"Suffering and sickness build character; God is teaching you something through this illness."
How it sounds in your head: When I'm sick, people tell me God is using this to make me stronger or teach me patience. Maybe I'm supposed to just accept this and learn the lesson instead of asking for healing. If I try to get healed, maybe I'm resisting what God wants to teach me.
"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him."
-- Acts 10:38Source: Religion making God the author of sickness to explain unanswered prayers, blaspheming His character.
Well-meaning Christians have told him this, and it gives meaning to suffering instead of admitting they don't know why healing didn't come. It feels spiritual to find a lesson in pain.
This woman had been bent over for 18 YEARS, unable to stand up straight, and Jesus said Satan had BOUND her. He didn't say 'you're learning patience'—He called her illness BONDAGE from the enemy and set her free IMMEDIATELY, and she stood up straight for the first time in nearly two decades.
I REFUSE the lie that God is teaching me through sickness. IT IS WRITTEN that Jesus healed ALL who were oppressed by the devil—sickness is from the enemy, not from my loving Father. God doesn't use the devil's weapons to build my character; He uses His WORD and His SPIRIT. IT IS WRITTEN that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father—sickness isn't good, isn't perfect, and isn't from Him. I am Abraham's seed, and the BARAK blessing includes HEALTH, not lessons through disease. I receive healing RIGHT NOW because Jesus already took my sickness at the cross.
The Father isn't putting sickness on you to teach you—He's running toward you with healing in His hands like He did for the multitudes who pressed around Jesus. He healed them all, not because they learned the right lessons, but because He's GOOD and can't help being good.