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One
of my main teachings is that God heals. I believe God heals. If everybody died and no one
was healed I would still believe that God heals and God saves. It (the Bible) says knowing His will are the keys
that have been given to us. I believe one of
the greatest keys is knowing the will of God. Knowing what He wants us to do and being
directed of God. Being directed of the Lord
and knowing His will are one of the keys that will open and close doors for us. God will show us to go through or not go through a
door, not to open that door. Keys give us
access. Also, a key from the Word of God will
cause us to come to life. It will give us
great joy to know that truth. To understand
truth of God will give us great joy. It will
set us on fire inside. I want to be set on
fire and be used of God. I want to hear His
voice and I want to be able to be guided by His voice.
Keys describe the concepts that unleash mind boggling possibilities and show
me how to achieve that impossible possibility. I
want to know Heavens ways. And when we say
that, when we say we want to know Heavens ways, be prepared. Jesus knows Heavens ways. He knows them very well. Thy Kingdom Come.
Lord come in my life and let your will be done. I look at Jesus on the cross, and when you see a
loved one who is dying you see Jesus on the cross. You
say, "How do you see that Jesus on the cross?"
Because the death of your loved one is what He went through. He went through that very thing. He took the curse.
When he took the curse, there was no resurrection. Few were saved from the dead. In one place it says the Father raised Him from
the dead and then in another place it says I will raise myself from the dead. He overcame death!
You know, our problem is we cannot see any further than what we see with our
eyes. We cannot see beyond into heaven. Most of us have never died and gone to Heaven. Most of us have never died and come back, so we
don’t see beyond what we’re seeing with our eyes and our hearts. Matthew
16:19 and it says “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,”…
Of course, the Rabbis say this is forbidding and allowing things. It’s to set the rules and standards of the
church. But to set the rules and standards of
the church would also be to sit down with the church and say, OK, now you see things this
way, but let’s look at it this way. You
see you’re setting standards that way. You
don’t have to set rules like put a stoplight here and a green light there. What God is talking about is to teach the ways of
heaven to the church, to the people of God. Teach
the ways of heaven. Teach what they’re allowed to do that will please God and teach
what does not please God. Teach them how to
live on this earth. Let’s go back to
Verse 17. “And Jesus answered and said
unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto
thee, but my Father which is in heaven” … that He was the Christ. That he was the Son of the Living God, which
actually means He was the Son of Man. I want
to tell you something that I’ve learned over my lifetime, being in the church, is
that I find out that when you hear words like Son of Man, a lot of people don’t
understand that. They don’t understand
the depth of it. The depth of what Son of Man
means. It means that He’s God in the
flesh! When it says He’s the Son of God, it
doesn’t mean He’s a created being. It
just means He came in the flesh. Son of God
is a Greek term. Son of Man is a Hebrew term. So it says here “Blessed art thou Simon
Bar-Jonah; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in
heaven.” It is only the Father in Heaven
that can reveal who Jesus is to us. And you
know, when I was born again as a child, I didn’t know very much about Him. All I knew was that He was the savior. That’s all I knew. I knew that He died on the cross and those
kinds of things. But I didn’t
understand redemption. All I knew was that I
was a sinner, and I actually felt that as a little child.
And I knew that I had to have Jesus as my savior. So I accepted Him as my savior and when I did I
felt the presence of God flow through me. But
it says here only the Father can reveal that. And
then it says “And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will
build my church;” Not upon Peter but upon the truth of who Jesus is. He is the Christ. He is the Messiah. He said, “I will build my church and the
gates of hell will not prevail against it.” In
other words, the gates of hell can only go so far. The
gates will not destroy the church. Will not
destroy the church. And it says “And I
will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed
in heaven.” What is He talking about? Like I said, teaching people what Heaven’s
ways are like. Teaching them to do what is
right. Stopping them when they’re not
doing the things of God and saying, "Listen, this is not the way to walk. This is not the way to go."
It says that it is clear that Jesus did give, to all who believe, the keys
to a realm, to a place, to a spiritual partnership with Him, in His dominion, in His reign
upon earth. I can reign on earth. I don’t know how to reign in some areas, but
I’m learning. And we’re
all learning how to reign. We’re in
school and God is teaching us Heaven’s ways. He’s
teaching us right here and now. There is a power when we come together as a church and we
work together in agreement. It says where any
two of us agree upon earth as touching anything that we ask; it shall be done for us by
our Father in Heaven, if it’s according to His will.
Do you hear me? The church has
power. The church has the power of God
dwelling within them and there is nothing that can stop the church if they’re doing
the will of God, and agreeing together to do the will of God. We need to realize that. It says, Ask according to His will. And then He says, if we are gathered together in
His name, there He is. You know what? I want to know that beyond head knowledge. I want to know that Jesus actually is in our
midst. You can know that. The Holy Spirit comes down and you know He’s
in our midst. It says to gather together in
His Name. Well, to just say to gather
together in His Name - - that doesn’t mean a lot to you until you find out that the
Name stands for the person being there. So He’s
not just talking about a name. He’s
talking about a person is right there. And
whatever is behind that Name, the Name Yeshua, Jesus, means that Yahweh is saving. What
does Salvation mean to us? Salvation means to
save me from sin. Salvation means to comfort
my heart. Salvation means to be my friend.
Salvation means to have a relationship with Yahweh. Salvation means to raise me from the
dead. Salvation means every promise in the Bible. That’s
what Salvation is about. That’s who is in our midst.
Well, let me ask you something. If
we were walking in Israel and all of a sudden Jesus walked up to us, and we had seen him
healing everywhere, we would know He was real, right?
But, you know what, He’s just as real…. In fact, He’s more
real right here and now, right in this room with us.
And He walks with me and He talks with me and I know Him. We can all know him. Do we realize that this
is a key to Heaven’s realm? The key that
Peter is to receive represents the authority to determine the conduct of the community,
the people of God. It also is more than that. It’s also a key into the realm of God, into
the things of God. This is what we need to do
as a church, as a people. We need to learn
the will of God. We need to learn how to move
under His influence. Because, when you just
read the Word, it’s a book. But if you
read the Word, looking for God’s direction in it, it becomes an influence in your
life. You begin to learn what God expects of
you. You learn what God wants you to do in this life. This is like a map and you’re
headed for a certain state but you don’t know what that state is or where the road
is. You have to find the road. This is your map to Heaven. This is your map to the Kingdom of God upon the
Earth. Right here it tells you how it all
works. You may not understand it at first,
but if you continue driving, you continue walking, and you see all the sign posts, and you
see all the things in the Word of God that lead and direct you plus you have the Living
God living within you to direct you and to guide you.
So what you’re going to do is you’re going to start feeling an
influence in your life. Inside your heart,
you’re going to be influenced. It says
that we need to learn to move under the influence of His grace. Of His grace, which is divine influence. God’s divine.
God’s divine influence, or God’s influence can move and direct us
in divine wisdom. All of a sudden divine
wisdom from nowhere. It’s like where did
it come from? Where did this truth come from? How did I get that direction in my life? It just came.
No, it didn’t just come. It
came up from the Holy Spirit showing and revealing to you God, the direction and the
truth. God doesn’t just direct you
about Heaven. He directs you about things in this earth.
He directs you when you’re supposed to move. He directs you on your
job. He directs you to take a job or to not take a job. He directs you to buy a house and
not buy a house. He directs you how to spend
your money. He directs you in every area in your life, if we will let Him and if we will
keep our hearts open to hear the direction of God in our life. He will even tell you what person to marry and
what person not to marry. He will direct you and if we follow those directions we wouldn’t
find ourselves in the situations that we find ourselves by not listening to what He is
saying to us. There
is a story that goes around about this man who was in a storm and it flooded. He was in a
rowboat and all of a sudden these people come around and they say, we’d like to
rescue you. He says no, God will rescue me. Then another person comes along and they want to
rescue him and he says no, God will rescue me. So
what happens is that he died and went to heaven because he drowned. When he got to Heaven he said, God I was waiting
on you. God says I came and I tried to rescue
you. Don’t you remember? God is a rescuer. God loves us.
No matter what takes place, regardless of whether it looks right or wrong,
you have to trust God. You do not desert your
trust of God. No matter if you get some
horrible disease. No matter if someone dies. No matter if everybody dies. It doesn‘t matter even if the whole world
dies around you; you’ve got to trust God. When
you trust God, there is a blessing, knowledge and a revelation that’s going to come
to you that you’ve never had before. God
is worthy of our trust. It
says that Divine Wisdom and insight sees the truth, sees the truth. Not just about God,
but about the general life. He teaches us a higher value. He teaches us a higher way to
live. But to have values that are God-like
values... You know we put so much value on even our ideas.
But you know what, unless the idea comes from God or unless that idea is
according to His will and nature, it’s not a good value, it's not a good thought. It's not even a good opinion. It says a higher life that comes from above. A life is given us that we might lead a life that
is worthy of God’s kingdom. That seems
central. But when I was born again, I became a new creation. I received life from Heaven.
And in my heart now dwells a heavenly heart that loves God, wants to serve God and wants
to be led of God. I want to know Heaven’s ways. I think we all do. The Lord showed me that a life that comes from
above, that a life is given us that we might lead a life that is worthy of His Kingdom
ways. Oh
God, let me be worthy. Let me life a life that is worthy unto you. His divine ways where Jesus Christ is Lord over my
life. We’re going to make
mistakes. God knows that we’re going to make mistakes.
That is why Jesus came down. He’s
going to help direct us. Where Jesus is Lord
in our lives is Heaven’s way. The Divine influence gives direction to our heart and
our mind. We must learn to listen to this
influence. And you say, well Pastor Betty,
how does He influence you? You know what, I
can be headed this direction, and all of a sudden I can feel within me to go over to a
person’s house. I’ll go over there,
and something will happen there. And you say,
well that was just coincidence. When it
happens time after time after time…. No. This is God directing us. We need to hear the voice of God. His voice is an influence in our hearts. There is
a voice who leads within us. But there are two voices.
There is the voice of the natural man or the flesh that rules us and then
there is the voice of the Holy Spirit that dwells within me. I can either follow one or I can follow the
other. It’s my choice. Just like in the
Garden of Eden, there were two trees. God
says you can eat of this, but don’t eat of this.
This is just like the two choices that are within you. There are two roads that you can walk down. You walk down the one road and it’s going to
lead you to hell. And even if you didn’t
go to hell, wherever it’s at, you’re going to have hell here upon earth. But if you walk down the road of life that I’m
talking about today, you’re going to have a life that has peace and has blessings. Things may happen that hurt you, but you’ll
still have that peace dwelling within you. You’ll still have that life of God that
dwells within you. To be a partner is an
essential feature of this divine grace, which has been released within your life. You’ve
got to be a partner with God. He’s got
to be your best friend. You may say that God
is not my best friend. My wife is, or my
husband is, or whatever. Well, they are on earth, but God should be your best friend. You should take your direction from God and then
your wife or husband should be your best friend on earth.
So
through study, you will grow in your understanding of the Lord, His Kingdom. You will understand your place in His Kingdom. But you need more than that. You need to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide your
study and how you apply the truth in your life. Because
you can get truth and apply it wrong, and you’ll end up in trouble. You need to know how to apply that truth in your
life. The
reason that we will all die is that the curse has not been lifted off of this body yet. We won’t die anywhere except in my flesh. The spirit is still alive but my flesh will be
dead. The body dies because of the curse
until the resurrection. The resurrection is
the lifting of the curse off this body. Jesus
died for that, and that’s why we will raise from the dead, because he lifted the
curse off of our body. John
14:26 says, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in
My Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you.” The
Holy Ghost is God. The Holy Spirit is our
teacher, and He’s going to direct us and guide us and show everything that Jesus
taught to us. He’s going to reveal to us
who Jesus is. I
only have one life to live, and I’m going to live it for God. I was thinking the other day…. It’s
almost like I’ve lost part of my life. It’s
like I was thinking where did my life go? I
thought, this is so strange that we don’t realize that life is as short as it is. When you look ahead forty years, it looks like a
long way off. But you look back on forty
years and it seems like a moment. Where did
my life go? How was it spent? Was it spent for Christ? Well, I can honestly say
that it was spent for Christ. Had I known it
would have been so short I might have worked harder. I might have done more. I might have
worked harder at the things that God told me to do. The
next twenty years I’ve got, and I believe God’s going to give me that, I’m
going to work hard to do the things that God asks me to do.
Aren’t you? I don’t
care if you’ve got a day left use it for God. Use
it for God. I
Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” Well, we think we can ask for a new convertible
car. That’s not it. People, you can have a new convertible, but not
have peace and you wouldn’t be happy with that new convertible. It will never make you happy. Things will never
make you happy. Things will never bring you
peace. God will. When you lay your head down at night and you have
peace about the things in your life, this is a wonderful blessing. But if it hasn’t even entered your heart, it
hasn’t entered your head…. You haven’t even heard what God has prepared for
you that love him. God has revealed them unto
us by His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is going to
reveal these things to us. For the Spirit
searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. So,
what is God going to do? What is the Holy
Spirit going to reveal to me? He is going to
reveal the Deep Things of God. I want
to know the Deep Things of God. I want to
know every little speck of God. I want to know everything He wants to show me. I want to know Him in all that He is. I’m not going to let myself stop searching,
searching to see God. Not with my eyes, but with my heart.
Be able to see Him and have Him revealed to me in this way. It says, “But
God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea,
the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man
which is in him?” So, the only person
that really knows you is your own spirit within you except God. Well, saying that, it says, “even so the
things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”
Who knows God better than His own Spirit?
He’s going to reveal to you God. I
want to know God. And His Spirit dwells
within me. It says, “Now we have
received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God;” The spirit of
the world is the enemy. But the Spirit of God
is God. “that we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God.” So
He’s going to reveal to us the things that are freely ours. They’ve been given to us. They are our inheritance. They are the Father’s inheritance that He has
given to us. “Which things also we speak; not in the worlds which man’s wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God:” In other words, a sinner, a person who’s never been born
again. He doesn’t like the things of
God. He wouldn’t sit for half a minute
reading the Bible. It’s not a joy to
him because he’s not born from heaven. It’s like, for instance, if you have a
person who is born in France, or you have a person who is born in America. They love
France and we love America. This is our home. We were born here.
So heavenly things are the same way. I am a heavenly being. I love the
things of heaven. I love the things of earth that are the will of God. But anything that
is not the will of God I hate. I don’t want it.
Pray in your studying, ask the Spirit to make His word alive to you. Say Dear Lord, make your Word speak to me. Cause your Word to reveal You to me. I want to know you.
Bring revelation to me. Revelation
means revealed knowledge of God. When
you’re talking about revelation, you’re not talking about mind knowledge. It’s like when you’re reading the Word
of God and all of a sudden you step over into another realm. There you are.
And you feel something. And you think, what’s that? And all of a sudden you hear the presence of God. You hear and then you feel Him. You feel the presence of God. That is Revelation. And no matter the truth He’s bringing to you,
you will feel that presence come to you--the Spirit of the Living God. I want more of that. I want more of the Revelation. Plus what He does with you is He breathes
revelation and He also brings revelation to humble to you. Revelation humbles you. Do you know what Revelation teaches you? You’re not God. You’re the created being. He is God. And
when you feel that presence, when you feel God - - He humbles you. It brings you down and you begin to see yourself
as you are. And although God wants you to see
yourself as precious and He wants to see yourself as God’s children and precious to
God, but He doesn’t want you to get lifted up in your own mind about yourself. He wants you to realize you can trust in Him who
you are. You are the child and He is the
creator. He created you, and I’m so
glad. He humbles us and He also comes and
comforts our heart. So when you begin to
really know this in your book, that this is your book that you live by, God’s word. This book, with the black cover, with the blue
cover, with the red cover - - it doesn’t matter the cover that’s on it. Inside of here is the Revelation of God. You begin to think, "Oh my, this is my best
friend. This is my best friend, the living
Word!" When this Word comes to live
inside of me, that’s my best friend. It saves
my kids, gives me salvation, raises me from the dead and got me born again. By the word of God I became a born again
Christian. I became a new creation, born from
Heaven. By His Word He did that. By His Word He does everything. He only has to speak. God would only have to speak and all the planets,
and all the stars would fall from their place. It
says He holds all things together by His word, the power in His Word. So when you begin to really know this in your
heart that it is a book to live by, such joy will arise in your heart. It is the book of life. It is the tree of life to live by. You eat
of its fruit. As you become of it, it brings
obedience - - hopefully we become obedient. And
the obedience brings a way of life, a way of life. This
brings joy and peace in our lives and I can trust God for my kids, I can go on to heaven
and I can know that Gods going to take care of my kids. You can go on. It’s OK.
Some of us have kids that need help and God is going to take care of them. Mark
6:7-13. “And He called unto him the
twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean
spirits.” His word, His Spirit gives me
power over unclean spirits. “And
commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no
scrip, no bread, no money in their purse; But be shod with sandals; and not put on two
coats. And he said unto them, in what place
soever ye enter into a house, there abide till ye depart from that place. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you,
when you depart thence,” Go to the edge of the property. Shake the dust off your feet. Never return.
He’s real strict about that. This
is actually what they would do when they would pass away from that town. It says here “And whosoever shall not
receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a
testimony against them. Verily, I say unto
you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in that Day of Judgment, than for
that city” Which rejected Him and rejected you because you’re not coming with
your own witness. You’re not coming with
your own testimony. You’re coming with
the testimony of Yeshua. “And they cast
out many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.” He sent them out to preach the gospel
and to preach the Word as if they were goin to the Temple to worship God. And how do I know that? Because when they went up to the Temple, they were
only to carry enough money in their hands that would be for the offering that they were to
give that day. No money for just buying,
selling and all that kind of stuff. It was a
day of worship to God. And He
said when you go out; you’re going out as worship.
It’s a worship act when you go out and preach the gospel. When you go and you heal the sick and cast out
devils, you’re doing worship unto God. So
you’re to go as if you were going to the Temple.
It is so sacred to preach the Word of God. It is so sacred to take a
testimony and preach it to people. It’s
sacred. It’s worship to God. God loves it.
So they anointed with oil. And
then what I found out was that it’s called the anointing of the oil. So when you put oil on someone you’re
anointing them. The oil is symbolic because
what God is trying to say to us is that when you come and you’re prayed for, and
people pray for you, the Holy Spirit comes on you. When
you were born again, did you feel the Holy Spirit come on you? The Holy Spirit came on you whether you realized
it or not. So you were anointed by the Holy
Spirit to be saved and to be healed. It is a
symbol of the work of the Holy Spirit. And
there’s a work when you are born again of the Holy Spirit in your heart that happens. The application declared that the healing was or
is to be a result of the work of the Spirit of the living God, not the power and the
holiness of the person, but of the Holy Spirit. Acts
3:11-15. It says “And as the lame man
which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them at the porch
that is called Solomon’s greatly wondering. And
when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, ye men of Israel why marvel ye at this? Or
why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness had made this man
to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son, Jesus;” How did He do
that? Through the Name of Jesus, this man was healed.
So what God is showing us is who Jesus is. Healing comes in the name of Jesus. He says, “hath glorified his Son, Jesus; whom
ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let
him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the
just, and desired a murdered to be granted unto you.
And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof
we are witnesses.” So not only did Jesus
heal when He was upon the earth, but He healed from Heaven.
He heals here. Whatsoever you
do on earth it shall be done in Heaven. When you lay your hands upon the sick, the Holy
Spirit comes upon them. Comes from Heaven. Out of you. He’s
dwelling within you, too. The Holy Spirit
dwells everywhere. He’s omnipresent. James
5:13-16 “Is any among you afflicted; let him pray.” Why pray? He
said – whatever you ask in my name. Do
you go around talking to God? You know, I
talk to Him all the time. I mean I’ll
just talk to Him. I’ll talk to him about
things that are going on. And sometimes I don’t
even realize I’m talking to Him. Sometimes
you just talk to Him in your head. You ask
for something in your head to God. So he
says, “Is any among you afflicted? Let
him pray. Is any merry” let him sing
psalms. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let
them pray over him; anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:” Now you know, I’m
going to tell you something that I’ve come to the conclusion. He says, “Is there any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church.” In other words, someone who knows the Word of God,
loves God, obeys God and believes God. The
reason we’re here is an act of obedience. If
we obey Gods word things happen. It’s
just as if you’re walking down the road and God directed us a certain way down this
road. Why do we take communion? God’s word says to. This is a symbol, an act of obedience to the Lord. It says here, “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let
them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and
the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sin, they shall be forgiven him.” What are they saying? The man raises him up? It says the Lord raises him up. It says, “Confess your faults one to
another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.” What that says is that some people - - it doesn’t
say everybody. You tell me I’m sick
because I’m sinning, I might sin then. But
what it does say is that there are some sicknesses that might not be healed because there
has to be some repentance go on. That may
mean you have done something wrong. But he
doesn’t say that every sick person has sinned. Sickness
came into the earth because of sin through Adam. It
usually doesn’t mean because you sin did you get sick.
It says, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another
that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” So,
are we righteous? Then our prayers avail us
much. People believe in your prayer. Believe that you know how to pray, that you are
righteous people, that you love God that you are serving God, you lay hands upon the sick. I don’t care if you never see a result you do
it anyway. Because God’s word ways to do
it. You hear me? This is what we need to do. Obey God’s word. Jesus
anointed the blind man’s eyes with clay and sent him to wash the clay in the pool of
Siloam. What if the man would have said, I’m
not going to go to the pool of Siloam. I don’t
believe in this. Jesus says, OK. Go your own
way then. But you see that man did exactly
what the Lord told him to do and he received his sight.
So the Lord will raise him up and clarify the true source of restoration. The one in whose name the anointing was done. And we anoint in the name of Jesus. The Lord heals according to His will. Then
it says pray for one another. What does that
mean? It means to intercede for each other. When you think of me, and the Lord impresses upon
your heart to pray for me, you should intercede for me.
You should pray for me. We
should pray for one another through the week. And if you have a person of faith that you
trust and you know they love God and walk close to God, seek them out. Let them pray for
you.
In
the Hebrew you will hear the name Yahweh or Jesus, but it is connected to what He
is doing. So when you hear Yahweh is
healing, Yahweh Raphah. Raphah
means to heal. So when you hear that name,
and some 50 other of God’s names, I think that are connected to what He is doing. Yahweh is doing this. What is He doing?
Yahweh is righteous. What
does that mean? Yahweh will make you
righteous. Yahweh provides – He’s
a provider. Yahweh provides for you. Yahweh
Raphah – Yahweh heals. Which means Yahweh will heal you. Do you hear that?
That’s what He’s doing. He’s just telling you what He does. Exodus
15:22-26 “So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the
wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And
when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were
bitter; therefore, the name of it was called Marah. And
the people murmured against Moses, saying, 'what shall we drink?'
And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, which when he
had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet; there he made for them a statue and
an ordinance, and there he proved them. And
said, 'If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that
which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his
statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the
Egyptians: for I am the LORD, Rapah, (I am the LORD that healeth thee)'” I am
the LORD that makes you righteous. I am
the LORD of Salvation. Jesus, Yeshua means Yahweh is saving. Now when He does this, there are a lot of things
that make people bitter over their lifetime. Maybe
someone’s hurt you real deeply. Maybe disease. "God,
why did you do this to me? Why did this
happen? I’m really mad at you God for
doing this. Why would you do this to me?"
People have asked me, "Are you mad at God?"
It has the opposite affect upon me. It
made me tenderer, it made me more compassionate, it made me feel people’s pain, and
it just went the opposite direction for me. But
if we have bitterness in our heart, we act different over fate. I’m not saying I’ve
never had bitterness in my heart. I know
exactly what bitterness is. And if I said I didn’t have bitterness in my heart at
some time or another, I’d be a liar and so would you.
We’ve all had bitterness. So
you know what God did? He showed them. He said you’ve been murmuring, you’ve
been complaining, and you’ve got bitterness in your heart. And the water that they came to was bitter or
salty. You know what he did? He put a tree in
it. I suppose none of you could guess where
that tree came from, that he’s talking about. Talking
about the cross. When the Lord touches our
bitterness with His act at the cross, it turns it sweet.
And we no longer have bitterness in us but we’ve been made sweet. I
want to be made sweet. I don’t want to
be bitter. Bitterness is ugly and bitterness
hurts us. It hurts others too, but it hurts you more than anybody because you have that
awful feeling inside of you. Exodus 15:27 “And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters.” And what God said to us here. God makes a covenant to heal. He also reveals His divine name. Yahweh heals. He’s making covenant. The Lord says I’m Yahweh who heals. That is my name. The compound name Yahweh with what He is doing reveals a specific facet of His nature. It also is a covenant relational. In other words, He’s relating to you and it’s a relational thing. He will heal you because you have relationship with Him. The compound names reveal God’s nature and His covenant relationship with people. This is what He does for you. Whatever the Lord is, by His name, He will do. He never ceases to be in relation to His people. The promises have a condition in the Old Testament. Listen to His voice, do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep His statutes. This is what He asks. He says I am Yahweh your physician. I’m your doctor. And those bitter experiences of our life can cause sickness. The first step you need to do is pray and come to Yahweh. And by His stripes, and by the cross, we are healed. Now I cannot get away from that. I’m not giving up on that and believe on that. I believe that because the resurrection hasn’t happened yet, our bodies can die. It says it’s appointed to everyone, once to die, but after that comes the judgement. But you know what I’m telling you people, we’re not seeing far enough ahead. We only see what’s in front of our eyes, and I’m telling you there’s something glorious coming and I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking for the place further down where I don’t hurt anymore. I’m looking to the place where I can be healed, totally absolutely made whole. Whether it’s here or whether it’s there, we have to look to God and to trust Him. And God will give back the same way. I believe God can heal it now, but if it doesn’t happen, hallelujah, when I walk over that line, and I shake the dust off of my feet, I’m going to get healed as I walk over! |