What are the two things that can keep God's blessings, His promises and his healing from our lives?
Speaker AWe're going to explore what it is we have to do to open back up the flow, to open back up the path to God so that our will aligns with him and that we can experience more of his blessings, more of his promises and healing, if that's what we need.
Speaker AWelcome to Faith Fueled Living, the podcast that equips you to live well spiritually, emotionally, physically, and purposefully.
Speaker AEach week, we'll dive into conversations and biblical truths to help you strengthen your faith, pursue meaningful work here for your whole self, and live in line with what matters most.
Speaker AAll right, let's dig into today.
Speaker ASo the two things we're going to get into are how our doubt in the Lord and what he's capable of can hold back the goodness of God in our lives.
Speaker AWe're also going to talk about unbelief and how the one thing that God that can stop us from, from getting those blessings and the healing from God is, is our unbelief or our lack of belief that he can and will do it for us.
Speaker ASo we're going to dig into scripture, we're going to dig into some ideas around this, and we're going to dig into how do we start changing our heart and start believing God for what he shows us is possible and what he promises is possible in our own lives.
Speaker AThat we may have heard mixed messages about this.
Speaker AWe may have heard things like, well, I want healing if it's God's will.
Speaker ASo we're going to flip that around and we're going to really dig into scripture and what it says about this, right?
Speaker AThere's many places in scripture that talk about that God can heal.
Speaker AAnd we're going to go through some of those today.
Speaker ASo one of them is In Exodus, Exodus 15:26, it says, I am the Lord who heals you.
Speaker AAnd another place he says, therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.
Speaker AMark 11:24.
Speaker ASo, like I said, there's so many scriptures that talk about healing.
Speaker AThere's so many scriptures to talk about that he'll fulfill his promises, right?
Speaker AHe'll do what he says he'll do.
Speaker AHe did it back then and he's still doing it today.
Speaker AOkay, So I love what Unfold the script says, and it says, jesus cannot heal where there's unbelief.
Speaker AWe have to act in bold faith, right?
Speaker ASo we have to believe it.
Speaker AAnd then act on it.
Speaker AAnd I'm going to share some stories with you today about people doing just that.
Speaker AThey the that post also goes on to say, your doubt makes you unreachable.
Speaker AGuys, this is so important.
Speaker AI've shared different episodes over the years about believing God for His promises, believing him for his healing.
Speaker AI'll share some of the past episodes in the show notes.
Speaker ASo if you want to dig deeper into this, I had two great episodes that came out last November.
Speaker AOne was about a doctor healing his stage four brain cancer when they told him he only had months to live.
Speaker AAnd the other was a woman that wrote a book called Healed to Healed Kathleen Johnson, which I'll be sharing some of her book again today.
Speaker ABut she shows testimony after testimony of people being divinely or miraculously healed by God and then those people going on to become healers around the country, around the world, and how they healed so many other people through their testimonies.
Speaker AOkay, in the book Healed to Healed, the author Kathleen Johnson says some things.
Speaker AShe says nothing is impossible for him.
Speaker AFaith is about opening your hands to let him.
Speaker AThe only place that Jesus couldn't do miracles was when someone had a lack of faith.
Speaker AIt wasn't their sin, it was their unbelief.
Speaker AThey doubted in him.
Speaker AAnd she explains that God won't force himself on you.
Speaker AHe won't override your will.
Speaker AAnd so that is where many times maybe we don't see a promise, God's promises or blessings in our lives, or maybe either ourselves or someone we know hasn't been healed.
Speaker AThere's many reasons for that.
Speaker ABut the biggest challenge or issue is our unbelief, our doubt, and that God can and will do it for us, that we believe and then we act on it.
Speaker AAnd you know, the thing is, is we need to believe anyway.
Speaker ALet's say we had a past disappointment, someone we know or love passed away.
Speaker AAnd so we might be questioning God.
Speaker AGod, if you didn't save that person, if that person isn't healed, how can I expect that he'll do it for me?
Speaker ABut we have to believe anyways.
Speaker AAnd we have to then just take it to God and ask him about that.
Speaker AIn that book I was referring to Heal to Healed.
Speaker AOne of the people that she highlights is TL Osborne, and he says the failure of many to be healed today when prayed for is never because it is not God's will to heal them.
Speaker AAnd we must be humble.
Speaker AAnd remember, as it said in the book, I didn't see everything happening in the unseen realm.
Speaker AWe cannot be healed or get his promises because of unbelief.
Speaker AThat's in Mark 6, 5 and 6.
Speaker AOr because of unworthiness, not believing that we are worthy or that God wants it for us, that we deserve it, that a reference to that is in Romans 8:32.
Speaker AOr unforgiveness.
Speaker ABitterness, right?
Speaker AIn other words, the things that God says us says for us to let go of.
Speaker AIf we're holding on to these things, trauma.
Speaker ABut unforgiveness can block healing for us.
Speaker AMark 11:25 references that.
Speaker ABut only God can see our heart in the full picture.
Speaker AWe won't always know that, but just know.
Speaker AMaria Woodworth Etter says the gospel isn't complete until it is demonstrated.
Speaker AAnd healing is never just for us.
Speaker AWe have to remember that when God heals us, it's to give glory to God.
Speaker AIt's to share our testimony with other people so that they'll have the hope and belief in God.
Speaker AIt will take their unbelief or uncertainty about it and it will help them believe for the healing power of Jesus that were promised.
Speaker ATL Osborne also says God wants to heal all who are sick just the same as he wants to save all who are sinful.
Speaker AAnd another thing that I really like that was said in that book, Heal to Heal says faith that moves without visible proof is the kind of faith that pleases God.
Speaker AIn other words, when people are healed because they believe God even when they didn't see it with their own eyes, another healing that is so powerful.
Speaker AOkay, another scripture around this is for no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ.
Speaker AAnd so through him, the amen is spoken by us to the glory of God.
Speaker A2 Corinthians 1:20 E. Stanley Jones, who's also someone that she talks about in her book is says this when your will coincides with his, the full resources of Christ are behind your life.
Speaker AAnd I like this idea too.
Speaker AIn surrender, you align your will to an almighty will and you begin to do things you could not previously do.
Speaker ALay it all down, make space and yield.
Speaker AGod will only make a way when you surrender.
Speaker ASo good.
Speaker ATL Osborne also says God's power is always available, just waiting for someone to believe it says speak it and act on it.
Speaker AThat is so important.
Speaker AThat's when miracles happen, he says.
Speaker ABut throughout that book, Heal to Heal.
Speaker AAnd then I also have a couple other books on healing.
Speaker AOne's called Revealing the Healer, which is another great book by Yvonne Attia.
Speaker ABut that is so important.
Speaker AFirst of all, we have to have belief.
Speaker AWe have to fully believe God for the promise or the healing.
Speaker ASorry.
Speaker AAnd then.
Speaker AAnd we have to believe it is done right.
Speaker ALike, I believe you, God, for it.
Speaker AAnd I know it is done right.
Speaker AThank him for it, Lord.
Speaker AI know you have healed me.
Speaker ABut so many people in the book, yes, many of them are miraculously healed in that moment because they fully believed God for that promise and for healing.
Speaker ABut there's so many others where they believed it so deeply.
Speaker AAnd then they acted, meaning they were bedridden.
Speaker ASomething major was wrong with them.
Speaker AThey were on their deathbeds, and they put one foot out of the bed.
Speaker AIn other words, they didn't just believe God for it.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AThey got to the end of their rope.
Speaker AThey surrendered everything.
Speaker AAnd they.
Speaker AThey didn't just believe it.
Speaker AThey spoke it, they believed it, but then they acted on it.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AIn other words, they showed the type of faith that God is looking for because they believed God for it.
Speaker ASo they tried to step out of their bed or whatever it was.
Speaker AThey could have just fallen to the ground because of their body's weakness and illness.
Speaker AYet God came through.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AHe began to heal them.
Speaker ASometimes it's miraculous or immediate, and other times it takes time.
Speaker ABut we can't give.
Speaker AWe can't let our faith, our belief falter.
Speaker ABecause that is sometimes when people start to see some healing and then they backtrack because they stop believing God.
Speaker ARight?
Speaker AThey question it again.
Speaker ALike, oh, maybe he's not.
Speaker ANo, God says, like, ask for the promises.
Speaker AHe.
Speaker AHe says what he says he'll do.
Speaker AAnd he says he will provide us with healing.
Speaker AHe will heal us.
Speaker AHe doesn't say, if it's my will.
Speaker AAnd so many times I think we were taught that somehow I know I was, that, you know, sometimes we pray for people feel better.
Speaker AYou know, people that are sick pray for miracles.
Speaker ABut I feel like I also heard or learned that if it's his will, but actually it doesn't say that in the Bible.
Speaker AOkay, so let's see.
Speaker AI'm just trying to see who said this real quick.
Speaker AAll right.
Speaker AI believe it was.
Speaker ALester Sumrall says healing is not a peripheral promise.
Speaker AIt is central to the covenant from Genesis to Revelation.
Speaker AYou'll find healing God's redemptive plan.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker AKathleen Johnson also says in her book there's two primary ways of healing.
Speaker ABy faith in the word of God and then by a manifestation of the Holy Spirit within us.
Speaker AAnd so that's what we have to keep remembering and then go for it.
Speaker AAlso, there's three Things that can stand in the way of us getting healing.
Speaker AThree lies and it's.
Speaker AOr three obstacles believers face to healing.
Speaker AI mean, I'm sorry, believers face and getting healing.
Speaker AAnd it's Randy Clark in her book that says this, but says unbelief in God's will and promise to heal.
Speaker AFor us, it's unworthiness that it's not.
Speaker AIt's for others, but not for me.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AAnd then the third is fear.
Speaker AYou know, we just let fear stand the way.
Speaker AOr as I mentioned earlier, it might be that we are holding on to something that God tells us to let go of, like unforgiveness.
Speaker ARight?
Speaker ASo in other words, if our heart is still full of unforgiveness or bitterness or anger or resentment or something, you know, all those types of things, we may not have that open signal that, that may block us from getting God's healing or getting a promise that he, you know, shows us in Scripture, Right.
Speaker AThat we, that he still does today.
Speaker AHe still promises that blessing.
Speaker ASo we have to realize that we may have work to do in order to get the blessing that he's.
Speaker AThat he promises people because we can't hold onto those things.
Speaker AIn other words, we have to empty our vessel.
Speaker AWe have to empty our hands, open our heart, you know, make it, you know, get rid of the hardened places.
Speaker AAnd then we have to believe him for the promise, believe him for the healing, and that is how we get towards these promises.
Speaker AAll right, so in her book, she talks about someone that says prayer without faith doesn't just fall flat.
Speaker AIt actually dishonors the very one it's addressed to.
Speaker AHe warned that asking again and again without believing is simply unbelief.
Speaker ABasically, it's believe it, get up and believe it.
Speaker AGod has no limits.
Speaker AHe is unstoppable.
Speaker AOkay?
Speaker AAnother scripture right around this is Deuteronomy 7:13.
Speaker AIt says, Lord will love you and bless you.
Speaker AHe will bless your children and the crops of your land and the cows of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
Speaker AThe Lord will protect you from all sickness.
Speaker ASo once again, through and through the Bible, we are told these things.
Speaker AOkay?
Speaker AAnother person that was highlighted in Heal to Heal is John Wesley.
Speaker AMany of you probably heard that name before.
Speaker AAnd he says God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.
Speaker AAnd I sort of alluded to this earlier, but there's going to be times where we don't know why someone isn't healed or we're still holding on to an illness or something.
Speaker ARight?
Speaker AA diagnosis, but we have to remember our role is to pray.
Speaker AGod's will is to heal.
Speaker AAnd there are some things that we can consider now, if this has to do with someone else, it's not our place to try to tell them why they did not heal, because we do not know that reason.
Speaker AOur job is just to reconfirm for them that God wants healing for all of us.
Speaker AHe wants wholeness for all of us.
Speaker AThat is continuously seen and shown through the Bible, and it's shown to us through the people of the Bible in those stories.
Speaker ABut some things that can happen is does the person or do you want to be healed?
Speaker AI know that might sound crazy, but in other words, is there a part of you that still has the unbelief, or is it a part of you that doesn't feel like you deserve it?
Speaker ARight?
Speaker ABecause of something in your past, your holding on to shame, you're holding on to something you did wrong.
Speaker AOr maybe you just think, like, why me?
Speaker AWhy should I be so lucky?
Speaker AOr are you or someone else holding on to sickness or the identity of sickness?
Speaker AIf we just like trauma or something hard, hard thing in our lives, are we holding on to the victimhood of it?
Speaker ARight?
Speaker AAre we identifying as a victim instead of saying, how do I step in to be a victor?
Speaker AWhat is next for me, Lord?
Speaker AHow can you heal me and show me my future not where you've been, but where you're going?
Speaker AAnd so are you holding onto an identity that's keeping you from being healed?
Speaker AOr as I said, it may not be you, it may be someone you know and love.
Speaker AYou can't just say to them, change your identity.
Speaker AIt's not that.
Speaker AWhen I say it's not that easy, I mean, they have to come to that, right?
Speaker ABut your prayers and giving them prayers of healing can help the testimonies of other people who have been healed.
Speaker AThose stories build on our belief.
Speaker AThey increase our faith.
Speaker AAnd the biggest thing I can tell you is the more times you read scripture that tells you the promises for your life, the blessings that God says you can have, the healing that he says he wants for every single one of us.
Speaker AAnd then hearing the stories, the testimonies of people that have been healed, it changes you.
Speaker AIt shifts something within you.
Speaker AAnd that is what we need.
Speaker ASo people that need to be healed, that want to be healed, that want to be better, that want more blessings in their lives, we have to stop talking of what we've walked through, what we're walking through, you know, it's much like the words we say the thoughts we say are keeping us stuck often in the lack that we are or have.
Speaker ALike always saying, I'm so poor, I never have any money.
Speaker AI never have enough.
Speaker AWell, we don't want to speak that over our lives.
Speaker AAnd that's not biblical.
Speaker AI mean, in other words, in the Bible it says God will always provide for us and all these things.
Speaker AWell, let's start speaking those words over our lives instead of lives that are keeping us stuck or sick or stagnant.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker AThe next thing is another thing is in John 5.
Speaker A6, Jesus asked the lame man who was unable to get up for, I think, decades, he says, would you like to get well?
Speaker AIn other words, we can say we want to get well, but are we holding on to something that's keeping us from getting well?
Speaker AIs.
Speaker AAre we holding on to something that's keeping us from saying to the Lord, yes, Lord, I want healing.
Speaker AI want you to make me well with all of my mind, body and spirit.
Speaker AI am asking you and I want to claim it.
Speaker AOkay, so in.
Speaker AIn, let's see, in Mark 6:56, this is where we even see healing happen.
Speaker AWhen someone touches the cloak of Jesus.
Speaker AAnd in books like Healed to Heal.
Speaker ABut in many other books, they show how people have even been healed by watching a testimony on tv.
Speaker AThey have healed by reading a letter.
Speaker AA letter was sent to them, a testimony.
Speaker AThey're in an audience of 10,000 and people have divine healing.
Speaker AIn other Words, we don't always have to have hands laid on us.
Speaker AWe don't always like, healing is here for us.
Speaker AIt's when we believe.
Speaker AAnd so the mark 6, 56 says they begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
Speaker AInspiration must turn into activation.
Speaker AKathleen Johnson says in her book In Other Words, we can be inspired by a testimony, but we have to turn on the blessing or the promise of healing.
Speaker AHow do we do that?
Speaker AIt's by our belief, by speaking out loud and then acting.
Speaker AActing in the sense that God is doing it in us.
Speaker ARight, like the blessing is here.
Speaker AThe blessing is coming.
Speaker AAnd then remember as I talked about, about our words matter.
Speaker AProverbs 17:22 says, A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up bones.
Speaker AYour words matter, your thoughts matter.
Speaker AStop speaking death and life draining victimhood over your life, over your body, over your mental health, over your spirit.
Speaker AStart speaking that good medicine over yourself.
Speaker AStart speaking God's word over yourself.
Speaker AStop giving in to what is there now and start speaking life into yourself.
Speaker AOkay?
Speaker ASo in her book, Randy Clark explains how, like I said earlier, if we receive healing, it's not just for us, it's to share with other people so that they will build their belief, that they will know God will do what he says and does do what he says.
Speaker AHe will do what he promises.
Speaker ASo Randy Clark says, if given correctly, a testimony does not bring glory to the person healed, but to the healer in the name of Jesus.
Speaker ASo once again, we aren't just given healing for our purpose or benefits.
Speaker AIt's also so that other people come to Christ both for salvation, but also for healing which were promised.
Speaker AAnd then in Psalm 10:72, it says, Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.
Speaker AAnd it says in her book, she says three things that testimony can do.
Speaker AIt can be the seed right of hope.
Speaker AIt can be the sword, meaning that it cuts through doubt and unbelief and builds.
Speaker AIt builds us up to somebody that does believe, we believe it, that he can do it, God can do it, and that he will do it in us.
Speaker AAnd it's a signal that God still heals today.
Speaker AAmen.
Speaker AHe's always healed.
Speaker ALet's see.
Speaker ALet me just see.
Speaker AOkay, I already read that.
Speaker ALet me see what I haven't shared yet.
Speaker AAnd then many of you have probably heard of Christine Caine.
Speaker AI believe she's in the UK and she says she also had her own healing, miraculous healing.
Speaker AAnd then, you know, definitely with all of her ministry she does, she definitely speaks to healing and she shares her testimonies.
Speaker AShe says God is able to take the mess of our past and turn it into a message.
Speaker AHe can take our trials and tests and turn them into a testimony.
Speaker ANo matter what you've walked through, friends, no matter what you walk through, no matter what you're still walking through, no matter what sin you've done, because we've all sinned and are sinners, God can use it for his good.
Speaker AHe can turn it around and he can make it your ministry.
Speaker AHe can make it your testimony which will change lives.
Speaker AOkay, just a couple other things I want to share with you.
Speaker ASo in the same book I was referencing earlier, Kathleen says Jesus waits for us to believe an act of his word.
Speaker AIn other words, it's the faith plus action.
Speaker AAnd Andrew Murray, which is a big time healer that she talks about, says God grants healing to glorify the name of Jesus.
Speaker ALet us seek to be healed by him, that his name may be glorified.
Speaker AOh, and then I mentioned Maria Woodworth Etter earlier.
Speaker AShe also says this and it was so good for each Jesus.
Speaker AAnd hold on to God until the signs follow there is something wrong unless they do follow.
Speaker ADon't wait until you have any special gift.
Speaker ABelieve that you can do it and it will be done.
Speaker AAnd Andrew Murray also says God is ready to manifest the all power of his Son and to do it in a striking way in body as well as in soul.
Speaker ALet us ask great things in his name, and we shall see God do wonders by the name of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker AHow good is that?
Speaker AOh, and this was.
Speaker AThis is a really powerful quote as well by George Williams that says, in the spiritual world, God's truth will overcome any fact.
Speaker AHear that again.
Speaker AGod's truth will overcome any fact.
Speaker ASo good.
Speaker AOkay, so let's wrap up today's episode.
Speaker AOkay, so I just want to wrap up with a few additional thoughts.
Speaker AAnd one is a question that Mark Batterson shares in his book when his wife has gone through cancer.
Speaker AAnd it's that they've realized that sometimes a diagnosis, a problem, a health issue, or could be a mental.
Speaker AMental health issue is, what have you come to teach me?
Speaker AIn other words, is there a lesson learned or something that we're holding on to that we have to release before there can be healing?
Speaker ASo he says, when we face a problem, our predominant prayer is to ask God to change our circumstances.
Speaker AI have no doubt God can do that.
Speaker ABut sometimes the circumstances we ask God to change are the very circumstances God is using to change us.
Speaker ASo once again, about the healing or promises, right?
Speaker AAnd blessings that God wants for us, sometimes we have to change, right?
Speaker AGod's trying to change us before he can fulfill a promise or healing or a blessing.
Speaker AAnd so we still want to know that God can do these things and that he will in our lives, right?
Speaker ASo we want the belief and we want to believe him for it.
Speaker ABut obviously he works on his own timing.
Speaker AAnd it is not always a timetable that we understand, right?
Speaker AAs humans and in the world that we live in.
Speaker ABut in the spiritual realm, things are happening, but we do not always understand the timing of the spiritual world.
Speaker AOkay, I did allude to this earlier, but once again, what we believe is, so we have to believe God for the healing, but we also have to change our thoughts, as I said, because, you know, just like the whole, we need to hold our thoughts captive.
Speaker AWe need to be focused on good and worthy things.
Speaker AYou know, there's the scripture about that.
Speaker AI don't remember the exact scripture, but let's see.
Speaker ANatural Blondie was sharing about being sick, and then Then healing, finding, healing.
Speaker AAnd she shares some things that are really relevant about this.
Speaker AOne is if you believe you're sick, you will be sick, but if you believe you're well, you will be free.
Speaker AAnd she said healthy people that she noticed it wasn't about their biology, it was about their belief.
Speaker AThey trusted their bodies and they trusted themselves.
Speaker AThey expected to thrive.
Speaker AThey didn't attach meaning to temporary symptoms.
Speaker AThey allowed them to pass without fear.
Speaker AThey believed they were well, so they were, end of story.
Speaker AShe explains in her own journey.
Speaker AI started to heal when I stopped believing there was something wrong with me.
Speaker AShe says, the more I strengthen my belief in God, nature, my body and myself, the healthier I became.
Speaker AHealing is in your control.
Speaker AIt is a byproduct of your belief.
Speaker ASo once again, yes, ask God for the healing right, and for the promises and for the, the, the blessings.
Speaker ABut you also have to understand that he designed your body to be well, to be in a state that is healthy.
Speaker AMind, body and spirit.
Speaker ABut if we continue to taint it with unhealthy patterns, if we continue to be stressed and anxious at every turn, if we continue to believe we are sick, if we continue to believe we are the diagnosis, we cannot be healed when we do not believe that we can now be the well person.
Speaker AWe cannot be healed if we do not believe that our body is miraculous in and of itself, right?
Speaker AThe way it works, the way it regenerates, we have to believe God for it.
Speaker ABut we also have to believe that our body and our mind is capable of being well, of identifying as a healthy body, a healthy person.
Speaker ASo it's all tied together and we have to change our patterns and our habits.
Speaker AOf course, it doesn't mean God can heal us if we're doing things we shouldn't be.
Speaker AFor instance, we're not ever moving our bodies.
Speaker ABut we are meant to live in a rhythm and cycle, right?
Speaker AWith nature moving our bodies, not just being on our computers.
Speaker A247 hunched over.
Speaker ASo my point is, is yes, God heals.
Speaker AHe still performs miraculously miraculous healing.
Speaker ABut we also have action to take, right?
Speaker ABecause sometimes it's God's word and his divine healing that heals us, but sometimes it's doing what we can do.
Speaker ABecause God doesn't need to perform a miracle if it's within our power.
Speaker AMeaning if we start living in a rhythm in a way that God designed us to live, we stop living in a stressed out, over burdened, over busy, exhausted life.
Speaker AWhen we start changing those things, when we stop telling ourselves that we are a sick person, then we start changing, right?
Speaker AOn a biological level, on an epigenetic level.
Speaker ASo in other words, this can happen in more than one way, but we've got to shift our beliefs and who we are and who we believe in, and for what?
Speaker AAnd Robert second says something that kind of spoke to what I just said, but in less words, more succinct way.
Speaker APrayer is medicine.
Speaker AWorship is medicine.
Speaker AGod's word is medicine.
Speaker ABut then he goes on to say that also fresh fruit and vegetables are medicine.
Speaker AExercise is medicine.
Speaker AAlone time with God is medicine.
Speaker ASleep is medicine.
Speaker AIn other words, God gave us everything we need, right, to thrive.
Speaker ABut sometimes we need more than that, right?
Speaker AWe need him for divine healing.
Speaker ABut other times we just need to go back to what he's already given us, right?
Speaker AThe, the roadmap for being healthy and thriving, which is in the Bible, right?
Speaker AIt's doing all the things that, that said, prayer and worship, praise and thanksing, thanking him, time with God, silence and solitude, and then eating and moving in ways and sleeping that are healing to our bodies.
Speaker AYes, sometimes we need more than that.
Speaker ABut sometimes where we need to start is looking at our current patterns, our current thoughts and our current habits and seeing.
Speaker ALord, where do I need to shift?
Speaker ALord, where do I need to change?
Speaker AAnd where do I need your help so that I can change my patterns and habits and thoughts and beliefs?
Speaker AAnd I love what Cody Jefferson says.
Speaker AHe says, what if the miracle you're praying for simply requires movement?
Speaker AIt's that faith and action piece we talked about earlier.
Speaker AIn other words, he says miracles happen as people move in process.
Speaker AWhen you take action, when we've steward what we already have, he says some miracles won't happen until you move with what Jesus has already put in your hands.
Speaker ASo whether you're looking for a blessing or a miracle, a promise from God, sometimes he's asking us, just be faithful and move, right?
Speaker ASo that's the boy with the fish and the bread.
Speaker AWhen the disciples started passing those things out, it made more, right?
Speaker AThe blessings started when they started moving.
Speaker AThey started giving the food out.
Speaker AWhen the woman, the widow, had nothing, she believed her husband had passed.
Speaker AAnd she didn't know how she was going to pay the debtors and the collectors or creditors.
Speaker ABut it was when the prophet told her, what do you already have?
Speaker AAnd she had oil.
Speaker AAnd he said, go collect more vessels, right?
Speaker AMore jars.
Speaker AAnd it's when she started pouring, the oil, continued to fill every jar she collected.
Speaker AIt was in the action, it was in the movement.
Speaker AWhen the People that were sick and the examples and healed to heal.
Speaker AWhen people, in revealing the hero healer, when they went up in belief but took action to stand on that altar, when they asked someone out of faith and belief to put hands on them, they were taking action.
Speaker ASo it is through belief and then movement that God can really perform the promises and blessing and healing and miracles he wants to perform in and through you and so that he can use your testimony for other people.
Speaker ASo we have to fix our focus, right?
Speaker AFix our sights on Christ and then what he already shows us and promises us, right?
Speaker AAnd he didn't just do it then in the biblical times, he does it now.
Speaker AHe does it today.
Speaker AHe always has.
Speaker AHe's never stopped.
Speaker AOkay, the last thing I want to encourage you in, in this episode is this.
Speaker AAre we giving up before the breakthrough?
Speaker AAre we giving up before the blessing?
Speaker AAre we giving up before the promise?
Speaker AAre we giving up before we experience God's healing?
Speaker ASo Neil Brewer was saying, he shares a story that during the gold rush, there's a young man who thought he was looking for gold and he couldn't find it, and he just thought it was failure, right?
Speaker ALike he thought, oh, you know, there's no gold.
Speaker ABut he said, what if the young man thought.
Speaker ALet me say that again.
Speaker AHe said what the young man thought was failure was just unfinished.
Speaker AHe says, we as humans put deadlines to things.
Speaker AWe give it a due date.
Speaker AWhat if the breakthrough is only three feet away?
Speaker AWe see a closed door, we pivot, we move on.
Speaker AWhen a waiting drags on, he said, it's the story we tell ourselves in the middle.
Speaker ABut here's the thing.
Speaker AHe says it's the in between, space, impatience, trust is worship.
Speaker AAnd he just explains that when we try to force our way out of delay, we aren't following the God who led us there.
Speaker AAnd, you know, that's kind of the point is he's just saying, sometimes the miracle's coming, the promise is on its way, the blessing is there is movement.
Speaker AGod is aligning us for blessing.
Speaker AGod is working in us to have healing, but we get impatient.
Speaker AWe don't see it coming soon enough.
Speaker ASo instead of saying staying consistent, instead of having faith and belief that it is coming, that he has already done it, we stop.
Speaker AHow many times have you heard that story?
Speaker AIt's when somebody quit, they don't ever get the blessing.
Speaker AThey don't build the business, whatever the thing.
Speaker ABut it's the people that kept being consistent.
Speaker AThey kept believing God for the promise, no matter how long it took and then the breakthrough happens.
Speaker AThat is what we need to do, friends.
Speaker AWe need to keep going to God.
Speaker AWe need to keep discerning what he's trying to tell us and what lessons he wants us to see, what word, what scripture he wants us to be praying on, how he wants to use us in the world, how our story and hardship and how what he does in our lives, the goodness that's there, how he can use that and wants to use that testimony, and how he expects us to use that testimony for his good, for the glory of, of God.
Speaker ASo we just have to remember that this is a process.
Speaker AAnd today I really shared this because, like I said, in the fall, I shared a couple episodes about believing God for healing, believing God for miraculous and divine healing and breakthrough.
Speaker AYou know, I don't share those episodes all the time, per se.
Speaker AAnd then also this was just on my heart that this is probably one of the biggest challenges that most believers, at least in the US and maybe some other countries have, which is maybe we were told that God only wants to heal sometimes.
Speaker AOr some people, or we were.
Speaker AWe noticed or saw other people saying, well, you know, it was like lukewarm, like, well, God heals sometimes, right?
Speaker ABut.
Speaker ABut he doesn't always.
Speaker AAnd we don't know why.
Speaker AWell, that's not what he promises us.
Speaker AHe says he wants us all to be healed.
Speaker AHealed.
Speaker AHe wants us to have salvation, and he wants us healed.
Speaker AHe wants us a whole, the whole of us to be well.
Speaker AAnd so that doesn't mean if there's cases where we don't see people getting well that that negates God's promise.
Speaker AIt just means we don't know the whole story.
Speaker AWe don't know his timing, and we don't know what that person is holding on to that is blocking God's promise or blessing or healing.
Speaker ABut what I do know is fill yourself up with healing and blessing testimonies.
Speaker ARead more books by Christian authors.
Speaker ARead more books on topics of the things that you are struggling through.
Speaker AAnd if it's unbelief or doubt, start asking God to change your heart.
Speaker AStart asking God to put in front of you scripture and testimonies that will open you up to become somebody that has a fire and belief that God can and is and will do it in you and in the people that you love.
Speaker ASo like I said, I hope today is just.
Speaker AThere was something in this episode that just, you know, switched something on for you that made you maybe think about what is something that you need to look at in your own beliefs or your unbelief and what is it that you need to bring to God?
Speaker ASo like I said, I am no expert in this area, but it was on my heart and I just wanted to share some of the things that are in some of the books I've read about healing and about just believing God for His promises.
Speaker ASo I hope that it blesses you and until next time, I hope you have a great and I just wanted to remind you, if you haven't already joined my community, head over to KristinFitch.com you can grab one of my workbooks or devotionals completely free and then you'll get my weekly Faith Friday emails to just lift you up and help you just have a new perspective on your faith in all different aspects of your life.
Speaker ASo go grab that now.
Speaker AI can't wait for you to be a part of my broader community.
Speaker AIf you enjoyed today's episode, if you could leave a rating review on Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts, it helps the show get discovered by more people people so that we can continue to uplift and encourage people in their faith journey as well as all of the other parts of their lives.