INTRODUCTION

If you take away one thing from this essay it should be this: the question of whether you deserve healing, or are “good” enough to get God’s attention, is the wrong question. Get it out of your mind as it will crush your faith.

The right question focuses on Christ and not you and is this: can God be relied upon to do justice? – to uphold the legal consequences of Christ’s work on the cross in removing the Curse of sin, and its consequences like disease, from you?

Since He is just, the answer, of course, is YES. He can be relied on to do justice and therefore heal.
And if that is the case, what some call our “suffering for God” does not glorify Him. Instead, it makes Him out to be unrighteous, and a liar (see Gal. 3:13; 1 Jhn 3:8; 1 Jhn 5:10), because it denies the benefits of Christ’s work in taking the Curse and Satan’s oppression and its consequences from us.

To put it bluntly, by being content to “suffer for God” we actually glorify Satan, the true source of disease, because either we are agreeing with Satan in saying that sickness is God’s plan for us, or we are implicitly believing that God’s grand Deliverer, the Lord Jesus, was not so grand after all, as He left us alone to fight off our oppressors, and did not fully deliver the captives and release the prisoners (Lke. 4:18), as He promised he would.

What soldier glorifies his King by getting beat up by the enemy? Instead of standing by passively while getting brutalized by the enemy, aren’t we supposed to overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us (Rom. 8:37) and reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:17), and cast out demons and heal the sick (Mark 16:17)

In order to be healed, therefore, we must recognize as false and jettison the erroneous “traditions of men” which Jesus Himself railed against (Mark 7:7-9), as they usually constitute our most basic theological assumptions about healing.

Healing is your legal right in Christ!

One of the positions the Lord holds is as the Judge of Heaven and Earth, and all of its inhabitants. (Ps. 96:13) That same Psalm says that, as Judge, He will faithfully (always) judge in righteousness; thus, conversely stated, he never judges unrighteously. Psalm 145:17 adds that the Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds.

Yet, despite the foregoing Psalm and a number of other Scriptures, today’s Christians pray for healing as if asking for a favor from God. Can you imagine walking into a courtroom as a defendant locked in a conflict with your adversary or accuser, and instead of offering a legal argument to support your case, you asked the Judge for a favor?

“Your Honor, I don’t really have a legal reason for your granting me relief as opposed to upholding my adversary’s claim against me, but I’m just hoping you’ll ignore the Law for a moment and, in just this case, cut me a break.”

As a practising attorney and former litigator, I can assure you that it will take less than 5 seconds for the Judge to toss you out on your ear.

In your asking for a “favor”, the Judge would immediately conclude that you had no legal argument supporting your case. In fact, he would assume that your words constituted a denial of any potential legal argument you might have had.

He would also know that to deviate from the legal result mandated by the arguments (or lack thereof on your side) by granting you a favor would be unjust to your adversary. He would be taking from the other party to show favor to you. If He is a just or righteous Judge, he would not do that and would rule against you – quickly, and without hesitation.

But what if you had a winning legal argument instead?

Understand, though, that even in that situation, the function of the Judge is not to take sides by asserting the rights of a party before him who himself has declined to assert an argument, even if it is a winning argument.

There is an established legal maxim: “He who sleeps on his rights loses them.”

Therefore, if you not only had a winning argument, AND you asserted it before the Judge and against your enemy with all the intensity of a person who knows that he is in the right, a Judge who judges righteously would always rule in your favor!

Jesus knew this, which is why neither He nor the disciples ever “prayed for” the sick. Instead, they used the authority of the Father given to Christ over heaven and earth (Mat. 28:18), to “pray over” (Ja. 5:14) the sick and command the enemy to go and thus enforce the rights which Christ Himself secured for His people!

Therefore, the point of the foregoing discussion is to set the stage for the proposition that, according to Scripture, you have a winning argument to assert against the Enemy responsible for your sickness, and before the Judge in relation to your healing! But if instead you persist in pleading before the Judge for a favor, you will lose, as you would before any earthly judge.

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Psalm 31:1 the Holy Spirit states through David, in part: “…In your righteousness, deliver me.” Psalm 71:2 says the same thing: “…In your righteousness, deliver me.” Several other Psalms use the exact same wording.

Complementing the above, Psalm 34:17 says: The righteous cry out, the Lord hears, and delivers them from all their troubles. And two verses later: Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all. Additionally, Proverbs 11:6 says: The righteousness of the upright will deliver them…

The point to note here, not to be missed, is this: the Holy Spirit says that (i) deliverance out of troubles, of which healing would certainly be a sub-set, is guaranteed for the righteous, and correspondingly, (ii) such deliverance is a manifestation of God’s righteousness. We are not delivered because the Lord makes an ad hoc decision to grant us a favor out of the goodness of His heart, although he is Good. He delivers us because, as a result of Christ’s work, JUSTICE requires that we be delivered!

In other words, if God as Judge did not deliver the righteous, or heal the righteous as the case may be, He would be acting in unrighteousness. And, as the Scripture says, that is impossible. For the Lord loves justice and does not forsake His godly ones… (Ps. 37:28)

Carefully consider, then, whether you should come before the Judge of all things and ask for a healing “favor”, or instead, diligently asserting your winning legal argument bought for you by Christ.
Can you really understand and grasp the difference this makes when thinking about healing and the difference in your level of faith?

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The fact that the Law is in a person’s favor does not ensure that the Law is being or will be applied or enforced in a given situation. The Law is available to us to redress grievances, but it does not prevent all crime nor does it automatically apply even after the commission of an offence. It must be enforced.

That is why we have courts and judges. People do not always obey the Law, or follow the Law. People are fallen creatures, and some are criminals. The Law must then be applied and enforced against them.
Likewise the supernatural Law, God’s Law, must be enforced against your Enemy, who is a criminal, and in redress of your grievance. Enforcement is not a favor. It is the legal or righteous result of your lawful argument.

The Living God has decreed blessing for you by sending Christ to take the Curse of disease and sickness from us (e.g., Ps. 103:2; Mat. 8:17, 1 Pe. 2:24), but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all enjoy that blessing. First, the blessing is for those who are in covenant with Him – those of the seed of the woman, the spiritual children of Abraham, the born-again of Christ.

Second, the blessing must be actively received and protected to be experienced. The Ruler of this World is Satan, according to Christ, and the whole world lies in his power. (1 Jhn. 5:19) He is “a thief” (Jhn. 10:10) and “the father of lies.” (Jhn. 8:44) Is there any mystery, then,  as to why you, even if in covenant with God Himself through Christ, might not be enjoying the blessing of healing?

Since the enemy is a criminal, he will do anything to block your rights and continue to afflict you with the Curse until he is forcibly stopped. Any loss of his control over humans decreases his kingdom of darkness. The Law needs to be enforced against him.

His oppression of you is nothing less than lawlessness, for you have been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s dear Son (Col. 1:12) He has no right to oppress those not in his domain. There is no justification for his actions against you.

Therefore, perhaps you simply must go to court and fight for your rights, just as in the natural world when you are wronged. Perhaps, instead of asking the Judge for a favor, you need to demand your rights, the freedom from physical and emotional oppression that Christ purchased for you at such a great price. And perhaps you must persevere in doing so.

Satan, “the accuser of the brethren” (Rev. 12:10), will assert in court His right to afflict you as part of the Curse upon all men, because you deserve it and through Adam you are under Satan’s jurisdiction. And his right to do so will be enforced by the Judge in the absence of a countervailing and better argument from you. That is a fact.

The countervailing argument is this: “I don’t deserve it because the Curse no longer applies to me” for Christ has redeemed me from the Curse of the Law, having become a Curse for me. (Gal. 3:13) There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:1) Moreover, you sit at the right hand of God. (Eph. 1:15-21; Eph. 2:6). He has no jurisdiction over you legally.

God, in compliance with His blood covenant obligations to you and me (Lke. 1:68-72), has sent Christ to rescue you from your Satan. Because of that, it is righteous of the Judge to enforce your right to be free from Satan’s oppression and sin’s consequences. That is a “dead-to-rights” winning argument, but you must plead it out loud before the judge and against your Enemy!

I can tell you from personal ministry experience that several individuals have seen courtroom scenes during the course of their healing/deliverance. The administration of God’s justice is a stark reality of the supernatural realm!

God is honored when we demand our rights, as doing so recognizes the magnificence of what Christ has done, and so glorifies the Father for sending Him and providing so great a champion for our rescue.

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Aiteo is a key Greek word to understand in this courtroom context. It is mostly translated as “ask” but it has another more specific meaning – to plead or ask a superior, like a judge, for what you are legally owed. For example, you may ask your landlord for your rental deposit back after the lease expires, but since it is your right to receive it under the lease, your asking is more equivalent to a legal demand, and you have confidence in the asking because the deposit is legally owed to you. And the courts are there to enforce your demand if necessary.

“Aiteo” is the verb used for “ask” in all the following verses:

Jhn. 14:13 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it Jhn. 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. Jhn. 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. Jhn. 16:23 “In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. 24 “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name ; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. 1 Jhn. 5: 14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

Do you see it yet?

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Conclusion

What are you waiting for?

Quit begging. Quit asking for a favor – instead, take a stand on your rights.

Because to ask for a favor means that you believe that you have no legal argument to rely on, that you are legally naked before the Court. It says that you:
•believe that Christ affords you no real advantage in this contest with Satan over your freedom now
•believe God must do more than sending His only begotten Son, and giving you authority over the purveyors of all oppression, in order for you to be healed
•believe that you need something extra, or something other than or less than justice.

Instead, “aiteo” the Most High God for the manifestation of the healing already accomplished by Christ that the Enemy has stolen and blocked. And then move out to confront the Enemy of God – the criminal who has blocked your blessings and command that he stop until he does.

Since your argument and position is righteous, the Judge who is righteous will use all the authority of the Heavenly Kingdom to enforce your demand against your Enemy, as it is the righteous decree of the court, and you will get your blessing.

In fact, since Christ lives in you (Col. 1:27) today, in Him you yourself become the Enforcer of the Heavenly Court. (See “Our Authority over Unclean Spirits and Disease” on the Articles page.)

Remember, you are looking for justice. What was once our greatest threat – Justice, has now become our greatest comfort, because of what Christ has done for us. You can get justice from an unrighteous judge if you persevere a bit. As the Lord says, how much more confident you should be before The Righteous Judge!

“In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. 3 There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ 4 For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.'” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; 7 now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? 8 I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. (Lke. 18:1-8)

Notice in the above that it is JUSTICE that the widow seeks – legal protection. She did not make her appeal on the basis of sympathy, worthiness, need, or anything else, simply the righteousness of her cause. She knew her rights and she wanted them enforced!

And, in response, it is JUSTICE that the Righteous Judge brings about.

What about you? Do you believe and are you ready to fight for the Judge to recognize your right to freedom and blessing and grant relief “in His righteousness?” And to see Him enforce that decree through you in the authority Christ has granted you?

Please do not miss out on this.

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