Then Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me just as you have said.” Then the angel left her.—Luke 1:38 (Common English Bible)
Let me ask you a question. Can you honestly take God at His Word?
Well, it is time, my friend, for every Believer in God to live up to and practice the meaning of the word…
Psalms 32:7 — “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.”
God is singing songs of deliverance over me.
My God is singing songs of deliverance over me.
It matters not how dark the night,
How overwhelming seems the fight;
God is singing songs of deliverance over me.
God is singing songs of deliverance over me.
My God is singing songs of deliverance over me.
It matters not the enemy’s might;
I’ll not give any place to fright;
God is singing songs of deliverance over me.
God is singing songs of deliverance over me.
My God is singing songs of deliverance over me.
I walk by faith and not by sight;
I’ll win and give God great delight,
For He’s singing songs of deliverance over me.
~
© 2013 Sandra Conner
by Sandra Conner (Radical About Jesus Ministries)
During my 40 years of ministry to the sick, I have realized that one very common problem often plagues those seeking healing from the Lord. That problem is fear concerning their own faith and whether or not it is too weak to receive the help they need. So let me address the problem from two different directions. First of all, we will see from God’s Word that “little” or “weak” faith did not keep Jesus from performing extensive miracles for people when He ministered in person. And secondly, we will look at how to make sure our faith grows stronger on a continuous basis.
Many people look at the scripture in Mark chapter 6 where Jesus returns to His hometown of Nazareth and teaches in their synagogue, but is rejected by the people. Verses 5 and 6 of that chapter say, “He could there do no mighty work, save that He laid his hands upon a few sick fold, and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief.” If we are not careful, we can be easily deceived by the enemy Satan and the lies he has managed to slip into religious doctrines, and this situation offers an excellent opportunity for such deception. Many people who need healing read these words and say to themselves, “Well, Jesus could not do any big miracles there because those people did not have enough faith. If they didn’t have enough faith with Jesus standing right there, then I’m sure I don’t have enough because I need a really big miracle.”
But dear one, that is not the case at all. This passage does not say the people of Nazareth had “weak” faith. Look again. And look at the story as it is told in the other Gospels as well – especially, Luke, chapter 4. Each Gospel writer emphasized a different aspect of the story – as they did with many of the events they described – because each had a different job to do with his Gospel. Luke makes it clear that these same people totally rejected Jesus as the Messiah – or even a true prophet of God. They so rejected Him that they pushed Him to the brow of the hill on which the city was built and tried to throw Him off the hill to kill Him. We are not dealing with “weak” faith here. We are dealing with total unbelief, rebellion, and absolute rejection of Jesus as an anointed prophet of God. And, yes, in the face of such absolute unbelief and rejection, He cannot perform much in the way of miracles for them because God as instituted His covenant with man in such a way that man always has a part to play in the work of God in his life. These people made their choice not to receive miracles from Jesus.
But what is interesting to me is that, even with all that unbelief and rejection, the one thing Jesus was still able to do was heal some sick people. Now, isn’t that something to think about? He was not able to do any “mighty miracles,” but He was able to heal a few sick people – obviously some who did believe in Him. So doesn’t that tell us that, as far as God’s power is concerned, healing sick people doesn’t really count as “mighty miracles” ? In other words – it’s some of the easiest work God does. Now, of course, as far as God Himself is concerned, it’s all easy. But, you understand, these explanations were written in terminology that we can all relate to.
But does the Word have anything to say about people with “weak” faith getting something from Jesus? Most decidedly, yes! Let’s look at just a few. First of all, in Luke 17:5-6, Jesus’ disciples ask Him to increase their faith. But Jesus’ answer to them is, “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, ‘Be thou plucked up by the root and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.’” Now, a mustard is extremely tiny. In fact in other places in scripture Jesus refers to it as one of the smallest of seeds. So if that is the measure of faith we need for a miracle as big as uprooting a tree and moving it into the ocean, getting healed doesn’t take a whole lot.
But Jesus follows this statement with a short sermon about how servants act, and He makes the point that we expect our servants to work. He indicates, by tying those two points together, that the amount of faith is not the problem, but rather being diligent to put that faith to work. We must remember that James says “faith without works (corresponding actions) is dead.” (James 2:17-26). The word “works” from the Greek literally means action that corresponds and bears out the truth of that faith that we claim to have. In other words, we must make sure we plant our faith in God’s Word and then act and speak in agreement with the Word if we expect our faith to bear fruit.
Now let’s look at Matthew 6, where Jesus, in the sermon on the mount, is telling His followers not to fret about food or clothing or other material needs because God will take care of them as surely as He does the birds and the flowers. In verse 30, He says, “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” Now, consider this dear reader. Even though their faith is “little,” God is going to be able to provide all their material needs – if they will just put that “little”faith in Him and let it work there.
And Jesus proved that what He said was true when He fed more than 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish. In Matthew 14, He has compassion on the multitude who have followed Him and listened to His teaching for several days, and when His disciples suggest He send them away to find food, He says to the disciples, “They need not depart; give ye them to eat. And they say unto Him,’We have here but five loaves and two fishes.’” (Matt.14:16-17). You see, He was giving His disciples the chance to use their faith to feed the crowd. They could have done so, or He would not have told them to do so. But they did not yet understand about putting their faith to work so Jesus had to go ahead and work the miracle Himself. But notice: He worked this huge miracle for them even though their own faith was too “little” to do the job.
Now, lets’ look at one more. To my mind, it is one of the greatest examples because, to me, this miracle was enormous. Again, for God, it was everyday stuff. But looking from the human perspective, this is something extraordinary. When Jesus came to His disciples walking on the water, in Matthew 14:25-32, His disciples become fearful. He calls out to them to be not afraid, and Peter says, “Lord, if ti be thou bid me come unto thee on the water.” Jesus, without any hesitation, says, “Come,” and out Peter hops. Now the extraordinary thing is that, according to the Word, Peter, “walked on the water to go to Jesus.” This ordinary human being walked on the water. Was it because his faith was so “strong”? Let’s see.
We all know the story, don’t we? “But when he [Peter] saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, ‘Lord, save me.’” And what does Jesus do? Does He say, “Sorry, Peter, your faith is too weak for you to get this miracle. If you can’t believe better than that you’ll just have to drown.”? Of course not.
“Immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand and caught him and said unto him, ‘O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?’” So there you have it, friend. Jesus says Himself that Peter had “little” faith, and we can see that he most certainly did. But Jesus was still able to perform miracles for him – and did so – even with “little” faith. In fact, I believe Jesus knew Peter well enough to know that He didn’t really have strong enough faith to make it on his own when He told him he could “come.” But that did not cause Jesus to tell Peter not to try. And even though Peter’s faith was “weak,” He still managed to walk on water for part of the way. Then even when he started sinking, Jesus was still able to work on His behalf and deliver him – even though his faith was only “little.”
So, dear one, don’t be burdened with fear concerning your faith because you think its small or weak. Just plant that faith into Jesus – and His Word – and it will be enough to give Him what He needs to work for you.
However, we do not want to be satisfied with faith that is not as strong as possible. So we need to realize that God has provided a way for our faith to increase and grow stronger on a consistent basis. That way is His Word. Now don’t get led astray by multiple religious doctrines that try to tell you that trials and tests will create or strengthen your faith. They will not! There is absolutely no scripture that even hints at the idea that trials will create faith. On the contrary, the Word of God tells us of only one thing that will create faith in us. Romans 10:17: “So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the WORD OF GOD.” You see, God’s Word is the only thing that will show us those spiritual things that are real. We cannot see them, touch them, taste them in the natural. We couldn’t believe in God by looking to our natural senses to tell us He was there. It took the Word. When we heard the Gospel – either by reading it, hearing it preached, listening to someone’s testimony – or in other ways – that Gospel (Word) convinced us that God was real and that He loved us. In other words, it created faith in us, and we were able to receive Jesus Christ as our Savior.
In the same way, all of the things God has provided for us – all of the victories He has accomplished through Jesus – are in the spirit realm. Our faith – by our own confession of that Word – and our own acts of obedience to that Word – bring those spiritual things into the natural realm. Salvation in all its forms (cleansing from sin, healing, deliverance, material provision, peace) is established in the spirit realm and moves into the natural realm – to manifest in our bodies, our minds, and our circumstances – through faith.
So if we want more faith – or we want our faith to grow stronger – we must get into God’s Word faithfully and apply it to our lives. We must not only read it; we must obey it – be doers of it.
Jesus talked about people who were dull of hearing and who had hardened hearts and could not believe. Do you know how they got that way? They heard the Word, but they made no response to it. In actual fact, every time we hear truth from God’s Word and just toss it aside and don’t apply it and obey it, there’s a film that begins to form over our hearing and over our hearts. The next time the Word comes forth, we don’t hear it quite as easily, and therefore, we can’t believe it quite as easily. Then if we do that again, the same thing happens again. After a while, our hearing becomes dull, and our hearts become hardened.
Contrarily, every time we hear truth from God’s Word and do apply it and obey it – make it a living part of us and our lives – our hearing becomes even more sharp, and our hearts are opened up even more by that Word becoming active on the inside of us. Life begets life. That’s why Jesus had so much to say about being careful how and what we hear, as in Mark 4:24-25. “Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath. [A more clear translation of this last line is “from him shall be taken even that which he thinketh he hath.”]
So we do not want to be casual in our care of the faith God has given us. We need to be diligent to get into His Word and obey it so that our faith will continually increase and grow stronger. Remember, we are not interested in just having enough faith for our own needs. We want more than “little” faith because we want faith strong enough to help the other people in our lives receive their miracles from God’s hand as well.
~~~
Image courtesy of Karen’s Whimsy:
http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/life-of-jesus/life-of-jesus-7.shtm
Smith Wigglesworth, originally a plumber in England in the early 1900′s, answered the call of God and became a true twentieth-century apostle. He became known throughout the world for his powerful preaching of the full Gospel of Jesus Christ and for his healing ministry on several continents.
“It is a blessed thing to learn that God’s Word can never fail. God can work mightily when you persist in believing Him in spite of discouragements from the human standpoint. I am not moved by what I see. I am moved only by what I believe. No man looks at appearance if he believes. The man who believes God has it. … It will never do to give way to human opinions. If God says a thing, you are to believe it.”
These thoughts are excerpts from his book Ever Increasing Faith (copyright 1924 by Smith Wigglesworth). The Gospel Publishing House has produced a “Revised Edition” of the book (copyright 1971 by Gospel Publishing House)
Ted Pavloff, of Glory Ministries, reads healing scriptures on CD. Anyone who is too ill to read for hmself – or anyone who just wishes to lean back and rest with eyes closed while soaking up the healing Word of God – will find this CD most helpful. The Lord tells us clearly that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17). So even if your faith for healing is very small, listening to this CD will increase that faith and build it up to receive what you need from the Lord. Just click on the link below and listen free.
http://stellenpress.com/HEALING%20SCRIPTURES%20FOR%20WEB.mp3
Related article: http://healingfromjesus.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/gods-word-is-real-medicine/
by Sandra Conner (Radical About Jesus Ministries)
“O Lord, how my adversaries have increased!
Many are rising up against me.
Many are saying of my soul,
‘There is no deliverance for him in God.
But Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
I was crying to the Lord with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy mountain.
I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people [enemies]
Who have set themselves against me round about.
Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!
For Thou hast shattered the teeth of the wicked.
Salvation belongs to the Lord;
Thy blessing be upon Thy people!”
(Psalm 3, NAS)
These words, penned by David, as he was inspired by God, have much to tell us about what to believe, and how to act in the midst of trouble. Very rare indeed is the Christian who cannot relate to the words of verses 1 and 2, especially in these latter days. It seems that the enemy has pulled out all the stops and attacked the faithful from every conceivable angle.
Almost every devout Christian I’ve talked with the last couple of years has felt that the battles against him have intensified to a frightening degree. One attack seems to follow hard on the heels of another, and for many believers, it seems that the enemy is encroaching from every possible angle at the same time, and that his forces have grown stronger. In the area of sickness and disease, the battle is especially intense. There are more diseases recognized today than ever before, and millions of people are diagnosed with serious health problems on a regular basis. Our adversaries have increased, and we hear that nagging, insistent voice telling us, “You’re not going to get the victory this time; just look around you; there’s no help coming for you from God now.”
How I hate that voice! I must have heard it thousands of times during my walk with God. And the particularly aggravating thing is that even after God has proven that voice a liar and delivered me many times, the next time I face a battle, the enemy jumps up again and says loud and clear, “But this time’s different; this time’s worse; you won’t be able to hold on for the victory this time.” How well we can feel what David was feeling when he wrote these words. Our enemies may not be mighty armies on horseback, as some of David’s were at this time, but they are just as dangerous and just as deadly serious about attacking and destroying us.
What do we do when we’re overwhelmed by the attacks of the enemy? When all natural intelligence tells us there’s no reason to hope for deliverance or victory? When our circumstances, our thoughts, our symptoms, and even some of our Christian friends tell us we’re fools to keep expecting God to step in and deliver us? We do what David did. We look to the One who identifies Himself as our God, our Savior, our Deliverer – the great I Am.
That name which God first declared to Moses, and which we generally translate simply as “I Am,” actually has a much more complex meaning. The name, from the Hebrew, literally means: “I Am that I Am; I will be what I will be; the Self-existent One who causes all other things to exist.” Now it’s of paramount importance, dear Christian, that we really understand this name. If our God is the self-existent One who will be whatever He wants to be, then He will be whatever we need at any particular time – and be something totally different for each one of us at the same time – in order to meet our needs and accomplish our deliverance and victory. The Creator of the universe willingly adjusts Himself to the needs of each of His children when we fully believe Him and operate in complete faith and trust, thus keeping the channels open for Him to move.
So David is surrounded by an advancing enemy, rapidly increasing in numbers and strength (most probably a real army of defectors led by his son Absalom). There seems to be no escape, and if he would believe his senses and the voices of the demons sent to torment him, there’s no help even in God. But David knows God from the days of his shepherding, when he killed the lion and the bear, and from the day of Goliath’s defeat. So he turns his eyes to that same God and sees that He is exactly what he needs right now: A Shield!
Now, the word translated “shield” in this passage is extremely interesting. David isn’t talking about just a little shield that he would hold on his arm. He says God is a shield “about” him. All around him, in other words. And that’s why he’s chosen this particular word. The Hebrew word, as it’s used in this verse, refers to the “scaly hide of the crocodile.” That being the case, we get a whole different picture of God’s protection. The hide of a crocodile is made up of heavy scales which continuously overlap one another all down the length of the creature’s body. They leave no open area through which a weapon can penetrate. Virtually complete coverage.
Now, of course, since God ordained that man was to be in dominion over all the creatures of the earth, He has given man the wisdom to eventually learn how to get past that almost impenetrable armor and kill crocodiles when necessary. But that is not the case with the protective shield God wraps around us. When we remain faithful to God, He wraps us in that impenetrable shield and does not open it up to the enemy.
Unfortunately, we have often given the enemy dominion over us and exposed ourselves to his weapons – either by deliberate disobedience to God and His covenant, or by ignorance of His Word. We must live in that Word and devour it until it has created the faith in us that receives and applies that protection from the Lord. Remember, it is the Word alone that creates faith (Romans 10:17). Nothing but the Word has the power to create faith, because it is only that Word that can show us the reality of the promises of God.
We must keep in mind the fact that there are two realms: the natural realm and the spiritual realm. And it is that spiritual realm – which we cannot access by our five senses – that is the most real and the most powerful. The things that we can see, feel, and hear are temporal (temporary and subject to change), but the things that are not accessed by our five senses are eternal. (2 Cor. 4:18). The Spirit God created everything that is natural. So all things natural are subservient to the spirit realm.
When God’s promised protection becomes more real to us than the enemy and his threats, we will say continually out of our own mouths that God is our shield and protection and that no evil can befall us. And we will be at rest, because the protection has become more than just words on a page to us. But, thank God, even when we fail at this responsibility, God still has mercy enough to deliver us from the results of our own foolishness and disobedience. Repentance and a return to His Word, will open the door to that mercy triumphing over what we justly deserve.
So much for the shield. What about God’s being the “lifter of our head”? This description of the Lord refers to a long-held tradition among the Israelite nation. When a man was troubled with a problem or burden, he would often go about in a dejected manner, with his head downcast. It was common practice among the Hebrew people that if a friend of the troubled man walked up to him, put his hand under his chin, and lifted his head, that meant that the friend was willing to take on the problem of the troubled man and help him solve it.
So it is that our Lord Jesus, the Hebrew of Hebrews, comes to us, the sons and daughters of Abraham, when we are troubled and pressed down even to the point of despair, and He lifts our heads. He says, “Cast all your care on Me, for I care for you.” (1 Peter 5: 6-7).
Now, the Lord has several ways of putting His loving hand beneath our head and lifting it up, but one of the most common ways is through His Word. In the midst of the worst oppression, when we open that Word and feed upon it, it saturates us,and our head is lifted, our soul is lightened, and our spirit soars to meet God and receive His victory.
No wonder David could say that he would lie down and sleep in peace, knowing he would awake safely the next morning because God was with him. No wonder he boasted that he wouldn’t be afraid, even if ten thousands of his enemies surrounded him on every side. He knew, like Elisha before him, that the horses and chariots of fire from Heaven were much more numerous than all the hosts of the enemy. When surrounded by an enemy army, in the story in 2 Kings, Elisha had told his fearful servant, “Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” (2 Kings 6:11-23).
Dear Reader, beloved of God, have your adversaries increased? Are you surrounded on every side by the enemy forces attacking you and your loved ones? Are you facing problems that, in the natural, have no solution: serious illness, indebtedness and foreclosures, broken marriages, children addicted to drugs? The list is virtually endless, but on this site, our primary focus is on the battle for healing and health.
Are you struggling with a physical problem? Are feeling desperate? Are you hearing the enemy say, “There’s no help for you in God?” Then you must do what David did. You must set your eyes, without wavering, on God. Elisha’s servant had to have his spiritual eyes opened miraculously to be able to see the chariots of God. But, dear one, we have only to look into God’s Word.
Open up that Word and devour it. Let it fill your eyes, your mind, your heart. That Word will show you God, your shield – and your healer. If you are already in the throes of illness, you can be delivered. And if you are not, you can begin to believe and speak God’s Word of protection over you and your family as a shield against every kind of disease. The Word will show you the angels of God and their chariots of fire, prepared to move on your behalf. And remember, that Word will bring the hand of Jesus beneath your chin and lift your head.
Stay in that Word until your Deliverer is more real to you than all of your enemies. Stay in that Word until every word out of your own mouth says what God says. Then you’ll be able to testify with David: “I cried unto the Lord, and He answered me from His holy mountain and delivered me!”
