I will love You, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. Psalm 18:1-3
In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, For You will answer me. Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord; Nor are there any works like Your works. Psalm 86:7-8
By faith we can touch God now. By faith we can have full assurance that God will take care of that which concerns us. By faith we can look beyond our troubles and see Jesus. Faith comes from reading the Word of God. His Word is full of divine promises that pertain to life and godliness. God's Word is the ultimate authority, and by faith we can let the Word speak louder to our hearts than our problems. God made a wonderful plan for mankind, and that plan is not beyond our reach. His plan of salvation for the soul and healing for the body is within our reach. He loves us, and He has all power. We can Have confidence in our Lord and expect to receive promises fulfilled for us and our loved ones. God’s word is unchanging:
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:1-5
Yes, tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Repeated encounters with frustration and failure brings humility that makes God’s trusting ones to realize that apart from God, they can do nothing. Pride is the root of many and various sins and sickness. So it is important that through trials and tribulations God roots out that sin and pride and enables His trusting ones to become more free to be, and more free to do His will, and not just His own.
Walking in the Spirit perfectly requires freedom from demonic strongholds. God’s trusting ones must cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and walk in perfecting holiness in the fear of God. They must lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save their souls. They need to healed and delivered from untruths and half truths that have not permitted them to walk in all that God has appointed for them to walk. They need to accept God’s ways, and the power of His Spirit and walk in great authority and power, other wise they will dry up and no longer be of any effect or will fall to the lies and compromise of the enemies. Yet God’s word is unchanging:
The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate. Proverbs 8:13
At the root of most stumbling through unbelief and disobedience (self-will) is that primary ingredient of man's fallen nature which the scripture calls pride. Wise King Solomon told us in Proverbs 16:18 that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a FALL." Pride is simply the ADULATION of SELF, wanting to be a law unto oneself, independent, with a feeling of importance, and a desire for acclaim from others. There are DEGREES of pride, of course, and ALL of us have a measure of this problem whether we are willing to admit it or not.
The very methods of God's dealings with us from salvation on, are designed to strike at this root problem of our carnal nature, so that "no FLESH should glory in his presence" (1 Corinthians 1:29). Pride makes a person inflexible, unyielding, and unteachable, and through it one is deceived into trying to justify SELF in many ways. Especially there is a tendency to maintain one's own worth, works or merit, as a means of gaining favor with God, or acclaim in the sight of men.
In Hebrews 12:1, the writer admonishes Christians to “lay aside every weight, and THE SIN which so easily ensnares us (causing us to stumble).” As we read the book of Hebrews, it is quite clear that the sin referred to is UNBELIEF. The Israelites failed to enter into all the promised inheritance God had for them because of unbelief (Heb.3:19). The warning is given to Christians: “Since A PROMISE remains of entering HIS REST, let us fear, lest any of you seem to have come short of it . . . BEWARE, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.”(Hebrews 4:1, 3:12).
Peter tells us that the Jews “stumble being disobedient TO THE WORD”(1 Peter 2:8). A part of their trouble was that they were blinded by their traditions (Matthew 7:6-13). But the same is true of Christians. Our sectarian Christianity has created a situation where we are conditioned to believe the emphasis of our particular denomination or group, and to disbelieve or ignore the teachings of the word. Not only is the Spirit of unbelief fostered in our midst, but the resultant disobedience to “ALL the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), through ignorance, neglect or willful rejection, causes us to “LIMIT the Holy One of Israel” (Ps. 78:41) as the Israelites did. Unbelief LIMITS what God can do in our lives, and can result in the more serious matter of actual disobedience and resistance of God’s purpose through self-will.[xiii]
Due to pride, which makes a person inflexible, unyielding, and unteachable and ignorance, neglect or willful rejection, many of God’s people reject for today His healings, signs, wonders, miracles and tongues. These things recorded in the book of Acts are merely a sample of the things which Jesus began to do in working with His disciples through the power of the indwelling Holy Ghost after He had gone back to heaven.
Nowhere in the Word of God is there any Scripture which states or implies that He would cease to be with His disciples (those who believe), and to confirm the Word with signs following, before the end of the age! He is still healing the sick today. As believers lay hands upon them in faith, the deaf hear, the blind see, the lame walk, and all manner of disease is healed and people speak in tongues and prophesy just like they did in the book of Acts! God’s word is true:
And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. Acts 5:14-16
And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. Acts 28:8
Apostle Paul wrote that many Christian get sick and die as part of the judgments of God (For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep – 1 Corinthians 11:30, "Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds- Revelation 2:22.) - just like the Lord has judged His people with sickness and death when they came out of Egypt (So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died Numbers 21:6, For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The LORD will judge His people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God –Hebrews 10:30-31).
So just because many Christian do not get healed because of the judgments of God doesn't invalidate miraculous healing(s)? If Christians would repent of their sins God would heal them for His word is unchanging:
"When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:13-14
For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 1 Corinthians 11:30-32
Is anyone among you sick? 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 of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. James 5:14-16
Yet the fact that many Christians do not get healed of their sicknesses and diseases doesn't change the fact that the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever and a Savior, Healer and Deliverer or the according to your faith principle set out by Jesus. We stand on the Word of God and not our experiences, for God’s word is unchanging:
"If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you." Exodus 15:26
Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Psalm 103:3
When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!" And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you." And their eyes were opened. Matthew 9:27-30
Some try to point out that Apostle Paul was not healed but the bible doesn’t say he was sick but rather he had a demonic thorn in the flesh? The root cause of Paul's demonic thorn was his pride and the fact that the LORD hates pride and arrogance, the evil way and the perverse mouth and pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Hence less Paul be destroyed by it and take a great fall like many TV Evangelists and Pastors that we know, God purposely gave Paul a demonic thorn in the flesh lest being puffed up with pride he would fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Yes, pride was the number one sin that caused the devil to fall and causes many of God’s people to fall! God’s word is unchanging:
"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit. Isaiah 14:12-15
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 1Corinthians 12:8-9
But Paul had the power of Christ rest on him while most Christians have nothing on them? God’s word is true:
And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God., 1 Corinthians 2:4-5
Then Moses said to him, "Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the LORD'S people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!" Numbers 11:29
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30
EXTRACT FROM Be Not Ignorant
http://walthope.tripod.com/ignorant.htm
http://walthope.wordpress.com
https://plus.google.com/u/0/100302133262254344211/posts
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