You don't need to wonder why your healing hasn't manifested if you are disregarding things in your life the Lord has dealt with you about. It could be something as seemingly innocuous as listening to secular music, watching R-rated movies or keeping up with soap operas.
But the fact is, if you are consuming those things, then you are feeding yourself darkness from this world's system. You are literally feeding yourself death.
If a person is consistently and willfully being disobedient to God's Word, continuing to do things that he knows the Bible says are wrong, he has moved himself out from under the protecting power of the blood of Jesus. He has inadvertently given Satan access to his life.
King Hezekiah is a good example of this. In Isaiah 38, we learn that Hezekiah was sick unto death.
Now, Hezekiah had previously entered into a covenant with Egypt against the Assyrians in direct violation of God's Word.
Isaiah came to him and said, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.
Hezekiah then turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord.
That is an Old Testament way of saying that he repented. God then sent Isaiah back to Hezekiah to tell him, Behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
Like Hezekiah, many people are sick in their bodies because they fail to deal with sin, not realizing its effect on their lives. If you allow disobedience to continue, you open yourself up to sickness - not because God puts it on you to punish you but because you move yourself out from under the protective covering of the blood of Jesus.
You must not let the devil dupe you into thinking you can live a disobedient lifestyle without consequences. The Bible clearly labels such thinking as a deception:
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (Gal. 6:7-8).
Disobedience, or sin, interrupts your fellowship with God and separates you from His power. A guilty conscience robs you of the confidence you need in order to receive from Him:
"Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight" (1 John 3:21-22).
Some of the most dramatic healings I have ever seen during my years in the ministry have occurred when people simply got right with God. More often than not, the area of disobedience involved was related to anger, bitterness, resentment or unforgiveness.
For some spiritual reason, sins of unforgiveness frequently produce sickness or pain in a person's body. But any lifestyle choice that violates God's Word opens you to being oppressed by the devil in this way.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers