Does God Always Heal?

Does God Always Heal?

In considering the subject of Divine Healing and Its application to present day needs, the question, “Does God always heal” is very important. The church at large has taught that healing is dependent on the exercise of the will of God, and that the proper attitude for the Christian to assume is “If it be Thy will.” And continually we hear men say; “no doubt God can heal; He has the power, and He can if He will.”

I believe this attitude of mind and character of reasoning is due to misunderstanding of God’s Word and the will of God as revealed through Jesus Christ. I contend that God is always the Healer! I believe that it is not necessary for God to will, and that He does not will the healing, or non-healing of any individual. In His desire to bless mankind He willed once and for all and forever that man should be blessed and healed, and He gave Jesus Christ as a gift to the world, through whom this blessing was to be demonstrated and His willingness and desire to heal forever made clear.

Christians readily admit Jesus was the entire expression of the law, the life and will of God. He demonstrated forever by His words and acts what the mind of God toward the world was. He healed all that came to Him, never refusing a single person, but always giving them the desired blessing. In healing all, and never refusing one, He demonstrated forever the willingness of God to heal all, both believer and sinner.

It is absurd to think that only the good were healed by Jesus. “He healed all that came.” Their coming was sufficient to receive the blessing. He healed because it is the nature of God to heal, not a change of mind of God, nor was the mind of God changed toward a person through some special prayer, but whosoever was ready and willing to receive healing received it from the Lord. His grief is express in one incident in Matthew 13:58. “He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

Men have assumed that it was necessary to persuade God to heal them. God has manifested through Jesus Christ His desire to bless mankind. “He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved”, John 3:16-17.
His method of saving the world, and what constituted His salvation, is shown in Matthew 4:23, “Jesus went about about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues [revealing the will of God], and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” The knowledge of God’s will, His purpose to establish the Kingdom of Christ, and deliverance form sickness---a kindred blessing for spirit soul and body---are here provided, for in salvation.

The redemption of Jesus does not rest on His crucifixion alone. It rests equally in a combined victory of crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Each step was an elevation in divine consciousness to one end, the bestowal of the Holy Spirit upon the world. Through His crucifixion He fulfilled the type and fact of the Jewish sacrifice. Through His resurrection He manifested and demonstrated His power over death, and that death itself was a captive. Through His ascension to the Throne of God, and through receiving from the Father the gift of the Holy Ghost, He was now equipped to bestow universal salvation upon whosoever would receive.

On the day of Pentecost, when the floodtide of the Holy Spirit broke over the church at Jerusalem, it’s glorious power radiated through their souls, and rested upon them as tongues of fire. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The people demanded an explanation of the phenomenon, and Peter replied, “This Jesus God has raised up, we were all witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted [ascended] and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this, which you now see and hear” Acts 2:32-33.

It was the crowning climax of the redemptive power of God ministered through Jesus Christ to the world. From that day to this every soul is entitled to embrace to him self this blessed Spirit of God, that Jesus regarded as so valuable to mankind, so necessary for their healing and salvation, that He gave His life to obtain it.

The will of God to save men is undisputed be intelligent Christians. The will of God to heal every man is equally God’s purpose. God has not only made provision that through the Spirit of God received into the life, our souls may be blesses and our bodies healed, but further, we in turn are expected to distribute the Spirit’s power to others, that they likewise may be blessed and healed. “In My Name, “ said Jesus, “they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Not a special priest or minister, not a particular individual endowed with peculiar powers, but the common believer, the everyday man, who accepts the Gospel of Jesus Christ and who becomes a declared disciple of the Son of God. (Read Mark 16: 14-20)

Consequently, it is not a question of “Does God always heal?” That is childish. It is rather a question of “Are we willing to embrace His healing?” If so, it is for us today and to receive. More, it is for all the world to receive, for every man too receive who will put his nature into contact with God through opening his heart to the Lord.

Jesus knowing the world’s need for healing, provided definitely for physicians patterned after Himself (ministers, disciples, priests, every believer), who would minister, not pills and potions, but the power of God. Gifts of healing are among the nine gifts of the Spirit provided for and to be perpetuated forever in the church as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
(1 Corinthians 12:8-11)

It is an evidence of ignorance of God’s Word to continue to discuss the question of “Does God always heal?” As though God healed sometimes and sometimes He did not. Enlightenment by the Holy Spirit through the Word reveals God always the Healer, is the Healer today, will be the Healer forever. “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Consequently, there is healing for every man, for every disease, who will in faith embrace the Spirit of God, promised by the Father, ministered through Jesus Christ to the soul and body of all who desire the blessing.

Peter stated, “By His stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) It was done in the mind of God when Jesus gave Himself as the eternal sacrifice, and has never had to be done again ever, and it will never be necessary for God to exercise His mind again for the healing of the individual. He willed it once; it is done forever. He made the provision and invites the world to embrace it. It is yours to have, yours to enjoy, and yours to impart to others.


A Study Guide

Jesus demonstrated the Father’s will. The leper spoke to Jesus, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean” and Jesus replied, “I will, be clean.” (Matthew 8:1-3) Why? “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses” (Matthew 8:17).

Jesus healed all that came or were brought to Him!

Matthew 4:23, “Healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”
Matthew 4:24, “Syria, and they brought unto Him all sick…and He healed them.”
Matthew 8:16 and Luke 4:39-41, Rebuked the fever and healed all in the town.
Matthew 12:15, “…and He healed them all.”
Matthew 15:30-31 “…and He healed them.” Great multitudes came to Him.
Matthew 21:14, “And the blind and the lame came…and He healed them.”
Luke 6:17-19, Great multitudes came and they were healed.
Luke 5:15, Great multitudes came to be healed of their infirmities.
Luke 7:21, He cured many plagues, infirmities, and blindness.
Luke 9:11, He healed all that had need of healing

Jesus, moved with compassion toward the multitude, healed their sick (Matthew 14:13-14).

That is the very nature of God to heal is demonstrated in the case of the woman with the issue of blood (Matthew 9:20-21 and Luke 8:43-37). This lady did not request Jesus to heal her. Neither did Jesus give his consent to her healing. She touched His garment by faith; and virtue went out of Him and made her whole.

Many touch Jesus and were made whole (Matthew 13:14:35-36; Mark 6:53-56; Mark 3:10).

Jesus healed without being asked. In John 5:6, He healed the impotent man.
He perfected subnormal bodies (birth defects). In John 9:6-7, He healed the man born blind. In Matthew 12:13, He restored a withered hand to normal.

Jesus healed people who were absent at the request of others (Matthew 8:13). He healed the centurion’s servant (Matthew 8:13) and the nobleman’s son (John 4:46-53).

He cast out devils (Luke 4:33-35); also see Luke 4:41. He cast seven devils out of Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2) He cured many of evil spirits (Luke 7:21); se also Luke 11:14.

He healed all who would let Him. All He laid His hands on were healed. “And He could do no mighty works there, except that He laid hands on a few sick folk and healed them.” He was willing and able to heal the entire crowd if they had allowed Him to do so. They would not come and allow Him to lay His hands on them. He cannot be blamed for that (Mark 6:4-6).

Jesus sent out His twelve disciples to heal (Matthew 10:8 and Mark 6:12-13). He sent out the seventy to heal (Luke 10:9). Jesus healed after He was arrested (Luke 22:50-52.

His final command included healing to be a part of His continuing ministry through the believer (Mark 16:15-18, 20).

He came not “to destroy men’s iHis
lives, but to save them” Luke 9:56). This included the body as well as the soul and spirit. “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). He came “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Jesus took pleasure in delivering men (Luke 10:21).

Jesus healed all that came to Him. He did not turn anyone down. He never told a single person that his sickness was making him better. He never told a single person that it would be better for him to remain under the oppression of the devil, as it was a blessing in disguise. He never told a single person to wit for healing until next year. Does God heal? Yes! Does He always heal? Absolutely! He is no different today (Hebrews 13:8).

The life of Jesus, His resurrection force, is a divine reality that impregnates the soul and spirit and body to man. It not only energizes his own being, but flashes from him into the life of another, and is a destroyer of sickness, a destroyer of sin, and a creative force that makes man a new in spirit, soul, and in body.

Three Enemies of Healing

Three Enemies of Healing
E.W. Kenyon

It is easier for us to face the problem of the failure of unanswered prayer, if we understand some of the reasons for it.

One of the Worst

One of the worst enemies of healing is, that unconsciously our hymn writers have all put our blessings into the future.

The theology that we sing eventually becomes the theology we believe.

We have unconsciously put all our blessings and Spiritual achievements into the “tomorrow.”

Almost no one speaks of their redemption rights in the present tense.

It is always, “I’m going to be.”

But the remarkable thing about the Scripture is that it is always in the present tense.

“In whom we have our redemption.” “Who was raised for our justification.”

There is the past and present blended in that glorious truth.

“By His stripes we were healed,” this is now!

“Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.”
This is all in the present tense. Sometimes He speaks of our redemption as having taken place.

If you can think of your healing as something that is done now; that has been accomplished on your behalf in Christ.

More than 130 times we are spoken of as being “in Christ.” If you are in Christ that is present tense. “You are complete in Him.” He is our fullness, our perfect redemption, now! You can see the great danger of our placing our blessings in “tomorrow.”

We have done it because of our sense of unfitness now; of our unworthiness now; and because of that sense of unfitness and unworthiness we have unconsciously pushed our victories and our healing into the future, when in reality, in the mind of God, we are healed now.

We are victors now! We are over-comers now! We are more than conquerors now in Christ Jesus!

Learn to think of yourself as indwelt, now through our Lord Jesus. Think of yourself as a victor, now; more than a conqueror now and you have placed yourself in your own mind where God has placed you.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” Notice the “now.”

“For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” That is past tense.

That is salvation, healing, deliverance, victory, now! Praise the Lord!!!
The Second Enemy

The second enemy is Mental Assent. This, the most dangerous and the most subtle of all the enemies of the human soul.

One may be deceived for years thinking that it is faith that is acting when it is only mental assent. You can be a staunch advocate of the verbal inspiration of the Word of God; you can sit under the ministry of an able expositor of the Word of God, and still not believe in faith. Mental assent recognises the truths but it does not enjoy any of the present tense realities. They stand beside the showcase and gaze upon the beautiful gems within. They rejoice in them, they can point out the differences on them. They know the difference between a faulty stone and a perfect one, but they do not own any. There is a man who understands the great prophetical teachings; rejoices greatly in the finished work of Christ; yet lives in defeat; lives in the consciousness of utter failure. What is the trouble? He mental assents to everything, but doesn’t believe.

In contrast: A believer is one who has received; who has entered into the fullness; who enjoys the present tense of the Finished Work of Christ. If we could coin the word, a Believer is a “have-er.” He has; he enjoys the experiences and the riches of the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come. He has passed the period of mental assent into the actual realization of the glories of Christ.

The Third Enemy

A Third enemy is the fear of yielding all to Christ. It is the old problem of the Lordship of Christ. It is strange how a man fears to yield utterly, absolutely, to the Lordship of Jesus.

It is hard for the sick to give up their medicine and their doctors. It is hard for another to yield to the Lord in regard to finances.

But you will never reach a place of real faith until you have laid aside every other means of help, relief and deliverance. God does not bless means, except to those in the babyhood state of faith.

But those who by reason of time have reached a place of full knowledge that God does not bless fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; Ephesians 5:11-12.

If you want God’s best, you will lay your best on the alter. You see, real faith thanks God for deliverance, before God has acted or delivered. Anything short of that is not faith.

If I believe in the Scriptural sense, in Divine Healing, I praise God for my healing before I am healed. The same law holds in Salvation. “That it you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ is lord, and believe in your heart that He rose from the dead, you shall be saved.”

Man believes he is redeemed before he is born again, and when he believes then God acts. We make confession that the thing is done before God has done it. Then God does it.
Faith always praises before God acts.
Three Enemies of Healing
E.W. Kenyon

It is easier for us to face the problem of the failure of unanswered prayer, if we understand some of the reasons for it.

One of the Worst

One of the worst enemies of healing is, that unconsciously our hymn writers have all put our blessings into the future.

The theology that we sing eventually becomes the theology we believe.

We have unconsciously put all our blessings and Spiritual achievements into the “tomorrow.”

Almost no one speaks of their redemption rights in the present tense.

It is always, “I’m going to be.”

But the remarkable thing about the Scripture is that it is always in the present tense.

“In whom we have our redemption.” “Who was raised for our justification.”

There is the past and present blended in that glorious truth.

“By His stripes we were healed,” this is now!

“Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.”
This is all in the present tense. Sometimes He speaks of our redemption as having taken place.

If you can think of your healing as something that is done now; that has been accomplished on your behalf in Christ.

More than 130 times we are spoken of as being “in Christ.” If you are in Christ that is present tense. “You are complete in Him.” He is our fullness, our perfect redemption, now! You can see the great danger of our placing our blessings in “tomorrow.”

We have done it because of our sense of unfitness now; of our unworthiness now; and because of that sense of unfitness and unworthiness we have unconsciously pushed our victories and our healing into the future, when in reality, in the mind of God, we are healed now.

We are victors now! We are over-comers now! We are more than conquerors now in Christ Jesus!

Learn to think of yourself as indwelt, now through our Lord Jesus. Think of yourself as a victor, now; more than a conqueror now and you have placed yourself in your own mind where God has placed you.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” Notice the “now.”

“For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” That is past tense.

That is salvation, healing, deliverance, victory, now! Praise the Lord!!!
The Second Enemy

The second enemy is Mental Assent. This, the most dangerous and the most subtle of all the enemies of the human soul.

One may be deceived for years thinking that it is faith that is acting when it is only mental assent. You can be a staunch advocate of the verbal inspiration of the Word of God; you can sit under the ministry of an able expositor of the Word of God, and still not believe in faith. Mental assent recognises the truths but it does not enjoy any of the present tense realities. They stand beside the showcase and gaze upon the beautiful gems within. They rejoice in them, they can point out the differences on them. They know the difference between a faulty stone and a perfect one, but they do not own any. There is a man who understands the great prophetical teachings; rejoices greatly in the finished work of Christ; yet lives in defeat; lives in the consciousness of utter failure. What is the trouble? He mental assents to everything, but doesn’t believe.

In contrast: A believer is one who has received; who has entered into the fullness; who enjoys the present tense of the Finished Work of Christ. If we could coin the word, a Believer is a “have-er.” He has; he enjoys the experiences and the riches of the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come. He has passed the period of mental assent into the actual realization of the glories of Christ.

The Third Enemy

A Third enemy is the fear of yielding all to Christ. It is the old problem of the Lordship of Christ. It is strange how a man fears to yield utterly, absolutely, to the Lordship of Jesus.

It is hard for the sick to give up their medicine and their doctors. It is hard for another to yield to the Lord in regard to finances.

But you will never reach a place of real faith until you have laid aside every other means of help, relief and deliverance. God does not bless means, except to those in the babyhood state of faith.

But those who by reason of time have reached a place of full knowledge that God does not bless fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; Ephesians 5:11-12.

If you want God’s best, you will lay your best on the alter. You see, real faith thanks God for deliverance, before God has acted or delivered. Anything short of that is not faith.

If I believe in the Scriptural sense, in Divine Healing, I praise God for my healing before I am healed. The same law holds in Salvation. “That it you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ is lord, and believe in your heart that He rose from the dead, you shall be saved.”

Man believes he is redeemed before he is born again, and when he believes then God acts. We make confession that the thing is done before God has done it. Then God does it.
Faith always praises before God acts.Three Enemies of Healing
E.W. Kenyon

It is easier for us to face the problem of the failure of unanswered prayer, if we understand some of the reasons for it.

One of the Worst

One of the worst enemies of healing is, that unconsciously our hymn writers have all put our blessings into the future.

The theology that we sing eventually becomes the theology we believe.

We have unconsciously put all our blessings and Spiritual achievements into the “tomorrow.”

Almost no one speaks of their redemption rights in the present tense.

It is always, “I’m going to be.”

But the remarkable thing about the Scripture is that it is always in the present tense.

“In whom we have our redemption.” “Who was raised for our justification.”

There is the past and present blended in that glorious truth.

“By His stripes we were healed,” this is now!

“Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.”
This is all in the present tense. Sometimes He speaks of our redemption as having taken place.

If you can think of your healing as something that is done now; that has been accomplished on your behalf in Christ.

More than 130 times we are spoken of as being “in Christ.” If you are in Christ that is present tense. “You are complete in Him.” He is our fullness, our perfect redemption, now! You can see the great danger of our placing our blessings in “tomorrow.”

We have done it because of our sense of unfitness now; of our unworthiness now; and because of that sense of unfitness and unworthiness we have unconsciously pushed our victories and our healing into the future, when in reality, in the mind of God, we are healed now.

We are victors now! We are over-comers now! We are more than conquerors now in Christ Jesus!

Learn to think of yourself as indwelt, now through our Lord Jesus. Think of yourself as a victor, now; more than a conqueror now and you have placed yourself in your own mind where God has placed you.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” Notice the “now.”

“For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” That is past tense.

That is salvation, healing, deliverance, victory, now! Praise the Lord!!!
The Second Enemy

The second enemy is Mental Assent. This, the most dangerous and the most subtle of all the enemies of the human soul.

One may be deceived for years thinking that it is faith that is acting when it is only mental assent. You can be a staunch advocate of the verbal inspiration of the Word of God; you can sit under the ministry of an able expositor of the Word of God, and still not believe in faith. Mental assent recognises the truths but it does not enjoy any of the present tense realities. They stand beside the showcase and gaze upon the beautiful gems within. They rejoice in them, they can point out the differences on them. They know the difference between a faulty stone and a perfect one, but they do not own any. There is a man who understands the great prophetical teachings; rejoices greatly in the finished work of Christ; yet lives in defeat; lives in the consciousness of utter failure. What is the trouble? He mental assents to everything, but doesn’t believe.

In contrast: A believer is one who has received; who has entered into the fullness; who enjoys the present tense of the Finished Work of Christ. If we could coin the word, a Believer is a “have-er.” He has; he enjoys the experiences and the riches of the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come. He has passed the period of mental assent into the actual realization of the glories of Christ.

The Third Enemy

A Third enemy is the fear of yielding all to Christ. It is the old problem of the Lordship of Christ. It is strange how a man fears to yield utterly, absolutely, to the Lordship of Jesus.

It is hard for the sick to give up their medicine and their doctors. It is hard for another to yield to the Lord in regard to finances.

But you will never reach a place of real faith until you have laid aside every other means of help, relief and deliverance. God does not bless means, except to those in the babyhood state of faith.

But those who by reason of time have reached a place of full knowledge that God does not bless fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; Ephesians 5:11-12.

If you want God’s best, you will lay your best on the alter. You see, real faith thanks God for deliverance, before God has acted or delivered. Anything short of that is not faith.

If I believe in the Scriptural sense, in Divine Healing, I praise God for my healing before I am healed. The same law holds in Salvation. “That it you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ is lord, and believe in your heart that He rose from the dead, you shall be saved.”

Man believes he is redeemed before he is born again, and when he believes then God acts. We make confession that the thing is done before God has done it. Then God does it.
Faith always praises before God acts.
Three Enemies of Healing
E.W. Kenyon

It is easier for us to face the problem of the failure of unanswered prayer, if we understand some of the reasons for it.

One of the Worst

One of the worst enemies of healing is, that unconsciously our hymn writers have all put our blessings into the future.

The theology that we sing eventually becomes the theology we believe.

We have unconsciously put all our blessings and Spiritual achievements into the “tomorrow.”

Almost no one speaks of their redemption rights in the present tense.

It is always, “I’m going to be.”

But the remarkable thing about the Scripture is that it is always in the present tense.

“In whom we have our redemption.” “Who was raised for our justification.”

There is the past and present blended in that glorious truth.

“By His stripes we were healed,” this is now!

“Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.”
This is all in the present tense. Sometimes He speaks of our redemption as having taken place.

If you can think of your healing as something that is done now; that has been accomplished on your behalf in Christ.

More than 130 times we are spoken of as being “in Christ.” If you are in Christ that is present tense. “You are complete in Him.” He is our fullness, our perfect redemption, now! You can see the great danger of our placing our blessings in “tomorrow.”

We have done it because of our sense of unfitness now; of our unworthiness now; and because of that sense of unfitness and unworthiness we have unconsciously pushed our victories and our healing into the future, when in reality, in the mind of God, we are healed now.

We are victors now! We are over-comers now! We are more than conquerors now in Christ Jesus!

Learn to think of yourself as indwelt, now through our Lord Jesus. Think of yourself as a victor, now; more than a conqueror now and you have placed yourself in your own mind where God has placed you.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” Notice the “now.”

“For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” That is past tense.

That is salvation, healing, deliverance, victory, now! Praise the Lord!!!
The Second Enemy

The second enemy is Mental Assent. This, the most dangerous and the most subtle of all the enemies of the human soul.

One may be deceived for years thinking that it is faith that is acting when it is only mental assent. You can be a staunch advocate of the verbal inspiration of the Word of God; you can sit under the ministry of an able expositor of the Word of God, and still not believe in faith. Mental assent recognises the truths but it does not enjoy any of the present tense realities. They stand beside the showcase and gaze upon the beautiful gems within. They rejoice in them, they can point out the differences on them. They know the difference between a faulty stone and a perfect one, but they do not own any. There is a man who understands the great prophetical teachings; rejoices greatly in the finished work of Christ; yet lives in defeat; lives in the consciousness of utter failure. What is the trouble? He mental assents to everything, but doesn’t believe.

In contrast: A believer is one who has received; who has entered into the fullness; who enjoys the present tense of the Finished Work of Christ. If we could coin the word, a Believer is a “have-er.” He has; he enjoys the experiences and the riches of the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come. He has passed the period of mental assent into the actual realization of the glories of Christ.

The Third Enemy

A Third enemy is the fear of yielding all to Christ. It is the old problem of the Lordship of Christ. It is strange how a man fears to yield utterly, absolutely, to the Lordship of Jesus.

It is hard for the sick to give up their medicine and their doctors. It is hard for another to yield to the Lord in regard to finances.

But you will never reach a place of real faith until you have laid aside every other means of help, relief and deliverance. God does not bless means, except to those in the babyhood state of faith.

But those who by reason of time have reached a place of full knowledge that God does not bless fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; Ephesians 5:11-12.

If you want God’s best, you will lay your best on the alter. You see, real faith thanks God for deliverance, before God has acted or delivered. Anything short of that is not faith.

If I believe in the Scriptural sense, in Divine Healing, I praise God for my healing before I am healed. The same law holds in Salvation. “That it you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ is lord, and believe in your heart that He rose from the dead, you shall be saved.”

Man believes he is redeemed before he is born again, and when he believes then God acts. We make confession that the thing is done before God has done it. Then God does it.
Faith always praises before God acts.

SELAH

Ephesians 4:27, nor give place (opportunity) to the devil.

Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against all the wiles (deceptions, lying vanities) of the devil.

James 4:7  Therefore submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 

I Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

Matthew 17:20  So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you,  if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

Luke 10:19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you

The Seed of Perspective

10. The Seed of Perspective

I’d Rather Watch a Winner

I’d rather watch a winner, than hear one any day,
I’d rather have one walk with me than merely show the way.
The eye’s a better pupil and more willing than the ear;
Fine counsel is confusing, but examples always clear.
And the best of all the coaches are the ones who live their creeds;
For to see the good in action is what everybody needs.
I can soon learn how to do it if you’ll let me see it done;
I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lectures you deliver may be very wise and true;
But I’d rather get my lessons by observing what you do.
For I may misunderstand you and the high advice you give;
But there’s no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.
I’d rather watch a winner, than hear one any day!

Summary

The Seeds of Greatness are the responses or attitudes you develop as a result of “seeing” the world more clearly, you see yourself as valuable and your self-esteem grows stronger. Seeing clearly enables your imagination to create and soar. Seeing more clearly gives you the understanding that you are responsible for learning as much and contributing as much as you can to life.
When you see life within, you see wisdom, purpose, and faith as cornerstones of you family’s foundation. You see through the eyes of love and reach out and touch all those with whom you come in contact. Seeing from within is having the courage to adapt to change and to persevere when the odds seem overwhelming. Seeing from within is to believe that beauty and goodness are worth planting every day.

The Seed of Perserverance

9. The Seed of Perseverance

Perseverance is similar to faith, but it is different in that it is the test of faith. Perseverance is hanging in there when the odds stack up against you, but you know you’re right.
A strong belief in God is fundamental to Total Success. To believe you are an integral part of God’s plan. With this belief you are able to develop creative imagination, self-esteem, wisdom, goals and a deep faith in your convictions and commitments. Your faith has a strong root system that will allow you to bend and grow with the winds of change without breaking. This ability to bend and spring back is demonstrated in the ability to adapt in the habit of looking at the bright side even in the darkest situation.

The Seed of Adaptability

8. The Seed of Adaptability

Adapt: to fit for a new use; make suitable 2. To adjust (ones self) to a new situation or environment. 3. To become adjusted to a circumstance or environment.

Ephesians 5:21 Submitting (adapting) to one another in the fear of God.
22. Wives, submit (adapt your self) to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

I do not ask to walk smooth paths
Nor bear and easy load,
I pray for strength and fortitude
To climb the rock-strewn road.


Give me such courage I can scale
The hardest peak alone,
And transform every stumbling blockInto a stepping stone. by Gail Brook Burket

The Seeds of Faith

7. The seed of Faith

But without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a re-warder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

When we talk about faith—and belief---we have to refer to the greatest book ever written, and the greatest Teacher of the Ages on the subject. He summed it up when He said: “Go your way; and as you have believed, so be it done unto you.” Matthew 8:13

This simple statement cuts both ways, like a two edged sword. Faith is the key to unlock the door to success for every human being. Or it is the lock that imprisons and keeps that person from ever experiencing success.

Faith is both a negative force and a positive force. Faith in the negative is fear. Faith is belief.

When someone says to me, “you can’t do that!” I have a choice to make; I can believe that or I can choose to disregard it. As a Christian I choose to believe what God’s Word says about me. In Philippians 4:13, it says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” If I choose to believe that I can’t do something; guess what, I can’t. The seed of Faith

But without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a re-warder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

When we talk about faith—and belief---we have to refer to the greatest book ever written, and the greatest Teacher of the Ages on the subject. He summed it up when He said: “Go your way; and as you have believed, so be it done unto you.” Matthew 8:13

This simple statement cuts both ways, like a two edged sword. Faith is the key to unlock the door to success for every human being. Or it is the lock that imprisons and keeps that person from ever experiencing success.

Faith is both a negative force and a positive force. Faith in the negative is fear. Faith is belief.

When someone says to me, “you can’t do that!” I have a choice to make; I can believe that or I can choose to disregard it. As a Christian I choose to believe what God’s Word says about me. In Philippians 4:13, it says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” If I choose believe that I can’t do something; guess what, I can’t.

The Seed of Communication

6. The Seed of Communication

Two very important aspects of communication are empathy and love.

The Sioux Indians have a prayer that goes like this; “Oh Great Spirit, grant me the wisdom to walk in another’s moccasins before I criticize or pass judgement.”

Empathy: is the “feeling for” for an individual; it is the process of trying to understand the other person’s point of view, as if you were that person. Empathy is when you watch the marathon runners at the 20-mile mark, and your own legs ache. Empathy is watching a rerun of one of the Rocky Movies and hardly being able to lift your arms at the end of round fifteen.

It is important to try to view the world of others as they see it---rather than as we see it. One way to do that is to look for the good in others, regardless how different their appearance, their life style, and their particular beliefs are from your own. By looking for the good in others, you are communicating love. Love is the one message we all need most.

Love Letters To Live By
I Corinthians 13

Love is the act of demonstrating value for and looking for the good in another person.

L---is for LISTEN. To love someone is to listen unconditionally to his/her values and needs without prejudice.

O---is for OVERLOOK. To love someone is to overlook flaws an the faults in favour of looking for the good..

V---is for VOICE. To love someone is to voice your approval of him/her on a regular basis. There is no substitute for honest encouragement, positive “strokes” and praise.

E---is for EFFORT. To love someone is to make a constant effort to spend time, to make the sacrifice, to go the extra mile to show your interest.
Love requires independence and is based upon the ability to share your self with others out of choice, not out of dependent need. True love is that relationship formed by two individuals who have the ability of separately sustaining themselves. Only independent people are free to choose to stay in a relationship. People who are dependent remain in a relationship out of necessity.

The Seed of Purpose

5. The Seed of Purpose

Remember in Alice in Wonderland, when Alice comes to the junction in the road that leads in different directions and she asks the Cheshire-Cat for advice? “Cheshire-Puss… Would you please tell me which way I ought to go from here?
That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where____” said Alice.
Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

The grinning feline spoke words of truth, didn’t he?

If we don’t know where we want to go, then any road will take us there---and it doesn’t matter what we do in life.

I believe that God has given each one of us a purpose in life; He not only gave us that purpose but He also gave us the ability to achieve that purpose.

Psalm 139:13-16 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are Your works and that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth
Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed. And in your book they were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
Without purpose (vision) in life the Bible said we will perish (be made useless)(cast off restraint)(run wild) or we have nothing motivating us, keeping us on track. Proverbs 29:18

We Touch the Future

Part 5


4. The Seed of Wisdom

Wisdom: The combination of honesty and knowledge applied through experience. Wisdom is honest knowledge in action.

Honesty, The Unfailing Boomerang. Who you are will come full circle, that’s what a boomerang is designed to do. Every time an individual engages in dishonest activities in time it will come back to haunt him.

As a model of testing ourselves on a daily basis, we can ask ourselves three questions.
1. Is this true?
2. Is this what I believe I should do?
3. Is what I say consistent with what I do?

These three questions involve consistently thinking, doing, and saying what you believe to be true. There is one more question that you should consider after you are satisfied that you can be consistent on the three points. The base question is; what is the effect of this decision going to be on the others involved? To be effective human beings, we must consider the impact of our decisions on other people in our lives. The ability to anticipate the probable effects of our decisions on other people’s lives, as well as on our own life this is wisdom. When we honestly consider the well being of others, before we decide to profit ourselves, we become truly rich in the deepest sense.

Knowledge: a result or product of knowing; information or understanding acquired through experience, practical ability, or skill.

We teach our children all the facts, Math, English, History, Science; we live in a time when technology is advancing so fast that we can’t keep up; we write text books and they are obsolete before they hit the presses. This knowledge is good. A primary goal should be to help our children discover their own natural abilities so they can blend these talents with acquired skills and knowledge to achieve maximum satisfaction in their individual lives. Proverbs 22:6 “Train up (set life patterns) a child in the way he should go (keeping with his natural bent or gifts) and when he is old he will not depart from it.

We Touch The Future

Part 4

3. The Seed of Responsibility

As a society, we protest for individual liberty and social order in the same breath. We strive for material wealth and would like spiritual wealth as a by-product. We plead for more protection from crime, but demand less interference in our social habits. We want to cut taxes, take the great risk, and build our own destinies and at the same time we want financial security and safety provided by our government. But we can’t have it both ways. If we want results we must be willing to pay the price.

Our rewards in life will depend on the quality and amount of the contribution we make. Every cause brings its effect; every action has a consequence. If a man plants melons he will reap melons; if he sows beans, he will reap beans. This is true in everyone’s life; good begets good, and evil leads to evil.

True enough, the sun shines on the saint and the sinner alike, and too often it seems that the wicked prosper. But we can say with certainty that, with the individual as with the nation, the flourishing of the wicked is an illusion, for, unceasingly, life keeps books on us all.

In the end, we are all the sum total of our actions. Character cannot be counterfeited, nor can it be put on and cast off as it if were a garment to meet the whim of the moment. Like the markings on wood that are ingrained in the very heart of the tree, character requires time and maturing for growth and development. Day by day, we write our own destiny.
Galatians 6:7; Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

We Touch The Future

Part Three

2. The Seed of Creativity

The second is that our minds can’t tell the difference between real experience and one that is vividly and repeatedly imagined. Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

Understanding this secret of the power of the imagination experience is a foundational key to understanding human behaviour. What you see is what you’ll get. We perform and behave in life not in accordance with reality. Many of our everyday decisions are based upon information about ourselves that has been stored as truth---but which is really a combination of hearsay from family, friends, and peers, actual past experiences, and information we read, listen to and view on TV.
Napoleon, once said, “Imagination rules the world”. Einstein believed, “Imagination is more important than knowledge, for knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

We Touch The Future

Part 2

1. The Seed of Self-Esteem

First, is that we must feel love inside ourselves before we can give it to others.
Deuteronomy 6:6, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.” Vs. 7, “You shall teach them diligently to your children…”

Galatians 5:14, all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; you shall love your neighbour as yourself.
Simple isn’t it? If there is no deep, internalized feeling of value inside of us, then we have nothing to give to or share with others. We can need them, we can be dependant on them, we can look for security in them, we can indulge them, flatter them and attempt to purchase them. But we cannot share or give an emotion to anyone else, unless we first posses that emotion inside of us.

We Touch The Future

We Touch The Future

Delivered at the Foster Parent Society of Ontario June 8, 2008
Church Service

Part 1

Proverbs 22:6 “Train up (set life patterns) a child in the way he should go (keeping with his natural bent or gifts) and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Genesis 1:11-12 God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind whose seed is in itself, on the earth”, and it was so.

And the earth brought forth grass and herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, who’s seed is in itself according to its kind, and God saw that it was good.

Seeds of Greatness

What are these seeds that we want to plant? Are they special genes, transmitted to offspring by superior parents? Are they in-born talents? Are they seeds of exceptional learning abilities or intelligence quotients (IQ)? No! The Seeds of Greatness are not dependent upon gifted birth, the inherited bank account, the intellect, the skin deep beauty, the race the colour or the status. The Seeds of Greatness are attitudes and beliefs that begin in children as baby talk, as do’s and don’ts, as casual family chatter, bedtime stories, almost un-noticed, delicately transparent ideas, like flimsy cob-webs, at first----then, with years of practice, become like unbreakable steel cables to shackle or strengthen our characters throughout the rest of our adult lives.

The children of Israel were commanded in Deut. 6:6-7 To teach diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

These life patterns are caught as well as taught. The seeds that we plant are seeds of success. So what is success? “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” It means that when we are working or moving toward something we want to accomplish, especially when that something brings us respect and dignity as a member of the human race, we are succeeding.

It is not what you get that makes you successful; it is what you are continuing to do with what you’ve got.
Total success is the continuing involvement in the pursuit of a worthy idea, which is being realized for the benefit of others---rather than at their expense.

The New Life

"Therefoe if anyone is in Christ he is a new Creation (new species)" 1 Cor. 5:17

This is not only a challenge but a statement of fact. I am convinced that few have ever fathomed the depths of the possibilities of this New Creation life. Let me suggest the possibilities are limitless. You have become one with God. You have become His very child The great God, the omnipotent God, is your Father. He calls you, "Heir of God and Joint-Heir with Jesus Christ. He calls us "members of His body," partakers of His holiness. He calls us His Righteousness, and many other terms that stagger us. The challenge is for us who have become partakers of His Nature, sons and daughters of the very God of the Universe, to live and walk as those who are.

Let use take our place as Jesus took His. Jesus acted the Son part. Let us, you and I act the son part now. He answered the heart-cry of the Father for a perfect child, who would respond to His love. Let us, before we do anything else, satisfy the heart-cry of the Father. Instead of trying to perform prodigies and do miracles, let us become lovers; Jesus-like, lovers. This is not a theory it is a challenge.

What limitless possibilities there are in the indwelling fact that God has made our bodies His home; to think through our minds and to love through our hearts and to will through our wills.

The scriptures have thrown a challenge squarely in our face. What are we going to do with it? God knows that we need something unusual. That thing is Jesus. Not a literary Jesus, not a phiosophical Jesus, but the Jesus of Galilee walking, living in us now. The risen, seated, triumphant Jesus living His life in us.

God challenges us with the blood of His Son. Let us answer with our blood, our best, our life. We have been small and cheap. We have allowed the adversary to run rough-shod over us long enough. Let us live the victorious life. Let us answer back.

"Father make real in me, all that Jesus made real for me". Here is the opportunity. We accept the challenge. Come, live your life in me. Be as big, loving, tender, gentle, as your heart craves to be. Use me as the platform from which thou will speak. Use me as the temple in which you will dwell. Use me down at the office or in the shop or in the factory, or in the home. But use me, Lord! Reproduce your self in me. Cease to be a theory in the heart of man, and become the living, throbbing, miracle-working God through me, if you will, Lord ---begin today

LIVING THE DREAM

When Disney World held its grand opening on Olrlando, Florida, the widow of Walt Disney was there. The great park was beautiful, exceeding every hope and dream. Someone walked up to Mrs. Disney and said, "I wish Walt could have seen this" She smiled and replied, "He did" If there hadn't been a Walt Disney to dream it into existance , Disney World would never have been built.

Take a walk through the world today and look closely. All that you see, all that you hear, ia a result of some individule's passionate dream. Many thought the "horseless carriage" would never make it, but there was one dreamer who closed his eyes and saw streets full with automobiles. A top computer executive once remarked that the average home had no use for a computer; but someone else had a dream that compelled him to disprove that preconception.

Each new change in our world comes to pass because someone gazes into the realm of possibility rather than mere actuality. Dreams are amazing seeds; they sprout into new wonders that change the wolrd forever.

That's fine, you might remark, for pioneers and saints and inventers. But what about the rest of us?

The fact is, you too, are a dreamer. Every stride you have taken---in education, in family, in vocation---has been propelled by the high-energy fuel of your dreams and visions. But those were only the beginning. Even now, there is the seed of a dream within you. Will you help it grow?

Bruce Wilkinson, The Dream Giver

Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul.

Dream deep, for every dream preceds the goal

---Paula Vaull Starr---

Dreams grab us and move us.

They are capable of lifting us to new heights

and overcoming self-imposed limitations.

---Robert Kriegel---

Some of us are skeptical about whether every human being is a dreamer. Perhaps we doubt because we see so few people pursuing their dreams. But try to imagine life with no dream to captivate it. What would that be like? It woulf be a life without hope, purpose, or motivation. The dreamless soul would be little more than an organism, eating and sleeping, filling out its day between the womb and the tomb.

Dreams are what set us apart as God's children. He gave us our personalities, our gifts our own fingerprints, and our dreams. They are fragile and precious, like candles illuminating our souls within. Their brightness reveals a snapshot of the world we would most dearly want to inhabit. They reveal the activity we would chosse above all others in life. They set out the goal we instictively fell we were made to pursue.

What would we trade simply for the experience of the quest of this dream? Nearly everything! Where would we go in order to see it to fruition? Nearly anywhere! What would we give in price? All our lives, all our time; everything we have to give. It would be like the pricious pearl described by Jesus; one wouls give away all that he owns just to possess it.

Nothing within us is more poerful that the dream, except the Lord who placed it there and gave it His power. He knitted its delicate threads into the fabric of your soul. It is essentially who you are, and your imagination will eventually take its very shape. How, then, can you follow your dream?

First we must ask: What if it is impossible? Many people quickly state that this is so. "I cannot follow my dream because _________________." With what reason would you fill in that blank? Finaces? Family? Timing? Abilities? A little reflection wuld show you that they are not truly reasons at all. Is there no way in all the world to taise those finances? Would your family really prevent you? Is the timing really impossible?

Your feelings toward the dream really hindges upon your feelings toward God, don't they? After all, He made every ounce of you. Would the God you love fasten your soul to a dead-end dream? Would He assign you a journey without a road?

And above all, is anything really impossible if God wants it done?

These are important questions! Answer them carefully, for your responses will reroute your drean and your life.

For more information call HFC (905) 640-3950