(An introductory email sent to a young mom learning to pray healing in for her babies)
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Please know that we understand and appreciate your pain and frustration and confusion more than you can imagine. Kandi and I have been on this journey for over a year and have experienced more heartache, frustration, confusion, pleading and weariness than in previous seasons, but along with all the struggle there have been countless, numerous breakthroughs that have made the suffering pale in comparison. As with child birth, the joy of the child in your arms always overshadows the pain of the process. But I will tell you right now, the journey your heart is longing to be on is not without sacrifice or pain or frustration. Jesus gave his life so that we could again share in the fullness of God's kingdom on earth; you will have to give up everything if you want to share in what Jesus shared in. The cost is real, but if you lose it all you will gain everything!
With that said, let me introduce you to a truth that needs to become the foundation of your understanding...ready? Here it is - GOD IS GOOD. THE DEVIL IS BAD. I can't tell you how much this simple statement turned Kandi and I upside-down. We've learned in the church for so many years that God tests us and strengthens us by causing/allowing bad things to happen to us. This is a LIE. God is good. God can only do good. The devil is responsible for everything bad...everything! But Christians have reinterpreted all this to fit their experience. They prayed and people weren't immediately healed. They asked God for His promises and they weren't immediately received. So guess what? Instead of understanding that something in them needed to change, they changed God. The began to develop theories of how God causes bad things to grow us, and how he allows the devil to mess with us so that he can strengthen us. That simply is not true. God is good, the devil is bad...period.
Let me say it this way - Would you ever break your kids arm to grow their trust in you? Would you ever cause them to have a disease to grow their character? How do you think CPS (Child Protection Service) would respond if they found out you infected your kids with the flu in order to help them develop their faith? Quite frankly, they would put you in jail and call it child abuse! As Christians we've developed an understanding of the world that makes God someone who inflicts us with all kinds of suffering (or allows it) so that we can grow in faith. This is ludicrous! Why would we suggest anything of God that we ourselves know is evil? God, your heavenly dad, hates to see you or your children suffer anything. He didn't create the world for suffering. He didn't create us to endure sickness, disease, poverty, brokenness, etc. He created us to live in the fulness of his life and peace. It's in his presence, not disease, that we grow in faith and intimacy with God. Jesus came to forgive and cleanse us of all our sin and to destroy the power the devil has through sin, which is every bad thing you see on the earth. Remember, God is good, the devil is bad. Everything good is from God. Everything bad is from the devil.
Look at John 10:10 - "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life , and have it to the full." Jesus is teaching us here how to know what is from Jesus and what is from the devil. He calls the devil a thief. The devil's only desire is to steal, kill and destroy. So anything in our lives that steals, kills or destroys that which God created for life is from the devil. Colds steal, kill and destroy. Flues steal, kill and destroy. Cancer steals, kills and destroys. Bi-polar disorder steals, kills and destroys. Fear steals, kills and destroys. You see? So many of the things we suffer from are simply disguises for the devil. As long as he can hide behind these words (cancer, flu, fear, etc.) then we don't address the real issue - the devil. Most of us spend much of our time fighting the wrong battle. We're fighting these disguises with natural remedies when Jesus wants to teach us that he came to destroy the works of the devil (every one of them) with spiritual power and he wants to do that through you and me! The Holy Spirit of Jesus is powerful to destroy every sickness, disease, dysfunction, brokenness, etc. There is nothing the devil works in our lives or in this world that Jesus' Spirit cannot overcome and bring life to (Romans 8:11). He who lives in you is greater than he who lives in this world.
Could you imagine if your kids blamed you every time they got sick or experienced anything bad? That's how God feels. It breaks his heart because he hates the presence of evil and brokenness in our lives more than we could ever imagine. Remember, He is perfectly loving. The devil's greatest strategy is LIES. He has lied to us for so long and we bought it! He's convinced us that some how sickness is good for us, suffering is good for us. That's a LIE. From this point on, you are free to expose the devil for who he is. Wherever you see anything that steals, kills or destroys, you can call it for what it is - a work of the enemy. We've been fighting God for too long. It's time to let God begin the work of destroying the devil's works through us. This is the right, privilege and responsibility of every Christian (even mothers of young children). Be aware: this is not a popular teaching amongst many Christians, so be wise with whom you process this stuff in these early stages.
I do want to share more with you about praying effectively to destroy every work of the devil, but first things first - It's time to repent. Remember, repentance is an invitation to let God bring your thoughts, emotions, inner spirit and your body into alignment with his own (now that's not so scary ; ]). Repentance is always the beginning of receiving more from God. This is how simple it is. You can say these words or use your own (take your time):
"God, I repent for any way I have blamed you for anything evil or bad in my life or anyone else's life.
I repent for believing the lies of the enemy that you would ever harm me in order to teach me something.
I ask you to fill me with Holy Spirit.
I receive forgiveness, mercy and peace.
Bring my thoughts, emotions, inner spirit and physical body into alignment with your heart.
I confess - GOD IS GOOD and longs to give me life to the fullest. THE DEVIL IS BAD, he is a thief whose works steal, kill and destroy.
I confess - you desire to bless me with every good thing in heaven while I am on earth.
I confess - you desire to bless my children and family with every good thing in heaven while we are on earth.
I invite you to teach me how to walk in your authority to destroy the work of the devil on the earth. I accept this is my inheritance, privilege and responsibility as your daughter. I trust you to lead me."
Well done, sister. You are entering into an entirely new way of seeing life. Holy Spirit will begin to help you see things for what they really are. You will begin to see clearly the work of the devil and you will also begin to see the work of God. Remember, the work of God always, always, always trumps the work of the devil.
One last thing - "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him." (Acts 10:38) L - THIS IS ALSO YOUR DESTINY.
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