"My suffering from this illness brings me closer to God than health would."
How it sounds in your head: I pray more now than when I was healthy. I read Scripture differently. Maybe this pain is actually a gift that keeps me dependent on God. If I was healed, would I drift away?
"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."
-- 3 John 1:2Source: Religious mysticism that elevates suffering over the finished work of the cross, making pain the pathway instead of Jesus.
His prayer life did intensify when symptoms started, and he's seen healthy people take God for granted. The connection between desperation and devotion seems obvious.
He was sick to the point of death and cried to God. God heard his prayer and said 'I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord'—IMMEDIATE promise, three-day turnaround, fifteen years added to his life.
I REFUSE the lie that sickness brings me closer to God than health would. IT IS WRITTEN that God's will is I prosper in ALL things and be in HEALTH. The cross brought me to the Father, not my disease. IT IS WRITTEN that Jesus bore my sicknesses and carried my pains. I am under the BARAK blessing—health is my covenant right as Abraham's seed. My intimacy with God flows from His love, not my suffering. I receive health NOW and will worship Him in strength, not weakness.
Your Father doesn't keep you sick to keep you close—that's hostage-taking, not love. He's already close, already running toward you, already holding out health because the cross finished everything required for your healing.