3 ways to get sick:

When I did the Div.ine Hea.ling Tech.nician Cur.ry Bla.ke spoke about 3 ways we get sick, but he only discussed 2 of them, and now when I did the Ne.w Ma.n he discussed it again, but once again only mentioned 2 ways, but it’s not the same 2 every time, so I want to combine these 2 teachings and discuss the 3 ways how we get sick.

Attack:
“The enemy attacks because he hates you – you didn’t have to do anything – it’s not due to sin. We cannot judge (why someone got sick), because the Bible says you will be judged with the same measure that you judged and if you were wrong in your judgement you are in trouble.”

Just an accident:
“Sometimes people get sick by not paying attention, it’s nobody’s fault per se, except for the part of not paying attention. What I’m saying is the enemy hasn’t planned it, he hasn’t set you up. Sometimes he can, he can set up an accident, and in that case it would be demonic (attack). I’ve heard some people talk about how they went through a green light and the person that hit them swears that he had a green light. Now I don’t know what the case was, I don’t know what actually happened, but I know both lights can’t be green, unless there is a malfunction or something there, and then it would be an accident.”

Sowing and reaping:
“You can do things to yourself to break down and give the devil entry in the sense that you’re breaking your body down, giving him a place to work. For instance: You can smoke and get lung cancer. It is not God putting cancer on you and in many ways it’s not even the devil putting cancer on you. You are doing it to yourself. What the devil does… Now you might say, “I thought all sickness was of the devil?” What you did was, many times you weaken the body and you make it so weak that it is susceptible, but every sin has within itself its own seed of destruction. See I don’t worry about catching lung cancer because I don’t smoke, but we do know that if we are around someone else that smokes, second hand smoke is worse than smoking and many times you are killing your loved ones and they will die before you do, because they are getting worse smoke than you are.

Let me give you another example: Paul had workers with him that nearly worked themselves to death for the gospel. The devil didn’t try and get to kill them, they worked so hard, they exhausted themselves, they went and pushed themselves and pushed themselves until they just wore their bodies out and they were left weak.”

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Actively Receiving:

I cannot believe how faithful God is.  I’m not sure why I’m surprised, but I must say God has done some awesome things for us recently!  We are seeing things materialize that we have asked for and that is just awesome!  I read this scripture yesterday and I realized that I have asked and God has provided answers to my questions!  He is so awesome!

Matthew 7:7-8 (NIV):  “⁷ Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” 

I remember as a child my grandmother (my mom’s mom) always used to say, “Zoek en gij zult vinden,” which is Dutch for “seek and you will find.”  I didn’t realize then that she was actually quoting scripture to us, she used to say it to us a lot if we were looking for something, and I must say I have been irritating DH with that saying ever since we’ve know each other.  Every time DH is looking for something I say, “Zoek en gij zult vinden,” mostly because I hear my grandmother saying it in my head, but I never realized how God will use that regarding His Word!  I have asked, and received; I have looked and found what I was looking for…

Do you realize what the first part of verse 8 says?  Everyone who asks receives!  Wow, that is wonderful!  Everyone! Now I am fully aware that a lot of people will say, “But I haven’t received what I asked for!”  That is not God’s fault.  I’ve mentioned in my previous post that the devil can’t stop God, and that is because he was defeated by Jesus.  The devil has less power than God, and the only power he has is what we give to him.  I’m sure some people will not like what I’m saying, but to be honest, I don’t care, because sometimes we need to hear the truth.  It is time we take responsibility for our problems and stop blaming other people, our circumstances, the devil, or whatever excuses we like to think of…

I have touched on the fact of there being a spiritual world and a physical/natural world in this post, where the angel of the Lord told Daniel that his prayers were answered immediately in the spiritual world, but that it took time to manifest in the physical world.  With the help of mostly An.drew Wom.mack’s teachings I have realized that I need to receive the answers to my prayers in the physical world too. 

Now if you don’t believe there is a spiritual world I’ll prove it with Scripture.  2 Kings 6:15-17 (NIV):  “¹⁵ When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. Oh, my lord, what shall we do? the servant asked.  ¹⁶ Don’t be afraid, the prophet answered. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.  ¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, O LORD, open his eyes so that he may see. Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all round Elisha.”

The King of Aram wanted to capture Elisha, and they surrounded the city where Elisha was.  When they woke up the next morning the servant of Elisha was afraid, because all he could see was the physical world and to him it seemed to be a terrible situation that they were in.  Then Elisha prayed that the servant’s eyes were opened to the spiritual world and he could see multitudes of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha.  Their situation was not lost, even though it seemed to be so initially and we also need to learn that things might not be the way we perceive them. 

If we pray and ask for something, and it is according to God’s will and we pray in faith, God will give it to us.  How do you know what is God’s will?  Well, what does God say about it in the Bible?  The best is to pray God’s Word, and then you will sow God’s word as a seed.  If we sow the seed of God’s Word, and we believe those words, we will harvest those promises.  It will first appear in the spiritual world, but we need to receive it in the physical world. 

God’s Word must become real to us; we must know that it is true.  I almost want to say we mustn’t believe anymore, but it must be so much part of our reality that we know that what God says is true and that it will happen.  We mustn’t let our circumstances dictate what we believe anymore.  Even if things might not look good, we mustn’t let it affect us, because we must know that in the spiritual world God has made it happen already and that it is up to us to let it happen in the physical world.  Sometimes, like in Daniel’s case there might be demonic opposition, and then we must pray that God will deal with that on our behalf. 

God’s words are extremely powerful.  We must use them – God’s Word is one of the weapons of the spirit:  Ephesians 6:13-17 (NIV):  “¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Mark 11:23 (NIV):  “²³ I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.”

Look at the above scripture.  I always heard:  If you do not doubt but believe, whatever you ask for will happen.  What I only realized recently was that Jesus says here, “if anyone says to this mountain…” and “…what he says will happen…”  It’s not just about believing and not doubting, it’s about saying God’s Word too!  That is how powerful God’s word is – saying it aloud can make things happen! 

This receiving that I’m talking about is not a passive act – something that just happens to you.  That is what I always thought it was, but it has not happened that way in my life.  Joy.ce Me.yer had a message about receiving blessings a while ago and there she used Jacob as an example and here you can see receiving is something you must actively do:

Genesis 32:22-30 (NIV):  “Jacob Wrestles with God  ²² That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.  ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.  ²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.  ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.  ²⁶ Then the man said, Let me go, for it is daybreak. But Jacob replied, I will not let you go unless you bless me.  ²⁷ The man asked him, What is your name? Jacob, he answered.  ²⁸ Then the man said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.  ²⁹ Jacob said, Please tell me your name. But he replied, Why do you ask my name? Then he blessed him there.  ³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

Jacob was a trickster, a liar, a thief.  He was not a very good person.  He tricked his brother out of his birthright, and had to flee for his life.  But at one stage he decided enough is enough and he would return to his land and his brother.  He could not take it anymore – he had enough of the fear and being in exile. So he decided to return and bring gifts to his brother in the hope that it would appease him.  On the way there Jacob took everything he owned and all that was dear to him and sent it across a stream called the Jabbok. 

Jacob stayed on the other side and during the night he wrestled with God.  Isn’t it weird to see that Jacob insisted that God bless him?  I don’t think I could have been so bold.  He was a bad person – how could he insist on it?  I would feel that way, that I don’t deserve blessings.  Yet that was what Jacob did and he actually received those blessings!  He didn’t walk away unscathed, but he did receive his blessings. 

Jacob’s story just shows how wonderful God actually is, he did not deserve the blessings, and because he was bold, he still received them.  God loves us so much that He does not give us what we deserve (punishment), Jesus took that upon Himself, but He gives us through His grace and mercy, what Jesus actually deserves (blessings).

So from now on I am going to be actively receiving God’s blessings, all He wants to give us and everything I have asked for…

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Sowing and Reaping:

I’ve wanted to blog about this topic for a while now, but every time something else came along that seemed more important to blog about.  I have heard a few messages about it again recently, so I think now is the time to write about it.

I heard people speaking about this concept a lot, but I never really thought much about it and the impact it has on our lives.  A lot of Christians believe in it, but I don’t think they actively apply it in their lives, just like I never did.

There is this natural law, like the law of gravity, that if you sow one seed, you get back many more seeds in return.  One seed will germinate and develop into a plant that can create hundreds of seeds.  So by putting in the effort and sowing something, you will reap a harvest many times more than what you put in.  We have to co-operate with this law – it will not work otherwise.  We cannot reap a crop if we never sow a seed…

In the spiritual realm it works the same.  You have to put in something to be able to get more of the same back in return.  I have heard the same example used every time, so I’ll also use it:

Luke 6:38 (NIV):  “³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

If you have financial problems for instance, you have to give some to receive some.  The principle works like this: You give some money to ministry and God can bless the seed you’ve given Him and multiply it. Just like if you would have sown actual seed. Eventually you will get a harvest and the harvest will be more than what you have sown.  It is difficult for some people to give away some of the little they have and to believe that God will bless them with more, but that is how it works. 

It doesn’t have to work only with finances – it can apply to different aspects of life.  Here are a couple of Scriptures from the Bible that apply the principle of sowing and reaping:

Job 4:8 (NIV):  “⁸ As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.”

Proverbs 22:8 (NIV):  “⁸ Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity, and the rod they wield in fury will be broken.”

Hosea 10:12 (NIV):  “¹² Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.”

2 Corinthians 9:6 (NIV):  “⁶ Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”

Galatians 6:7-8(NIV):  “⁷ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.  ⁸ Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

James 3:18 (NIV):  “¹⁸ Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”

So my question to you is what are you sowing?  What do you believe?  What do you think about constantly?  What do you say out loud?  How do you act?  Because that will determine what you reap.  If you speak and think negatively all the time you shouldn’t be surprised if negative things happen in your life.  Are you expecting bad things to happen?

One example I want to use is side effects of medication.  I started taking fertility medication (Clomid) in 2000.  I didn’t have access to the internet then, and nobody told me that there were side effects, so I never had any side effects.  After 2 IUI’s the FS I had at that stage started to combine the Clomid with injectable medication. Again I didn’t have any side effects.  Later when I went for my first IVF, I did not read up about it on the internet so again I didn’t know that there were side effects, and I didn’t have any…

Today when you read up about any of the medication that they give you, you read so much about the side effects and how they affect you.  I was surprised to see how bad the side effects of Clomid can be.  I honestly cannot say I have experienced any of those bad side effects.  Not for Clomid, Femara, Gonal F, Fostimon, Utrogestan, Cyclogest, Meticorten or whatever else I got.  By the time I read about the side effects I already believed that they didn’t affect me. 

I read on the infertility forums a lot of threads about ladies who haven’t taken any medication yet, but they are already stressing about those side effects.   It will not surprise me if they get side effects, and maybe even have every single one of those they read that the other people had, because they believe they will get them…

What I’m trying to say is, be aware of what you believe, say and think.  Start to act and speak according to what you want.  I want to get pregnant, so I’m saying that I’m fertile and that I will conceive naturally.  Now at first I did not believe it, but after saying it a hundred times or maybe even more I do believe it now.  I am speaking of Shumi as my healthy dog, even if he doesn’t seem healthy, because I’m saying what I believe God’s Word says and I’m not going to agree with what I see.  DH went to our GP the other day with an ear infection.  The doctor said he had some kind of eczema in his ears that is a chronic condition that cannot be cured.  When we walked out of there I said to DH, “I don’t care what the doctor says, you do not have a chronic condition and you will get cured.”  Thank goodness DH agreed with me, and he is much better already.  Not 100%, but we believe it will be gone very soon! 

I am not going to agree with the devil anymore.  From now on I only want to sow positive things and I want to reap an abundant harvest of blessings.  I am determined that there will be no more negative thoughts or words or actions for me!

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