PAIN OR GAIN

PAIN OR GAIN

“Ow! It hurts,” I moaned. My hardhat felt too tight and my head throbbed. Even my eyes hurt. I’d taken a couple ibuprofen but it wasn’t working so I complained out loud until I caught myself. If my head was going to stop hurting, I had to change what I was saying.

I repented and instead of saying what I had, I called for what I didn’t t have--healing. I said, “The Bible says by His stripes I’m healed. Head, you’re healed.” I called for what I didn’t have. That’s how faith works. Faith calls for things that are not, so that they come. It's like calling my cat. If I call, “Here kitty kitty, he doesn’t show up. But if I call the right thing, “Here Snickers,” he comes trotting down the hallway. The right things to call for are in the Bible.

Sometimes we start off good and we find a scripture or two that fit what we are calling for, but then we get distracted and let it go by the wayside and the problem returns. That's what happened to me. I started paying more attention to my head hurting than to the healing I was calling for.

I made myself stop and told myself, “You’ve been healed. Healing come here now, in the name of Jesus Christ.” I started to get distracted again so I gave my head a little swat with my hand and commanded, “Listen up. Stop hurting right now. I’m calling you healed by the stripes of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is in charge here, not you.” The pain went away and has never returned. The presence of health replaced the pain. God’s Word puts it this way: God has “chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought [zero] things that are” (1 Cor 1:28).

When it comes to the Bible we sometimes have trouble with calling “those things which be not as though they were” (Rom 4:17). But there are many things we do in every day life to call things in before we actually see them.

For example, you’ve been told there’s a Christmas present for you. You haven’t touched it yet nor actually seen it, but you’ve been told it’s there and you fully expect it. It works the same with God’s gifts from the Bible. If He says we have a present of protection (Psalm 91) then we do. If He says He has health for us, then we can call it to us.

Hebrews 11:1 says: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” What do we hope for? We hope for all the things God’s gifted us with. Second Peter 1:3 says He “hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” It’s our job to first do a little research to find them in the Bible then exercise our faith to receive them. We CALL for them. Jesus said, “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might SAY unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you” (Luke 17:6). From this passage we see that “Faith Says.” I heard this morning an insight from Charles Capps: If you throw it into the sea, it could come washing back up, but if you plant it, it’s staying there. We plant it with words, God’s words. That’s how my head pain was. It never came back and that was several years ago.

God's promises of good health, freedom from disease, financial abundance, and good relationships—these are just some of the things God's provided for us. Second Corinthians 1:20 says: “All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen.”  Amen means “so be it.” It's up to us to call the gift ours then follow the breadcrumbs the Lord Jesus gives, to get to the right results that are especially made for us. And as Peter found out: “God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34-35 NLV). What God has made available for one person is available for any other person because He loves us all.

God only intends good for us. Any evil is only temporary and subject to change. Things change because we have Almighty God on our side. Jesus, His son, showed us how to use faith to call in any of the presents God’s already told us He has for us. Enjoy your presents this Christmas!

PS: It’s not too late to order my book for Christmas or even the New Year. Just go to Amazon and look under my name. There’s something there for you.

Love, Carolyn