March 19, 2009

• Hebrews 12:12-13 and healing by Pastor Don

  We had a bunch of newcomers at our Friday Bible study and Pastor Don reviewed a few passages that we already covered.  I have to tell you that I like reviews because things that I miss the first time around I get a chance to get the second time around, or the third, or the fourth.  There is such depth in the Word that it is always fresh no matter how many times you look at it.  God meets us where we are.  He is so awesome. And this time there were some interesting questions asked. 

  Hebrews 12:12-13 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

  We live in a condition where we compromise so much what the Word of God says, so we do not live to the fullest potential that God has for us.  Someone came up to Pastor Don for prayer one Sunday and asked him to pray for healing for arthritis.  Pastor Don started to pray and the woman said to pray for healing for arthritis in her hands, but not the knee arthritis.  She could only believe for healing for her hands.

  Sickness is a dislocation of things, something is in the place where health should be.  Dislocated means not in the location it should be – out of control. Diabetes is dislocated sugar. 

  The passage above talks about our making a moral adjustment, straightening the path for our feet.  There is a connection between sin and sickness.  Our spiritual walk has a affect on what is healed.  God designed our bodies, and he did not plan for us to die.  Man gave authority over to satan by disobedience and death came into our lives.  From the moment we are born we begin to move toward death.  The question is, how do we die?  It does not have to be in dislocation and sickness.  We can just wear out from old age.  Sickness is out of place so we would rather be healed.  Often when we get sick, we arrive at a place of acceptance of dislocation, and we begin to claim the disease – we talk about MY diabetes, MY cold, etc.  You can have a disease for 20 years, and in the 21st year realize that you do not need to have it and accept it as a dislocation, and you can get yourself into a position to receive your healing.

  Pastor Don was asked about why, when a person is sick it is so hard to claim healing. Pastor Don told the person that when we are under the pressure of the symptoms, it is hard to receive our healing.  That we need to begin to be proactive about healing before we get sick, not wait until sickness comes to begin to attack the sickness. Faith has to be in place when the symptoms come.  That is not to say that God can’t supernaturally heal, but as we grow in faith, we can be more proactive in our health. 

  We need to be familiar with the Word of God, to know the healing scriptures like the above passage in Hebrews, so that when a sickness comes upon us we are ready .  We can’t be obedient to the Word if we don’t know the Word.  When we work our faith in small areas of our life before the big crises come, then we build our faith.  Then when the symptoms come we can believe in faith, “by His stripes I am healed.” 

  Pastor Don told us that in the morning he looks  in the mirror and reminds himself that God is inside of him, that he walks in divine healing, that he has a sound mind, etc.  He does not wait until he is sick to run under the truth of “by His stripes I am healed.”  Jesus said that the violent take it by force, and he can’t wait until war breaks out to learn how to use his faith, his M14.

  That is why it is so important to learn the Word of God, to be trained, and to be prepared so that if a symptom tries to come on your body you are not shaken from it.  Our fight for health and faith is a continuous battle.  We never give up.  It is a comfort to know that God keeps us in good health.  When we are faced with a symptom we need to sit down and take an intelligent look, do the spiritual work first so that we keep our paths straight.  When a symptom comes on us we tend to get dislocated. 

  Pain hinders our ability to be sentient at times. That is why we have to have the pre-set tools to get well.  We need to be able to place ourselves into an atmosphere of healing.  Pastor Don told us that when he is in pain and can’t read scriptures, he has healing scriptures on tape that he can play.  He has music that brings healing for him. 

  At one point Elisha needed to get in the proper frame of mind to prophesy and he requested 2 Kings 3:15 But now bring me a musician.” Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.

  Pastor Don at one point had what the doctors called an incurable lung disease and he was sent home to prepare to die and get his affairs in order.  Instead, he fasted and prayed and sought God and received a healing.  But even after his healing, satan still tries to bring back a symptom and get Pastor Don to react in fear.  Pastor Don told us that health and healing requires ongoing maintenance.  He still studies and listens to healing scriptures, even if not sick.  We too should begin to find and learn the healing scriptures.

  Gloria Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Benny Hinn, Dodie Osteen  have lists of these scriptures and we can search them to find the ones that work in our situations.

  Then Pastor Don told us that we need some HIS-STORY to tie it in. To remember all the times that God has worked in our lives, and remember them to build our faith for our present circumstances. Also look in the scriptures and find the people who acted in faith and see how they did it – for example Jonathan killed the Philistines – he did not have to wait for a word from God, he generated the faith in his heart and knew what to do.  We have the right to implement what we know from scripture.

  So many of us have head knowledge of the Word of God but we haven’t brought that knowledge into our hearts.  We can learn vicariously by reading the scriptures and if we apply the truth of the scriptures, we do not have to learn experientially in our lives.  We can ask ourselves what the characters in the Bible did, and what was the outcome?  Then we can learn from that instead of repeating their mistakes.

  Pastor Don then told us that BELIEF IS THE PROBLEM.  He asked us, what do YOU BELIEVE?  We can know that God heals, but not believe that He will heal us. Knowing it isn’t faith.  What makes it faith is BELIEVING it. 

  The woman with the issue of blood believed: “AND when I touch the hem of His garment, I KNOW I will be healed.”  The key is:  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  She TOLD herself what would happen and believed by faith.

  PEOPLE HAVE TO KEEP KNOWING STUFF UNTIL THEY BELIEVE IT. We have to minister to ourselves over and over until there is no room in your knower for doubt and unbelief.  YOU HAVE TO DO THE WORK TO BE HEALED.  YOU HAVE TO CLAIM STUFF.  You have to be ready for when situations occur, so that when you are under pressure belief comes out.

  God loves you.  He is sovereign.  Let’s not play God over our lives.  Sometimes we do not know God’s sovereign will.  Don’t second guess Him.  He will do what is right for you.  We do what He says, what His Word says. 

  Other religions do not offer answers like Christianity does.  Buddhists can answer, “I am going to hell, I deserve it.”  Hindus are always on the wheel of life and can’t define Nirvana, the way of living and how to get there. Muslims do not know where they stand in relation to Allah, for Allah can easily destroy even a good man. They are doing what they want for brown eyed virgins. 

  As Christians we can trust that God gives us help as we move into the next level. We have the RIGHT JESUS, the RIGHT TIME, the RIGHT BIBLE, we are BLESSED!

  Luke 4 and the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness shows us that it is possible to resist the devil in our flesh.  The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, Jesus fasted in the flesh, and then defied the attacks of satan in the flesh.  If Jesus could do it, it shows that we can resist satan too.  For Jesus to have done that He needed to know the Word of God.  We cannot go toe to toe with satan in our own strength, but the Holy Spirit helps us – and what also helps us is to know the Word of God so we are not misled by false teachings.

  Praying this study blesses you it sure has made me begin to take proactive steps to build some healing scriptures into my life.  Here is a list of Dodie Osteen’s healing scriptures.  The link is in the left column of my blog if you want to refer to them at a later date.

  Heather

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