Although there are many different spiritual laws, one of them that governs whether you receive from G.o.d or not is the power of your words.
A man"s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
PROVERBS 18:20,21.
Although many different scriptures reveal the importance of our words (see Matt. 12:34-37; James 3; Mark 11), this verse clearly reveals that both death and life are in the power of the tongue.
When we"re trying to receive a healing from the Lord, many of us ignore this law and say, "I"ve heard people talk about this name it and claim it, blab it and grab it group who tell people they can have what they say. They say you"re supposed to say you"re healed when you don"t feel healed. Well, I just don"t believe in that stuff." So when somebody asks, "How are you?" the person they ask says, "Well, I"m dying. I only have a week to live. The doctor told me it"s terrible. I feel so bad." This individual is releasing death with their mouth through their negative speech. Yet, they"ll go to the Lord in "prayer" and say, "Oh, G.o.d. Heal me, if it be Your will." Then when they don"t see a physical healing manifest, they get upset with G.o.d as if He failed. There are laws that govern how to receive healing. One of them is you will have what you say. (Mark 11:23.) You can"t speak death out of your mouth and expect to receive life. It doesn"t work that way. You might say, "I just don"t believe that." Fine. That"s just like a person saying, "I just don"t believe that copper is a better conductor of electricity than wood. I"m going to wire my house with wood, not copper." When they plug the electricity into the connection of wood, I guarantee the power isn"t going to flow. It won"t run your lights, appliances, or air conditioning. You may not like this, but it"s how G.o.d established these laws.
WOOD OR COPPER?.
Faith flows through words. Words release either death or life, but your ignorance of this law doesn"t mean that the law is going to change. You can declare, "I can say whatever I want to and it doesn"t make any difference." That"s not true. It"s not how the spiritual laws of the kingdom operate any more than wood is a better conductor of electricity than copper. It"s not up to you to make the laws. You just need to discover what they are and then enforce them. G.o.d"s Word says that faith speaks. (Rom. 10:6.) This woman in Mark 5 started putting some of the spiritual laws of G.o.d into effect when she said, "If I may but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be made whole." When she did, the power of G.o.d began to flow. Jesus didn"t size her up and evaluate her worthiness. G.o.d"s power flows when we cooperate with the spiritual laws of His kingdom. Electricity isn"t personal when it kills someone. There are just laws at work governing the flow of power. Either you can cooperate and use electricity to your advantage, or those same laws will kill you.
It"s the same way in the kingdom of G.o.d. There are many people who pray for healing because they don"t understand the spiritual laws that govern it. When they don"t see healing manifest, they get mad at G.o.d saying, "Lord, if You wanted to, You could have healed this person." No, G.o.d has set up the kingdom to operate under laws, and He can"t just violate them.
The Lord doesn"t want people to die from gravity-falling off bridges, buildings, or cliffs. That"s not G.o.d"s will. However, a Colorado Springs man was climbing on some rocks on a mountain nearby and he fell about three hundred feet. He was one of our soldiers who survived Iraq, but he didn"t survive this fall. It wasn"t G.o.d"s will for this man to die, but what"s the Lord going to do? Will He stop the law of gravity to save this man"s life? Although G.o.d is the One who created the laws that govern this physical world, if He were to suspend gravity because He didn"t want this guy to die, there would have been mult.i.tudes of other people depending on the law of gravity who would have died.
G.o.d created these laws, and He doesn"t just suspend them. If you don"t cooperate with the law of gravity, you could get killed. If you jump off a ten-story building, gravity will kill you. G.o.d intended gravity to be to your advantage and to help you function here on this earth. If you"re sitting in a chair right now, you don"t have to force yourself to stay down. Gravity is working. The same law that w help you if you cooperate with it, will also kill you if you violate It"s the same way in the spiritual realm.
Chapter 20.
Cooperate With G.o.d Some people don"t like these truths at all. It"s comforting to them to feel that G.o.d is the One who willed for this person to die and that one to fail, this person to have a nervous breakdown and that marriage to break up. They find comfort in this mentality because it takes all responsibility away from them and they"re able to say, "Whatever will be, will be." I understand that these truths I"m sharing will unsettle some people, but it"s the truth that will set them free. (John 8:32.) Before my wife and I were married, there was a girl we were both very close friends with. I was with her when she died.
She was praying and saying, "G.o.d"s going to heal me. Now is the time. It has to be now." She was believing for healing. We were shocked when she died because we honestly expected G.o.d to heal her. Although it took me almost four years to learn enough of G.o.d"s Word to figure out what had happened, I finally realized that we had violated many spiritual laws and done many things wrong.
G.o.d"S MESSENGER BOY?.
At that time in my life, I was under the false teaching that says, "G.o.d puts tragedy in your life to perfect you. He"ll bless you with sickness and disease because it"s through your hardships that you are made better." This is absolutely untrue, but back then I didn"t understand enough of the Word to know any better. So I believed it, and accepted it.
I actually attended an out-of-state conference where I heard a man teach that Satan was G.o.d"s messenger boy. He said, "Anything the devil wants to do in your life, he has to get G.o.d"s permission. Ultimately, G.o.d is the One who"s controlling both the good and the bad, so bad things are actually sent from G.o.d to perfect us." When I returned home from this conference, I gave a tape of this message ent.i.tled, "Satan Is G.o.d"s Messenger Boy," to my friend. She immediately listened to it.
In the message, this man used the example of a high school boy who was too timid and shy to witness. Even though he wasn"t bold enough to speak to others about his faith, he wanted the Lord to use him, so he said, "G.o.d, I"ll do anything. Put sickness or disease on me so that people will see that I"m not afraid to die."
The very next day, this boy came down with leukemia and eventually died of it. While sick and dying, he witnessed to people. Since he was a football player, the whole school turned out at his funeral. At the ceremony, four people were born again.
This man used that as an example of how G.o.d answered this boy"s prayer to be a witness by "blessing" him with leukemia. This girl listened to that tape and prayed the exact same prayer as that boy. "G.o.d, give me leukemia so I can be a witness." The next day, she pa.s.sed out. They rushed her to the hospital. She had acute leukemia, and eventually died of it. G.o.d wasn"t the One who answered that prayer. He doesn"t put sickness and disease on us. Satan is the one who takes advantage of a "prayer" like that. Both of those young people dropped all their defenses and opened themselves up to leukemia believing it was of G.o.d.
DOUBLE-MINDED.
When this girl died, four people were born again at her funeral.
I was there. I saw it. Some people thought, It must not have been G.o.d"s will to heal her. How dumb can you get and still breathe? I"m not saying this to be critical of anyone. I was personally involved in this situation. We were so stupid that we were asking G.o.d for cancer.
If you start asking G.o.d for cancer, believing He is a source of it, it will come your way. It"s not that G.o.d sent it, but there are lying spirits that masquerade themselves as angels of light who will claim to be His messenger. (2 Cor. 11:14.) If you start praying for tragedy in your life, you"ll get plenty of it-and you"ll think it"s from G.o.d.
There are laws that govern how G.o.d operates. We asked for this sickness and submitted to it, claiming it was the Lord. Because of that, we never fought against it. We never actively resisted the devil because-in our warped way of thinking- that would have been fighting against G.o.d. We thought He was the One who gave this sickness. So there we were asking for sickness, believing G.o.d answered our prayer by giving this girl leukemia, and then, on the other hand, asking Him to take it away. That"s double-minded.
Let not that [double-minded] man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. JAMES 1:7 That"s violating and voiding the laws of G.o.d.
This girl died through my influence. I had a part in it. Some people don"t want to accept responsibility. Maybe you know someone who died. Perhaps you"ve lost a marriage because you didn"t understand the laws of G.o.d. You didn"t know how to stand and fight. Those tragedies and negative things you"ve experienced weren"t G.o.d"s will-it was your fault, or the devil, or someone else. Many people don"t want to accept this responsibility. They"d rather blame G.o.d. I understand how you feel because I"ve been there. Yet, I accepted responsibility. I realized that we did so many things wrong. We violated G.o.d"s Word and opened up a door for the devil through false teaching and wrong believing.
I accepted my responsibility, and I"ve changed. I"ve believed the truth, and the truth has set me free. Since then, I"ve seen many people healed of leukemia. I can"t undo what"s done, but I can redeem that situation by going and sharing these truths with other people and seeing them set free.
JESUS COULDN"T?.
In Mark 6, Jesus went into His own hometown.
When the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Judah, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
MARK 6:2,3.
These people knew Jesus as the carpenter, the son of Joseph and Mary. However, the truth is that He wasn"t a carpenter or Joseph"s son. Jesus was the Son of G.o.d who happened to work as a carpenter for a period of time. These people knew Him in the physical, natural realm, but they didn"t know who He truly was. Due to this, they rejected His ministry thinking, He"s making Himself out to be somebody better than us. He grew up here with my kids. I"ve seen Him since He was a tiny little boy, and here He is proclaiming that He"s the Son of G.o.d.
Because of their familiarity with Jesus, they were offended at Him and rejected Him.
But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
MARK 6:4,5.
Notice how Jesus could do no mighty work there. It"s not that He wouldn"t do it-He couldn"t.
When many people pray and ask for something and it doesn"t come to pa.s.s, they think it was G.o.d that chose not to do it.
G.o.d is not free to move independent of us. He has to have a believer- knowing what the laws are and taking their authority -to flow through. We must cooperate with G.o.d. If you pray and don"t see something come to pa.s.s, you need to evaluate: Have you cooperated with G.o.d"s laws? Is what you prayed for something He"s promised? If you"re praying for something that isn"t revealed in the Word- stop. It"s not good for you and G.o.d hasn"t provided it.
When something, like healing, is promised to you in the Word, take your place of authority as a believer and say, "This is a law of G.o.d, so I command my body to respond. In the name of Jesus, I am commanding what G.o.d has already done to manifest." But you have to know what has been promised.
Mark 6:5 says that Jesus could do no mighty work. It"s not that He wouldn"t do it, He couldn"t do it. G.o.d Himself will not violate our free will. He won"t make you receive. He has provided- generated- the power, but you must cooperate and flip the switch. You must learn how to receive what G.o.d has already done.
YOUR FREE WILL FREE WILL.
It isn"t the Lord who is letting people die and go to h.e.l.l. People are choosing to go to h.e.l.l because G.o.d gave them a free choice. Regardless, He"s doing everything He can to keep that from coming to pa.s.s.
No one who is condemned to h.e.l.l on Judgment Day will be able to put their finger in Jesus" face and say, "It"s not fair. You didn"t give me a chance!" G.o.d has put obstacles and barriers in front of every person who is headed to h.e.l.l. They"ve had to climb over their own conscience that has convicted them and told them they were wrong and should repent. G.o.d used other people to be a witness to them in some way during their lifetime. There has been obstacle after obstacle. G.o.d is faithful to deal with every person who has ever lived, trying to turn them from their destructive ways. But they choose to reject His drawing and ignore Him, so no one will be able to accuse G.o.d. He"s not the one sending people to h.e.l.l. They"ll know that it was absolutely their choice.
It"s the same with healing. It"s not G.o.d who is letting people be sick. He"s already provided for the healing of every single person. The problem is we"re ignorant of His provision and His laws governing how to receive it.
Just as Jesus could do no mighty work in His own hometown because of the unbelief of the people there, unbelief prevents G.o.d from doing what He wants to do in people"s lives today. (Matt. 13:58.) It wasn"t Christ"s unbelief or lack of willingness, but their unbelief that hindered His power. Our unbelief stops G.o.d from doing His will.
G.o.d will not move in your life without your cooperation. You must be in agreement with Him. That"s one of His laws. Your free will is something that the Lord will not violate. You may desire the right end results, but you won"t receive them if you disobey every single law along the way. You may wish to enjoy good health, but if you"re committing s.e.xual immorality shacking up with anybody and everybody, through those actions you are putting a law into effect, the law of sowing and reaping (Gal. 6:7-8), and faith for good health is dead without accompanying works (James 2:17). You can"t just pray for something, and then act in a contrary way. That"s not how the kingdom works.
POWERFUL AND IMPORTANT.
I recently prayed with a woman in a hospital. She was very close to death and looked terrible. Since she was barely alive, she couldn"t talk or communicate. I tried everything I knew to discern if there was anything I could minister to her or her family, but I couldn"t perceive anything, so I just prayed for her the best I knew how and left.
Right before I left town, the family called and told me that she was going downhill fast. The doctor only gave her an hour or two to live. Since I was busy holding a meeting, I sent some friends back to the hospital. After she pa.s.sed on, my friends were talking to the family. They discovered that this woman had said, "I give up. I"m ready to die." She had quit believing. I was trying to exercise my authority and minister healing, but it was against this woman"s will. It doesn"t work that way.
G.o.d gave us a free choice. Even a medical doctor will tell you that once someone loses the will to live, they"ll die. The ailment could even be something minor that could be treated by medicine, but without that will to live, they"ll die. However, when some people go beyond medicine"s ability to help and the doctors say, "There is nothing we can do for them; they"re going to die," some people just have a will to live and they fight through. Your personal will is very powerful and important.
One of G.o.d"s laws is that you can"t have your will in one direction and then expect to get the results that would come from going in another. You can"t just yield to and serve the devil, giving him total access to you, and reap the benefits of a G.o.dly life. It"s not because G.o.d won"t flow, or that He"s looking at you as being unworthy. We"re all unworthy in that sense. G.o.d doesn"t move in our lives because we deserve it. However, in order to see His provision-His will-manifest, you do have to cooperate with Him.
Chapter 21.
As You Think You need to learn what G.o.d"s laws are and then cooperate with them. You can"t watch television programs that minister depression and then operate in joy. You can"t take in all of the (bad) news without strengthening unbelief. If you want a pure heart, you can"t watch movies that are full of adultery and fornication. You"re going to have to think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, praiseworthy, and of good report. (Phil. 4:8.) Yet people misunderstand these laws.
Your life moves in the direction of your dominant thoughts.
As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.
PROVERBS 23:7.
You will reap emotions based on those things on which you focus your attention.
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
ROMANS 8:6.
That"s a law of G.o.d. The fact is you can"t experience G.o.d"s peace if you"re constantly meditating on things that are contrary to peace-hatred, strife, and unG.o.dliness. You can"t just pray and ask for peace. You must learn to keep your thoughts centered on G.o.d and His Word.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
ISAIAH 26:3.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF G.o.d.
Your emotions will follow what you think. That"s a law of G.o.d. So if you"re praying for peace but aren"t focused on G.o.d, you"re just spitting in the wind. It"s not going to work. Desiring the things of G.o.d is part of the process, but it"s not all there is to it.
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of G.o.d, and of Jesus our Lord.
2 PETER 1:2.
Grace and peace are multiplied to you through the knowledge of G.o.d and of Jesus Christ our Lord-not through prayer. It isn"t a matter of you just pleading with G.o.d. The laws of G.o.d say that you must think on the right things to receive the right results.
Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful [full of care] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto G.o.d. And the peace of G.o.d, which pa.s.seth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
PHILIPPIANS 4:4-7.
As you keep your mind stayed upon the Lord, the peace of G.o.d will keep your heart and mind. The next verse continues about our thoughts, saying: Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
PHILIPPIANS 4:8.
In other words, this is a command to keep your mind stayed on the Lord and His Word. (Isa. 26:3.) These are laws of G.o.d. This is how His kingdom works.
THE GOS-PILL.
G.o.d made you so that your physical and emotional health follows the way you think. If you"re thinking on depressing things, you"ll be depressed. If you"re thinking on the Lord and His Word, you"ll be lull of life, joy, and peace.
G.o.d"s Word is...
Life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
PROVERBS 4:22.
The Word of G.o.d brings health.
He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
PSALM 107:20.
G.o.d"s prescription for health is His Word. Take it in daily doses, just like medicine. Many people are praying for health, but they"re violating the Great Physician"s instructions. They aren"t taking their medicine.
What if the medical doctor you saw about your condition prescribed to you a method of treatment-taking a certain pill each day-yet you didn"t take them. Then, you get upset at the doctor about your treatment, saying, "It"s no good. It didn"t work." Actually, since you didn"t take the pills, you have no right to criticize the doctor. You didn"t cooperate with the prescribed treatment. The medical doctor gave you a treatment, but you didn"t follow it.
G.o.d has given us a treatment. He"s prescribed to us the Gos-pill (Gospel). He sent His Word to heal us and deliver us from all our destructions. (Ps. 107:20.) G.o.d"s Word is health to all our flesh and life to those who find it. (Prov. 4:22.) This is the Great Physician"s prescription.
EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE.
In the kingdom of G.o.d, there are laws governing faith and healing. Yet, we continue to violate these laws. Then we pray for healing and wonder why we aren"t receiving. That"s ignorance gone to seed!
Please don"t take this as condemnation. I"m not trying to condemn anyone. I just want to stop people from condemning G.o.d. They say, "It"s G.o.d"s will that so and so died, this business didn"t work, that marriage broke up, my children are rebellious," and on and on they go. Why do they put the blame on G.o.d? Many have the mindset, "Because I prayed and asked for something and it didn"t come to pa.s.s." They just totally ignore the fact that G.o.d can"t do everything He wants to do. There are laws that govern how His kingdom operates. If we violate those laws, we"re actually empowering the devil to come in and steal, kill, and destroy. We need to cooperate with G.o.d"s laws to receive His abundant life.
Most people think that G.o.d is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, but that"s not true. You must read the entire verse to get the true meaning.
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.
EPHESIANS 3:20.
That last phrase puts a limitation on the first one. G.o.d isn"t free to move in your life independent of you. He has set it up to where He has to flow through people. He doesn"t control your life without your consent or agreement. There has to be power working on the inside of you-specifically the power of faith. You have to stir yourself up and make that faith come alive.
Many people just plop themselves down in front of the television. They become discouraged and depressed listening to all of the bad news. They spend virtually no time with G.o.d and no time in His Word. Then they just throw a prayer out, and if it doesn"t come to pa.s.s, "Well then, G.o.d failed."
It is absolutely wrong for us to condemn G.o.d. It isn"t G.o.d who is failing to be good, or failing to answer people"s prayers. It"s us who fail to understand how to receive. We don"t realize that there are laws that govern even G.o.d"s operation. He"s not going to resist the devil for you. G.o.d isn"t going to do what He told you to do. (James 4:7.) He commanded you to go heal the sick. (Matt. 10:8.) He generated the power and placed it on the inside of you-the very same power that raised Christ from the dead. (Eph. 1:18-20.) He equipped you, but then He told you to go lay hands on the sick, and they would recover. (Mark 16:18.) Many of us are violating every instruction and admonition in the Word of G.o.d and then throwing a prayer out. If it doesn"t work, then G.o.d failed. That"s not true. G.o.d is faithful, faithful, faithful!
I"M THE PROBLEM-NOT G.o.d I"ve had bad things happen in my life. People who were close to me died-even after I prayed for their healing. However, in most of these cases, I can see that I am the one who missed it. In some situations, I still don"t understand exactly why things worked out the way that they have, but I"ve come to this firm conviction that G.o.d is always faithful. He never fails. If bad things happen somehow, I failed to understand and cooperate with the laws of G.o.d.
I find comfort in knowing that I"m the problem-not G.o.d. This is one of the great benefits in understanding the authority of the believer. Yet most people are just the opposite. They can"t handle taking responsibility for failure in their lives. Yes, this understanding puts responsibility on us, but it also explains why we don"t always see things work. G.o.d doesn"t always have people who will cooperate with His laws.