What these OSAS teachers fail to see is that true saving faith turns a person from sin and produc es good works. Jesus tells us that those that love Him are those that keep His commandments. John 14:15
Yet we have false teachers telling people that you can still love Jesus and not obey Him or keep his commandments. In fact acording to these teachers you not only don’t have to obey Him but you can turn your back on Him and even deny Him, and acording to these false teachers “Jesus will still not deny you”. Yet Jesus himself said, “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 10:33
Today when any man or woman of God stand up and begin quoting scripture, warning the ungodly and disobedient professors of faith that they need to repent, and turn from there sins to be saved, all of a sudden you hear false teachers stand up and yell legalism. They will yell “we are saved by grace not by obedence or works”. Then they will go on to tell you how you are condeming people and bringing them into bondage. I thought when someone was living in sin they were already in bondage!
What these once saved always saved teachers fail to see is that true saving faith turns a person from his sins and to producing good works. We have to remember that there are “works of the law” which can not save you, “Works of the flesh” which will dam you, and works or fruits of the Spirit which is the evidence of saving faith. All three of these works are spoken of by Paul and we know what works he means by the context the word is used in. There is a world of difference between works and sin. Works is trying to earn your way to heaven by doing good deeds or obeying the cerimonial laws, like circumcision, holydays, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days. Colossians 2:14-16
I think this next quote will help clear things up a little better.
“Here we need to make a distinction between the Laws of Moses and the 10 commandment, moral law. Does the Bible lend itself to that perspective? Absolutely! The 10 commandments were written by the finger of God (Ex 31:18) on tables of stone. The ceremonial law, also called the “book of the law” (Deut 31:26), was written by Moses hand (Deut 31:9). The 10 commandments were in the Ark of the Covenant (implying that they should be internalized) while the ceremonial law was placed on the outside (Deut 31:26) (indicating that they were imposed in a civil manner, not as intrinsic moral issues). The ceremonial law was the structure for the theocracy of Israel. It was not moral law, but rules to support the nation. Many of them are not bad ideas, they are simply no longer binding for the Christian.” Patrick Fagenstrom, 10/03
Author David Hunt says, “Falling away” doctrine makes us worse off after we are save than before. At least before conversion we can get saved But after we are saved and have lost our salvation (if we could). We can’t get saved again, but are lost forever. Hebrews 6:4 declares, “If (not when) they shall fall away... it is impossible (vs. 4) ...to renew them again unto repentance.” That “falling away” is hypothetical is clear (vs.9): “But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak” so “falling away” does not “accompany salvation.” The writer is showing us that if we could lose our salvation, we could never get it back without Christ dying again upon the cross. This is folly.”
For David to say that that verse is hypothetical is ludicrist. The bible has many warnings about falling away that are very clearly not hypothetical, including the above one just quoted.
Lets look at the one above first,
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” Hebrews 6:4-6
First the writer is not speaking hypothetical, he is giving a very clear warning. But then he goes on to say that he is persuaded of better things. Meaning “but I don’t think this applies to you”.
Here is the same verse in another translation for ferther clarity.
“For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come — and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.
Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation.” (Heb. 6:4-10 New Living Translation)
Someone that was once enlightened and has experienced the goodthings of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit would have to have been someone that was save. It is also obvious from the fact that they had already repented of their sins, for the word says “to bring such people back to repentance” proves that they had repented in the past. So Mr. Hunt is very wrong in this passage of scripture as I will show other scripturel warnings also.
Peter warns, “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.” 2 Peter 2:20
Breaking down this verse we can see that,
1. The person was saved because the scripture very clearly says that “they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” They were freed from their life of sin, for the word goes on to say, “they are agin entangled therein, and overcome,” speaking of falling back into a life of sin. The verse goes on to say it will be worse for them at the end than from the begining.
Now if they were hell bound sinners at the begining how could it be worse for them at the end if they could never lose their salvation. Think about this, what could be worse than going to hell a a sinner? The answer is going to hell as an enlightened sinner. Meaning you knew what was right and you rebelled against the truth of Christ. Those that resist truth will not only receive the greater damnation, but will also buy into the biggest lies. God will give those that want to believe a lie a strong delusion so that they may be damed. Rom. 1:18-32
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.” God has writen his word so that a child if he want’s truth can find it. But many because of their love for sin, or for those that have loved ones in sin will suppress the truth in their own hearts so as to not to turn people off. They refuse to exept and read the scriptures for what they really say and twist and destort scriptures to fit their world veiws.
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
No one will be able to pleade ignorant. History, science and Holy Scriptures have made it so very clear for those that wan’t truth.
vs.21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Many people after holding on to sins for so long become dull to the Spirit’s convicting power. Eventualy if the sin is not confessed and forsaken it becomes such a strong hold that the person actually believes that God is aproving what he or she does. The mind at this point becomes very hard if not imposible to reach with the truth. For truth was rejected and because of this their mind became darkened and defiled.
vs.26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
This is were there is no more shame in sin. Men turn to men, women to women and eventually if sin is aloud to run it’s course these defiled adults will turn to children and animals. They do not see there wickedness for God has given them over to their lust and evil desires. Others may not turn to perversion but other sins. They may become thieves, slanders, trublemakers, athiest, drunkerds and the like. Sin has taken their souls. When they continue in sin when they know the truth is a very dangerous folly.
“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
Heb. 10:26-29
This verse should strike terror into all those that are playing around with sin that are confessing the name of Christ.
In 2 peter 2:21 goes on to say that , “It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”
Common sense tells us that if someone does not know the way of righteousness he does not know Jesus. How can this verse say that it would be better to have never known Jesus or the way of righteousness then to turn from the commandments that were given to them. This vers very clearly teaches that a person can turn away from Christ and be lost.
Paul warns in Romans that if we do not continue in Gods goodness that we could be cut off.
“For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.” Romans 11:21,22
If we could never lose our salvation, why would Paul warn the Christians in Rom about the dangers of falling or not continuing in God’s goodness.
Satan has succeeded in making many people that have no heart for the things of God, to believe they are still saved. Many think just because they said a prayer many years ago they will never lose there place in heaven. Yet they have no desire for the word of God, no desire to obey the Lord and no desire for prayer, and yet they think they will be welcomed in heaven. Some of the arguments that once save always saved proponents are,
1. Jesus saves and forgives us all our sins. “and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7
But this vers they take out of context for their is a condition to the above verse. That condition says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” vs.7 This is the condition, meaning if we don’t walk in the light (obeying what you know), the blood of Jesus will not cleans us from our sins.
What does it mean to walk in the light? This is walking in truth or walking in the Spirit, for it says we have to walk as Jesus does. This is why John goes on to say that, “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he (Jesus) walked. 1 John 2:6
When we walk in the light as he is in the light, we will walk even as Christ walked. What are these verses saying? We will follow Jesus, we will obey him, live like him.
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” John 10:27,28
Who has eternal life? Those who hear his voice and follow (obey) him. The once saved always saved teachers say that “you don’t have to follow Christ, just believe in him”, or “You don’t have to obey, just believe.” They will quote Colossians 2:13 “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,[a] God made you[b] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,” The OSAS teachers will say “you see all our sins are forgiven past, present and future.”
If that is true why do we have 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Seems like this verse is just a wast of space if we don’t need to repent of anything anymore. They say that “God has cancelled their sin debt completely.” God has even coverd there “falling away” sins or backsliding. Of course these false teachers can not back up their doctrine with sound scriptures. They must twist and ignor mountains of opposing scriptures to make the word say what they want it to say.
Colossians 2:13 can not mean that all sins no matter how you live are forgiven, because in the very next chapter Paul warns the same people he was just writing to that if they don’t put to death the deed of there flesh, they will receive the wrath of god.
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.” Col. 3:5,6
2. Another argument that OSAS use is that they say we can never lose what God gave us. The verse they stand on are,
“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” John 10:28 This verse again, they take out of contet for the verses right above it states that true christians hear Gods voice and they follow, or in other words obey him. vs. 27
So these verses are conditional. Meaning if you will turn from your sins trust in Christ and follow Him instead of your sinful nature you will be saved. Many OSAS teachers will scream “that is legalistic you are trying to be saved by obeying the law.”
Here are a few analogies to help you see what true love for Christ will do. If a man marries a woman and vowes to honer her, and protect her, love her and to be with her his hole life we call that true love. Yet when a Christian follows and obeys Christ because of a stronger love, the OSAS teachers cry out “your trying to win your salvation by works” and yet if you see a man cheating on his wife, beating his kids and cheating on his taxes as long as he says he believes in Christ, these same teachers will say “He’s trusting in God’s grace.” How blind can people be?
We consider ourselves free here in America, yet we have all kinds of laws in our country to keep us safe. Yet I don’t see Americans yelling and saying to there government, “we don’t need laws against murder,” or “we don’t need laws against rape.” Why don’t we see this? Because the laws are not there for the law abiding citizen, but for the law breakers. If someone were to stand up in our country and yell, “those laws are to confining,” how much do you want to bet he is planning on, or would like to break one of those laws. The 10 commandments only feel legalistic to those that want to break them, not to those that walk with them in their heart. A true Christian loves the law of God, he delights in it.
“I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” Psalm 40:8 He obeys it not out of legalistic motives (If I don’t do this I go to hell) but because he loves God and wants to please Him.
“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” John 14:15
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” John 14:21
“He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” John 14:24
It is very clear that those that love Jesus obey Him, and those that don’t love Him don’t. Just like the man that really love his wife will not cheat on her, if he does not love her, he in all likely hood not be faithful to her.
We are faithful to Christ by abiding in Him through His word, prayer and obediance to Him.
3. Another thing that OSAS proponents will stand on is “It’s a free gift and it can’t be earned.” another scripture they will misquote is, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23
So they say if it’s free, then there’s nothing you can do to earn it and nothing you can do can cause you to lose it.
The question is what is the gift? Everyone would agree it is eternal life. What then is eternal life? Is it a passport to heaven with the same demonic dna that you had to begin with? The Word tells us that if we are born of God (or born again) we will not live in sin anymore. The old man has died, the new man is born. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 Someone that is truly born again will begin to walk with God’s nature in him. He will turn from all known sin.
“We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.” 1 John 5:18
Hebrews 5:9 tells us that eternal life or salvation is to those who obey Christ. Romans tells us God will render to every man according to his deeeds. To those who obey and do well will receive eternal life. Again, this is not works that we are talking about, but real fruit of a blood bought child of God. There are so many scriptures that speak of obeying God. The word says if you don’t obey you will receive indignation and wrath. Romans 2:8, 2 Thessalonians 1:8. The word tells us that judgment is to begin in the house of God, and if it starts with us what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel. 1 Peter 4:17
I have never seen a person that smokes be fully baptized with power yet. The word says the the Holy Spirit is given to thos that obey him. Acts. 5:32
Evan though the OSAS say that eternal means no begining and no end, just remember that Lucifer had eternal life in him and he turned away. Remember God word says that, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that naturea will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Gal. 6:7
The word is clear, if we sow or walk in the spirit we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Galations 5:16
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” Romans 13:14
“Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24
“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. … Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” Matt. 10:1,8
What did the disciples receive freely? What was it that caused the disciples to be able to heal the sick and raise the dead? Power! It was the baptism in the Holy Spirit that Jesus prophesied would come after his death and resurrection. “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49 Then Jesus told them what he wanted them to do. He told them to, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Mark 16:15-18 The word tells us that once we are born again and filled or baptized in the Holy Ghost we will be able to heal the sick, cast out devils to prove or confirm His word.
We receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit the same way we receive healing. Ask. It’s that simple! “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Luke 9,10
Here Jesus is telling us that every one that ask will receive. Are you an everyone? Yes! He tells us to ask, and then he tells us that we will receive. This Is the word of the Lord. In Mark the Lord tells us that if we have faith in him we will be able to command a mountain to move and it must. He tells us that if we ask anything in his name, believing, that is believing the answer is on it’s way, we will have it. One of the problems with those trying to get healing is they are always looking at their body, feeling for symptoms. W.V. Grant a mighty faith teacher in the early 1900 says, “Ignore symptoms after a touch from God and complete deliverance is yours.”
We are people of faith now. We walk by faith and not by sight. Our faith is our eyes. We cast down all that opposes the word in our minds. Faith to us is just as real as any other of our other five senses. Just because you can’t see the chair your sitting on does not mean it’s not there, you know it’s there because you can feel it under you with your sense of feel. In the same way just because your other senses have not picked up on the fact of your healing, it is there nonetheless.
“No person who allows his mind to be ruled by his senses can have victorious faith. The mind that is ruled by his senses lives in a realm of uncertainty. Until God’s word gains mastry over your mind, your mind will be swayed by feelings and by the things you see or hear, rather than by the word of God.” F. F. Bosworth
As children of God we have to realize that we “We live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Cor. 5:7 We have been redeemed from this fallen world by one greater. His name is Jesus. The word says that all those that believe in him (Jesus) were given the power to become the sons of God. John 1:12
What does that mean to the average Christian? It means you walk like Jesus down here. We are a dwelling place for God, a habitation. We walk in his fullness. We are members of his body, flesh of his flesh and of his bones.
Ephesians 2:22, 3:19 5:30 If we could only realize who and what we are in Christ. We are dead to sin and alive to God. Sickness does not have a holed on us anymore. We have the law of the Spirit quickening and making us alive with power and life. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2
One time when John G. Lake went to Africa the bubonic plague broke out. People were dying all over the place and John G. Lake was praying over the sick that were there. When the doctors got their they asked Mr. Lake why he was not sick, and he told them because he walked in the law of the spirit of life. They thought he was crazy but could not figure out why he was not getting sick. So they took a sample of the bubonic plague and put it under the microscope it was still alive, but when they placed it in Mr. Lakes hand and then put it back under the microscope it, the plague was dead. The disease could not live on Mr. Lakes body because of the anointing of God on His life. If we can believe God will fill us in the same way also. If you are born again, you are redeemed. Sickness has no more claim to you.
We know that all the fullness of God dwelt in Jesus, but many of us don’t know that we are complete in Christ lacking nothing. If someone says something is complete. They are saying that is all of it. There is nothing left to add. The word says in Colossians that we are complete in Christ, which is the head of all principality and power. Col. 2:9,10 Think about that for a second. You have all of God you will ever need. If you ask God for more of Him, He will say were am I to get more of me? You don’t just have the pinky toe of God due you? No! You are complete in Christ. You have enough power in you to raise the dead, kill cancer, cast out devils or mental problems and heal all manor of sicknesses and diseases. Do you believe that? It is the word of God. People are always waiting on God. For God to give them some kind of sign that he is with them and has given them the power of the Holy Spirit. Smith Wigglesworth commented on why people have a problem receiving the Holy Spirit. He said, “If we wait for such power, we have mistaken the position we have through the Spirit. God is waiting…So act! “If I could only feel the power” we say. We have been too much on that line. God is waiting for us to act; to be like Jesus.”
The word says that Jesus Christ spoiled or destroyed the power of the devil and made an open show of them. Col. 2:15 In Luke 10:19 Jesus gave that authority to us. Is there anything that can stand in our way? No! We have authority to cure diseases, raise the dead and cast out devils. Some teach well God only let the twelve disciples do all those miracles because the church was just starting out. Turn your Bibles to Luke 10:1 which says, “After these things the LORD appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.” What did he send them to do? He sent them to do the same thing the others did. See vs.9 “And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”
Jesus when he was praying to His father said, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” John 17:18 He sent us to do the same things he did. In fact do you know he said we would do greater miracles than he did? “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” John 14:12
Are you starting to see your position yet? We are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:” Eph. 2:6 If we will get this into our spirit no disease will be able to stand before us. Before we can go against sickness we must first recognize it as an enemy of God. We must treat all sickness and disease the same way Jesus treated it. He treated all sicknesses and diseases the same, He treated them like a person, or something with a personality. He rebuked the things and called them devils. Jesus never begged his father to remove a disease, he commanded it to go and it left. Jesus always spoke to the sickness or devil, he never talked to his father about the sickness or devil. We as Christians must wake up to our authority and get fed up with letting satan take our loved ones and friends. We must begin by getting aggressive in our attitude against sickness. We must not look at symptoms, but trust God’s word. We must be like our Lord and speak to peoples sicknesses and not to the people about the sicknesses. None of this will work unless we spend time in the word every day building our faith.
“And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.” "And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?" Luke13:11,16
Satan was the auther of this womans disease not God.
“If I can get you enraged against the powers of darkness, and the powers of disease, if I can wake you up, you won’t go to bed without you prove that there is a master in you – greater than the power that s hanging round about you.” Smith Wigglesworth
Faith will begin to grow as we meditate on Gods word.
” So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 The more of the word we have the greater your faith will be. If you have faith you will be able to look someone in the eyes that has cancer or some other disease and command it to go and it will go. Mark 11:23,24 testifies to that fact. Faith is believing even when you can see no physical evidence.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Heb. 11:1 The Internataional Standard Version words the same verse this way, “Now faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists.” If we have need of healing we may obtain it now. Not five days, or five months, but now. Today is the day of salvation. “For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Cor. 6:2
The word tells us, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9,10
In fact did you know that the greek word for saved is sozo which means, made whole, healed, sound. The greek word for salvation is soteria, which means, deliverance, healing, health, soundness and protection. Paul prayed that God preserve the Thessalonians spirit, soul and body. 1 Thess. 5:23 The word for preserve means to keep or save from injury or destruction; to guard or defend from evil, harm, danger, etc., to protect. Sickness and illnesses injure the body. When some one is sick they are not being preserved. Notice also that this verse says that if we confess with our mouth. Your mouth will always give away what you believe for out of the abundance of your heart your mouth will speak. Matt. 12:24
If you believe that God has healed you, you will talk as though you are healed. Even if you don’t feel it.
Mr. A. B. Simpson had an incurable heart condition and was very sick. He had to carry a bottle of ammonia with him every where he went. He could not climb stairs or go far for fear of exhaustion to the point of dying. He found Christ as his healer through the word of God and stepped out in faith and claimed his healing. He did not feel any different after he prayed, than before. He just took God at his word and believed that God’s word was true for him. When he became convinced that it was God’s will to heal him. He stepped out and began to share his testimony, not to try to convince God to heal him, but because he really believed that God was working in his body now. Some young men that heard him share his testimony invited him to go mountain climing with them. He thought to himself, “If you refuse to go, it is because you do not believe that God has healed you. If you have taken Him for your strength, need you fear to do anything to which He calls you?” So he went with these men and the whole climb up he battled the symptoms of his body with the word of the living God. When he reached the top of the mountain he was wonderfully healed. Mr. Simpson said regarding his healing that, “ God did not ask me to testify of my feelings or experience but of Jesus and His faithfulness. And I am sure He calls all who trust Him to testify before they experience His full blessing. I believe I should have lost my healing if I had waited until I felt it.”
You may have to wait a few days for your body to strengthen it’s self. Many people miss their healing because they are looking for a creative miracle. But God says they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. To recover is progressive. Remember Hezekiah, he was healed and yet it took three days before he could go to the house of the Lord. That is not to say that God does not instantly and creatively heal today. I remember once I had something rip or rupture in my back end it was like a very serous hemroid, but my wife said it looked like I would have to have surgery. I told her that this time I was going to take it to the Lord. I was in intense pain. My wife had to read the word to me while I laid on my stomach, for I could not sit or lay on my back because of the pain it caused me. I meditated on God’s promises every free second I had to build my faith. I had believers lay hands on me according to James 5:14,15. After prayer I thanked the Lord for my healing and began to praise him as though he already healed me. I knew healing had been deposited in me by faith so all I had to do was keep meditating on the word and confessing the word and wait for my body to come into alignment with the word of God. I went about a week with no bowel movement at all. But a couple of days after prayer things began to change. The pain was leaving and my body was beginning to respond to the prayer. Another week after the prayer I was totally healed.
We must believe that we are carriers of God’s glory. His healing power lives in us. We are the hands and feet of Christ in this dark and dingy world. We must show a demonstration of power that will convince the world that God is with us.
When we get God’s word in us it will transform us and the way we think. I know that I am healed, not because of the way I feel, but because God’s word says I am. When I feel a pain, I know satan would love me to give life to whatever disease he can make me think I have. So I resist him in the name of the Lord and cast down all thoughts that don’t line up with God’s word. I speak to my body just like Jesus said I could speak to a mountain. I command sickness to leave my body in the name of Jesus Christ. I then confess that by Jesus stripes I am healed. I resist the devil and he must flee from me. I am more than an over comer in Christ Jesus and so are you.
One thing you will come to realize is that you will never rise above your confession. Your confession reveals what Is really in your heart. If you talk sickness you will have sickness if you talk health you will have health. True faith if it is in your heart will always speak before God will act.
“Faith always blows the ram’s horn before, not after the walls are down. Faith never judges according to the sight of the eyes. It is the evidence of things not seen but promised.” F. F. Bosworth
We need to see more of God’s power today. In this world full of doubt and unbelief their has never been a time more urgent time for the church to demonstrate the power of God. We have become lazy with our faith. It has become much easer to take an aspirin for a headache than to command the headache to leave. In order for faith to grow it needs to be exercised. Faith grows by reading the word and practicing what you read. People need to understand that God wants to heal us more than we have the desire to receive it.
Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Gal. 3:6 When we trust God’s word nothing will be impossible. Matt. 19:26 But there are many that get upset because they believed for big things and they did not get them. But they need to search their hearts and ask why. For instance if a woman wants to be healed of lamness just so she can dance in front of men, she is asking amiss. James tells us that if we ask God for something with the wrong motives we will not receive. Some people are asking for things to feed their lusts and not to bring glory to God. “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” James 4:3 Our purpose in life should be to bring glory to God in all things.
When we are sure of God’s word in a matter we can step out in faith knowing that not only does God hear us, but he will answer us. When God promised Abraham a son, the word says that Abraham did not look at his body that he was over a hundred years old, or the fact that his wife was barren. He believed God would do what He said he would do. “And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;” Romans 4:19, 20
When we ask God for healing, forgiveness, or for deliverance, we must thank him and expect him to be answering us. Not tomorrow, not five days or five months from now. But right now he answers, you may not see or feel anything at the moment, that does not matter in the least. Jesus tells us that when we pray we must believe that God is answering us the very moment our lips stop uttering our prayer. When you are done praying if you believe God’s word, it is done! You have the petition you asked for.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matt. 7:7,8
“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.” John 14:13
“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7
“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Mark 11:24
Let me ask you when do you receive from God, before or after you believe? God tells us that once you ask, you have the answer that you asked for. Many think that just because they can’t see it, they don’t have it. When a person is prayed for just because the symptoms don’t disappear right away does not mean that you are not healed. When a tree is cut down it still has all it’s leaves and vibrent colors yet as far as a woodcutter is concerned that tree is dead. The tree has been disconnected from the roots. The same thing happens when we curse a disease in the name of Jesus Christ. The spiritual source from which that disease grew from has been destroyed. Without that spiritual source in place that disease dies and the body begines to heal it’s self.
“I am not moved by what I see. I am moved only by what I believe. I know this. No man looks if he believes. No man feels if he believes. The man who believes god has it. Every one who comes into the Pentecostal condition can laugh at all things and believe God.” Wigglesworth
Now begin to get the word inside of you. Meditate on it daily and confess the word out loud. “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.” Prov. 20-22
Proverbs tells us we need to pay attention to the word. To keep them in front of our eyes and in the mist of our heart. This means we are meditating on them. In order to meditate on them you have to find them. You need to find a word from God about your situation. This teaching has many promises to stand on. Learn them and make them your own. Get your own revelation in your heart on the subject and watch what God will do. Do not ever base your healing on what you feel, but only on the word of God. After all, you might feel worse after prayer. Satan is not going to say O he said the prayer I gess I’ll have to go. You have to believe that prayer! What are you speaking after prayer? Your tongue will always give you away. If you turn and tell your pastor “ I believe I received my healing” and then go out to your doctor the next day and say “O I’m such a mess, I think I have the swine flue,” you have just given yourself away to the enemy. He knows you did not believe. For one thing when was the last time you saw someone in the waiting room of a hospital that was totally healed, to see a doctor for a condition he did not believe he had? I’m not saying to pretend your healed ether. If you don’t believe your healed, you had better get to a doctor. Better to see a doctor and live to fight another day, than to fight a battle your not ready to fight. But if you do go to the doctor keep reading the word until the word grows so big in your heart that you know, that you know, that you know, you are healed even when satan tries to lie to you.
“Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession (confession).” Heb. 4:14-16 The word in this verse for profession can also be translated as confession. If I was to hand you a rope and tell you to hold fast to it, you would think that because I said to hold fast that there would be a hard tug that might yank the rope from your hand, so you would hang on tight. In the same way Paul tells us to hold fast to your confession. Your confession reveals what you are really believing. If I told you that I just deposited five thousand dollars in your account for you to use anyway you wanted, and you went around complaining afterwards telling people that you wish you had a hundred dollars to pay a bill you had, you would know that you did not really believe that I had given you money. Because If you did believe, you would not complain, you would rejoice and pay your bill.
Paul tells us not to look at things that are seen, but look to that which is unseen. The promises of God are what we are to look at. For they will manifest if you hold to them and believe God’s word. “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen [are] temporal; but the things which are not seen [are] eternal.” 2 Cor. 4:18
Real faith will step out and say that it will come to pass even as the Lord has said. Smith Wigglesworth used to say, “fear looks, faith jumps”. Why would we ever think that God would not fulfill his word to us. He cannot lie. Trust in the Lord and He shall truly bring it to pass. “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” Psalm 37:5 If you really trust him you will throw all your concerns in his promises and know that he will take care of you. “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
So do you need healing? Believe the word of the Lord ask Him to heal you and believe that he does now touch your body with life, not tomorrow, not in the future, but right now. This moment if you will believe that God healed you by the stripes of Jesus, you can and will be healed. Jesus is no respect of persons if he heals someone else he will heal you. Don’t look at your symptoms, but look to the word. What does God’s word say about your sickness? The word says that “by His stripes you are healed.” Belief comes first, manifestation comes second. Mark 11:24
