Category: Have faith in the One Who heals

Help my unbelief


The father in Mark 9:17-27, the father of a young boy with a demon came to Jesus asking Him to drive the demon out of his son. He said his disciples couldn’t do it but when he asked Jesus “If He could” do it, Jesus responded with, “If I can? Anything is possible for those who believe!” Then the father said that he believed but he needed help with his unbelief. In other words, he had faith but it was weak. Many of us are in that same situation today and sometimes we place our “faith” in things rather than the Person of Jesus.

Some people use handkerchiefs or anointing oil to give people some “thing” to believe in but God told us long ago not to place our faith in anything but to keep our faith and our spiritual eyes focused on Him. We have a Savior, Jesus Christ, Who is the Son of God, that is Who our faith should be in and in Him alone. Jesus finished the work that God sent Him to perform on the cross and it was by the shedding of His blood that our sins have been forgiven. We can do nothing to add to it or “help” Him in any way regarding our salvation.

Sometimes, life throws some pretty hard punches our way and they can cause us to question our faith. When sickness or a death in our family breaks our resolve it can be hard to keep our eyes on Jesus and keep our faith in Him alone but with prayer and seeking His strength in the Bible, we can do it with His help. David wrote many Psalms seeking God’s protection and strength and we have to seek Him in our time of need as well. Life is hard at times and the world around us will not help us…but God will and He is always as close as a prayer.

Hobbled, but not done


I broke four of my toes on my left foot yesterday afternoon. Now, I’m getting around with a cast on but I’m not done yet. God still wants me to work and post for Him and for you too. Life is not over, I’m just having to move a little slower these days.

He is working on healing the fractures and I’m still putting His message out here so people can read what He gives me to say. God is good even when things go a little sideways. Job got through His ordeal and I will too. Thankfully, I haven’t lost everything the way he did but I’m used to getting up and walking without problems or a cane. I guess I’m going to have to slow down and be a little bit more careful from this point on.

God provides for our provisions in this life as long as we live according to His commandments and follow Jesus as your Savior. There is nothing that can stop you when Jesus is your Savior. He is on your side when you have given your heart to Him. It doesn’t matter if my legs are broken or my foot is broken, I will be in His house to worship Him regardless of the pain or difficulty. God loves you more than anyone on this Earth could ever love you and He cares more about your little problems than you do.

Give your heart to Jesus and follow Him for your life and it will be more than you can ever manage or imagine. You may not be wealthy in this life but your home in Heaven has been built by the Creator of all and the road going to your home is paved with gold. His authority is over every sickness and ailment in our lives and everything in the universe does as He intends and tells it to do. My fractures will be healed and I will be walking without these implements before my birthday on November 1st.

Dip yourself in muddy water


There is a story in the Bible about a general in command of a country’s army but he had leprosy. Thankfully, it was in the beginning stages though. He knew it was a death sentence but he found out that there was a prophet in Israel who could pray for him and heal him.

Naaman, commander of the army of Syria, was a mighty man of valor but he was a leper. His wife’s servant girl told him of the prophet, Elisha, in Israel that he could be healed if he went to him. In 2 Kings 5, the story tells about how he got a letter from his king to be healed and he took many gifts for the prophet with him. Here is the story beginning with verse 5:

So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”

8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. 12 Are not Abanac and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?” 14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Why am I putting this story here? Because, sometimes God asks us to do things that are outside our comfort zones. Not because He likes to make us uncomfortable, but because we need to trust Him in our uncomfortable places no matter where they might be. Regardless of the place that God places you in, He has a plan and a purpose for you and the place you are in. Will it bring a healing or some other miracle into your life or someone else’s life? Only God knows that answer. Go to that uncomfortable place that He is sending you and in faith believe that He will accomplish His purpose…whatever it may be.

A lament of Job


It stood still, But I could not discern the form thereof: An image was before mine eyes, There was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants; And his angels he charged with folly: How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Which are crushed before the moth? They are destroyed from morning to evening: They perish for ever without any regarding it. Job 4:16‭-‬20 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/job.4.16-20.KJV

Job had lost everything, even his health, but he would not blame God for it. He praised God in that he didn’t blame Him for all that had happened, but he also asked many times why this was happening. His integrity and his faith in God never waivered.

This is the kind of faith all of us should aspire to. I don’t want to go through what he did in order to have this strong faith but studying God’s Word should produce in each of us a steadfast and unshakable faith that will carry us through all of our trials.

What is faith?


Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Each of us has a “measure of faith”, how big that measure is has been determined by God. He gives our faith to us, whether we use it for His purposes or call it “hope” and use it for our own purpose, it is part of our salvation process. Because without faith we can’t please God and without faith, we won’t recognize our need for salvation, so we have to have it in order to be saved in the first place.

Abram believed in God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Faith and belief go together because if you don’t have one you won’t have the other. It takes faith to believe the promises of the Bible and to believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior. Some say that the Bible can’t be true but it is. It is the most truthful book in our world because all of the prophecies about Jesus were fulfilled in Jesus the Christ. All of the prophecies about the Jewish people have come true except their having peace in their land and that will come true after the Tribulation.

Why did God ask for Isaac?


In Genesis 22 God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, his firstborn son of his old age. Why? Many people, pastors included, preach that it was a test of Abraham’s faith and it was but there is another reason. The firstborn belongs to God, of animals and men, if the firstborn is not redeemed by another sacrifice then they must die. Now, today the sacrifice could be service to others or service to God. My mother prayed to God that my life would be used by Him when I was a baby. She told me that she dedicated me to God when I was born. When she told me this many years ago, I didn’t want to know what it meant and I didn’t really care because I was angry about the way that my parents were in court fighting over child support.

It took many years for me to realize what she was saying, but since I became a pastor I have learned what the phrase “first fruits” really means. In Abraham’s case, Isaac had not been redeemed by the sacrifice of an animal so when Isaac got old enough, he was around twenty years old at the time, God asked Abraham to sacrifice him on the mountain. I’m sure that didn’t make Abraham very happy. In fact, he likely did not sleep much during the night prior to the trip.

But his faith shows up even before they make it to the mountain. When he and Isaac leave the servants with the donkeys or camels that they were riding, he told them that “I and the boy will go to the mountain yonder and worship and we will come again unto you”. Abraham had the faith to believe that if God allowed him to sacrifice his son of promise, then God would raise him to fulfill the promise that He had made about Isaac and his descendants. Because God had made that promise and He would have to raise Isaac from the dead if that promise was real!

The promise was real but God didn’t have to raise Isaac from the ashes of sacrifice, He provided a substitute for Isaac just as God provided a substitute for our sins in His firstborn Son, Jesus. Many of the Old Testament saints and prophets looked forward to His coming and they saw Him and rejoiced. Have you come to know Jesus as your Savior and Sacrifice for all of your sins? All that we have to do is have enough faith in God and in Jesus as our Savior believing that He gave His life as a ransom for each of you. He redeemed you just as the ram in the thicket redeemed Isaac many years ago.

Give your life and your heart to Jesus because your life needs to be redeemed. If you don’t then your life, your eternity will be in hell with Satan and the rest of the people who rejected Jesus as their Savior. That is the only sin that leads to an eternity outside the presence of God.

Faith, what is it?


Have you ever wondered what faith really is? Faith according to the Bible is defined by this:  Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

In Ephesians our faith is part of the equation which brings us to salvation through our Savior: Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

Also, without faith it is impossible to please God in anything that we do: Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

When God calls you or me to Himself through the conviction that we need Him, He gives us the faith which we need to believe in Jesus for our salvation. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the faith which is necessary to bring us to that knowledge. It is a gift of God to us so that we can effectively believe in the promises which He has made to us in Scripture. That is what Biblical faith is.

We have faith in gravity or in our heart to keep beating and to keep us alive, yet we don’t usually acknowledge it. We have faith that the sun will rise in the morning, not gifted to us by God but because it has always come up each morning. That is faith in things which are seen. Faith in things which are not seen but are hoped for with a conviction that we will have them one day is the faith which is spoken of in the Bible.

This kind of faith cannot be proven or shown to anyone who doesn’t believe in God or Jesus or the Bible because it takes faith to believe in those things. If you don’t have it, you can’t get it except by belief in Jesus and His atonement for your sins and you won’t believe that unless God gives you the faith to do so!

I know, it is a spiral which goes from faith to faith to faith but if you have it, you’ve got it and if you don’t then unless you are seeking Him, you won’t get it then either.

Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.” Reading God’s Word and seeking Him in it will bring you into a closer walk with Him so enjoy His Presence in your life by cultivating a friendship with God. He is always present with you so treat Him as a treasured friend and talk to Him, walk with Him, seek His advice and act on His advice that is given to you.

By faith in Him and through Him we can conquer any problem in our lives, so make sure that you seek Him and His Son’s friendship while you can. Life only lasts for a little while, so make sure that you are friends with the Author of Life!

Faith is powerful!


Acts 3

1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; 3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. 4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. 5And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. 6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God: 10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

Peter had preached the sermon on the day of Pentecost just before this healing event occurred but what made this healing special? The lame man had faith. He didn’t know Jesus, but he was expecting something from Peter and John. It is that expectant faith which brings the miracles of God into our lives! Some of us who have given our hearts to Jesus and asked Him into our lives and our hearts have faith because without it we wouldn’t have felt the pull on our hearts to come to Jesus.

But many times our faith is tested in ways that we don’t recognize as a test and we don’t expect anything from that experience. We go through it and we may pray for God to give us the strength to get through whatever it may be, but we don’t expect a miracle from it. But…we should!

While the lame man was actually expecting money from Peter, it was that attitude of expectancy which brought his miracle into his body. He expected something, anything from Peter and when Peter said “in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk”, he did! He expected something and he got more than he expected from the encounter.

So, why don’t we get miracles today? Some say it is because miracles only happened at the beginning of the church age. I think it is because of our stubborn hearts and minds which have been “programmed” to discount things which science can’t explain. But miracles do happen today. Some of them are part of a medical treatment or surgery which God uses to bring a miracle into that person’s life. Which allows doctors to see that their treatment works in concert with prayer and faith.

Some of the doctors may not see the recovery as a miracle but there are times when a healing happens and the doctor can’t explain it because it happened through his treatment but not because of the treatment. In other words, the doctor wasn’t expecting a healing in this instance but the patient and their family were and God honored that. I imagine that many of these miracles happen more often than we realize. They just happen in the background and unless there is faith involved the healing might not have happened at all.