Divine Healing

Divine Healing
Margaret D. Mitchell 
Hebrews 13:8 -Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
One day, when I was working as a flight attendant, a male passenger stopped me and asked for a bag of ice. His face appeared distressed, and I could see that he was in pain. I asked him what was the matter, and he said that he had just had knee surgery and that he had run out of pain medicine. At that moment, I knew that God had put me in this man's path for a purpose. So I promptly walked into the galley, scooped a bunch of ice into a plastic bag, spun the top around and lifted it up to God. I asked God to take away the man's pain and to heal his knee expeditiously. Then I gave the makeshift ice pack to the man and continued to serve surrounding passengers.
I kept an eye on the man, and after I finished my service, I approached him again. I could tell from the look on his face that he was still hurting. Indeed, he confirmed that some of the pain was gone, but not all. He explained that he had experienced several injuries and surgeries on his knee from playing years of tennis.
As I stood in the aisle listening to this man's story, I felt a righteous indignation rise up in me. I simply could not stand to see him in pain. And I felt strongly compelled by the Holy Spirit to pray for this man. So I asked him if I might do so. I believe it was out of sheer desperation that he agreed. So he removed the ice pack, and I knelt in the aisle, right in first class, which was full of on looking passengers. I began to pray softly, out loud. I was uncomfortable with everyone staring, but I continued to pray because I knew I was to step up, be bold, share the heart of Jesus and do what Jesus would have done for this man according to the gospels.
When I finished praying, I looked up at the man, and I asked Him how his knee felt. He slowly opened his eyes and smiled carefully. Then a surprised look appeared across his face, and he said quietly, "All the pain is gone." He smiled big, and he asked me if it was magic. I shared with him it was the healing power of God and that the Father of the universe loved him with an everlasting love so great that He didn't want him to hurt anymore. The man's eyes began to well up with tears. And I asked him whether he knew Jesus. He replied that he was "a non-practicing Methodist." As I began to explain to him about having a personal relationship with Jesus, I wondered whether this man had anyone else to pray for him. Just the thought of the possibility that he might not broke my heart, and I was reminded, once again, that my higher purpose in my workplace was to reach out to others with the heart of Jesus.
What a perfect mission field our workplaces are! When we consider that fulltime workers spend at least 50% of their waking hours on the job, it makes sense that we Christians are to show up for more than a paycheck. The miracle of healing is one way Jesus demonstrated His love for others and boosted their faith throughout the gospels, and He still does today. Hebrews 13:8 tells us that God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Healing opportunities abound, and they are not all physical. Sometimes they are emotional or spiritual.
Ask the Lord to show you who among you is in need of healing, and ask Him to enable you to meet that need through His healing power. You could find that the people He identifies may not have anyone else praying for them.

Grace is Always the First Word

Grace is Always the First Word
Pastor Marvin Williams 
The film Amazing Grace chronicles William Wilberforce as he endeavors to end the British transatlantic slave trade in the nineteenth century.
Wilberforce had made an earlier visit to his old pastor and friend John Newton. Newton was a former captain of a slave ship prior to his conversion to Christ, and Wilberforce was hopeful that Newton would give an account of his slave-ship days. Newton, however, refused to do so, because the experience and the "20,000 ghosts" haunted him too greatly.
Now, near success in ending the slave trade, Wilberforce visited Newton and discovered that he had recorded his account. His eyesight now gone, Newton said to Wilberforce, "You must use it. Names, records, ship records, ports, people -- everything I remember is in here. Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly: I'm a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior." It was apparent that John Newton had recognized the depth of his sin and opened the door to experience God's amazing grace in his life.
entire families, committed murder (at least with a gun or a knife), or grand larceny of the human kind. Yet when I think about what we were, we were just as far from God as Newton was before he became a follower of Jesus.
According Romans 5:12-21, we were natural born sinners. We were born in Adam, born in sin, and born condemned. We came out of the womb saying no to God and his purposes for our lives. We were dead in our sins and trespasses. We lived according to the passions of our sinful nature. We were, by nature, children of wrath.
We were liars
We were thieves
We were cheaters
We were swindlers
We were adulterers
We were idolaters
We were greedy
We were disrespectful
We thought we were God.
We lived like practical atheists
We were angry.
We were jealous and envious
We were drunkards
We were ungrateful
We were enemies of God
We were rotten to the core
There was nothing grimmer than our Pre-Christ hopelessness. But God.
In Ephesians 2:4, however, Paul uttered the greatest phrase of hope and grace in human speech: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, But God, . . .made us alive together with Christ-- by grace you have been saved"
God showered his grace on us, and this grace flowed from his loving heart, not based on anything we did to deserve it. When we believed in and embraced Jesus as our Savior and Lord (which was an act of grace) - God gave us new spiritual life within. Praise God!
Therefore, our response to this amazing grace is another word that is built on the word grace, "thank you." God gives us something that we don't deserve, so he can get the desired responses, which are praise and thanksgiving. Grace is always the first word and "thank you" should always be the second.
Today, spend some time thinking about God's amazing and saving grace.

Is Healing For All?

Is Healing For All?
Dr. Frederick K.C. Price 

There are seven scriptural methods whereby you can receive your healing.
I believe the prayer of faith is the highest form of prayer to receive healing.
In Mark 11:24 Jesus said,
Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray,
Believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Well, is Jesus a liar or does He tells the truth? He tells the truth!
He says, "Whatever things you ask...."
Wouldn't that have to include healing? Yes, it does.
Therefore, it must be God's will to heal. Otherwise
He could not make that kind of bold declaration.
"Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray"
-not after you pray, not a month later, not when you see something,
not when you understand it, but "when you pray,
believe that you receive them, and you will have them."
If you believe you receive them you will confess that,
"Bless the Lord-I believe I am healed,
I believe I have received my healing."
Now, once you make a faith confession
you are going to get opposite from the enemy.
His motive is to move you off your faith confession.
Someone might say...
"Yes, but you don't look like you are healed."
I didn't say, "I look like I'm healed," I said, "
I believe that I received my healing."
"Yes, but how do you feel?"

"Bless God, I am not going by how I feel-
I am going by what I believe-and I believe
I am healed, in Jesus' Name."
"Yes, but that doesn't make sense."
"That's right; it is not sense, it's faith."
"Yes, but that's illogical."
"You're right again; it's not logic, it's faith."
"Yes, but I just don't understand that."
"I don't understand how it works either,
 but I believe it is true because God said it in His Word."
Listen friend, I don't understand how television works,
 but I believe if I turn it on, I can watch a movie.
The fact that I don't understand
how it works does not stop me from enjoying
the benefits of watching my favorite TV programs in living color.
I don't understand how a gasoline engine works.
I don't understand how it works inside without blowing up
the whole thing. Instead of blowing up it pushes
a piston down that drives a crank-shaft that turns
 a drive-shaft to the rear wheels that turns the wheels
when you put it in gear that moves the car forward.
I don't understand it, but I could care less-all
I want to know is that when I turn that thing on and put it in gear,
it is going and that is all that I'm concerned about. How about you?
I don't know how an airplane stays up in the sky,
as big as a 747 is-that thing is gigantic. How does it stay up in the air?
 The good news is that I don't have to understand it to
get on the plane and fly from Los Angeles to Hawaii or
somewhere else. All I have to do is believe the plane can fly me there,
get on board and go. After all, that is what you want anyway-the results-right?
Praise God! You don't have to do any more than believe that
you receive your healing based on the Word of God and you shall have it!
Is healing for all? I believe that it is so.
I believe that I can walk in divine health all the days of my life.
I believe and confess that I will never be sick and I'm not being presumptuous.
 The Bible says in Psalm 91:1, "
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall
abide under the shadow of the Almighty."
I believe I'm right in there under His right wing-right up under that wing.
 God Himself said in verse 10, "...
No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling."
 Whose dwelling place is God talking about?
My dwelling place because I am under His shadow of protection.
What is a plague? Isn't that sickness and disease?
God said, ""...No evil shall befall you,
nor shall any plague come near your dwelling."
Well, I guess God lied. No, He is not a man that
He should lie. He went on to say, in verse 16,
 "With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.
" Praise God! Healing is for all.
Oh, that's not to say I'm not attacked. I'm attacked.
The devil just sits like a blood hound-every morning
I wake up he's sitting right on the foot of the bed.
Sometimes he throws that dart the right way,
but it doesn't stop me and it won't stop me because
 I'm being strong-not in Fred Price-but I'm being "
strong in the Lord and in the power of His might."

The Spiritual Test

The Spiritual Test
Dr. Michael Youssef

We can all remember our school days when we were faced with exams.
We spent all day in school-and still we panicked when it came to test time.
Why? Perhaps it's because our time in the classroom was only one part of the learning process. The other part was time at home engaging with the material through homework, worksheets, and flashcards-all designed to prepare us for exams and to make sure we had a grasp of the material and were headed in the right direction.
The exam brought panic because it was the culmination of all of our hard work and the measure of our direction and mastery of the material.
These exams and tests were for our benefit.
They measured our growth, highlighted our strengths and weaknesses, and guided us to the paths we should take.
The same is true of our spiritual lives. We face tests and exams on a spiritual level, but they count for greater consequences because the results of these tests are indicators of our eternal future.
We must examine ourselves with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and always be ready to be tested. Always being ready for exams is foundational to a positive life in Christ. Throughout 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul wrote about all that God taught him and what gave him power to live positively in Christ in the midst of fear, trepidation, imprisonment, and flogging.
In his conclusion to this letter he says, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!" (2 Corinthians 13:5, NASB).
The Corinthians of old fell into the trap that some of our modern educators have fallen into today. If students are not keeping up and succeeding in school, some believe that the standards must be too high-so they lower the standards. The problem is that lowering the standards and changing the curriculum doesn't insist on accountability.
When we refuse to examine ourselves on a regular basis we are taking God's grace and salvation for granted. But don't miss the fabulous news: In this test that the Bible talks about, we can be always a success. Even those who fail the test can succeed.
If you examine yourself on a daily basis and find that you are in the faith, then you will be overjoyed by His grace and mercy and will give God the glory. But if you examine yourself and find that you have moved away from the truth, then God has given you an engraved invitation to repent and to return to the truth.
God promised in His Word to receive anyone who turns to Him. The moment you come face to face with the reality that you have departed from the faith by sinning gravely and you repent, God in His grace and mercy receives you. He embraces you. He forgives you. He restores you. You are, again, overjoyed by His grace and mercy and give God the glory.
Either way, God is glorified. Examine yourself.