The Force of Life

His words do not return to Him void; that is they accomplish what He sends them out to do (Is. 55:11). When He said “Be fruitful and multiply, filling the earth,” it was a force so strong and LIFE so powerful that life still exists today, filling the earth more and more every day. And not just human life, but animals, plants, and microorganisms all continue to this day to flourish. Life goes forth, filling the earth. Life dominates.

Life = The property or quality by which living organisms are distinguished from dead organisms or inanimate matter, esp. as shown in the ability to grow, carry on metabolism, respond to stimuli, and reproduce. (Riverside Webster’s II Dictionary)

If we follow this definition, then life is the opposite of death. And therefore, God has no death in Him at all -- in fact He is and has the properties in complete opposition to death and all that pertains to death. He is the very life force of all creation.

Death = The cessation of life. The state of being dead. Termination or extinction. The cause of dying. (Riverside Webster’s II Dictionary)

The Bible says that Satan is Death. (Rev. 6:8) And when Jesus said the thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), what did He mean? What can Satan steal from us? Our salvation? Not if we’re God’s chosen elect (John 5:24). The most he can steal from us are physical things like possessions, and if we allow him or give him entrance, our happiness, our peace, and at most, our physical lives. This is obviously running counter to the will of God, because Jesus warned us to take care that we don’t allow ourselves to be robbed (Rev. 3:11).

Robbed of what? Our peace, our happiness, our lives. The very things that Jesus came to give us. The Truth about the goodness of God and His good will for us (James 1:17).

He said He bequeathed to us HIS peace -- not the world's peace which is fleeting and situational -- but perfect peace and unity with the Father (John 14:27, 16:33, Gal. 5:22, Phil.4:7). He gave us joy, and life, telling us that He came so we could have our lives (John 10:10). He wants us to have life and peace and joy. If you have any doubt about that at all, please dig into the Word, look up every reference on those words and you will begin to see the connection between God, goodness, life, peace, and joy.

They are all ours, gifts from God -- free of charge! -- by grace, for THIS LIFETIME as well as the life to come.

What then, is Satan’s goal? What motivates him to go after Christians if he can’t have their souls? I mean, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, consecrated -- Holy To God -- by the will of God the Father who is incapable of losing or being wrong or not accomplishing everything His word says (Eph.1:13, 4:30, Exod. 28:36-38, ). So what does Satan hope to do by coming against God’s blessed children (us, as Christians)?

He hopes to convince us that it’s God’s will for us to receive Satan’s punishment; to make us miserable, sad, weak, sick, depressed, and tired. He hopes we’ll believe that what he has, his punishment -- misery, darkness, sadness, despair, separation from God -- is actually God’s will for us! What a deception he has sought to teach us! And unfortunately, many Christians believe that God uses the things of the devil in order to teach us.

This is completely unscriptural. Jesus didn’t even want the evil spirits proclaiming who He was to the crowd (Luke 4:34,35)! God uses His word (2 Tim.3:16) and the witness of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26), either through us directly or through the anointed teachings of others, to guide us, teach us, and correct us.

(Of course, God can use ANY situation for ultimate good, and He will, but sickness was never His will or His plan for us. His plan is for us to walk through this life with Him, obedient and blessed, by faith and trusting in His word which says we are healed by the punishment Jesus took in our place. If you have any doubt at all about this, read the Bible to find out what He says He wants for us, how He gives good things to His children, has good plans for us, give us every good thing, etc.)

What a lie we have believed in thinking that Satan’s fruit -- evil, anguish, hatred, sickness, chaos, confusion -- is used by God to teach us. It is unthinkable that we Christians would believe such lies about our Good Father, but it is time we go forward in truth, in light, and stop allowing the lies of Satan to keep us down.

Is it logical or conceivable that God uses the author of pride and lies to teach us not to be proud and to obey truth? Where would we get such an idea except from the author of lies and pride? (Prov.6:17, 16:18, James 4:6, John 8:44, Ezek. 28:17)

What is the purpose of sickness? Biblically, it is a fruit of sin and disobedience (Deut.28:15-68). It is a curse. Biologically, it is an attack and an invasion by an organism seeking to overcome our bodies by killing us. This is also Satan’s goal: death. Sin, sickness, death -- it's all of Satan and it is not of God. Satan uses sickness, but he’s not trying to make us sick -- he's trying to make us dead. Our enemy is trying to kill us and we ignorantly allow it, thinking that God has planned it. He hasn’t planned it -- sickness is a fruit of sin and we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus! Not only did God not plan for us to be sick, He set it all up specifically so that we wouldn't.

He sent Jesus and Jesus overcame Satan and disarmed him so that we don’t have to be overcome by him. It is done. Why did Jesus heal everyone who came to Him and then tell us to go out and heal others if He wanted us sick? (Matt. 8:7, 10:8, 13:15, Mark 3:15, Luke 4:18, 9:2, 10:9, John 12:40, Acts 4:30, 28:27) God is not the author of confusion; He’s the author of our faith (I Cor 14:33, Heb. 12:2). We’re the ones who’ve made this confusing by allowing lies to set themselves up in our minds over God’s Word. (2 Cor. 10:5)

"He took our illnesses and bore our diseases." (Matt. 8:17 ESV)
"Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed."(Isa. 53:4,5 ESV)

We were brought into peace which is unity with God, by Jesus taking our punishment (chastisement) for us, that is, in our place. We were healed, given peace, He bore our griefs so we could have joy, yet we considered that God did it, that He was afflicted out of guilt of sin. That’s where it all went wrong for Satan, for that is where our victory came into existence. It is done. Forgiveness of sins and healing go hand in hand all through the Bible. Repent, receive forgiveness, enter into the Kingdom and receive your healing (Is. 33:24, Ps. 41:4, Matt. 4:23, 10:8, Acts 28:27,28, James 5:15,16). Jesus -- Life! -- lives inside of us; we are the temple of God, purified by Him, Holy of God. Priests.

If you imagine Jesus in the beginning, a LIFE force so strong that even today life carries on from that first order (Acts 3:15), then how can death operate in or around Jesus? It can’t. Just as LIGHT overcomes darkness (2 Cor. 6:14, Ps. 18:28, Is. 9:2) and GOODNESS overcomes evil (Rom.12:21, 8:28), LIFE defeats death (I Cor.15:54,55, I John 3:14, John 14:6, 20:31, Rom. 6:13, 2 Cor. 3:6, I Tim. 6:12). In fact, when Jesus breathed His last on the cross, His words “It is finished,” (John 19:30) signified the accomplishment of all that God had planned and spoken. Death is overcome. It may still operate in this world, but it is here ILLEGALLY.

We are to use the keys given to us -- that is, the power of the Holy Spirit -- to enforce God’s will and our victory, a victory BY FAITH (I John 5:4).

How do we do this? By faith. We walk by faith. We live by faith. We are justified by faith.

Ok, that sounds great, but where exactly do we get this kind of faith? God gave it to us already. Remember, it is finished. God is the author (source) and finisher (completion) of our faith and He has given faith to all (Heb. 12:2, Rom. 12:3) . So we all start with a seed of faith and the rest is up to us, with the help of God, of course. God planted it, now we must water it by reading the Bible. And we grow it by hearing the Bible. Exercise and practice.

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom.10:17). You may not always believe everything completely the first time you hear or read it -- at least I didn’t. Some things I struggled with. Like healing. But I began to walk in faith, and I began to speak my healing, and as I heard my words -- God’s words! -- I began to believe them, and faith began to grow.

We all probably know from personal experience that we eventually start to believe anything we hear often enough. Usually this is a negative experience, like a parent telling a child “You’ll never amount to anything.” At first it may anger the child because the child knows deep down that it’s a lie and wrong condemnation, but after hearing it many, many times, the child will begin to accept it into his heart, start to believe it, and eventually live it. He’ll accomplish it: nothing, exactly as he was told, and not because he was told, but because he believed.

"And Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, 'Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.'"(Matt. 9:22 ESV)

He didn’t say He did it -- He said her faith did it. That’s some faith, huh? But the same faith is available for us! Now, of course Jesus healed, but the healing power was there for the taking for any who would believe. But it required FAITH to work. Her faith brought her healing into existence, and it wouldn’t have worked if she hadn’t believed that Jesus was fully capable of healing her. The life force -- healing power -- was flowing out of Him all the time! (Luke 6:19)

"Then he touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith be it done to you..." (Matt. 9:29 ESV)

“And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’” (Luke 7:50 ESV)

So hear that you are healed. Believe that just as Jesus never made anyone sick to teach them something (the idea is preposterous, isn’t it?), He wants you well and has already made the provision for you to be well. In fact, after you RECEIVE YOUR HEALING, He wants you to go out and HEAL OTHERS! We are blessed to bless others (Gen. 12:2, Neh. 13:2, Eph. 1:3, I Pet. 3:9-12).

Sickness is of Satan and the ultimate goal of any disease in the human body is annihilation of the human body; our cells vs. bacteria or viruses attempting to overcome our cells. Usually we win, but sometimes we don’t and that is going contrary to God’s word (Matt. 8:17, 9:35, Deut. 7:15, Mark 3:10,15). He wants us up, well, healthy and strong (Matt. 9:5, 17:7, Mark 5:41, Luke 17:19, Acts 9:6, 11, 34, 40, 12:7, 22:10, Eph. 5:14, I Pet. 5:10, Luke 22:32, Neh. 8:10) .

How can we serve Him if we’re sitting home sick? Or too tired to do anything good for anyone else? Or too sad to be a witness of God’s joy (one of the fruits of the Spirit -- ours by grace)?

Jesus overcame the devil and gave us the Holy Spirit -- the opposite of fear, power, love, a sound mind, self-discipline (2 Tim. 1:7) -- to enforce His will and His word in this physical realm. It is our job! Don’t try to do it without God, though. Find the truth -- it will set you free from lies, sickness, fear -- and then ask God to increase the wisdom He has planted inside of you. Claim what is yours! Just as Jesus died for you and you ACCEPTED His offer of eternal life, accept also His offer of a healthy, freedom filled life of joy and peace.

This is your witness to the world -- this is what the world craves and we have it!

In all situations, the answer is that you need to know what is yours. If Satan can deceive you or hide the truth from you, then he’ll run all over you and confusion will reign (I Cor. 14:33). Well, confusion runs counter to God’s will for order and simplicity in LIFE. And He does not lose. Start fighting the good fight of faith! Stand up for the Kingdom of God! Who dares to come against the army of the living God? (1 Sam. 17:26)

The Life Force upholds everything and keeps the universe in perfect balance. Life. Health. Freedom. Peace. Joy. It’s yours. Take hold of it the same way you took hold of salvation. The Author of Life did not die in vain. As I learned to stop blaming bad things on God, or accepting Satan’s will for me (which would have ultimately ended in death) I hope we will all join in the fight against Satan and his lies.

Our fight of faith is to cast down wrong imaginations or anything that sets itself up against the KNOWLEDGE of God. God is good and He wants us well. Take hold of that and start living it, and never let it go. Say, with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:7 ESV). Peace.