Many make the mistake of substituting belief in healing for the actual taking of God’s medicine – His Word. They say, “I believe in healing” without actually taking the medicine. What good would it do for you to believe in food if you didn’t eat it? You would starve. What good would it do for you to believe in water if you didn’t actually drink any? You would die of thirst.
God’s Word is His medicine. There are several parallels between God’s medicine and natural medicine.
First: God’s Word is a healing agent, just as natural medicine is a healing agent or catalyst. In other words, the medicine itself contains the capacity to produce healing. Inherent within God’s Word is the capacity, the energy, the ability, and the nature to effect healing in your body.
Second: We might say that medicine is no respector of persons. It will work for anyone who takes it. It is not a matter of if God is willing or not willing to heal any individual, but whether or not the individual will receive healing by taking the medicine that produces it.
Third, and most important: Medicine must be taken according to directions to be effective. Some medicine labels read, “Take internally”; others say, “Take externally.” To rub it on your body externally when the directions say to take it internally will not work. To take it after meals when the directions say take it before meals will reduce its effectiveness. To take it once in a while when the directions say three times a day will mean limited results, if any. No matter how good the medicine is, it must be taken according to the directions or it won’t work. So it is with God’s medicine. It must be taken according to directions for it to work.
We might say that attending to them, inclining your ear to them, and keeping them before your eyes causesthe Word to get into the midst of your heart. Notice this: It is only as God’s Words get in the midst of your heart and stay there that they produce healing in your body. Head knowledge won’t do. They are going to have to penetrate to your spirit through meditation – attending, hearing, looking, muttering, musing, pondering – to produce healing in your body. But once they do penetrate, they will surely bring health to all your flesh. … let them penetrate deep within your heart.
You can see again that God’s way of healing is spiritual. Power is ministered first to your spirit, then distributed to your body. God’s medicine must be taken internally. Listen, instead of wondering whether you have enough faith to be healed, just take the medicine. This handout contains Healing Scriptures. Feed on them several times a day, repeating them over and over again to yourself. The medicine itself will work if you will get it inside of you.
Fourth: Remember that it takes time for medicine to work. Most people give natural medicine a lot of time, patience, and money to work. They take the prescription back for refills and more refills. They are diligent about it. They don’t just take one dose and expect a miracle. Keep taking God’s medicine. Give it time to work.
Take your medicine. Say these Scriptures to yourself. Think on what you’re saying in your heart. Use them in praise to the Father. His Word is medicine to all your flesh.
Showing posts with label word of god. Show all posts
Showing posts with label word of god. Show all posts
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
The Disciple Who Lacks Wisdom
We live in a day when the Law of God has been ruled out of legal systems, rejected by many churches, and reacted to by many Christians. The result is that every man does what is right in his own eyes, and the great riches and rewards that God wants to show the world are lost.
Now is the time for us to realize that there are rich treasures of wisdom and power in God’s Law. When we realize this, God will glorify Himself through our lives, and the world will know that the Lord of hosts rules and reigns through His Law.
“It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law. Therefore I love thy commandments above gold … . I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way” (Psalm 119:126–128).
Any person, family, city, or nation that discovers and uses the treasures of God’s wisdom will become a marvel to the world. This is the promise that God gave to the nation of Israel regarding His commandments: “Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall … say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people … . What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law…” (Deuteronomy 4:6–8).
So how do we discover the hidden treasure of God’s wisdom? James gives us the starting point:
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally … and it shall be given him” (James 1:5).
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, gives this instruction: “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee … yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:1–5).
The key to wisdom is having a proper fear of God, because “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). Let’s take the first step by crying out to God for wisdom and lifting up our voices for understanding!
Now is the time for us to realize that there are rich treasures of wisdom and power in God’s Law. When we realize this, God will glorify Himself through our lives, and the world will know that the Lord of hosts rules and reigns through His Law.
“It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law. Therefore I love thy commandments above gold … . I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way” (Psalm 119:126–128).
Any person, family, city, or nation that discovers and uses the treasures of God’s wisdom will become a marvel to the world. This is the promise that God gave to the nation of Israel regarding His commandments: “Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall … say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people … . What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law…” (Deuteronomy 4:6–8).
So how do we discover the hidden treasure of God’s wisdom? James gives us the starting point:
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally … and it shall be given him” (James 1:5).
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, gives this instruction: “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee … yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:1–5).
The key to wisdom is having a proper fear of God, because “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). Let’s take the first step by crying out to God for wisdom and lifting up our voices for understanding!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Faith and Vision: Building Your House On The Refrigerator
A minister said he was looking at some beautiful houses in a magazine one day and noticed that in one of them, there was a study that He really liked. So He cut out the picture. He said He's building a house on his refrigerator with cutouts from the magazine.
Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." Other translations say, "Where there is no vision, the people go wild," or "go out of their minds." Also, when you read the word "law," the word "commandment," or the word "precept" in Scripture, it is referring to the Word of God. So without changing its meaning, turn this verse around and it can very easily be translated to read, "Where there is vision, the people prosper, and he that keeps the Word of God will walk in joy."
The one thing God has given us to help maintain an enthusiasm of faith is to be able to look toward the future and see the vision. And everyone must have a vision. The vision you need is found in the Word of God because the Word lays out our potential for us: What God's Word says we can do, we can do. What it says we can have, we can have. What it says we can be, we can be.
Our potential is built in the Word of God. And that's where you begin with your vision. If you don't yet have a vision, you start where God has told you who you are in Him.
I thank God that it doesn't matter who we are in ourselves. It only matters who we are in Him. That's the difference between being self-conscious and being God-conscious. God always gives you a choice. You can choose to be aware of God and what He wants you to do, or you can choose to be aware of yourself and do your own thing. Personally, I'd rather be doing God's thing.
But to do God's thing, you must realize that your vision is found in the Word of God. And the details of that vision come by setting aside time every day to be in His presence, in intimate fellowship with the Father. The vision is conceived in those times. The vision is nurtured in those times. And also, the vision is birthed in those times.
When you never take time for intimate fellowship with the Father, you'll never get the details. It's hard to get details on the run. You have to have a face-to-face relationship to do that. And guess what? He wants you to have vision. He wants to give you details. Not only that, but He also wants to enlarge the vision so that you are filled with it. God likes big vision.
In Mark 9:23, Jesus said, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." All things are possible to anyone who believes. You have to be willing to not listen to anyone who wants to speak doubt and unbelief to you. You have to take the word "doubt" out of your vocabulary. Instead, align your vocabulary with heaven's vocabulary, align your vocabulary to faith's vocabulary, align your vocabulary to the Word of God.
Your vision, the vision that God has given you, the vision that God is building in your heart, is possible. Why? Because you believe. Even when you can't see it, you believe it. Even when you can't touch it, you believe it. And the highest kind of faith is faith that believes on the authority of the Word of God alone, and does not demand evidence to know that it's true. That's the centurion kind of faith.
Remember the centurion who came to Jesus and said, "My servant lieth at home sick"? When Jesus answered him saying, "I will come and heal him," the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed" (Matt. 8:6-8).
The Word of God says when Jesus heard that statement, He marveled at this man's faith. This man was operating in the highest realm of faith - the faith that does not demand evidence. Jesus called it "so great faith" (v. 10). Sometimes I say to myself, "I believe. I'm a believer. I believe the Word of God. I believe it in the Name of Jesus." You have to say those words to yourself every now and then. You have to say them over and over again because sometimes the circumstances around you just don't look like they agree with the vision.
Remember, the vision in your heart is possible to those who believe. Your faith is inseparable from your vision. Whatever vision you have on the inside, whether it's a small, medium or large vision, your faith is going to work to produce that vision.
The spiritual force of the faith which is on the inside of you will take those pictures and those images from deep within your heart and begin to produce the vision and bring it to pass. Your vision is the blueprint of whatever your faith wants to build. And the builder works from that blueprint. "Faith is the substance [the ground, the title deed] of things hoped for, [the things I have a red-hot, burning, earnest expectation and a vision for]" (Heb. 11:1 AMP).
That scripture says my faith is the evidence of my vision, and your faith is the evidence of your vision. It's the evidence of things that you have a red-hot, burning, earnest expectation for. Your faith wants to build your vision. Your faith is just as determined as the kid on the football team who is sitting on the bench saying, "Coach, let me in. Let me play. Let me get in there."
Do you have a vision? Can you see it? What are you doing to supplement and supply the vision that you have on the inside of you? Because whatever it is, that's what you will eventually achieve. That's what you will become.
Just as you learn to walk by taking one step at a time, you also have to take steps in your faith. And there is nothing wrong with enlarging your vision. God wants you to think big.
You have to keep the vision alive and before you. We could take a clue from how the world uses this principle in their marketing and advertising. They use the print media (billboards, the sides of buses and signs in airports) and television. These are things the public sees. They use radio; this is what the public hears. We are surrounded with people who are trying to convince us to think the way they think and tell us to go buy what they are selling.
This is the idea: If you see it enough, you'll buy it. And then you'll like it. This same principle works in the Word of God. If you're putting the world in front of you, you are going to become like the world. If you put the Word in front of you, you'll become like the Word. We must be extremely selective in what we put in front of our eyes. The enemy tries to deceive us by building images and visions before us, even from the time we are children. He'll show us visions and pictures of our parents or our grandparents who are in lack or are poor and doing without.
Since that image is constantly before us, we think we should live that way. The devil puts images of failure, defeat, worry, and fear before us. But the Word of God gives us an image of success, victory, abundance and peace. What are you going to keep before you? What you behold, what you look at, what you meditate on and what you think about are what you are going to become.
Second Corinthians 3:12-13 says, "Since we have such [glorious] hope, such (joyful and confident) expectation, we speak very freely and openly and fearlessly. Nor (do we act) like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze upon the finish of the vanishing (splendor which had been upon it)" (AMP).
In other words, Moses would go up into the mountain to talk with the Lord. Then he would put a veil over his face, come down the mountain and then talk to the people. But he would keep the veil over his face, and the glory began to wane and diminish.
"In fact, their minds were grown hard and calloused, they had become dull and had lost the power of understanding, for until this present day, when the Old Testament is being read, that same veil still lies on their hearts, not being lifted to reveal that in Christ it is made void and done away. Yes, down to this very day whenever Moses is read a veil lies upon their minds and hearts. But whenever a person turns (in repentance) to the Lord the veil is stripped off and taken away.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, emancipation from bondage and freedom. And all of us, as with unveiled faces, continued to behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured" (vv. 14-18, AMP).
If there are some things that you know you should not be exposing yourself to, cut them out of your life - for the sake of the anointing, for the sake of the glory of God, for the sake of the vision. Get rid of them. The force of faith is working within you to conform you to whatever image you are seeing. It is working to bring your vision to pass. And as you behold the Word of God, and you behold the glory of the Word, you will, in increasing splendor, go from glory to glory. You will become what you behold.
Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." Other translations say, "Where there is no vision, the people go wild," or "go out of their minds." Also, when you read the word "law," the word "commandment," or the word "precept" in Scripture, it is referring to the Word of God. So without changing its meaning, turn this verse around and it can very easily be translated to read, "Where there is vision, the people prosper, and he that keeps the Word of God will walk in joy."
The one thing God has given us to help maintain an enthusiasm of faith is to be able to look toward the future and see the vision. And everyone must have a vision. The vision you need is found in the Word of God because the Word lays out our potential for us: What God's Word says we can do, we can do. What it says we can have, we can have. What it says we can be, we can be.
Our potential is built in the Word of God. And that's where you begin with your vision. If you don't yet have a vision, you start where God has told you who you are in Him.
I thank God that it doesn't matter who we are in ourselves. It only matters who we are in Him. That's the difference between being self-conscious and being God-conscious. God always gives you a choice. You can choose to be aware of God and what He wants you to do, or you can choose to be aware of yourself and do your own thing. Personally, I'd rather be doing God's thing.
But to do God's thing, you must realize that your vision is found in the Word of God. And the details of that vision come by setting aside time every day to be in His presence, in intimate fellowship with the Father. The vision is conceived in those times. The vision is nurtured in those times. And also, the vision is birthed in those times.
When you never take time for intimate fellowship with the Father, you'll never get the details. It's hard to get details on the run. You have to have a face-to-face relationship to do that. And guess what? He wants you to have vision. He wants to give you details. Not only that, but He also wants to enlarge the vision so that you are filled with it. God likes big vision.
In Mark 9:23, Jesus said, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." All things are possible to anyone who believes. You have to be willing to not listen to anyone who wants to speak doubt and unbelief to you. You have to take the word "doubt" out of your vocabulary. Instead, align your vocabulary with heaven's vocabulary, align your vocabulary to faith's vocabulary, align your vocabulary to the Word of God.
Your vision, the vision that God has given you, the vision that God is building in your heart, is possible. Why? Because you believe. Even when you can't see it, you believe it. Even when you can't touch it, you believe it. And the highest kind of faith is faith that believes on the authority of the Word of God alone, and does not demand evidence to know that it's true. That's the centurion kind of faith.
Remember the centurion who came to Jesus and said, "My servant lieth at home sick"? When Jesus answered him saying, "I will come and heal him," the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed" (Matt. 8:6-8).
The Word of God says when Jesus heard that statement, He marveled at this man's faith. This man was operating in the highest realm of faith - the faith that does not demand evidence. Jesus called it "so great faith" (v. 10). Sometimes I say to myself, "I believe. I'm a believer. I believe the Word of God. I believe it in the Name of Jesus." You have to say those words to yourself every now and then. You have to say them over and over again because sometimes the circumstances around you just don't look like they agree with the vision.
Remember, the vision in your heart is possible to those who believe. Your faith is inseparable from your vision. Whatever vision you have on the inside, whether it's a small, medium or large vision, your faith is going to work to produce that vision.
The spiritual force of the faith which is on the inside of you will take those pictures and those images from deep within your heart and begin to produce the vision and bring it to pass. Your vision is the blueprint of whatever your faith wants to build. And the builder works from that blueprint. "Faith is the substance [the ground, the title deed] of things hoped for, [the things I have a red-hot, burning, earnest expectation and a vision for]" (Heb. 11:1 AMP).
That scripture says my faith is the evidence of my vision, and your faith is the evidence of your vision. It's the evidence of things that you have a red-hot, burning, earnest expectation for. Your faith wants to build your vision. Your faith is just as determined as the kid on the football team who is sitting on the bench saying, "Coach, let me in. Let me play. Let me get in there."
Do you have a vision? Can you see it? What are you doing to supplement and supply the vision that you have on the inside of you? Because whatever it is, that's what you will eventually achieve. That's what you will become.
Just as you learn to walk by taking one step at a time, you also have to take steps in your faith. And there is nothing wrong with enlarging your vision. God wants you to think big.
You have to keep the vision alive and before you. We could take a clue from how the world uses this principle in their marketing and advertising. They use the print media (billboards, the sides of buses and signs in airports) and television. These are things the public sees. They use radio; this is what the public hears. We are surrounded with people who are trying to convince us to think the way they think and tell us to go buy what they are selling.
This is the idea: If you see it enough, you'll buy it. And then you'll like it. This same principle works in the Word of God. If you're putting the world in front of you, you are going to become like the world. If you put the Word in front of you, you'll become like the Word. We must be extremely selective in what we put in front of our eyes. The enemy tries to deceive us by building images and visions before us, even from the time we are children. He'll show us visions and pictures of our parents or our grandparents who are in lack or are poor and doing without.
Since that image is constantly before us, we think we should live that way. The devil puts images of failure, defeat, worry, and fear before us. But the Word of God gives us an image of success, victory, abundance and peace. What are you going to keep before you? What you behold, what you look at, what you meditate on and what you think about are what you are going to become.
Second Corinthians 3:12-13 says, "Since we have such [glorious] hope, such (joyful and confident) expectation, we speak very freely and openly and fearlessly. Nor (do we act) like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze upon the finish of the vanishing (splendor which had been upon it)" (AMP).
In other words, Moses would go up into the mountain to talk with the Lord. Then he would put a veil over his face, come down the mountain and then talk to the people. But he would keep the veil over his face, and the glory began to wane and diminish.
"In fact, their minds were grown hard and calloused, they had become dull and had lost the power of understanding, for until this present day, when the Old Testament is being read, that same veil still lies on their hearts, not being lifted to reveal that in Christ it is made void and done away. Yes, down to this very day whenever Moses is read a veil lies upon their minds and hearts. But whenever a person turns (in repentance) to the Lord the veil is stripped off and taken away.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, emancipation from bondage and freedom. And all of us, as with unveiled faces, continued to behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured" (vv. 14-18, AMP).
If there are some things that you know you should not be exposing yourself to, cut them out of your life - for the sake of the anointing, for the sake of the glory of God, for the sake of the vision. Get rid of them. The force of faith is working within you to conform you to whatever image you are seeing. It is working to bring your vision to pass. And as you behold the Word of God, and you behold the glory of the Word, you will, in increasing splendor, go from glory to glory. You will become what you behold.
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