I am disabled and have been since childhood. I also believe God heals today.
One of my pet peeves is a person who holds a belief system that chastises others for using certain words to describe themselves. I do not believe I am cursing myself by stating I am disabled. It is not my identity; I am not that stupid, I identify as blonde, but I am still not stupid.
LIGHTEN UP, folks!!
Some people have become overly paranoid and frightened of the enemy, thinking he can trip us up at any moment if we accidentally slip a wrong confession out of our lips.
“Watch out! You’ll curse yourself by the way you speak about yourself! If you say you are disabled, you give the enemy power.” Pure superstition! Nothing more than the foolishness of childhood urban myths, “Step on a crack, you break your mother’s back.”
Such statements come across as judgmental, condescending and fearful. I do not believe Satan has power over me because I use the word ‘disabled.’ Yes, there is power in our words, but there is more power in the cross. Remember, we serve a BIG God. The enemy is a tiny little bug in comparison.
I believe my God can heal, bless and restore me, whether or not I refer to myself as being disabled or refer to myself as living with a disability.
When someone lives with a chronic disability, insecure believers often hurl blame cards at them. Immature prayer team members feel the need to blame someone if the person they prayed for is not healed. Usually, that blame is placed on the person who was receiving prayer. “Not enough faith; there has to be hidden sin. There must be a stronghold or a disabled mindset! Maybe they are comfortable being uncomfortable. Maybe they like the attention.”
I don’t know why I am not yet healed, but I do know this. God is not pleased with those who play the blame game. I am disabled and attend an incredible church that believes in healing. God has often used me to heal others. It is exhilarating to see people walk in physical freedom!! Joy overwhelms me as I watch the signs of chronic pain melt away from the expression of those who suffered for decades. When healing is not yet evident, I don’t blame myself or the person who needs healing. I don’t build a theology based on my failed healing experiences.
Jesus never turned away or blamed a person when they came to Him for help and healing. Neither should we point the finger at those who come to us for prayer.
My theology rests on the goodness of God and His grace. The ‘whys’ will always be there, but I don’t dwell on them. I attended a toxic church decades ago. Perhaps the preacher never assigned blame from the pulpit, but their official prayer ministry training pointed a finger.
The inferred blame game went like this:
Why aren’t people with chronic diseases healed?
Answer: “Sometimes, no matter how much faith you have as the prayer servant, the person you are ministering to will block the healing due to fear, improper confession of faith, or because of unconfessed sin.”
It’s okay to live in mystery, not knowing all the answers. Be at peace with God and man. Develop the ability to live in the tension of not knowing why while remaining in faith believing for the yet-to-be-realized. Genuinely love the person in front of you. That is all that is required.
1 Cor 3:1-7 (MSG) – “If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.”
Until Next Week,