The Lord Cares for Our Body Also — Zac Poonen

Surrendering Spirit, Soul, and Body to God

I want to begin with a verse in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. We've been trying to understand God's ways. We saw the importance of humility, seeking to understand how Jesus was tempted like us and never sinned, that we can walk the same way, and how God gives us in the measure in which we give to him.

If you get less, it's because you give God less. Jesus once used the expression of, in a parable, he spoke about those who are rich towards God. It's a beautiful expression in Luke's gospel chapter 12, rich towards God.

If somebody were to examine your life, every area of your life in terms of your time, energy, money, etc., would they say that you are rich towards God, or would they say you're rich towards yourself and your family, but stingy towards God?

Many believers, even who believe in victory over sin and have overcome many sins, are not rich towards God. There's a stinginess in their attitude towards God, and that's why their lives are spiritually so poverty-stricken.

God wants us to be rich spiritually, but if you want to be rich spiritually, you have to learn to be rich towards God. Think of that. 1 Thessalonians 5, we read verse 23, May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit, soul, and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faithful is he who calls you, he will bring it to pass. God wants our spirit and our soul and our body to be preserved complete without blame. Till the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is a trinity, three persons and one God.

God is in the spirit world, so we can't understand that with our human understanding how three persons can be one, because whenever we speak of three persons, we think of three bodies. But God is a spirit, and in the spirit world, three persons can be one.

I often tell people, if you're God, you say you can't understand, some people say we can't understand that. I say if you worship a God whom you can understand, that God must be a human being only. Dogs can understand dogs, dogs cannot understand human beings.

And a human being can understand another human being. If you think you can understand all about God, your God is not the true God. The trinity itself is one of the clearest proofs to me, the fact that I cannot grasp it fully is one of the clearest proofs that that is the true God.

If you could explain God fully, that would not be the true God at all. Just like I said, a dog can only explain another dog, not human beings. And so when God made man, he made us not as three persons, but as three parts, but one person, that is, spirit, soul, and body.

And though when we are born again, he begins the work in our spirit. You know, the Old Testament tabernacle was a picture of the human body. And if you study the Old Testament tabernacle, God began by telling, you know, if you were drawing a plan for a building, explaining a building, you'd first draw the compound wall and then the outer, you know, periphery of the building, and then the rooms, etc.

That's how anybody would go about drawing a diagram of a building. And humanly speaking, if you were giving the pattern of the tabernacle, you would first speak about the dimensions of the outer court, and then the dimensions of the tent, but God did not do that.

God's ways are not our ways. You know, he first started with the ark in the most holy place. Imagine when you're constructing a house, and the first thing you talk about is the sofa in the sitting room.

Say, are you crazy or what? Is that, are you? But that's how God does it. Because he was saying that it's that innermost part from where I have to begin the work. And that ark in the most holy place was a picture of Christ dwelling in our spirit.

And that is where God's work begins. In these little things in the Old Testament, if you read carefully and you observe, that's why I always tell people, read the Bible slowly. It's better that the Bible goes through you once in your lifetime than you go through the Bible 50 times in your lifetime.

I'm not in any desire to get into the Guinness Book of Records as to how many times I went through the Bible. I want to go make sure every verse in the Bible goes through me once in my life, and for that I have to read slowly.

And you would see some of these things that I tell you, you would have discovered yourself if you read a little slowly and you're not in a rush. So God begins in our spirit, and then from there he wants to, that spirit can affect our mind and the way we think.

He wants to renew our way of thinking that is our soul. He wants to influence our emotions which are also a part of our soul, so that we can control our anger and we can control discouragement and really be overcomers in our emotions and be full of joy all the time.

And then from there he wants to affect our body too. Though the full redemption of our body will have to wait till Christ comes again. And for that matter we will be completely like Christ in our spirit also only when he comes again.

But there's a progression. It says here God wants to sanctify us entirely, our spirit, soul, and body. So I want to say a few words about the body, because we cannot believe that God is not interested in our body.

A Balanced Understanding of Healing

And just like in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and in many other doctrines, Christians tend to go to this extreme or that extreme. In the body also we have extremes of teaching in Christendom. Some, even though they don't say it, say God never heals anybody.

You got to go to doctors. That's the only hope for you. God doesn't, he's not in the business of healing the sick. And then there are others who are at the other extreme who say you'll never get sick.

God will heal everything. And they're living in a world of delusion because in their churches there are plenty as many people sick as in those other churches where they don't believe in healing at all.

Anybody who's got his eyes open can see that. So we have extremes of teaching in every area. We have extremes of teaching in the Holy Spirit. We have extremes of teaching in the matter of healing. We have extremes of teaching in every single area.

So I want to show you what scripture teaches to have a balanced understanding of God's will for our physical body. Again, remember we were speaking about how in the old covenant they were occupied with the things of earth.

All the promises, if you read Deuteronomy 28, there were promises like your wife will never have a miscarriage. Now there are promises like that in the Old Testament. And if you see, let me show you some things of the old covenant.

In the old covenant there were promises like this. Exodus and chapter 15 and verse 26. Exodus 15, 26. If you give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord and do what's right in his sight and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I put on the Egyptians, for I, the Lord, am your healer.

Very clear word. I will not put upon you the diseases I put upon the Egyptians. I, the Lord, am your healer. In Exodus chapter 23, we read and verse 25, you shall serve the Lord your God. He will bless your food, your bread and your water.

I will remove sickness from your midst. No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. No woman will be without children. No woman will have a miscarriage. And I will fulfill the number of your days.

These are promises of God. And turn to Deuteronomy and chapter 28. And there we read Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 4, blessed shall be the offspring of your body. And that refers to God's blessing upon the children.

And verse 11, the Lord will make you abound in prosperity. And in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and the produce of your ground. And so on. There are many promises like that in the Old Testament, how God would bless, physically bless with healing.

We read that when the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, they were bitten by snakes. They were instantly healed by looking at the brazen serpent. But we must read all of scripture. If you read the whole scripture, you'll be balanced.

Elisha's Sickness and the Limits of Healing Promises

One of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament was Elisha. Elijah was a mighty prophet, but Elisha had double the anointing of Elijah. And if you compare the miracles that Elijah did and Elisha did, you'll find Elisha did double the number of miracles that Elijah did.

Elijah raised one person from the dead. Elisha raised two people from the dead. He really got double the anointing. I want you to turn. Elijah went up to heaven, perhaps when he was in his 30s. But Elisha lived a long life till he was maybe 90 years old.

And then how did he die? 2 Kings chapter 13. Remember, this is perhaps one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament who had double the anointing of Elisha. It says in 2 Kings chapter 13 and verse 14, when Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, you go to Elisha and say, hey, don't you have faith that the Lord is your healer?

Don't you have faith in those promises which said I will take sickness away from your midst? What if God says he was sick and he was not healed? He died. We'll say perhaps he didn't have faith. He didn't have faith.

He didn't claim the promises. I'll tell you this. Some of you who think you have faith for healing, I'll show you how there was more faith in Elisha than you and I have. Verse 20, Elisha died and they buried him.

Now listen to this. This is one of the most fantastic miracles that took place after Elisha died. They buried him in some place. The bands of the Moabites, 2 Kings 13 .20, would invade the land in the spring and they were burying a man and they saw a marauding band and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha, which is probably open.

And as soon as this dead man touched the bones of Elisha, remember, this is the bones. Elisha's already disintegrated and become bones. As soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he was raised from the dead.

There was more anointing in Elisha's dead bones than in many living people. Don't say he didn't have faith, but he died of a sickness. What I want to point out to you is you can be a blind claimer of promises.

The Lord said, I am the Lord, your healer. You don't understand God's ways. Elisha had a lot of faith, but he was not healed of his sickness and he died. And there are many others who are healed in the Old Testament, numerous cases.

Jesus Did Not Heal Everyone

Then we come to the gospels and many people think Jesus healed everybody. Let's turn to one example, John's gospel, chapter five. Now we know that in some cases he did not heal because it says they did not have faith.

Matthew 13, last verse says he could not do many miracles because of their unbelief. And turn to John chapter five and we read there, verse two, there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool called Bethesda.

In these five porticos of Bethesda lay a multitude. What would you call a multitude? Supposing you saw 10 people sitting somewhere, would you call that a multitude? If you have 20 people sitting somewhere, would you call that a multitude?

I mean, the multitude means something. There could have been a few hundreds of people there. Because there was some type of miracle taking place there that once in a while an angel would come in certain seasons and stir up the water.

It was a sort of an act of mercy there and whoever jumped into the pool first after that would be healed. It doesn't say anything about whether he had faith or not. And there was one man who was there for 38 years and the poor man could never jump into the pool because he was lame.

The other people who had other sicknesses but were on their feet would jump in first and that's what he says. When Jesus came there and saw that he'd been lying there a long time, he said in verse six, do you wish to get well?

And the sick man said, I don't have anybody to put me into the pool when the water is stirred. But as soon as I try to get to the pool, somebody else steps in before me and I miss it. Is it because the other fellow who stepped in had more faith?

No, he had more health in his legs. Then Jesus said to him, get up, pick up your wallet and walk. And immediately the man became well and picked up his wallet and walked. And out of the 300 people there who were sick, Jesus healed nobody.

He just went away. Jesus did not heal everyone. Let me show you another example in Acts of the Apostles chapter three. In Acts of the Apostles chapter three, we read one day Jesus, Peter and John were going up to the temple and there was a man who had been lame from his mother's womb, verse two, who has been carried along and they used to set him at the gate of the temple every day.

And we read later on that this man was over 40 years old. From his mother's womb he was lame and he'd been sitting outside that gate of the temple for 40 years. And Peter, he asked for alms, like he asked for everybody going to the temple, please give me some money.

And Peter looked at him and said, I don't have any money. That's an amazing statement because in the previous chapter we read a lot of people were giving the Apostles money. The wonderful thing of the Apostles was that when money came into their hand, it passed through their hands to other poorer people, unlike today's Apostles who hang on to it.

And he could say, I don't possess silver and gold. I mean, earlier on in the early years when Peter was 20 years old and he going by and he saw that lame man, he'd give him money. He was doing well in his fishing, he had money.

But now he says, hey, I'm sorry in the old days I could give you money because I was fishing and I used to make money, but now I am an Apostle, I don't have money. But it's not like that with today's full-time workers.

Today's Christian workers say in the old days I was working, I didn't have any money. Now I'm a full-time worker, I have plenty of money. This is the difference between today's deceptive Apostles and full-time workers compared to people those days because they swindled poor people and get money from them.

But Peter and John were different. He said, I don't possess silver and gold, but what I have I give you in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And immediately he sprang up. Now when you read that, read slowly, read slowly, read the Bible slowly.

Think, this man was lying there for 40 years. Did Jesus see him? Jesus went into the temple numerous times. When he was a carpenter, he went there. As a preacher, he went there. And this man would be sitting there asking Jesus for money.

You know what Jesus would give? Money. Hey Judas, give me some money, let me give it to him. Before that when he was a carpenter, he'd put his hand to his own pocket and give him some money. And during his three and a half years of ministry where he was raising the dead and healing numerous sick people, here was one lame man.

He never healed him. Why was that? Is it because he had more faith when Peter and John came next year? Read slowly, and then you will not go to this extreme and the other extreme in the matter of healing.

Jesus did not heal everybody. He would listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, a habit which most Christians don't have. Christians live by laws, thou shalt heal everybody, thou shalt heal nobody.

Jesus did not live like that. He lived by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. And as he came to this person, the Spirit said, no healing here. Okay, I'll give him money. And for three and a half years Jesus gave him money, just like he gave him in the previous years when he was a carpenter.

Why? Because the Holy Spirit had a plan that that man, if he is healed now, there will be no miracle later on which will bring 5 ,000 people to Christ. It says in Acts chapter 4, when they saw this man, and many believed because of what happened, Acts chapter 4 verse 4, the number of men came to be about 5 ,000.

And they're still talking about this man who was healed, you know, in verse, by what power have you healed this man? So as a result of the healing of that person, 5 ,000 people came to Christ. So if Jesus had healed that person before Peter and John healed him, those 5 ,000 people would not have seen that miracle.

You see the importance of listening to the Holy Spirit and not living by rules, heal everybody, pray for everybody you see and heal them, even if you have the gift of healing. Jesus had the gift of healing.

He'd go to the pool of Bethesda and heal one person because he didn't live by the law. He lived by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, which I said most believers know nothing about. He would go past the temple and he would not heal that person.

This is how it was. Even if he had faith, I don't think he had any more faith when Peter and John met him later than when Jesus met him earlier. There were people who had faith and were not healed. Do you think out of the 300 people in Bethesda there was only one man with faith?

No, there were many people whom Jesus did not heal. I want you to see that. I mean these things are written in scripture but people who don't read carefully don't see it and they have an unrealistic view of healing which leads them to deception and then to frustration and they think they don't have faith.

So what shall we do when we are sick? The Bible says in James chapter 5 verse 13. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. James 5 13. Is anyone sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and they are to pray for him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who's sick and the Lord will raise him up if he has committed sins.

This is New Testament. Remember in the New Testament the Holy Spirit says if anyone is sick let him call for the elders of the church and let him pray and the Lord will raise him up and this indicates that the man is so sick that he can't even come to the meeting.

It's not that we go to the elder for every cough and cold to pray for me. I've got a cold. I've got a fever. I've got a cough. You've got enough faith to ask the Lord to heal you from that. You don't have to bother the elders for things like that.

Every little thing that is superstition. This man is so sick he has to call for the elders of the church. Read slowly. He can't come to the meeting. He says I'm too sick brother. Can you please come here and pray for me?

He's talking about that type of sickness. Otherwise you can trust the Lord yourself and then the elders anoint him with oil. There's no magic in the oil just like in water baptism. There's no magic in the water.

The water is a symbol of a burial and the oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. We anoint the person with oil. This is a believer. This body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So who is praying here? It's not the sick person who's praying.

Very important to understand that. It's the elder who is praying and when the elder prays in faith the person will be healed. Now if an elder prays and the person is not healed, it's no use telling that guy you don't have faith.

I would tell the elder you don't have faith. He's not praying. You're praying. The elder offers a prayer in faith. There are very few elders I have met who have the humility to say brother I don't have faith for that.

That's why you're not healed. I mean everybody has got a certain measure of faith. We must remember there is a fruit of faith and a gift of faith. They're two different things. There is a faith which all believers must have which is based on God's word.

That is Romans 10 and verse 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. The word of Christ means New Testament. If you read and hear what God is saying in the New Testament, faith comes into your heart for the promises in the new covenant.

Sin shall not have dominion over you. Every believer can have faith for that. He who says he abides in him must walk as Jesus walked. Every believer can have faith for that. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.

But then we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 that there are varieties of effects in verse 6 and there are different gifts given to people by the Holy Spirit. To each one, 1 Corinthians 12, 7 is the given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Now listen. To one person is given the word of wisdom. To another the word of knowledge which I believe is the gift of teaching and another faith. You mean everybody doesn't have faith? That's right. Just like everybody doesn't have the gift of teaching.

Everybody does not have that word of wisdom. To another prophecy, to another miracles, to another healing, to another discerning spirits, to another speaking in tongues. Not everybody speaks in tongues.

To another interpretation of tongues. Not everybody can interpret tongues. What I want to point out here is somebody has the gift of healing. Not everybody. Somebody has the gift of miracles. Miracles is different from healing.

Healing is healing from sickness. Miracle is like creation of something which is not there like opening blind eyes or something which is not just a sickness but some non-existent thing coming into being like an eye or a something like that.

But the point I want you to notice here to another faith verse 9. So here is a gift of faith which is different from the faith we read in Romans 10 17 which is based on reading God's Word. The promises in scripture in the New Testament, the word of Christ is for all believers.

Every promise in the New Testament you can claim by faith. But just like God gives somebody the gift of teaching, somebody the gift of healing, somebody the word of wisdom, he gives some people faith to do things which other people can't do.

People like George Muller who had faith to take care of 2 ,000 orphans for many many years till the end of his life. Not everybody can do that. That doesn't, that's a specific gift for a specific calling.

And so and each of us have a certain proportion of faith. We read in Romans and chapter 12 verse 6, Romans 12 6. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. Each of us must exercise it accordingly.

If prophecy according to the proportion of his faith. There's a proportion of faith. So when we prophecy is preaching God's Word according to the proportion of your faith, that means the proportion of your life.

God may give one brother the grace to speak for 60 minutes and he may give you the grace only speak for 15 minutes. The great tragedy is people who have the grace to speak for 15 minutes sometimes speak for 60 minutes.

And that's like having 500 rupees in your bank account, 500 rupees in your bank account and writing a check for 10 ,000 rupees. Because you saw somebody else write a check for 10 ,000 rupees. That is the height of stupidity.

How can you write a check for 10 ,000 rupees when you got only 500 rupees in your bank account? You say but he did it. But that's because he's got a hundred thousand rupees in his bank account. I mean little children understand this.

There's so many preachers who don't understand it. When you preach, preach according to the proportion of your faith. If every preacher would follow that simple rule, we'd have wonderful powerful anointed meetings instead of boring meetings like it is in many churches around the world including a lot of CFC churches.

It's very difficult for us. We all have a much higher opinion about ourselves than we really are. That's why it says in verse 3, through the grace given to me, I say to everyone, you know because people would say to Paul, hey Paul how is it you can speak for one hour and you tell us to speak only for 10 minutes.

He says according to the grace given to me. It's not because I'm better than you. He says according to the grace given to me, I say to each of you, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think.

But have a sound judgment of how much faith God has given you. God has given each of you a measure of faith. Prophesy according to the proportion of your faith. Pray according to the proportion of your faith.

And if you don't have faith, be honest and say brother I can pray for you but my faith doesn't rise up to this level. I remember once going to the home of one of our brothers in another place and he said can you come home and pray for my daughter.

I said sure. I'll come to your home and see what I can do. And I saw this poor little girl maybe 15, 16 years old due to some brain damage or injury like a vegetable from birth. Could not do anything, could not eat, could not get up, could not walk, could not talk.

Our mother had to do everything for it. And he said brother please pray for my child to be healed. What do you think I said? Did I like some foolish pastor saying the name of Jesus get up? No. I have a sober estimate of myself as to what faith I have and I don't want to deceive people.

A preacher should never be a deceiver. I said brother I'll be honest with you I don't have faith to raise this person up who's been 16 years like a vegetable. If Jesus were here he'd have done it immediately.

I'm not Jesus. I don't have the measure of faith Jesus had. Let me be honest about it. I can't do everything Jesus did. His measure of faith was so much I am one percent of that. I want to have a sound opinion about myself.

I know where I have a gift. I mean if you ask me to teach God's word I can do something. But here I want I can do something but it's very little. And I say I don't have faith that this person will get up and walking which is never done for 16 years.

But I do believe that she'll go to heaven that's for sure. And I tell you when she gets to heaven she'll rejoice more over a new body running around in heaven than you and I. And I told the parents you make sure you meet her in heaven.

That's the important thing. I'll pray that God will give you grace to look after this child. Now maybe somebody else has faith to raise that person. I'd like to meet that person. I haven't met anybody like that yet.

But there are a lot of deceivers in Christendom who just you know frustrate these poor simple believers by telling them you don't have faith that's why your child is not healed. It's a lot of rubbish.

I say brother it's your faith. It's the elder who prays and if he he can only pray according to the measure of his faith. And somebody else has got more faith than me then he can do it. I know there are times when I have fulfilled my function as an elder.

Healing, Grace, and God's Sovereign Purposes

I remember a brother from our church itself who once was in another part of India. He'd gone on duty and he was so severely sick there. And he went to the doctors. The doctor said you need emergency surgery.

You've got to. And here he was far away from his family in another place. And he remembered the word which said call for the elders and pray. Where could he call for the elders? He's out there in north India and I'm in Bangalore.

Thank God for telephones. He rang me up and said brother can you please pray for me. I have this serious thing which the doctors say require immediate surgery. There was no oil. There was no physical touch.

I prayed for him over the phone. He was instantly healed and he continued working there for many days. But that does not always happen to me. It's not always happened. I prayed for others who are not healed.

I have to do according to the measure of my faith. And I've heard of other places in other countries that I've been to where people have later on testified. They asked me. I remember I was in one place this year in one country.

And one brother got up and testified. I didn't even know his name. I still don't know his name. He said last year when brother Zach came here I was having cancer. And I asked him to pray for me. And he prayed for me.

And I want to testify today I'm healed. And then he said about another case of someone who he said was just reading one of my books. I think Purpose of Failure or something. And he was in a wheelchair.

And after a serious accident. And he got faith. And he was healed. But there's a rare. Maybe one in a hundred. You say why not everybody? I don't know. I don't know God's ways. I believe that there is healing with God.

But I also believe that not everyone is healed. If you ask me why it's very simple. I don't know. So I want to try and present to you a balanced understanding of this subject. So that we don't become fanatics or unbelievers.

Who don't believe God will ever do anything. Let me show you my own understanding of what God can do for my body. Which I've experienced myself. I have found great comfort in this word. 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

To me this has been one of the great words of scripture concerning my body. And I believe since it's in scripture you can apply it to yourself too. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 13. Food is for the stomach.

And the stomach is for food. But God will do away with both of them. That the body is not for immorality. Let me just stop there. Food and immorality. Our body is not created just to eat and eat and eat and eat and eat.

It's not created for sexual immorality. I must be careful with my body to keep it pure. By keeping my mind pure. By not indulging in sexual sin in my body. And I must be careful that I keep my body eat food that's necessary to live.

I must eat to live not live to eat. What do you do? Do you eat to live or live to eat? And if you live to eat you can get sick. I really believe that many believers are too fat. Now some people, I don't want to judge everybody.

Some people have genes. Which because of their genes they just get fat no matter. Even if they eat very little they get fat. And others can eat like a hog and still remain thin. I don't understand how that is.

That's another of those things which I say I don't know. But so I'm not judging anybody. I whenever I see a fat person I say that must be in the genes. It's not because they are not eating too much. Because I want to avoid judging.

The bible says that must be because of the genes they are so fat. But you ask yourself is it because of your genes or because you're not disciplined in your eating. Or you don't do a little exercise to keep yourself fit.

God wants you to be healthy. I mean if if somebody kills you because you preach the gospel when you're 30 years old and you stand before the Lord and say Lord my life was shortened because I preached the gospel.

He'll say well done good and faithful servant. But if your life is shortened and you stand before the Lord and I say Lord my life was shortened because I ate too much. What do you say to him? Or I ate the wrong type of fast food, junk food and so my life was shortened on earth.

You know food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food. But God's going to destroy both of them. And it's not for immorality. Be careful in these two areas. Food and immorality. We need to be disciplined in our eating.

It says also in Philippians in chapter 3. I mean these are verses that we need to understand. God is not going to give us health and healing if we violate the laws of our physical body. We must understand the laws of the physical body so that we eat what is good for us and keep fit.