Here is Part I and here is the Intro in case you missed it.

I love the story of the blind beggar in Luke 18:35-43.  It illustrates the need to fight for your healing consistently, regardless of the lies you may be fighting against.

Luke 18:35-43

35As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."  38He called out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  39Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"  40Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41"What do you want me to do for you?"  

"Lord, I want to see," he replied.  42Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you." 43Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

In the moments before we sin there is always a choice.  We can choose to align ourselves with God and walk forward with our healing OR we can choose to put off our healing for another day so we can indulge in our sin right now.  The fact remains that if you think you can wait until tomorrow to say no to sin, you will miss out on the healing you could’ve received that very day and your healing process will be slowed down.    This doesn’t mean you try to white knuckle it, fighting with your own strength to resist every single sin in your life.  No, you listen to God and hear what He is asking you to give up.  Push into the area He is working on and give yourself grace with the rest of your sin.  You will never be perfect.   It is impossible.  That is why living a life of continuous confession and repentance is key (I will discuss this more in a future post).

Yes, the healing road can be long, difficult and there will be times when you screw up and give in to your old self.  Before, during, or after those moments how many times have you heard the lies, “Just accept yourself, you were born this way?” or “You will never be healed from this, just stop, you are causing yourself more pain?”  The enemy has the same intention with these lies as the bystanders who spoke doubt into the blind man as he sought Jesus for healing.

I love how the blind man “shouted all the more” when he was rebuked and told to be quiet when calling to Jesus.  When you hear these discouraging words in your head, yell “NO!” Respond like the blind man and shout all the more!  Beg God even more for your healing!  Fight for it!  Expect it! Wake up every day asking the Lord for more healing and new breakthroughs. 

The enemy is the ruler of this world and sin is the default.  If we are not doing anything to deepen our relationship with God, we automatically default back to the world’s standards of living.  Just like you have to fight for your healing you have to fight for your relationship with God!  It is not going to happen from just going about your normal life.  

When I first started trying to spend time with God, I would set unrealistic goals and always failed.  I would silently vow, “I am going to spend an hour every day with the Lord.”  The first day I tried this, it lasted 30 minutes before I got bored and quit.
Then I started praying, “Lord please show me how to have relationship with you.  What does it look like to engage with you?” It started off with saying a little prayer as soon as I opened my eyes in the morning.  “Father I love you, I invite you into my day today, show me how to connect with you today.”
This was all I could manage to do.  Over time, I started to have a greater hunger to spend time with Him.  It never felt like an appointment, but it felt like something I looked forward to and wanted more of in my life.  As my time with Him grew, my desire to know more about Him grew as well.  It took me a year and half before I finally got into reading the Bible.   Now I see that the Gospels are so amazing!  If you read them one right after the other you start to get a clear picture of the type of man Jesus is and how He healed people.

At the end of the story about the blind man Jesus says, “Your faith has healed you.”  Have you ever noticed that this phrase is repeated following a majority of Jesus’ healings recorded in Scripture? Your faith that the Lord will eventually heal you needs to drive you.  That very faith will grow as you get to know Him better.  Your relationship with the Lord has to be your primary focus. Don’t let yourself get distracted by focusing on your sin.

I wanted to start with this topic because no matter what else I write, this point remains true:  you have to choose to fight every day.  Choose to fight for your relationship with God and for your healing; and when you give in to sin, choose to get back up and continue on with the fight!