If, when talking about God’s provision, healing, etc., you say “I know God can, but…” , you’ve already admitted that you don’t actually trust God.

Faith is choosing to trust God’s promises and counting Him faithful.  He is provider, healer, etc…it’s His nature.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
-Romans 12:2

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.  I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  - John 10:10

Jesus paid for sin and everything that came with it,  so if your life isn’t looking like Jesus paid for it,  it’s because something is trying to lie to you and steal from you.

If a thief comes into your house, do you just let him roam around and take and destroy whatever he wants and chalk it up to God’s will?  

In the same way, do not be complacent or tolerant of that in your daily life (mind, soul, body, finances…your life in general).

God gave you dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:26-28).  You have authority and power to be like Jesus on this earth (Luke 10:19, 1 John 2:3-6, 1 John 4:17).

Do something with what you have.

Repent means to change the way you think.  Renewing your mind is similar…renew your mind to the things of God (Romans 12:1-2), not the things of man.

Human logic can only get you so far.  Our God is a God of miracles and making the impossible, possible.

Make a conscious internal decision to change the way you think, because the truth will set you free.

The more people stay complacent and tolerant of the things of the devil (and a lot of people attribute the things of the devil to God because they don’t know any better [Hos. 4:6]), the more they will see destruction in their lives and the lives of the people they love.

So, all this to say:  Be empowered, trust God, do something.

You have Christ and the Holy Spirit that raised him from the dead dwelling inside you!

- Laura

“Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ.” ~St. Jerome

And please, if you don’t already know these scriptures….I didn’t put them here for me, they are for you to look up.  :)

Christ said IT IS FINISHED (John 17:3-5, John 19:28-30).

He redeemed us and reconciled us to the Father (Colossians 1:20, 2 Corinthians 5:18).

He became a curse for us and died for our sins (Galatians 3:13).

He bestowed on us abundant mercy and grace.  He gave us a new and better covenant.  God no longer treats us how he did in the Old Testament!!!! (Ephesians 2:4, Romans 6:13-15, Hebrews 8: 6-13).

He gave us all of himself and he lives in us (Galatians 2:20).

He also gave us responsibility on the earth before he comes back (Matthew 28:18-20).

You know all the suffering people out there, who are sick, diseased, dying, tormented, enslaved, etc.?  We get to help them because Jesus gave us all power and authority (Luke 9:1, Luke 10:19, Matthew 10:8, Matthew 11:5).

If your church doesn’t talk about that stuff–have you ever wondered why?

A lot of people like to say God causes sickness, or allows it, etc., to teach people character or whatever.

Those are traditions of men that make the word of God ineffective. (Mark 7:1-8).

I have good news for you–you won’t find Jesus leaving sickness on people to teach them something! YAY!

Just look through the life of Jesus in the Gospels–you won’t find him saying that stuff to people.

And Jesus certainly didn’t tell people whose family members died from sickness that “Oh, the Father just loves them so much that He needed them in Heaven..etc.).  He went over the house and raised them from the dead! (John 11:11, Luke 7:11-15, Mark 5:35-43).

And Jesus’ followers healed and raised people from the dead too! (Acts 9:32-43).

And remember…they were all regular believers, just like you and me!

Either Christ really meant it when he said it is finished, or he didn’t.  I’ll take him at his word.  It is truly black and white–no grey area to float around in.

I’ve never met a single sick person who isn’t bitter at God because they think He’s causing it.  They seem pretty upbeat at first, claiming to be thankful, that they’ve learned a lot, that they are happy, etc., but it’s all a front.

Deep down they hate it and are mad at God.  You can see it all over them.  They are in denial of their misery but are believing lies about God and feel powerless because that’s all they know.

People say, “Oh, it’s my suffering that God gave me.”  No, suffering in the New Testament is persecution (Matthew 5:43-45, John 15:18-25). Christians who are actually doing what God said will not be liked by everyone.

Plus, if it’s “your suffering”…suffer well and don’t take meds or go to the doctors!  Hmm…

If Jesus came to reconcile us…well…that doesn’t sound like reconciliation to me…that sounds like abuse.

When Jesus was walking the earth before his crucifixion, he healed people for the glory of God.  And everyone he told to do the same did so for the glory of God, even after his resurrection.

So what kind of glory does he get now when people are dying from the same stuff he and others healed?  It’s just common sense.

If Jesus healed people then…and told his disciples to do it…and then told them to disciple nations, teaching everyone everything he commanded them to do….then there shouldn’t be any question as to what God’s will is concerning healing and what we should be doing (Matthew 12:15, Matthew 4:23, Luke 9:1, Luke 10:19, Matthew 10:8, Matthew 28:18-20).

So, if there are sick people, guess who’s supposed to take care of it?  Us.  Why?  Because Jesus said “Go…you do it…I’m with you always…I live in you…and I’ve given you the Holy Spirit as your helper” (Matthew 10:8, Luke 9:2, Luke 10:9, Matthew 28:20, Colossians 1:27, John 14:16, John 14:26, John 15:26)

Type in the word “Heal” in the keyword search on Biblegateway.com (I use the NKJV) and you’ll see…yep, undeniable.  And then I already gave you other Scriptures about how Jesus taught his followers to do the same and teach others everything he commanded them (see above).

You will not fight what you tolerate or what you think God has given you. And if you were taught all this stuff about sickness, disease, and death, of course you would believe it, unless you actually looked at scripture, which is why I’m writing this.

God doesn’t give sickness if he heals it.  A house divided cannot stand..and God isn’t schizophrenic. (Luke 11:14-22).

The devil doesn’t like you….but Jesus does! (John 10:10).

It comes down to people not really knowing/understanding God and what he already did, what he gave us and what he told us to do.  And silly traditions and beliefs that are completely not scriptural are passed down from generation to generation because people don’t know who they are and what they’re capable of–they lost sight of themselves and Christ in them.

BUT…this is why I wrote this–to help you.

So please, look over the Scriptures, especially if you’ve never read them before, and see the Truth for what it is instead of stuff you’ve been told.

If you want to be a true follower of Jesus, look at what he said and did and do that…walk as he walked (John 20:21, 1 John 2:3-6).

And I say true because, unfortunately, there are a lot of people who call themselves Christians (all denominations, Catholics too), who really have no idea what it means to be a follower of Christ because they are so focused on tradition and ritual rather than what Jesus said.  It’s just a fact…I used to be in that position.

But, on a final note, don’t bring the Bible down to your experience–you are able and fully capable of bringing your experiences up to what the Word says.

Have an awesome week!

- Laura

What is love?

What does it REALLY look like?

A lot of people talk about it, say you have to walk in it, that you should tell people that Jesus loves them, etc.

But do they really know what it means to walk it out?

Love is not all about emotions.  Yes,  there are romantic feelings and such, but I’m talking about agape love–unconditional love which is compassion in action.

Love is not about “I like you” therefore I help you.  It’s not based on emotions and feelings.

Do unto others as you would have them do to you.

If love and compassion are really in your heart, you will do something.  Pretty simple aye?  It’s just an overflow of your heart.

It’s the love of Christ that compels you.

1 John 3:16-18 says, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.“

Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

I’ve been thinking about this phrase a lot lately, “Love looks like something.” Heidi Baker talks about it.

Here are some quotes from one of her messages:

“There’s something about the Good News that is tangible.  Love looks like something and we need to know what love looks like.”

“We need to carry radical love.  We don’t just jabber…who wants to hear jabbering?  Unless we’re carrying the love of Christ Jesus, we’re not carrying anything that means anything.”

“People don’t want to be handed a tract. They want to know what love is. The whole world is looking for love. They want to know what it means to love and be loved. They want to know what it means to know that God is their Papa, that they are His Beloved.”

“Here’s Jesus—he saw the crowds. What does that mean? He looked at them in the eyes.  He didn’t just see a big multitude and look above them all and just speak.  He saw their faces, he saw their pain, he saw their need, he saw their anxiety, and he saw their sin.  He had compassion on the crowds.  He had authority to do something.  Compassion without power is a very sad thing.”

So, what was the love of Jesus Christ?

Action.

Yes, he preached, but he also demonstrated power and compassion.

There’s a lot of people out there who could care less about doctrines, opinions, “turn-or-burn” or “pro-life” signs with dead babies on them, etc.  There’s a lot of people, young people especially, who really don’t care much about church because there’s nothing there for them.

It’s been dry, uneventful, powerless, condemning, and full of man’s traditions.

I don’t blame them for not going.

They are looking for something tangible, not just words and religious traditions.  And they don’t really care what you have to say.  It’s meaningless unless you can back up your words with action and demonstration. If you’re going to talk about the Kingdom of God and his goodness, you better be able to back it up with tangible proof and action.

I know too many people who stopped going to church altogether and who would rather associate with being agnostic or atheist because there was too much hypocrisy in their church and not enough people actually acting like Jesus and doing what he said to do.

During the spring semester of my sophomore year at a Catholic University I was miserable and wanted to quit school.  I told God, “There’s got to be more to my life and my faith than this.”

I got healed of depression right after that and then I got saved and started searching Him out. There was a lot missing in my walk with Jesus and I was determined to find out what it was–I was looking for something real.

I was looking for the REAL Jesus, not this distant guy I heard stories about for 15 minutes on a Sunday morning.

People are looking for something real too, and Jesus has empowered US to show Him to them.

If people are thirsty, love looks like water.  If they are hungry, it looks like food.  If they are homeless, it looks like shelter.

If someone needs a friend or someone to talk to, it looks like quality time and a listening ear.  If someone is messing up, it looks like correction and advice.

Love doesn’t always feel good.  If you were crossing the street and a truck was coming towards you and I ran and pushed you out of the way, it would probably hurt.  You might even break a rib or two.  But I just saved your life.  Why?  I care more about the preservation of your life and those who care about you than I do about whether or not you will enjoy the method in which I just saved it.

And sometimes love corrects, rebukes, and even gets in your face and says, “HEY! You’re better than that!”  Or  ”Hey, those are lies you are believing, let me show you the truth.”  You may not like what I have to say, but you’ll thank me later.

If someone is sick/diseased or injured, love looks like physical healing.  If they are being emotionally or mentally tormented, love looks like deliverance.  If they’ve died prematurely, love looks like being raised from the dead, etc.

Jesus went about, setting everyone free (Acts 10:38), and He said, “Now follow me.”

1 John 2:6 says, “He who says he abides in Him [Christ] ought himself also to WALK JUST AS HE WALKED.”

God has empowered you to deal with sickness, depression, financial circumstances, etc.

You are royalty and have been given dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:26-28, Luke 10:19) and over your life to live like Jesus and treat people the way you would want to be treated.  Jesus came for us to be reconciled to him and the Father.  And it’s vital to let people know who don’t know yet!

If you’re not excited about Jesus, what he did for us, and what he empowered you to do on this earth, I suggest you figure out why that is.

What have you been taught?  That you need to do a ton of stuff to get God’s love if you are a Christian?

That’s a lie.

You are a saint, completely righteous and holy.  God doesn’t remember your sin (2 Cor. 5:19) and there is nothing you could do that would separate you from his love (Romans 8:38-39).

His love is unconditional.

‎2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

What else…that healing and miracles don’t happen today?

1.) That’s not what Jesus said (Matthew 10:1-8, Luke 10:8-9, Mark 16:17-20, John 10:37-38, John 14:12)

and

2.) I’ve seen them happen over and over.

Why? Because I believe God to be who He says He is and I don’t let situations override his promises.

He’s taught me who I am and that through my hands and faith, He heals.

So many people ask, “Why would Jesus heal people then but not now?” They ask it because they’ve had situations in their lives that make them feel like God either doesn’t care, that he allows it, etc.

And all it really boils down to is that Christians stopped following Jesus.

In Matthew 10:8 Jesus says, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

Matthew 28:18-20 says, “And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”

Mark 16:17-18 says “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they WILL recover.”

These signs will FOLLOW those who believe–if you are a Christian (yes, this includes Catholics too), you should be looking like Jesus in everything he did.  He cared for the poor, He spent time with people, He healed people, He taught and discipled people, He delivered them from tormenting spirits, He raised the dead.

Jesus is LOVE personified.

James 5:14-15 says, “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer of faith WILL SAVE the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.”

Remember, you have the spirit of the living God LIVING inside of you!

If the ‘elders’ in your church aren’t doing this, perhaps you might want to bring up that passage of Scripture in James to them and find out why?

Romans 8:11, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

You have been equipped to be a solution for every problem people face because it is no longer you who lives but Christ who lives in you (Gal. 2:20) and you are now one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17).

Love looks like us being just like Jesus to all of those around us and showing them every aspect of His life through us.

So GO!  Set people free with the power and love of the resurrected Christ in you!

“In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him.” – 1 John 4:17

In high school when I played basketball we started training and got in shape before the season started.  We didn’t wait until the first game to start training, and we were in constant contact with our coaches before and during the season.  We practiced our plays,  worked as a team, and listened to our coaches to be the best we could be.  We took note of the tactics and plays of the different teams we would be playing, making sure we knew what was needed to win.

My basketball coaches were not the ones playing the game–we were.  They were cheering us on, as God does when we’re doing his will.  Christ through us is what gets the job done.  And it’s not about focusing on the enemy, but we should know about him and what he does to people so we can shut him down. He is already defeated, so we function out of victory!

Christ lives IN us–we have to exercise our faith like a muscle by doing the Word of God and following the commands of Christ to be the best sons and daughters we can be.  We cannot wait until something bad happens, like if someone close to us becomes ill, before we learn how to actually deal with the problem.

There are too many situations where people call on God at the last minute when they really need him, like when someone is dying, and expect their pretty much non-existent relationship with him to fix everything.  We need to understand our authority and who God called us to be.

He said, “Go! (Matthew 10:8) YOU heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons, take care of the poor, the homeless, the widows, etc. etc. etc,” (‘You’ is implied, meaning YOU heal the sick with Christ flowing through you!) and the list goes on.

Jesus died for us, saved us, set us free, healed all of our sicknesses, gave us all of him and his authority, so it is NOT okay to let the enemy steal from us just because we are unprepared for battle and don’t even understand how to fight! There are too many people dying out there to be unaware and complacent.

It is essential to be trained by the Holy Spirit and to be in constant communication with God and not talk the talk if you’re not walking the walk.

Calling yourself a Christian doesn’t mean anything unless you actually do something with your faith. Read the Bible, find out what God says about himself, about you, etc., so that you know what your salvation means and what you’re called to do.  The Holy Spirit will guide you into all Truth.

If all you do is let people spoon-feed you at church one hour on a Sunday, you will not get it.  Babies drink their mother’s milk, mother birds chew and digest the food before they regurgitate it to their young.

Hebrews 5:12-13 says that you should be able to teach people what you know, but you are unskilled in the word of righteousness, making you like a baby who drinks milk, not solid food.

I love babies, don’t get me wrong, but bear with me while I expand on the metaphor: babies are needy, helpless, and incapable of doing anything for themselves. They rely completely on other people for their every need. They whine, they cry, they need to be entertained, and they fall asleep shortly after they eat. The reason babies drink milk and baby birds have to eat previously digested food is because they cannot digest anything more than that.

If you cannot digest the word and only rely on people to spoon-feed you, you will not grow and your spirit will not be able to handle meat–the Word and doing the commands of God.  You are only a disciple and friend of God if you do what he commands (John 15:14), and not doing it out of obligation, but because you know and love him as your Father.

If you are born again, you are a new creation living under the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.

When people say things like, “Oh, well I’m not called to missions or praying for the sick…” or  “I’m only an intercessor…” or  “If God wants me to do that He’ll change my heart,” that’s just a cop-out for being lazy and disobedient.

God’s already created a new heart in you when you decided to partner with Him.  Your heart is willing and ready to do God’s will.

The thing that needs renewing is your mind (Romans 12).  If your mind is telling you something contrary to Scripture, do not assume God went back on his word or that it’s okay to put it back on Him like He’s holding out on you and didn’t change that particular part of your heart.

He did that already, now you need to draw near to Him and get your mind on track with your heart, the heart of God.

—Laura

We just got this email from my wife’s aunt from when we visited her church in Colorado (a few weeks ago) and were asked to pray for people…full testimony of a woman’s leg and ears getting healed!  Doctors have verified it and we will be putting up the verification as we are able to get it.

The video testimony is directly below here—the e-mail below that is what has happened since this video was taken.  She sent it to her pastor and it made its rounds to us.

To download the 5 pictures of the doctor’s report that confirms her healing, click here!

————————

“While you were in India, I felt impressed to join the Prayer Team at the front of the sanctuary and pray for people who needed special prayer that Sunday morning (almost 3 weeks ago). I had taken a sabbatical, as you know, for quite a long time from the Prayer Team as well as being a Guest Specialist until I had fully recovered from my many injuries, surgeries, etc. of this past year. But because of how God spoke to me through Pastor Jason’s message, I knew it was time to “get back in the race.” What a joy it was for me to intercede for others!!

On my way out of the sanctuary, I was stopped by some young people I’d never met before. I had forgotten that Pastor Jason had mentioned a healing team from California being in the prayer room for those who needed healing prayer.  They asked me why my right foot was in a boot. I told them about dropping the computer monitor on it over Memorial Day weekend and crushing it.  It had really been throbbing and painful all day Saturday and I was feeling discouraged that I’d have to wear the boot for another month, according to my doctors.

They also commented on my hearing aids and asked how long I’d been wearing them.  I told them for 11 years and that my hearing was so bad, my audiologist told me I had the hearing loss of someone in their 70′s (back when I was 50!). The young people asked if they could pray for my hearing as well as my foot! I told them I didn’t think anyone had ever prayed for my hearing before and that it would be fine if they wanted to do that.

They sat me in a chair and the leader of the group lifted both feet up towards him and told me one leg was shorter than the other.  I told him it was probably from months of limping around funny in both boots at different times.  He said, “Watch this!” As he prayed a very short but direct prayer for healing, we watched my right [leg] grow longer right before our eyes!! I didn’t remove the boot until I got home because I didn’t have an extra shoe with me.

But when I got home, I removed the boot and haven’t worn it since.

Then the young people prayed for my ears.  The young man snapped his fingers over each ear and said, “Be open in the name of Jesus!” I didn’t feel anything or notice a difference until he asked me to please remove my hearing aids. So I held them in my hand while he walked behind me and told me to “repeat after me”!  Pastor Peter, he was halfway across the Sanctuary when I turned around and realized I could hear him whispering to me!! I haven’t worn the hearing aids since that Sunday either.

The only person I told at work was my boss, Dan, who’s a Christian.  He kept trying not to cry on that Monday morning.  He believed me but suggested I contact my audiologist and get a hearing test done so I’d have proof for those who didn’t believe me and thought I was a kook!

My audiologist has been on vacation but I saw her this morning at 7:30 and she did a thorough audiology test in the little booth they use.  Half-way through, I could hear Linda sniffling and I knew she was crying.

She kept saying, “I can’t believe this! I just can’t believe this!” I not only scored 100% on the high and low sounds she played in both ears while I punched the button to let her know I could hear them, I also was able to repeat every single word back to her without missing any of them. I’ve never been able to do that before.

Linda came into my booth and asked me to tell her again what happened to me at church a few weeks ago.  She took my chart and told me she had to show my test results to Dr. Reiner because he would never believe it! But she was so disappointed he wasn’t at work yet, she grabbed the billing lady and brought her in and asked me to repeat my story.  The billing lady was a Believer and just kept grinning at me and said, “I believe! I know God can heal people today!”

Linda was crying and said, “Well, I’ve heard of things like this happening, but I just never saw it until today, and I’ve been an audiologist for years (She’s even a “Doctor of Audiology”)! I just kept shouting, “Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!” Linda told the billing lady that I had started losing my hearing from all the scar tissue caused by my Dad’s beating for so many years when I was a little girl.  It was inoperable and their fear was that someday I might lose my hearing totally!

Linda said she’d write up a report and mail it to me along with copies of my past tests to show the comparisons between then and today. I just couldn’t wait to share this wonderful news with you, Pastor Peter.  I haven’t told anyone but my boss because I wanted to wait for the report to prove what I’m sharing is true.  Isn’t God good?

Please let the staff know and whoever else you might want to share this awesome news with and rejoice with me at God’s goodness. He truly is a miracle working God and I want the whole world to know!

- Jayne”

We are always surrounded by people with good intentions.  Some of those people truly mean what they say and accomplish their goals, while others sometimes fall into the habit of not being able to follow through for whatever reasons.  Perhaps it is because they do not have good boundaries and are just trying to be nice, never actually planning on doing what they said.

Or they truly want and mean to do something, but in the end have their priorities mixed and cannot make commitments.

In any case, we have all fallen short, but it is extremely important to say what we mean and bring it into fruition—“let your yes be yes and your no be no” (Matthew 5:33-37).  To honor and love others has to be our #1 priority—if we only ‘talk a good talk’, we will soon find ourselves being dishonoring and untrustworthy to everyone around us, including our very close family and friends.

We cannot let ourselves fall into that trap—it is the total opposite of the character of God.

I recently read a book called The Noticer by Andy Andrews.   The book is about how circumstances can drastically change by simply changing one’s perspective.  In the book, the main character, Jones, aka “the noticer”, was talking to someone about intentions.

He gave this example: “If five seagulls are sitting on a dock and one decides to fly away, how many are left?” Well that’s obvious–four, right?  No.  There are still five left; just because one of the seagulls made up its mind to leave doesn’t mean it actually did.

Jones goes on to say, “Despite popular belief, there is absolutely no power in intention. Have you ever considered how often we judge ourselves by our intentions while we judge others by their actions?  Yet intention without action is an insult to those who expect the best from you.”

That’s quite a sobering statement.

If we make up our mind to do something, tell others of our intentions, but end up not carrying them out, how can we be trusted?  It really comes down to loving and honoring others, getting our priorities straight, and acting with the utmost amount of integrity.  And if we fail in honoring someone by not doing what we said we would do, let us be honest enough to tell them our choices were wrong—because after all, we always have a choice in what we do.

So, how do we go about walking this out?  Well for starters, we need to get our stories straight.  No matter how nice we sound when we say we will invite someone over for dinner,  it will leave a bad taste in their mouth when they think about how you never did invite them over.

Also, I would like to stress how important it is to keep each other accountable.  We are to lovingly judge by a person’s fruit—what are our lives producing, love and honor, or disrespect and lack of integrity?  Are we not our brothers’ keepers?  Would you not rather confront someone who is acting in a way that is dishonoring and unloving than let them continue down such path?

We are to help each other, not tear each other down, and if anything it will give a little perspective into situations that can bring about healing and reconciliation.  Confrontation is not a bad thing if carried out correctly.

And so with a final quote from Andy Andrews’ book, I hope you were able to gain something from this note…

“Most folks figure a true friend is someone who accepts them as they are.  But that’s dangerous to believe.  A true friend holds you to a higher standard;  a true friend brings out the best in you.  A best friend will tell you the truth…and a wise best friend will include a healthy dose of perspective.”

~Andy Andrews–The Noticer

I wanted to put up what I wrote today that was in response to some people who were questioning if a girl really got healed (and yes, she did, see for yourselves–the video of the girl’s leg growing out!). I’ve heard a lot of people respond to seeing healings like, “I believe God heals, but not like that.” Or “I don’t think He needs to prove Himself by doing it that way.” Or “I have met a lot of “Christians” who claim they have healed people or have experienced these great things, but I would like to have seen it myself because I at least I could have known for sure if it really happened.” Stuff like that.

So…here we go…

If God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, you’re putting Him in box if you think He will do otherwise. I don’t think I’ll ever stand before God in Heaven and hear Him say, “Laura, you just believed in me too much. I’m good, but not that good.” He LOVES doing stuff like in this video—because the girl is now pain-free and in a healthy physical state, full of joy and the love of God! She had a love-encounter with God, how awesome is that?! Her specific needs were met simply because God loves, and He loves all the time. This moment of rejoicing is not and never will be tainted by finger-pointing and disbelief—God is bigger than that. The testimony of this healing will lead others to get healed, too!

If you want a healing on your terms, well, you will probably be waiting…and waiting…and waiting. It’s kind of like if you were looking for something you lost even when it was right under your nose—it was there all along, but you just never saw it. Skepticism and being “the devil’s advocate” (yeah but…yeah but…) are choices that not only validate your own doubt, but also sow doubt into other people, which is dangerous for new Christians to witness. If there is a healing or miracle right in front of your eyes and you STILL choose not to believe, you will walk further and further away from God and His truth. I urge you, seek truth! And investigate things in order to prove them true, which is the biblical method, rather than investigating them in order to prove them false.

And if you must appease your mind, go with someone to the doctors who noticed a difference or got healed to make sure something has changed or was healed. HOWEVER, if you focus on and allow your skepticism and doubt to rise every time you encounter a healing or miracle, that’s exactly what you will believe, REGARDLESS of what actually happened. You will see what you want to see.

Those who believe a lie will be offended by Truth.

If you see a healing and are offended by it, it’s because you believe it should not happen or that God cannot or will not do it. God is so much bigger than that!! Jesus did miracles for specific reasons–big and small–to show that He was sent by God and to love on people. Do you think He stopped doing miracles to appease the people who were doubting Him and asking for a sign on their own terms? Nope. Have you seen a leper? Jesus healed them–I bet he offended a lot of people with that one, because in their mind, that’s not supposed to happen. How about when Jesus spit in mud and rubbed the slop in a blind guy’s eyes…how do you think people reacted to seeing that? How would you react if you saw that today? Jesus offended a lot of people by just doing what He saw His Father doing. He also called people out when they were being doubtful, even his own disciples, and He was not always nice about it—confrontation doesn’t have to be fluffy and nice to have love at the core.

Jesus gave us the keys and the authority over every sickness, disease, demon, work of darkness, etc.–we have been commissioned.  This means we actually have to believe and do something with this authority, which is what these people did in this video.  And so we rejoice.

An entry from my journal written on July 29, 2009 at 4:45 a.m.

“Tonight my husband and I were warring because the devil was coming against us. I was extremely fired up and went immediately into the shower. I was calling out to God and then was yelling (in a whispers since it was 4:30 a.m.), saying “the battle is not mine, it’s the LORD’s!”, “I trample on snakes and scorpions and nothing by any means shall hurt me or my husband!”, among other things about my authority and how the devil has come this far and no futher….anyway, it was really powerful. I got out and as I was drying off I took a few steps and felt this weird lump under my foot and realized that whatever it was had become stuck to my foot. My first reaction was simply “ooh man, what is thaaat,” like I was annoyed, and then I rubbed my foot on the carpet to get it off. I didn’t have my glasses on so I couldn’t see what it was, but I definitely didn’t think it was one of my LEAST favorite bugs. It was what I have referred to since childhood as  ”a 1,000-legger”….those nasty centipedes that look little something like this:

My interactions in the past with these bugs have been them chasing me in the bathroom or in the kitchen (we have been getting a ton of them plus huge carpenter ants in our apartment because of the massive amount of rain we have been getting lately (INVADERS!) I have always been extremely uneasy when they have been around. They seemed to run too fast to catch and then I have ended up calling Ryan to kill them for me. But tonight I TRAMPLED on him, and God spoke very plainly to me after I realized what I had squished (again, I couldn’t see it because I wasn’t wearing my glasses and I had to lean down to get a good look). At first I was like “EW!” and then I was like “COOOOL!!… and I’m not afraid!” It was really neat to see what I had just felt in the Spirit happen in the natural. I did a pretty good job on him too—tore off a bunch of legs and he was completely lifeless. So after I washed off any guts from my foot, , I started getting a little more revelation about what had just happened. Basically, God wanted me to know that I have great authority in the Spirit–my words are WEAPONS! I had known that previously, but it was cool to have Him show me in a very personal way.  It was really encouraging.

Since then, I have seen myself grow leaps and bounds in confidence and in my identity. I have realized that I am a mighty warrior, especially now that we have been in going to Bethel in Redding, CA. I have seen God do many miracles by my obedience, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

I say all this to encourage people who are not sure who they are yet in Jesus Christ. Some of you may be going through a tough time with figuring out who you are and what your purpose is. You’ve got the devil on one hand being accusatory and condescending, asking “who the heck do you think you are?!” and God on the other in a fatherly, caring tone, “Who do you think you are?” If you entertain the thoughts of the devil, you will be stuck and feeling worthless because your focus is not on Jesus, the Hope of Glory.

As Kris Vallotton says, you will find that in the battles you face the Lord is doing a work in you and the devil doesn’t like it. Most likely the battles come when you have entered into new territory (healing the sick, art, whatever it may be). There had been demons there trying to keep you from your destiny and it’s a struggle to kick them out. It may be a stuggle for a while, but all the devil is trying to do is scare you from your pursuit of the promised land (your giftings, etc.). –See Kris’ message called “Spirit Wars”.

Remember, Ephesians 6:10 says, “¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,  against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

As Kris also says, the battleground is in your mind, but the battle is the manifested thoughts, or “fiery darts,” that the enemy brings. Speculation and reasoning is a spirit, so don’t talk or entertain it by letting it come and sit down at your kitchen table to have tea and crumpets. DO NOT let reasoning override the revelation and truth you know about God and His Goodness. DO NOT interact with the voices that tell lies to your emotions and that try to control you and make you anxious. A thought from a spirit is one that will compel you to do something for a split second that is totally not in your nature (flaming arrow). After, they accuse you of having those thoughts in the first place and you you end up feeling even worse–REJECT those feelings! When you are vulnerable and in battle you cannot trust your emotions (which makes up your soul). Your spirit, where God resides, is the only part of you that you are able to trust in these situations–so seek the truth of God!

Kris also says that in the season of wilderness and battle, when all of your strength is gone and you are weary, remember that God is your strength and understand how LOVED and PROTECTED you are…..because your Dad is bigger than the devil and He can do anything! God wants you to lean on Him through everything….so let Him take care of you!

Keep your eyes focused on God and His Word, for it is truly the only way to survive.

This is a clip from an interview Laura and I had that was on Cornerstone Television (www.ctvn.org).

Check it out!

The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy, BUT Jesus came that you may have LIFE in abundance…which means: Jesus wants you to live in FREEDOM, not in/under oppression! Take authority over sickness and disease of all kinds in Jesus’ name (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual)! Command it to leave, command healing. It’s all over the New Testament. God gave you the authority to command it to leave. Jesus bore your sin and sickness at the cross because He LOVES. In 1 Peter 2:24 it says that by HIS stripes (when He was beaten before He was crucified), you WERE healed; it’s yours, now. Today is the day of salvation!

Sickness, disease, etc., is not something that just happens; you don’t have to live with “the cards you are dealt.” Some believe that God gives sickness because it’s good for you to suffer. If that were the case, you shouldn’t get any kind of medical help, because, of course, you should suffer and learn your lesson (note my sarcasm)! Also, some believe that God is trying to make you suffer to teach you something and thus gives you a sickness/disease. In this case, it would be a good idea to throw your child into oncoming traffic to teach them not to play in traffic because hurting them is the only way to teach them or make them humble…right? NOPE. God isn’t a mean Daddy who is just sort of floating around in the clouds, not loving you like He says He does…and why would Jesus go around healing ALL who were oppressed by the devil? Jesus said in a response to those who were accusing Him of doing the works of the devil that a house divided can’t stand, meaning satan can’t cast out satan (and that God DOES cast satan out)…

Matthew 12: 22-26: 22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” 25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?

Note: God can teach you something through whatever you are going through because He is the Almighty God and can turn anything around for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). However, it is never His will for you to be sick; He doesn’t need to hurt you to teach you something. The devil enjoys making it look like God doesn’t care about you or that He is mean, which drives people away (exactly what the devil wants). Also, God doesn’t have sickness, so how can He give you something He doesn’t have? It’s simple–He can’t! God=GOOD, devil=BAD. Like stated above, what did Jesus and his followers do every single time they saw a sick person….they healed them! Note: they weren’t motivated because they hated the devil, they were motivated out of love and compassion.

Mark 16:17-18 says:
17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” —> The authority God gave us!

God loves you and He DIED so that you may live! Jesus took back the keys and gave them to us! So start walking as a child of God in the authority that He gave you.

Be healed, be free, in Jesus’ name!