THE FIGHT OF FAITH FOR HEALTH!
DO 2546 8/89
1. Maria: I was just reading a report about one of our Family members who confesses she has recently been fighting battles about her health. She has been frequently asking for prayer against headaches, numbness in her right hand & the right side of her face, dizziness, poor circulation & painful cramps in her foot etc.
2. She has high blood pressure--something like 185 over 130, & from what she indicates, that's very high. Since high blood pressure can cause strokes & heart attacks, she thinks that this numbness she experiences in her right hand & on the right side of her face could be signs of an upcoming stroke. On the same foot where she had to have one of her toes amputated several months ago, she gets tingling feelings in two of her other toes, & more recently on the bottom of her foot, to where it hurts when she walks.
3. She says that she really wants to trust the Lord & have faith for healing, but then she feels badly about having to ask the Home for prayer almost every day. On the other hand, she said she doesn't want to have spiritual pride, & thinks that it might be good to go have a check-up. She thinks this could mean that the doctors would put her on pills to help bring her high blood pressure down--which she says can otherwise be fatal when it's up as high as hers.
4. Her husband has read about her problems in medical books & talked to her about what the books say, & has also expressed that he feels it would be fine for her to go to the doctor about this. In some ways she doesn't want to go to the doctor unless she has to, desiring more to be healed by faith.--But with these frequently recurring problems of numbness in her hand & face, tingling in her foot & toes, headaches & dizziness etc., she says she "doesn't want to die on us" & wants to do the right thing, even if it means going to the doctor & taking pills, if that's the Lord's Will for her & what will help save her life.
5. She mentioned that her father died of a stroke & her mother died of multiple sclerosis, a deteriorating disease of the nervous system. She remembers nursing her mother when she was a preteen & teen, as her mother was first on crutches, then in a wheelchair, & then bed-ridden.
6. She states that she has been faithful in taking daily get-outs in order to improve her circulation, her diet is as salt-free as possible, she gets good rest, plenty of fresh air, has a good sex life & loves her work for the Lord. But she's quite worried about her health & believes it's serious. She's now wondering if she should indeed go to the doctor & possibly take medication to lower her blood pressure.--Or if she should just keep praying & asking the Lord to heal her by faith.
A BATTLE BETWEEN FEAR & FAITH!
(Dad's reply after hearing the above explanation:)
7. Her fear destroys her faith, & that's what the Devil uses! Fear is the Devil's own device & fear lets the Devil in! Just because her father had a stroke & her mother was in a wheelchair doesn't mean anything to the Lord. She just needs to trust the Lord!
8. I'm not against people going to the hospital to find out what's wrong with them, or to the doctor to find out everything the doctor knows or can do for their problem, but my experience along that line has not been very helpful. Going to the doctor about my runs & having all those tests never did a damned bit of good! I wanted to find out if he knew what was causing it so I could avoid it or remedy it, but there wasn't a thing he did to help. He didn't even know what was wrong with me, so how could he give me anything that would help it?
9. (Maria: In both her case & her husband's, most of their serious sicknesses have been things that have been emergencies. For instance, she had to have her toe amputated or the infection would have spread & killed her. And her husband had to have an emergency appendectomy or it would have killed him, & their son, too.) Well, in that case they might have died. I've had appendicitis too, acute appendicitis, but I insisted on trusting the Lord & He delivered me!
10. For people who are accustomed to going to doctors it gets to be a kind of habit or a state of mind. They feel like that's their only hope, & that's the only thing that can be done about it, that "The Lord can't heal it, or He hasn't, so we've got to have it done by the hospital." Therefore they have real fear about some of these natural ailments--or unnatural ailments--because they haven't had much success in prayer for healing. They have more faith for the doctor & hospital to heal it, so they tend to lean more on that.
11. Therefore, when these things occur, for one thing, they are really frightened--which is fear--which is of the Devil! I know! --I've been through it!--But I always wound up finding that Man really couldn't help me & I always refused to let them interfere or fiddle around with my body or cut me open or anything like that. I even refused to take most of their medicines, because as Dr. Koger used to say, even if the medicine helps one thing, it'll hurt something else!
12. It's a battle between fear & faith, the Devil & the Lord! I just go ahead & figure, "Well, if the Lord wants to let it kill me, that's His business! So what? I'm just going to keep on trusting the Lord & doing His Work until I die!"--Which I've almost done several times!
13. (Maria: Her husband thinks that if the doctor prescribes pills to control her blood pressure, like she has taken in the past, that she wouldn't have to be battling with fear all the time.) The fear probably causes the high blood pressure! Science says that all the time, that high blood pressure is caused by stress, strain, fear, nervousness, pressure etc.
14. In her picture she looks worried. She's smiling, but her eyes are full of fear. It's pitiful. They're almost longing, searching, like they're saying, "Please help me!" Her eyes are not smiling, they're worried. That's probably her problem. It's like the verse, "And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."--Heb.2:15. Because of her family traits & history, she's probably had that fear that she was going to fall prey to the same things.--And that fear almost guarantees it, sad to say. (Job 3:25)
15. Oh, Lord Jesus, help her to have faith & to trust Thee, in Jesus' name!--And if it's Thy Will for her to die, Lord, well, so much the better. You can relieve her of her aches & pains & worries that apparently she hasn't had the faith for You to heal. And as far as any dangers to the Family, You can take care of that.
REBUKING THE LIES OF THE DEVIL!
16. The Devil is trying to scare her!--Just because of a little bit of a twinge in her arm! That's all it amounts to. He tries to do that to me almost every day. I have heart pains when I'm out on get-out. I have things that happen & I know it's just the Devil trying to scare me, but I just say, "Lord Jesus, rebuke him & help me! I live on Your strength. I live on Your health, Your safety! If You want me to die now, OK.--But Lord, I don't think You do, so I just rebuke the Devil!"
17. I think this comes under the same category as that attack of paralysis my Mother had after her healing, just when she was going to get up & give her testimony. Suddenly her legs were paralysed, & it wasn't her imagination either, they were paralysed & the Devil was attacking her to try to prevent her from giving her testimony! So she asked the Lord for a Scripture, like she always did, & the Lord said, "Lying vanities!"--Jon.2:8. In other words, it was a lie of the Devil!
18. Now why can't this dear girl just rebuke it & say, "It's a lie of the Devil, Lord! I'm Your child & I'm doing Your Work & sacrificing everything for others! This is an attack of the Devil, a lie of the Devil!"--And just don't believe it!
19. God doesn't give a damn about her family history & all that blah! She is not subject to her family history! She is now a child of God, "A new creature in Christ Jesus!--Old things are passed away, all things are become new," including that!--2Cor.5:17. She can't let the Devil lie to her like that & scare her like that! She's just got to claim some verses & rebuke the Devil's lies!
GRANDFATHER'S PARALYSIS!--And Grandmother's Lessons!
20. I've had pains in my head that I thought were going to kill me!--Which are supposedly a sign of an impending stroke, of which my Father died! So am I going to fear strokes just because my Father had a stroke & suffered paralysis for about three years before he died of it?
21. Well, I think the Lord used my Father's paralysis to teach my Mother something! My Father had suffered with her & taken care of her for five years; she only had to take care of him for three years!--Plus she had the help of my son, Ho, who was 12 years of age, & he was a great blessing to his Grandfather.--Sort of like Techi is to me!
22. So Mother was learning things through my Father's illness. She was learning how sacrificial he had been, & how much love & patience it took for him to take care of her all those years.--Now she had to go through it herself & take care of him!
23. I think she learned to appreciate him more through that. She had often been quite critical of him & impatient with him, but I think that experience really helped to humble her & prepare her for her own death a few years later.
DON'T ABUSE YOUR BODY!--Eat Right, Sleep Right, Exercise Right!
24. This girl doesn't have to worry about her God-damned family history! To Hell with it! Forget it! (Maria: Or even the toe she had amputated.) My God, no! (Maria: She doesn't have to worry that that's a precursor to other things. It doesn't necessarily mean she's going to lose her other toes, because the Lord can overcome that!)--Right!
25. But she has apparently abused her body somehow in the past, even since she has been a Christian. She probably hasn't watched her diet like she should, & she probably hasn't gotten enough exercise.
26. I rebuked Dawn (Lois) for this when she was having all those appendicitis attacks! I really told her off about exercise & diet etc., & she never failed to take care of herself after that, she realised her life depended on it! (See FN Encyclopedia, Pg.130.)
27. People need to realise that eating the wrong things is abusing their body just as much as anything else! They've gotten the idea that only things like smoking, drinking, drugs & that sort of thing is abusing their body, but there are plenty of Christians who abuse their body just as much, if not worse, by what they eat, & what they fail to do in the way of exercise!
28. You & I get out & exercise every day, vigorously, strenuously, whether we like it or not, & whether we think we have time for it or not! We have to if we're going to stay alive! You can't put it off & say, "Well, I don't have time today." If you don't have time today you'll never have time for it, because every day stands alone! Today is the day you should get vigorous exercise, some time today! Today is the day you should eat the right foods! Tonight is the night you should get enough sleep!
29. I wonder how many of our people are giving themselves the excuse, "I've got to get this done now, I don't have time to take a walk! I don't have time to exercise today, this is urgent!" There is nothing more urgent than your health if you're going to stay alive to continue to do God's Work! And you have got to get exercise, & you have got to eat right, just as much as you have got to get enough sleep!
30. Look at it this way: Eating the right food & getting enough exercise & getting enough rest is serving God! It's a part of your Work for the Lord! It's God's Work to let God work in you.
YOU'VE GOT TO FIGHT!
31. Now if some people have natural weaknesses for certain things, then they're going to have to really work on them! You know how I've worked on mine. Thank God the Lord has helped me to succeed. You have to fight it! You have to attack it! You've got to go to work on it & not get down in the dumps worrying about dying! Fight! Fight the Devil & his lies & his symptoms & all that baloney! It doesn't mean a thing to God! God can do it! But you've got to have the faith that God is going to do it & live like it! Trust the Lord!--And go ahead & fight until you die!
32. No soldier is going to be a good fighter unless he is fearless of death! You've got to get up & fight--& fight & die if you have to! How are you going to be a good fighter if you're always afraid of dying? What kind of a soldier is afraid to fight because he might get hurt or die? Good soldiers have to be fearless of death!
33. I have to fight every day just to stay alive! I have to refuse to believe the Devil's lies & symptoms with which he tries to attack me almost every day of my life! I just say, "Lord, You know, it's Your business! It's Your job to take care of me! It's up to You, Lord! I'm going to go right ahead & do Your Work & be faithful & work hard & exercise hard, eat well, rest well, in spite of all the Devil's lies & temptations & everything else!"
34. Some people give the excuse, "Well, maybe I'm not worthy of healing." Well, I'm not worthy!--Nobody is worthy! Nobody deserves healing! Nobody can work for it. Nobody is worthy of it. Don't think you're going to be healed just because you're a Christian & serving the Lord. You've got to trust God for it every minute of every day, & fight for it! Rebuke the Devil & trust the Lord!
35. Trusting the Lord & having the faith for healing is not just lying down & doing nothing & saying, "Well, I'm just going to trust the Lord to do it all." You've got to fight for it! You've got to cooperate! You've got to have faith! You've got to rebuke the Devil & all his lies & refuse to believe it!
DAD'S APPENDICITIS TESTIMONY!
36. At least if you're going to die, die fighting & trusting the Lord! My whole family had appendectomies!--Every one of them, from my Grandfather on down to my brother & sister! I'm the only one who didn't! Well, I fought with appendicitis for years, but one night in Anaheim, California, when I was about 20 years old I had a severe attack, decided to just trust the Lord rather than go to the hospital, & the Lord healed me almost completely, & I've only had a touch since then, as you know. It's still there to remind me, but I have never suffered such an attack since. It's still there doing its little duty, but it's not killing me, thank the Lord!
37. So maybe these little symptoms or signs she is having are little reminders that she needs to watch her activities & her diet & her rest & her faith & quit fearing just because it's her family tendency! All my family had appendicitis & had their appendixes removed--I'm the only one who didn't, thank the Lord!
38. But if I hadn't rebuked the Devil & trusted the Lord that night, the same thing would have happened to me! It was a real test of faith, a real battle with Satan, no doubt to test me for the future, & to be able to give this testimony to others.
FAITH COMES FROM THE WORD!
39. A lot of it is up to us, & our part of it is that we need to know the Word! She should be just immersing herself in healing verses & stories of healing, because "Faith cometh by hearing the Word!"--Rom.10:17. If she doesn't know how to have faith & her faith is weak & she has all this fear of dying & fear of her family's troubles & blah blah blah, she needs to get faith! She needs to really memorise! She ought to go to work on memorising healing Scriptures & reading healing testimonies & listening to the Memory Book Song Tape on Healing, & reading the MO Letters on healing & listening to the "Faith & Healing" tape.
40. When I'm so sick I think I'm dying, that's what you read to me!--The Scripture that gives me the faith to rebuke the Devil & trust the Lord!--And I'm always delivered! Goodness, if we can trust the Lord for more years of life, we surely have to trust Him for healing! Praise the Lord!
EAT WHAT'S SET BEFORE YOU!
41. (Maria: One question I wanted to ask is about one of our leaders, Leah, who was on thyroid pills all her life. [She threw them away, by the way, & is really fighting due to the talk you gave about them.] She doesn't eat with the rest of the Family because she feels she has to have a special diet to keep from gaining weight because of her over-active thyroid. Evidently she can't eat much starch--bread, rice or potatoes.) That's fine!
42. (Maria: But see, Leah feels she has to have a special diet, because the Family there eats a lot of potatoes, rice & bread. The thing is, there are a lot of people in the Family who, if they could, would also go on special diets for one reason or another. But in our Homes, a lot of the food is provisioned & they don't usually have all the foods that would be required for special diets.)
43. They just have to eat by faith! (Maria: Yes, otherwise we might have half the Family going on different diets!) As much as they can, they should try to eat the things that are best for them & avoid the things that are not, but as Paul says, "Eat what's set before you, giving thanks. For every creature of God is good & nothing to be refused, if it be received with a word of thanksgiving and prayer."--1Cor.10:27; 1Tim. 4:4,5.
44. (Maria: You can't have a cook in your Home who is so busy making 6 or 7 different sets of meals for this child who has an allergy, and this person who has heart trouble, and this person who has thyroid problems, or pretty soon it gets to be...) A hospital! (Maria: Yes, with everybody requiring something different!)
45. They've just got to go ahead & eat by faith! This is what Paul told his disciples. The question came up the other day about someone who was given a lot of pork through provisioning, & asked if they should eat it. I said, "Of course! Whatever the Lord provides, you eat!" I've even eaten shellfish & things like that which are forbidden in the Mosaic Law, because it was given to me. You can purify it by prayer, in spite of the unclean nature of it, according to the Old Testament. We're not bound by the Mosaic Law any more. By faith & by prayer we can overcome those things.
46. Of course, if I can avoid eating it, I don't eat it, if I have any choice. But if you have no choice & you're a guest, then you should pray over it--"kosherise" it by prayer--& eat it! I've had to do that many many times, especially in evangelistic work as guests in church members' homes etc. But when I go to restaurants where I have a choice, I try to stick to what is natural & what are clean meats according to God's Word.
47. Some of our people in Japan were invited out to dinner by a prominent friend, & she suggested a certain seafood restaurant. They said they'd be delighted, but if possible could they order something that isn't seafood, because the Bible rules prohibit its consumption (except clean fish).
48. They say this is what the Japanese are most proud of & fond of, they think it's a great treat to give you all that dirty seafood! (Maria: But it's not so embarrassing to them if you explain beforehand, & that way you're teaching them. So I would say for our own people that would be the way to do it. If you can do it without embarrassing them, then shouldn't you go ahead & teach them & try to help them to do the right thing?)--Yes, of course!
PRAYER FOR FAITH!
49. Lord, give these dear ones faith, in Jesus' name, to not sit around fearfully fearing all the time, just being afraid of what's going to happen, but to learn faith & healing verses, & take a stand of faith & fight until they win the victory!--In Jesus' name, amen!--I wouldn't be here today if I hadn't!--Every day! PTL! God bless you & help you to keep "fighting the good fight of faith!"--1Tim.6:12. Hallelujah!
P.S. --Just this past week Mama caught a bad cold & I did too!--The Devil told me, "Well, this is it!--It'll go to pneumonia like it did in the Army & you'll die!" Ha! Boy, he sure lies & preys on old fears if he can't find a new one!--Ha!--So I said, "You're a liar!--They're praying for me, so I'm gonna get up & fight!"--And I got this verse, "As they went they were healed!"--Luk.17:14b. Mama said, "Where are you going, as sick as you are!"--I said, "I'm wenting!"--And went out & went to work on some handyman projects with the boys!--And I'm almost well! Hallelujah!
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