SPEAK THE WORD - Part III

When Going Through a Trial – Speak the Word

Well, by now, you are getting the focus of this blog article series I am sharing with you.  No matter the situation or circumstance we need to “speak the Word” into it.  There is immense power when God speaks and when we speak His Word things happen.  Sometimes they do not happen immediately, but if we keep speaking out what God has to say regarding a situation or subject things do change.  This week I would like to share about speaking the Word during trials and struggles.

Before she went home to be with the Lord there was an older woman in our church whose last name was Church.  Out of respect for her age and wisdom we called her “Mother Church”.  I remember something she said every time she stood to give a testimony during testimony time in our morning service, “I’ve got no hard-luck story…” and she would always then go on to say how great God had been in her life that week.  It used to amaze me, because she would share a struggle or trial that God had brought her through or delivered her from; the sharing was not a “hard-luck story” but rather a story of how marvelous God IS.  I learned, by the example of Mother Church that the trials and struggles we go through are very small in comparison to the wonderful things God has in store for us.

“For our momentary, light distress [this passing trouble] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory [a fullness] beyond all measure [surpassing all comparisons, a transcendent splendor and an endless blessedness]!” -2 Corinthians 4:17 AMP

I also learned that no matter what we are going through all we have to do is cry out to God and He will either deliver us or take us through the circumstance.

“This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles.  The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him [with awe-inspired reverence and worship Him with obedience], and He rescues [each of] them…When the righteous cry [for help], the Lord hears And rescues them from all their distress and troubles.” – Psalm 34:6-7, 17 AMP

Why was it that Mother Church had “no hard-luck story” even though she might share about how she fell and injured herself that week or another struggle she went through?  It was her attitude!  She did not see these things as circumstances that tore her down but rather as opportunities to work together with God to build her up.

“When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character with the right sort of independence. And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem he has only to ask God—who gives generously to all men without making them feel foolish or guilty—and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given him.” – James 1:2-5 JB Phillips

By example Mother Church would show us how no matter what kind of things we went through that as we leaned on and trusted in God we would come out the other side even stronger in our faith and walk with the Lord.  So I challenge you this week to dig into God’s Word and find scriptures about how God delivered people out of circumstances or how He carried them through them.  Write down those scriptures.  Read the out loud.  I believe you will find your attitude changing about your struggles from “hard-luck stories” to testimonies of deliverance.  That way the next time you go through a trial you will be ready to “Speak the Word”!

SPEAK THE WORD - Part II

 When Ill – Speak the Word

“…I am the Lord that healeth thee.” -Exodus 15:26b KJV

It used to bug me to watch “faith healers” on television.  Sometimes their actions seemed over-the-top as they would touch someone’s forehead and say, “Be healed,” as it looked as if they pushed the person over backward and an attendant would either catch the person or assist the person to lie on the floor.  Because of watching such grandiose actions I held “healing” in low esteem.  That is why it was always so hard for me to reconcile the fact that healings do happen, and yet they DO happen. 

When I lived in Oregon as a young adult a friend of mine asked me, and those of my church, to pray for a toddler who was born without a hip bone or leg bones on one side of her body.  She was born with all the muscle, tendons, and flesh but no bones.  The doctors had decided that they would put in artificial bones and joints and would have to repeat the surgery again and again as the child grew.  We were asked to pray for the surgery and for healing and we did.  The day of the surgery I got a phone call from my friend saying that God had miraculously healed the child for when the doctors did the final pre-surgery x-ray the girl had all the bones and joints firmly in place that she was born without.  God healed her!

Another time I was amazed at answered prayer for healing was when another friend of mine was pregnant with twins.  The pregnancy went along well until about the 8^th month when the doctors viewed an ultrasound told her and her husband that there was something wrong with one of the babies.  They said they would have to do a cesarean section and take the babies out of the womb early.  This was a concern because at this point neither baby’s lungs had fully developed, but the doctors said that if they did not operate then one of the babies would die.  The people of her church and those of mine started praying.  When the doctors removed the babies one was larger than the other and they found out that one was too full of red blood cells and clotting factor whereas the other did not have enough.  Ironically the larger baby as well as the smaller one would have both died if they had been left in the womb.  The doctors actually took blood from the larger and transfused it to the smaller.  They were put in incubators and monitored closely.  The smaller baby started producing the red blood cells and clotting factor it should and both babies thrived, finishing the development of their lungs.  They are young adults now and doing well.  God healed them!

I actually have many more stories I can share with you about healings I know of firsthand (cancer gone, diabetes gone, etc.) but I would rather share that I am convinced beyond a doubt that healings DO happen in our age, yet it is not because I have seen these healings firsthand but because I have read what the Word of God says about healing that convinced me.

There are many instances of God healing people in both the Old and New Testaments’ but I would like to share a story we are all familiar with:

“Then a woman who had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the [tassel] fringe of His outer robe; for she had been saying to herself, “If I only touch His outer robe, I will be healed.” But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Take courage, daughter; your [personal trust and confident] faith [in Me] has made you well.” And at once the woman was [completely] healed.  (Matthew 9:20-22 AMP)

What did this lady do that was unusual?  Was it that she believed God would heal her?  Imagine yourself in her place.  For twelve years she went to every doctor there was to seek healing but no one was able to help her.  Always tired, anemic, and ostracized by her own people (for having a bleeding problem made her considered “unclean” by them).  Then she heard about this Man who was healing people so she went to see Him, maybe even a little hopeful after years of hopelessness.  As she watched this crowd of people vying for His attention she may have thought, “There is no way I can get his attention.”  Yet she pressed forward.  By the time she got within the crowd, knowing she would not get His attention she started “…saying to herself, “If I only touch His outer robe, I will be healed.”  As she got closer she said it again, “If I only touch His outer robe, I will be healed.”  As she reached out to touch the fringe of His robe she said again, “If I only touch His outer robe, I will be healed.”  Then, the moment she touched His robe, she was completely healed.

What was the thing that activated this healing?  I purpose to you that it was not only (as I was taught in Sunday School) that she touched the hem of His garment she was healed, but also that she spoke out her faith, “If I only touch His outer robe, I will be healed.”  Remember that she had been saying this more than once before she acted on what she was saying.  “…for she had been saying to herself, “If I only touch His outer robe, I will be healed.”

I have found that when I align myself with what God’s Word says on a subject, then THINGS HAPPEN!  The opposite rings true as well.  If I do not align myself with God’s Word.  If I do not speak out what His Word says on a subject, such as healing, then few things happen.  Take for instance when Jesus visited where he grew up.  People there knew Him as a boy and they did not believe He was WHO He was.

“And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.  And he marvelled because of their unbelief.” –Mark 6:5-6a KJV

The best way I have found to align myself with God’s Word on a subject is to read it, study it, and even speak out loud what it has to say on that subject.  For instance, since His Word says, “…I am the Lord that healeth thee,” (Exodus 15:26b KJV) then I know that it is God who heals me.  When His Word says,  “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed,” (1 Peter 2:24) then I know I have been healed from sin and its effects.  There are many more verses in the Word on healing (or love, or righteousness, or any subject you are troubled about) and I encourage you to seek them out, study them, and speak them out loud, thus making them a part of you and you will find your faith growing leaps and bounds.

When you are ill, speak the Word!

“At that very hour Jesus healed many people of sicknesses and infirmities and evil spirits; and He gave [the gracious gift of] sight to many who were blind.” –Luke 7:21 AMP