God wants us set free from the oppression of Satan. He wants us released from the bondage of sin. God wants us well!
All sickness and disease are from the devil and not from God. Many are sick because they have given place to spirits of infirmity through sin, disobedience, or by ignoring principles of good health and nutrition.

Nor give place to the devil.
(Eph. 4:27)

Using our restored authority, we can resist the devil, the spirits of infirmity, or the sickness that has come, and they will flee from us.

...Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
(James 4:7b)

Believers have authority to cast out the spirit of infirmity, and to heal all kinds of sickness and disease.

And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.
(Matt. 10:1)

The only things the devil can do to us today is what we are letting him do. The question shouldn't be, "Why is God letting this happen?" Instead it should be, "Why are we letting this happen?"

Satan's Fall
Satan and his angels were cast down to earth after their rebellion in heaven. We read the account of Revelation:

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down."
(Rev. 12:7-10)

Made in God's Image
God created mankind in His image on the same planet where Satan was cast after his fall. He created them to have dominion over the earth Satan had ruled until that time.

In the first chapter of Genesis, God said,

Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
(vv. 26,28)

Mankind was created to:
• look like God
• walk like God
• talk like God
• and to have dominion on this earth!

Satan Hates You
Imagine yourself in Satan's place. From one of the highest positions in heaven, he was banished to planet earth.

With hatred raging against God, this one who wanted to make himself like the most High, must have watched in horror as God created human beings in His own image. Then God gave them dominion over everything he had been ruling!

Every time Satan sees a man or woman, he must be reminded of God—the object of his greatest wrath. When he sees humans looking and acting like God, his hatred is intense. The expression of that hatred is to steal, kill, and destroy.

The apostle John wrote, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy" (John 10:10a).

Satan knows that we are God's representatives on earth. We are the body of Christ, and his greatest desire is to defeat us.

Man as Satan's Victim
Loss, death, and destruction are always the work of Satan. For four thousand years after the fall of Adam and Eve, mankind lived under the captivity, bondage, and oppression of the devil.

Human beings who had been created to walk in dominion, were crippled and blind, sitting by the roads, begging. A woman who was created to walk upright, was crippled and bowed over in pain and despair.

Men and women created to look just like God (in His image) now had the features of their faces and bodies eaten away with leprosy.

Jesus came to set mankind free from the captivity, bondage and oppression of sickness, disease and pain.

God wants us set free from the oppression of Satan. He wants us released from the bondage of sin. God wants us well! The source of sickness and disease is Satan— not God!

Source: God's Provision for Healing by A.L. and Joyce Gill
Excerpt permission granted by Powerhouse Publishing