Since we are children of God, and since the Holy Spirit is bearing witness with our human spirits, then we have the ability to experience the things that Jesus experienced. Some of this is suffering; some of this is glory. One foundational passage where we see this truth is found in Romans 8:

“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8:16-18 (ESV)

One of the goals of this life is to have the very life of The Messiah, Jesus Christ Himself, be lived out through us. This concept is captured very well in Galatians:

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

We, the Church, have been crucified with Jesus the Messiah, the Christ (John 1:41: Christ = Messiah). It is no longer we who live, but Jesus the Messiah, the Christ is living in us now. And this life that we are living here in the physical realm, we are living by faith in the Resurrected Christ, and His attributes are being overlaid upon us, His experiences, His sufferings, and His glory. 

We are sons of God, and we are heirs with Christ. All that the Father has is available to us as sons. 

Our Example

Jesus’ entire life is an example for us, as indicated by His act of washing His disciples’ feet.

“For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” John 13:15 (ESV)

Jesus said that He has given us an example. Was He only talking about physically washing each other’s feet? I don’t think so.

I believe He was passing along to the Apostles an important truth: His entire life was given to us as an example of how we should live and how we should interact with God, with each other, and with the spiritual realm.

One of the men in the room, the Apostle Peter, picked up on this truth and echoed this principle. In one of his letters, he wrote:

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21 (ESV)

Not only is Jesus our example in terms of what sort of behaviors we might exhibit, ie – praying for people, ministering to people, bringing healing and deliverance to people, etc., but Jesus is also our example in terms of what we can experience or what is actually available to experience.

Remember this promise that Jesus gave to us?

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” John 14:12-13 (ESV)

I believe this is available to us, as much as we want it.

The question becomes, how is this possible? How do we do the works that Jesus does, and how do we do the greater works too?

Part of the equation is actively overlaying the life of Jesus upon our lives, or activating the Cycles of the Messiah over our lives.

And, believe it or not, this is already happening in all of us! You have experienced some of the things that Jesus experienced.

And today we’re going to start our series talking about how Jesus heals, and how we heal through Jesus. 

First, let’s talk about some hurdles we must first crush.

Big Theological Hurdle

Concerning healing, I’ve noticed a big theological hurdle in many Christian’s lives that we’ve talked to about this subject.

There’s a common belief in mainstream Christianity that God uses diseases for His glory. Now, this is actually true, God does work through our diseases and issues for His glory, BUT! This is not actually His plan for us. The implication of the belief; the underlying belief structure is this: God wants me to have this disease, so that in my suffering, I turn to Him and get closer to Him while suffering with this. Or, God ordained this disease for me; He chose for me to have this disease. 

Whether or not people realize it, they start believing that God wants bad things for them so that He can get all the credit. This sort of thinking leads people to blame God for the evil going on in the world, as if He chose to abuse us to make Himself look good, like some kind of cosmic narcissist that enjoys our suffering and only what He can get out of it.

Slowly but surely the lies of the devil have convinced large masses of people that God is NOT good, but they’ve started to believe that God is evil and wants evil things to happen in their lives in order to get some sort of spiritual high from our pain. Like a drug dealer or pimp or evil slave master.

This is why the subject of healing is so controversial in the body of Christ right now. It’s a dividing line between believing the best about God or believing the worst about God.

Let’s pray and release God from the blame we’ve put upon Him from our false beliefs about Him.

Prayer of Release for God

O God, our God, how majestic is Your Name in all the earth. O Lord God, You are a good God. You are ultimately and infinitely good. Right now, we believe and trust in Your Goodness. We believe Your will for us is good, pleasing, and perfect. We believe that Your plans for us are not to harm us but to give us a hope and a future.

Lord God, we release all blame we’ve held against you for the evil and disease in this world. This is not Your choice; it has been humanity’s choice and the work of the devil and kingdom of darkness. And we release You, our God, from accusations of wrong-doing, accusations of abuse and generally believing the worst about You and Your character.

Forgive us, O Lord. Forgive us for wrong and backward thinking. Forgive us for believing in a distortion of the truth, which is a lie. Correct our thinking about You and Your character.

We declare the truth about you, Lord God. The Bible says God is love. We believe You are love. We believe Your character consists of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We believe that You are incredible and infinitely good! You the Almighty God, who cares for us more than we can possibly imagine! And we confess in belief about the best in You. We believe You have the best intentions for us. Lord, you will never leave us nor forsake us. You are always with us; You are a God at-hand; You are closer than we think. You are infinitely better than we think You are. Help us to come into agreement with the Truth of who you are, Lord God. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!