Bible Study Notes

Safety and security are concerns that always seem to be on everyone’s mind lately. Violence is reported daily in the media, nerves are on edge, and stress levels are high. If we had only ourselves to depend on to stay safe from harm, we’d be in real trouble. Fortunately, those who believe His Word have God’s promise of perfect protection.

Gun sales are brisk, and the burglar alarm industry is booming. Too often, people make decisions based on fear, and television and the internet fuel that fear. Although we arm ourselves and hope we’re strong enough on our own to resist an attack, the world can punch holes in our perceived shell of protection. However, God delivers those who trust in Him. “I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.’ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you… No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:2-7, 10, 11, NKJV).

This promise is something most people either ignore or don’t know about, but it bears repeating because it’s critical to our peace of mind. God made a powerful affirmation in this statement; He spelled it out in explicit detail so there’s no misunderstanding. God knows how scary life can be sometimes, but He reassures us that we’re safe all the time, even when we feel the most vulnerable. “When you lie down, you shall not be afraid; yes, you shall lie down, and your sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden terror and panic, nor of the stormy blast or the storm and ruin of the wicked when it comes [for you will be guiltless], For the Lord shall be your confidence, firm and strong, and shall keep your foot from being caught [in a trap or some hidden danger]” (Proverbs 3:24-26, AMPC).  

Choosing to trust God for our ultimate safety makes us stand out from the rest of the world. We may even be criticized for it, but when we meditate on God’s promise to deliver us from evil, we can rest easy. “I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me all around” (Psalm 3:5, 6, NKJV). When God is on our side, it doesn’t matter who decides to make us their enemy.

David wrote Psalm 3 when he was on the run from people who had set themselves against the boy and vowed to kill him. The devil was working through the king, but God kept David safe and delivered him from harm. God worked for him and will work for us as well. “But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one” (2 Thessalonians 3:3, NKJV). God is our supernatural guardian who watches over us.  

Our health is something we often take for granted. We never give it a second thought—until we get sick. Our external environment has a way of pushing us into self-effort to stay healthy, using fear to motivate us. However, Jesus went to the cross to make available to us everything we need, including healing. He has already healed us; we therefore don’t need to struggle to do ourselves what has already been done.

Divine Healing Shows Up by Faith

The world accepts illness as a part of life, but Christians don’t have to tolerate it. We’ve been made whole and can now thrive because of our faith in what Jesus did to heal us. We don’t have to come up with some kind of religious activity to get the job done. When we see something going on with our physical bodies, we can take possession of our healing when we know how to respond.

We receive our healing by faith, which is a positive response to what has already been made available. To put this into practice, we must know what it looks like. “Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law” (Galatians 2:16, NLT). This is radical because most of us have been told in church that “You’ve got to obey the law in order to be right with God” and “You’re not right with God if you don’t do this.” 

God Wants Us Healed Because He Loves Us

The focus here is on believing, not doing; specifically, belief in Jesus Christ and in His finished works. To be even more precise, we must decide to believe in the love that God has for us. The devil is always coming back to this and telling us God doesn’t love us, but the devil is a liar. “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). If we don’t believe God loves us, then we won’t believe what He says or what He promised us about healing.

It’s God’s will that we receive all His promises, but His will doesn’t just automatically come to pass; it requires a deliberate decision on our part to believe. This was illustrated when Jesus met a leper who asked if healing was His will. “And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ Immediately the leprosy left him” (Luke 5:12, 13, NKJV). The man knew Jesus had the ability to heal but had just enough doubt to question whether it was Jesus’ will for him, specifically. The result was miraculous; if Jesus could work a miracle for the leper, He certainly can do so for us as well.  

Christ Went to the Cross to Make Us Whole

Receiving our miracle involves determining whether we’re responding to something without first discovering God’s will for our lives; His will is His Word. When we receive a bad medical diagnosis and the doctor says one thing but God says something else, we must decide who to believe; our response determines our outcome. “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). We were healed even before we were born; our healing is a done deal.

Full confidence in this means that we can rest in the finished works of healing. There’s no need to fret, worry, or stress about anything said to us that contradicts God’s Word. We don’t have to work for healing that’s already done. Maintaining our faith in this is real work because the enemy is always trying to get us to doubt it. “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world… Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” (Hebrews 4:1-3, 11).

Jesus Sacrificed His Body and Blood for Us

It’s essential that we constantly remember the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross to make perfect health available to us. We can do this every time we take communion. At His last meal with the disciples, Jesus gave special instructions as He shared the bread and wine with them. “And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24, 25). It doesn’t matter if it’s actual bread and juice we take or something else; what’s important is that communion is the most powerful medicine we can take if we believe according to His will.    

Believers don’t ever have to put up with sickness. Health issues are not God’s will for us. Regardless of what the x-ray or medical report looks like, the healing Jesus provides is stronger than any illness or disease. We can have complete trust in this.