The theme for today’s daily devotional by Pastor Joseph Prince, July 29 2023 is ”By His Stripes You Are Healed”
SCRIPTURE: Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. -Isaiah 53:4–5
One of the most evil teachings that I have heard is that God will chastise His own with sicknesses, diseases, accidents, and tragedies.
When I was a teenager, one of the youth leaders in my previous church was involved in a horrible accident that nearly killed him. A church leader gathered some of us youths to go visit that youth leader and began to lament, “Why did this happen to him? What did he do to cause God to chastise him this way?”
Can you imagine how I felt when I “realized” that God was behind the accident? Honestly, it frightened the living daylights out of me to think that God would chastise a believer using such a harsh method!
I remember praying, “God, please don’t ever chastise me this way. Whatever it is, please, just tell me, all right? I will listen, I promise!” I didn’t want to draw near to Him also because I was afraid of Him, afraid that if I made a mistake, He would not hesitate to chastise me with an accident that could leave me crippled for life or even dead!
Do you know that this erroneous teaching is actually based on the old covenant and not the new covenant? In Leviticus 26:28, God says to those who fail to obey His commandments, “I will chastise you seven times for your sins.”
But guess what? You are no longer under the covenant of law. You are under the covenant of grace! Jesus has already borne all your chastisement and punishment on the cross. Read it for yourself in today’s scripture, then reread it and reread it once more.
The prophet Isaiah saw a prophetic vision of our Lord Jesus on the cross, bearing the punishment for our transgressions. He declared that the chastisement that we deserved came upon Jesus so that you and I will never have to go through what He endured on our behalf. And by the stripes laid on Him as He bore our chastisement, we are healed! Hallelujah!
So how can anyone have the audacity to say that God will still chastise us with sicknesses, diseases, and accidents today? To say this is to negate the finished work of Jesus Christ! Under the new covenant, God will never again chastise the believer for his sins!
Whatever condition you have today, it is not from the Lord! Look to Jesus on the cross. See Him beaten and scourged for you, and receive healing and wholeness from Him. He has paid the price for your total healing. By His stripes you are healed!
This devotional is taken from the book Reign in Life—90 Powerful Inspirations for Extraordinary Breakthroughs.