“Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God."
John 11:40
Many of you will recognize these as the words of Jesus to Martha. Her brother, Lazarus, had died four days prior to Jesus' arrival. Fraught with grieving, Jesus said to Martha, "Your brother will rise again." Now faced with the dilemma that many of us encounter when dealing with a health challenge; she could choose to believe what she saw in the natural or she could choose to believe the words of Jesus.
Like Martha, there will always be a conflict between what our senses acknowledge and what is true in the spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:14 declares: "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them for they are spiritually discerned." Matthew 8:17 declares that Jesus took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. So, ours is a similar dilemma as Martha's. Jesus had told her that her brother would rise from the dead; yet in the natural she was facing the fact that her deceased brother had already been placed in a tomb.
Challenged with ongoing, blaring symptoms ~ we can either focus on the symptoms, or we can focus on the Word of God. I can attest, it takes real courage, determination, tenacity, and a steadfast faith to believe in what the Word says when what you see and feel in the natural is contrary to the Word! That's exactly what Jesus was saying to Martha. He was saying: [Paraphrased] 'Take your focus off what is true in the natural and focus on the truth of what I've said.' In today's world, it's like a fish swimming upstream. As Christians, it's required that we walk by faith rather than by sight. Faith requires that we believe what looks entirely impossible as possible.
Mark 11:24 instructs us to 'believe we have received the answer to our prayer ~ when we pray'. Even when there's no evidence of change, we are to believe we have received. According to the above scripture, we must believe before we receive. No matter what is challenging you, determine to be steadfast in your belief that God will bring it to pass, and He will!
DAILY DECLARATION
I choose to believe what the Word of God says, rather than what I see and feel in the natural. The doctors' report, the lab results, and the symptoms may be facts ~ but the truth is that Jesus took my infirmities and bore my sicknesses. I have been healed by His stripes. And I refuse to settle for anything less!
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