Tag: Healing

P.U.S.H. Chapter Two

On March 13, 2017

P.U.S.H.! Pray Until Something Happens! As believers in Christ Jesus, God expects us to always pray.
I Thessalonians 5:17 says:

“Pray without ceasing.”

Now, does that mean we are to pray nonstop for 24 hours?

No, of course not! Even Jesus, while He was here on earth, didn’t kneel with his head bowed praying for 24 hours. But, what it means is that we are to keep God at the forefront of our lives. Any situation we may face should always be presented to God. Yes, God knows all and sees all, but it is our choice to take all our issues to Him. God assures us in His Word that we don’t have to worry. Philippians 4:6 says:

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.”

God always wants to be the FIRST one we consult, not the last resort.

PRAY IN FAITH
According to Luke 18:1, we are to always pray and not faint. In other words, we must never give up on praying to God. When we choose to stop praying, then we are either telling God we don’t need Him or that we don’t believe Him. However, the last thing we want to do is imply that we have no faith in God. Therefore, when we pray we must pray in FAITH. James 5:13-16 say:

“13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
14 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:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

So, whether we’re going through bad times or good times, we are to present EVERYTHING to God. Not only are we to pray, but we are to praise God, as well.

In addition, if you’re sick, you don’t have to stay sick, but you can call for the elders or God’s leaders to pray for you to be healed. Because of the prayer of faith, you will indeed be healed. God will also forgive you of your sins when you ask Him in faith. Moreover, we are made righteous, or we are made right with God, when we confess our sins and ask for His forgiveness. Then when we pray earnestly, with no doubt, we see results.

HOW DO YOU APPROACH GOD?
In the past year or so, God has been dealing with me about how I pray. He has shown me that my prayers are more effective when I approach Him the right way. In fact, God would say, “Pray My way. Pray in Me.” At first, I didn’t quite understand what He meant. However, over time I got a clearer understanding.

Depending on the circumstance and my emotions, I didn’t always go to God with a prayer of faith. Instead, it might be a prayer of worry, a prayer of fear, a prayer of sadness, a prayer of frustration, or a prayer of anger. In fact, there were times when I would approach God with the attitude that He owed me something! Nevertheless, God doesn’t owe me anything! I owe Him everything—–my submission, my worship, my prayer, my faith, MY LIFE!

God had to reveal to me that, on occasion, my prayers were just emotional. In other words, I prayed according to how I felt, and not according to God’s Word. For instance, if Isaiah 53:5 says that with the stripes of Jesus I am healed, then I need to believe nothing less than that. Once I pray for God to heal me, then the only thing God needs to hear from me is my praise and declaration of who He is. God shouldn’t hear me say, “God, You haven’t healed me yet! I’m sooo tired God! When are you going to heal me?!!” That’s not a prayer of faith. Rather, it’s a prayer of frustration and worry.

Approaching God the wrong way doesn’t accomplish anything in the spiritual realm. When I choose to pray emotionally, I’m not demonstrating my faith in God. I’m just appeasing my flesh. However, it’s not about moving my flesh. It’s about moving God! When I offer up emotional prayers, I’m not honoring God or inviting Him into my situation. I’m exalting my emotions and thoughts, instead of exalting God and His Word.

Let me tell you a story (Luke 18:10-14):

One day, two men went into the Temple or church to pray. One man was a Pharisee. Pharisees were religious and political leaders who were highly respected by the Jewish community. The other man was a publican or tax collector. Unlike Pharisees, tax collectors were hated because they collected taxes for the Romans. To make matters worse, tax collectors were also known for charging extra money and keeping it for themselves.

The Pharisee stood by himself to pray. He said, “I thank You, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give You a tenth of my income.”

Now, the tax collector stood at a distance and wouldn’t even look up to heaven because he felt so ashamed. He said, “O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.”

Do you know what happened after the two men prayed? The tax collector’s prayer was accepted, and he was made right with God. On the other hand, God did not receive the Pharisee’s prayer.

Why?

Let’s consider how they each prayed. The Pharisee’s prayer was full of self-righteousness. It wasn’t about exalting God or praying sincerely for others. It was all about exalting himself.

The tax collector approached God in faith and humility. That, too, is important——HUMILITY——remembering that we are nothing without God. He recognized that he was a sinner in need of forgiveness and restoration. He wasn’t trying to impress anyone. He didn’t care who heard him. All he wanted was for God to hear him. And He did!

WHO IS GOD?
From this moment forward, as you go before God in prayer, I want to encourage you to always consider how you approach God. I understand that as humans we sometimes get discouraged and find ourselves becoming frustrated, but that doesn’t change who God is. And who is God?

God is our Deliverer, Healer, Restorer, Teacher, Protector, Provider! God is EVERYTHING we need!

So, no matter what the situation is, we should always have faith in God. Mark 11:24 says:

“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

(“The Kimberly Joy Show: P.U.S.H. Pray Until Something Happens Part 2”)

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Life Has Its Rewards When We Draw Nigh to God

By Kimberly Joy

On January 30, 2017

In Faith

(“The Kimberly Joy Show: Rewards of Drawing Nigh to God”)

Life has its rewards when we draw nigh to God. So, it is in our best interests to surrender to the Creator, the one in control. After all, He has EVERYTHING we need! Unfortunately, as human beings, sometimes we forget that and behave as if we can do everything on our own. However, we cannot! Contrary to what some people believe, we can’t do anything without God because, again, He is our Creator. Acts 17:28 says:

“…In Him [God] we live, and move, and have our being…”

We breathe because of God. Our hearts beat because of God. We wake up every morning because of God. Therefore, we need God!

So many rewards are gained from drawing nigh to God. For one, we gain salvation and eternal life. Initially, we come close to God by accepting His Son Jesus as Lord and Savior. Jesus says in John 14:6:

“…I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.”

Now, you may ask, “Why do I have to go through Jesus to get to God?” The answer is very simple. God set it up that way! According to Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, life became difficult for them. Their rebellion brought sin and death into the world. God had created them to live forever, to never experience pain, illness or death. Nevertheless, their decision changed all that. They would eventually grow old, weak and die. Moreover, EVERY person coming after them (including you and me) would experience the same thing.

Adam and Eve’s rebellion also caused a rift in their relationship with God. They became spiritually dead and were no longer connected to God. Therefore, because of the sin, death, and disconnection, God sent His Son Jesus to earth to serve as a Mediator. What is a mediator, you ask? A mediator is “a person who intervenes between two individuals who are not in agreement.” Sin causes us NOT to be in agreement with God. However, when we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives, He acts as our Mediator and reconciles us back to God. In other words, Jesus reunites us with God. 1 Timothy 2:5 says:

“For there is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.”

Once we are reunited with God, God no longer sees us as sinners, but as His righteous children who will one day live with Him forever. II Corinthians 5:21 says:

“For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

Another reward we gain when we draw nigh to God is peace. Romans 5:1 says:

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”

How would you define peace? Some definitions include “freedom from disturbance; quiet; tranquility, calm, restfulness.” In the biblical sense, peace means “to be complete” or “to be sound.” II Timothy 1:7 says:

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

When we are made right with God through Jesus, we are complete. As our pastor Apostle Banks always says, “Nothing missing, nothing broken!” Everything we need is in God. So, we don’t have to fear anything or anyone. We don’t have to fear what will happen tomorrow because God is our Father, and He is ALWAYS with us.

I’ll give you an example:

About three months ago, I was heading home around 6:30 in the evening. As I was driving, my car started acting strangely and eventually just shut completely off! EVERYTHING shut off! I couldn’t even get the key out of the ignition! Naturally, because I was feeling helpless and scared, I could feel myself tearing up.

A couple of minutes later, a few people stopped to try to help me, but they couldn’t. Then a few minutes after that, an older gentleman stopped to help. Fortunately, the man turned out to be a mechanic. Within twenty minutes, he had my car running well enough for me to get home. Not only did he turn out to be a mechanic, but he also happens to live near me. So, he offered to follow me home just in case I had any more problems. Once we got my car home, he then offered to repair my car, and two days later I was back in business!

Through that particular experience, God reassured me that He has my back! No matter what situation I am in, I don’t have to fear. I only need to have faith in God because He makes my life complete. In other words, God gives me PEACE! In fact, even as my car was shutting down right before my very eyes, God was whispering in my ear, “Trust Me!”

In addition, when we draw nigh to God we receive healing. We can be healed physically, emotionally, and mentally. However, I want to focus on physical healing. I find that sometimes as believers we don’t believe that we can be healed in our bodies. But, we CAN be healed if we just ask God and believe Him. Throughout the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), we read about how Jesus healed so many people. As believers, we are to follow His example. We can receive healing for ourselves and for others. In Matthew 10:1, Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them power to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness. When we as believers draw nigh to God, He gives us the same power!

In our church Power and Faith Ministries, many people have been healed from cancer and other diseases. In fact, a gentleman in our church was healed from a brain tumor approximately ten years ago. The doctors had done everything they could do, and told his wife to call the family in to say their final goodbyes. However, she wasn’t willing to give up that easily. So, we continued to pray and stand on the Word of God. As a result, her husband was healed and he is STILL walking in his healing today!!!

While I was an English teacher at Dater High School, I witnessed God heal two of my students. One was healed from cancer and the other from near-blindness. When they each first told me about their illnesses, I called on other prayer warriors to join me in praying for their healing. I even went to see my student who had cancer, while he was in the hospital. Soon after we prayed, God healed both of them. I now communicate with them from time to time via social media, and I am happy to say that they are STILL doing well!

As believers in Christ Jesus, when we draw nigh to God, He shows us that we don’t have to accept what the doctors say or what our bodies tell us. We can receive total healing if we just believe!

So many other rewards can be attained when we draw nigh to God. Personally speaking, as I draw closer to God I receive more and more from Him, not just material blessings, but spiritual blessings. I hear His voice more clearly and He continues to use me for His glory. And, at the end of the day, that is what is most important. So, I encourage YOU to keep drawing nigh to God and trust that, as Psalms 84:11 states, there is no good thing He will withhold from you!

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