When I was 13 years old, I began to have cystic acne. It was on my forehead, my cheeks and my neck. It was not like teenage acne. These sores would go through every layer of my skin. And, of course, as a teenager, I felt completely shameful and embarrassed by it. I definitely didn’t feel as good or as worthy as everybody else around me and I was bullied at school because of how I looked.

I took dry ice treatments. They burned my face and made the sores crust over. Here I am in high school… It was awful. I had just resigned myself to having this problem. I was even denied singing opportunities and resorted to wearing really thick make-up. 

When I got into my 20s, as I was listening to Christian radio, I heard the speaker quote the verse from Isaiah 53:5… But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

I’m sure I had heard or read this verse before, but I never heard it like I heard it that day! When he said, “by the stripes of Jesus you’re healed”, at that moment—I still remember it like it was yesterday—hope like a river came rushing into my heart!

After 13 years of rejection and embarrassment, pain and wrong thinking, my thought was, “You mean, me, Denise Robertson? I can be healed?” And I believed then and there that I could be healed. I didn’t yet know anything about confession, but I just started confessing, because that’s what the preacher on the radio said to do.

I just started looking in the mirror, singing in the mirror and saying that by His stripes, I am healed. I would do it multiple times a day. But, I was not seeing any change on my face or my neck.

I just kept confessing because that’s what the preacher on the radio said to do. And this is really an important part of my story because a lot of people say, “I did all that too, but I didn’t get healed. Why didn’t I get healed?” Well, of course I can’t answer their question, but I can answer what the Holy Spirit revealed to me.

In the process of confessing the Word, about two months went by and I was listening to another radio preacher. The Holy Spirit spoke through that preacher, and she said these words… “Do you really want to be healed?” When she said that, it was like the Holy Spirit, laser powered right into my heart and revealed what was in my heart. And what was in my heart was the wanting of attention because of the disease.

You see, my mother was a great mother, but she was a busy woman who worked. And we didn’t have much time together. Only when she took me to the doctor for the treatments did I get her full attention. The Holy Spirit showed me that. He said, “You’ve been gravitating to this disease because you got some attention.” Immediately, I said, “Lord, I repent right now. I don’t want the attention and I want to be healed.”

A couple of weeks later, as I had normally done for the past 13 years, I cleaned my face and went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, I looked in the mirror and my face was completely clean! There was nothing on my forehead, nothing on my cheeks and there was nothing on my neck!!

My face was just so clear and because so much poison and swelling had been there, I instantly looked like I’d lost 10 pounds. I called my mom and said, “Mom, the Lord healed me in the night!” I said, “Mom, I’m beautiful.” And I had never said that in my whole life.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul…Forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases…”

-Psalm 103

It’s healing. It’s salvation, it’s deliverance. It’s always together. He absolutely gave us the whole package. And honestly, I’m thinking of it as a package. We have to unwrap it and take the limits off of our mind of what He can do. We have the resurrection power…Christ living inside of us. It’s not just so that we can enjoy the presence of God for ourselves, it’s so we can give out this power.

Let’s pray…

Father, we just thank You that through the Cross, everything was made available to us…our salvation and deliverance, healing, peace of mind…everything.  And Father, I just agree and pray right now that people will align themselves with that truth, believing that whatever is coming against their body or their mind or their heart, that Jesus’ healing will come rushing into their body, mind and heart. Right now, in the name of Jesus, I release the power of God to them. And Father, we give You all the glory and praise, in Jesus’ name. Amen.