Scripture tells us in Isaiah 53:4 that in fact Jesus has borne our griefs and has taken our sorrows and our pains, yet we ignorantly thought that He was stricken and struck down by God.
Many years ago I was traveling across Russia in a sweltering hot train with no air moving and no way to open a window. The flu was going around everywhere and I was coughing from a deep burning pain that was attacking my chest. I remember as I lay back on the bed I picked up my Bible, and as I was experiencing these symptoms of flu or bronchitis this scripture in Isaiah leapt out at me.
I said to the Lord, “I have not considered what you did on the cross for me and I have yielded to this sickness that is trying to take over my body. Lord, I know who You are, I know You paid the price so I don’t have to suffer this sickness because God put it on You.” I remember at that moment with great confidence I said, “Lord, I will no longer consider you ignorantly, and right now in the name of Jesus I receive what you did for me 2,000 years ago and command these symptoms to go from my body!” I fell asleep right at that moment and woke up a few hours later without one sign or symptom of cough or a fever…not one symptom in my body at any level!
I encourage you today to take an aggressive stance against every form of sickness and disease trying to come against your body!
Our own personal experience can be a formidable hindrance to walking in the abundance Jesus Christ made available to us. You might say, “I love God and I’ve never had any money. I’ve never been rich and God still loves me. If prosperity really is God’s will for me, then He would have given it to me a long time ago.” These objections are real, but that doesn’t make them legitimate! Just because we haven’t experienced something doesn’t mean it isn’t the will of God for us.
We lived in sin and experienced emptiness, separation and spiritual blindness before discovering salvation in Jesus. Does that mean it was God’s will for us to live in that dark world? No! We just hadn’t heard and responded to God’s Word on the subject. Our decision to act on God’s idea, His Word, and His substitutionary sacrifice for our sins opened a whole new world to us.
I believe we can change our personal experience in the financial realm as well. Armed with truth, you can go into the arena of need and come out a winner!
I believe the greatest necessity for having a changed life is seeing the end result. Christians who are not seeing much change in their life are probably not seeing the transformation that has already occurred in them. Paul said:
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” Galatians 2:20-21 (NKJV)
He didn’t add Christ onto His life, he began a new life! Paul valued the new and let go of the old.
For example, when your car gets old you have a choice to make. If you’re in Russia you get out the duct tape and wire to keep it going. That’s not very exciting. You could go to the mechanic and get a few new parts added to what you’ve got. Not very exciting. You go out and buy a used car. A little better, but still, not very exciting. But, if you go out and buy a brand new car…now that will get you excited!
If you’re not excited about your faith, you’re probably working with an “add-on,” instead of the brand-new you that God has made you!
Most people, as they reach their 60’s and 70’s, have a certain amount of regret over things they didn’t do, or see, or have that they wanted in life. They reflect on the limitations they allowed to stop them.
When we see the life of Jesus we don’t see any limitations that He experienced, except the unbelief of those around Him. One day we all will see Jesus face to face in a place of unimaginable glory and abundance. When He was on earth He carried Himself like He had access to all of heaven. When Jesus walked on the earth He spoke, acted, and experienced life at a level that brought a marvel to those around Him. They said: “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!” Matthew 8:27
Jesus was God, but He put off His God-rights and did nothing on earth that a human could not do. He clothed Himself in humanity to be our model. He became the standard for the New Restored man that would be made right with God by His substitutionary death.
This limitless life is what He is encouraging you and me to experience now. He says: “All things are possible to him that believeth.” He encourages us to pray our desires and expect them to happen. “Listen to me! You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you will have it.” Mark 11:23″ NL bible
Before you die, dare to think limitless in some area of your life. Understand that there is more to you than meets the eye. Jesus saw the real person you were to become!
“But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit you are of.” Luke 9:55
There is a picture of poverty that can attach itself to your thinking. We were preaching in Tomsk, Siberia, and the hall was full of graffiti. The chairs were all broken and it smelled of poverty. I asked the pastor how long he had been meeting there and he said five years. I told him that was unacceptable! Get some paint and a hammer and make this place respectable even if you don’t own it. Poverty thinking will keep all your people bound to low expectations in life.
A new power is in operation, a new land is available for every believer—but there will be giants to face. Who cares?! If God said the land is ours, who can stop it from being ours? Well, our own expectation and unbelief can. The children of God forgot the promise of God. They forgot that God was with them. They forgot that giants are not bigger than God.
Even if you have lived in poverty all your life and haven’t made ends meet for years, you can change your past experience now by embracing the words of life and blessing contained in Scripture. When we understand that prosperity is an inheritance of the believer, then no giant of past experience can stand before us!
The devil wants to convince you that prosperity isn’t for you. If that doesn’t work, he’ll try telling you that prosperity isn’t for you today, but maybe tomorrow.
He pulls out his flip chart and starts reciting all the reasons why you don’t qualify. He wants to know what you’ll believe, so he can lock you into that belief system of limiting the unlimited God. Then he’ll recite to you the reasons for your poverty:
“God wants to keep you poor to train you.”
“God has hidden blessings for you in poverty.”
“Jesus was poor and you’re following His example.”
“Poverty is a form of holiness.”
Don’t allow yourself to land on his flip chart! Keep your spirit alive! Paul said, “Now to him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20).
God has given you power! You are not a victim, but a VICTOR!
If I were to put a bunch of apple seeds into your hand, you would probably get a picture of what could be produced from them. The same is true if I filled your hands with turtle eggs.
If I were to put the seed of a human into your hand, try and think of the possibility!
We look at the Japanese bonsai tree and admire its artistically dwarfed size and shape. Most of humanity has gone through an unseen process much like the bonsai tree. Humans have been restricted, confined and twisted to a shape of another’s liking.
It may have been through religion, family criticism, personal inferiority and fears, or the example of others that you feel dwarfed and twisted, but Jesus came to set the captives free!
Each of us has an ability to dream of the possibilities in our future. It is a risk to go beyond the parameters, but no one will ever know the height that you can grow to until you allow yourself to reach. God has put a future in you that reaches into eternity. Stretch for it today!
Most people are aware that they have 5 senses. Some become greatly skilled at one or more, but have we developed our 6th sense? With this sense we touch the unseen realm. With the 6th sense we see what others cannot see and expect what others think is impossible.
The 6th sense is the FAITH sense. Jesus encouraged people to use this sense. He said, “Only believe,” all things are possible to those who believe.
The unseen God is a faith God. Without using faith we cannot please Him, but it is possible for all to please Him. Your heart knows things your hands, taste, eyes, ears, or smell cannot understand. Before you die make sure you see at least one miracle, but really go for it and see one a day!
PEACE is not resignation, but RESILIENCY. Psychological resilience is defined as an individual’s ability to properly adapt to stress and adversity. A scattered mind is, like the bible says, a wave tossed by the wind of the sea (James 1:6).
Where does life find you today? You may be in the midst of a hurricane or a financial storm—perhaps you are facing other issues. Remember, peace is not the absence of turmoil. Peace is the rudder of the soul that provides solitude in the midst of turmoil. God promises to keep in perfect peace all who trust in Him, all whose thoughts are fixed on Him (Isaiah 26:3 NLT)!
If you have lost your purpose, there is always a way back. Even the prodigal son found himself after he ate with the pigs. You can’t get much lower than eating corn on the cob with a hog on the other end of it! Scripture tells us that he came to himself:
The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger!” Luke 15:16 (NLT)
What can you do when you find yourself that disconnected with yourself, your dreams, your past, and your family?
You have been left with a letter from heaven; a voice from a place that is unchanging, a book of ideas that are confirmed to all who choose to believe them. Locate yourself in scripture and preach the word to yourself. After you discover yourself once more in the pages of the ancient text, then find others that are as lost as you were and help them on their journey back to the Father.
