Some time ago, God dealt with me on the subject of healing and how important it is for believers to live free from sickness and disease. His words to me then were so strong they echoed in my spirit for weeks. He said, “I want My people well!”

God wants every believer to be healed and whole: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth” (3 John 2).

After Jesus was raised from the dead, He appeared to His disciples and issued certain decrees that would affect the world forever. Healing was one of those decrees. In Mark 16:15-18, Jesus said:

Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

These words are vitally important to every believer today. Jesus commanded the Church to go forth in His Name, and part of this Great Commission is that believers lay hands on the sick. At that moment, Jesus set the Church against sickness and disease.

Healing is God’s masterstroke of evidence that He is alive and doing well. It is physical proof of His existence and willingness to meet our needs on every spiritual level.

No two people are exactly the same spiritually. Each is at his individual level of spiritual growth. But generally, there are three categories of spiritual life:

The world—sinners or unbelievers, who do not know God.
The carnally minded Christian—spiritual babies, who do not have God’s Word working proficiently in their lives.
The mature Christian—spiritual adults, skillful in the Word of God.

God’s Word is designed to minister to individual needs at each level of spiritual growth.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Then verses 3-14 list all the blessings of the Law, describing prosperity in every area of life.

Jesus showed how healing is a part of this blessing when He ministered deliverance to a woman in Luke 13: 11-13: “And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.”

Because Jesus healed this woman on the sabbath day, the ruler of the synagogue was indignant; but Jesus answered him saying: “Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?” (verses 15-16).

The Abrahamic covenant had been in force for many years. God’s people could have walked in health and well being, but they had become too preoccupied with their religious traditions. The result was a standard of living far below that which God had intended for them.

This woman was a daughter of Abraham and, because of that, her covenant right was to be loosed from her infirmity. Satan had been able to keep her bound for eighteen years for only one reason: because she was ignorant of her covenant with God. Jesus came and ministered as a prophet under the Abrahamic covenant. He healed the people according to that covenant. He came to set the captives
free, and this woman was one of those captives. All she needed was for someone to tell her what was rightfully hers as a daughter of Abraham.

I have good news for you: If that woman could be delivered and set free because she was Abraham’s seed, so can you on those same grounds. Because you believe in Jesus Christ and have accepted His sacrifice as your own, you are Abraham’s seed and heir to the promise (Galatians 3:13). Praise God, that promise includes physical healing!

Satan has no right to put any sickness, disease or infirmity on your body. You are a child of God, a joint heir with Jesus and a citizen in the kingdom of God. You have a covenant with Almighty God, and one of your covenant rights is the right to a healthy body.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

When sin entered the world, it brought with it the forces of destruction: death, sickness, poverty and fear. Jesus bore sin’s penalty and, at the same time, did away with all the effects of it. Jesus paid the full price at Calvary, covering every area of human life: spiritual, mental, physical, financial and social. Our redemption is complete.

Galatians 3:13-14 says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

“The curse of the Law” described in Deuteronomy 28:15 was the penalty for any person who disobeyed the statutes of the Levitical Law. It included every possible curse that could come on mankind: sickness, disease, poverty, lack, pain, suffering, etc. Verse 61 includes, “Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law….”

Though Jesus lived a sinless life, He gave Himself to bear that curse as if He were the One who had sinned and disobeyed the Law. He took the punishment for all the sin of mankind. He bore the curse which included every sickness and every plague known to man. He bore pain and suffering. Why? So that we could, instead, receive the blessing when we accept His sacrifice as our own. Because we
are in Christ, we are now Abraham’s seed and heirs to the blessing.

Galatians 3:29 says, “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Deuteronomy 28 sets out the stipulations of this blessing and curse:

And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee
on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God (verses 1-2).

Then verses 3-14 list all the blessings of the Law, describing prosperity in every area of life.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

The Hebrew word covenant means “to cut,” implying “where blood flows.” A blood covenant is the strongest form of agreement on earth. Two parties agree to certain terms and then seal their agreement by the shedding of blood. The covenant made between God and Abraham was sealed through the act of circumcision. “This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you” (Genesis 17:10-11).

The shedding of blood was the most vital act of the Old Testament. The blood shed in circumcision stood as a sign of agreement, a token of the covenant between God and man. El Shaddai agreed to bless Abraham and his descendants exceedingly. In return, He required them to live uprightly before Him.

But man continually sinned against God, failing to hold to the terms of the agreement. Again, the shedding of blood held the answer. The Levitical priesthood was instituted to offer blood sacrifices that would atone (or cover) for sin. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin (Hebrews 9:22). The offering of an innocent lamb on the altar covered the sin of God’s covenant people for one year. God accepted these sacrifices in order to keep the Abrahamic covenant in force. This was the only way to bridge the gap between sin and righteousness.

Centuries later, the supreme blood sacrifice was made. Jesus of Nazareth came into the world, born of a virgin. When John the Baptist first saw Jesus he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus was the sacrificial lamb offered upon the altar of the cross. He was the final sacrifice under the Abrahamic covenant. The blood He shed on the cross washed
away forever the spot of sin. The Old Testament sacrifices only covered sin, but the New Testament sacrifice—Jesus, the spotless Son of God—completely did away with it. Hebrews 9:12 says, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” By accepting His sacrifice, you stand before God clean and pure—just as if you had never sinned.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Healing is not a new provision brought into being with the ministry of Jesus. Healing was provided for under the Abrahamic covenant. This is how that covenant came into existence:

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee… And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee (Genesis 17:1-5, 7).

When God appeared to Abram He said, “I am the Almighty God.” The original Hebrew says, “I am El Shaddai.” El means “supreme.” Shaddai means “the Breasty One.” He said, “I will be a God to you.” In other words, “I will be all you need—your father, your mother, your nurse, your provider.”

Realize the full significance of what took place between God and Abraham. They entered into a contract together. They made covenant together—an everlasting covenant, an absolute agreement. God said, “As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee.” Then He sealed His side of the agreement by swearing an oath. In Genesis 22:16 God said, “By myself have I sworn.” There was no higher power to swear by, so He swore by Himself. He gave His own word that He would bless Abraham and his seed. “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed…. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 22:17-18).

Kenneth Copeland Ministries