I had to learn at an early age that God could and would heal me if I chose to believe that and have faith. The reason I say "had to learn" is because the devil would have destroyed me long ago if I had not learned to give him a good fight.
I have experienced God's wonderful healing hand in my life many times and in many different ways. Once the bone in my left leg was totally crushed in a car wreck. Later, over a period of months, I saw it begin to regrow and become completely restored.
Years later I watched that same leg, which had been inches shorter than the other, instantly grow to the correct length in response to prayer. At one point in my life, I was told that I wouldn't be able to have children due to complications from that same accident.
Today I have three precious children, and they will always be proof of my physical healing. However, I have also experienced very important emotional healings as well, including coming through a divorce and into a wonderful second marriage.
Stand Up and Fight
The reason I tell you all this is so you will know that I'm speaking from experience when I say that you have to learn to stand against the devil for your healing. Don't "wimp out." Don't lie down and let Satan walk all over you.
If you want to be healed, you must stand up and fight. If you don't want to be healed, then you can just lie down and let the devil walk on you. But that won't be the end. The next thing you know, someone will be lowering you into the ground, because Satan won't stop with just making you sick; he wants you dead.
Jesus tells us that the devil comes to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). So you had better learn to fight, because we are all engaged in a life or death warfare for our healing.
Now there is something very important which you need to realize at this point. Prior to reading this article, you may have been "ignorant" of healing and what it involves. You may not have been aware that the devil is a very real enemy who works to prevent your healing.
But now you know. It's alright to be ignorant, but once you get knowledge, you have no more excuses. Once you become aware, God no longer allows you to walk in ignorance and use it as a crutch. When knowledge enters your mind, the crutch is kicked out from under you, and you have to walk on your own.
Then you can be healed. The fight with Satan goes on along the lines of fear, doubt and unbelief—unbelief that you can be healed; then once you are healed, fear and doubt that you'll stay healed or that you were even healed in the first place.
I was prayed for and my leg grew out instantly. At the same time, I was also healed of stomach ulcers. I knew right away that God had healed me, even though there was no visible evidence. You can imagine how the devil tried to fill my mind with thoughts of unbelief.
The Faith Fight Wages On
But every time he would try to make me feel like I was going to be sick to my stomach again from eating certain foods or from stress in my life, I would just begin to quote scriptures.
The same thing happened recently when a doctor removed a small growth from my body and said he would have to send it to the lab to see if it was cancerous. I had every opportunity to worry, to fret, to be upset, and to become fearful, but I spoke the Word out loud, over and over again - every healing scripture I could think of.
I spoke forth those scriptures, saying:
I have experienced God's wonderful healing hand in my life many times and in many different ways. Once the bone in my left leg was totally crushed in a car wreck. Later, over a period of months, I saw it begin to regrow and become completely restored.
Years later I watched that same leg, which had been inches shorter than the other, instantly grow to the correct length in response to prayer. At one point in my life, I was told that I wouldn't be able to have children due to complications from that same accident.
Today I have three precious children, and they will always be proof of my physical healing. However, I have also experienced very important emotional healings as well, including coming through a divorce and into a wonderful second marriage.
Stand Up and Fight
The reason I tell you all this is so you will know that I'm speaking from experience when I say that you have to learn to stand against the devil for your healing. Don't "wimp out." Don't lie down and let Satan walk all over you.
If you want to be healed, you must stand up and fight. If you don't want to be healed, then you can just lie down and let the devil walk on you. But that won't be the end. The next thing you know, someone will be lowering you into the ground, because Satan won't stop with just making you sick; he wants you dead.
Jesus tells us that the devil comes to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). So you had better learn to fight, because we are all engaged in a life or death warfare for our healing.
Now there is something very important which you need to realize at this point. Prior to reading this article, you may have been "ignorant" of healing and what it involves. You may not have been aware that the devil is a very real enemy who works to prevent your healing.
But now you know. It's alright to be ignorant, but once you get knowledge, you have no more excuses. Once you become aware, God no longer allows you to walk in ignorance and use it as a crutch. When knowledge enters your mind, the crutch is kicked out from under you, and you have to walk on your own.
Then you can be healed. The fight with Satan goes on along the lines of fear, doubt and unbelief—unbelief that you can be healed; then once you are healed, fear and doubt that you'll stay healed or that you were even healed in the first place.
I was prayed for and my leg grew out instantly. At the same time, I was also healed of stomach ulcers. I knew right away that God had healed me, even though there was no visible evidence. You can imagine how the devil tried to fill my mind with thoughts of unbelief.
The Faith Fight Wages On
But every time he would try to make me feel like I was going to be sick to my stomach again from eating certain foods or from stress in my life, I would just begin to quote scriptures.
The same thing happened recently when a doctor removed a small growth from my body and said he would have to send it to the lab to see if it was cancerous. I had every opportunity to worry, to fret, to be upset, and to become fearful, but I spoke the Word out loud, over and over again - every healing scripture I could think of.
I spoke forth those scriptures, saying:
I don't care what lie the devil is trying to put into my mind. I know I am healed, because God's Word says I am. I stand on that. Satan, I refuse to let you get to me with doubt and fear and unbelief. I will not be afraid, because I do not have a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7). I have a sound mind, and a sound mind has no place for fear, doubt, worry or anxiety. I will not be afraid.As you read this, I pray that you feel the fight of faith rising up on the inside. Keep that same spirit while you read these scriptures out loud as your self-defense against Satan. You have God on your side, and there isn't anything the devil can do to stop your healing or take it away!
I am healed because of Jesus' love for me. He died on Calvary for my sins and He took my stripes on His back for my sicknesses. I am healed because I have the power within me - the power of the Holy Ghost going through my veins, and through my body. I am part of the Body of Christ, and therefore sickness cannot live in me. I am healed and there's not one thing you can do about it, devil. I carry my healing and the power and the love of Jesus. Therefore, you cannot steal my healing from me.
Self-Defense Healing Scriptures to Confess
Isaiah 54:17
"But no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This (peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition) is the heritage of the servants of the Lord (those in whom the ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced). This is the righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me—this is that which I impart to them as their justification—says the Lord."
Matthew 8:17
"And thus He fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, He Himself took (in order to carry away) our weaknesses and infirmities and bore away our diseases."
1 Peter 2:24
"He personally bore our sins in His (own) body to the tree (as to an alter and offered Himself on it), that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed."
Mark 11:23-24
"Truly, I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the sea! And does not doubt at all in his heart, but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him. For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe—trust and be confident—that it is granted to you, and you will (get it)."
Mark9:23
"And Jesus said, (You say to Me), If You can do anything? All things can be—are possible—to him who believes!"
Matthew 18:18-19
"Truly, I tell you, whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth must be already permitted in heaven. Again I tell you, if two of you on earth agree (harmonize together, together make a symphony) about—anything and everything—whatever they shall ask, it will come to pass and be done for them by My Father in heaven."
Once you have received divine healing, I want to encourage you to strive for and maintain divine health. God loves to heal His children, but His greatest desire is to see us walk in ongoing health.
There are so may things we can do through proper eating habits, exercise, and confession of God's Word that can help us stay and walk in divine health. I think it would be a great testimony to the world if Christians lived 15 to 20 years longer than everyone else.
These are the kinds of things that are possible through God's Word!
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Cheryl Salem walked the runway to become Miss America 1980, despite what appeared to be all odds stacked against her. Poverty, sexual abuse, a horrific car crash that resulted in a physical handicap and over 100 stitches in her face were no match for what God had planned for her life. Through simple, childlike faith in Him, she overcame these insurmountable obstacles and eventually took the crown in Atlantic City! She has used this distinction as a springboard to launch the Gospel of Jesus Christ into churches, schools, women's retreats, television appearances, etc. Prison ministries, women's shelters, inner-city outreaches, and disaster relief programs have made use of Cheryl's books and CDs to offer hope and help to those in need. According to Cheryl, "None of these things would be possible, if not for my Jesus."
