May 26: Sickness’ link with idolatry

You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them and smash their sacred pillars to pieces. Worship the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. I will remove illnesses from you.  (Exodus 23:24-25 HCSB)

There is a direct connection between honoring demons and sickness.  Though curses may sound like a medieval concept, they are very real, and the Bible makes that clear.  We have known countless examples of people who have sought our help for a sickness that doctors could find no cure for, only to discover that evil spirits were the cause of that sickness.  When the demons were driven out, the disease left with them.  Their healings baffled their doctors, but proved that the Word of God is true. 

Of course we live in a world where viruses and bacterial infections are all around us.  Just because someone is sick doesn’t mean that they are being cursed, or that they are somehow spiritually to blame for that sickness.  Everyone gets the sniffles, everyone gets a few infections now an then that a trip to the doctor can take care of. But there are many more cases of illnesses that cannot be cured by doctors that are the direct result of an evil force trying to claim the life of that person – either to take their life completely, or to cause them to suffer for the rest of their lives.  

Holding onto idols of any sort, whether they are just trinkets, statues, books, philosophies, or lifestyles, is the same as Satan worship.  When people “bow down”, figuratively speaking, to the love of money, their obsessions, addictions, immoral behavior, and anything that takes them away from God, they are bowing down to demonic forces that promise them happiness.  In return for that worship, these spirits can easily curse them with sicknesses of body and mind.

God wants to heal, to deliver us from the pain of sickness and disease, but He asks that we be faithful to Him alone.  Worship the Lord your God, smash and destroy all remnants of those items, thoughts and desires that have become idols for you.  That is when even your bread and water will be blessed, and the sicknesses that have been sent to curse you will leave.  

If you have any items in your house that you know displease God, either throw them out immediately, or bring them to your local church for your pastor to destroy.  Then ask for a strong prayer of healing and deliverance for all your illnesses to be done away with.