The word oppressed means: to exercise harsh control over one, to use one’s power against one; to oppress one. This word was used by Peter when he spoke by THE SPIRIT in Acts chapter 10:
36 The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—
37 that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached:
38 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.
Sickness and disease are specifically linked to being oppressed by the devil and have a spiritual aspect tied to every sickness and disease. Just as sin began with the first adam, sickness also began at the same time. Any malfunction, germ, virus, or other source of sickness we experience at the physical level, have a spiritual component which is where it gets its own “life”.
In Luke chapter 13 Jesus deals with a spirit of infirmity:
10 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.
12 But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.”
13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
In no way could the woman raise herself up and this had been the case for eighteen long years. Consider if you had a similar condition since the year 2000. Surely you would have exhausted every means available to you in order to correct this condition. The woman had finally given up in great sadness about her condition and simply accepted this condition as her “reality”.
Jesus had been teaching The Word and the woman heard His teaching but had no expectation of being healed… yet. Jesus saw her among the people and called her to him. Jesus used no formula or ritual but simply spoke “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” He laid His hands on her and erased eighteen years of suffering.
How many of us will spend time and money correcting or addressing any symptom which presents itself in our bodies? There are a multitude of drug stores which are more than happy to assist in pain and discomfort management. None of them promote a “cure”, only symptom relief. We must place our focus on the root cause of disease rather than simply focus on the symptoms. The Bible clearly states that sickness and disease has a spiritual foundation where its “life” can be found. Our bodies are meant to heal themselves and are designed to live forever. Are we going to continue to pull the weed by its leaves, hoping to kill it? Or are we going to dig it up by the root?
Let us pray and seek FATHER in this area and find out what roots need to be removed in order to be fully loosed from any infirmity that comes our way. If is FATHER’S Will that none of us walk around with an infirmity. An infirmity oppresses by nature and we are meant to be free.