by Rose Murdock

This is a very liberating message.  Jesus said the truth makes us free! (John 8:32).  This message is to expose a trick of the enemy which has successfully kept people in a place of bondage and sickness instead of healing and liberty.  It’s a message for those who have had difficulty in receiving healing or deliverance from troublesome situations.  It’s also a message for all Christians so as to be aware of this trick the devil may use to keep us in bondage.

Keep in mind that although this message deals with one reason why some people may have difficulty in experiencing victory in their lives, this is not the ONLY reason why some people have not been healed or delivered—please understand that.  Please do not use this message to point fingers at others and become critical or judgmental, or suspicious of another person.  This message is for you to examine your own heart and mind to determine if you’ve fallen prey to this deception, and to be aware of this device the devil’s uses so you don’t fall prey to it in the future.

Again, please don’t take this message and criticize another person who you think this may apply to or you will be allowing yourself to be used by the enemy to further his purpose.

"And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick." Matthew 14:14

The Lord began to show me several years ago about the relationship between receiving His love and receiving healing.  He began to show me that unless we have an understanding of His great love for us then we may have trouble receiving healing.  If we have trouble receiving His love, maybe because we don’t understand His love or maybe we’ve never experienced true unconditional love, then we may not feel we can expect Him to heal or deliver us.  And without that expectation of deliverance we won’t receive deliverance.  We settle for seeking comfort or pity during our suffering instead of seeking His love and power for deliverance.

We see in Mark 5 the story about Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, coming to Jesus seeking healing for his daughter who was at the point of death.  Jesus began to follow him when the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of His garment and was healed.  While Jesus was speaking with the woman that was just healed people came to tell Jairus that his daughter was dead and not to bother bringing Jesus to the house.  As soon as Jesus heard that He told Jairus not to be afraid, but only believe.  Then He took Peter, James and John and went to the house with Jairus.

"And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.  And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep?  The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth."  And they laughed him to scorn..." Mark 5:38-40

Jesus came to bring life and health to the little girl.  He spoke a word of hope to those who were mourning and instead of receiving the word of deliverance they laughed at Him.  He could have spoken words of compassion (or comfort) for grieving.  Something like, "I’m sorry for your loss."  But He wanted to bring comfort through deliverance.  He wanted to replace their sorrow with joy!  He wanted to turn their mourning into laughter!  But they wouldn’t accept that.  Settling for pity will keep us from receiving deliverance.

Jesus took with Him the mother and father and His three closest disciples and raised the little girl from the dead!  The love and compassion of Jesus brings healing and deliverance.  If we don’t know this then we seek His compassion and pity to comfort us while we suffer.  Is comfort a bad thing?  Absolutely not.  But isn’t deliverance better?  Of course it is.

If someone has fallen into this pity trap, we don’t help them by saying, "Oh you’re just feeling sorry for yourself, snap out of it."  The reason a person settles for pity is because they don’t know or understand the love of God’s delivering power.  They need to understand love and faith.

But we’ve made it easy for people to settle for pity rather than deliverance.  The Lord began to show me times in my own life, with little things, how easy it is to fall prey to pity.  People say things like, "oh you poor thing are you catching a cold?"  And little by little, the attention given to those who are sick or suffering some kind of trouble can actually encourage people to stay in their trouble!

We have compassion on people and we want to express that compassion but we do so in a way that encourages them to continue to suffer instead of speaking a word of deliverance.  A person may begin to look for that pity to comfort them instead of seeking God’s love for deliverance.

How can we go to God in faith to receive healing if we, in our heart, really have been relying on the attention that comes along with sickness to comfort us?  Now am I saying everyone who is sick is feeling sorry for themselves?  Absolutely not.  Am I saying that everyone who has been in some difficult situation for a long time is feeling sorry for themselves.  Absolutely not!  But what is our expectation?  What are we looking for?  What do we want?  Comfort during suffering or deliverance from the suffering?

We may initially accept this because we don’t know any better but sometimes when the truth is presented to us we still have trouble accepting it.  Why is that?


Escape

Maybe our problem has allowed us to escape from something.  We (knowingly or unknowingly) can use sickness or trouble as an escape to avoid the stresses of life.  We become so overwhelmed and don’t know how else to deal with the situations in our life that we retreat however we can.  Is there something we are avoiding which sickness, or trouble, allows us to retreat from?

Sometimes we are angry because of a situation so we give up and say to ourselves, "fine, I’ll just stay sick then, maybe I’ll even die!"  We hope our drastic action will produce drastic results.

But oftentimes it’s simply because we need the love of God in our lives and yet we don’t know He wants to deliver us.  We feel undeserving of it or we can’t grasp it for whatever reason.

What’s the solution?  To read God’s delivering Word.  To hear God’s words of deliverance.  To receive the delivering Word that comes to you and not to do as the mourners did and ‘laugh Him to scorn’.  We need to realize that God’s truth is not keeping His love from us.  But His love wants to bring us deliverance out of trouble—not just comfort to remain in the trouble.  But we must believe His words in order for this deliverance to happen.  Jesus immediately told Jairus not to be afraid but to believe.

Is it wrong to give comfort to those who are suffering?  Not at all. Is it wrong to receive blessing or attention from others when you are going through a difficult time?  Not at all.  But if we begin to settle for that attention rather then receiving the love of God to deliver us then we are in a dangerous place.  Sometimes we need to talk about our situation, sometimes we need counsel and advise from others-that is scriptural.  But the devil knows if we lose our desire and expectation to overcome the situation then we won’t ever overcome.  And some people may actually end up blaming God for our defeat!

Sometimes to get deliverance we may need to hear something we don’t want to hear.  One time I was discussing a problem with the Lord and He said to me, "Do you want comfort or deliverance?"  I immediately realized what I was doing.  I really wasn’t looking for Him to show me the way out.  I just wanted Him to pat me on the back and say, ‘There, there, one day it will all be better.’  I wanted to be comfortable in my trouble.  If you saw someone sinking in quicksand would you offer them comfort or deliverance?  What do you think they would prefer?  We would hope they would want deliverance but sometimes people don’t.  They just want to be comforted on their way down! Is it wrong to offer comfort?  No, of course not.  But deliverance is what they really need.  Comfort can come after they’re safely out of the situation.  Deliverance is what they need right now.  In fact with deliverance comes all the comfort they need!

"Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed." Hebrews 12:12-13

Are you in a difficult situation?  Don’t settle for learning to live with the problem.  Don’t settle for getting comfortable in your trouble.  God wants to deliver you!  He has a Word of deliverance to speak to you.  Seek Him out for it and when you hear it, don’t laugh, don’t doubt and don’t settle for pity or comfort but grab hold of His Word which has the power to pull you out and set you on solid ground!

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