CHAPTER 35
LAST BUT NOT LEAST
I have a few more Bible verses that I believe every mature Christian should know. I think they are important because they give us hope and they increase our faith. First, I believe that Jesus Christ not only died for our sins, He suffered so that we do not have to suffer. Jesus not only took all our sins on the cross, He also took all our sickness.
93) BUT HE WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS, HE WAS BRUISED FOR OUR INIQUITIES: THE CHASTISEMENT OF OUR PEACE WAS UPON HIM, AND WITH HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED.
ISAIAH 53:5
We know from the New Testament that this verse from the Book of Isaiah refers to our Lord and what He suffered for our sakes. See I Peter 2:24. It is written, “With His stripes we are healed.” The Word does not say, we might be healed or we are going to be healed. This healing Word of God is for all Christians right now.
I used to be sick all the time but after learning about the Word of faith I have not been sick in several years. I am not saying sickness does not try to get hold of me, but I refuse to let sickness get hold of me. If I feel some pain or an itching throat coming on, I immediately speak God’s Word from Isaiah 53:5 and I keep speaking it until the symptoms are gone. Often times I speak it when somebody comes around me sneezing and coughing. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. You resist the devil by speaking God’s Word.
I refuse to allow sickness in my body because my body is the temple of God. I believe vibrant health is an important part of my testimony. Do I really believe God’s Word or am I just going through the motions? Above all things, I do not want to be a hypocrite. I do not want to be an actor, I want to be the real deal. Sometimes we do things that make us sick. If you are a heavy smoker or heavy drinker or heavy drug user, you cannot expect to have great health. You cannot expect to build up your health with God’s Word while tearing your health apart with poisons at the same time.
Jesus said, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord your God,” when the devil tempted Him to cast himself down from the temple. See Matthew 4:7. The devil wants to use our pride to poison us but we can resist any temptation with God’s Word. Always go to the Word of God. God will never fail you and His Word is forever true. The Word of God can set you free from alcohol, drugs, and cigarette addiction.
94) THY WORD IS A LAMP UNTO MY FEET, AND A LIGHT UNTO MY PATH.
PSALM 119:105
If you do not have God, you are like a ship without a rudder being blown off course by every trouble and storm. If you do not know God’s Word you are spiritually blind and lost in darkness. The Word of God lights our way and keeps us from stumbling. The Word of God is a sure path leading us from glory to glory. Psalm 119:105 is so very important to memorize for every new Christian, this verse will always lead us back to our rock and our foundation. Jesus said that whosoever heard and did His sayings was a wise man. Jesus promised that neither rain, wind, flood nor storms of life can move a house founded on this rock.
Whenever you are confused or bewildered, you must go back to the Word of God. He will provide you the answers to all your questions. Speaking His Word will calm all your fears. If you read God’s Word, you will realize that all the mighty men and women of God were a type of Christ. Every faithful servant of God reflects the personage of Jesus Christ in some way or fashion. Every mature Christian will reflect the Lord if they will speak and believe His Word. God is searching the world for true believers so He can show Himself mighty on their behalf. God wants the world to see the blessings He will pour out on His Church, if only we will trust in His Word.
95) THE HEART OF THE WISE TEACHETH HIS MOUTH, AND ADDETH LEARNING TO HIS LIPS.
PROVERBS 16:23
This whole book has been an attempt to illustrate the importance of memorizing, speaking and hearing God’s Word. God has made some truly astonishing promises in His holy scripture. Long life, health, riches, peace and honor is promised to those who will trust Him. See Proverbs chapter 3. Miraculous power is promised to those who will believe Him. See Matthew 17:20. All of God’s promises are directly related to how we relate to Him. Do we believe His Word or not? If we are real “believers” we must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Walking in the Spirit and being Wise is not something we do, it is what we are because of what we have done.
If we see somebody lift a heavy weight, we say he is strong. If we hear somebody rattle off the correct answers to a quiz, we say he is smart. However, nobody is born strong, or wise, or heroes of faith, they all had to work to attain specific results. People have the mistaken idea that God picks people at random to become wise and mighty. However, if we read the Bible carefully, we will see that God seeks those who will be faithful to His Word. We see that the wise and mighty all went through trials and through tribulations and their trials taught them all one thing: they could rely on God and His Word. God’s Word tells us that people are wise if they teach their mouth and add learning to their lips.
96) “DELIGHT” THYSELF ALSO IN THE LORD; AND HE SHALL GIVE THEE THE DESIRES OF THINE HEART.
97) “COMMIT” THY WAY UNTO THE LORD; TRUST ALSO IN HIM; AND HE SHALL BRING IT TO PASS.
PSALM 37:4-5
DELIGHT. 6026. Aw-nag’; to be soft or pliable, i.e. (figuratively) effeminate or luxurious:- delicate (-ness), (have) delight (self), sport self. (The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, James Strong, LL.D., S.T.D., Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984.)
COMMIT. 1556. Gaw-lal’; to roll (literally or figuratively): - commit, remove, roll (away, down, together), run down, seek occasion, trust, wallow. (The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, James Strong, LL.D., S.T.D., Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984.)
Delighting ourselves in the LORD is the same as a wife putting her total trust in her husband. She trusts that he will provide for her and love her. She is confident that he will defend her and fight for her. She knows that his desire is only for her comfort and safety. She leans on him and totally relies on him.
I know this may not be a very modern attitude, but it is the attitude God wants us to cultivate towards Him. God wants us to rest in His perfect providence and provision. When we trust in God to supply our needs, our heart’s desires will begin to come alive. We will begin to dream dreams and see visions that ordinary people do not dare to dream or imagine. We will understand that nothing is impossible for God and none of our dreams are too big for Him. At first our requests will be average. We will ask for a warm place to sleep and food in our stomachs. We will ask for safety and health. God will provide for all our basic needs. Our faith will be quickened by the Holy Spirit and our horizons will become much broader. We will begin to ask for bigger things, we will ask for impossible things.
We will begin to ask God for miracles. We will ask God to give sight to the blind and salvation to the lost. We will ask God to make the lame man to leap like a hart and the dead man to be raised from the grave. Our faith in God will move mountains and our trust will become as firm as the Rock of Ages. All our cares will be rolled away from our shoulders because we will know that God loves us. Trust in God’s Word and simply ask Him for the desires of your heart and He will bring it to pass.
98) THE ANGEL OF THE LORD ENCAMPETH ROUND ABOUT THEM THAT FEAR HIM, AND DELIVERETH THEM.
PSALM 34:7
I believe there are devils and demonic spirits trying to harm us, but I also believe that all Christians have guardian angels. Angels are ministering spirits sent to help us in our work and to protect us. When Jesus was going to be taken prisoner, Peter took out a sword and was going to defend Him. Jesus told Peter that if He prayed to His Father, God would give Him more than twelve legions of angels. See Matthew 26:53. At the time of Christ a Roman legion consisted of approximately five-thousand (5,000) soldiers. Jesus was saying to Peter that He simply needed to ask and God would send over seventy-thousand (70,000) angels to deliver Him. You might say, “Well of course God would send a host of angels to protect Jesus but I’m not Jesus.”
There was another time in the Bible where God sent a host of angels to protect Elisha the prophet. See II Kings 6:16-17. When Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the Syrian army, Elisha told his servant not to be afraid because: “They that be with us are more than they that be with them.” Elisha prayed that the Lord would open the eyes of his servant and his servant saw the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
You might say, “I am not Elisha either.” We can be like the prophets and we can be like the apostles, they were just human beings like us! James said that Elijah the Prophet was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth for three and one-half years. See James 5:17.
99) TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL THINE HEART; AND LEAN NOT UNTO THINE OWN UNDERSTANDING.
100) IN ALL THEY WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, AND HE SHALL DIRECT THY PATHS.
PROVERBS 3:5-6
I have saved the best verses for last. Not leaning on your own understanding may be one of the most difficult things we ever do, but it is also one of our major stumbling blocks when it comes to becoming spiritually mature. It is extremely difficult to start questioning the things we think we know. Often times we have preconceived ideas about how things work due to what we have been taught or what we have experienced. For instance, we all know that we cannot walk on the water because we will sink. However, Jesus was able to walk on the water and the Apostle Peter was also able to walk on the water…for a short while at least. See Matthew 14:25-32.
All throughout the Bible there are instances where people experience things that most people believe are impossible. The Book of Hebrews speaks of the heroes of faith and lists their accomplishments:
Sarah bears a child at ninety years old, the Children of Israel pass through the Red Sea dry shod, Daniel stops the mouths of lions, women receive their dead raised to life again. The Bible is composed of events that are impossible for most people to believe. However, if we can believe God’s Word, the Bible illustrates that people who trust in God will experience events beyond normal people’s understanding. The most important thing we will ever do besides accepting Jesus Christ as our savior is to start knowingly doubting our own senses, our own understanding, our own learning, our own experience, and begin believing the Word of God. The only thing separating us from the heroes of faith is their ability to believe God. Miracles will happen for us if we can only believe God’s Word.
101) IF THOU CANST BELIEVE, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO HIM THAT BELIEVETH.
MARK 9:23