Word of Truth

When Sickness Came Knocking at My Gate

Written By

Pst Dr Nellie Shani | Founder, CEO

Published On

March 5, 2026

"A powerful testimony on overcoming sickness through faith and the Word of God. Learn the biblical principle of “turning back the battle at the gate” and exercising authority over disease through prayer and Scripture."

I was woken up by a throbbing headache.

Even the soft pillow felt like I was lying on a stone. I tried to lift my head off the pillow, but the pain was excruciating. I could not turn my head. My entire body burned with fever and my forehead was dripping with sweat. My throat was painfully dry, and every muscle in my body ached.

The last time I had felt this way was more than twenty-five years ago when I had contracted malaria.

Using every bit of strength I could muster, I reached over and switched on the bedside lamp. It was 2:00 a.m.

At that moment a troubling realization hit me.

We were already seven months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and it seemed the illness had finally caught up with me.

I was alone in the house.

The strongest temptation I faced at that moment was fear. My mind tried to imagine what it would be like to be found dead in the morning.

But then something powerful happened.

Remembering Who I Am in Christ

Just as panic began to rise, the Holy Spirit reminded me who I was in Christ.

He reminded me of the authority I have as a believer and of what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross of Calvary.

Scripture came to my heart immediately:

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” – 1 Peter 2:24

At that moment I knew I had a choice.

I could either allow fear and sickness to dominate my mind, or I could stand on the Word of God.

As a teacher of the Word, I realized that this was the moment to practice what I had preached.

Faith must move from the pulpit into real life.

Recognizing a Spiritual Battle

I knew something important.

I had gone to bed perfectly healthy the night before.

This meant that the sickness was not just a physical problem. It was a spiritual attack from the kingdom of darkness.

Over the years, the Holy Spirit has taught me many lessons about spiritual warfare and healing. One of those lessons is found in Isaiah 28:6:

“…A source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.”

But what exactly does it mean to turn back the battle at the gate?

Understanding the Gate Principle

Imagine someone knocking at the gate of your house.

You go to see who it is.

When you open the gate, you realize the person standing there is your enemy.

You now have a decision to make.

You can either allow that person to enter your house, or you can refuse entry and shut the gate.

Many believers unknowingly make the mistake of opening the gate to sickness.

They allow the enemy in through their words.

For example, someone might say:

“My head is killing me.”
“I feel terrible.”
“My fever is getting worse.”
“I need a doctor to tell me what this sickness is.”

These statements may seem harmless, but they actually give life to the problem.

Scripture teaches us a powerful truth:

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” – Proverbs 18:21

Whatever we give a voice to can grow stronger.

Another Scripture confirms this principle:

“You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you.” – Job 22:28

Our words have authority.

They can either empower sickness or drive it away.

Do Not Fight the Battle Inside the Gate

The mistake many people make is allowing sickness inside the gate and then trying to fight it after it has settled in.

The biblical strategy is different.

Turn it back immediately.

When I woke up that night, I realized something important.

COVID-19 had come knocking at my gate.

I needed to turn it back instantly.

Using the Sword of the Word

To defeat the attack, I needed a weapon.

The Bible describes the Word of God as a double-edged sword.

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword…” – Hebrews 4:12

Right then, the Holy Spirit placed a Scripture in my heart.

It came from Mark 11:22-24:

“Have faith in God… If anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”

Suddenly, peace flooded my heart.

I understood what I needed to do.

COVID-19 had become the mountain.

And Jesus said that mountains must move when we speak in faith.

Speaking Directly to the Mountain

Faith is not silent.

Jesus taught us to speak to the mountain, not merely talk about it.

So I spoke directly to the sickness.

I declared:

“Covid-19, I bind you in the name of Jesus Christ. Whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven. You foul disease, I command you to loose your hold on me. Come out of every part of my body and leave in the name of Jesus Christ! I cast you into dry and uninhabited places. Holy Ghost fire, consume every trace of this sickness. By the wounds and stripes of Jesus Christ, I am already healed. Be gone in Jesus' name!”

After making that declaration, I went back to sleep.

My body still felt weak.

But in my heart, I had peace.

The Victory the Next Morning

When I woke up the next morning, something incredible had happened.

Every symptom was gone.

The headache was gone.

The fever had disappeared.

My body felt completely normal.

There was not a trace of sickness left.

I went to the office that morning and even held a prayer session with someone who had come to see me.

God had demonstrated a powerful truth:

Believers have authority over sickness through the name of Jesus Christ and the Word of God.

Walking in Divine Health Through the Spirit

The Bible reminds us of another powerful promise:

“And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies.” – Romans 8:11

The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside every believer.

That Spirit releases life, healing, and power into our physical bodies.

When sickness tries to invade, we must remember our authority in Christ and turn the battle back at the gate.

At the first sign of sickness, do not panic.

Do not immediately surrender to fear.

Instead, remember who you are in Christ.

Stand on the Word of God.

Speak with authority.

And turn the battle back at the gate

Prayer Points

1. Repent for Negative Declarations

Ask the Lord to forgive you for acknowledging and giving a voice to negative situations that the enemy brings your way.

2. Keep the Sword Sharp

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you keep your spiritual sword sharp by:

Reading the Word daily
Meditating on Scripture
Memorizing the promises of God

3. Thank God for the Weapon of His Word

Give thanks that God has given believers a powerful weapon — His Word — through which we can walk in victory and divine health.

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Common Questions

Being born again secures your salvation—your sins are forgiven, and you belong to Christ. You don’t need deliverance to be saved.

However, even as a believer, you can still struggle with patterns, strongholds, or spiritual oppression from the past. Deliverance isn’t about salvation; it’s about applying Jesus’ freedom to those areas. If you experience ongoing struggles, prayer, renunciation, and pastoral support can help you walk fully in the liberty Christ has already won for you.
Breaking a generational curse, in a religious sense, is seen as a spiritual journey of repentance, faith, and deliberate action. It begins with acknowledging sin—both one’s own and, in some beliefs, the lingering effects of ancestors’ wrongdoing—and turning away from it through heartfelt repentance and prayer. This recognition is often accompanied by a conscious renunciation of the curse, verbally declaring that one no longer accepts the negative patterns or misfortunes that may have been passed down through the family line.

Faith plays a central role in this process. Believers rely on the power of God to intervene, heal, and restore, trusting that divine authority can break spiritual strongholds that have persisted for generations. Prayer, sometimes accompanied by fasting, Scripture reading, or intercession from spiritual leaders, is used to call on God’s guidance and protection.
When we receive salvation, our spirit is redeemed immediately. Our sins are forgiven, we are justified, and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us (Ephesians 1:7; Romans 5:1; Ephesians 1:13–14). Salvation restores our relationship with God and secures eternal life.

However, the curses or effects of sin in the world—sickness, generational patterns, fear, poverty, or emotional wounds—are not always broken automatically. The reason is that while our spirit is saved, our body, mind, and circumstances still exist in a fallen world under the consequences of sin (Romans 8:20–22).
If you struggle with something but generally overcome it, it is not necessarily a spirit. The Bible shows that even faithful believers wrestle with sin and weakness—Paul himself admitted in Romans 7:15–20 that he struggled to do what was right even as he desired to obey God. A true “spirit” or demonic stronghold is usually characterized by persistent, overpowering opposition that cannot be resisted through prayer, Scripture, and obedience.

If you are able to resist, repent, and grow despite the struggle, it is more likely an area God is using to refine your character and strengthen your faith. Struggles can reveal patterns in our lives that need God’s grace, teaching us dependence on Him, humility, and perseverance. Victory is not about perfection; it is about continuing to walk in obedience, relying on God’s Word, and trusting His Spirit to lead you forward.
Yes, according to Scripture, the human spirit can be influenced, but it’s important to be precise about what that means. The Bible teaches that we are spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The “spirit man” is the part of us that connects with God, discerns spiritual truths, and communes with Him (John 4:24; Romans 8:16).

A demonic spirit cannot possess the spirit of a born-again believer because the Holy Spirit indwells them (1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 John 4:4). The Spirit of God protects and fills the spirit man, so it cannot be taken over. However, the spirit man can be influenced or oppressed by external spiritual forces if there is neglect, unrepented sin, or agreement with lies, which can affect our thoughts, emotions, and will.

Satan and his spirits can tempt, deceive, and oppress, but they cannot inhabit the spirit of someone truly born again. That’s why Scripture emphasizes guarding your heart and mind, staying in God’s Word, and walking in obedience—this keeps your spirit man aligned with God and resistant to attack (Ephesians 6:10–18; James 4:7).
consequences of sin, wrongdoing, or negative behavior can extend beyond an individual and affect their descendants. In this context, a generational curse is not merely about inherited traits or family patterns in a psychological sense, but rather a spiritual or moral consequence passed down through family lines.

For example, the Bible mentions in several passages, such as Exodus 20:5 and Numbers 14:18, that the sins of the parents can affect their children “to the third and fourth generation.” This is often interpreted to mean that unrepented sin or disobedience to God can create spiritual or circumstantial burdens like poverty, addiction, illness, or relational strife that may continue to manifest in subsequent generations.

Religious teachings often emphasize that generational curses are not inevitable. Through repentance, prayer, faith, and obedience to God, it is believed that individuals can break these curses and restore spiritual blessings to themselves and their descendants. In Christian practice, this might involve confession, seeking deliverance through prayer, or living a life aligned with God’s commandments to end the cycle of negative spiritual influence.
Feeling anger is not automatically a “spirit.” Anger is a natural emotion that God Himself expresses in certain circumstances (Exodus 32:10; Psalm 7:11). What matters is how you handle it. If you feel angry but do not act in sin, controlling your words, thoughts, and actions, this is not a demonic spirit—it is a natural human response being managed in obedience to God.

A spirit of anger in Scripture refers to a persistent, controlling, or destructive force that dominates a person’s behavior (Ephesians 4:26–27 warns against letting anger give the devil a foothold). If your anger arises but you remain calm, forgive, and do not allow it to control you, it is simply an emotion, not a spirit.
When faced with temptation, there are times to run and times to resist, and Scripture gives clear guidance.

You run from sin when it is dangerous, seductive, or beyond your natural ability to resist. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee fornication.” You remove yourself from the source of temptation—whether it’s a place, a person, or an opportunity—because staying there puts your soul at risk. Running is not cowardice; it is obedience and wisdom.

You resist when you are confronted with pressure or attack that you can face through God’s power. James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Resisting means standing firm in faith, speaking Scripture, and relying on the Holy Spirit. This is active confrontation, not passive endurance.

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"“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”"

— Deuteronomy 31:6

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