How To Shut The Door To Sickness And Death

Shut That Door!                        10 March 2021

When kids are playing in and out of the house, the question is often heard, “Who left the door open?”, or, “Shut that door! You are letting flies in!” When kids are playing, they often forget and leave doors open.  Let’s not be like children.

The Word of God plainly tells through the Apostle Paul of an open door to sickness and death. Let’s look at the scripture that many people take as meaning that if you take communion with sin in your life it will sicken or kill you.

  1. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
  2. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
  3. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
  4. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

The Lord’s supper is given as a positive reminder for us of what we have in Christ. It is given as a life giving lesson by serving to remind us of what we have in Christ. We are to examine ourselves to make sure we are understanding and applying the word and work of the Lord Jesus to our personal lives and situations. To truly reverence the Lord is to embrace his death as payment for our sins and embrace his suffering as payment for our sicknesses in our personal lives.

Paul said, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep”. The “cause” is not because we are partaking of the Lord’s supper. In fact, if we are struggling with sin or sickness in our life, it is good to partake of the Lord’s supper as a confession and identification with the Lord for deliverance from sin and sickness. The “cause” has to do with the meaning of “unworthily” and “not discerning the Lord’s body”. “Unworthily” in the Greek means “irreverently.” It means we do not show worth and respect to who Jesus is and what he has done for us. “Discerning” in the Greek means “to separate thoroughly…to discriminate…hesitate.” From this we can see that failure to spend time to properly understand and personally apply what Jesus did for us is the open door to allowing sin and sickness in our lives.  

Whether we are partaking of the Lord’s supper or not, if we are not understanding and applying to our personal lives that which Jesus did for us, then we are leaving the door wide open to any sickness that might come along. The act of partaking of the Lord’s supper does not condemn us. It is failure to understand and apply the Word that condemns us to defeat, failure, and sickness.

If we reverence, if we show worth and respect to, if we understand and apply the blood sacrifice of Jesus so that we turn from all sin, then we are not judged with the world for sin. If we reverence, if we show worth and respect to, if we understand and apply the broken body of Jesus so that we accept the Word that says by his stripes we are healed, then we are not condemned with the world to be sick. We are to choose to believe the truth of God’s Word to change things as we are faced with personal sin and sickness. This is reverencing, showing worth and respect, to the things of God. This is conducting ourselves “worthily” or “reverently.” Failure to believe and apply God’s Word is conducting ourselves “unworthily”.

Communion is our statement of agreement with Jesus Christ on our behalf that we are one with him in his perfect, accomplished work in spite of our weaknesses. It is our statement of identity with him instead of identity with sin and sickness. If we are not taking a bold stand with him in this way of identification, we are leaving the door wide open for the “flies” of weakness, sickness, and even death to reign. We are to get understanding and “shut that door” by daily application of the Word to our lives with praise and thanksgiving for victory over sin and sickness . 

We apply the Word by embracing it as God’s promise to us personally and speaking it out loud into our life and situation. We “speak to the mountain” in faith with our hearts clear of any unforgiveness, believing those things we say will come to pass, knowing God is faithful to his Word. With this Jesus said the things we desire, when we pray, believe we receive them, and we shall have them (Mark 11:22-26).

We won’t be like children. We shut the door and keep the flies out of God working in our lives for abundance of life and health.

Jackie Calhoun, Lighthouse Church, Benton, AR

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