The Ball Is In Your Court

One day a man came to Jesus to receive healing for his son who was tormented with a demonic spirit.  This man had already gone to Jesus’ disciples to get prayer, but there were no results.  Let’s read the story found in Mark 9:17-23.  “Then one of the crowd answered and said, ‘Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit.  And wherever he seizes him, he throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast him out, but they could not.’  He answered him and said, ‘O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.’  Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.  So He asked his father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From childhood.  And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’  Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.’”

 

When the disciples came to Jesus later to ask Him why they couldn’t get results, Jesus told them it was because of their unbelief.  What Jesus was basically telling the man in  Mark 9:23 was “It’s not a matter of what I can do, but it’s a matter if what you can believe.”  Jesus was throwing the proverbial “ball” back into the man’s court.  The man wanted all the responsibility to be on Jesus.  Many times, it’s the same way with us.  We want God to solve all of our problems and answer all of our questions.  Jesus seemed to be this man’s last resort.  “If You can do anything!”

 

Have you found out yet that God just doesn’t work that way?  If need was what moved God, then the place where He would be the busiest would be in suffering third would countries and all other desperate situations.  The truth is need touches the heart of God, but faith moves God’s hand of provision into action!  God moves where people are hungry for Him, and where people are believing and trusting Him to move.  This man wasn’t believing, because Jesus had to give him a faith lesson.  The disciples must have not believed, because Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith.  God expects us to believe His words and promises He has made us and act like that word is true, regardless of the circumstances around us.  That’s faith!   Faith is accepting God’s word as truth and final authority, and allowing that word to govern your actions.

 

Many are crying out to God today in desperate situations, and nothing is happening, just like this man.  Is it because God can’t solve the problem?  No!  He can do anything.  Is it because God doesn’t want to do anything.  Absolutely not, He is a God of love and compassion, and the scripture says He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities.  Then if God can do it, why doesn’t He do something?  God would answer that question today, just like He did over 2000 years ago.  “If I can?  If you can believe, all things are possible!”

 

It’s our responsibility to know what God has said about our situation, and believe it.  Do you know what God has said about the situation you want Him to intervene in?  If not, then you don’t have faith.  Faith doesn’t even begin in your heart until you have heard from God.  Romans 10:17 says “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”  There is no such thing as blind faith.  Faith is believing something that God has said and revealed.  The Bible reveals to us what God has said.  Ignorance of what God has said is what is destroying people all over the world.  He has spoken to us in the Word of God.  Hebrews 1:2 says that He has spoken to us in His Son. 

 

Don’t be ignorant of what God has said.  Find out by searching the scriptures and getting your hands on material that will help you to know what God has said to you about situations in your life.  The Word of God is God speaking to you!  God is saying to you today the same thing He said to the man in Mark 9.  What He can do for you is a matter of what you can believe, and not according to His ability.  If you can believe it, all things are possible.  The ball is in your court!

The Gos-pill for Depression

Romans 15:13 says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
The word “hope” that is found in the New Testament of the Bible comes from a Greek word that means “joyful, confident expectation.” To have Bible hope means you have an incredible expectation that your future is bright, and that tomorrow will be better than today. God wants every child of His to be filled and abounding in this hope.

How many people do you know that have a hard time sleeping because they can’t wait to get up in the morning so they can see how good the day is going to be? I’ll bet not many. Why? Because people are more hopeless today than they have ever been. More people deal with stress and depression than ever before. Listen to some of these statistics found on the internet on a website that specializes in helping people with depression:

• Depressive disorders affect approximately 18.8 million American adults or about 9.5% of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. This includes major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, and bipolar disorder.
• Everyone will at some time in his or her life be affected by depression — their own or someone else’s, according to Australian Government statistics.
• Pre-schoolers are the fastest-growing market for antidepressants. At least four percent of preschoolers — over a million are clinically depressed.
• The rate of increase of depression among children is an astounding 23%
• 15% of the population of most developed countries suffers severe depression.
• 30% of women are depressed.
• 54% of people believe depression is a personal weakness.
• 41% of depressed women are too embarrassed to seek help.
• 80% of depressed people are not currently having any treatment.
• 92% of depressed African-American males do not seek treatment.
• 15% of depressed people will commit suicide.
• Depression will be the second largest killer after heart disease by 2020 — and studies show depression is a contributory factor to fatal coronary disease.
• Depression results in more absenteeism than almost any other physical disorder and costs employers more than US$51 billion per year in absenteeism and lost productivity, not including high medical and pharmaceutical bills.

Being a Christian doesn’t make you exempt from these problems. Being a Christian does mean that you have an answer in God that has nothing to do with what pharmaceutical companies are offering. Depression is a result of hopelessness. Hopelessness is a result of something that you believe in your heart. Notice the scripture in Romans 15 says that the God of hope want s to fill you with ALL joy and peace. Well why doesn’t He do it. The reason is because it is based on you believing the right thing. The God of hope can fill you with joy and peace and cause you to abound in hope, as you believe His promises.

The pharmaceutical companies want you to believe that you have a joy and peace problem, and their purple pill can help you. If you’re depressed, you don’t have a joy and peace problem, you have a believing problem. Get your believing straightened out and the God of hope can fill you with this joy and peace.

Believing is not the same thing as mental assent. The mind can agree with truth while the heart remains in a stage of doubt. When Jesus spoke about faith that moves mountains in Mark 11:23, He did not say that this kind of faith was when we agreed in our mind. He said it was when we believed it in our heart and declared it with our mouth. Believing has three stages that you need to know about.

First, you must believe what God is saying to you concerning your circumstance. This means you have to have knowledge of what He said. Faith doesn’t begin until you gain the knowledge of what God has said. Remember, you must believe it in your heart. This means that you are going to have to meditate on His promise until it becomes more real to you than your problem. Some people don’t like meditation, yet they practice it habitually. Worry is mediation. It’s meditating on the problem until you become depressed and scared. Why not meditate on what God said about the problem? When you do, faith will rise up in your heart!

Second, you must believe that God not only has said it, but He is faithful to do what He said He would do. The scripture is full of promises concerning the faithfulness of God. If I tell you that I am going to do something for you, you will judge me in two areas. First, you will judge what I said to you. Then you will judge my character and my reliability. In other words, “I know he said it, but will he really do it?” This second stage of believing is where you judge God to be faithful to do what He said He would do. Hebrews 11:11 said Sarah did this and she received strength to conceive.

The third stage is where a lot of people miss it. Jesus did not say in Mark 11:23 that “if you believe that what God said, then it would happen.” He said that you have to believe that what YOU say will happen. In other words, if you will begin to believe in your heart and say what God has said, then God will begin to bring to pass what you are saying. You have to confess it with your mouth. According to Romans 10:9 and 10 that’s how you get saved, by believing with the heart and saying it with your mouth. It’s the same way that you come out of depression!

God wants to fill you with a hope today that will cause you to leap out of bed on Mondays and shout how excited you are about the week! You can have that kind of hope is you believe!

The Source of Unhappiness

Proverbs 13:12 in the New King James version of the Bible says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” I love the Message Bible’s version of this scripture. It says “unrelenting disappointment makes you heartsick.” We have all had them. Things that we thought would happen that never happened. In fact, the greatest source of pain in our life comes from expectations that we have that we never see come to pass.

In our nation today an estimated 55 percent of couples that marry will end up in divorce. More people walk away from jobs, relationships and even churches than ever before. I read a statistic that the average person will stay in a local church for only two years. We live in a society that seems to become more and more unhappy. What could the source of all this unhappiness be?

First, let me say that people that don’t know Jesus as Lord and Savior have a big reason to be miserable. They’re dead. They are separated from God because of their sin. Unless they come to God and receive the forgiveness that is in Christ, then misery is a part of their life. My focus in this article is not to solve all the world’s problems, but I do think I have stumbled on a major reason why people that are Christians are unhappy. It’s one word … hope!

Hope is an internal picture of what you think the future will look like. When those hopes are deferred, the heart gets sick and life becomes an unhappy place. Let me give you an example. Has someone ever told you about a great restaurant that you should try, and you plan the event with great expectations, only to be let down by the service or the quality of food? That’s what Proverbs is talking about. Your hopes didn’t pan out so now you’re unhappy.

Millions of people end up in divorce for the same reason. They go into the marriage with a picture of what life will be like. Usually they are romantically intoxicated and haven’t even considered reality. When I counsel new couples, I tell them to take all their expectations about marriage, wrap them up in a piece of toilet paper, flush them down and they will go where they need to go. Seriously, people’s expectations are usually what make them unhappy.

What about church? People go to a church with an expectation of how people will treat them, how long the service will be, how loud the music will be, and so on. When their experience doesn’t match their expectations, they’re unhappy.

The same thing is true about people and God. Many people get saved and become a Christian thinking that all problems will go away, every prayer will get answered and God will rescue them out of every unpleasant circumstance. It’s not long before they become disillusioned and offended at the Master Himself. I meet people all the time that have the attitude that “life just dealt me a bad hand.” Nothing could be further from the truth, and here’s the good news … you can change your unhappiness today.

When people and circumstances are the source of your happiness, then you have to become a subtle controller of people to get the happiness you need. It’s like an addict. You need a fix and you’ll do anything to get it — even leave!

Here are a few simple steps to help you release people and circumstances and allow God to be the source of your happiness. He is the God of hope!

First, release any unrealistic expectations that you are putting on people. Realize that if you are depending on people to make you happy, that is codependency. You are setting yourself up for failure.

Realize also that you see things entirely from your perspective, and that perspective may not always be right. When God is the source of your happiness, it’s amazing how other people tend to add happiness to you.

Forget about the way you think things need to be. As long as you continue to be dogmatic about it being a certain way, unhappiness is always your destination. Let God be your hope and trust Him to bring things to pass the way He thinks they need to be.

Second, Pray. Now that’s a novel idea, right? This should be the first thing we do, but it usually is the last. When your hopes and expectations aren’t coming to pass, ask God for understanding. James 1:5 says “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally.” Pray, and believe that He will answer you. Once you have prayed, cast the care of the situation over on Him according to 1 Peter 5:7.

If your expectations are the source of your unhappiness, your life can easily change today.

Build an Ark!

Our family loves to get together on Sunday evenings and watch the popular television show “Extreme Home Makeover.” There’s no greater thing than to see love in action and people’s lives being changed by kindness.

Over the holiday season we also got together and watched the movie “Evan Almighty.” In the movie God speaks to a politician who has a desire change the world, and He tells him to build an ark. Through the ark, which stands for Acts of Random Kindness, he learns that it is kindness that changes the world and makes the greatest impact on the people around us.

The greatest need that humanity has is the need to be loved. Not to be loved for what we can do, but to simply be loved with no strings attached.

Nothing makes a greater impact on a person’s life than to have someone perform an act of kindness without having a reason for doing it.

Nothing also destroys relationships and the world around us more than a society that has become too busy to show genuine kindness to the people around them.

When you find yourself in a lifestyle that has become too busy to be kind, there is only one way out of it, and that is to begin to show love in one act of random kindness at a time.

Think about it. God so loved the world that … He gave! The greatest and the chief expression of love is giving. Not giving to the people who you feel obligated to give to, but to the people who aren’t expecting it and who don’t deserve it.

Not many people have ever experienced that kind of love. A love that expects nothing in return. A love that has absolutely no strings attached. This is the kind of love and kindness that God wants us to experience from Him and to show to others.

He doesn’t love us because He wants something in return. He didn’t send Jesus to redeem us from sin because He has some ulterior motive. He did it because He loves us … no strings attached!

After a person has received and experienced this incredible love from God, making Jesus the Lord of their life, God commands us to love others like He does. We are to live a life of love, not in word, but in action. Listen to what the scriptures say:

Ephesians 5:1 and 2: “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”

1 John 3:18: “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

In Mark 12:28 a man came to Jesus and ask Him the greatest question anyone had ever asked Him. He asked, “What is the most important thing God has ever said?” (My paraphrase)

Jesus answered that the greatest thing was to love God with all of the heart, soul and strength. He then added that the second greatest thing is equally important as the first, and that is to love people around us as much as we love ourselves.

If this is priority to God, then we have no other choice than to make it a priority for us. Loving God and loving people must be the greatest and highest priority of the Christian.

When our lives become too busy to show this kind of love and kindness, it not only affects us, but it affects the people around us, and ultimately the world. Selfishness is the greatest problem in the world. It is the root of every major problem that exists. It is also the very nature of Satan himself. Listen to Satan, then called Lucifer, just before He was kicked out of heaven in Isaiah 14:13:

For you have said in your heart:

“I will ascend into heaven,

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;

I will also sit on the mount of the congregation

On the farthest sides of the north.”

He had an “I” problem. When life becomes all about you, you’re headed for a fall.

We must take drastic measures to snatch ourselves out of the intoxication of selfishness and walk soberly in the love of God. We must make goals and plans to walk in this kind of love and kindness. There’s no better time than the beginning of a new year.

Before you plan to lose weight, before you set financial goals for the new year, set goals and plan to show some acts of random kindness the people around you. Build an A.R.K., and when the floods of life come, you’ll be safe!

Church:Why Bother?

A couple of years ago our church began to work with a ministry that came in and helped us to strengthen our leadership and clearly define our mission and core values.  This ministry was headed up by a passionate minister of the gospel named Larry Easton.  Larry and I had many discussions about what church is really about.  It’s a subject that I believe many people wonder about.  Why go to church?  What is it really all about?  Is it simply tradition that has been passed down by our forefathers, or is it something that is designed by God?  If it is designed by God, then it should take top priority in our much too busy lives. 

Larry had a great philosophy about church.  It really challenged me to the core!  I want to share it with you.  Perhaps the question is lurking in your mind… “Church:  Why Bother?”  Let these words challenge you: 

“Man is a social creature … that’s part of our design.  Sure we may enjoy periods of solitude and retreat for reflection and rest, but we thrive in relationships. Authentic Christianity is about relationships.  Vibrant relationships with God as a father and with Jesus our Lord.  Relationships with our spouse and with our children.  Relationships with people we call friends … true friends … people who accept us now, as we are and journey with us toward who we are becoming. That’s what church is really…a group of people joining together with God and each other in a journey of discovery.  In fact, growing together by developing meaningful and lasting relationships is a significant part of the journey!  

We often think of church as an organization or a building; however the very word church actually means “called out ones.”  We are called together to know God, to discover His will, to explore His purpose in us and to live out the life He’s given us with joy, power, generosity and influence. Real friends are there for the good times and during the challenging times as well.  Together we experience God’s compassion and power … every day, not just on Sundays.  We encourage each other in difficult times and together we celebrate our victories. Through faith in Jesus Christ we are received into God’s family.  Here we find acceptance and encouragement and the power to experience the joy of a life more fully lived.  

While difficulties may not disappear, we now have at our disposal a powerful set of tools which, while not disallowing challenge, make defeat impossible.  His Word, His Holy Spirit and the companionship of real friends are at the heart of this thing we call church.  No, church is not a building.  It’s not even an organization.  It’s an environment in which the human condition finds new context and meaning, our highest aspirations find fulfillment, dreams become reality, and most of all … where our hearts find a home. 

It’s remarkable how often we simply forget that life was made for living … not enduring!  A life more fully lived though begins by entering into God’s embrace.  Perhaps you’ve fallen prey to the notion that God is disinterested in you, or unaware of those things which matter to you.  Or worse that God is out to settle a score with you … nothing could be further from the truth!  Jesus said in John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” Though challenge will come, God’s power at work in us turns stumbling blocks into stepping stones.  Every challenge simply becomes an opportunity for an adventure in God as He reveals his love, kindness and power.  Fear, frustration and discouragement give way to faith, peace, empowerment and blessing as God promotes us in His grand purpose for our lives.” 

I encourage you to pray and allow God to lead you to a local church where you can explore God’s word and discover strategies for living an empowered, purposeful and passionate life of joy.  Once you find it, get rid of all the predetermined expectations that you might have, and remember that it is a journey.  There will be people in that church that you like, and dislike.  The church will make decisions that you agree with, and disagree with.  At first, you might think it is the perfect church, but remember one thing…If it is perfect, the moment you stepped in it became imperfect!  Be faithful there and serve the Lord with gladness.  Church is not just another activity in our busy lives.  Church: It’s a Must!

God Is In Control?

God Is In Control?

 

I’ve heard it as long as I can remember.  “God is in control!”  The phrase is usually used when one has come to the end of their understanding and they just can’t figure things out.  Sometimes it is used in a good way, like when someone is genuinely putting their faith in God to take care of an important matter in their life.  Other times it is used by people to humbly hide behind God, putting all of the responsibility for a matter on Him, and shunning any responsibility that they should be taking.  So let’s examine this from the scriptures.  After all, everything we believe should be scriptural, and if you want your beliefs to be scriptural, there is one thing you must have…scripture.

 

Is God in control?  When that statement is made incorrectly, it assumes that the direction of people, churches, nations, governments, etc., is always guided by God.  People believe that whatever happens is God’s will, and if it is God’s will that always happens, then you and I have to accept everything that comes our way as ultimately coming from Him – bad or good.  When we consider the amount of abortions performed in America, is God in control in this country?  When children are molested, abused and abducted, is God behind all of that?  If God is in control here on planet earth, then He sure has it in a mess!

 

What is the truth then?  I can tell you this, that when the truth is found, it always makes you free.  Jesus said in John 8:32 that “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  Truth always liberates, even when it is contrary to our thinking and believing.  The truth about God’s will being done in the earth is a liberating truth.  It can be found by looking at the life of the Master, Jesus Himself.  One needs to look no further.  Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus, as He lived and demonstrated among humanity for over three years was “the express image of His person.”  That means if you want to have any of your questions about God the Father answered, you have to look at Jesus.  He expressed the Father perfectly.  He even said to His disciples that if you had seen Him, you saw the Father.  So what was the message of Jesus?  What did He preach?  He preached the good news of the Kingdom of God.  Have you ever thought about what the kingdom of God is.  It is the place where God’s will is done.

 Kingdom comes from two words: king and dominion.  A kingdom is the domain of a king, where his will is able to be carried out.  When the will of the king stops being done, his kingdom cannot be made manifest.  Jesus taught His disciples to pray in what we call the Lord’s prayer “Father, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  There is nothing stopping God’s will being done in heaven.  But there is here in the earth.  If it wasn’t, Jesus wouldn’t have told us to pray that way.  Why did Jesus preach the good news of a realm where God’s will is done?  So that the people would respond in faith.  There faith was the environment that He was looking for, because faith is an environment that God’s will can be done in.  In Mark 6 Jesus went in to His own home town of Nazareth and could not do mighty works there.  The son of God couldn’t.  Not wouldn’t, but it says He couldn’t.  Why?  Verse six says “He marveled at their unbelief.”  If unbelief stopped God’s will and His power from being able to be done then, it will stop it today!

Get Established in Healing!

 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand (James 5:8 NKJV). 

The subject of healing in the Bible is one that many have quarreled over for centuries.  It’s always amazed me how people will fight and argue to stay sick.  Many of the questions and arguments have arisen as a result of people failing to receive healing from God.  If God wanted people healed, wouldn’t He just heal them?  If it were God’s will to heal everyone, then why do good Christian people die of sickness?  Doesn’t God sometimes use sickness to get our attention and teach us valuable lessons?  One thing is for sure, there are answers to all of these questions, and the answer is always found in the Word of God.

     God’s Word is final authority.  No belief that we have should ever be based on the way a situation turned out.  If someone fails to be healed, that should never dictate to us God’s will for them. We should always ask ourselves “what does the Word say?”  The Word is God speaking to us.  It is the final authority for life and doctrine.  Every belief we have that is contrary to God’s Word should be treated as a deadly intruder sent to steal the life out of you.  You would do everything in your power to keep someone like that out of your house and away from your family.  Settle one thing in your life right now; base everything you believe on the Word of God.  If you find that you are wrong and the Word of God is right…change!  Don’t hold to some tradition or religion that is contrary to God’s written Word!  Believe the Bible.  Believe God!

     James tells us that our hearts need to be established.  The word established means “to turn resolutely in a certain direction.”  Resolutely means “doggedly” or “stubbornly.”  Our hearts need to be turned stubbornly in the direction of the truth of God’s Word.  The opposite of resolute is to hesitate.  Hesitation is exactly what you do when you are not established.  Hesitation is also a form of doubt.  If you hesitate, that means you aren’t sure.  What James is saying here is that we as believers must spend time turning our heart in the definite direction it needs to go.

 Like A Tree 

     Trees are established because of a root system.  Have you ever tried to move a mature tree?  It’s almost impossible.  Roots cause the tree to do two things.  First, they cause the tree to stand when pressure comes against it.  Second, they cause the tree to be fruitful.  As you get established in healing, you will become like a tree.  In Psalms 1:3 it says “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.”  When sickness attacks you won’t be moved.  You will begin to produce the fruit of healing in your body.  As you begin to believe the promises of God concerning healing, your faith will access the grace of God and healing will begin to work.  Disease and sickness will begin to be driven from your body in Jesus name!

  You Cannot Play With Sickness! 

     Disease is no respecter of persons.  All sickness and disease is originally from Satan and came in to this world through the fall of Adam.  Jesus came to redeem us from sin, sickness and disease.  And He did!  His work is a finished work.  God has done everything that needs to be done in order for you to be healed.  Galatians 3:13 says “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)” 

     No decision needs to be made.  He decided 2000 years ago to save, heal and deliver whosoever would call on the name of the Lord.  But just because He did what He did doesn’t mean that healing will just fall on you like ripe fruit falling off of a tree.  Healing must be received by faith, and faith will access grace for healing to manifest.  Faith for healing must be resolute.  It must be stubborn and dogged.  You cannot play like you believe…you must believe!  You have to be stubborn about it.  Like a bulldog with a new bone, you never let it go.  No one can talk you out of it and no one, not even the devil, can take it from you.

 Believe That You Take It! 

     Jesus taught us the greatest lesson about how to receive by faith.  In Mark 11 we read “So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says.  Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.’”  Jesus says here that we must “believe that we receive.”  That is simply what faith is.  It is believing that you receive something before you see it.  The word “receive” defined from the original greek means to “take” or to “lay hold”.  We must believe that we take healing when we pray.  Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:12 to “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.” 

     When it comes to the inheritance that is ours because of Jesus, you have to lay hold of it by faith.  Healing is part of your inheritance in being an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus.  Believe that you take it.  Imagine Father God with His hands stretched to you right now with the free gift of healing.  Reach out and believe that you take it and walk away with healing working in your body.  Jesus didn’t say feel like you receive when you pray.  He said believe it.  Don’t hesitate, take it now.

 Get Established Now 

     Are you ready to turn your heart towards resolutely towards healing?  A tree doesn’t get established overnight.  Your heart doesn’t either.  In fact, the more unbelief and wrong doctrine you have had concerning healing, the longer it may take to pull down those walls.  2 Corinthians 10 verses 4 and 5 says “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”  Wrong believing can build fortresses and strongholds that will keep you defeated.  It’s up to us to take the weapon of the Word of God and pull down every stronghold that opposes the knowledge of God.

     That is what happens when you establish your heart.  You pull down everything that opposes truth and you build new fortresses of truth.  Like I said, it doesn’t happen overnight.  You’re going to have to take the promises outlined in this book and build a fortress of healing in your heart.  Whether you are facing sickness or disease, or not, your heart needs to be established.  You don’t get ready for the fight when you hear the starting bell.  A fighter prepares long before the event ever takes place.  If he waits for the fight, he might not make it.  Don’t wait for sickness to knock on your door before you establish you heart in healing.  Do it now!

 The Word Isn’t a Spare Tire 

    Many treat the Word like a spare tire.  We never get it out until we really need it.  You need the Word now.  It is the very bread of life.  It is powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.  Build yourself up in it.  Establish your heart until there is no hesitation and you are dogged and stubborn about what it says.

 Turning Your Heart Towards Healing 

    So let’s begin!  The following scriptures are promises that God has made to us concerning healing.  As you read them, go back over them several times.  Confess them out loud.  As you do you will sense your heart turning resolutely in the right direction.  You will sense roots going down deep, establishing your heart.  You might ask, “How will I know when my heart is established?”  Don’t worry, you will know.  If you have to ask, you’re not there yet.  It will hit you like a ton of bricks!  You will see the revelation of it in your spirit, and you will become like that old bulldog.  No one can take your healing away!

 Isaiah 53:55 - 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. 

     What Christ Jesus bore and carried for me, I don’t have to bear and carry.  He came to suffer for me so I don’t have to suffer.  I refuse to suffer with what He took in my place.  Healing is a part of redemption, and it belongs to me right now

 Matt 8:17 – that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.”  

     I don’t have to bear or carry sickness and disease because He bore it in my place.  Jesus has already done everything that he could possibly do about my healing, all I have to do is believe it and lay hold of it with a “fighting spirit.”

 1 Peter 2:24 – who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed. 

     This verse says that by the stripes he took for me “I was healed.”  It doesn’t say “I might be,” or “someday in the future I will be.”  If He did it for me back then, then healing is mine today!

    

Jesus was the perfect expression of the will of Father God.  Everything He said and did when He ministered on the earth is everything that Father God wants to do today.

 Matthew 4:23 – And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. 

Matthew 9:35 – Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 

Matthew 10:11 – And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. 

Acts 10:38 – 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. 

Heb 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

According to the Word of God, all sickness is part of the curse of breaking the law.

 Deuteronomy 28:15, 61 – “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.  Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, will the LORD bring upon you until you are destroyed.

But Jesus came to redeem us from the curse of the law.  

Galatians 3:13 – Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) 

     Jesus said that he came only to bring us the abundant life.  It’s the devil who tries to destroy people with sickness and other things.  The good news is you have authority to resist the devil in the name of Jesus and he must flee from you. 

 John 10:10 – The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.  

James 4:7 - Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 

     Resist sickness, and it must flee from you.  Here is a good confession of God’s word that you can make over your body everyday;

 Father God, I thank you that Jesus bore my sickness for me so that I could be healed.  This sickness is a part of the curse of the law, and Jesus redeemed me from the curse of the law, therefore, I am redeemed from this sickness. I thank you that according to your word, I am healed, therefore I believe the healing power of God is working in my body right now, driving out every symptom of sickness and disease.  Thank you Lord for healing me!  Amen.

Who Robbed God?

According to a survey done by the Barna Research group, only about eight percent of born again Christians are tithers.  If true, and other studies reveal the same thing, then less than ten percent of Christians are financing the impact that the church is having on the world today.  The tithe, which literally means a tenth, is an amount of money that God required His people to bring to Him.  It wasn’t, or isn’t, a gift or an offering.  It is an amount that God said belonged to Him.  Listen to what the scriptures ay about it in Leviticus 27:30.  “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s. It is holy to the LORD.”  God’s people were commanded to take ten percent of any increase and set it apart as something that was holy and belonged to God.  Why don’t more than ninety percent of Christians do this?  It has to be one of two reasons.  Either they don’t know or haven’t been taught, or they choose to reject it.

In almost twenty years of ministry I can’t tell you how many people have asked our church for financial help.  It’s kind of a common thing with people when they get to a place where they need help to call a church.  They are the people who care.  That’s why they are there, to be a ministry of healing to the world.  We, the church, are the ones who are called to mobilize God’s people into a force that changes the whole world.  People expect us to be what the Bible says we are to be and do what God tells us to do.  We are called to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world and to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.  There should be no other organization that cares more and does more than the church of Jesus Christ, however, how effective can we be when less than ten percent of the people who make up the church give what God expects them to give?

Why the tithe?  In the Old Testament God required His people to bring ten percent of their income into the storehouse so that there would be enough provision to carry out His purposes.  All of the people of God could work except one tribe, the tribe of Levi.  The tribe of Levi was to dedicate themselves to the work of God and was not allowed to get involved with business.  Since Levi had no income and the work of God needed to be done, God established the tithe.  The tithe belonged to Levi, the priesthood of God, to do the work of God.  Some might ask if the tithe is still in effect today since the Old Covenant has been replaced with the New Covenant.  All you have to do is ask if the work of God has been done away with.  No!  It’s bigger than ever.  The churches job today is not to minister to one nation, but the nations of the world.

So what happens when Christians don’t tithe?  Let’s break it down to your local church.  What happens when the people of a local church don’t tithe?  The answer is always in the Word of God.  Malachi 3:8 says, “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!  But you say, ‘ In what way have we robbed You?’  In tithes and offerings.”  When you don’t tithe you rob God of the love and compassion that He wants demonstrated in the earth.  You rob your children, your teens, your friends, your community and yourself.  You limit the expression of Christ through the local church.  People aren’t reached and therefore eternally lost.  Maybe you have never thought about it in that light.  Your money is a powerful force.  If you don’t believe money is powerful, then don’t pay your electric company what they say belongs to them.  What happens?  No power!

Finally, what happens when all of God’s people tithe and give offerings?  Just think if every church in Fayette County alone could do ten times what they are doing now.  Thousands would be saved.  Financially hurting people could be helped.  There would be ministries all over the county for children and teens.  Marriages would be helped and hurting people could be healed.  Churches could help schools and faith based ministry would increase.  World hunger, crime, drug use and many other things could be impacted by the church.  If you don’t tithe to your church, you need to start right away.  God has asked you to and is expecting you to do your part.  You might say “I can’t afford to tithe.  All of my money is already used up.”  Listen to Malachi again in verse 10.  “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,”
says the LORD of hosts, “ If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”  It sounds to me like you can’t afford NOT to tithe.  The issue here is never whether you have enough money, but enough faith that God will do what He said.  Trust Him, obey Him and watch Him perform His word for you!

There’s More!

Enoch lived thousands of years ago during a time when the knowledge of God was very limited.  There were no churches, no bibles, no radios or other forms of media that we are blessed with today.  No one is his day was born again because Jesus had yet to be raised from the dead, yet Genesis 5:24 tells us that he was famous for “walking with God.”  Hebrews 11:5 records that he pleased God because he walked by faith.  Picture it in your mind.  Enoch was working in the field one day, and he begins to think about God.  He must have thought about how little revelation of God he had, and how much more there must be.  He probably thought to himself, “There must be more to God than what I am experiencing.”  Whatever he did, somewhere he began to believe, and his faith set him on a journey of walking with God and experiencing what no one else had ever experienced.  He began walking in a place with God that put him in the hall of fame of faith.

How did this happen?  Believing that there’s more and pursuing it with hunger.  What about you?  Are you happy with the knowledge, revelation and experiences you have had, or do you believe that there’s more to God than what you have experienced thus far?  The next verse in Hebrews 11 says that “he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  Enoch was rewarded with a walk with God that no one knew about because he believed there was more and he diligently sought God.  God is no respecter of persons.  If He did it for Enoch, He will do it for you, but you must first believe that no matter what you have, there’s more.

In Isaiah 45:15 we read that God is a God who hides himself.  Other scriptures, like the one in Hebrews 11, He speaks of revealing Himself.  Does God hide Himself, or does He reveal Himself?  Both!  Think about people around you today.  There are some who know God and have a deep revelation of Him.  There are others who have no clue of His reality.  Even among those who are Christians, there are those who know God more than others.  Why is this?  The reason is because God is hidden from us until we choose to believe.  Once we believe in Jesus and His accept Him as Lord, God reveals Himself to us as savior.  Until then, He is hidden.  As we live as Christians, we must continually believe that there are dimensions of God ready to be revealed to those that believe there is more.  Do you believe that God has more joy and peace for you than what you have ever experienced?  Do you believe that He could intervene in your family and cause you to be closer and stronger than you have ever been?  How about your church?  Do you believe that there is more to God than the one or two hour service on Sunday where you sing a few songs, give an offering, hear a quick sermon and head to the restaurant?

If our God-experiences seem limited then one thing we cannot do is try to water God down to match our experiences.  We must elevate our experiences to match His greatness.  We must believe and cry out for more. God is much bigger than our Baptist, Methodist or Charismatic minds could ever conceive!  It doesn’t matter if you are 14 or 84, God wants to reveal to you dimensions of Himself and His power that no man has yet to see.  The kingdom of God, as demonstrated in the life of Christ, is ready to be demonstrated again today.  Jesus told us in John 14:12 that we would do the works that He did, and even greater.  The church of Jesus should be seeing more of the miraculous power than we presently see.  We have a mandate to reach the nations of the earth with the gospel of the Kingdom of God.  It must be done, not in word only, but in power.  The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 that “my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”  Let’s believe in that power and demonstration of the Spirit. Let’s pursue Him with hungry faith and show this world that Jesus is truly the same yesterday, today and forever.  Tell God that you believe and that you are ready for Him to usher you into MORE!

Holy GPS!

I recently bought my wife, Lisa, a GPS device for her car. We hooked it up, typed in the destination of our first trip, and off we went. Amazing! It began to direct each turn we needed to make. “In 200 yards, turn left … Exit left, and then turn right.”

A few times we needed to make a pit stop and we detoured off of the directed path. Immediately the device began to warn us and direct us to make turns that would get us back on the right path.

It was great. Lisa never had to encourage me to stop and ask for directions. Knowing that we had something we could trust to get us to our destination eliminated all fear of getting lost. It made the trip so much more relaxing as we simply obeyed the voice coming from this incredible answer to every woman’s prayer for a husband that won’t stop to ask.

Ephesians 1: 4 tells us that God has preset a destination for all of our lives. At the very moment we are saved, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us to direct us to this destination. He is daily endeavoring to lead us into God’s best. Our success in arriving at the destinations He has planned for us depends entirely on following His lead. “Turn left.” “Go there.” “Do this.” As long as we listen and obey, we’re guaranteed to arrive at the right place. The only problem is many times we don’t listen and we take detours.

Detours are those times when we don’t take the exit God says to take. When that happens, He lets us know we need to turn around and go back. As we continue to pass exit after exit, He still urges us to go back.

There comes a time when we’ve detoured so far that it’s not feasible to turn around. It’s at times like this that many people think their life is too messed up for God to use. They think He could never fix the mess that they’ve got themselves into.

Wrong! An amazing thing happens when you get too far off the path God has for you. The same thing happens with my, or my wife’s, new GPS. It recalculates a new route to the original destination. I can’t go anywhere that can shake my destination.

God’s mercy is just like that. No matter what happens, I can count on a loving Father who will get me to this place He has for me.

God has no plan B. He just has many ways to get you to plan A. Trust Him and see!