*TESTIMONY* God Remembers What You Say In Faith Isaiah 55:11
11So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Some years back, I had a skin condition which refused to heal. I told God about it and began to take the Holy Communion believing and confessing that by Jesus’ stripes I was healed. Nothing happened, or so it seemed.
But the Lord did not forget about my skin condition. One day, He prompted me to check my body to see if it was still there. I did so and realized that it had disappeared! God had not forgotten the Word which I had confessed in faith.
A mother and daughter, who had been listening to my sermon tapes, began to believe that as the righteousness of God in Christ, they attracted the blessings of God. At that time, the mother had entered her name in a number of lucky draw contests. Together, they believed for the grand prize of one of these contests, which was a S$470,000 private apartment.
Soon after, the mother won two microwave ovens, a rice cooker and a S$5,000 wristwatch. In the excitement of winning those prizes, they completely forgot about the grand prize. But God did not forget what they had believed Him for. Some time later, they received news that the mother was the winner of the private apartment!
Maybe you shared God’s Word with a troubled friend a few years ago. You bump into him one day and he tells you, “Remember that day? You said something which transformed my life!” Your mind draws a blank because you have forgotten what you said. But God did not forget. He remembered what you said that day in faith.
You see, if the words you confess in faith for yourself or over your loved ones are God’s own words, He says, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Because what is promised to you is God’s Word, you will see the manifestation of His promise. He will certainly watch over His Word to perform it! (Numbers 23:19)
Old
(Hebrew) Testament Deuteronomy 8:11-18 A Warning Not to Forget God in
Prosperity (*p. 227)
Israel
faced severe hardship in the desert during the forty years they wandered. They
had to depend daily on God for food, for water, for shelter, for life itself.
Now
they have crossed over into the land of milk and honey. The fertility of the
land is in marked contrast to the barrenness of the wilderness. “The plenty of
the land poses the threat that Israel will forget the Lord and exalt itself. “
(*p. 227)
“We
live as a blessed people, created in the image of a gracious and merciful God.
God calls us to a life of blessing, through love and obedience.
“For
Wesleyan Christians this is the call to a life of sanctification and holiness;
as we walk in the ways of the Lord, we are on the path that leads to life.
“Along
the way the roads will diverge and important decisions will loom before us. In
these moments, we pray for wisdom and courage to choose life, holding fast to
the disciplines that will keep us close to God’s purposes for us.” (*p.254)
Epistle
Hebrews 2:11-18 “Exaltation through Abasement”
“Christ’s
entrance into the heavenly realm announces the glorious destiny of all
disciples. But Christ is also the bridge, as it were, by which we cross over to
that goal.
“His
own experiences of pain and shame assure us that our path of discipleship,
though filled with experiences of loss and suffering, will also lead to
‘glory,’ and that our high priest knows from personal experience what we need
to arrive there securely….
“God
led Jesus through a path of hardest testing and deepest loss so that Christian
disciples would be confident of Jesus’ sympathy and help in their own trials.
“Wesley
observed that suffering incurred for the sake of obeying Christ helps ‘[to
wean] us from sin causing our affections to be set on things above.’
“When
people think that death is the final word, fear of death will keep them from
fully obeying God and seeking God’s justice. Fear of death diverts their
energies [from being obedient to God’s will] toward worldly achievement,
amassing wealth, and seeking pleasurable distractions to ‘make the most out of
life’ while they can.
“Because
Jesus faced death and emerged victorious from the grave, we can be freed from
this fear for joyful, unrestrained, undistracted obedience.” (*pp. 1485, 1486)
Gospel
John 2:1-12 The Wedding at Cana (*p. 1288)
“Jesus
is the bringer of God’s overflowing grace and end-time salvation, which the
prophets depicted as a wedding feast and a time of abundant wine. In Jesus,
God’s future salvation and abundant life are present now.” (*p.1288)
Abba,
Father
Keep
me humble. Let me feel my pain as a reminder of the barrenness of the
wilderness, as a reminder of the “path of hardest testing and deepest loss”
walked by your only begotten son. May my energy be freed from the distractions created by pain, and
turn to “joyful, unrestrained, undistracted obedience.” Amen.
