I was just reading Matthew 10 this morning, where Jesus commissions his disciples to go out and preach that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. He gave them power over evil spirits and power to heal every kind of disease and sickness. Do you know that he has given us, his disciples that same power? It wasn’t just for ‘that’ day! Trust me, we still have evil spirits operating in the world today. Look around at all the disease and sickness, if not in your family, you see it in your neighborhoods, in your job, your church. This is not what God intended for us.

I had a dear sister tell me once that God has raised up doctors for this season, that miracles are no longer needed as much so that’s why we don’t see them. No, the reason we don’t see them is that we don’t believe in them. We have placed our trust in what’s in our medicine cabinet because it’s ‘quicker’ to take an aspirin then to believe for healing of a headache. It’s only when we are diagnosed with an incurable disease that we cry out to God for healing. Beloved, this ought not to be!

I’ve heard so many people turning to ‘whole’ foods, going vegan, doing raw foods and there’s nothing wrong with this, I believe we should go more natural and that our bodies are the temple of the Lord, but even these things cannot be substituted for faith in the Word of God. We should draw near to Him and listen to His voice, after all, it’s he who made us and knows more than anyone what is good for us or not. 2Chronicles 7:14 says, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”

May I take this a bit further? Jesus never designed us to be takers, but to be givers. He sent them out and gave them power over demons and diseases. How can we minister to others where they need it unless we have faith in God to also take care of us? I want to practice what I preach. I want to live it in my home, on my own. I won’t stand in a prayer of agreement for someone to be healed unless I believe it myself. He is the same today as he was when he commissioned the disciples. He lives in me. If that is true, than why do I run to the doctors at the first sign of something in my body? I stopped doing that two years ago. I’m not bragging, in fact, a year ago I had appendicitis and had it removed, but I’m learning to hear his voice and learning my rights as a believer and I won’t give those rights up quickly or easily.

When the Lord leads me to someone at the store and says, “Tell them I love them and haven’t forgotten my promise to them,” I want to do it with confidence in the God who sent me to say that. Don’t cast away your confidence in God or the Word. The devil may not give it up without a fight, but don’t just give it away, give up and cave in, instead stand on the Word, proclaim the Word, know that the Word is actively at work in you to do what God sent it to do. If you’re ready to go to the next level, go there like someone in training for a marathon. Turn off the t.v. and get out there and run! You can’t just watch the marathon and wish to run one, you have to get off your lazy butt and train for it. Everyone I’ve ever talked to has started slow and worked their way up, but they gave up old habits to do it.

What are you willing to give up to see the Kingdom of God advance? To see the message of a loving and merciful Father reach a lost and dying world? To be confident in your God? He hasn’t changed! He’s still the same God and wants everyone to know him as healer, deliverer, redeemer, lover and strong tower. Start being a doer instead of just a hearer. Stop just warming a pew on Sunday and start living like a disciple Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We must stop living for ourselves and our families and start to look outward at the world. We must teach our children to be disciples too.

Father, thank you for this reminder that we are not our own, we’ve been bought with a price, the highest price, the death of your son. It’s by Jesus’ blood we are overcomer’s, not to live a good life, but to give this life to others so that they too can overcome. You’ve been our example, so let us be what we were made to be; Yours. We can only do it with your direction and faith in your ability to keep your Word, so we place our complete and total trust in your ability and not our own. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen