recovery better than a miracle?

Receiving from God by the process of faith is better because you learn how to obtain and maintain from God what He has said in His Word.

1 Timothy 6:12 | NKJV (12) Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

1 Timothy 6:12 | MSG (12) Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.

We must learn how to receive from God through fighting the good fight of faith.

Paul is telling us that anything that we receive from God, is more than just receiving it by faith.

Once the Children of Israel got into the Promised Land and began to occupy and live there and it begins to produce for them, someone was always trying to take it from them. These people were coming and trying to take from them the “stuff” God had given to them.

Canaan is a picture of our Christian life. There will be a fight to lay hold of what God has given to you.

You receive what God has for you by faith but there is a fight to lay hold of it and to keep it.

“Lay hold” means to grab it and hold on tight; to get a hold of in order to obtain and possess

In the fight of faith, we need to learn to “hold on” to what is ours.

We often see ourselves as people who don’t have something, and we are trying to get it. The good fight of faith is just the opposite.

Healing is already yours and the enemy would like to keep you from receiving it or take from you what is already yours.

It is like having the title to something. The title is not the thing but if you hold the title, you have the thing. If you hold on to the title, sooner or later the thing will show up.

The devil comes to my mind and tells me I am not going to get it. He should be saying, “You have it, and I want to take it…”

The way that he postures himself is to try and convince you that you do not have it.

Let’s make sure we have established that the price for our healing has already been paid through what Jesus did for us at the Cross:

Isaiah 53:3-5 | NKJV (3) He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (4) Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. (5) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

• Griefs (HEBREW) Choli – disease, sickness, some kind of illness
• Sorrows (HEBREW) Makob – pain, suffering, sorrow
• Healed (HEBREW) Rapha – The process of healing, being restored to health, made healthy, restored to fertility.

Galatians 3:13-14 | NKJV (13) Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”), (14) that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Matthew 8:16-17 | NKJV (16) When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, (17) that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND BORE OUR SICKNESSES.”

Matthew 8:17 | TPT (17) In doing this, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: He put upon himself our weaknesses, and he carried away our diseases and made us well.

1 Peter 2:24 | NKJV (24) who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.

How Do I Begin to Receive My Healing?

1. Look to Jesus and what He has already done.

Numbers 21:4-9 | NKJV (4) Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. (5) And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” (6) So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. (7) Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. (8) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”

The serpents were in the desert the whole time. But because of the hard hearts, murmuring, and complaining, God permitted the serpents to come in and bite the people.

Serpents are a type of sin and brass is a type of obstinance or persistency in sin. The serpent is then put up on a pole and lifted up and whoever looks at it will live.

Looks (HEBREW) nabat – Looking somewhat intensely in a focused way at something.

This was not just a casual glance at the serpent. They had to look at it with focus and determination.

John 3:14-17 | NKJV (14) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, (15) that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (16) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (17) For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Jesus makes an allusion to the fact that He would be crucified by mentioning that He was going to be “lifted up.”

Jesus said that people would have to believe on Him and in Numbers people just had to look on the serpent. We have this comparison but looking and believing are very closely connected.

If you are not looking, you are going to have a hard time believing. Whatever you look at it, will have a great impact on what you believe.

You steer towards whatever you stare at.

You cannot have strong and effective faith if you are not looking at the right things.

2. Follow what you are looking at with your words.

1. 1. 1. Believing what you say (building your faith by your words)

Romans 10:17 | NKJV (17) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The highest interpretation of this Scripture is that faith comes when you hear yourself speak the Word of God. This is because you believe what you say.

Your faith is given to you through the Word. Your faith is not some kind of noble quality that you have because you are a good person or even a Christian. It comes to you because you hear (or give attention to) the Word of God. It is imparted to you directly because of the attention given to the Word of God.

You can make your faith go to a high level based on the level of attention that you give the Word of God.

1. 1. 2. Saying what you believe (speaking from your faith):

Mark 11:23 | NKJV (23) For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

Proverbs 4:20-22 | NKJV (20) My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. (21) Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; (22) For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.

Proverbs 4:20-22 | NET (20) My child, pay attention to my words; listen attentively to my sayings. (21) Do not let them depart from your sight, guard them within your heart; (22) for they are life to those who find them and healing to one’s entire body.

If we are told to take a prescription by our Doctor, there is no arguing with this. We will stay with it until the condition that required the medicine is changed or gone altogether.

We are willing to do this even if we do not see immediate results. We need to give the Word the same diligence.

When you speak the Word of God, you are releasing the seed of God’s power that is contained in that Word to cause itself to come to pass.

Acts 10:38 | NKJV (38) how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

More times than not, the road to divine healing is often littered with roadblocks by the devil to keep us from being able to receive our healing.

These roadblocks wear subtle disguises and come from many sources based on tradition, superstition, and wrong teaching from the Scriptures.

Let’s unravel one of the greatest misunderstandings of the Bible:

From: The Permissive Sense: Hints and Helps to Bible Interpretation by Troy J. Edwards

• The foundation of all faith in the Bible is really based on God’s character and our understanding of it.
• People are not angry at God… They are angry at a false representation of God.

Too often theologians attributed Satan’s works to God and have led many people to hate the wrong person. One can easily understand why the enemy would seek to integrate these wrong theological ideas into the Church. It is thinking such as this that causes agnostics and atheists to hate God. Doctrines that denigrate God’s character are responsible for numerous lost souls and passive Christians.

This causes people to lean in one of two extremes:

• I question the divine inspiration or infallibility of the Scriptures.

OR

• Since I cannot understand it, I’ll just throw out the Old Testament altogether and only base what I believe on the New Testament.

Thankfully, there is another option.

We can study and gain some understanding of the original language.

Things to remember about the Bible:

• The Bible is a Hebrew Book.
• The Hebrew people were an ancient Eastern Oriental culture whose language and understanding of life was quite different than modern day western society.
• The Hebrews had modes of speech and idiomatic language that is different from our own.
• Our western Bible translators quite often engaged in literal translation of the Scriptures.
• They did not necessarily interpret the Hebrew Oriental Eastern idioms.
• There are no contradictions or errors in the Bible. There is only a failure to thoroughly examine the language of the Bible.
• The original writers of Scripture did not view certain statements in Scripture the way we do today.

“The Hebrews and indeed the orientalists, often use verbs metonymically with respect to those who are not themselves the authors of any action, but who afford occasion of performing it by not performing it.”

“The solution is to take time to understand the Bible language – its use of certain phrases and idioms. We must understand how they differ from our culture, language and expressions.” (A Treatise on the Peculiarities of the Bible – Elias Rendell, 1853)

Metonym – a word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated. For example, suit for business executive, or the track for horse racing or Washington is a metonym for the federal government of the US.

In other words, “…the Hebrew was fond of using a causative verb for a permissive.” Another scholar stated that “…in the style of Scripture, God is often said to do what He only permits to be done…”

It is very important that we have knowledge of this fact since our attempts to understand God’s Word with a Western mindset has denigrated His character.

We must also understand that the Scriptures, while inerrant and infallible, must be interpreted in this light. Without this, errors will abound.

Failure to understand has allowed Satan to deceive Christians into accepting sin, sickness, poverty, disaster, and failure as coming from the hand of a “loving God” as their predestined lot in life. The painful circumstances are attacks from Satan, but people submit to them because believe that it is God doing it to them. Yet James 4: 7 tells us, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

If we believe these things are God’s doing, we will not resist Satan’s attacks.

What is the “permissive sense”?

• God’s permission should never be confused with commission.

God created man with the will to choose and make decisions for his own life.

Deuteronomy 30:19 | ERV (30) “Today I am giving you a choice of two ways. And I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses of your choice. You can choose life or death. The first choice will bring a blessing. The other choice will bring a curse. So choose life! Then you and your children will live.

For example, God permits people to establish bars and nightclubs. He permits people to steal and kill. But He certainly doesn’t commission those actions. There is a vast difference between permission and commission.

God respects the freedom of choice that He created people with. God will permit a person to sin without restraint when there is no integrity of their heart.

• The permissive sense is God allowing circumstances that He would normally protect an individual or nation from.

This usually happens when an individual or nation refuses to repent (from sin) and continues in disobedience. This leaves God with no choice but to remove His protection from them.

God will let a person suffer from the inevitable consequences of their sin, as the punishment for the sin is in the seed of sin itself. He allows the person to reap what they have sown.

God exercises this permission of sin and circumstances by departing from and forsaking an individual or nation and allowing whatever forces, both spiritual and physical that desired to destroy them but could not due to His presence, to have their way.

Nothing can ever harm us when we have God’s protective presence (Psalm 91) but, if He ever withdraws that from us then woe be unto us.

Hosea 9:12 | NKJV (12) Though they bring up their children, Yet I will bereave them to the last man. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!

• These things that God permits are NOT His will and His DESIGN!

What we see is a good God who has been pushed away by His creation because they prefer the temporary pleasures of sin more than a gracious God who wants to protect them from sin’s destructive power.

So, what is the answer to these seemingly contradictions of the Scripture?

The Bible Is Its Own Dictionary and Commentary

“Study your Bible comparatively. That is compare Scripture with Scripture. The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself. Wherever you find a difficult passage in the Bible, there is always some passage elsewhere that explains its meaning.” (R. A. Torrey How to Succeed in the Christian Life, 1906)

God wants us to know and understand specific things about His character. He wants us to know that He is loving, kind, fair in judgment, and would never do us wrong.

Helpful Bible Interpretation Tip

• What is in the Old Testament concealed is in the New Testament revealed.

St Augustine said this about his understanding of the Bible:

“The New is in the Old contained; the Old is by the New explained.”

• When you interpret the Scripture, you always use the greatest light that you have to bring light on that particular subject.

You may begin interpreting the New Testament in light of the Old Testament. But, as we uncover principles in the Old Testament, they should hold true throughout the entire Bible unless the New Testament gives us more revelation on the subject. The New Testament is the higher revelation.

Mark 1:40-42 | NKJV (40) Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” (41) Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” (42) As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

• It was and always shall be the will of God for people to be healed!

Psalms 107:19-21 | NKJV (19) Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. (20) He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions. (21) Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!

Promise Vs. Fact

Promise (DEFINED) – A declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified.

The key to a promise is that something WILL happen.

Redemption and salvation as we know it was a promise of something to come in the Old Testament.

The promise always looked to the future.

Ezekiel 11:19-20 | NKJV (19) Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, (20) that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 | NKJV (26) I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (27) I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

Joel 2:32 | NKJV (32) And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.

We must understand the difference between a promise of redemption and the fact that redemption has already taken place.

Fact: (DEFINED) the truth about events that HAVE taken place.

The work of redemption was begun by Jesus at the Cross and completed at His resurrection.

Salvation is no longer a promise. It is a fact of the completed work of redemption.

To be saved, we don’t receive the promise of salvation. We put our faith in the completed work of Jesus for our salvation.

Romans 10:9-10 | NKJV (9) that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

We can clearly see the promise of healing in the Old Testament.

Exodus 15:26 | NKJV (26) and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”

Exodus 23:25 | NKJV (25) “So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.

Psalms 103:1-5 | NKJV (1) Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! (2) Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: (3) Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, (4) Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, (5) Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

In the Old Testament, healing was a conditional promise of something that God would do for His people largely based on their obedience.

But then we see the Lord begin to talk about a work that was going to take place in the future.

Isaiah 53:3 | AMPC (3) He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him.

But sandwiched in the prophecy about the payment for our sins and iniquities, we something else about this work.

Isaiah 53:4-5 | AMPC (4) Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. [Matt. 8:17.] (5) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.

Isaiah lets us know that there will be more to the work of redemption than just the purchasing of our spiritual salvation.

On this side of the cross, we see that the work spoken about has happened and is completed for us.

1 Peter 2:24 | NKJV (24) who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.

In his book Sparkling Gems from the Greek, Rick Renner says,

In First Peter 2:24, the apostle Peter quoted Isaiah 53:5. He told his readers, “By whose stripes ye were healed.” The word “stripes” used in this verse is molopsi, which describes a full- body bruise. It refers to a terrible lashing that draws blood and that produces discoloration and swelling of the entire body. When Peter wrote this verse, he wasn’t speaking by revelation but by memory, for he vividly remembered what happened to Jesus that night and what His physical appearance looked like after His scourging.

After graphically reminding us of the beating, bleeding, and bruising that Jesus endured, Peter jubilantly declared that it was by these same stripes that we are “healed.” The word “healed” is the Greek word iaomai — a word that clearly refers to physical healing, as it is a word borrowed from the medical term to describe the physical healing or curing of the human body.

For those who think this promise refers to spiritual healing only, the Greek word emphatically speaks of the healing of a physical condition. This is a real declaration of bodily healing that belongs to all who have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ!

Healing is something already purchased, and the work is already done.

It is received in the same way that salvation is received, by faith.

1 Timothy 6:12 | NKJV (12) Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

In the fight of faith, we need to learn to “lay hold” what is ours.

Very often, we see ourselves as people who don’t have something, and we are trying to get it.

Healing is already yours and the enemy would like to keep you from receiving it or take from you what is already yours.

When the devil comes to your mind and tells you that you are not going to get your healing, he actually should be saying, “You already have your healing and I want to take it from you…”

1 Peter 2:24 | NKJV (24) who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.

Begin to see yourself as someone who was healed and if you were healed then you are healed.

Four areas of the human existence that people have needs: Spiritually, Relationally, Physically, and Financially.

You must establish for yourself what the will of God is for you as it is written in God’s Word.

Until we know what God’s will is, there is nothing on which to base our faith. This is true of any of the things God has provided for us, including the New Birth. One can receive salvation when we are sure that it is God’s will to save us.

• Faith begins where the will of God is known. – F. F. Bosworth

It is not enough to know that God is able to heal someone, you must know that it is God’s will for you to be healed.

• Your faith will never go beyond your highest question mark.
• To see what God is like, all you have to do is look at Jesus.

John 14:8-10 | NKJV (8) Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” (9) Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (10) Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.

• To know what the will of God is, you just have to look at Jesus.

John 6:38 | NKJV (38) For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

John 5:19 | NKJV (19) Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

John 8:29 | NKJV (29) And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”

Most of the laws governing the earth today came into being through the fall of man – when Adam sinned and the curse came upon the earth. Because people do not understand this they accuse and blame God for accidents, sickness, and the death of loved ones. People also blame God for storms, catastrophes, earthquakes, and floods that occur. These are not acts of God. They are acts of Satan our adversary.

If Jesus perfectly represented the Father, and He did, we don’t see Jesus bringing storms on people. We see Him rebuking and calming the storms.

Acts 10:38 | NKJV (38) how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

• God is the One that anointed Jesus to heal ALL who were oppressed by the devil.

Peter called sickness an oppression from the devil.

Mark 16:15-18 | NKJV (15) And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. (16) He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. (17) And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; (18) they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Which sick people did Jesus say to lay hands on and they would recover? The implication is ALL of them. If it were God’s will for some to remain sick, Jesus would have had to have said something like, “Lay hands on those that it is God’s will to heal, and they shall recover. And those whom it isn’t God’s will to heal, they won’t recover.”

Let’s See Jesus in Action:

Luke 5:12-13 | NKJV (12) And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” (13) Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him.

Leprosy was a living death. He was “full of leprosy.”

Notice he said, “Lord if you are willing, You can make me clean.”

There are millions of people that believe in God but are in the same place that this man was. They know that God is ABLE but are unsure if He is WILLING.

Notice Jesus put out His hand to touch the man. Jesus was willing to touch the untouchable. This was Jesus’ response to the man when he said what he said in verse 12.

Hebrews 13:8 | NKJV (8) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

• This is not a fairy tale. It really happened and Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.

If Jesus is not willing to do the same thing today, then He is not the same and that He is a respecter of persons. Jesus never said, “I won’t…” or “I don’t want to” in the Bible when ministering healing.

There are those that believe that it may not be the will of God. Where do they find that in the Bible?

• If He was saying, “I am willing” then, then He is saying, “I am willing” now.

Matthew 4:23-24 | NKJV (23) And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. (24) Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.

Matthew 8:16-17 | NKJV (16) When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, (17) that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND BORE OUR SICKNESSES.” (took away or removed)

Matthew 12:15 | NKJV (15) But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.

Matthew 14:13-14 | NKJV (13) When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. (14) And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.

Matthew 15:29-31 | NKJV (29) Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. (30) Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them. (31) So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

Matthew 19:1-2 | NKJV (1) Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. (2) And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.

(Some of the material for this sermon comes from the book titled, The Untapped Power of Praise, by Pastor Kenneth Hagin, Jr.)

Throughout history there has been a search by man for a cure for the ills, pains, and distresses that people face. Most often these are sought for physical ailments.

Even today, there are those that seek some kind of “cure” or relief for physical conditions and will try many things.

• The greatest cure known to mankind can be found in praising God.

The greatest deliverance known to man is within the reach of every believer on this earth—and it is found in praising God from a sincere heart of love and gratitude!

The praise cure—God’s cure—is a cure that never fails in any circumstance or situation. And it is both pleasant and effective. There are no bad side effects with this medicine.

• What’s also unusual about this cure is that as you learn how to implement it, this cure will always work for you—and there’s no charge for it!

The reason this cure is so effective and is guaranteed to bring results is that it is based on God’s Word! The praise cure was purchased and put into effect by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary when He paid for our redemption on the Cross.

But even in the Old Testament, God began teaching His children about the praise cure and its benefits. We need to look at some of the mighty exploits the children of Israel experienced as a result of praising God. The Bible says that what the Israelites experienced were examples written for our admonition and benefit (1 Cor. 10:11).

2 Chronicles 20:17, 20-25 | NKJV (17) You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.” (20) So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” (21) And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever.” (22) Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. (23) For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. (24) So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped. (25) When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much.

• The Israelites’ offensive weapon against the enemy was praise!

God could have told the Israelites to hold a prayer meeting. Or he could have given them any number of strategies. But instead, He said, “Don’t worry about the enemy. I will deliver you. Just praise Me and watch Me work”! Evidently the Lord knew something about conquering the enemy the children of Israel didn’t know.

• Praise is an effective weapon against the enemy!

The Lord knows the enemy can’t tolerate the praises of God’s people!

Psalms 22:3 | KJV (3) But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

Psalms 22:3 | AMPC (3) But You are holy, O You Who dwell in [the holy place where] the praises of Israel [are offered].

Psalms 22:3 | ERV (3) God, you are the Holy One. You sit as King upon the praises of Israel.

• Since God inhabits the praises of His people, the enemy flees at the sound of praise, because at the sound of heartfelt praise, God comes on the scene!

In her book, “Healing From Heaven,” Dr. Lilian B. Yeomans tells the story about a woman named Rosa Smith who went to China as a missionary many years ago when China was open to receiving the gospel. She then contracted smallpox. She faced dire natural circumstances: No vaccine. No cure. No hope of survival. She didn’t beg God. She didn’t pray and hope He would do something. She didn’t start a prayer chain.

In faith, she asked Him what she should do.

This is what He told her… Praise Me. Praise Me for My faithfulness to My Word. Then, He showed her a vision of an empty basket labeled “Praise.” He told her when she had filled it to the top, she would receive her healing. So—even as ill as she was—she began singing, shouting and praising the Lord. The doctors thought she was delirious and told her to be quiet, but she kept on praising. When they told her if she recovered, she would be disfigured for life, she praised louder than ever.

She shouted and sang and praised until the Lord showed her the praise basket was full and overflowing. Then, she fell asleep. When she woke up, all her symptoms had vanished, leaving no trace, not even a single scar. The world didn’t have an answer to her trouble. But God did.

Praise was the cure. Are you facing an impossible situation today? Praise is the cure. You can fill your praise basket to overflowing, forcing the troubles in your life to vanish and leave no trace of ever being there if you’ll do one thing: use the praise cure.

Here’s how you start.

1. Praise God for His faithfulness to His Word 

This is exactly what the Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah did.

Praise God for His faithfulness to His Word. His Word never fails. It never returns void. And He ALWAYS keeps His promises. Praise Him for it!

2. Keep praising God until you break through.

Some people want to throw up one or two “Hallelujahs” and call it a day, but that’s not how praise will cure your trouble. The missionary who was healed praised until her breakthrough came.

Something happens when you move over into a spirit of praise that keeps going until you break through. There’s power in praise—that’s why Psalm 22:3 says He inhabits the praises of His people.

Some people want to praise quietly to themselves. That won’t work!

You cannot sit there with your mouth shut and expect the praise cure to work for you. There is no silent praise. You’ve got to open your mouth!

Be loud. Be bold. Give confident thanks to God. You can’t afford to be silent.

Acts 16:25-26 | NKJV (25) But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. (26) Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.

Remember…Paul and Silas were praising out loud. Their backs were bleeding; they were in pain; their hands and feet were bound. It looked like the devil had won a victory. But he made one mistake… and you can imagine Paul saying to the devil, “You’ve got my hands and feet bound, but you should’ve taped my mouth shut—because as long as I can move my mouth, I can move a mountain. As long as I can move my mouth, I have authority.”

And their praises went through that prison and up to heaven. Then the power of God came down on that sound and set them—and everyone around them—FREE.

• If you dare to lift your voice in praise, not only will it set you free; it can set those around you free, too.

Keep praising. Keep praising. Keep praising. Fill up that praise basket until it is full and overflowing!