And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?(Luke 13:16)

Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath, and a woman came in whose body was bowed together. She couldn’t lift herself up. She must have been bound with something like arthritis, because she couldn’t stand up straight.

Who bowed this woman together? Was it the will of God that her body be bowed together so that she couldn’t stand up straight like other humans? Did God put that on her? No!

Jesus said to this woman, “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity” (Luke 13:12). Then He touched her, she was healed, and immediately she straightened up.

The rulers of the synagogue became angry because Jesus had healed the woman on the Sabbath. (You know, some people think more of a day than they do of the Lord.) Notice that Jesus then said that Satan had bound this woman for eighteen years (Luke 13:16).

When you’re sick, you’re under bondage. It’s not a blessing; it’s not freedom. I remember when I was paralyzed and bedfast for sixteen months. I know what it means to be bound and in bondage. You want to get up and move, but you can’t; you’re helpless. Sickness is bondage.

Confession It is not the will of God that I be sick. It is the will of God that I be free from every bondage, free from every sickness and disease.

(Taken by permission from RHEMA Bible Church , aka Kenneth Hagin Ministries , Tulsa , OK , USA.  www.rhema.org )