WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?

After a conversation today with a friend on the subject of healing, I felt it was time to share one of the biggest lessons God ever taught me in the area of healing.  In my experience with praying for the sick, this seems to be the biggest obstacle people face in recieving and keeping their healing.  The words of their mouth.

Proverbs 18:21 - Death and life are in the power of the tongue; And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Back in 1992 I was diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse.  That is a condition where the mitral valve in the heart is basically deformed.  It does not function properly and causes a backwash of blood in the heart which is very painful, and it can also cause fainting due to improper circulation of the blood.  I had seen doctors and cardiologists and had tests run.  They told me that this is something, because of being a deformity of the valve, that people have all their lives, but it is usually in adulthood when the symptoms begin to show up.

As soon as I got the diagnosis I stepped forward in church to have the Pastor and his wife lay hands on me and pray for my healing according to James 5:14-15:

Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.


Knowing that God is faithful to His Word, I believed from the moment hands were laid on me that I was healed.  God is not a liar!  If His Word says we are healed, and it does in so many places, then we are.  God has given me the kind of faith that grabs ahold of the promises of God like a pit bull latches onto a steak and locks down.  No one and nothing can pry it loose no matter how hard they try!  And let me tell you, the enemy, the devil, tried his best!

For the following year I continued to praise God for my healing.  Almost daily I faced the pain and symptoms of Mitral Valve Prolapse on my body.  Every time I did I began to thank God for healing me.  I would declare His Word (my sword) over my body and thank Him for His faithfulness.  I did not allow the pain or symptoms to dictate to me whether or not I was healed.  I would only allow His Word to do that, and His Word said I was healed.  I never spoke to anyone of the pain. During this year God used me to pray for so many sick people.  I saw Him heal so many illnesses and diseases and cancers, and all the while the enemy kept hurling pain and symptoms on my body.  But I wasn't budging!

After a year I was at the doctors office for something unrelated, and they ordered an echocardiogram to "check things out".  Well, I was so excited because I knew it would be evidence of what He had already done!  And sure enough, when the results came back it was confirmed!  A  CREATIVE MIRACLE!  My mitral valve was perfectly formed and functioning normally.  On the way home that day I was singing His praises and rejoicing in the fact that I now had evidence of what I had believed and stood on all along. 

Then He began to speak to me and He showed me that my healing was complete the day my Pastor and his wife laid hands on me.  That the pain that was coming on my body was lying symptoms placed there by the enemy of my soul, trying desperately to get me to speak the words of defeat, to confess that I was not healed.  See if I would have done that, I would have signed for the "package" he was trying to deliver; sickness.  And I would have lost the precious healing God gave me. 

After learning that, I have seen over and over again that this is where many people actually lose the healing that Jesus paid such a high price for.  I have laid hands on those in pain and prayed for their healing.  I have felt the fire of God in my hand going into their bodies (not that anything at all needs to be felt, but He does that at times to help our faith), and I have had people tell me that my hands felt like fire.  Then as soon as the prayer is over they begin speaking about "their" cancer, "their" diabetes, "their' pain. . . Healing lost by the words of their mouth.  THAT is the fruit of our lips!  That is the fruit we eat according to our scripture in Proverbs.  If we speak sickness and pain, we will eat the fruit of our lips!

If we are going to receive God's promise of healing and keep it, it is VITAL that we get into agreement with His Word NO MATTER WHAT.  Remember He is not a liar:

Numbers 23:19 - God is not a man, so he does not lie.  He is not human, so he does not change his mind.  Has he ever spoken and failed to act?  Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

Stop agreeing with the enemy of your soul, the one who wants to kill and defeat you, and begin to line up your words and actions with the LOVER of your soul, Jesus!  And begin to see and experience the abundant life that He has promised! 

John 10:10 -
The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

THE MISSING BRIDE

I had a dream a couple years ago, that really left a deep impact on me, and launched me on a path that has turned my religious upbringing and ideals on it's ear! I pray it has an impact on you and your life as well!




***In this dream I was sitting in the sanctuary of a church on the front row. A Pastor was up on the stage, but his back was to the seats as it looked as if he was busy preparing for a service. I noticed there were only two or three others sitting in the whole sanctuary with me. It wasn't a large church, maybe seating for about 150 to 200 people.

A man walked in and sat next to me. I did not recognize him, but in my dream I did know him. I knew him very well and I loved him very deeply. We had a very strong relationship. We chatted a bit, He told me he was glad to see me there. After a few minutes he started looking at his watch nervously, then looking back at the doors that led into the sanctuary. Over and over he checked his watch and then the doors, each time getting more and more distraught. I asked him what was wrong and he said, "My bride. . . I am waiting for my bride to get here." I told him I was sure she would arrive soon. He said, "You don't understand, if she doesn't show up it will be too late.  Why does she not come to me?" I put my arm around him and tried to speak words of comfort, but nothing was easing his pain.

He was wringing his hands and burying his head in his hands, always turning toward the door as if expecting her to walk in at any moment. The longer we waited the more distraught he became to the point that he was weeping. When he began weeping I knew it was too late. We stood together and walked to the back of the sanctuary arm in arm. I was still doing my best to comfort him. it was time for him to leave, and I was leaving with him. As the doors of the sanctuary opened up and we walked into the foyer there was a flurry of activity, everyone busy, cleaning, working, doing all sorts of tasks. We walked right through the middle of them, and no one seemed to notice, but walked right past in their rush to get their tasks done. He was weeping as we walked out, yet no one stopped or even looked our way.***



I guess it is obvious by now Who He was.  And obvious, I hope, the lesson in this dream.  Are you so busy DOING that you have forgotten to just BE with Him?  Are you so occupied with "performance", that you have lost sight of entering into and staying in His REST?  Are you so concerned with being accepted and "earning your place", that you have forgotten that you ALREADY ARE accepted, and that HE earned that place for you long ago?  Are you so caught up with people pleasing and being noticed by so-called "leadership", that you have replaced Him as first in your heart with the desire for promotion, the praise of men, and "stardom" in your little church "community"?  I've been all these things.  I was all these things when God gave me this dream.  This dream launched a journey in my life that I could never have predicted or foreseen.  Because my "religious" mindset would never have accepted some of the areas this journey has taken me. . . . THANK GOD He broke through all that garbage and reached ME.  Not every journey will look the same, because the paths our lives have taken to this point all look different, there is a different work to be done in each individual heart.  But if we are willing to let go of all the WE deem as important, and take God out of our pretty little boxes, trust me, He is more than ready to blow our minds and reveal His true character to us, and He will!!

Like Water Off A Duck's Back!

Have you ever heard this phrase used? Usually it's when someone has said something to hurt your feelings or offend you. Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if we didn't have to worry about being verbally attacked or ridiculed by others? Unfortunately, that is not the world we live in, so we have to learn to deal with these offenses and come out of it better and not bitter.


I had someone today tell me, "Let it roll off your back, like water off a duck." I thought about that and decided to do some research and find our just why water rolls off the back of a duck. And what I found is, for the Christ Follower, an awesome set of facts that we can look at and compare to our own lives, and what works to keep us "waterproof".

The reason water rolls off a duck's back is because oil and water don’t mix. When a duck is swimming or out in the rain, the bird secretes an oil from glands near its tail. With its bill, the duck rubs the oil over its body. This is called preening. The oil keeps the water from soaking through the duck’s feathers, making the bird “waterproof.” (WOOO! Think about that!) The oil in our lives is the presence of Holy Spirit! And how much He is involved in our lives is directly up to us. How much we allow Him to be. He is a gentleman and He will not enter in areas that we do not allow Him access. So, it is best for us, as Christ Followers to allow Holy Spirit to completely fill us (remember, the oil comes from a gland in the duck) and cover us.

Have you ever sat at a lake or pond and just watched the ducks. This preening they do is constant. They don't go too far before they are preening again. They remind me of my cats, how they are continuously cleaning themselves. We need to be continuous in our "being filled", and covering ourselves in His presence and power through reading the Word and intimate communion with Him. Then when someone "splashes" you with unkind words or judgements against you, they will roll right off of your back and not affect you. Why? Because you know who, and Whose you are! When that is established in your heart there is nothing anyone can say or do to you that will be able to penetrate that shield. And instead of being injured and becoming angry and possibly bitter, you can walk with your head high as a child of the King of Kings, and you can walk in Matthew 5:44 where Jesus commands us to " Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." And you can do it with a motive of pure LOVE! I don't know about you, but that excites me!!

Did you know that baby ducks need their mother to preen them, they are not born waterproof? Now just think about this for a minute. . . . . How much more do we need to be covering and "grooming" new Christ Followers? It is when we don't protect and groom and watch over them (in other words DISCIPLESHIP), that they fall prey to the schemes of the enemy and get waterlogged and sick and sometimes even drown.

So keep preening yourselves! Stay in the Word, stay in prayer, and the Holy Spirit will cover you from head to toe and make you waterproof!! No weapon formed against you will prosper! (Isaiah 54:17)