So my Listening Prayer blogs #1&2
are all about me listening to God and then trying to do His will. Most
recently this has looked like me trying to walk in the gift of healing
that God granted me when I asked Him for it.
Two Thursdays ago I prayed for my
friend who had a chest cold. He had been asking God to increase his
faith and then came down sick. There is a lot of discussion about why
we might get sick (and please feel free to let me know your thoughts on
the matter) but I think that in this case he was sick because he was
holding onto doubts of God’s power and God wanted to grow him out of
that phase. In retrospect, though God does not make us sick, God used
this sickness so that we could pray for him and for his faith to be
increased through his healing.
Last Tuesday I prayed for another
friend who was also sick. Now besides them both being sick, I couldn’t
help but notice the umbrella theme of claiming God’s promise that he “heals all your diseases.” Ps 103:3
To both of them, and now to you, I
feel compelled to share the need to personally claim God’s power in our
lives. Even though God has been confirming the power He allows me to
call upon for healing, there cannot be healing without faith. If one
does not believe God can do it, will it still be done? So, the first
thing I did with both of them was to tell them that they were no longer
sick, they were HEALED and they needed to claim it for themselves. If
we continue to say “I’m sick” when people ask how we are doing, we are
allowing that state to cover us.
Free yourself from yourself and
proclaim that you are healed. And it doesn’t just need to be the word
“healed” when we preach God’s promises to ourselves we are keeping the
answers to all questions before us. Interchange the word “healed” with
redeemed, forgiven, clean, WORTHY, LOVED…
God has claimed so many things over
us, I just get really excited to claim those things for myself and
would love to hear the things that others claim for themselves; it is
so encouraging. God is unique to each of us and has brought us from
different places, but He is always the same and He sings over us.
“‘The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in
you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with
singing’…’At that time [he] will gather you; at that time [he] will
bring you home. [He] will give you honor and praise among all the
peoples of the earth when [he restores] your fortunes before your very
eyes.” Zephaniah 3:17 & 20
