Do Christians get sick? Of course they do. The Apostle Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:23, “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine OFTEN INFIRMITIES.” Obviously, Timothy was a sickly man who suffered from “often infirmities”, or sicknesses. Paul writes concerning Epaphroditus in Philippians 2:25-27, “Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed HE WAS SICK NIGH UNTO DEATH: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.”

The Apostle James speaks of the great value in praying for those who are sick in James 5:14-16, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. THE EFFECTUAL FERVENT PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN AVAILETH MUCH.” So, Christians are subject to sickness and eventual death. However, we are instructed to pray for one another in our sicknesses or infirmities.

It is important to realize that the Lord will not always answer our prayers in the way we ask Him. He answers according to His loving and perfect will. Consider how David prayed for his dying son. We read in 2 Samuel 12:16, “David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.” We then read in verse 18, “And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died.” No matter how often we pray, or how fervently we pray, we will never talk the Lord into doing something that is against His perfect will. So, as we pray for ourselves, or others, in their sicknesses, it is always proper to ask the Lord to answer ‘according to His will’.

Let’s read Colossians 1:12-14, “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from THE DOMAIN OF DARKNESS, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (NKJV). We have been delivered from Satan’s domain. We are no longer subject to him, but our subjection, our allegiance, and our love is for the Lord Jesus Christ. As believers, our position in Christ is one of great victory. We read in 1 John 2:13, “I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because YE HAVE OVERCOME THE WICKED ONE. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.” Positionally before God, we are OVERCOMERS and Satan no longer has any claim to us. However, he is still a powerful enemy and God’s Word tells us in James 4:7 to, “SUBMIT yourselves therefore to God. RESIST the devil, and he will flee from you.”

We should constantly be before the Lord, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (1 Peter 5:7). We should lay ALL our cares, or needs, at His feet, asking Him to deliver us from sicknesses, the influence of Satan, or whatever our needs are. He will respond with His perfect will for our lives. (288.2)