The Lord has been teaching me so much about healing in the last decade. I believe that it is always God’s will to heal us; however, we have not understood some fundamental things that can stand in the way.
We are spirit, soul and body; a three part being created in the image of God. In the Hebrew language, there is no word for ‘spiritual.’ God’s people understood that there is no division between these three things. It is the Greek culture and exaltation of knowledge over Spirit that emphasized and distinguished the difference.
Several years ago I asked the Lord, “How can fasting (going without food) affect you spiritually?” It was a fascinating thought to me. And over the last couple of years, the Lord began to show me the answer.
We live in a fallen world. None of us will get through this life without being accosted by poison; physically damaging toxins and soul damaging wounds. Every day we eat and drink and breathe in things that are physically damaging to our bodies.
Non-filtered water, white flour and sugar, and preservatives are all known carcinogens. Drinking one cola or carbonated beverage wipes out your immune system for 27 hours. Doctors now know that even the plastics that ‘good’ food is packaged in can be absorbed into the food and when eaten, is harmful to us. The colorings and preservatives in makeup, hair coloring and even antiperspirants can cause skin cancer. The one that really makes me chuckle (in a non-amused way) is that there is an ingredient in sun-block is a known carcinogen and that people are becoming sick by not getting enough vitamin D from sun exposure! There is evidence that skin cancer is not caused by the sun but by a lack of good nutrition.
But even more than that, doctors now recognize that anger can cause cancer and other health problems. Stress causes heart disease. Depression and grief cause us to become sick. Scripture confirms that hope deferred makes the heart sick. Proverbs 13:12
But even more recently, I discovered Dr. Caroline Leaf. She is a neuroscientist who has proven that "as a man thinks, so he is." Proverbs 23:7 She has proven that 99.9% of all sickness originates in our thought life and that sickness that we are born with, originated in the thought life of our ancestors. You can find her on YouTube and her books on Amazon.
Sometimes when we are emotionally wounded, we are unable to handle the depth of our emotions all at once. People who have lost a loved one express a feeling of numbness for a season and the grief surfaces over time. This is our mind and body’s defense against overwhelming pain. When this happens, our bodies store the ‘pain’ in our cells and tissues, in the form of toxins. Unless flushed out, these toxins can and will cause illness.
Unforgiveness and anger against someone causes stress and toxins are stored in our cells. Men seem to suffer more with heart disease than women. Crying is a gift from God that helps cleanse our mind and body of toxins and releases positive endorphins into the body for healing.
Even when choosing forgiveness and walking in it, these toxins can be left in our cells to do damage! Our body needs to be in an alkaline state for health. The above mentioned things, like sugar, cause our cells to be acidic. An acidic cell cannot hold oxygen and a cell without oxygen becomes cancerous.
The Bible gives a clear solution. It tells us that when one of us is sick, to confess our sins to the elders and they will anoint you with oil and you will recover. (James 5:14-16) I would like to break this down a little.
I believe confessing our sin to an elder simply means sharing our hearts and weaknesses with someone who is spiritually mature. It means cleansing our souls of the anger, the unforgiveness; confessing our wrong doings, etc. If we confess our sins and He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
Then the Word says that they will anoint us with oil. The Bible says that without knowledge the people perish (Hosea 4:6) and this verse can apply to the anointing with oil.
At His birth, Jesus was given three gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11) What was the frankincense and myrrh and why was it valued so highly?
Frankincense and myrrh are essential oils or ‘perfumes.’ Spikenard was the essential oil or perfume that was poured on Jesus’ feet by the woman. (This is actually mentioned several times and there is evidence three different women at different times put ‘perfume’ on Jesus feet.) These were and still are costly essential oils and have great value today.
An essential oil is the life essence of a plant. Plants are alive and these oils are removed without heat so as to not destroy the life of the oil. Mary knew the value of the frankincense and myrrh as both are highly antibacterial, antifungal, and have great healing properties. The people of Jesus’ times knew the value and uses of these perfumes and used them extensively. Even generations earlier, David mentions cleansing himself with hyssop in the Psalms. Hyssop was a plant that grew abundantly in that region and the oil from it was ‘cleansing.’
Essential oils heal on a cellular level. Within twenty minutes of applying a single drop of oil, it actively affects every cell in your body, bringing oxygen and cleansing to each cell. These oils remove toxins from the cells and oxygenate the cells restoring the alkaline balance and bringing healing.
We have derived our modern day perfumes from these oils but in doing so have killed all the benefits and are now left with just the scent. The amazing thing to me is that when the oils are alive, the scent itself is healing!
A study of the Greek word ‘anoint’ reveals that we have generically translated three different words to the English word ‘anoint.’ One of the Greek words is the root word for ‘therapy’ and from this we understand that it meant a long term applying of the oil to restore healing.
There was and is healing in the oil itself! I have for years been taught that you could use any oil and that it was a ‘touch-point’ for the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Holy Spirit can absolutely heal in that very moment without any oil at all, but over the centuries we have lost our knowledge of God’s natural way of healing that He made available in the Garden when He created plants.
There are hundreds of oils. One commonly known is lavender. Lavender is a wonderful oil that heals burns, causes peace and relaxation and has multiple benefits. But a lavender scented product does not have healing ability. It’s important to understand that the healing comes from the life of the plant and is destroyed through processing.
Fasting is also beneficial as it again cleanses the cells on a molecular level! These toxins stored in our cells are essentially ‘strongholds.’ Remember, there is no difference between the physical and the spiritual. When these toxins are cleared from our bodies, we are healed of ‘spiritual’ things as well as ‘physical’ things. The Word says, “Beloved, above all things, I desire that you be in good health and prosper, even as your soul prospers.” (3 John 2) The Word shows a clear alignment with soul health and physical health and even more than He desires that we be healed, God desires that we walk in good health!
You can learn more about these oils by reading, “Healing Oils, Healing Hands” by Linda Smith and “Healing Oils of the Bible” by Dr. David Stewart (both available on Amazon.) Another necessary book is “The Reference Guide for Essential Oils” I typically ask the Holy Spirit what oil I need to use and then confirm it in this book.
Thieves’ Oil (Young Living) and On Guard (DoTerra) are essentially the same oil blends. The original oil was called Thieves’ Oil because during the Black Plague, thieves used it successfully to rob the dead without becoming sick themselves. It’s a powerful combination of clove, lemon, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus, and rosemary and has been found to be strong enough to reduce bacterial cultures by 99.96%! My family uses it whenever we have been exposed to sickness or feel like we may be coming down with something. We rub it on the bottoms of our feet, on the backs of our neck and on the glands on the sides of our neck and breathe it in. My husband and I have not been to the doctor in over ten years. Thieves’ Oil will even kill strep and staph germs if caught early enough.
I will post Part Two of this tomorrow! Have a wonderful day!
love and blessings~
