Exposing The Spiritual Roots Of DiseaseSample

Repentance and Sanctification

Repentance and sanctification also play important roles in disease prevention or becoming free from disease. We’re so busy chasing symptoms, we’re so busy chasing disease profiles, that we don’t even take into account why we got sick to begin with. As we have learned, we often need to deal with sin and spiritual issues that are affecting our hearts before our healing can occur.

We experience repentance from our sins when we first turn to God to acknowledge Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection on our behalf. That is our salvation. As Christians, we need further repentance for things in our lives that aren’t of God. We need to allow God to change us. That is our sanctification. Sanctification is a lifelong process for the Christian where, through the glories and trials of life, and through our obedience to God, we learn to “walk in newness of life”: “That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

It would be great if, once we became Christians, we never sinned again, but that isn’t so. The book of 1 John tells us that Christians still sin, but that God is always gracious to forgive our sins. (See 1 John 1:8–9.)

I want you to imagine going to the Father of all spirits, the Lord of creation, and saying, “Hey, Dad, I’m sorry. I come to You in Jesus’s name. Father, I’ve yielded to Satan’s law of sin. I’ve been following it, but I’ve hated it. I don’t want to do it anymore. As it says in Your Word, it’s not good for me. I come to You to take responsibility, and I repent to You for allowing the law of sin to control my life. Will You please forgive me?”

Is that hard? There’s no copay when you get that kind of prescription. No insurance is needed. Yet it may save you from incurable diseases.

Conviction, not Condemnation!

Now, it’s important that you don’t react to God’s truth about sin in your life by condemning yourself. We are convicted of our sins by the Holy Spirit in order to bring repentance and freedom, not condemnation.

The Holy Spirit’s conviction helps us to recognize our sin so that we can repent of it and walk in the freedom of Jesus Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). This is all the process of our sanctification, of being changed as we grow in Him.

We are still being sanctified in our spirits, sanctified in our souls, and sanctified in our bodies. Our minds are being renewed; we are being changed spiritually. As a result, our bodies are going to sing and rejoice and leap for joy! We will be in health! That is God’s plan for us. Our part is to embrace His truth, repent of following any aspect of the law of sin, and allow Him to transform us into His image. We are saved by God’s forgiveness and mercy, but we walk out our sanctification on a daily basis. That is why God gives us the responsibility of believing the truth of the Word when it comes to our health and healing.

Now, God is not going to live your life for you! You have to take ownership in this victory. You need to activate, you need to decide to wake up. You must decide to be an overcomer, to face the challenges of life and defeat them in Jesus’s name. You must embrace the process of sanctification that God has brought to us so that you can walk in the freedom of Christ.

Search Your Heart

Our biggest problem is that people want to be healed without getting rid of the sins, such as unforgiveness, that are at the root of the disease. Forgiveness has to come first. As I encouraged you in an earlier devotional, don’t hold on to the wrongs committed by others. Be a doer of the Word. Be a forgiver.

In Matthew 6:15, Jesus said, “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” And at the conclusion of a parable about forgiveness, Jesus stated, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” (See Matthew 18:21–35.) Forgiving others is one of the major keys to receiving from God.

I have said 80 percent of all diseases and syndromes are spiritually related. Therefore, there are 20 percent that are not. However, if you have a disease, wouldn’t you want to search out the Scriptures and search your heart? Wouldn’t you go to the Lord with this request from Psalm 139: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23–24)? If what is keeping you from your healing is a sin, which is the opposite of the Word of God, wouldn’t you want to confess it and move on to a life of wholeness and health? I know that I would, and I have.

Be blessed,

Dr. Henry W. Wright

Talk to God About It

Ask Father God, in Jesus’s name, to bring conviction to your heart about any hidden areas of sin. Ask Him to help you discern between His conviction and the enemy’s condemnation and to help you guard your heart against fear, guilt, and shame. Ask Him to give you His precious peace and patience in your overcoming journey as you wait on Him and walk with Him step-by-step.