Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. - Isaiah 35:5
One morning a close friend called me in a panic. I asked him what the problem was. He said that he had lost all hearing in his left ear. He was alarmed and I was too. As we prayed for restored hearing God showed me a block in his ear. I asked The Lord what the block was. He said it was a block to relationship.
Knowing my friend was prone to turning a deaf ear, I asked him if he was listening to what his wife was telling him. He asked me why. I told him what The Lord had showed me and I thought perhaps The Lord was suggesting his physical deafness was a sign for a change that was needed in his listening to his wife. He hung up. I don’t think he liked my suggestion.
About an hour later my friend called me back. He was ecstatic. He said that his hearing had been completely restored. I asked him what happened. He said that he asked his wife if he listened to her. She said, “John, you never listen to me.” To his credit, he humbled himself before his wife and confessed his sin to her. They prayed together for open communications in their relationship and his hearing was immediately restored.
When I shared this testimony with another friend, he recommended a book titled A More Excellent Way: A Teaching on the Spiritual Roots of Disease. The book is written by Pastor Henry Wright who now operates a ministry devoted to uprooting those spiritual roots and their accompanying afflictions. The book coupled with my friend's experience opened my eyes to the power of sin to wreak havoc in our physical bodies. I learned to ask The Lord to reveal and heal any spiritual roots of physical disease that I prayed over.
I put this into practice at our church altar one morning during a prayer call for healing. I placed my hands on the shoulder of one man kneeling at the altar. I asked him what his trouble was. He said that his neck was extremely stiff, nearly immobile. I asked The Lord to reveal the spiritual root. The Lord revealed the spirit of stubbornness operating in the man's life. The Lord commands us in Deuteronomy 10:16, "Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer." A literal stiff neck may be a picture of a spirit or attitude of stubbornness and obstinance. I shared with the man what The Lord had shared with me and encouraged him to repent of stubbornness. I do not remember what happened immediately after, but I do have an impression of a man rubbing thankfully the right side of his mobilized neck.
There are many potential explanations for physical impairments; including sin. In the most dire case the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). That Verse goes on to say, "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." The principle is that The Lord may use physical impairments to help reveal the sin in our lives standing between us and Him and standing between us and the abundant potential in our lives.
PRAYER
Abba Father. Please forgive me for any time I have turned a deaf ear to You, to my family members, my friends, and to any that You have ordained me to listen to. Please open the ears of my spirit and soul to listen to You and to hear You because faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17). Please make me slow to speak, quick to listen, and slow to show anger (James 1:19) to my family, friends, and those You have ordained for me to listen to. If there is any other spiritual root of physical disease inflicting me, please reveal it and heal it Lord. Let it be in Jesus Name!
RESOURCES
1. A More Excellent Way: A Teaching on the Spiritual Roots of Physical Disease (Henry Wright)
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