Chastening: Greek paideuo (Strong’s G3811): instruct, learn, teach, correct

THAT HE MIGHT SANCTIFY AND CLEANSE IT [The CHURCH] WITH THE WASHING OF WATER BY THE WORD. (Ephesians 5:26)

“You’ve forgotten,” someone said to me.

“What did I forget?”

“In the book of Hebrew it says, ‘. . .whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth…’” (Hebrew 12:6)

“No, I didn’t forget. That verse is still in there. But it doesn’t say, ‘whom the Lord loveth He makes sick.’”

People put their own interpretation on verses. “Chasten” in the Greek means to child train, to educate. You train your children. You send them to school. But did you ever tell the teacher, “If Johnny doesn’t do right, knock his eye out,” or “If Johnny is disobedient, break his leg” or “Give him cancer.” No! That isn’t the way you discipline or train a child! And that’s not the way God does it either!

CONFESSION: I am trained by the Word and the Spirit of God. I am educated by the Word and the Spirit of God. I am disciplined by the Word and the Spirit of God. With the washing of water by the Word, I am cleansed!

Any – Strong’s Greek 3956 (pas): all, every, the whole

Is any sick among you: Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick. And the Lord shall raise him up: and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. (James 5:14-15)

“Is any sick among you?”

Among whom?

The Church! Then it must be God’s will to heal “any” of the sick in the Church!

And it can’t be God’s will for “any” in the Church to be sick!

“But, Brother Hagin, you’ve forgotten,” one person said.

“Forgotten what?”

“The BIBLE says that if we suffer with Him, we’ll reign with Him.”

“No, I haven’t forgotten,” I explained. “Let’s read it again: If we suffer WITH HIM… (Rom. 8:17). Suffer what: Pneumonia? Cancer? Tuberculosis? No! Jesus didn’t suffer from any of these things. What did Jesus suffer? Persecution. And you will, too, if you live right. Especially if you preach divine healing, the gifts of the Spirit, and faith. I’ve suffered persecution for more than sixty-five years, but I haven’t suffered sickness and disease.”

(Kenneth Hagin Sr.)

Confession: It is God’s will for the Church, His Body, to walk in divine health. It is God’s will for me to be well!

Sign – Strong’s Greek 4592 (Semeion): Mark, token, by which a person or a thing is distinguished from others and is known; an unusual occurrence; of sign miracles and wonders by which God authenticates the men sent by Him.

Set Against Sickness
 
“And He said unto them, “go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature … and these signs shall follow them that believe in My name … they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.  
(Mark 16:15,17,18)

Let’s stop and analyze something here: Which of the sick did Jesus say we were to lay hands on?

Jesus just said “the sick” — Period.

Then, if God were the author of sickness — if God did put sickness and disease on people - if it were the will of God for some to be sick — this statement would be confusing. Because in it, Jesus authorized us to lay hands on ALL sick people.

If God weren’t in the healing business, Jesus would have had to say something like, “Lay your hands on those that it is the will of God to heal, and they shall recover. And those that it isn’t - they won’t recover.”

But, no! God set the Church against sickness — period!

CONFESSION: God is in the healing business. God is not in the sickness business. God is in the delivering business. God is not in the bondage business. I refuse to allow the enemy to try to get me to accept sickness or bondage as being from God. Satan is the author of sickness. God has set me against sickness!

(Kenneth Hagin Sr.)