One of the best prayers any of us can pray is, “Lord, give me eyes to see.” I bring this up because people often over-spiritualize what the Bible says. The Bible is clear about the will of God on many things, but unfortunately some people have blinders over their eyes so they can’t really see what He is saying.
A great example of this is in 1 Peter 2:24 which says “by his stripes you were healed.” Many people don’t believe this verse means what it says because they get caught up in their natural circumstances. They say this verse is about spiritual healing and can’t be about physical healing because it’s’ either too good to be true or because they prayed for a physical healing at some point in their lives and they didn’t receive it immediately.
Careful study of scripture, however, shows us that 1 Peter 2:24 is a quotation of Isaiah 53:5 which says by His stripes we are healed. The Hebrew word for healing is rapha, which means to physically heal. This is the same Hebrew word that was used in Exodus 15:26 right after God physically healed the bitter waters of Marah and then told the children of Israel that He would not put any of the diseases on them that He put on the Egyptians. Isaiah 53:5 was quoted in Matthew 8:17 right after Jesus physically healed a multitude of people.
One of the major keys to walking in this truth about physical healing is asking the Lord to give us revelation knowledge of the scripture so we can see what He is saying. If not, we will let natural circumstances and disappointments distort our perception of the truth so we cannot see properly. Distorted reality because of disappointment is a major reason people spiritualize tangible promises of God that are supposed to effect our natural circumstances.
Another example of where people over spiritualize the Bible is with money. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
Many people believe Jesus became spiritually poor so we could become spiritually rich, but they don’t believe He became materially poor so we could become materially rich. They don’t think this passage is really talking about money. The problem with that line of thought is chapters 8 and 9 in 2 Corinthians are devoted entirely to money. The context is material riches not spiritual riches. When we remove the text from the proper context all we are left with is a con. God doesn’t want us conned out of the promises so its incumbent upon us to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to us and believe whatever He shows us even if it seems to good to be true.
While I will agree that Jesus wants us spiritually rich, He also wants us materially rich. Why? Because when we are financially rich we can bless others and give to ministries so the gospel can gets preached and lives are impacted. I will admit some have taken this truth about financial prosperity and used it to justify greed and selfishness. I’m not in favor of that and the Bible doesn’t teach that. The Bible teaches financial prosperity for the purpose of proclaiming the gospel so the world is changed. It takes money to reach people so the church must prosper so the gospel can be preached to all nations. As logical as what I just shared is, it takes the Lord to open up our spiritual eyes so people can really understand this truth.
I hope this article has blessed you and challenged you to ask the Lord to give you eyes to see. While I shared about physical healing and prosperity, there are many other examples of this truth in the scripture. Ask the Lord to open up your eyes to the truths about healing and prosperity and all the other promises God has made available to you so you can walk in all of God’s plan for your life! If you’d like to learn more about how to receive the promises of God, check out this message I recently taught at Grace Life Church.
