September 10

TREKKING WITH ABRAHAM

‘ ‘And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for these eighteen years, to be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

Luke 13:16

Day Seven

Health is a blessing. Sickness is not. A curse is the opposite of a blessing. Read Deuteronomy 28:16 to the end of the chapter and see how much sickness plays a part in “the curse”. God’s blessing is an intelligent wave of God’s activity that requires faith and obedience to be fully received. Relationship with God being nourished, brings blessing. Read Deuteronomy 28 :1-15 and see how health and healing is a self evidently presupposed assumption in the blessing of God.

Another James Tissot painting of Christ healing the sick. I think his work is full of compassion, and a passion to portray Jesus as He is portrayed in scripture.

Note in Luke 13 that guilt, culpability, or sin is not brought into the equation concerning the woman’s healing. Before any of my readers write to me saying I am “soft peddling on sin”, let me explain that I am not trying to soft peddle on sin but hard sell on the fact that the anointing of the Holy Spirit was on Christ, the Seer’s gifting (which must have been operating on a sort of 24 / 7 basis with Jesus, whether he was conscious of it or not), and an act of faith by Christ Himself, speaking of something as if it had been done before it actually had been done in the physical.

Nicolai Ceausescu Apart from King Saul in the Old Testament, I believe this lady is the only instance in the New Testament where we are informed that somebody became affected by an evil spirit in the course of their life, and strangely we are not told how. Jesus tells us that this spirit of infirmity had been there for 18 years. Somewhere in her life’s conduct it had gained access to her. Experience tells me that entrance comes by occult involvement , yes, but also through extreme trauma, fearful experiences, or through brooding on evil thoughts. Many times “non-spiritual” actions are points of access of spirits. The devil does not play fair. We must remember that even though we cannot see a face or an accurate pictorial image of Satan, he is more evil than any face of any human or animal that you can imagine. Human wise, when you think of evil you may image Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Saddam Hussein or the evil one. A face that portrays such evil would be worse than the most horrific monster created by the film industry. The point? Fairness is not a word in the devil’s vocabulary. Innocent child, sweet toddler and playful youth – at a moment of fear or shock, their innocent and vulnerable human spirit could potentially be opened to anything in the invisible world of spirits. , but remember, their evil was only the brainchild ofevil one. A face that portrays such evil would be worse than the most horrific monster created by the film industry. The point? Fairness is not a word in the devil’s vocabulary. Innocent child, sweet toddler and playful youth – at a moment of fear or shock, their innocent and vulnerable human spirit could potentially be opened to anything in the invisible world of spirits.

What are we talking about here? Some refer to them as demons; some refer to them as evil spirits, or just spirits. I believe it was Anne White who, 30 or 40 years ago sanitised the concept by referring to them as “contrary spirits”. Most of them are infantile, but cruel; easily cast out, but debilitating. Yes there are some that negatively impact the thought life, the conduct, and worst of all the character, but every single one of them, from the might of the devil himself right down to the most insignificant yet potentially life destroying little demon, are subject to the mighty power and the Name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The weakest believer when standing in faith in Christ can expel demonic personages from their lives or circumstances. Not that I am suggesting all believers of all ages and experience should go plunging headlong into heavy duty – or light weight – “deliverance” ministry – not at all! But potentially, faith in Christ and the blood of Christ can free us and others from demonic interference.

But here was a woman, like many I personally have met, who have faith in God and are made righteous before God through that faith – but are not free at all. The prison door has been opened fully to her, yet for whatever reason she remains in the cell. This woman, who was a “daughter of Abraham,” as per the words of Jesus Himself, had been tormented by one of these spirits for eighteen long years. It came with no other mission than to make her ill. Something she did perhaps! Possibly some shocking trauma! Possibly something that had troubled her family line and was passed on when the last recipient of this spirit had died i.e. Grandmother, or mother died with one illness, and the thing jumped to another member of the family at the point of death. Satan can only gain entrance when he has the legal right. We need to know that faith in Christ cancels that right. It is an issue of understanding with many, more than an issue of faith.

“But that isn’t fair!” I hear many cry! “Absolutely!” I answer. That’s why we call the devil, “The Devil!” His random acts of gratuitous unfairness in the affliction of sickness, and general physical, spiritual and mental unsoundness is what causes millions to question God’s existence, or even the manner in which He governs the cosmos. Satan’s secretive unfairness is his most powerful weapon for usurping the minds of the masses, to think as He does at the most, and to be confused about their own existence and purpose at the least. But Christ’s omnipresent goodness, power and love has given us full access to His grace and power, by faith in Him as a person and the work He has accomplished.

Jesus called the woman forward out of the crowd, and before anything had happened, before there was the slightest alleviation of the woman’s symptoms He announces with authority, power, and I have no doubt with some tone of force, “Woman, You are loosed from your sickness!” Jesus saw her in the eye of His mind, His Spirit – or just somewhere in His being – and He saw her free. The kingdom of God was about to come on earth for this daughter of Abraham. What had already been done in heaven was about to be done on earth.