How to Appropriate

by FF Bosworth

The Redemptive and Covenant Blessing of Bodily Healing

The First Step

The first step toward being healed is the same as the first step toward salvation, or any other blessing that God promises; that is, for the sick person to know what the Bible clearly teaches, that it is God's will to heal until one has lived out the alloted span of life. Each individual sufferer must be convinced by the Word of God that his or her healing is the will of God; for it is impossible to have real faith for healing as long as there is the slightest doubt as to its being God's will.

It is impossible to boldly claim by faith a blessing which we are not certain that God offers, because the power of God can be claimed only where the will of God is known. For instance, it would be next to impossible to get a sinner to "believe unto righteousness" before you had fully convinced him that it was God's will to save him. Faith begins where the will of God is known. Faith must rest on the will of God alone, not on our desires or wishes. Appropriating faith is not believing that God can but that He will. Those who claim to believe in healing, but say one word in favor of it and ten words against it, cannot produce faith for healing.

Faith Is Expecting God To Do

When God commands us to pray for the sick, He means us to pray with faith, which we could not do if we did not know His will in the matter. Until a person knows God's Will, they have no basis for faith, because faith is expecting God to do what we know it is His will to do. It is not hard, when we have faith, to get God to do His will.

When we know it is His will, it is not difficult for us to believe that He will do what we are sure He wants to do. It is in this way that every saved person has experienced the still greater miracle of the new birth. There can be no appropriation by faith until we are made to know by the Gospel what God has provided for us.

There is no doctrine more emphatically taught throughout the Word of God than that, through the Atonement of Christ, both salvation and bodily healing were provided, and that it is God's will to take away the sickness of His own, and to fulfill the number of their days according to His promise (Ex. 23:25 and 26). As the types in Leviticus 14 and 15 show that it was invariably through Atonement that sickness was healed, under the law of Moses, so Matthew 8:17 definitely states that Jesus healed all diseases on the ground of Atonement. This Scripture shows us that Christ's reason for making no exceptions while healing the sick who thronged Him was His Atonement, which He made for all Adam's race, including you. As multitude after multitude pressed upon Him "to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases," it is repeatedly stated throughout the Gospels, "He healed them all." (Read Matthew 4:24; 12:15; 14:14; Luke 4:40; Acts 10:38). He could make no exceptions. Why? Because in His coming Atonement "Himself took our infirmities," etc. Since it is "our" infirmities He bore, it requires the healing of all to fulfill this prophecy. God carefully put this in such language that we would have to misquote it to leave ourselves out.

What Calvary provides is for all!

God's way of saving the soul, of healing the body, and of doing everything else He wants to do, is to send His Word- His promise-and then keep the promise wherever it produces faith. The Divine procedure in healing is stated in the text, "He sendeth His Word and healeth them, and delivereth them from their graves" (Psalms 107:20).

It is "the Word of God which effectually worketh" in them that believe, and is "health to all their flesh" (See 1 Thess. 2:12; Prov. 4:22).

Just as a little girl's faith for a new dress comes by hearing the promise of her mother to buy it next Saturday, so our faith for healing comes by hearing God's word, or promise, to do it. Both the little girl's faith and ours "com-eth by hearing." Now, the little girl could not, and would not be expected to have faith for the new dress until her mother promised it; so we cannot, nor are we expected to, have faith for healing or salvation, or any other blessing, until that faith comes by hearing the Word (promise) of God to do it.

How could any one find "justification by faith" until it was preached to him, and how could any one find healing by faith until it was preached to him? It is the Scriptures which are able to (make men {wise} unto salvation. We must see that the Creator and Redeemer of the body is also its Physician before we have reason to expect healing.

The Value of God's Redemptive Names

Now, since He heals us by sending His Word, what can be more His Word than His Redemptive and Covenant names, which were given, all seven of them, for the specific purpose of revealing to every man in Adam's race His redemptive attitude toward them.

When Christ commands us to "preach the Gospel to every creature," He means that we shall tell "the Good News" of Redemption. His seven Redemptive names reveal what our Redemption includes. He has many other names, but only seven Redemptive names; and these seven names are never used in the Scriptures except in His dealings with man. Not six names, not eight; but seven, the perfect number, because He is a perfect Savior, His redemption covering the whole Scope of human need. The blessings revealed by each of these names are all in the Atonement. For instance, Jehovah-Shammah means "the Lord is present," "made nigh by the blood of His cross."

Jehovah-Shalom is translated "the Lord is our Peace." This is in the Atonement because "the chastisement of our peace was upon Him."

Jehovah-Ra-a is translated "the Lord is my Shepherd." He became our Shepherd by giving His life for the sheep. So, you see, this privilege is in the Atonement.

Jehovah-Jireh means "the Lord will provide" an offering; Christ, Himself, being the Altering provided on Calvary.

He became Jehovah-Nissi, "The Lord our Banner," or Victor, by spoiling principalities and powers on the cross.

He bore our sins, and became Jehovah-Tsidkenu, "the Lord our Righteousness," opening the way for every sinner to receive the gift of righteousness.

Jehovah-Rapha is translated, "I am the Lord that healeth thee," or, "I am the Lord thy Physician." This, also, is in the Atonement; for "Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses."

This completes the list of seven names, which were given for the purpose of revealing God's relationship toward us all under each of these seven titles. These seven names all belong abidingly to Christ, and it is under each of these seven titles that He "is the same yesterday, today, and forever." Jesus says to all who come to Him for any of these seven blessings, "He that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out."

This is the Good News that God wants preached to every creature, so that every creature may have the privilege of enjoying "the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ."

I say again, that nothing is more God's Word "settled in Heaven" than His redemptive name Jehovah-Rapha. No one has a right to change God's "I Am" Jehovah-Rapha to "I Was," because the "word of the Lord endureth forever."

Since Jehovah-Shalom, "The Lord our Peace," is one of Christ's redemptive names, has not every man a redemptive right to obtain peace from Him; and has not every man, likewise, a redemptive right to obtain victory from Jehovah-Nissi? Has not every man a redemptive right to obtain "the gift of righteousness" from Jehovah-Tsidkenu, etc.? If so, why has not every man a redemptive right to obtain healing from Jehovah-Rapha?

This Word (Jehovah-Rapha), was so accepted and believed by those to whom it was first sent that "there was not a feeble person among all their tribes"; and whenever this state of health was interfered with by their transgressions, as soon as they repented, typical atonements were made, and God was still Jehovah-Rapha the healer; not to some, but to all. Cod wants this name, as well as all others, to be sent "to every creature" with the promise "they shall recover," for "the Lord shall raise them up."

The Brazen Serpent a Type of Christ

God ratified this Word to the dying Israelites by sending them the added Word, "everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it (the type of Calvary) shall live." If bodily healing is not provided in the Atonement, why were these dying Israelites required to look at the type of the Atonement for bodily healing? As their curse was removed by the lifting^ up of the type o£ Christ, so ours is removed by the lifting up of Christ, the Antitype. Since the Spirit is given to us to make Christ real, why should we not look to Christ, Himself, with as much expectation as they did to the type? ^ It will be well to note that they could not look at the brass snake and their symptoms at the same time. Abraham's faith waxed strong while he looked unto the promise of God. Some people reverse this, and their faith waxes weak while they look at their symptoms, and forget the promise. Since God healed by sending His Word, which is the only basis for our faith, we will miss healing if we allow our symptoms to hinder us from expecting what His Word promises.

The Second Step

The second step is to be sure you are right with God. because redemptive blessings are conditional. After we hear the Gospel, and know what it offers, Jesus says, "Repent and believe the Gospel." Only those who are right with God can follow these instructions. When seeking healing for our bodies there should be no compromise with the Adversary of our souls, because it is he who is the author of our diseases. Jesus may, but He has not promised to, destroy the works of the devil in our bodies while we are clinging to the work of the devil in our souls. It is hard to exercise faith for the removal of one part of the devil's work while we allow a worse part to remain. Until a man squarely faces and settles the question of obedience to God. he is not on believing ground. James says, "Confess your faults one to another . . . that ye may be healed." It is God's will "that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth." "If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me."

It is when our hear condemns us not that we have confidence toward God.

The command for the sick to "send for the elders," was first written to Christians who had been filled with the Spirit. There is something wrong when a man desires the blessing not the Blesser-His mercy but not Himself. It is not proper to seek His mercy while rejecting His Will. Do not ask for a little blessing while rejecting a big one. It is impossible to receive and reject Divine blessings at the same time.

God is waiting to say to Satan and disease what He said to Pharaoh, "Let My people go that they may serve Me" (EX 7:16). "Our first consideration, in all things, even in asking for the restoration of bodily health, should be the glory of God."-Duffy.

Strength for service to God is the only proper basis of approach when seeking health at His hand. The anointing with oil for healing is, itself, a symbol and sign of consecration.

We must desire our health for Gods glory.

"What, then, does the anointing mean? Turn to Leviticus 8:10-12, and you get God's answer to the question. 'And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle, and all that was therein, and sanctified them that is, he set. them apart for God. The anointing 'with oil in the name of the Lord,' was an act of dedication and consecration, implying on the part of one anointed a full surrender to God of his hands to work for Him and for Him alone, of his feet to walk for Him and Him alone, his eyes to see, his lips to speak, his ears to hear for Him and Him alone, and his whole body to be the temple of the Holy Spirit."-Rev. R. A. Torrey.

"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth" (III John, 2).

The Holy Spirit tells us to submit ourselves to God before He says "resist the devil" because no one can successfully resist the devil until he submits himself to God. When the devil is thus resisted he will not merely walk away; he will literally run-"flee from you!" (See Jas. 4:7).

The curse, including the different diseases catalogued in Deut. 28th chapter, came upon the people because their obedience and their service was not "with gladness and joyfulness of. heart." The condition of heart that was responsible for the coming of those diseases mentioned in that chapter is not the condition for their removal. In other words, the condition of heart that was responsible for the curse in that day is not the condition of heart in which to come to Him for the removal of the curse in our day.

God's Promises Only to the Obedient

It is to those who will delight themselves in the Lord that He gives the desires of their heart" (See Psa. 37:4). God has not lowered the standard for the Day of Grace. It is only to the obedient-those who will "diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord" and "do that which is right in His sight"-that it is said, "The Lord will take away from thee all sickness." (See Deut 7:15; Ex. 15:26).

"Faith, you see, is the union of our hearts and wills with God's Will and purpose; and where this unity is lacking results are impossible. This is a very important spiritual law, to which, in our times, we have been woefully blind."-Rev. P. Gavin Duffy.

God says, of fearing the Lord and departing from evil. "It shall (itself) be health (Hebrew, medicine to thy navel and marrow (Heb., moistening) to thy bones" (Prov.3:7,8).

Faith always implies obedience. Paul wrote to the Ephesians to obey the first commandment, "That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth" (Eph. 6:3). Naaman's surrender and obedience to the Word of God was complete before he was healed.

It is to those who "walk uprightly" that it is said, "No good thing will He withhold" (Psa. 84:11). Therefore, before seeking anything from God we should yield ourselves to the "first and great commandment," "Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart . . ." for God says, ' "Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him" (Psa. 91:14) . He "keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations" (Deut. 7:9). Therefore, like the leper, let us come and worship Him when asking for healing.

"Length of days is in her (Wisdom's) right hand and in her left hand riches and honor" (Prov. 3:16). Marry her (Wisdom) and you get her possessions. Wisdom is here represented as a bountiful Queen, reaching forth blessings with both hands to all who will become subject to her government.

It is for "them whose heart is perfect toward Him" that "the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong." (See II Chron, 16:30).

"A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones" (Prov. 14:30). An unsound heart is worse than an unsound stomach-a diseased soul worse than a diseased body. A disordered will is worse than a disordered liver. Paul said, "the body . . . for the Lord" before he said, "the Lord for the body."

The Bible teaches that the body is "bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (I Cor. 6:20). "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice . . . which is your reasonable service" (Rom12:1-2) Therefore present your body to Him, if you want it healed. It is not until after it becomes His property He promises to repair it.

First to the Cross for Cleansing

"The sure way for the sick is, first to the cross for cleansing, then to the Upper Room for the gift of the Spirit, then to the mount appointed for a life commission, and, lastly, to the Great Physician for strength for service."-Bryant.

"If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies )by His Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:11). In Christ; the True Vine, there is all the life for our souls and bodies that we need; but how are we to possess and enjoy this except by our union with the Vine. It is not apart from Him, but "in Him" that "ye are complete" (Col. 2:10).

Substitution without union is not sufficient for our possession and enjoyment of the life of the Vine. If you need a miracle, (get in tune with the Miracle-Worker. We enjoy the Life of the Vine by our perfect union with the Vine. Asking for healing while refusing to be led by the Spirit is like asking a carpenter to repair the house while refusing to let him in the house.

"As many as touched Him were made perfectly whole" ('Matt. 14:36). You cannot touch Him with a reservation; therefore, like the woman who pressed through the throng and touched Him, you must "elbow" out of your way, and press beyond selfishness, disobedience, unconfessed sins, public opinion, traditions of men, articles written against Divine healing; in fact, often press beyond your own pastor, who may be unenlightened in this part of the Gospel; press beyond doubts, double-mindedness, symptoms, feelings and the lying Serpent.

The Holy Spirit, Who is sent to execute for us the blessings of redemption, is our Paraclete or Helper and is ready to help us press through and beyond all of these obstacles to the place where we can touch Him for our needs. God is waiting to pour out the Holy Spirit in fullness upon us, Who comes as Christ's Executive to execute for us all the blessings provided by Calvary, and pledged to us in His seven redemptive and Covenant names.

It is still true that as many as touch Him are made whole. . *C How do we touch Him? By believing His promise. This is an infallible way of touching Christ for anything He has promised. We touch Him by asking, <and Relieving that He hears our prayers when we pray. When the woman touched Him, it was her faith that made her whole; not a mere physical touch, for "the flesh profiteth nothing, the Spirit giveth life." Millions of sinners have thus touched Him for the yet greater miracle of the new birth.

Not Mere Contact, But Union

As the sick touched Him and were made whole when Christ walked upon the earth, so, now, it is the privilege o. all to actually touch Him, and the touch now unites us to Christ in a closer union than it did then. Not mere contact, but union as real as die branch and the vine. All that is in the Vine, including both spiritual and physical life, belongs to us - the branches.

The touch by faith can now bring us under the full control of the Holy Spirit, Who is the Miracle-Worker, as it could not do during Christ's earthly ministry, for "the Spirit was not yet given." Jesus is not less a Savior and Healer since being glorified; He is greater. The privilege of touching Him now is much greater than when He was here in person, because more can now be received by the touch. From God's right hand He has more to give; therefore, He said, "It is expedient (profitable) for you that I go away." Since the Spirit comes to reveal Christ as He could not be revealed before He went away to send the Spirit, why cannot we approach Him for healing with at least as much faith as those who thronged Him in that day?

The foregoing shows the great importance of being right with God before asking for healing. The blessing of being right with God is a thousand times more desirable and enjoyable than the healing itself. I have seen the afflicted in body radiantly happy; but sinners in perfect health have been so unhappy as to commit suicide.

The Third Step

We will now endeavor to make plain how to appropriate healing. Getting things from God is like playing checkers, when, after one person moves, he has nothing to do Until the other player moves. Each man moves in his own turn. So when God has provided healing. Or any other blessing, and sent His Word, it is our move before He will move again. Our move is to expect what He promises when we pray, which will cause us to act out our faith before we see our healing: because the healing comes in the next move, which is God's move.

God never moves out of His turn, but He always moves when it is His turn. When Noah was "warned of God of things not seen as yet," his move was to believe that the flood was coming, and act his faith by building the ship on dry land. So, when God says to "any sick," "the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up," you, like Noah, are informed of God "of things not seen as yet," and your move is the same as Noah's, which is, to believe and act accordingly. Fallen nature is governed by what it sees, by its senses, but faith is governed by the pure Word of God, and is nothing less than expecting God to do what He promises - treating Him like an honest Being.

By expectation I do not mean hope. One writer has well said, "We hope for what may be possible, but we expect what must be possible . . . with that expectancy that shuts out doubt or fear of failure, and shows unshakable confidence."

Faith never waits to see before it believes, because it "cometh by hearing' about "things not seen as yet," and "is the evidence of things not seen." "all that a man of faith needs is to know that God has spoken. This imparts perfect certainty to the soul. "Thus saith the Lord" settles everything. "It is written" is all that faith needs.

Faith always blows the ram's horn before, not after, the walls are down"! Faith never judges according to the sight of the eyes, because it is the evidence of things not seen but promised. Faith rests on far more solid ground than the evidence of the senses, and that is the Word of God which "abideth forever." Our senses may deceive us, but God's Word never!

When the little girl is promised a new dress next Saturday, faith is the actual expectation which she has and manifests between now and Saturday. When Saturday comes, and she sees the new dress, faith for the new dress stops. Now, real faith (always has corresponding actions. The little girl, be-cause of her faith, claps her hands and says, "Goody! Goody! I am going to have a new dress next Saturday!" and runs to tell her playmates that she has the answer to her request.

God cannot Lie

Jesus at the grave of Lazarus looked up, and said, "I thank Thee, Father, that Thou hast heard me," though Lazarus was still dead. The little girl is not afraid to testify in advance that she is to have a new dress and when her playmates say, "How do you know you are?" she confidently replies, "Why! Mamma promised it!" now you have a better reason for expecting healing than the little girl has for expecting a new dress because the mother can lie, but God cannot. The house may burn down with the mothers money. Every case of faith in history was a well grounded assurance, produced by the promise of God alone, and acted upon before there was anything visible to encourage the assurance, as with the little girl "between now and Saturday."

Faith looks "not at the things that are seen." There was no flood in sight when Noah built his ark. Stone walls had never before fallen down at the blowing of rams' horns and shouting. They were merely expecting what God promised, and when they acted their faith by blowing the rams' horns while the walls were still up, this was their move. Then, of course, God moved in His turn, and down came the walls!

The whole eleventh chapter of Hebrews is written to show how each one who had faith acted "between now and Saturday."

God is so well pleased with the actings of faith that He has listed in detail many cases, as recorded in the eleventh of Hebrews.

"By faith, Noah" acted so-and-so. "By faith Jacob" acted so-and-so. "By faith Joseph" acted so-and-so. "By faith Moses" acted so-and-so. "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down." "By faith Abraham" acted so-and-so, when everything seemed contrary to what God had promised. It was by considering the premise of God (not her barrenness) that Sarah received strength to become a mother when she was past age. These all acted with nothing but the Word of God ax their reason for expecting the thing He had promised. It is the same with every case of faith in history.

Jonah's symptoms were very real when he was inside the fish, and he did not deny them; but he called them "lying vanities." In other words, any symptoms that make us doubt the fact that "God is plenteous in mercy to all that call upon Him" should be regarded as "lying vanities." Jonah said, "They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy." Instead of listening to Satan and watching our symptoms, we must be workers together with God, Who heals by sending His Word and keeping it. We must cooperate with Him by being occupied, not with what the devil says, but with the Word He sends for our healing.

Symptoms may linger

Even when we do act our faith, symptoms do not always disappear instantly. After Hezekiah was healed. It was three days before he was strong enough to go up to the House of the Lord. In John 4:50-52, the nobleman, "believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him," and when he met his servants he enquired of them the hour when his dying son "began to amend."

The Bible differentiates between the "gifts of healing" and the gift of "miracles." Christ could do no miracle in Nazareth because of their unbelief, but He healed a few sick ones. lf every one were to be made perfectly whole instantly, there would be no place for the gifts of healing; it would be all miracles. Many people miss healing by trying confine God to miracles. Christ's promise is that "they shall recover," but He does not say "instantly."

The symptoms of life in a tree remain for a time after the tree is cut down."

Faith means we are confident' of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see" (Heb. 11:1- Moffatt's translation). Convinced, of course, because God, Who cannot lie, has spoken. How all-sufficient is this reason for believing! Faith is, therefore, most rational. It is not, as many unthinking persons suppose, believing without evidence, but believing because of the very highest possible evidence, God's Word, which is "settled in Heaven." The Apostle James says, "I will show you by my actions what faith is." (Moffatt's translation) . Faith therefore, is being so convinced of the absolute truth of the declarations of God which are recorded in the Bible that we act on them.

Faith Both Rational and Safe

What can be more rational, and what can be more safe and certain?

Faith is to receive the written promise of God as His direct message to us. His promise means the same as if He appeared and said to us, "I have heard your prayer." The Word of God is made life to our bodies in exactly the same way that it is made life to our souls, which is by believing His promise. I have known some who had prayed for healing for as long as 40 years without receiving it; and then, as soon as they were told how to appropriate, the healing has come sometimes in a moment. We do not have to pray for 40 years, or for one week, for the blessing that Christ is eager to bestow. His compassionate heart yearns to heal us more than we have the capacity to desire it; but we keep Him waiting until we have the "faith that cometh by hearing" and act that faith, because God will not cheat and move out of His turn.

After seeing that Jesus bore our diseases as well as our sins on the cross, and therefore that we need not bear them, our next step is to appropriate by faith, which is the only scriptural way. The truth of the matter is, God gave us this part of our inheritance nearly 2,000 years ago and He is the waiting One waiting for us to appropriate the blessing by faith. Two thousand years ago God "put away sin;" 2,000 years ago "God laid on Christ the iniquity of us all;" 2,000 years ago "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." God is the waiting party, waiting for us to be shown how to appropriate the blessing He has already given. II Peter 3:9. "The Lord is not slack (slow) concerning His promises . . . but He is longsuffering to uswards." Or, as Weymouth translates, "The Lord is not slow in fulfilling His promises but he waits patiently with you."

Most of us could have been saved five years earlier than we were. God was not making us wait, but we were making Him wait. It is the same with our healing.

When Ye Pray, Not Afterwards

Now, in Mark 11:24, Jesus tells us exactly how to appropriate any of the blessings purchased for us by His death. Having promised all that we need, He says, "What things soever ye desire when ye pray;" not after you pray 20 years; not after you get well; but while you are sick when ye pray, "believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them.

The condition of receiving what we ask God for is to believe that He answers our prayers when we pray, and that we "shall recover" according to His promise.

In other words, when you pray for healing, Christ authorizes you to consider your prayer answered, as when He stood at the grave of Lazarus and said, "I thank Thee, father, that thou hast heard Me," before He saw Lazarus come forth from the grave. When we ask for healing, Christ bids us say, with faith, "I thank Thee, Father, that Thou hast heard me," before we have yet seen the answer to our prayer.

When God's Word alone is our reason for believing that our prayer is answered, before we see or feel, this is faith!

"Jesus declared, "The words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are life." John says, "The Word is God." To receive the written words of Christ as the direct message to us is faith. This is the way the Word of God becomes life to us, both in our healing and in our salvation. For instance, the act of believing and receiving Christ according to John 1:12, is synonymous with the act of God which gives us, by His power, the new birth. By this same process also is Divine healing imparted to our bodies."

Another has said, in substance, with the woman who touched His garment, faith, fact, feeling is the order of healing that God never departs from. If we depart from this order neither faith, fact, nor feeling will be as we desire, because they will not be as God desires.

1 Thes. 2:13 says it is "The Word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe." When His Word convinces us that our prayer is answered, before we have yet seen the answer, the Word begins to effectually work in us.

"God's Word never fails to work in those who accept it as such, because they are not entertaining doubts as to its being fulfilled in their own experiences . . . God has given all his blessings to Faith, He has none left to bestow upon unbelief."-Harriet 5. Bainbridge.

When people say to me, "I do not know that it is God's Will to heal me," I ask them, "Is it God's Will to keep His promise?" If we are right with God, we should not consider ourselves any more than we would; when men make promises to us. Not, have I faith enough, but, Is He honest? It is not a question of how we feel, but what are the facts. Should the little girl get sick the next day, and feel badly, it has nothing to do with her mother buying her the new dress on Saturday. The Scriptures say, "If we ask anything according to His Will He heareth us." Is this true or not?

Does God answer prayer?

 If you will steadfastly "believe that ye receive" (Mark 11:24) the answer to your prayer and act your faith, every one of you will be healed, though not always instantly. God always moves after our move, which is the acting out of "full assurance," produced alone by His promise before we see the answer to our prayer. Since healing is by faith, and faith without works is dead. It is when we begin to act our faith that God begins to heal.

Our Faith Makes God Act

Our "work of faith" sets God to working.

Now, we cannot all act in the same way. As the ten lepers went they were healed. Jonah, when inside the fish, could not "went," but he did act his faith by saying while still in the fish, "I will sacrifice with the yoke of thanksgiving." And so, acting our faith by praising and thanking God in advance has been, throughout history, His appointed way for our appropriation of all His blessings. Hebrews 13:15 teaches us that our thank offering - our "sacrifice of praise -is to be offered in advance for the blessing God has promised, and therefore we expect. Psalms 50:14, 15,says, "Offer unto God ..thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the Most High, and call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."

Here, as elsewhere, we are required to offer thanksgiving while we are still in trouble, as Jonah did. Perhaps this was the very promise he claimed. "Let the needy praise thy name:," that is, praise God in advance while you are still in need. "Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving" does not mean to get healed and then go from His presence thanking Him, but to come to Him, with thanksgiving for healing before being healed. "enter His gates with thanks-giving and into His courts with praise." We should go away with thanksgiving, but this is not faith.

Faith is what we have before we are healed. "They shall praise the Lord that seek Him." "Thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise." Without praise we are up against a solid wall with no gate; but when we begin praising and appropriating, we hang our won gate, and walk through. " be glad and rejoice for the Lord will do great things." And accordingly "they were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God," not after but before they were filled with the Holy Spirit. It was "when they lifted up their voice and praised the Lord" that the glory of the Lord filled the House of God." They believed His Words (not their symptoms, not the father of lies") and sang His praises.

Make Satan Listen to Your Praises

Instead of your listening to the "Father of lies," make him listen to your praising God for His promise!

"Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.” The sick man has breath. In other words, while you are still sick praise him because you are going to recover according to his promise. "Let your heart be troubled." In nothing be anxious (distracted), but with thanksgiving let your requests be known unto God." "Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you."

Every sick Christian, while sick, has a thousand times more to be happy over than the most cheerful sinner in perfect health.

Praise God because "faith without works is dead." "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you." "I will praise the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Since everything that hath breath is commanded to praise the Lord, the only scriptural excuse for not praising Him is to be out of breath. "By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name." "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me." "Because Thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee." Praise Him "because it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord." "Give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." Praise Him because to withhold praise will show either unbelief or ingratitude. Praise Him because "praise is comely for the upright." Praise Him because "God inhabits the praises of His people." Paul and Silas sang praises at midnight with their backs bleeding and their feet in the stocks, and God sang bass with an earthquake, which set them free.

Real faith rejoices in the promise of God as it saw the deliverance, and was enjoying it.

With three great armies against Jehoshaphat, which, humanly speaking, would mean, annihilation, they praised the Lord "with a loud voice on high," when the only evidence that their prayer was answered was the naked-Word of God: and that only through human lips. The next day, when they went out to the battle, and began to sing and praise, the Lord, in His turn, moved and set ambushments against the enemy, and the victory was won (II Chron. 20:18, 19). "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; for "holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (II Pet. 1:19-21).

"As in Eden the enemy succeeded in making void God's testimony as to the results of eating the forbidden fruit, so now he seeks to make void God's testimony as to the results of believing the Gospel. After God said, 'In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,' the serpent said, 'Thou shalt not surely die,' and now, when God's Word plainly says, 'They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover/ the same serpent seeks to persuade them that they shall not recover. Is it rational to believe the 'father of lies' in preference to the Son of God, Who is Incarnate Truth? When coming to God for salvation or healing, it is essential for each one to decide whether he shall allow the hiss of the serpent to rise above the voice of God."

"Blessed are the ears that hear the pulses of the Divine whisper, and give no heed to the many whisperings of the world."-Thos. a'Kempis.

When, after you have been anointed for healing, Satan tells you that you will not recover, like Jesus, say to him, "It is written," "they shall recover;" "The Lord shall raise him up" (Jas. 5:14). Also, in this same passage, "in the Name of the Lord" means the same as if the Lord, Himself anointed you. Expect Him to honor His own ordinance and His own promise.

Why Listen to the Devil?

All the devil heard from the lips of Christ, when tempting Him, was, "It is written!" "It is written!" "It is written!" (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10). "Then the devil leaveth Him" (Matt. 4:11). But all we hear from some people is, "The devil says!" "The devil says!" "The devil says!" as though Christ's words were of less consequence than those of the devil! This was Christ's way; and it is the most successful way of resisting the devil. Let us not try another! "Neither give place to the devil" (Eph. 4:27). "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (Jas. 4:7).

There is just one way of resisting the devil; and that is, by steadfastly believing and acting upon God's Word.

Whenever we are affected by any other voice more than the voice of God, we have forsaken the Lord's way for our healing.

What reason have you for doubting? You have no more reason for doubting than the sinner has when he repents and asks forgiveness of his sins. You have exactly the same reason for expecting to be healed that you had for expecting to be saved. "You have His Word for it, and if you cannot accept that to the point of acting upon it, then your faith is still very far from what it should be."-Duffy.

The Lord's Compassion a Basis for Faith

What a basis for faith is the Lord's compassion. Since Christ has redeemed us from sickness surely His love and faithfulness may be trusted. The cross is a sure foundation and a perfect reason for the exercise of faith.

I do not recall who said, "Let us put our sickness away by faith, as we would put away sin. The consecrated Christian will not consciously tolerate sin for a moment, and yet how tolerant some are towards sickness. They will even pet and indulge their aches and pains, instead of resisting them as the words of the devil."

Harriet S. Bainbridge says, in substance, that the Lord Jesus has declared, concerning the sin, sorrow and physical misery of Adam's race "It is finished;" and has offered unto each one of us the gift of the Holy Spirit to enable us to realize and enjoy the great salvation He purchased for us. To believe without doubt that Christ's words "It is finished," is a literal statement of an unchangeable fact, invariably brings deliverance. The serpent is still denying this great saying of Christ to our great loss, just as he caused Eve to forget and disregard words which God had plainly spoken to her. It is by realizing that our redemption from sickness was actually accomplished in the body of our crucified Lord, and by whole-heartedly believing and receiving what God declares in His written Word about the matter, that the Holy Spirit gives us the personal experience of Christ as our Physician.

Present Day Results of Believing God

Following these instructions has brought soundness upon thousands who had before been taught that the age of miracles was past, and that God wanted people to remain sick for His glory, etc., etc. Those born blind are now seeing; deaf and dumb mutes from birth are now hearing and speaking; cripples from birth are now perfectly whole; epileptics for years are now free and rejoicing; many who were dying with cancers are now well, and praying the prayer of faith for the healing of others; and God is no respecter of persons. "If man will purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and thoroughly furnished unto every good work." This is never true while we are sick in bed. God's New Covenant provides that we each "shall be made perfect in every good work to do His will." This cannot be while we are sick, and this shows His willingness to make us well; in fact, His eagerness.

He cannot keep His Covenant with us without taking away our sicknesses and fulfilling the number of our days, according to His promise.

Since it is "by His stripes, we are healed," let us not forget what our healing cost, but with gratitude and love, and consecrated service to God, let us stand on His promise and "blow, the ram's horn" of faith and thanksgiving until the walls of our affliction fall down flat.

Faith does not wait for the walls to fall down; faith shouts them down!

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