This is an interesting exercise to use with many and varied Scripture verses.  Compare one verse in a number of different versions of the Bible to see the subtle nuances of understanding and comprehension of the heart of God in each one!  Psalm 41:3 is the passage chosen today.

• The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness.  (NIV)
• Whenever we’re sick and in bed, God becomes our nurse, nurses us back to health.  (The Message)
• The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness You restore him to full health.  (English Standard Version)
• The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness thou healest all his infirmities.  (Revised Standard Version)

 

• You always heal them and restore their strength when they are sick.  (Contemporary English Version)
• The LORD will help them when they are sick and will restore them to health.  (Today’s English Version)
• The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.  (KJV)
• The LORD will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.  (NKJV)

This verse of Scripture (above) reveals that God’s people may indeed become ill, even to the point of being confined to one’s bed.  However, with a steadfast, constant, unwavering faith in God and in His Word, we will experience complete restoration to a healthy state.  Meditation upon the Word of God and a heartfelt agreement with Scriptures will give us a firm foundation to stand upon in the process of healing.

Here are additional passages that deal with the topic of supernatural healing:

If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.  (Ex 15:26 NKJV)

But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.  (Mal 4:2 NKJV)

Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases . . .   (Ps 103:3 NKJV)

. . . who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.  (1 Pet 2:24)

There is no shame in sickness nor does it always indicate a lack of faith or a presence of sin.  We live in fleshly bodies on this planet for a season.  Even though we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, there are tests and trials of faith in various realms that we encounter, and we have the privilege of passing through each trial victoriously by faith in Christ and His redemptive work.

God is able to use all of the circumstances of life to strengthen us and to mature us, spiritually and emotionally!  Each test and trial of our faith brings us through to victory and to an ever-growing faith in our Savior!  When we receive healing, we receive HIM.  Be steadfast and immovable and you will be victorious. (1 Cor 15:58)  Praise God!

You can’t move into really living by faith until you trust in and relax in God’s magnificent love for YOU.

John 15:1-13 discusses Jesus as the vine and His Father as the vinedresser.  Abide in God’s love.  This passage also discusses many aspects of our relationship with Jesus that should give us confidence and hope.  They also examine God’s love for us.

Love is not self-seeking.  God’s heart is inclined toward US!  God is jealous for us.  Let’s enjoy God’s Presence.  Let’s get to know Him so well that loving Him becomes the easiest thing in our lives to do.

God holds our future; He is in the future and everything there is fine!

God wants more time with us.  So spend as much time as you can with the God who IS love.  Feast upon His love and companionship through praise, prayer, and meditation on His Word and promises. 

Love generates and triggers faith.  If people don’t trust you, it’s possible that you’re not showing them enough love! 

When you have many, many people turning to you with trust in their hearts, then you will know that you are loving others as God loves you!  Hallelujah!

A natural outgrowth of FAITH—knowing (believing, trusting) that God loves us—is that we have love for one another.  When God’s love is manifested in a person’s life, that person won’t be able to prevent himself from showing that love to others!  It will gush forth like rivers of living water!  Such love brings with it a strong, abiding faith in God and in His plans for us.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  (1 John 4:11 NKJV, emphasis added)

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.  (1 John 4:12 NKJV, emphasis added)

And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.  (1 John 4:21 NKJV)

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints . . . (Ephesians 1:15 NKJV)

. . . that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love . . . (Ephesians 3:17 NKJV)

. . . since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints . . . (Colossians 1:4 NKJV)

But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you—  (1 Thess. 3:6 NKJV, emphasis added)

But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.  (1 Thess. 5:8 NKJV, emphasis added)  The combination of faith and love, together, creates a breastplate that guards our hearts!

We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other,  (2 Thess. 1:3 NKJV)  Faith grows in an atmosphere of love.

And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.  (1 Tim. 1:14 NKJV)  Faith and love were cornerstone character traits of the Lord Jesus.

Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.  (2 Tim. 1:13 NKJV)

When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.  (Proverbs 16:7 NKJV)  What lifestyle will please the Lord?  A lifestyle that is motivated by love—that treats everyone with honor and respect—fulfills Christ’s commandment that we love one another!  The Lord will make our enemies be at peace with us when we live in such a pleasing way before Him!

Faith works by love!  If you do not know, believe, and trust that God loves you unconditionally and eternally, you will struggle with acquiring and maintaining your faith.  Answers to prayer will seem nonexistent or infrequent in this situation. 

A stout, robust, joyful understanding of God’s extravagant love for you will result in a joy-filled faith in God. Robust faith results in a miracle-rich life walking with the living God, the Father of Lights!

You can’t have faith unless someone loves you.  Jesus loves you!  He’s the God who is “more than enough.”  (He provides abundance for us:  Isaiah 60:5; 2 Cor. 9:8)

Feast upon this selection of Scriptures that discuss the love of God, and bolster your faith by meditating upon them!

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.  (Galatians 5:6 NKJV, emphasis added)

But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.  (Colossians 3:14 NKJV, emphasis added)

. . . the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.  (Deut. 23:5b NKJV)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  (John 3:16 NKJV)

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  (John 15:9 NKJV)

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  (John 15:12 NKJV)

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.  (John 15:13 NKJV, emphasis added)

. . . for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.  (John 16:27 NKJV)

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:8 NKJV)

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:38-39 NKJV)

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  (Galatians 2:20 NKJV)

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us . . . (Ephesians 2:4 NKJV)

. . . to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  (Ephesians 3:19 NKJV)

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.  (Ephesians 5:2 NKJV)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.  (2 Tim. 1:7 NKJV)

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  (1 John 3:1 NKJV)

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  (1 John 4:7-8 NKJV, emphasis added)

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  (1 John 4:9-10 NKJV, emphasis added)

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.  (1 John 4:16 NKJV)

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.  (1 John 4:18 NKJV, emphasis added)

Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer.  Did you also know that He’s our advocate, intercessor, and mediator?  Here are some definitions of each term and Scriptures that mention these leadership titles.

ADVOCATE

Advocate:  supporter, promoter, sponsor

See Job 16:19, below.

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  (1 John 2:1 NKJV, emphasis added)

INTERCESSOR

Intercessor:  a person who prays on behalf of somebody or something; one who speaks for another (especially somebody who is to be punished for something); one who speaks in support of another, especially in support of a person involved in a dispute

Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.  (Job 16:19-21 NIV1984, emphasis added)

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.  (Isaiah 53:12 NIV1984, emphasis added)

He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him.  For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.  (Isaiah 59:16, 17 NKJV, emphasis added)

MEDIATOR

Mediator:  arbitrator; umpire, referee, intermediary

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus . . .  (1 Tim. 2:5 NKJV)

But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.  (Heb. 8:6 NKJV)

And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.  (Heb. 9:15 NKJV)

. . . to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.  (Heb. 12:24 NKJV)

Since our Redeemer is supporting and promoting us; and since Jesus is speaking on our behalf and arbitrating for us in the court of Heaven, may this knowledge strengthen our faith and give us boldness to proclaim His goodness and mercy.  Live your life boldly and joyously for Jesus!

A wise man scales (climbs over the walls of) the city of the mighty, and brings down the trusted stronghold.  (Prov 21:22)

A WISE person infiltrates the city of the Mighty (the world’s way of doing business) and sees through its deceptions and half-truths.  The city of the Mighty considers itself indestructible therefore they trust in their own strength, and boast about it. 

The wise brings down the trusted stronghold in his/her own heart and mind, first.  He/she makes a choice to plug into God’s Kingdom-way of doing business and living life!  What makes a wise person wise is that he or she is tuned into the very heart of God.

The wise person trusts God; trusts God’s Word; and trusts in eternal truths more than flesh, the five senses, or in “logic.”  This person decides to believe and trust that the weapons of our warfare are MIGHTY to the pulling down of strongholds.  (2 Cor. 10:4-6) 

The wise brings EVERY thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.  This means that we listen to the voice of our Savior and to the Word of God, with compliant submission, assent, and agreement just as Christ obediently submitted to His Father’s will.  Our actions follow our thoughts, so when we bring our thoughts into submission to God, our actions will naturally follow!

It will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them.  (Isa. 19:20 NASB)

But the Lord is with me like a DREAD CHAMPION; therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.  They will be utterly ashamed, because they have failed, with an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.  (Jer. 20:11 NASB)

Champion – means:  winner; victor; champ; defender; advocate; guardian; backer; supporter

Dread – means:  feared (causing fear and extreme anxiety); awe-inspiring (inspiring fear and respect or awe in equal measure); good (good or excellent – slang)

According to the two verses above, the Lord Jesus is our Champion!  He is our victor, defender, advocate, and guardian.  And He is all of these things in such a way that He inspires fear, awe, and extreme anxiety in the enemy camp! 

When we recognize that our Savior and Redeemer is also our “Dread Champion,” we must be filled with confidence and assurance that our prayers will never fall to the ground; and that our Shepherd is also our strong and powerful friend. 

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  LOVE NEVER FAILS.  (1 Cor 13:4-8, emphasis added)

This passage in Scripture is intended to demonstrate to us the very nature of God.  Since God IS love (1 John 4:8, emphasis added), this passage is a revelation of God! 

Love (God) has patience with our humanity and our failings.  Love (God) is active in presenting all manner of good gifts to us!  Love is unselfish and displays good manners and courtesy.  Love thinks no evil, but rejoices in the truth, aggressively advertising the good. 

God never gives up on people, but He affirms their future. Love endures all things, persevering and remaining loyal to the end. Our Savior—our Intercessor—NEVER FAILS!  Praise the Lord most High.  

In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus teaches us how to pray. In verse 10, Jesus says: Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We are taught by Jesus to pray that God’s kingdom be established here on earth as it is established in heaven. There is no sickness, no disease, no decay, no poverty, and no broken relationships in heaven. God’s will rules heaven perfectly and completely.

As the ambassadors of heaven on earth, we are empowered by God to use the authority of the Name of Jesus to establish His will on the earth (Luke 9:1; 10:19). God’s will is that all should come to repentance and salvation (John 3:16, 17; 2 Peter 3:9).

Salvation comes from the word “sozo.” “Sozo” means to save from the evils which obstruct the reception of the Messianic deliverance. The salvation that Jesus purchased for mankind is designed to save us from EVERY evil that prevents us from receiving God’s deliverance! Hallelujah!

This Word of Truth is applicable to every situation and every compartment of your life: your mind, your spirit, and your body. God is a wonder-working Savior. Praise His beautiful Name! Receive His power and His deliverance today. Praise Him for it and rejoice in it.