Raised from the dead!! Praise God

http://www.charismanews.com/culture/49709-robby-dawkins-says-he-battled-spirit-of-death-to-resurrect-lifeless-man

Andrew Wommack Ministries Coming to DC Area in April 2015

This should be a fantastic 3-day conference on healing, deliverance and learning more about the grace of God!

http://www.awmi.net/meetings/washington15

Healing: Is this Faith or Fantasy?

"For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, "A father of many nations have I made you ") in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. " ~http://bible.com/100/rom.4.16-17

I'm held in place here by that last line - "calls into being that which does not exist." Wow - the Word talks a lot about calling into being, into existence, things from nothing into something. How can I believe that with a straight face? Particularly in a world of science and unbelief? Well, our spiritual father Abraham had the faith to move such mountains and put them into the sea...

"Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him," Mark 11:23 (and repeated in other places).

So is this Faith or is it Fantasy? Does Jesus really mean what he says here in Mark or is it just a metaphor? Well - let's look at his life in practice...

• Turning water into wine - transforming water molecules into grape and fermented molecules in vats of water so that it is the sweetest wine of the wedding. (John 2:11)

• Walking on water - either floating on top of the water so that he appears to be walking, or as the scripture says - he is actually walking on the water. He has done something to the molecular structure of either the water or His own body to allow himself to walk on the Sea of Galilee without making a big splash. (Matthew 14:26)

• Bringing life from death - This was manifest several times (I was at first going to write "performed", but I would not want to reduce our Lord to a circus act!). See here, the places where people were raised from the dead in the Bible by Jesus and others. 

So is it unrealistic for us to believe that Jesus (the Word become flesh) wants to heal today - especially when he said,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. http://biblehub.com/john/14-12.htm

Some will say - "you're running after signs and wonders!" No, my brothers, I'm only looking to fulfill the promises in the Kingdom here on earth that Jesus said we would do if we believe.

Abraham believed he could "call into being that which did not exist..." Jesus said, "he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do..."

Until next time...

Does the Word mean what it says? How can I believe that?

7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11If you then,being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 
Coming back to the topic of - does the Word really mean what it says? The verse above gives many folks a canker sore. In reality, I believe it's a matter of what kind of theology you've been taught - and believe. First off - I had to come to grips with the question to myself: "Am I a Bible believing Christian? Or a Bible-teaching believing Christian?"
I've begun to transition to believing the Word and start receiving the promises of what God the Father promises to me, rather than what my old religion taught me.
Once I started believing the Word at face value (in context, of course), then when the Word didn't line up with my personal experience, what was I going to do? Believe the Word or believe my experience?
I MUST filter my experience through the Word, rather than filter the Word through my experiences. 
So - does God the Father REALLY give good gifts to his children? Is He a better father than me? If I would never give my daughter a snake when she asks for a fish, then why would I think God would not do the same. 
Let's bring it down to what we hear in Sunday School. God allowed me to get sick so I could learn some important lessons.
Oooo -- a little too close to home, isn't it? "But! If I pray and plead to God to heal me and I don't get healed, then the sickness MUST be from God for Him to teach me something...right?"
What does the verse say - 11If you then,being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 

What does the Word say? Is the Word the problem? Is God the problem? Or is there something that might be blocking the showers of blessings? Think about it and post below.

Until next time...

The truth speaks...through your mouth

http://www.rhema.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1053:seven-reasons-why-every-believer-should-speak-in-tongues&Itemid=145

This is a very powerful article about the power of speaking in tongues to the spirit-filed believer. Tongues is only one of the outpourings of the Holy Ghost. When I'm praying for healing, tongues is a means of allowing the Holy Spirit to intercede for me to Jesus who is sitting at the right hand of the Father. Hallelujah! I'm not on my own, He is with me always, even to the end of the age!

A Fantastic Healing Testimony!

http://www.charismanews.com/culture/32059-miraculously-healed-muslim-lays-down-life-for-christ

A Condemning Heart Blocks Receiving Healing

"Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight." ~ 1 John 3:18-22

There are so many things that can stand in the way of receiving blessings in our prayers. The Lord wants to always say "Yes", (For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; 2 Corinthians 1:20) and He will say Yes, as long as we are praying the will of God, and that means praying His Word.

I was taught most my life that the Lord answers Yes, No and Wait - I've come to believe now that such a doctrine is a teaching that reduces God to a miserly parent who doesn't really want to give good gifts to his children as Jesus promised (Matthew 7:11) unless the child of God happens to hit the "answered prayer" lottery.

But I digress. In this passage, John distinctly says "whatever we ask we receive from Him." Again - as in The Power of Your Words- do we REALLY believe the Word of God? Does Jehovah Jireh REALLY want to provide "whatever we ask" to us? Either God is true and every man a liar, or this passage of receiving "whatever we ask" is not true.

What we fail to remember, at times, is that there are proviso's to us "receiving" God's Word in our lives through answered prayers. In this case, John says, "if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God" and THEN whatever we ask we receive. 

This is the challenge, is it not? That I can actually go before the Almighty One and ask confidently without condemnation in my own heart for whatever I ask and that I will actually receive it. (And, of course, there's another proviso - if you're praying the Word - you will be asking and praying before God HIS will and then He will answer YES.

Until next time...