Leaving Pride and Fear Behind

I began my life as a fear ruled introvert afraid to reveal myself to others. The Lord really set me free from much of this when I was Spirit- Filled in 1976. But you’ll find that God’s dealings in your life will come in the form of uncovering layers of the old man that has ruled behavior for many years.

I thought that I was so mature in the Lord when I first began pastoring many years ago (what pride!). But as I matured I begin to see that I had a deep level of pride and fear that still had an undercurrent of rule in me.

You see, as our church began to grow, I had to trust others to do what I was doing, because I could no longer do it all! The pride was in thinking that only I could do this certain thing the right way. And the fear was that if I gave a person a responsibility, they would turn on me and mess up the church!

As the Lord dealt with me, I saw the pride and repented of it. And I surrendered the doubt and the fear of allowing others to be used by Him to the Lord. I saw that my pride and fear was hindering others from being developed and used by the Lord in the way He wanted to use them.

Now, my sense of accomplishment comes from the Lord as I see Him using others in ways they never dreamed possible! I now gain a sense of great fulfillment as a pastor as I see others doing what at one time I thought that I alone could do well. And now others do it better than me!

Allow the Father to work deeply in your own heart today. Ask Him to reveal to you areas that hinder Him doing His best work in and through you.

The Father is very gentle with us at times, and at others times because of our stubbornness, He must be stern. Give Him your heart today, and you’ll find that the Father will lead you to the best that He has for you!

As the Apostle Paul so aptly states: For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).

What are You Doing with Love?

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love (1 John 4:7-8).

Spiritual development and love go hand in hand. There is no spiritual growth without growth in love. When you live in love your live out of your relationship with the Father, you release the atmosphere of heaven around you.

Love and faith are the atmosphere of the kingdom of God. When we walk in love, all that God has becomes available to us, and His power is available to work on our behalf. Unbelief, strife, and fear, are the atmosphere of the kingdom of darkness.

Seek to develop the love of God in your life every single day. Don’t let a day go by without developing in love. Listen to 1 Corinthians 14:1 in the Amplified:

Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire this love [make it your aim, your great quest]. Paul reminds us: But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection (Colossians 3:14). The debt we owe to every person is a debt of love: Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:8-10).

Notice also the great commandment of life that Jesus gave to us: Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:36-40).

ALL of our problems in life in general and with our relationships spring out of disobedience to these two laws of love. If I love the Father with all of my mind, all of my emotions, with all my willpower, with all my physical body, then I’m not going to do anything that offends my relationship with Him! I must harness my thoughts to honor Him, my feelings to bow to His Word, my will to yield to His will revealed in the Word, and my body to submit to His standards. So when I miss it in any area of life, I can boil it down to a lack of love! If I love my neighbor as much as I love myself, then I will do nothing to harm him.

Jesus gave us a new commandment to live by that should be our greatest witness to the world. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35).

Everything else that we esteem as important must bow to the commandment of love. Put love first in every relationship. Make loving God your major life priority! Loving the Father is shown by obeying Him by obeying the Word! Watch your love walk today!

Meditation Brings Personal Change

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 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 (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

Meditation drops the Word of God from your head to your spirit. Taking time to meditate every day will keep your spirit fine-tuned. Meditation will also bring to the surface issues that you need to deal with in your life. When you meditate the Word, the life-power in the Word will bring to light darkness that may be hiding in your soul and hindering your daily walk.

Meditation in the Word will pull down the strongholds of negative thought that have taken your captive and held you as a prisoner in certain areas of life. Meditation will correct the negative thoughts in your belief system, the subconscious mind that the psychologist refers to, which Paul calls the spirit of your mind in Ephesians 4:23. You can actually change things you believe about life through meditation. We all have automatic negative thoughts that are left over from over before Christ life!

One phrase was repeated to me when I was young that lodged in my belief system. Do you think you’ll ever do anything right was a phrase repeated to me which my mind turned into I can’t do anything right! So when I became a young adult I had the sense that I was somehow sub-par with everyone else. I believed that I didn’t deserve to really succeed. So a deep inferiority developed in me.

Just after I was spirit filled I was talking with group of friends after a church service and I made a comment that I just couldn’t do a certain thing. One of my friends in the group turned to me and said, Mitch, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you! I had never heard that before, and I went home and found Philippians 4:13. I meditated that verse until it absolutely ran the thought I can’t do it right out of my life!

Inferiority had ruled me most of my life due to wrong thinking. I felt backwards and alone most of the time. The thought of being around people was frightening. I didn’t want to be hurt by their ridicule and insults. Automatic negative thoughts ruled me. Again, after becoming Spirit-filled and reading my Bible I found a verse in 1 Corinthians 4:3 in the Phillips translation that broke the back of this terrible thought that plagued me. The verse read, it matters very little to me what you or any man thinks of me. I don’t even value my opinion of myself! I meditated on this verse and the revelation came to me that what God thinks about me is the only thing of lasting value and is what I should live by. My life was revolutionized. I went from being an extreme introvert to becoming an outgoing “people person!”

Great personal change is available to you through meditation the Word. Allow the Word to transform you today!

More on Meditation

Meditation is God’s method for the believer to develop spiritually. Meditation takes the Word and drops it from the head to the heart. Ten to Fifteen minutes spent daily in meditation will build the Word into your spirit.

I spend time daily meditating the Word. I frequently meditate on faith, healing, answered prayer, who I am in Christ, on the Love of God, and on scriptures that deal with personal relationships. We’re to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:16).

I’ll end today with these scriptures referring to meditation. Take the Word into your mind slowly, and mutter it to yourself. Mutter and think over a scripture and let the nuances of meaning it has for your life flood your thoughts. Meditation gives Spiritual wisdom. And wisdom is the ability to use the knowledge you acquire.

Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still (Psalm 4:4). When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches (Psalm 63:6). I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, And my spirit makes diligent search (Psalm 77:6). I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways (Psalm 119:15). Make me understand the way of Your precepts; so shall I meditate on Your wonderful works (Psalm 119:27). My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on Your statutes (Psalm 119:48). Let the proud be ashamed, for they treated me wrongfully with falsehood; but I will meditate on Your precepts (Psalm 119:78). My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word (Psalm 119:148). I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands (Psalm 143:5). Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things (Philippians 4:8).Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all (1 Timothy 4:15).

Meditate Daily

What life does to us depends on what life finds in us (1). Proverbs 4:23 tells us to keep our hearts or our spirit with all diligence for the issues of life flow out of it. That really means that what we have inside determines how we deal with what comes on the outside!

Meditation in the Word on a daily basis will build the Word up inside you so that you’ll begin to live from the inside instead of being swayed by outward circumstances.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success (Joshua 1:8). But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. 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 (Psalm 1:2-3).

The Hebrew word for meditation is Hagâ and means to growl, utter, or moan as well as meditate or muse. Meditation involved a muttering sound from reading half aloud or conversing with oneself (2).Take time each day to meditate on scriptures that relevant to what you dealing with in life. I’ve been taking time to meditate in the word now for many years, and this practice has changed my life.

Instead of just reading the word, you must slow down and mull the word over and over in your mind. Speak a scripture over and over to yourself and talk about how it applies to you out loud in a low tone. This is meditation.

Meditation drops the Word from you mind to your spirit. It causes the Word to become infused into your inner belief system, your subconscious mind as the psychologist calls it. It’s really your human spirit that these phrases are referring to. Meditation replaces wrong thinking with right thinking!

I’ll leave you with a quote from E.W Kenyon about meditation that has changed my life:

The most deeply spiritual men and women I know are people who have given much time to meditation. You cannot develop spiritual wisdom without meditation. Joshua 1:8 – This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (or, you will be able to deal wisely in the affairs of life. Take time to meditate in the Word. Shut yourself in alone with your own spirit where the clamor of the world is shut out. If you are ambitious to do something worthwhile, I would suggest that you take ten or fifteen minutes daily for meditation…learn to do it. In other words, begin the development of your own spirit. You may develop any gift that you wish to. The most important gift that God has given to you is the spirit. It is the development of this spirit that is going to mean more to you than any other one thing. The great majority of men do not think. They live in the realm of the senses. The senses have limitations. Your spirit has practically no limitations. You can develop your spirit life until you dominate circumstances. Your spirit can come into vital union with Deity, become a partaker of the Divine nature. That spirit, with God’s nature in it, can fellowship with God on terms of absolute equality with God Himself. Do you see your limitless possibilities? Jesus brings us into contact with spiritual things, not mental things. Spiritual things are as real as physical things. Your spirit can come to the point where the things of His Word will become as real to you, and Jesus will become as real to you as any loved one. You can see the necessity of your taking time to meditate, to get quiet with the Lord. You must take time to sit with His Word and let the Spirit unveil His Word to your spirit. If you will, you will know Him in reality. (3)

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1. (from The Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament © 2001-2004 by Warren W. Wiersbe. All rights reserved.)

2. (from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, revised edition, Copyright © 1979 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. All rights reserved.)

3. From The Hidden Man by E.W. Kenyon (Lynnwood, Washington: Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society, 1970), p. 153-154

For Our Good Always

And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day (Deuteronomy 6:24).

The Father wants the best for us as His children. And He knows that disobedience and sin will rob a person of the best He has for them! Understand that the Father is not against us, but He wants us to stay in a position to receive His fullness.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17). 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 (John 10:10). I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11).

Listen to the words in these verses. To fear the Lord our God, for our good always. Every good and perfect gift is from above. I am come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. The attitude of the Father towards us is to help us, to bless us, to meet our needs, to enable us to overcome. He does not have an attitude to put down, to beleaguer, to bring difficulty, or to punish!

According to Jesus, the Father is with you, in you, and for you! Trouble comes from the adversary as he seeks advantage in your life. The Father’s plan for us is for us to take the Word and navigate our way through life. The Word will sift us and reveal hindrance and weakness in our character, and then the Word will be like a fresh shower and wash away the grime brought by living in the world’s harsh environment.

Obedience to the Word gives light to our path so we won’t stumble into the path of hurt and pain. Obedience to the Word gives stability so that we can walk in the spirit and in faith in the midst of surmounting odds.

Make a decision today to walk in obedience to God’s promises. He wants you to for your own good. He wants to preserve you and keep you alive! He wants you to enjoy Him and to enjoy life to the full. Don’t compromise your obedience today. That compromise may cost you the best that the Father has for you! Make a fresh choice today to obey the Word from your heart. Your obedience brings the Father’s best. Choose life!

Words are Landmarks in Your Life

The words you speak are a creative force in your life. They become absorbed into the atmosphere of your life. Words contain the contents of your heart. Proverbs tells us to keep our heart with all diligence because the issues of life come out of it. Jesus said we speak from the abundance of our heart.

Don’t take your words lightly today. Jesus said we would be justified or condemned as a result of our words. Words create life direction. From the time we’re born, until the time we go to be with Jesus, words accomplish things. You never live beyond your words.

It is not possible to walk in prosperity and talk poverty. I t is not possible to walk in health and talk sickness. It is not possible to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power and talk weakness and failure. It is not possible to be love and forgiveness ruled and at the same time talk bitterness and anger.

A major force in the kingdom of God and in the kingdom of Satan is words. Don’t allow your words today to correspond to the will of the kingdom of darkness. Instead, defy feelings and thoughts that oppose the will of God. Speak boldly aloud what you believe based on the Word of God. When you do this, you put God’s power into operation in your life and circumstances, and the Satan’s attacks will become dormant against the power of the open Word of God through your lips!

The more you talk about something, the more real it becomes in your life. At first, the things of God may seem vague and distant to you. But ignore this perception and speak out loud that you are the righteousness of God in Christ; that you are more than a conqueror; that you are healed by the stripes of Jesus; that God meets all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus; that if God be for you, no being can be successful against you; that the peace of God rules you; that the love of God dominates your mind and actions; that God’s protection and favor surround you every day; that the angels of God are presently working on your behalf, ministering for you because you are an heir of salvation; that your flesh and your mind do not rule you, but your spirit rules your life; that you are walking in the spirit and you are not fulfilling the works of the flesh; that greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

I started speaking the Word out loud to myself over 30 years ago. The Word did not seem real or true at the time. My circumstances tried to erected walls between me and God’s will through His Word.

But I began to speak the Word and defy all my thoughts and feeling to the contrary. Little by little, the reality of the Word began to settle down on me and rise up in me. Now, the things of the Word and of the kingdom of God have become absorbed into the very fabric of who I am. My mind, emotions, will, and body have become accustomed to yielding to my human spirit through the Word. Life has become a restful walk with God as my Father, Jesus my Lord, and the Holy Spirit as my helper and guide.

Your Words set the landmarks in your life. You never rise above them. You will be in your tomorrows what you believe and speak in your todays. Begin today to cooperate with the principles of God’s kingdom. Set your mouth in line with God’s will in every area of life. If you do, one day, you’ll look around, and you’ll see the product of your Words. And you’ll be blessed!

Don't Get Slack

Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time (Deuteronomy 4:39-40).

The blessings of God are not automatic. They are conditioned upon our obedience. Israel was promised untold blessings in the land of Caanan. But the Father was very clear with them that if they disobeyed, the curse would come upon them.

We have a tendency to get slack when things are going well and the outward pressure lessens. Don’t yield to that! Keep yourself stirred up in God all the times.

Over the years I’ve watched people get slack with the Word, with meeting together with other believers in church services, with meditating in the Word, and with their prayer life. For a while it seemed all was well, but eventually that slackness cost them dearly. It cost them in sickness, in financial loss, in their marriage, with their children. So pay the price now to walk with God, or there could be an even greater price to pay for catering to the flesh and getting slack!

Keep yourself strong spiritually by staying in the Word and fellowshipping with other believers. Don’t compromise when things are going well! Notice what God told Israel in Deuteronomy 4:9 : Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren.

These are serious times and we need to give our attention daily to keeping ourselves attuned spiritually to the Father so that His voice is clear, and so that we’ll be well prepared for the days ahead.

Don’t be like the frog who decided to take a bath in the cool water of the black cauldron in the farmer’s yard. When the farmer lit a fire under it, the cold-blooded frog was unaware of the danger he was in until his blood was almost boiling. His temperature rose with the temperature of the water in the cauldron!

Walking closely with the Father pays rich dividends both now and in the life to come. Don’t compromise!

Are You a 30, 60, or 100-fold Hearer?

But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some a hundred (Mark 4:20).

What we do with the Word determines our contribution in the kingdom of God. The Word is designed to take the Father’s place in our hearts during our earth walk. He and His Word are one!

Notice what Jesus said in Mark 4:24 (Amplified): And He said to them, be careful what you are hearing. The measure of thought and study you give to the truth you hear will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you — and more besides will be given to you who hear.

We only get out what we put in to the kingdom of God. Remember that the Word is like a seed that germinates. The seed takes time to grow large enough to be seen. Jesus said that the mustard seed is a small seed that eventually grows a tree so large that the birds have a place to nest and the animals have a place to shelter.

The kingdom of God starts out very small in your life when the Word is planted in you. But as you spend time in the Word, aligning your life with it, the Word slowly grows until it’s large enough to be seen in you. Eventually others can partake of the benefits of the Word in your life as you minister it to them!

A little attention once in a while with the Word may cause you to be a doer of the Word 30% of your time. The rest of your time is then spent in unbelief and the flesh! No wonder the uncommitted have problems!

The sixty fold hearer Jesus spoke of is a doer of the Word 2/3 of their time. That means that a third of their time they are probably in the flesh and responding to problems just the way an unbeliever responds. That means basically that 1/3 of this person’s time creates problems for them.

But the 100 fold hearer is a person who acts on the Word all day long! They don’t cater to the flesh and unbelief at all! This person walks in love 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! In every situation of life this productive believer asks himself, what does God’s Word says about this, and this believer constantly adjusts His behavior to line up with God’s Word. This believer walks in love, walks in forgiveness, and only speaks what God’s Word says about the circumstances around him. And this believer is quick to repent when he misses it and sins!

Let’s give God’s Word the first place status that it should have in our lives! Let’s refuse to compromise with the flesh, the world, or the devil at all! To receive God’s best, you must give him your best! Press towards the mark!

The Kingdom and the Seed

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches (Matthew 13:31-32).

When I was young my dad planted a garden every spring. We lived all year long on the harvest of those wonderful vegetables. But it was a lot of work. The ground had to be prepared. Fertilizer had to be spread. Weeds had to be removed. Insects had to be kept away. But it was well worth the trouble when we sat down week after week in cold winter months to a plate full of sweet corn, field peas, green beans, squash, and butterbeans.

Before planting the vegetables each spring, I noticed the bags on the shelf in the tool shed. Opening them before planting I noticed the old seeds lying dormant in the bag. At times, we had some left over from the previous year. These seeds never changed until we placed them in a different environment. They were made to be placed in soil. That’s the only place they do their work.

The kingdom of God works on the principle of the seed. A seed is small and unassuming. It’s not necessarily pretty to look at either. In the wrong place, it’s completely paralyzed. Without attention, its power is never unleashed. The power to feed thousands is in one little seed! And the amount of harvest has a lot to do with the attention that seed gets as the plant it produces grows. Insects and weeds must be dealt with regularly. Irrigation at times is essential.

The Word is a seed! The kingdom of God works on the seed principle. The sower (the pastor or minister) sows the seed into hearts. The heart is the soil that germinates the Word and unleashes its power!

Jesus said that there are four types of heart soil where the Word can be planted (see Mark 4). Wayside soil is tough and impenetrable. It’s so hard that the seed just lies on the top and produces nothing but food for the birds to eat. The forces of hell love this soil. No kingdom seed will grow here. It’s the soil where they do their best work.

Stony ground hinders the root system of newly germinating seeds. Since the roots can’t dig down into deeper soil, the plant dies when it gets too tall for the small roots to supply needed nourishment. This believer hears and enjoys the word to a degree, but because they are not disciplined enough to get the rocks out of the soil, the words only does so much in them. In tough times they often bail out and quit! It’s not the seed that is the problem. It’s the soil!

Thorny ground hearers get excited about the word for a period of time. They nurture the soil of their heats and the Word begins bearing fruit in them. But this believer becomes lukewarm in their walk with God. Other things begin to be more important than God and the Word. Gradually they become too busy. They begin to miss a church service here and there. Daily devotions lose their luster and become occasional. And the weeds of money, worry, and desire for other things choke the once healthy seed. The gains this believer has had in spiritual development are lost. I see this frequently.

Good ground hearers produce fruit in the kingdom of God! According to their diligence in the Word, the kingdom of God expands in them and t hen through them! Tomorrow, I’ll give the details of this believers walk with God! Watch over the seed that’s in you today!

No Fear!

In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? (Psalm 56:4).

I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears (Psalm 34:4).

Fear debilitates the believer. Satan uses the tactic of fear to harass and sideline the child of God if they will yield to it. For many people, fear is a way of life. From the time they get up in the morning until the time they go to bed, fear rules. Fear of tragedy, of financial failure, of sickness, and of a thousand and one other things.

The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe (Proverbs 29:25). All that Job went through was a result of fear opening the door to the enemy to steal, kill, and destroy. For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me (Job 3:25).

Fear ruled me as a young child and as a teenager. Fear brings with it a sense of hopelessness. You can’t act in faith and feat at the same time.

Fear must be resisted. I treat fear the same way I treat a demonic force! I command it to leave me in Jesus’ name! For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).

I have learned that you must set yourself against fear. You must resist it with the Word. When a thought of fear comes to me now, I immediately resist it. I will not allow it to cogitate in my mind! I speak out loud to it. I resist fear, and I command it to go in Jesus’ name! Then I’ll find scriptures that show fear for what it really is, a lie!

The fear may be, you’re not going to make it this time. I’ll speak God’s Word: Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37). It may be of sickness as Satan plants a thought and a feeling for me to act on. I’ll resist this fear with: Himself took my infirmities and bare my sicknesses! It may be a financial need. Again, I resist the fear thought with the Word: My God meets all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!

Never give voice to your fears! Break the habit of yielding to them by creating a habit of speaking God’s Word out loud to refute the fear thought every time it comes up. Speak to the mountain; believe you receive; resist fear with the spoken Word of God out of your mouth. You’re free in Christ Jesus today!

Cast Your Burden on the Lord!

Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail) (Psalm 55:22 - Amplified).

We are not designed to worry. Worry is really faith in reverse. Worry is allowing the spirit of fear to dominate and rule the situation. Fear attracts the demonic the way that faith attracts God! Don’t allow worry to rule any area of life. Worry is a weight that drains energy needed for productive activity!

The antidote for worry is releasing faith in God’s Word about the situation at hand. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones (Proverbs 3:5-8).

We’re to refuse worry just as we would refuse the temptation to sin. Worry is the enemy seeking intrusion into your life. So Peter tells us: Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully (1 Peter 5:7 - Amplified).

Paul gives us the practical side of replacing worry thoughts with faith. Don’t worry over anything whatever. Tell God every detail of your need in earnest and thankful prayer (Philippians 4:6 – J.B. Phillips Translation).

To release worry and the spirit of fear that motivates it, go to the Father and tell Him every detail of what bothers you. Itemize it in detail. Tell Him what concerns you about the issue and what fear is seeking entrance. Tell Him every detail of your need. Once you do this, ask Him to intervene and to solve the problem. And right there believe that you receive the answer. If you believe you receive, then act like you receive the answer by praising and thanking the Father for working out the details of the situation.

Then every time the issue comes to mind, and every time the spirit of fear seeks to come back, don’t pray about it again. You’ve already cast the care of the thing over on the Lord. Just simply remind the Father of what you’ve already prayed and believed for, and then spend time in praise and thanksgiving instead of worry. Do this every single time the thought of the situation comes back.

You’ll find that the peace of God will guard your faith like a company of soldiers. And if you do this day after day, the day will come that you will see the manifestation of the answer to your prayer!

Believe That You Receive!

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them (Mark 11:24 - NKJV)

So then I tell you, whenever you pray and ask for anything, have faith that it has been granted to you, and you will get it (Mark 11:24 – Williams NT).

For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will get it (Mark 11:24- Amplified).

That's why I tell you to have faith that you have already received whatever you pray for, and it will be yours (Mark 11:24-God’s Word).

Believe that you receive. That’s God’s method of giving us what we need. Faith (believing that you receive) is the way God provides to us what He has promised!

Believing you receive means that the moment you pray, you believe that God has answered your prayer. If you believe He has answered then you will act as though He has answered. Faith does not believe that one day He will answer in the future, but it is believing that God has answered or is answering right now.

Faith is never future tense. It’s either past tense or present tense. Anything that puts my receiving off into the future is hope and not faith. And hope is just not strong enough to receive from the Lord!

Our responsibility is to believe that we receive. God’s responsibility is to see that we have it. There is a period of time between the time that you believe you receive the answer to your prayer, and the actually physical manifestation of the answer. And what happens in this in between time is crucial.

When I believe that I receive an answer to prayer, I usually spend a lot of time praising and thanking the Father for meeting the need. Every time the issue that I’ve prayed about comes to mind, I verbally acknowledge that I believe the Lord heard and answered my prayer. This adds action to my faith.

Doubt thoughts may come to mind and tell you that God hasn’t answered the prayer. When they come, don’t speak them! When doubt thoughts come, say out loud that you believe you receive the answer to your prayer, and then spend some time praising the Lord. Praise Him and thank Him for the answer to your prayer the way you would if you actually had the manifestation of the answer! This drives the enemy nuts and boosts your confidence in the Father. Faith must be expressed in words to be most effective!

Faith expects. When I’m standing in faith, I’m expecting the manifestation of the answer at any time. Faith is a confident expectation that what you’ve asked the Father for has been granted. And this expectation produces joy!

Stand in faith today and believe that you receive. The day will come that what you believe is manifested! Faith works!

God's Will for Healing

When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately his leprosy was cleansed (Matthew 8:1-3).

Faith begins where the will of God is known. If you are uncertain as to the will of God for your healing, you will not be able to exercise the faith necessary to receive the healing that belongs to you.

As a young boy in a denominational church, I always heard the sick prayed for with the faith destroying prayer, Lord if it be Thy will. If a person was healed, then it was the will of God. If a person was not healed, then it must not have been the will of God to heal that particular person.

This kind of behavior takes all responsibility off of the individual, and makes God totally responsible for everything that happens in life. And this type of believing is a dangerous fallacy! When the will of God is determined on a case by case basis, there can be no faith on the part of the individual to be healed by the power of God.

But we can know the will of God through the Word. God’s Word is His will! If you want to my will about a matter in my life, then simply listen to what I say or write! If you want to know God’s will in a matter, go to His Word! His Word is His will.

Jesus Words to this leper in the above verse clearly show the will of God to every person in need of healing. I am willing, be cleansed is God’s will for every person touched by sickness and disease. How do we know this?

The character of God never changes. For I am the Lord, I do not change (Malachi 3:6). Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). If it was Jesus’ will to heal this man in Matthew 8, then it is still His will to heal today.

God has no favorite children. He loves us all the same! What He will do for one, He will do for all! For there is no partiality with God (Romans 2:11). Jesus healing this leper is proof positive that it is His will to heal all!

Never pray if it be your will when praying for healing. If it be your will cancels faith! I never put an if in my prayer when praying the prayer of faith! In fact, the only time I put an if in any prayer I pray is when praying the prayer of consecration to do the will of God.

Jesus prayed if it be Your will in the garden of Gethsemane when facing His hour of greatest trial. And it’s ok to pray this way where we’re seeking to find God’s will for our lives. But this is not necessary in matters where His will is clearly stated!

Faith begins where the will of God is known. Let Jesus’ Word to this leper be His Word to you concerning your life. Here Jesus say to you today, I am willing, be healed! And exercise your faith in Him to heal you by believing you receive your healing the moment that you pray. It’s the prayer of faith that heals the sick! God’s wills you to be healed!

Faith Activates God’s Healing Power

Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well." Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My clothes?" But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'" And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction” (Mark 5:25-34).

Faith releases God’s healing power into our bodies! There were crowds of people touching Jesus the day this woman was healed. The multitudes were thronging Him. They were pressing upon Him. Their touch released no power from Jesus into their bodies. But the moment this woman touched Jesus with faith in her touch, healing power went out of Him and into her. She was completely healed.

Now Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. He promised that when He left and went to heaven, the Holy Spirit would take His place and be to us everything He was to the disciples. That same healing power that was in Jesus is available to us as believers by the Holy Spirit! But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (Romans 8:11).

Remember that it was faith that activated the healing power to flow out of Jesus into this woman who was ill and it healed her. And it takes faith now to activate the healing power resident in you in the person of the Holy Spirit. If you’ll act your faith, you’ll activate the healing power of God that is in your spirit.

Mediate on the scriptures that promise healing, then act your faith. Pray in the name of Jesus and command the sickness to go! Then, believe that you receive the answer to your prayer of faith! Say it out loud, Lord I believe that I receive healing for my body in the name of Jesus. According to God’s Word, I believe I’m well and healed. Thank you so much Lord for healing me. Remind the Lord all day long of what you believe. Look past the symptoms to the promise of God’s Word!

Remember that faith takes the place of what God promises until it shows up in physical manifestation! Act your faith and give the Holy Spirit what He needs to manifest God’s healing power in you today!

Healing in the Atonement of Christ

Healing is provided for us in the atonement of Christ. Let me show you the evidence.

The Passover sacrifice offered by the Israelites the night that the firstborn of Egypt died is a type of Christ. Notice 1 Corinthians 5:7: Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. In Exodus 12 you find that the Israelites were instructed to eat the flesh of the Passover lamb to give them strength for their journey out of Egypt. This is a type of Jesus being the life and health of our physical bodies.

In 2 Chronicles 30:20, the Israelites were healed while partaking of the Passover sacrifice. In Numbers 21: 8-9, the Israelites were healed while they looked at a serpent that God had Moses put on a pole and hold up for all to see. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Jesus referred to this serpent on a pole as Himself being made our sin in John 3: 14: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. If the type, the serpent on the pole, brought healing to every Israelite that gazed upon it, how much more will Jesus, the anti-type (the fulfillment of the serpent on the pole), minister healing and life to those who come to Him!

Then in Isaiah 53, the great redemptive chapter, we find healing clearly shown in the sacrifice of the Messiah! He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows (pains) and acquainted with grief (sickness). And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses) and carried our sorrows (pains); yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 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.

The words sorrows and griefs should be translated respectively pains and sicknesses in these verses. Any concordance will bear this truth. When Jesus bore our sins, he also bore our sicknesses. He dealt with both the sin and sickness problem with the same sacrifice at Calvary.

Some folk tell us that Isaiah 53: 3-5 is speaking figuratively of our spiritual sins and our spiritual sickness. And that he healing mentioned in Isaiah 53:5 is really spiritual healing. But we don’t need spiritual healing, we need spiritual transformation! We don’t get healed spiritually; we become new creatures in Christ Jesus!

The Father obviously knew that some people would try to spiritualize the healing mentioned in Isaiah 53 and He left us a Divine commentary. Notice Matthew 8: 16-17. It refers directly to Isaiah 53:4! When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses."

Exercise your faith in the Father to heal you today. Believe you receive the healing that Jesus provided in His sacrifice for you. With His stripes you are healed!

Healing is the Will of God

Most people know that God can heal them. But they are not sure that it is God’s will to heal them. And it’s not what we know God can do, but what we know He will do that inspires faith. Faith rests in knowing the will of God, not in the ability of God alone. Faith begins where the will of God is known.

Many people have religious roadblocks in the way of receiving their healing from the Lord. They quote the scripture taken out of context, “Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (Hebrews 12:6). And the religious roadblock tells them that God sometimes uses sickness to chasten the believer. But God does not make people sick. And He is not a child abuser! We would be accused of child abuse if we harmed our children physically, but people refer to God as a child abuser when they say that He puts sickness on us to teach us a lesson. God chastens us in our spirits through His word!

Other people say that God puts sickness on us to teach us to trust Him. Still others tell us that God lets us get sick so that we can glorify Him in the sickness. And I’ve heard others say that “I’m in God’s hands, and nothing can come into my life except it come through Him first.”

But what does the Word of God teach? It teaches that “…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” (Acts 10:38). It teaches that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17) It DOES NOT teach that God puts sickness on His people!

Jesus prayed in Matthew 6:10, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” There is no sickness in heaven, and it is His will that there be no sickness on the earth! Moses admonished the Israelites to keep the Word of God in their hearts “that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth” (Deuteronomy 11:21).

Sickness came with the fall of man, and its’ cure is found in God’s remedy for the fall, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! To listen to some people, it sounds as though God and the devil have changed jobs over the last two thousand years. To them, God is the one who makes us sick, and the devil is the one who heals us! But “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

For me, the will of God concerning my healing is settled by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 8. Jesus came down from the mountain where He was ministering the Sermon on the Mount to His disciples, and there was a man stricken by leprosy waiting for Him at the base of the mountain. The leper said to Jesus, “…If you are willing, you can make me clean. Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’” If Jesus could tell this leper that it was His will to heal him, then He must also tell me that it is His will to heal me, or He is partial and treats some people better than He does others. Romans 2:11 reads, “For there is no partiality with God!” Again, if it’s the will of God to heal the leper, then it must be the will of God to heal me!

If it is the will of God to heal some and not all, then there is no basis for faith in God to heal except through some special revelation. That’s the reason we sometimes hear the faith destroying prayer for healing, “Lord if it be thy will…” Folk that pray that way for healing simply do not understand the Word of God on the subject. We as Christians know the will of God through His Word. His Word is His will for us!

Healing By Faith

Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases (Psalm 103:1-3).

Jesus sacrifice on the cross provided both forgiveness of sin and healing of sickness and disease for us. The same kind of faith that brings the new birth to us also provides healing for our physical bodies. The same faith we exercise to be forgiveness when we sin is the same faith we exercise for healing. Let me explain.

When you’re born again, the confession of your mouth that comes from the faith in your heart brings salvation into your life! That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:10).

Faith is released with words. Be careful with what you say. Words carry what you believe! And words bring your salvation into a real experience in your life. It works the same way with healing. If fact the Greek word for salvation includes everything that salvation brings us, including healing!

So you could read this verse in Romans this way: That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be healed. For with the heart one believes unto health, and with the mouth confession is made unto healing!

The same faith that saves from sin also heals disease. Here’s how it works. When you sin, you go to 1 John 1:9, where the Word says If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. After you act on that scripture, you probably don’t feel forgiven initially. You’ve confessed your sin. You’ve asked for forgiveness, but the emotions retain the remorse of failure.

And that’s where faith comes in focus. You then say out loud, Lord, I thank you that I’m forgiven and cleansed by the blood of Jesus. And you stand your ground on the word where God says He is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse confessed sin. It may take a while, but eventually the feelings of failure subside, and the peace of God returns. The bottom line here is that you must believe you’re forgiven before you feel forgiven.

Faith for healing works exactly the same way. You go to the Father with the symptoms that are attacking your body. You remind Him of what His Word says about you. That Jesus took your infirmities and bore your sicknesses the same time that he took your sins. You command the sickness to leave your body. You resist it in the Name of Jesus! Then, you ask the Father for complete healing and according to Mark 11:24, you believe you receive your healing.

Then, just as you do for forgiveness of sin, you stand against thoughts and feelings that tell you that you’re still sick. Your faith in the Word declares that you’re healed while the symptoms are still raging. You continue to voice aloud the promises of God for health! And healing eventually manifests in your body! Your faith in the Father through the Word for healing will make you whole! Act on the Word for healing today!

Don't Lose the Blessing

In Numbers 22-24, you can read the story of how Balak (King of the Moabites) tried to get the prophet Balaam to curse Israel. And what a blessing we receive when we read of Balaam’s response, How can you curse whom God has not cursed! (Numbers 23:8). We are the people of God as Christians, and are Like Israel destined to be blessed.

But there is an interesting twist in the story of Balaam. Though he could not entice God into the notion of cursing His own people, Balaam through his warped spiritual view encouraged the Israelites to go and party with their heathen relatives, the Moabites (See Numbers 25). The Moabites worshipped Baal through very gross immorality. And the Israelites went right along with the Moabites into their heathen fleshly sexual indulgences in their worship of Baal.

Resultantly, 24,000 Israelites died of a plague that broke out. Balaam couldn’t get God to curse the Israelites, but the Israelites brought a curse on themselves through yielding to the flesh and purposely disobeying God and breaking their covenant with Him!

Esau was to be blessed with the inheritance of the first born (which was getting 2/3 of the inheritance passed down from his father), but he gave it away in a pledge to his brother Jacob. Esau became so hungry that he despised his own birthright (which in that culture was the greatest honor) for a bowl of soup! His flesh caused him to loose the blessing destined to him by God!

Samson took the vow of the Nazarite. He consecrated himself to God and became a national hero in Israel through feats of supernatural strength. The power of God would come on Samson, and he became a one man army as he single handedly defeated the enemy. But he lost God’s blessing on his life when he fell in love and sinned with a Philistine prostitute named Delilah. She coerced him into telling her the secret of his strength (his long hair through the Nazarite vow). Sin had so numbed Samson’s life that he was unaware of when the Spirit of God left him. Unconfessed sin cancels God’s blessing.

The lesson for us today is strikingly clear. We are destined to be blessed with Abraham’s blessing as believers! We’re the head and not the tail. The Father wants to lavish us with His best. But we though our own disobedience can cancel the destined blessing. Let’s keep the flesh under, and refuse to sell our birthright of blessing for a moment of selfish pleasure!

I’ll leave you today with the words of the prophet Isaiah on the subject:

If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword"; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken (Isaiah 1:19-20).

If you miss it, repent! God forgives when you confess sin! Refuse to live in disobedience! God blesses obedience! Walk with God, refuse the offers of the flesh to dishonor your Lord. And you’ll be available for the best that God has for you.

The Blessing

We are destined for blessing! The Father’s desire was for the human race to be blessed beyond measure! Adam sin ended the blessing and instead allowed the curse to creep into this wonderful planet. The goodness and blessing of God was curtailed as a result.

God appeared to Abram and told him that he was going to bless him and make his name great. He told Abram that through him all the families of the earth would be blessed. The blessing that Adam lost through the fall is being restored through the blessing of Abraham! This blessing will reach it’s finality when Jesus returns, reigns for one thousand years, judges all His enemies, and then the earth is renewed and the curse removed! The blessing will be back in its entirety then!

Until that time God has instituted His blessing back into the earth through the family of God! It started with Abraham, and has been passed on to the believer through Christ Jesus! The blessing that belonged to Abraham now belongs to us by faith! Take what belongs to you in Christ! You’ve been blessed with every spiritual blessing!

The Old Testament word for blessing means to endue with power for success, prosperity, fecundity (Webster’s - fruitfulness, fertility, productivity), longevity, etc.(1) As believers we are enabled with BLESSING! We have the Father’s favor that He poured out on Adam, that Adam lost through disobedience, but has been reinstituted in the earth through God’s promise to Abraham! In Christ we are blessed with faithful Abraham (Galatians 3:9). That means that we have the same blessing that God gave him!

Notice again Galatians 3:13-14, and Galatians 3:29: 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"), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

You are BLESSED! Success, prosperity, fruitfulness, productivity, longevity, health, wholeness, soundness, belongs to you in Christ! Take it by faith. Confess it, believe it, act like it, and release it to others!

In closing let me remind you of your BLESSING:

Deuteronomy 28: 1-14

"If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God: Your towns and your fields will be blessed. Your children and your crops will be blessed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed. Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed. "The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven! "The Lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. "If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you. "The Lord will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.

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(1) (from Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Copyright © 1980 by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)