James 1:22-25 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (23) For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; (24) for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. (25) But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”
Faith requires corresponding action. In other words you are going to have to act on God’s word if you want to see His power made manifest in your life. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit makes it very clear to us that we must act on God’s word if we are to receive from Him. Notice that the scripture declares that we are blessed in that which we do and not in that which we hear. Hearing the word of God is good, for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But it is only as we put into practice that which we hear in God’s word that our faith is released, and thus we experience God’s power manifested in our lives. In other words we are blessed when we act on God’s word. All the promises of God are conditional, and if we will meet the conditions i.e. act on His word, then we will receive the manifestation of His promises in our lives. You may be believing God for a miracle in your life but are not seeing the results manifested. Find out from the Lord if there is anything that you have not perhaps left undone that could be preventing you from receiving your miracle. You will recall that when our Lord Jesus taught us about faith, that He linked that teaching directly with forgiveness (Mark 11:22-26). It may be that unforgiveness is hindering your faith from working for you. However, not always by just doing what the written word of God says will get the job done. So what do I mean when I say that? As sons of God we are to be led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14). The Spirit and the word always agree, but there are some things that the Spirit of God will instruct us to do that cannot be found in the written word of God. And so when the Spirit gives us His instruction, then unless we follow that instruction we will not receive our miracle from the Lord.
2 Kings 5:9-14 “Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. (10) And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean." (11) But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, "Indeed, I said to myself, 'He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.' (12) Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage. (13) And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?" (14) So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above, the Holy Spirit gives us an example of a specific instruction given by the Spirit that cannot be found in the written word of God. In this account we see that Naaman certainly had faith that Elisha could heal him, for he would not have travelled all the way from Syria to Israel to see Elisha if he didn’t believe that the prophet could heal him. And yet we see that when he came to Elisha for his healing that initially he received nothing from the Lord. This passage reveals to us that the reason he wasn’t healed was because he chose not act on the specific instruction given to him by the Spirit of God. And so even though Naaman had faith to receive his healing through the prophet’s ministry, there was another issue that God wanted to deal with first, i.e. his pride. His pride was hurt, firstly because Elisha himself had not addressed him directly but had sent his servant to deal with him. And then his pride was further hurt because he was instructed to wash himself in a river that he viewed as unclean. Eventually Naaman’s servants were able to talk sense into the Syrian, and he humbled himself and obeyed the words of the prophet and he was completely healed. It is very clear from this account that if we are going to receive our miracles from God, then we are going to have to be obedient to do all that He tells us to do, both in His written word and in that which the Spirit instructs us to do.
I will close off this section with an example in my own walk with the Lord. As sons of God, we are entitled to walk free from sickness in this life because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross (1 Peter 2:24). For many years after I came into the kingdom that is exactly how I lived, i.e. free from sickness and disease. There came a day however when my faith was tested, and my body became very ill from a virus that had affected a number of us in an isolated military base that I was in at that time. Many were bedridden as result of the virus outbreak and the doctors on site had prescribed certain medications that we had to take. As I lay there the time came for me to take my evening medication and I remember the Holy Spirit distinctly saying to me, “Now you can either take your medication or you can take My word.” I thought about it for a moment (you must understand that I was seriously ill at the time) and I decided to take God at His word. And so I got out of bed and dressed myself. In all this time nothing changed in my body, it was still just as sick as it had been (I felt terrible). I then walked to a bible study that was taking place on the other side of the camp. And now God’s power took over, because the closer I got to my destination the stronger my body became. And by the time I got to the bible study my body was completely healed. I received healing from God that night, because I chose to believe and act on the specific instruction given to me by the Holy Spirit. In other words I was blessed in that which I did.
Michael E.B. Maher
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