CONFESSION / FAITH

OUR CREATOR GOD, wants to teach us how to walk in faith.

In a film I remember the lines of a Senator saying, “The Truth is what I say it is.”   Of course he was the bad guy in the flick and was lying and in the end, reaped what he sowed.

I am reminded of a testimony that a man, don’t remember his name but let’s call him George,  shared with me in about 1965.  I was attending an old time “brush harbor camp meeting” for the weekend with my family.   I was curious about healing, so I asks this George, who seemed spiritual about it.   He told me that he use to have rheumatoid arthritis so bad that only the comfortable thing he could do was to drive.  Gas was then very inexpensive and he spent a lot of time just driving as the vibration made his condition less painful.  And as a Christian,  George would stop from time to time and read his Bible.  One day in reading James he came across the verse that says:   “If there be any sick among you, let them call for the Elders, Let them be anointed with oil and the prayer of faith shall heal the sick.”  George thought to himself, I have never done that.  So he went from church to church, hobbling up to the pastor/elder and asking for the anointing and prayer.   But all he got way unbelief & rejection until one day on the wrong side of the tracks in Texas he saw a Mission sign on a very small home in the wrong side of the road.  So he stopped and hobble up to the door and ask the young man for his elder.  The young man said, I am the only one here so guess that’s me?   

Then he explained and quoted the scripture and ask him for an anointing and prayer.   The young man said the Bible is always right but I have never done this before and I don’t know anything about the oil.   So George said, got Wesson Oil, the young man said sure.   So George said. “ Only says oil not what kind, can we use that.”   The young elder was so nervous that he nearly poured the whole bottle on George and prayed for him so all done according to the Word of God. but nothing happened..   But George felt that he had done what he was ask to do and that he was healed as in Heb.11.   So he went home confessing to everyone that he had been healed, his family was about to have him locked up.  But about the 3rd night home as dressing for dinner in his shorts in front of the mirror over the Chester Drawers George told me that he felt like lightening landed on his head and went through him to his feet and as it lifted he could hear his bones cracking and his feet went down flat to the floor and his hands became normal.   And he showed me his hands and all looked really good to me.   Then he ask me to promise that I would not tell anyone as his family church did not believe in such things.   Is this story true, and I believe it is, we may be missing out on a lot of what God wants and can do through Christ Jesus as our Lord.

Lately I have been going through some congestion and pain due to pancreatitis & gall stones.   And the Holy Spirit started sharing with me this morning that my confession needs to line up with the Word of God with a loving heart of faith if I really want God’s help and HIS freedom.  Instead of trying to be, what I feel is honest.   I really need to start confessing what God says in the Word of God is the Truth as God shares it and not what I feel about it.  So let’s look at what Jesus taught us.  (But some prayer on your part, would be most helpful.)

Matt 17:19-20: “Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked, “Why could we not drive it out?”  (A demon )  20 He answered, “Because of your little faith [your lack of trust and confidence in the power of God]; for I assure you and most solemnly say to you, [a] if you have [living] faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and [if it is God’s will] it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”    Jesus used this moment to emphasize to the disciples that a person’s confident, abiding faith combined with God’s power can produce absolutely amazing results, if the request is in harmony with God’s will. God is fully capable of doing that which man regards as impossible.  ( Rom.8:37, Matt.16:24,   21:21,  25:21.)

Phil. 4:12,   “I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]

Mark 6:5,   “And He could not do a miracle there at all [because of their unbelief] except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed.”

Matt. 8:9-11,   “For I also am a man subject to authority [of a higher rank], with soldiers subject to me; and I say to one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those who were following Him, “I tell you truthfully, I have not found such great faith [as this] with anyone in Israel. 11 I say to you that many [Gentiles] will come from east and west, and will sit down [to feast at the table, and enjoy God’s promises] with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven [because they accepted Me as Lord & Savior],”

Heb. 11:1-6,   “Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]. 2 For by this [kind of] faith the [a]men of old gained [divine] approval.  3 By faith [that is, with an inherent trust and enduring confidence in the power, wisdom and goodness of God] we understand that the worlds (universe, ages) were framed and created [formed, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose] by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which it was testified of him that he was righteous (upright, in right standing with God), and God testified by accepting his gifts. And though he died, yet through [this act of] faith he still speaks. 5 By faith [that pleased God] Enoch was caught up and taken to heaven so that he would not have a glimpse of death; and he was not found because God had taken him; for even before he was taken [to heaven], he received the testimony [still on record] that he had walked with God and pleased Him. 6 But without faith it is impossible to [walk with God and] please Him, for whoever comes [near] to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him.

2 Tim 1:7,   “ For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control].“   (Fear is Faith going backwards.)

Almost 600 scriptures in the Holy Bible, it would seem that God really want’s us to learn about faith.

Yours, in HIS great Love and wonderful Grace & Mercy,   Ken<><    www.OhanaChurch.Life