“Are Christians supposed to get sick” is probably in the top three of the questions that Christians all around the world have. Sickness is something that is so relevant to people in all parts of the world and it is a question that we cannot avoid. We all know believers and unbelievers who have asked this question and are very confused about this topic. Many people say “if God is real or if God is loving, why are you sick?” Others say “why does God allow so many people to die every year from cancer, aids, and other illnesses?” The toughest question comes from those who have lost somebody, especially a child due to an illness. This confusion and pain create a giant stronghold in the mind of believers, and it usually hinders them from expecting healing in their own bodies and in somebody else’s.

I am very confident in the fact that God has laid out the answers to these questions in His word. I strongly believe that His word clearly shows us what kind of God we serve, and what kind of Covenant we have entered into with God by believing in Jesus Christ and choosing to follow Him. If we read the beginning of the book of Genesis we can see that after Adam and Eve sinned against God through disobedience to his Commandments, God put a curse on all humanity, the devil, and all the Earth, including the ground and the dirt itself (Genesis 3:14-19). All throughout the Old Testament, we can see God sending plagues, illnesses, death, and other negative consequential and disciplinary things to those who disobeyed or rebelled against Him.

Even though it is 2020 and we are Christians who are under grace and in the New Covenant with God, we must remember that God is still the same God he has always been since even before the beginning (Genesis 1:1, Hebrews 13:8, Revelation 1:8, Malachi 3:6, Number 23:19).  Even though the Covenant that God has with mankind has changed since Jesus came, He Himself has not changed, nor will He ever change at all. One of the first things that new Believers must come to know when they get saved is the type of life, identity, and Covenant with God they have just entered into. Christianity is not what America has made it out to be, it is way more powerful, deep, and beneficial to those of us who believe than what TV preachers or entertaining Christian books declare it is.

We must come to the understanding and knowledge of what type of Covenant we are in with God. This is first and foremost, because we will not be able to experience the goodness, blessings, promises, and benefits of the New Covenant if we don’t know what that Covenant brings. The Bible says that God’s people perish for the lack of understanding (Hosea 4:6). The Bible states that we will be set free by knowing the truth (John 8:32), so if we don’t know something about what we have received, it is going to be very difficult to experience freedom from the things that God has promised us freedom from. We are supposed to know what we received in Christ. The Holy Spirit wants to teach us what these things are (1 Corinthians 2:12). The Bible clearly states that the just must live by faith (Hebrews 10:38, Romans 1:17, Habakkuk 2:4) and that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). The Bible states that transformation comes by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2) and that as New Creations we are to be renewed in our minds with the knowledge of God (Colossians 3:10). How can we expect to live differently and experience different things in our lives without thinking and believing differently? Thinking and believing differently comes by us understanding a new truth. It is vital that we understand the things that we have freely received through Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 2:12). Without understanding something it is impossible to believe it, and therefore impossible to expect it in our lives. Without expectation of something, we cannot see it happen in our lives. When we believe and hope for something that we don’t see yet, that expectation will bring about its’ manifestation.

Jesus taught that if we believe and not doubt in our hearts, we can say to a mountain that is presently in front of us to move, and even though it has not moved yet we can believe and by believing, it will in fact move (Mark 11:23). The Bible says to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). We are to live according to the truth and expect God’s protection from harm, regardless of what we see in front or around us (Psalm 91:5-10). This is what we must first determine because otherwise, we will not stay committed to seeing the things that the word of God promises, and in turn, we will start to believe the world or those who have chosen to give up on God and His promises. We must persevere and hold on to God’s word regardless of how many times we have not seen His promises come to past. We must continue believing what God says regardless of how many people have failed to live in the freedom He promised.

It all boils down to us knowing that we became new creations by receiving the forgiveness of our sins from God through our faith in Jesus Christ. This Faith in Christ makes us sons of God because He then fills us with His own Spirit (Galatians 3:26, Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6). By believing in Him, who is the Seed of Abraham, the Bible says that we become blessed with believing Abraham and therefore receive the things that God promised to His seed (Galatians 3:9, 29). Abraham’s seed was not Isaac, it was Christ (Galatians 3:16), and we are in Christ now. We have to understand that we are in Covenant with God now (Matthew 26:28). The Bible says that this Covenant is the New Covenant and that it has better promises than the old (Hebrews 8:6). In 1 Peter 2:24, it says that by the things that Jesus took on Himself, we were healed. In the gospels, we can clearly read that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on Earth, and that He gave authority over sicknesses, diseases, and all the power of the devil to His followers (Matthew 18:18, Luke 10:19, Mark 16:17-18, Luke 9:1-2). In Galatians, we see that through the New Covenant in Christ Jesus we have been redeemed from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). In Deuteronomy 27, 28 and 29 we can read about the curses of the law which involve pestilence, destruction, sicknesses, illnesses, and other negative things. We can also read about the blessings of the law and see how those blessings included physical healing and wellness. This promise of good health doesn’t come through food, but through obedience to what God says to do. It is not something acquired by our own physical discipline, but by the covenant that God has made with us.

In the book of Acts, we see how the Lord brought blindness on an unrighteous person (Acts 13:9-11), death on a Christian couple who lied and attempted to deceive God (Acts 5:1-10), and death on an unrighteous leader who was taking credit, honor, praise, and glory from the people, instead of giving it to God (Acts 12:21-23). In 1 Corinthians 11:27-32, we see that people in the church who were doing wrong brought the wrath of God upon themselves and for this reason were getting sick and also dying. So, I am not saying that the Bible says every single person is supposed to be 100% healed, because that would be completely unscriptural. God does discipline, curse, release His wrath, and allows people to reap what they sow in different ways, sickness being one of them (Ephesians 5:6). What I am saying is that when you are in Covenant with God you are no longer an enemy of God and are now at peace with God (Romans 5:1,10). We are redeemed from the curse of the law, sickness being included. If we walk in the spirit and continue in the faith, humbly following the Lord, we will not bring wrath upon ourselves (Colossians 3:6, Galatians 6:8).

If we are born again and are following the Lord’s instructions, there is no reason why we should fear or expect sickness in our own bodies. In the Book of Job, we see that Job was offering sacrifices and worship for his children and thinking about them a whole lot (Job 1:4-5). So many bad things happened to Job, but if we look at the whole picture of his story, we will see Job confess and admit that the things that he feared the most happened to him (Job 3:25). Job was walking in fear and expecting the worse. We have to remember that fear is like faith, if you walk in it and expect certain things, they may take place in your life whether you like it or not. Fear is like faith because your expectation brings about manifestation. This is why it’s important to understand the blessings and promises of the New Covenant through Jesus Christ. If we can find out what we’re supposed to be experiencing, we can then start expecting God’s blessings and good health in our lives. If we remain ignorant, we will be unnecessarily expecting the curses that come upon the sons of disobedience, not the sons of God (Colossians 3:6, Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 5:6).

We must know this truth in order to be set free from the fear, worry, doubt, and stress that comes from not expecting to see the things Jesus delivered us from. God’s people are perishing for the lack of this knowledge. Viruses, heart attacks, cancer, and other illnesses are scaring Christians all around the world. Believers who are right with God are petrified of suffering an early death. When in fact, in the Bible we only see people experiencing early death through martyrdom or through doing disobedient acts of evil against the Lord, which we mentioned already in 1 Corinthians 11. There is no reason why we should fear sickness and illness when Jesus Christ has set us free and redeemed us from these curses.

I must also mention that I am only referring to sickness in this blog. I am not referring to suffering, persecution, lack, injustice and other things that we see Christians (including Jesus and His apostles) experiencing in the New Testament. This is only referring to sickness because Jesus promised that we would have trials, tribulations, and suffering in this world. Out of the things Jesus promised us, none of them included sickness, because sickness came as a curse, repercussion, and consequence of disobedience and enmity with God. Things like persecution, suffering and dealing with the unrighteous people of the world come with us being present in a fallen world. These trials and sufferings have nothing to do with God’s covenant with us. Our health, however, does have to do with God’s covenant with us because we are blessed with believing Abraham and therefore healed in Christ. Sickness is only seen in the Bible as an unpleasant repercussion of disobedience against God, not a type of suffering that helps you mature in faith and patience.

I encourage you to think about the things you have read in this post today. I also encourage you to look at all these scripture references and allow the Holy Spirit to connect the dots for you about this topic. Once you start understanding the health that comes with being at peace with God, you will start expecting it and then experiencing it. Remember to walk by faith, not by fear. If Jesus redeemed you from that curse, who is anyone to tell you otherwise?

Just believe HIM!