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Chapter 29: Our Bodies Are Living Sacrifices
Romans 12:1 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
We understand “holy,” but people often just run over the part about the required condition of the
sacrifices in order to be acceptable to Him. They were to be clean. They were to be whole, and
they were to be sound. They were to be “Fluffy’s.” (At our church, we’ve used the term “Fluffy”
to indicate our very best. The very best sheep could be named “Fluffy.”) Well, if God wanted His
sheep to be a Fluffy, why wouldn’t He want your body to be a Fluffy? The best—the
very
best.
Reason number 29 we are sure it is God’s will for all of us to be healed today is because our
bodies are living sacrifices.
They are to be whole, and they are to be clean.
A person might think, “Does that mean I’m not an acceptable priest if I have sickness in my
body? Does that mean I’m not acceptable to God if I have sickness in my body?” No, it wasn’t
the sheep that wasn’t acceptable, it was the sickness. It’s not you, it’s not the body, it’s the
sickness. Don’t identify with the sickness. Don’t say, “This disease is me.” Say, “No, this is a
foreign intruder. It has no right to be in my body. I resist it.” And let me show you what to do
about it.
Religious folks and even some in medical science would tell you to accept it. “Accept it—it’s
your lot in life. It’s what’s happened to you. It’s who you are. Identify with it.” I say, “No! You
don’t have to accept it.”
A person will say, “Well, I was born this way.” You still don’t have to accept it. God does
miracles. “Well, I’ve had this all of my life.” Still, it’s not bigger than God. All things are
possible to him or her that believes!
You don’t want to feel condemned, and you don’t want to feel bad about something, but you do
want to become convinced that God didn’t put this on you. God didn’t make you this way. It’s
not His will. You don’t have to accept it. You don’t just have to lie down and say, “Well, this is
it. This is God’s will for me,” any more than you have to say it’s God’s will for you to be poor
because you were born poor, or “I was born into a family that doesn’t believe in God so I just
have to be lost.” No. His will is revealed in His Word, and His will is clean and healed, whole
and strong.
The Bible records Jesus healing the maimed. (Matthew 15:30) He made the maimed whole.
What is “maimed”? Maimed is someone attacked by a tiger that got a hold of his arm and
chewed it off, so he didn’t have an arm there—and God put the arm back on. Maimed refers to
people who got stabbed, and cut, and bludgeoned in battle, and had ears missing, and fingers,
and toes, and a nose sideways, and Jesus made them whole. He restored them to wholeness and
soundness.
People say, “Well, now, I just don’t believe that.” Well, then it isn’t going to happen for them.
These signs follow them that believe.