SUNESIS MINISTRIES

 

 

Written by Stuart Pattico

 

© 2007 Stuart Pattico.  All rights reserved.  No part of this document may be produced or transmitted in any form without permission from the author.

 

 

 

This article will look at what has been provided for us through the death of Jesus Christ.  Let us begin by reading Matthew 15:21-28

 

21 Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”
23 But He answered her not a word.
And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”
24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”
26 But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
27 And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

 

In this passage, a Gentile (non-Jewish) woman appeals to the Lord Jesus to have mercy on her.  She realises that she does not deserve His attention, and that any favour shown to her would not be a reward, but rather rooted in His mercy.  The situation that motivated her appeal was that her daughter was severely demon-possessed (‘demonised’ in the original Greek).  In other words, her daughter was being severely afflicted by a demon.  What kind of affliction is not mentioned, but the 28^th verse, which says ‘her daughter was healed from that very hour’ may suggest that the affliction was physical.  We ought to be aware that many sicknesses and physical problems that people endure are caused by demons.  If the demon is not dealt with, neither shall the sickness be dealt with.  Even so, the Gentile woman needed the help of the Lord Jesus.

 

Eventually, Jesus responds to her, by stating that His earthly mission was only toward the lost sheep of the house of Israel i.e. the Jewish people.  In verse 26, Jesus further expands upon this by stating that it would not be good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.  In saying this, Jesus refers to the Jewish people as ‘children’ and to the Gentiles as ‘little dogs’.  In other words, in that dispensation of time, the Jewish people had a right to the blessings and provisions of God, whereas the Gentiles had no such right.  Paul echoes such a situation in Romans 3:1 declaring,

 

1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? 2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.

 

And again in Romans 9:4,

 

4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God.

 

You see, the Jews had entered into a special covenant with God which was dedicated by the sprinkling of the blood of calves and goats (Hebrews 9:19-20).  The covenant guaranteed them special benefits based upon their obedience to the laws of God.  Such benefits included atonement for their sins, prosperity, and also physical healing, which is why in this instance the healing that the Gentile woman was seeking for her daughter is called ‘the children’s bread’.  An overview of the broad spectrum of blessings included in the children’s bread can be found in Deuteronomy 28.

 

Therefore, in Matthew 8:12, Jesus refers to the Jews as ‘the children of the kingdom’.  The Gentile woman does not try to argue with what Jesus said.  Instead, she uses Jesus’ own words to get what she needed.  Using Jesus’ analogy, she reasons that even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.  In so doing, she acknowledged that the blessing of God was so abundant, that there is enough even for those outside His special covenant relationship with the Jews.  Jesus was pleased with her understanding of God’s nature and His willingness to bless, and commended her faith.  As such, she received that very hour what she came for, and her daughter was healed.

 

This wonderful event shows us many things, and I would like to point out two in particular:

 

1. We can use God’s own words to get what we need from Him.
2. Great faith includes understanding God’s infinite capacity and willingness to bless.

 

Regarding the second point, I would like to refer us to a promise made to Abraham in Genesis 22:18

 

In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed…

 

God promised a long time ago, that through Abraham’s seed, all the nations would be blessed.  The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, points out that it was not going to be through Abraham’s seeds (plural), but rather through Abraham’s seed (singular) that all nations would be blessed.  Paul also points out that this Seed (descendant) was Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:16).  Therefore, because of Jesus Christ, the blessings of God are no longer limited to only the Jews, but the Gentiles can now partake of these blessings through Christ.

 

When the Gentile woman appealed to Christ, whether she knew it or not, she was prophetically declaring that Jesus was the One through whom the Gentiles could be blessed, and partake of the children’s bread.

 

However, the question must be asked: what makes Jesus so special?  What did Jesus do that enables the Gentiles to partake of the children’s bread?  Jesus made the blessings available to us by shedding His own blood, and thereby making a new covenant with us, a covenant that includes both Jews and Gentile.  Therefore, in Ephesians 2:12-13, Paul writes:

 

12… at that time you [Gentiles] were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

 

We see that it is the blood of Christ that has made it possible for us to inherit the promises.  In this sense, the blessings that are available to us are much like a Will.  Jesus, who is the Son of God, wrote a Will for us, and because of His death, we can now inherit what is in the Will.  To this end, the book of Hebrews declares:

 

16 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. (Hebrew 9:16-17)

 

The English Standard Version reads as follows:

 

16For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

 

Thus it is clear that Jesus Christ died upon the cross so that we could inherit the blessings in His Will.  Because the blessings are now in a Will, it is not a question of whether or not God will bless us, for He has left us His blessings in the Will.  The blessings are legally ours and have already been given to us.  Therefore, Paul rights to the Ephesians and says,

 

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3)

 

Notice that Paul says that God has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing.  As we read the Bible, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, we can discover what these blessings are.  If we do not know what the blessings are, we will not be able to claim them.  Again, I must stress that the Will has already been written and everything in it is legally ours to claim.  The issue is not whether or not God wants to bless us.  He has already blessed us through Christ, and the Lord Jesus has left the blessing for us in His Will.  We can boldly claim whatever is in the Will without any doubt as to whether or not God will grant us our request.

 

 

What is in the Will?

 

Having laid that foundation, let us now look at a few things that are in the Will that Jesus left us.  I believe that the contents of the Will can be briefly summarised by two verses of Scripture:

 

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

 

“…the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel…” (Colossians 1:5)

 

We have two things, abundant life down here on earth, and eternal reward laid up for us in heaven.  Abundant life down here on earth implies that we are abundantly supplied with every spiritual and physical need.  Of course, this does not mean that we can just laze about doing nothing.  We still need to work, for the Bible says that God will bless the work of our hands.  If we don’t work, there is nothing to bless, but as 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says,

 

10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

 

The same applies for spiritual things.  It is when we use what we have that we experience the increase and blessing of God.  I would like to concentrate on a few of the things that we have been given pertaining to our life here on earth.

 

 

Adoption into God’s Family

 

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

 

When we believe in Jesus Christ we have the right to become children of God.  We are born again, not physically, but spiritually.  The part of us that is born again is our spirit:

 

that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6)

 

Therefore, it is also written,

 

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:16)

 

The Holy Spirit will speak to our spirits.  We must learn to listen to what the Holy Spirit says to our spirits if we will be guided by God.

 

Because we are God’s children, we do not need to beg God as the Gentile woman did.  The episode of the Gentile woman took place before Jesus died on the cross, and thus before the Will was in force.  Now that Jesus has died on the cross, we can come boldly to God as His own dear children.

 

Forgiveness of our sins

 

The Will also stipulates that because of the blood of Jesus Christ, all of our sins can be forgiven.

28 For this is My blood of the new^[a] covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:28)

Again, the Bible states:

 

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

 

It is wonderful to know that the blood of Jesus Christ washes away all of our sins.  When God looks at us, He does not see us as sinners, because we have been cleansed from all unrighteousness.  Therefore, the blood of Jesus also removes from us a guilty conscience:

 

22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:22)

 

Because we know all our sins have been forgiven, and because we do not have a guilty conscience, we can go to God with all boldness and faith to claim what is legally ours:

 

16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

 

However, if we refuse to forgive others, we will not be able to claim this blessing of our sins being forgiven:

 

25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” (Mark 11:25-26)

 

 

 

The Holy Spirit

 

We are also promised the Holy Spirit in this Will.  Jesus promised that upon His departure, the Holy Spirit would come and lead us into all truth.

 

However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth (John 16:13)

 

We do not need to beg God for the Holy Spirit, for He has already been sent.  It should be noted that when the apostles prayed for the Samaritans, they did not pray that God would give them the Holy Spirit, but rather that they would receive the Holy Spirit:

 

14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14-17)

 

We are to receive the Holy Spirit.  When we pray, as Jesus said, we are to believe that we receive what we ask for, and then we will have what we ask for (Mark 11:24).  If we keep on begging without really believing we have received, it is nothing more than fleshly praying that will lead to frustration.  Before the day of Pentecost, the disciples had to tarry (i.e. wait) for the Holy Spirit to come.  However, once the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, He didn’t go back to heaven!  Thank God, the Holy Spirit stayed. Therefore, your tarrying is not according to the same order as the first disciples.  When you pray you can believe that you have received and you will quickly find yourself speaking in tongues even as they did!

 

It is so important that we are filled with the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit will help us to obey God and to live right:

 

16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

 

Ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit who shows us what is in the Will and how we can obtain it.  Concerning the Holy Spirit, Jesus said:

 

14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. (John 16:14-15)

 

 

 

Healing

 

Healing for our bodies is also provided for us in the Will.  Matthew 8:17 says,

 

“ He Himself took our infirmities
      And bore our sicknesses.”

 

There are two key things that we need to note here.  Firstly, the verse is in the past tense.  It declared something that has already been accomplished.  Jesus has already taken our infirmities, and borne our sicknesses.  Therefore, Jesus has already healed you.  We do not need to beg God, or plead with Him to heal us. God doesn’t need any convincing to heal us.  He has already healed us and left it for us in the Will. It is legally ours.

 

The second thing we need to note is that it says that He took our infirmities.  The word ‘our’ includes all of us and not just a few.  Jesus has healed every single one of us.

 

Seeing as healing is legally ours, the question then becomes how do we claim healing?  The Bible says,

 

“you do not have because you do not ask.” (James 4:2)

 

 

We claim what is ours by asking, or in other words through prayer.  However it is important that we pray in the way that Jesus taught us to.  Jesus showed us some important prayer principles in Mark 11:23-24

 

22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

 

Jesus here teaches about prayer and having faith in God.  He teaches that one way to pray is to speak directly to the problem and not to God about the problem.  According to Jesus, although we are not directly addressing God, it is still a prayer (v24) because we are making a request: we are firmly requesting that the mountain moves!  When we do this, we are to believe that we have received what we asked for, and we will have it.  Now, this is not an entirely new method of prayer, for we find Joshua doing the same thing in the Old Testament:

 

12 Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel:

      “Sun, stand still over Gibeon;
      And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”

 13 So the sun stood still,
      And the moon stopped,
      Till the people had revenge
      Upon their enemies.

   Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. 14 And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the LORD heeded the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel. (Joshua 10:12-14)

 

Notice that in v12 it says that Joshua spoke to the Lord.  However, it is clear that he in fact spoke to the sun!  God considered such a command of faith to be prayer.  Therefore God heeded Joshua’s voice, and saw to it that his command came to pass.  The key thing is to believe that we receive it, and not to doubt in our hearts.  We must speak to sickness and command it to be gone from us.

 

It is also important to live an obedient lifestyle.  It is as though obedience gives more weight to our prayers:

 

22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us^[e] commandment. (1 John 3:22-23)

 

 

Further to this, if we have prayed, and believed we have received, but still find our bodies in need of healing, we must remember that we are in spiritual warfare.  After the Israelites left Egypt, it was many years before they entered the Promised Land.  However, it didn’t have to be so long.  If we read the Bible carefully, it tells us a reason why they had to wait so long:

 

17 Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. (Exodus 13:17-18)

 

This passage of Scripture reveals to us that the reason the Israelites travelled the way of the wilderness is because they were afraid of war!  If we want to lay hold of what is legally ours without having to endure long periods of waiting, then we must learn to fight the good fight of faith.  Paul said to Timothy,

 

12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life (1 Timothy 6:12)

 

We too must fight the good fight to lay hold of what is ours.  You see, the moment we pray in faith, God is faithful to answer.  There is only a delay in us receiving.  There is never a delay on God’s side of the equation.  The Bible makes this very clear:

 

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)

The New Living Translation puts it this way:

 

“Indeed, God is ready to help you right now. Today is the day of salvation”

 

God always answers prayers of faith instantaneously.  An excellent illustration of this is found in the 10^th chapter of Daniel.  Daniel had been praying and fasting.  After the third week of his supplications, an angel came to him and said:

 

12 …“Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. (Daniel 10:12-13)

 

From the first day of Daniel’s supplications, God answered Daniel by sending the angel.  However, it took the angel three weeks to get to Daniel.  The reason was because he was withstood by an evil principality.  Concerning us, the Bible says:

 

we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,^[c] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

 

There are spiritual forces that try to delay the answer to our prayers.  We must use the weapons of our warfare to overcome them.  Unlike Daniel, we have given authority over these powers and so we must use it.  In so doing, we will receive the answers to our prayers. Jesus said,

 

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (Luke 10:19)

 

 

Power over Satan

 

The powers of evil have truly been defeated through the death of our Lord Jesus.

 

15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:15)

 

14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. (Hebrews 2:14)

 

However, in order to experience the full benefits of our victory, we must be able to successfully use the weapons of our warfare against the invisible forces that oppose our prayers.

 

This leads us to part two of this article: How to Use God’s Word in Spiritual Warfare.  This article will show you how to use the sword of the Spirit against the devil and lay hold of what is written in the Will!  Simply click here to read on.

 

I pray that this article has helped assure that God has already blessed you.  There is no need for you to ever doubt whether or not it is God’s Will to bless you and show you His goodness.  Simply look at the Will and lay hold of His promises!