Faith That Takes!

This prayer and testimony blog is now about this journey of praying, and believing, for Dad's healing. (It is quite possible to pray without believing I think). The last month or so has been a new journey of faith in this battle against cancer. Ever since my fast about a month ago, I have had a new faith rise up inside of me. It began when I noticed that I was just kind of coasting, sort of hoping that something would happen. I began to press into God harder, to inquire about what I can/should expect from him-and why this healing has not yet manifested. Yes, he has been spared, that much is obvious. But Dad has not been healed.

As always, the Lord answered my cry. He always responds to us, and even waits for us to draw near to Him. The thing that the Holy Spirit seemed to be showing me was the power of the prophetic word/proclamation. Again, I reread 2 Chronicles 20 and this time, I saw how the army of Jehosephat went out against the enemy that was to great for them-based on the prophetic word. Long story short, the scripture jumped out at me that read: Have faith in God and his prophets, and you shall be established. This was spoken in regards to the prophetic word that was given to the army that the Lord would fight the battle; they would not have to fight. Still, they were commanded to go out against the enemy and to stand and watch the Lord fight for them!

I marveled as I realized the faith that it took for the Israelites to go out against the enemy without any intention of fighting. (Have you ever noticed how God speaks as if things are already done even before they are done?) They went worshipping and praising God for the victory that was only promised by the prophetic word. This took incredible faith! I thought, if I had been there, I would have taken that prophet aside and asked, very pointedly, "Dude, are you suuure that you heard correctly? Because if you are wrong, we are toast!"The Lord reminded me of the prophetic words spoken about my Dad's healing. Here they are:
1. He will have an eleventh hour healing. Just like the guy (Gandolf the Grey) in the Lord of the Rings came riding in on his horse at the very last minute when it looked like the evil hoardes were closing in, the Lord would come in and bring healing to Dad. (That was how she explained it, really.)
2. That this cancer would not end in death, but it was for the glory of God.
3. That Dad would sing again (she didn't know that he did sing when he was young, but he indeed did), and that he would be healed in his sleep.

To be honest, I did not highly esteem these words-mainly because of churchianities bias against these kinds of words. I shared this bias. But the Lord seemed to be bringing them to mind, and nudging me to stand upon them as I stand upon any of His promises. He brought the above scripture to mind and then I realized that the genuine prophetic utterance IS THE WORD OF THE LORD. It is spoken by the unction of the Spirit, and when we percieve that it is to the Lord, we can stand on it and be established. Any gift of the Spirit is priceless, to be honored and revered. The Lord has really been impressing me with the awe, wonder, and holiness of the gifts of his Spirit. We cannot grow up in Christ the "head" without these beautiful gifts. They are gifts. Gifts...from God. We must revere them and not diminish them due to various perverted forms that emerge and tempt us to pull away from them in fear or disdain. So anyways...

In sum, I have begun to grasp, to seize, to take this healing, even like the woman with the issue of blood took her healing from Jesus. My Dake study Bible translates the word prayer to mean: to sieze, to wax strong, to apprehend, take up, overtake, to overcome. For five years I have prayed and asked the Lord, but now I believe that it is time to take it from the Lord-for he has already "given the enemy" into our hands, if we believe. Cancer is an enemy. There have been two or three words of healing spoken over Dad, and I discerned that these words were from the Lord. But as all things inthe kingdom of God, we must seize the promises by believing and refusing to doubt. This is the battle of faith-and I,for one, cannot do it alone. I don't want to give them impression that I am strong. I am weak. But as I abide in Him, I am strong.I draw upon His strength daily, day by day through dwelling on His word. I meditate, or "mutter" to myself about the word of God any chance that I get. It is my food. His words are Spirit and they are life. He never fails. Ever.

Tonight as I was reading and "muttering" (my new favorite thing...can ya tell?), I was struck by something new. In the passage where the guys lower the paralytic through the roof, I never noticed how they were interceeding for their paralyzed brother. I saw two things: 1.) some in the body are spiritually paralyzed, and they must have brothers that will pick them up, put them on a mat, hoist them onto the roof, dig open the roof, and lower them to Jesus, and 2.) each miracle that Jesus performed was unique and illustrated a different truth. We cannot limit God. God may move because he see's our faith, or he may see the faith of those who surround the "paralyzed" brother, or one may take her healing from Jesus, even when he isn't paying attention! God is so much bigger than our religious, man-generated thoughts of him. May he open my eyes, our eyes, to see Him in all of his glory! For he is glorious.