I have been believing for physical healing for twenty one years. Actually that’s probably not accurate, I have had seasons of wavering and even giving up on healing in these twenty one years and that’s what this post is about. How do we keep our faith built up when answers seem slow in coming? While I’ll be specifically talking about physical healing, these principles can be applied to anything.
To summarize my story and where this post is going; I was born with a heart condition and have cerebral palsy, I walk with a limp and stutter on occasion. I grew up listening to Pastor Rod Parsley and Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, so I have a good foundation on faith and healing but as the years went on I heard things like God will use this to reach others, you’re strong enough to handle this affliction for God’s glory, etc. etc. I’m not writing to debate God’s sovereignty or why someone who had faith died. Not to sound harsh but I’ve been there and done that and those arguments do nothing to build confidence in God. To those who have lost someone, I am sorry and I know what that is like. But this is one of the main areas that can kill our faith, letting someone else’s experience or our own past loses dictate our faith in God’s Word.
Isaiah 53:4-5 AMPC ” Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.”
Psalm 103:3-5 AMPC “Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases,4 Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy;5 Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle’s [strong, overcoming, soaring]!”
These are foundational covenant verses of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. This is what we need to look at and what we need to believe. The Word must trump all of our experiences or anyone’s “testimony” of why God won’t do something. God’s Word is His will and when the blind man said if you are willing, Jesus said He was and now “the will of God” is a settled issue.
Faith is not about God’s will, it’s about our will. Our will to stand and continue to stand like Ephesians six says. When we look at the parable of the sower, we see that the enemy comes with negativity and care to take away the Word. But the Word says, cast all of your care on God. the Word asks, whose report will you believe?
Another area that hinders our faith is our words. proverbs 18:21 AMPC ” Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life].” Have you ever wondered why death is first? I believe it’s because it’s easier to speak death than life. “How are you doing”? “man I’m hurting, this medication doesn’t seem to be working.” “I’ve been quoting Scripture for three days and nothing has happened.” It’s hard for us to hear it, but the truth is, if we’re speaking against healing in our bodies we aren’t walking by faith. Now I’m not saying deny the fact that pain is there or if someone asks what the doctor said that you lie about what he said. What I’m saying is, speak what you want, not what you have. Speak words of life and watch your situation improve.
Proverbs 4:20-22 AMPC “My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings.21 Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart.22 For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh.”
So what about when you have been believing for years and don’t see any results? Or what about a diagnosis that has no medical remedy like Chron’s or Fibromyalgia? One of the hardest things I’ve had to admit to myself is, I never really was in faith for healing after the age of ten. I had become mad at God and through the years bought into the lie that maybe I didn’t need to be healed among other things. The first thing I want you to do when you finish reading this post is to ask yourself if you are mad at God. If the answer is yes, forgive Him. That’s right I said forgive God and then start reading Scriptures to build your faith in His goodness and His will to heal you. If you’ve bought into various lies of the enemy about why you won’t be healed you have to renew your mind to the Word. This is not an easy thing and it’s not a short thing either. It’s so easy to think and talk negative and fixing these two areas is key to building your faith for healing.
To help get your faith going in the right direction again take Isaiah 53:4-5 and Psalm 103:3-5 and begin reading them out loud every day. Let those verses be the first and last words out of your mouth every day. Meditate on them and study them. Read the healing stories in the gospels and listen to healing teachings when you go to and from work.
If you don’t have a solid foundation about God wanting to heal you and being able to do it then get the books on healing listed on the recommended reading page. Even if you have a solid foundation, invest in your healing and in your future health by getting those books. Read them and reread them. Proverbs says the Word is medicine, take it daily.
In Mark chapter five Jesus healed a woman with an issue of blood, she had seen every doctor and they couldn’t do anything for her and she kept getting worse. But she heard the Word, she kept saying she would be healed, and she touched Jesus. In order to stay in faith we must hear and speak the Word continually. This is something else we must correct, we must continually hear the Word. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking because we have heard something before that it is still strong in us. Faith comes by hearing, not from having heard. We must feed on healing Scriptures. If we eat natural food three times a day, we need to be just as serious about eating our spiritual food.
The truth is, if we’re going to be strong in faith and be able to outlast the devil’s attacks on our thinking and that’s what all this comes down to, our faith must be able to stand up to and outlast all the enemies attacks. We can only stand up to Him with our words and we can only outlast him by meditating on the Word.
There are no quick fixes or magic formulas when it comes to faith, there is only the Bible formula. Read the Word, speak the Word, receive the Word. We can’t put a time table on God, that is another thing that destroys faith. We must develop faith in God’s goodness and be willing to hold on for as long as it takes. It’s in that moment, when we determine, no matter what, I’m not getting off my faith, I’m not going to say anything about this except God’s Word. That’s when WE begin to change and when WE begin to change our circumstances, our health, our everything has to line up with HIS WORD coming out of OUR MOUTHS.
Be encouraged today, don’t give up hope. it is God’s will and His desire for you to be healed and whole in every area of your life. Let’s commit together to be in the Word more, to build our faith and speak words of healing, health and life.
So many times when we think of the Christian life or the purpose of the Church, we think in terms of getting saved and leading people to Jesus. That’s good and that is the entry point of Christianity but the purpose of being a Christian is not to just get our ticket punched for heaven.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. These words in Hebrews chapter four have given all of us encouragement at one time or another. It is so wonderful knowing we can go to God at any time for anything.
Today I want to look at the purpose and power of the prophetic word being spoken in our lives. I want to 
I know you may be looking at the title and saying to yourself, ‘it’s only mid August and he is already posting the word for 2019?’ Yes, I’m posting it early and this post will explain why. If you follow the blog you know I haven’t posted regularly this year, I can already tell you that will be different in 2019. 2018 was a year, the Hebrew year 5778 was a year to revisit firsts and walk through new doors. For me it was also a year to focus on Jesus. Many of us have felt delayed this year but the year isn’t over yet. Prophets have been saying over the last couple of months that things are beginning to accelerate. This post is proof of that. Before we get into the word for 2019, I do want to say that 2018 isn’t over yet and if there are things you haven’t received stay on your faith, we still have four months to go and now is not the time to give up.
The celebration of Pentecost was a few weeks ago but I am just now getting around to posting. At Passover we talked about tearing down walls; tearing down walls between Jew and Gentile, tearing down walls of racism, and more. There have been several things on my mind for Pentecost since Passover all these things have an over arching theme of building a bridge from one thing to another.
I’m sitting in a coffee shop with a mocha and a water, staring at this screen with my heart full about what I want to write today but I cannot come up with a good opening to capture your attention. I’ve been a Charismatic Christian all my life. I believe God still speaks today, in healing, prophecy, even unusual feelings such as goosebumps, falling down, etc.
It’s a funny thing being a Christian. You get saved and you start this journey of living like Jesus. The Bible calls this being a disciple but it seems as time goes on we tend to forget Jesus. I know we would say that’s not true but if we’re honest at one time or another all of us would have to admit that we’ve fallen into the trap of just going through the motions. We do our checklist: go to church, pray, read the Bible and maybe a few other things.
This year as I have been praying over my Passover post, one scripture has come over and over in my mind. Ephesians 2:14 NIV “For he himself is our peace, who has made two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.”
In today’s society of microwave mentality and (the new and improved) 280 characters or less Twitter world, many of us have lost the ability to read anything longer than one page long. As much as we have access to in this digital age, if we are honest with ourselves we would say most have become lazy, lies on all sides of media, group think, and lives of running around like a chicken with our heads cut off have robbed us of personal growth.
Do you ever find yourself wondering why something hasn’t happened yet? Do you struggle from time to time wondering if what you’ve been believing for is going to come to pass? We all have thoughts of doubt at times but it’s what we do with those doubts that matter. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 in the Amplified Classic Bible tells us how to manage our thought life. “For the weapons of a warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, 5 [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
Do you remember the old song, He brought us out to take us in….though there be giants in the land I will not be afraid, so let us go at once to our inheritance? This is what I think of when the feast of Tabernacles comes up. Tabernacles is a celebration commissioned by God so that Israel would remember their time in the wilderness.
To atone means to cover and every year the people of Israel collectively repented and the High Priest would go in to the Holy of Holies to atone for Israel’s sins. Then one day after hundreds of yearly sacrifices Jesus came and was the final sacrifice and we now have free and open access to God. That is the short version of the story but let’s look at the details, where love Himself is found.
Between Rosh Hashanah (New Years) and Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) is a ten day period of time known as the Days of Awe. This is a time of introspection, repentance and reconciliation known as Teshuvah. We can repent any time we need to but the Days of Awe can still be good for believers to search our hearts and make sure our attitudes and actions are right.
What is the purpose of knowing God, the purpose of relationship with Jesus? in a word, Joy!