The Healing Covenant

THE COVENANT OF HEALING

THE WORD

TEXT: Exodus 15:22-27

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GIFT AND A COVENANT

God gives GIFTS OF HEALING and God keeps a COVENANT OF HEALING, and

there is a difference between them. While the covenant is in itself

a gift, the difference is that A GIFT COMES COMPLETELY BY SURPRISE,

and UNDER A COVENANT, GOD IS PLACING HIMSELF UNDER AN OBLIGATION.

With the words, I am the Lord who heals you, we're hearing the heart

of God overflow with something other than a gift. He is placing

Himself under an obligation; He didn't have to do it. That He does

it is a gift, but what is available within this covenant becomes a

point of availability to all of us. As precious as gifts are when

they arrive by surprise, HERE'S SOMETHING THAT GOD TELLS US WE CAN

LIVE IN. He's committed Himself to us on these terms.

THE PROMISES OF GOD ARE ALREADY FLOWING

This covenant of God's great love does not need to be turned into a

covenant of law, as though God needs to be reminded of what He has

voluntarily obligated Himself to. THE PROMISES OF GOD ARE ALREADY

FLOWING OUT OF A HEART OF LOVE TOWARD US. We don't need to come

insistently, stamping our feet before the throne of the Almighty to

get His attention and say, "Lord, You said!" This covenant was

RECEIVED BEFORE THE LAW, PROVIDED FOR IN GRACE, and PERSONIFIED TO

US IN JESUS

GOD'S LOVE IN HEALING is available to us on a CONTINUING basis, BY

COVENANT. For I, He says, am the Lord, your Healer. When God uses

the expression, I AM, it always refers to the TIMELESS EXPRESSION OF

HIMSELF, His Person toward us.

A WAY OF HEALTH, NOT JUST GETTING HEALED

The covenant of healing TRANSCENDS WHAT MAN CAN DO, but DOES NOT

DISQUALIFY it. Man, in his fallen condition, is always going to need

more than the resources of his own technology and discovery. WE NEED

THE LORD, we need a covenant that we can live in.

It is an ignorant application of Scripture that if you really trust

in God, you never draw on the provisions of doctors and medicine,

resources with which God has blessed man. The fact is, since Satan

comes to kill and destroy, ANYTHING THAT WORKS AGAINST DEATH AND

DESTRUCTION DOESN'T COME FROM THE DEVIL. Medical treatment isn't

outside the will of God, but neither is it the sum of the expression

of what He can do. Neither should it be the first point of reference

for the covenant of God toward you.

People who understand the covenant of healing don't just look to

being healed; they live in the FLOW OF THE LIFE OF THE HEALER

HAPPENING IN THEM and then, happening THROUGH THEM.

GOD REVEALS HIMSELF AS HEALER IN THE MIDST OF ATTITUDE, NOT ILLNESS

God's covenant of healing wasn't manifested during an epidemic,

plague or physical affliction. In fact, nobody is sick. THEY'RE OUT

OF WATER. But what is evoked by their circumstances reveals their

NEED FOR A HEALER of something DEEPLY INTERNALIZED and MANIFESTED IN

THEIR ATTITUDINAL RESPONSE TO THE SITUATION.

They did what people always do: They griped and murmured. They

turned to the person in charge and complained. THEIR COMPLAINT

BETRAYED THE DEEPEST SICKNESS in man, manifested in:

NEGATIVE RESPONSE to that which tries him; and

LASHING OUT AT PEOPLE instead of crying to the

Lord.

While it's true that Moses did cry

unto the Lord, that might not have

been because he was any smarter,

just more desperate.

ATTITUDE ISSUES ARE AT THE HEART OF

HUMAN SICKNESS

What is manifest in these people at

this point is so characteristic of

every one of us, depending upon the

degree that we have learned to

discipline our BEHAVIOR, our

ATTITUDES and our TEMPERAMENT. There

are people who appear to have no

bitterness or irritation, who think

they are navigating circumstances,

but in fact, they aren't.

They INTERNALIZE. They may not be spewing the venom

of bitterness, but inside they're churning with the

same thing.

They REPRESS their irritations. It only takes the

right kind of fuse to burst them open in a given

situation, like mentioning the wrong name.

They COVER UP their pain with apparent self-control

and a "positive attitude" yet it's not strength

born of God, but of the HUMAN SPIRIT THAT HAS MADE

ITSELF RIGID against the injustices of life.

They suffer from the BITTERNESS OF FEAR. Fear

upsets our chemical equilibrium and excess

adrenalin takes its toll day by day, shortening a

person's life as he is stampeded by fears.

In their NEED TO PROVE THEMSELVES, some people

develop ulcers.

In revealing Himself as Healer, GOD

IS ENCOUNTERING US IN THE WAY LIFE

IS LIVED: Surrounded by

CIRCUMSTANCES THAT DRY YOU OUT, and

DISAPPOINTMENT that what you hoped

for didn't happen. That hopelessness

and futility can generate negative,

internalized responses.

ATTITUDINAL DIFFICULTY IS THE HEART

OF HUMAN SICKNESS. The more that

science advances, we realize that

what's going on in our hearts, minds

and attitudes cannot be separated

from what is going on in our bodies.

They are totally related.

THE LORD SHOWED MOSES A TREE

The Bible says that when Moses cried

unto the Lord, the Lord showed him a

tree.

Archeologists can take you to Marah

today and show you a place where

there are bitter, undrinkable wells.

THERE IS NO NATURAL EXPLANATION FOR

THE MIRACLE of the water turning

sweet. No one's ever found a

physical resource growing nearby

that neutralizes the bitterness of

the water, underscoring that what

happened with Moses was a sheer

miracle.

When you come to those POINTS OF

AFFLICTION, BITTERNESS AND TRIAL IN

YOUR LIFE TODAY, the only thing that

can answer to that is for THE LORD

TO SHOW YOU A TREE the one where He

established the covenant in His own

blood, the CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST.

What you need to sweeten the bitter

waters is to TAKE THE CROSS AND

APPLY IT TO THE BITTER CIRCUMSTANCES

OF LIFE. At the Cross, the covenant

begins to be released. Apply it:

To the BITTERNESS OF OUR TASTES, to situations that

don't suit us.

To our SELF-RIGHTEOUS, SELF-SERVING STANDARDS

To situations in which people have been UNJUST AND

UNGRACIOUS.

The Lord wants to show us a Tree

where the most unjust action in

history took place, and He wants you

to apply that tree where you are

hurting and it looks like there's no

way out. FREEDOM COMES WHERE THE

CROSS IS APPLIED.

CONDITIONS OF THE COVENANT

Verse 26 outlines conditions of this

covenant:

DILIGENTLY HEED THE VOICE OF THE

LORD, YOUR GOD. Every one knows what

it means to have an INNER VOICE tell

you something that controverts a

plan or an idea you have. It can be

the tiniest thing in life. It's not

a matter of God speaking or quoting

a scripture to you; there are

internal sensors in every one of us.

PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THE COVENANT NEED

TO LEARN TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE

LITTLE THINGS. How can you tell if

it's the Lord or not? Get on your

knees and say, Lord, is that you?

You won't necessarily get a crashing

voice from heaven, but there will

come that SENSE OF PEACE, or an

ongoing question. You can always

speak with someone who has maturity

in the Lord and see how it sounds to

them. But at least you're not

hastening on unto your own confusion.

GIVE EAR TO HIS COMMANDMENTS. The

Lord doesn't give us His

commandments simply as a matter of

righteousness in the invisible

realm; breaking His law has PROFOUND

PHYSICAL IMPLICATIONS as well.

KEEP MY STATUTES. There is a

tremendous list of dietary laws in

Leviticus and Deuteronomy, but under

the New Covenant, YOU DON'T HAVE TO

EAT A CERTAIN WAY TO PROVE YOU

BELONG TO THE LORD. Salvation comes

by grace through faith alone in

Jesus Christ. But our physical

bodies are subject to illness and

disease because we VIOLATE

FUNDAMENTAL NUTRITIONAL LAWS.

The Lord says HE WILL BE OUR HEALTH,

but it's PRECONDITIONED by

attitudinal, sensible, practical,

physical, nutritional responses.

It's not just a naturalistic

approach that if we eat, think and

do right we'll be healthy; there are

still things that when that we need

a Healer, and the Lord said he'd be

that.

Some people are looking for a

miracle; an INSTANT WAY OUT of a

physical trial or burden. What the

Lord is covenanting with you for is

not a windfall or miracle, but A WAY

TO LIVE, a way of health, and HE

WILL BE HEALTH TO YOU. His covenant

is to restore, build, mend, and

recover.

COME TO HIM, ENTER INTO THAT

COVENANT, that place of refreshing,

and you can dwell in that kind of

place because of His promise to us.

Suggested worship songs:

717. I Am the God That Healeth Thee

638. I Need Thee Every Hour