THE CURE FOR CANCER – Do you fail to consider the plan that God might have for your life?

Many years ago, an Englishman called William Burton founded the Belgium Congo mission. After a while he grew ill, but he was unaware of either the extent or the seriousness of what he had. Doctors in the Congo decided to operate on him. During the operation, the surgeon found that William Burton was completely filled with cancer.

His surgeon broke the news to him sadly: “We are sorry to tell you that there is absolutely nothing we can do for you. We cannot even try a radical operation to try to remove the cancer because it is too widespread. You have about one year to live. If you would like to go back to England to see your family, you should plan to do so as soon as you are strong enough to make the trip.”

William had lived so long in Congo and had so many friends he loved that he dreaded leaving. He planned to travel over the land to say good bye to his friends.

Everywhere he went, the sad news of his illness and imminent departure had preceded him. Tearfully his Congolese friends did their best to express their love and sympathy for him.

One evening, as was his custom, he was sitting in his bedroom, reading his Bible. He was reading from Isaiah 53 when the words “By His stripes, we are healed” leaped from the page to save his life. Aware that, up to this point, he had failed to consider the plan that God might have for his life, Mr Burton fell on his knees and prayed for forgiveness for having given way to immediate acceptance of the surgeon’s decree. He himself had failed to use the Word of God. He had accepted and repeated the word of the surgeon instead of the Word of God.

After that, when Congolese friends tried to console him, he would simply say: “But you haven’t heard the last of it. By Jesus’s stripes, I am healed.” Over and over, he affirmed and reaffirmed his faith by the words he spoke, no matter how bad he felt in his body. William Burton had decided to believe God and His Word.

He continued his plans to return to England. His reason now was not to bid farewell to his family, but he planned to rest and recover his strength so that he would be able to return to Congo and continue God’s work. When his family and friends in England met him sorrowfully, he courageously continued his stand: “By His stripes, I am healed.”

A few months after his arrival, there seemed to be a good improvement in his health instead of a deterioration. The English doctors decided to examine him again. To the amazement of the physicians and everybody else except Mr Burton, the examination confirmed Burton’s own statement, “by His stripes, I am healed”. Absolutely not one trace of cancer remained!

His healing had far reaching effects. He returned to his mission in Congo and continued his work there for many years. His healing witnessed to the Africans in a more powerful way than all his preaching had before.

The stripes that Jesus suffered for our healing were made by a type of cruel punishment called “scourging”. Historians tell us that they were inflicted by what was known as a cat’o’nine tails. This scourging of Jesus took place shortly before His crucifixion. A cat’o’nine tails was a horrible weapon for punishment. Little pieces of metal and bones were woven into each one of the thongs. The roman scourging with this whip surpassed all other methods of punishment and the condemned one often died while being beaten.

In the many lashes that cut His back to ribbons, Jesus took unto himself our misery, our pain, and our sicknesses. He suffered the agony of every known disease so that the suffering of each one of us might be relieved, so that we might be able to say “by His stripes, I am healed”.

This healing is not something that will come about if you say the words or if you pray. It is something that has already been done: just as you were saved the minute you accepted Jesus’s atonement on the cross, so you can be healed the minute you really see that Jesus has already paid the price for your healing.

Some people may think that I overemphasize the quotation “by His stripes, I am healed”, but about this, I know two things; first, this is what the Bible says; and second, if you are God’s child, you must say and believe what the Bible says in order to get the results the Bible promises; you must put your belief into words. Since Jesus cared so much for me that He submitted to that cruel flogging and then gave His body to hang on that crude cross on the hillside, at Calvary, I have decided to follow Him and to believe Him.

Satan brought sin and sickness into this world, but he must yield to the authority of the name of Jesus and the sickness must go. He can’t put his sickness on you any longer.

God put your sins and your diseases upon Jesus, “who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

Provided you are a born again believer, you can truthfully say “by His stripes I am healed”.

Healing belongs to us. It is not something we have to beg God for. It is something He has already given to us. But faith is the catalyst. Without faith in what He says, we will be unable to claim the healing that is ours by right.

-- Inspired from an article from Don Gossett, “The Cure for Cancer”.