Gregory Dickow - Our God Heals - Part 1
Welcome to "The Power to Change Today," I'm Gregory Dickow, and I've got a word from God for you that I know will help heal you everywhere you're hurting today. I wanna share with you the number-one secret to finding healing from all pain in your life and in your family. Everyone knows what it's like to live with pain, but today we're gonna see what life be beyond our pain. It's time to live beyond your pain, whether it's physical, emotional, financial, betrayal, or perhaps the pain of a bad upbringing or mistreatment from somebody.
Today's program is gonna move you beyond your pain into the best version of yourself. You know, sometimes instead of relieving our pain, we flame the fires of it, or we learn to get along with it, why? Jesus paid the price for our pain. It's time that we experience our freedom. And after today, I believe you're gonna be inspired to see beyond your pain and realize life beyond the sickness, beyond depression, beyond lack and defeat. So, take a moment, grab your Bible, get a notebook, get ready to write some stuff down. It's gonna change your life forever. Check this out.
Oftentimes, what's happening in the world is a signal and a reminder to us of what God's trying to speak to us so that we have the solution for what's happening in this world. Because God doesn't want us to sit back and be spectators of what is happening in the world. He wants us to be people that have a solution and have the answer and have the remedy for whatever's ailing this world. And if you think about it, there's never been a more, there's never been more pain in the world than there is today. And I've been talking a little bit about what to do about our pain, but today I want you to hear this, that God hears and God heals.
And the verse I wanna start with is found in Psalm chapter 30, verse 2. And notice what David says in Psalm chapter 30, verse 2 because we're goin' on a journey of healing today. And when I talk about healing, I don't wanna restrict healing to just our physical bodies because God wants to heal us beyond just our physical heath. He wants to heal us emotionally. He wants to heal us where we're sick in heart, sick in emotions, and sick in body, or sick in relationship, or sick in finances. But notice what David said, he said: "O Lord my God, I cried out to you and you healed me". "I cried out to you and you healed me".
So God heard David and he healed David. And if God heard David and healed David, he will hear you and heal you, in Jesus' name. So, get ready to experience, get ready for a wave and a torrent of healing to hit your life, healing your marriage, healing your family, healing your mind, healing your emotions, healing every area of your life. Exodus chapter 15, verse 26, God says: "'For I am the Lord that heals you.'" "I am the God that heals you". I love the fact that he doesn't say, "I was the God that healed you". He said, "I am, I am the God who heals you".
God is a present-tense Healer, and he wants to bring healing to every area of your life. And if you're not sure that's the case, look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23. Everything you're gonna hear from me today is from the Word of God, but I'm gonna give you statistics, and I'm gonna give you facts that will help us to really understand what's happening in the world today. But notice what he says: "May the God of peace," now, the word "peace" comes from the original Hebrew language, a Greek word that comes from the Hebrew word which is the word "shalom". And the word "shalom" means "to be made whole," W-H-O-L-E, "to be made whole".
And so, here in the New King James Version of this verse, it says, "May the God of shalom," or, "May the God of peace," or, "May the God of wholeness sanctify you completely". Or, "May he make you whole, your spirit..." He says, "May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved". Or, "May he make you whole spirit, soul, and body". Everybody say, "Spirit, soul, and body". So, God is telling us here he wants every part of our life whole, our spirit, our soul, and our body. Now, our soul consists or our emotions. It's how we think, it's how we feel, it's how we decide. Remember, we've been talkin' about that. How we think, how we feel, how we decide. It's what our mind thinks. It's what our heart feels. It's what our will chooses. That's the soul. But our spirit is born again.
When you're born again, you are a new creature in Christ. The new part of you is your spirit, but your soul needs to be restored or made whole. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures and still waters, he restores my soul". He doesn't restore your spirit. He makes your spirit brand new. He restores your soul. He makes your soul whole, and he makes your body whole, and he makes every other area of your life whole. And that's why he says in 3 John, verse 2, if I can just give you some foundational verses here, in 3 John, verse 2, he says: "Beloved, I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers".
Notice this in 3 John, verse 2: "Beloved I want and pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers". So as your soul prospers, it will put into effect, or it will activate a domino effect of prosperity or health in every other area of your life. So, he says, "May you prosper and may you be in good health, even as, just as your soul, just as your soul". So as your soul goes, so goes the rest of your life. And so that's why God wants to make us whole, spirit, soul, and then what? Body. Everybody say, "Spirit, soul, and body". All right, but if you... and look, no one wants to keep hurting. No one wants to stay in pain. Yet, people deal with their suffering and pain without God's help. We go to other sources and other people and other remedies, and when it's really God who is our Healer, and only he can truly heal us of all of our pain and deliver us from our pain.
He's Jehovah-Rapha. That's one of his names, Jehovah-Rapha. It means "the Lord who heals, the God who heals". And if you look at our world today, go online, or put the news on, and you'll see in every corner of the globe suffering, an overflow of pain, an overflow of suffering, enough to break your heart, right? Millions of people that are suffering from debilitating diseases and sicknesses, a billion people that have no access to clean drinking water, millions of people that die each year from water-borne diseases.
And by the way, 90% of them, 90% of the people that die of diseases that are carried in water are children. Ninety percent of the people that die are children, that die of water diseases. Fifteen million kids have been orphaned by AIDS. The world is filled with incidents of terrorism and violence, abuse, horrors of war, heartbreak, misery, kidnapping, suicides, addictions, drug, overdoses, beheadings, persecution of Christians around the world. I'm not here to paint a bad picture of what life is like, I'm just here to paint a real picture of what life is like. That's really what's happening in the world today, but we have the answer, and we have the ability to do something about it. Not only has God called us to be healed, not only has he called us to be healed, but he's called us to be healers in a broken world full of pain and suffering and misery.
In our church, in our church here, and in many churches, for that matter, the number-one prayer request that we get is for healing from some kind of pain. Bodies are hurting. People are grieving. People are suffering, some people are suffering financially. Others are unhappy in their marriages. They're worried and anxious about their children or they're wrestling with some sort of temptation, some sort of sin, some sort of addiction. So the world is suffering, isn't it? Pain is universal. It's part of the human condition. But no one wants to keep hurting, folks. Yet, people constantly are trying to deal with their suffering without God, even though we weren't designed to deal with it without God. No wonder our world is broken. You cannot live a healed, healthy life of recovery and freedom without God, because, "He who the Son sets free is free indeed". Can you say, "Amen," to that?
And the Bible says, "The truth will make you free". It says, "You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free". So it's not just that the truth will make you free, but the truth that you know will make you free. Say, "The truth that I know will make me free". No, this is really important that we get ahold of this. Look, what happens when we're suffering is we try to medicate ourselves. We try to medicate ourselves through whatever we can, whether it's legal or whether it's not. People are trying to numb their pain. So, for example, when it comes to healing emotional pain, when it comes to just healing emotional pain, oftentimes, people will try to numb that pain or try to silence or quiet that pain through drugs, through alcohol, through pornography, through sex outside of marriage, through smoking, gambling, or various other ways of numbing the pain. But it's only temporary. It can't heal the pain.
Now, I know we've talked about this before, but there is an epidemic going on in our world today, an epidemic of mental illness, an epidemic of addiction, an epidemic of overdose and drug addiction and alcohol addiction. And nowadays, and listen, nowadays, the most popular solution, though, is to relieve the pain through a prescription. Think about the statistics today. Three out of five American adults are taking prescription medication of some kind or another right now, three out of every five. Now, that's not to say that medication is not good. Some of it is good, and when it's used properly to treat a symptom. But to think that a medication is gonna get to the root of the problem is where we miss the boat.
Medication can deal with symptoms temporarily, but medication cannot heal you of all of the pain in your life where you have deep-rooted abuse or pain or suffering in your soul, or in your body, for that matter. Medication can help. Surgery could help in some cases. Medication can help in some cases. But we're not after just relieving the suffering or the symptoms. We're after healing the pain, and Jesus is our Healer. And if you go through the Scripture, what is the number-one thing Jesus did? "He went about doing good and healing all". "He went about doing good and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness".
I'm sure that that did not just mean physical sickness. He healed children of epilepsy. He healed people of addictions. He healed one lady that had been addicted to medication that comes through men. Remember that woman that had five husbands and the guy she was livin' with wasn't even her husband? She had been through man after man after man, and only when she drank from the well that he offered living water, only then did she find real happiness. Only then did she find real healing. No man can heal you. No woman can heal you. No amount of therapy can totally heal you. We need Jesus our Healer. We need to let him into our soul. He said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone'll open the door, I will come in. I will dine with them, I will minister to you, I will heal you, I will deliver you from everywhere you're hurting".
The first thing Jesus did when he came is he said, "I came to preach the gospel". And the second thing he said is, "I came to heal the brokenhearted". And the third thing he said was, "To deliver you from oppression, and deliver you from bondage". And whatever you are in bondage to today, I don't care if you're in bondage to fear, if you're in bondage to anxiety, if you're in bondage to drugs, if you're in bondage to pornography. I don't care what it is, Jesus the Lord is our Healer, and he will heal you today, amen. And not only do we need this for us, but we need this for a broken generation. We need this for a sick world. The number-one problem in the world today is emotional sickness. The reason for violence and the reason for terrorism and the reason for all of the negative things that happen in this world is emotional sickness. That is what leads to most of the crime. And most of the murder and most of the violence that takes place in this world is from emotional pain that acts out in a physical way.
Now, I've studied this for years and years and years. I've counseled thousands of people personally. I've ministered to millions of people, and I've found that the human condition is the same, no matter who you are, no matter where you're from. There is something inside of every one of us that's broken, and God wants to heal it, and then he wants to heal us all. And he wants to heal you, but then he wants to use you to bring healing to others as well. Not only are you healed by his stripes, but you're a healer by his Word and by his commission. He has healed us by his stripes and called us to be healers. There a hundred specific mentions of the word "pain" in the Bible. At least 100 times, the word "pain" is mentioned in the Bible. That's pretty bad, and God is saying, "I realize that you have pain".
But you know what the good news is? That though there are a hundred references in the Scripture to pain, there are 200 references in the Scripture to healing, at least 200 Scriptures with the word "healing" in it. So, for every one bit of pain, God has twice has much healing for every bit of pain that anyone could ever experience. So, God has double for your trouble. That's the good news that we can give God all the praise for, right, and all the glory for. So, how do we activate this healing in our lives? How do we activate this healing and freedom from pain? Because if God hears and God heals, then why aren't we experiencing that healing today? Well, I wanna talk to you about that. And the first thing that has to happen in our lives for us to experience this healing and activate this healing is we must make a choice.
Remember, the power of decision is really somethin' special that God has given us. There's one greater freedom. There's one freedom that God has given us greater than any other freedom that we've ever been given in this world. You know freedom speech is good. You know freedom of the press is good. You know freedom of religion is good. All the freedoms that we have in America are good, but there's a freedom greater than every freedom that any American has ever been given, and any person around the world's ever been given as well. This freedom has been given to everybody, and everybody can walk in this freedom. The number-one freedom that God has given us is the freedom of choice, the freedom of choice. No one, no one has to remain a victim of their pain. Every one of us can make a choice to do something about it.
And the choice that I wanna talk to you, as we talk about the steps towards healing, the steps of healing any pain in your life, the number-one step is we must choose. We must make a choice to live beyond our pain. We must make a choice to live above our pain. We must make a choice that we are not going to be defined by our pain. We are not going to settle for our pain because whether your pain is emotional, maybe you're dealing with a marriage, pain in your marriage right now. Maybe you're dealing with pain in your finances right now. Maybe you're dealing with pain in your body right now or in your mind. What will break us out of that pain is the first step to this, is we must make up our mind and make the choice that we will live beyond the pain. We're going to outlive it. We're going to outlast it. We're going to out-pray it. We are not going to settle for the pain that we're experiencing.
Make a choice that you will live beyond your pain, and you will break out of your pain. Make a decision and a choice that you do not have to be stuck with that pain the rest of your life. You see, that's the first thing that Jesus said to the man that was lame for 38 years. In John chapter 5, Jesus comes to this man who was by the pool of Bethesda, remember that? In John chapter 5. And he was in that condition for 38 years, and the angel would stir up the water every so often. And whoever got into the water first, that person would be healed. Remember that? And so, here this guy was, so the angel went down at certain times in the water. He'd stir it up, and whatever person went into the water first was made well of whatever disease he had.
In verse 5: "Now a certain man was there for thirty-eight years with the same infirmity and the same sickness". In verse 6: "And when Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he'd already been in that condition for that long time, he said to him," look at what he said to him, "What's the matter with you, son? What's the matter with you? Why have you remained in that condition so long? Was it your parents? Was it you? What got you into this..."? No, he didn't say any of that, did he? Jesus said one thing, "Do you want, do you want to be made whole? Do you want to be made well? Do you want to be made whole? Do you want it"?
In other words, Jesus didn't say, "Can I do it"? Jesus said, "Do you want it"? Jesus didn't say, "Can I give you the breakthrough in your family or the breakthrough in your home or the breakthrough in your finances"? He didn't say, "Can I"? He said, "Do you want this? I've got it available. I've made it available to you, but the real issue, the thing that's gonna determine whether you walk in it or not is do you want it"? We must make a choice to want it. We gotta want it. We gotta say, "I want this". And if your want-to is broken, you gotta ask God for the want-to to want to. And if your want-to to want to is broken, you gotta ask God for the want-to to want to to want to. And if your want-to to want to to want to is broken, you gotta ask God for the want-to to want to to want to to want to. But God will meet you wherever your want-to is.
"Do you want to be made well"? It's not, "Can I do this"? It's not, you know, "Hey, is it my will"? No, "Do you want... is it your will"? God's question is, "Is it your will? Do you want it? I want it for you. I want you well, but do you want it? Do you want to be made well"? And then the guy started makin' excuses, "Well, you know, you know, nobody's put me in the water, and I don't have a man to put me in, and I don't have any friends..." And 38 years that guy has just been in self-pity for 38 years. All that time, he said, "I have no man to put me in the pool".
In 38 years, you couldn't make 1 friend? That's what self-pity'll do. That's what self-pity'll do to you. You'll be friendless. You'll be health-less. You'll be joyless because you're feeling sorry for yourself year after year after year, when God has provided a remedy. There's a remedy for this. You can get well. You just have to want to. You just have to say, "You know what? I choose," this is number one, "I choose to live beyond my pain. I choose to get well. I want to get well". That's number one. Number two, we must turn our pain, and we referenced this last time we were together, but we must turn our pain into power. How do you turn your pain into power? Everybody say, "I will turn my pain into power". Now, how do you turn your pain into power? Through prayer, prayer turns your pain into power. Prayer is the power source to heal you of your pain.