Archive for May, 2009
Healing — Understanding the Thorn in the Side by Gloria Copeland
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The terms thorn in the flesh or “thorn in the side” are always used as an illustration in the Bible. For example, the Lord told Moses that if the Israelites did not drive out the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, they would become “pricks in [their] eyes, and thorns in [their] sides…” (Numbers 33:55). The Canaanites were not sticking into the Israelites’ sides! This is just an illustration.
Today, we still use the term “a thorn in the flesh.” Your neighbor might be a “thorn” in your side. In the same way we say, “That guy is a pain in the neck.” Tradition says this thorn in the flesh was something in Paul’s flesh, but 2 Corinthians 12:7 is the same type of illustration. Weymouth’s translation of this verse says, “There was given me a thorn in the flesh, Satan’s angel to torture me.” This evil spirit was assigned to Paul in order to stop the Word. Jesus said in Mark 4 that Satan comes immediately to steal the Word. Paul was having to stand against this evil spirit everywhere he went.
Satan came to buffet Paul because of the abundance of revelations he received. Paul had been given the revelation of the authority of the believer, and Satan came to steal the Word. Paul sought the Lord three times that he might be rid of him. It is useless to ask God to get rid of the devil for you. Paul had authority over Satan. It was up to him to use that authority. The Bible says, “…Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). God won’t resist the devil for you. You have to do it. If you don’t cast out the devil, you will just have to live with him or get somebody else to help you get rid of him.
When Paul asked God to do something about this messenger of Satan, the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for thee…” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Tradition reads that as if he asked the Lord to deliver him and the Lord said no. Therefore, Paul had to endure the thorn forever. The Bible actually says, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” God was saying, “My favor is enough. You have authority. You have the Name of Jesus and when you’re humanly weak, My strength or My power is made perfect.”
We can see an excellent example of this in Acts 14, when Paul was stoned. He was dead, but the disciples gathered around him, prayed and the Lord raised him up. It was humanly impossible for him to do anything. In his own strength he had no ability (more…)
Healing Misconception—Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh by Gloria Copeland
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One tradition that has been well-taught is referred to as Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” from 2 Corinthians 12. (Really it was not Paul’s thorn, it was Satan’s thorn.) Everyone has heard about it. Tradition teaches that the thorn in the flesh was sickness or disease, but the Word plainly says that the thorn was a “messenger of Satan.” This Greek word is translated as messenger seven times in the New Testament. It is translated angel 181 times in the New Testament.
All 188 times this word is speaking of a personality—not a thing like a sickness or disease. Sickness is not a messenger, nor is it a personality. It was an angel or a messenger of Satan assigned to Paul to buffet him. The word buffet means “to give repeated blows, over and over and over.” Weymouth’s translation says, “Concerning this, three times have I besought the Lord that he might leave me” (2 Corinthians 12:8).
The King James Version says, “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.” The thorn in the flesh was not a sickness as tradition teaches, but a messenger from Satan as the Bible teaches. God does not use Satan’s messenger service. God did not give Paul this thorn in the flesh—Satan sent Paul the thorn to stop the Word from being preached.
We see an example where Satan buffeted Paul: But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming…. But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts…. When there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them, they were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra….
And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe (Acts 13:45, 50, 14:5-6, 19-20).
In every place, the messenger of Satan stirred up persecution and affliction against Paul—blow after blow, buffet after buffet. Everywhere he went, there was trouble and persecution.
Gloria Copeland
Removing Tradition, and Believing God by Gloria Copeland
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One tradition that has robbed the Church of healing is the practice of praying, “If it be Thy will.” You should know that it is God’s will to heal you before you ever pray. You can know because God’s Word tells you His will. The Word of God is the will of God. “If it be Thy will” is unbelief when praying for healing.
There is no faith in that kind of praying. It is the opposite of faith. If you are praying, “Lord, heal me, if
it be Thy will,” then it is obvious that you don’t know what the will of God is, and until you know what
God’s will is, you don’t have any basis for faith. You are like the farmer who sits on his porch and says, “I
believe in crops. I know they are real, so I’m not going to plant any seed this year. I’ll just believe for my crop to come up.” That farmer will sit there forever! It is a principle of life that first you plant, then you reap.
Many Christians today are like that farmer. They are trying to reap a healing harvest when they’ve not
planted any healing seed. “If it be Thy will” will not reap a healing harvest. It will keep you from receiving
from God. You can know from God’s Word that it is His will for you to be healed.
Another tradition we hear is that healing has passed away. There are no miracles today. God said,
“I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Exodus 15:26). We all know that God doesn’t change (James 1:17).
He has not changed since the beginning of time (Malachi 3:6). For healing to pass away, then God
would have to pass away. He is still the Lord that healeth us!
Miracles and the healing power of God are just as available now as when Jesus walked the earth.
You can believe that God heals today. Miracles have never passed away—some people just quit believing.
It takes active faith to receive from God.
There was a time in my life when I knew that healing was real and that God was healing people,
but I didn’t know if it was God’s will to heal me. Just believing in healing is not enough. You must believe
that it is God’s will to heal you. You have to believe that healing is yours, that it belongs to you. “Healing
belongs to me!”
Another tradition tells us that God gets glory from Christians being sick. But the Bible says people gave
glory to God when they saw the lame walk and the blind eyes see. People glorified the God of Israel
when they saw His power in manifestation (Matthew 15:30-31). Jesus said the Father is glorified when
we bear much fruit (John 15:8). Cancer is not fruit. Arthritis is not fruit. The world is not impressed by
your sickness. They are not impressed because you bear up under pain and agony.
They have all the pain and agony they want. They are looking for a way out of sickness and disease—not a
way into it. They have enough problems. They want some answers! People are oppressed by Satan and need deliverance. They want victory in their lives. They want to know how to pay their bills and to be free of sickness in their bodies. That God gets glory from His children being sick makes no sense; but more importantly, it does not agree with the Word.
As believers, we are to be lighthouses of deliverance and help in a dark world. God’s will is that we
show forth His love and power to the world around us in need of help. The Bible says, “Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”
(Matthew 5:16).
The world is supposed to see good works in our midst, not sickness and disease. “That ye may be
blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life…” (Philippians 2:15-16). Our
commission is to give forth the Word of life—that is the Word of God concerning salvation, healing and
deliverance to those around us. Instead, because of the traditions of men, we have tried to tell the world
that the God we serve has made us sick. What a lie to tell on the Father God who is the God of love and
mercy. Jesus said that we are to lay hands on the sick and they would recover. His will is that His Body be
the answer to the problem of sickness and disease.
We have been told to alleviate the problem, not teach people that God wants them sick.
Gloria Copeland
Plant the Word for Your Healing by Gloria Copeland
Posted by admin | Filed under Gloria Copeland, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Copeland Ministries
To live free from sickness, you must plant the Word of God concerning healing in your heart. The
Bible says that the Word is the incorruptible seed. You are “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Peter 1:23). You are healed the
same way-by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. Incorruptible means that “the seed cannot
be destroyed; it cannot be spoiled.” Disease cannot stop it. Men cannot spoil that incorruptible seed.
Satan cannot stop the power of the Word of God. I can prove that to you with salvation. Once you hear
the Word and decide to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, there is no power that can stop the new
birth from taking place in your spirit. No devil in hell can stop you from being born again. It is the
same way with healing. You receive everything from the Lord in the same way-by faith. Results come
when you hear the Word, receive it and act on it. You receive healing exactly the way you received the new birth, by hearing the Word and by believing that Word enough to act on it.
You have to put the supernatural seed of the Word of God in your heart. Plant it and it will grow and produce fruit. When you are dealing with God, His time is now. He doesn’t have to wait 60 days to get a crop. When you plant the Word in your heart, you get the harvest. Today is the day of salvation.
Faith should be as highly developed in the Church concerning healing as it is for the new birth of the
spirit. If the Church had been told what the Word says about healing, Christians would be as quick to
believe that they are healed as they are to believe that they are saved. However, other things have been
sown in our hearts. Seeds of doubt and unbelief have been sown by the traditions of men, by men who try
to teach the Word with head knowledge instead of by His Spirit.
God’s Word doesn’t make sense to the carnal mind. Men try to explain the Word through their own
natural thinking, but they never succeed. Men in pulpits across our nation have preached things that
simply are not true because they have no revelation knowledge of the Word. Traditions cost people the
healing power of God. Jesus said the traditions of men make the Word of no effect (Matthew 15:6).
