Recently my daughter Linda sprained her right ankle really bad. It was visibly swollen to about twice the size of her other ankle and she was in quite a bit of pain. I treated it as anyone would, I put an ice pack on it for a few minutes then coated her ankle and foot with Icy-Hot and wrapped it with ace bandage. I tell you that to tell you this. What happened next was absolutely amazing and beyond that. I placed my hand on the ankle and prayed. I knew something was taking place and I kept on getting this feeling that the Lord was fixing her ankle. When asked how it felt she said it didn't hurt as much. I explained that faith sometimes needs an action for us to get our healing. What this means is to try and do what you couldn't do. We can say all day long how strong our faith is, but unless we take a step in it, it's just words and that will not get the job done.
So she stood up and did a few different things like stand on her tip toes, which she couldn't do and as she did this the pain went away more. I asked her then to walk around her room. She did and in less then five minutes, her limp was entirely gone and she was running the length of the house, Praise God. On this very night Linda received a miracle. It was by her stepping out in faith that she received her healing. God honors our faith but especially so when we walk in it instead of just talking about it. Our words without actions to demonstrate them are just words.
This is where the enemy will try to put up emotional stumbling blocks all over the place. He knows that if he can stop us from stepping out in faith because of fear, stress, or doubt he can block us from getting our victory. The sure fire way to defeat the enemy is to be so familiar with God's word and His promises, that there is no room for doubt in our minds. The enemy can only win when our guard is down which occurs as soon as we begin to become lax in our prayer life, and study of Gods word.
I've heard others say it and I've said it myself at times "having faith is so hard". Well, I have learned some things since saying that. The most important of those things I've learned is that we make having faith hard. Jesus said in Mark 10:15 (Amplified Bible) Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive and accept and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child [does] positively shall not enter it at all. So having the belief and faith of a young child is what we’re supposed to have. This is why having faith, seeing miracles and healings is so uncommon in our lives.
We don’t have childlike faith. Adults are always trying to figure it all out. How did that person get healed? How did that storm miss my house? Why didn't I get that job? These are frequently heard questions and the answer is the same for all of them. We’re not supposed to understand how it all works. God is a mystery, how he does things is beyond our understanding, and I personally have come to accept that and be ok with it. Maybe we’ll get the answers when we go to Heaven, but I realize that I don’t need to know how the master does his work.
The end result of being able to accept not knowing how God works is this. I can think more like an eight year old now than when I was actually eight years old. Most of us were forced to grow up to soon. Everybody wanted to be older than they were until they hit thirty, and then they all want to go backwards and we can’t.
My thinking is that the devil knew that if he could get us to desire things that older people had, like cars, money, independence and even alcohol, we would lose interest in being children. Right at that moment we lost our childlike perception and our childlike faith. Is it any surprise that that the majority of Playstations, Xbox’s and Gamecube’s are owned by people in their forties? They’re trying to live out the childhood that they missed out on the first time around.
We need to ask Our Father to restore our ability to think like children. Not to act like children, just think like them. When we do, our ability to have faith in the portions that we should have will grow faster than we can comprehend. Our ability to see healings and miracles will also grow exceedingly fast. Then events that seem uncommon now will become commonplace in our lives. The impossibilities of God won’t be so impossible anymore. Thank You Jesus!
Please pray this with me.
Father God, you created us in your image and you call us your children. Before we can be great men and women of God, we must first be great children of God. So Father I pray that you would restore the childlike thinking to all of mankind. Bring us to that place God, where we can take the words Born Again to a whole new level. We want to see your miracles as everyday occurrences God and we need to see from a place of faith only available to a childlike heart and eyes. Father I pray for the future generations that they would be able to overcome the deceit of the enemy and not grow up too soon. A healthy childhood becomes a healthy adulthood and I know your will is for us to have health in every way.
This and all things I ask in the precious name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
“The Sharpshooter”
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