You Can Have It All
I have written a book called “How Do You Make a Promise Come True? It is available on Amazon now. You can find the information on my website at www.howcanibehealed.com.
Tonight, I would like to share from that book. Some of you may have heard some of this truths and testimony before and some it may be a first time.
So, can you can It all-All-Divine Healing/Freedom from Addictions/and Power with Boldness? I believe you can and that is the subject of this week’s teaching
1. The Prayer that changed my Life
In the summer of 2005, I had one of those epiphany moments. It was like I had just woke up and I was 47 years of age and took a long look in the mirror and what I saw was not pretty.
I had failed at marriage, at ministry, financially; basically, at everything in life that mattered. I felt like a complete loser and I had pretty much lived that way.
I didn’t want to stand before the Lord and say “I’m sorry I didn’t get to really know you Lord and I’m sorry that I didn’t accomplish anything of real value. I didn’t know how he would say to me “well done thou good and faithful servant.”
Out of desperation and total frustration, I prayed a very dangerous prayer that would forever change my life. I prayed “God whatever you have to do to change me, please do. Give me a vision of heaven or hell; just spare my life.” I thought I would get this nice little ten-minute vision or dream, and it would motivate me, and I could share this with others. Little did I know what I was in for. It was either the smartest or the dumbest thing I had ever prayed. This prayer literally opened the door and gave God permission to allow me to have this experience.
I didn’t go to hell; but I had what I would describe as ten years of hell on earth. These ten years would become my crucible and test my faith to its very core. I would not come out the way I went in. This perfect storm hit in November of 2005; I became deathly sick.
I was also in horrible pain. This would last for over a decade. It was a nightmare. I could barely work. I couldn’t think or function. I would throw up several times a day almost every day. If I knew what I was getting myself into I am not sure that I would have signed up. But God knew. He didn’t make me sick; but he did used this trial to change me.
I just wanted to get out of the pain. It just consumes you. When I sat down, I was in pain. When I stood up, I was in pain. When I laid down, I was in pain. Folks, that doesn’t leave many options.
But I am so glad that I didn’t quit. I had no idea what had hit me. I didn’t connect that prayer and the horrible circumstances at first. God would reveal that to me later. I had just a taste of what hell would be during these 10 years.
When people would ask what it felt like I would tell them this. It’s like having the flu, mono and arthritis throughout your whole body. I also had chronic fatigue. Ever been driving home late and your brain is so tired you can’t even think: that’s how I was for 10 years.
I had to be very careful because if I moved just wrong, I would pull a muscle. Now if this was for a week or two it would have been bad, but for ten years.
I was cold much the time; winters were awful. I was either sweating or freezing. I was constantly aware of drafts. I had to sit in the center or to the left in auditoriums because if I turned my head to the left even a little bit for too long, I would get migraine headaches.
If I carried in a gallon of milk from the car my arm would hurt for a couple of hours. It hurt to sing in church because of the weakness in my back muscles. Even talking was difficult and took extra effort. I was constantly evaluating can I do this or that and what will it cost me if I do it in pain dividends.
I wouldn’t sleep through the night because my muscles would tense up. So, I would wake up every hour or two. So, I wasn’t getting any recuperative quality sleep. Many nights I would wake up and I couldn’t breathe. It was finally diagnosed as a very bad case of Fibromyalgia with Chronic Fatigue as well as migraine type headaches. Then when you combine that with sleep deprivation and the side effects of the medications that I was taking, I felt like the walking dead; here I was in horrible pain; couldn’t think straight; and always tired. I had a list of about fifteen or more things wrong with me at times. During this ten-year decade I hardly went anywhere, because traveling was very painful.
The Healings and the Collapses
I don’t have time to share all the things that happened to me. There were so many. I have had to condense it down to this. The first time I was healed I needed the help of my Pastor and a Phone Counselor from a Prayer and Healing Center and that was just fine. But after that I begin to realize that God was trying to take me to another level of faith since I was going to be teaching on this. That is to do this by myself.
In April 2011 prayed with my Pastor and a counselor and believed God for Divine Healing. It was at this point God gave me a choice: I could stop there and have a nice testimony and that would be the end of it, or I could continue and help others. I wanted to help others and I wanted to be used by God. So, I chose the second option and pushed forward. I tell people the first five years were for me (to be healed) and the second were for you (so, I could teach you healing).
Every young minister and in fact, probably every Christian, has asked themselves this question. Could the Book of Acts-the New Testament Church happen today? I figured that I have come this far, and I might as well go the rest of the way. What did I have to lose? At a certain point, I asked God to open the book of Acts to me.
Well, I found out that I could lose something and quickly. I was attacked by the enemy and after six weeks I lost my healing. These collapses occurred two more times in 2013 and 2014. I would receive healing and after several weeks, I would be overcome. The pattern was always the same. It was very discouraging, but I was learning.
God showed me that my roots weren’t deep enough to weather the storm yet. He also showed me from Scripture in Hebrews 12:1-3 that I had taken my eyes off Jesus and got into fear and “fainted in my mind” as the King James Version puts it. I was just beginning to teach, and minister and the devil would cut me off at the knees with this one thought. “How is this gonna work out? What if this doesn’t work out and lead to the ministry God has shown me? How is God gonna do this? I doubted, and Satan dogpiled on me. Every time, I would lose my healing and go through another stretch, and the pain doubled.
Thank God in May 2017, I went through the last hurdle of this trial and God said it is over. I would never have to go through this again if I keep eyes on the Lord. Which I plan on doing. I am totally healed now.
2. I found out the that The Promises in God’s Word are the Secret to relationship and benefits. And that Standing on the Promises unlocks the Treasure Chest.
2 Peter 1:2-4 (KJV)
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature
3. When I need Divine Healing, I use my Spiritual GPS
1. Gates
First, you must Get into God’s Presence
Ever wonder how to get into the presence of God?
PSALM 100:4 tells us how
I Enter his Gates. This is how you and I get in. In other words, I get myself into his presence by these actions. I must have a covenant relationship with him; I must be born again)
Psalm 100:4 (ESV)
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
2. Promises
Again, the Promises are the Key
You should commit some Promises to memory. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you.
Then I stand on the promise; I get it in my mind and begin meditating-thinking on it (and then quote it out loud (Promises that I use frequently and that I stood on for my healing are on my website-under the Divine Healing Tab)
Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful
-It is your weapon (Know your weapon)
You must stand on the Promises not your prayer only-that is where the power is!!!
You must not only hear it but do it. It is like going to a gym or a health club. If you have a membership but don’t use it, you gain no benefit. You are gym member in name only. I know that I sound like a broken record; but faith without (actions) works is dead. You need to not only be a hearer, but you must be a doer too.
Mediate on Them
Psalm 1:2 (ESV)
2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Hide them in your heart
Psalm 119:11 (ESV)
11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
3a. Speak/Switch
Speak-Take Your Authority and Speak it out Loud in the Name of Jesus
John 14:12-14 (ESV)
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
3b. Switch-AND DON’T SWITCH BACK
Go from Asking to Commanding then keep Thanking him that its already yours- and Command it to Manifest!
James 1:6-8 (ESV)
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Mark 11:23-24 (ESV)
23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.
24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours
4. Breaking All Addictions and the No-Willpower Diet
Addictions; Weight Loss; Smoking; Drugs; Sexual Addictions: this will work for anything and anyone. I had a 35 years addiction to food. I would lose 20 and gain 30 and so on and so on. You may be going through that right now. I finally found myself at 304 pounds. I should weigh about 200 pounds. I was morbidly obese; over a hundred pounds overweight. I had been set free of many things and I knew what Promise to stand on, but this one thing just wouldn’t seem to go. It is hard to lose weight when you are 61. But through Christ and his Word; specifically, his promises are things are possible.
God transformed me and freed me from a 35-year-old addiction. I told him I couldn’t do it-only through him and Romans 8:1,2 and he did it.
The chances of man with a food addiction for 35 years kicking it by willpower no matter how much he loved his family are nearly zero.
For a long time, I have wanted to show people how to overcome addictions. The only problem was I had the Promise from God’s Word but not the experience. Now I have the experience too and can teach it.
I am going to focus mainly on my food addiction, but these Promises work on every area: from smoking to sexual addictions and everything in between.
I stood on the promise and told him I couldn’t do it in my own strength and with my own will power and I needed him and went to Romans 8:1,2 and it worked miraculously. God just broke it. The temptation to overeat and eat junk wasn’t there.
The real test was what would happen when I got out of the hospital and got home. Would I go back to my old habits or toe the line. The temptation to overeat and eat junk wasn’t there.
Some of the weight was excess water weight that was taken off at the hospital about 35 lbs. This was the weight my heart could no longer handle. I lost about 25 pounds the first 6 weeks. Then the month of March I got stuck; I would stay and vary about 4 pounds.
Then in the first couple of weeks of April it happened. I should have known that it would happen, but I was so strong I didn’t think anything could hinder me. I was wrong. I begin to overeat and eventually gained over 5 pounds. That that doesn’t sound like a lot. It was the direction that concerned me. Where I was at in my health journey; it felt like 50 pounds.
I think we all realize that no path to victory is without obstacles. But thank God I prayed and got back on the horse and lost the five pounds and some more. Not only did I get back to what I was at, but I have lost more. This brings me to point one.
1. There is No Condemnation in Christ
Romans 8:1(ESV)
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are Christ Jesus.
I used to try and lose weight and then would eventually fall off the wagon and would fall into condemnation and then just give up. Then maybe a year or two later I would try again, and the same thing would happen. I would lose 20 and then gain 30 pounds. Sound familiar.
This time I stood on the Promise that there is no condemnation.
2. The Greater Law Trumps the Lesser Law
Romans 8:2 (ESV)
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
The two greatest laws in the universe are the Law of Spirit of Life and the Law of Sin and Death.
The Law of Spirit of Life is the Holy Spirit working through what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross when he brought us complete victory in every area.
The Law of Sin and death is the second greatest law. If you do not actively put faith in the first law in areas that you struggle in, you will automatically default to this law. You will sin; which means to miss the mark.
3. Must be Mixed with Faith
Hebrews 4:2 (ESV)
2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
You must believe. Remember the 12 spies. 10 brought back a negative report and only two (Joshua and Caleb) a positive report. Which side are you on. God will help you to believe. Spend time in the Word and just ask him to help with your unbelief and help you to Believe.
4. Faith must be backed up with Action (Works)
James 2:17-18 (ESV)
17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
5. You can also have boldness and power by receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of Speaking in Tongues.
Jude 1:20 (ESV)
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit (which is SPEAKING IN TONGUES)
Acts 1:8 (ESV)
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”
Folks, what has changed my life and giving me an intimate relationship with the Lord and power and boldness to boot is really two things: Meditating and Standing on the Promise along with Speaking in Tongues. One gives you the Truth and one releases the Power.