This week’s teaching on healing is entitled “Take the Next Step”. In this message we look at the fact that prayer and crying out to God is not sufficient to receive the healing, or any other thing we are wanting to receive from God.

Instead, it involves a need for us to DO something about taking and accepting the object of our prayer. It involves a declaration that God CAN meet the need and a realisation that he is able; much like the focus of Hebrews 11:6:

“But without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please him: for he that cometh to God MUST believe that he is, AND that he is a REWARDER of them that diligently seek him.”

Jesus question to the two blind men that followed him in Matthew 9:27-30 was very simple. Yet, it goes to the very heart of why so many people, particularly Christians either don’t receive their healing; fail to keep their healing and in so many cases fail to share healing with the people around them, because they have lost faith in healing.

Where is your Faith based? Upon what is your Faith founded? What are you Abiding in; Settling down into and Relying upon; where is your belief? If it is not on the firm foundation of the solid Rock of The Word of God you have built on shifting sands.

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While I was teaching this message the Lord directed me down a parallel side-track that has stuck with me since delivering that message.

So, for that reason, I take this opportunity to share with you what the Lord has put on my heart, at this time, because it is truly a word in season:

Integrity

How reliable is your word?If you promise to do a thing, can you be counted upon to fulfil that promise? Are aware of the things that you say to people; do you say what you mean and mean what you say?

Or, by contrast:

Do you hold to the idea that promises are made to be broken? It’s not that important to arrive to meet a person at the time you’ve stated. You meant ‘roughly’.If you are running late for a meeting, or an appointment, do you call ahead to let the person know you are delayed? Is it important to pay bills when they are due. Or, is it ok to be consistently late with payments?

The giving of your word, and the consequences of keeping, or breaking your word is the subject of much of scripture.

This is borne out particularly when you consider that the New and Old Testaments are themselves the written record of Spoken Covenant Agreements between God and Humanity. Joshua 1:8; Proverbs 6:2 and 4:20-22; Matthew 12:37; Romans 10:8-10 and James 3:8-14 are but a few examples of the multitude to choose from. But they demonstrate that this concern about what you say, or don’t say applies under both covenants.

Not so many years ago the phrase “My word is my bond” was not just a trite saying. It went to the very core of your reputation as a person. You were judged to be reliable, or not, as a person, by virtue of whether or not you were someone whose word could be relied upon. This was such an important and precious possession, that a person would ensure that if they had promised to do something the promise would be fulfilled, even if it cost them personally; the quality of your word was a measure of your personal integrity.

Many people today still maintain that personal position. It goes against every instinct for them personally to even allow the thought of breaking a promise to cross their mind. This person is regarded as reliable. You can rest assured that if they say they are going to do something, then it’s as sure as done. If it isn’t done, on time, then you now there is something seriously wrong with that person; you need to be concerned about them; it is so out of character.

So, what has all of this to do with the subject of Healing. Well, in truth, it is not limited solely to Healing. It applies to every single promise, contained in the scriptures, that God has made to his people, his children and to the world.

There are some things that are impossible for God to do; one of those is to lie. He is unable to break his word; this is particularly significant when you consider John 1:1; he and his word are one and the same. For God to break his word would be for him to destroy himself. This also demonstrates a particular need to take care how we read and also how and what we preach God will do and won’t do; are we really speaking for God, or our religion; our pet theology?

Hebrews 10:23; 11:8 and Thessalonians 5:24 all bring home the point that the Living God, who has made promises to his children, is FAITHFUL to his word; what he has declared is reliable; it has INTEGRITY. This is why Romans 10:17 tells us that “Faith comes by a consistent and ongoing hearing of the promises contained in God’s word”; the solid rock, the firm foundation that can stand the tests and trials that come against it? Not only has he promised to keep sickness and disease away from our midst; he has also stated that by the stripes upon his back we WERE Healed.

Now we enter the picture. Are the words leaving our mouths words that agree with, or that contradict, what God has spoken to us in his word? Are we standing, in Faith ON the promises he has made? Or, are we knocked down by every arrow of doubt that enters our mind; do we see the winds and the storms of life and like the disciples running to Jesus to say “Don’t you care that we’re about to die?”

Faith cannot grow and develop unless it is tested; until pressure is placed upon it. But, much like Jesus, our response, when the enemy comes against us, no matter how strong that attack may appear to be, should be “It is Written!” It should be a declaration of what God himself, by the Holy Spirit, has inspired men to write as a defence and an attack against anything the enemy might bring against us.

Do you have faith in your own words? Are the words that come out of your own mouth reliable? Can you be trusted to fulfil any and all promises that you make? Can people rely on a thing you have said you will do to be done, even if it should cause personal hurt, or even loss?

It’s in things like this that we are called upon to judge ourselves. Please note that I did not say we were to condemn ourselves. We are to judge, repent and move on; keeping a watch on the words we speak; the promises we make.By doing this we build personal integrity in our own words, so that when we speak and proclaim the promises of God, from our own lips, we are able to chase the doubt, that always comes, away with force and authority.

This Repentance is not a long drawn out process. It involves a change of heart and a decision to change; not simply a desire. It involves digging in your heals to stand by that change when everything seems/appears to be going the other way. This is where the SACRIFICE of praise is made and where the declaration of faith begins.

It is when we can rely on the words of our own mouth that our faith can and will have the greatest results for healing, or for receiving any of the promises of God in our lives. This is when Mark 11:23-25 will begin to visibly work in our lives. When we can believe that we really do believe what we say and have the patience to attain it; we will stand and having done all to stand, stand strong in the Lord and the power of his might, our loins girt about by TRUTH.

We are called to a life of Integrity, dependability. Predictability is not always a dirty word. It is a far better thing to be counted upon as reliable than to be considered unreliable; untrustworthy, inconsistent. Your walk of faith will be visible to those around you, but more importantly it will be visible to you; deep down on the inside of yourself you will know if what you declare is truth or deception.

May you always be able to count on your own words, particularly when you speak God’s words of faith. May your faith continue to grow and develop as you learn to speak God’s word and His promises over your life, with an ever growing confidence in your own words.