The LORD is my Healer and Restorer: YHWH Rapha

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. Our series is entitled, Hello,

My Name is God. And we've been looking at the

importance of God's names and the importance

of us knowing His name. Did you know all throughout

the Bible, God reveals to us... different things,

different characteristics about who he is based

upon his names. And he gives us these different

names, all right? So names carry significance.

Names carry identity. Everyone say identity.

Identity. Like, for instance, my name is Jeffrey

Nathaniel Forrest. That's my identity. That's

my full name. Now, I only knew, you know, I've

only been called this if I'm in trouble. If mom

looks at me and is like, Jeffrey Nathaniel Ford,

that's when you know you're in trouble, is when

you get all three names. But everybody usually

just calls me Jeffrey. Another identity name

that I have is Christian. It's not just something

that I do. It's not just a religion I practice

on Sunday morning, over the weekend. No, it's

who I am as a person, right? It's my identity.

So names also signify relationships. And as we're

looking at God's name, we can see the relationship

that he wants to have with each one of us. That's

what we've been looking at. So some of my relationship

names are cousin, nephew, son to my parents.

Mom calls me her favorite son, even though I'm

the only child. So that makes it even weirder.

But I'm just going to go with it and take it

as a compliment. But yeah, so I'm her favorite

son. I'm a husband to my lovely wife, Caitlin.

She's taking care of the children right now.

But she doesn't call me husband. Typically, she

calls me honey. Sometimes she tests, like one

time she test drove Pookie. And I said, no, I

shut that down pretty quick. Like we're not doing

that. So that didn't continue on. But names signify

identity. Everybody say identity. Everybody can

be a little louder. Say identity. Relationship.

and also activity as we've been studying. Some

of my activity names are I'm a student. As Dad

said, I'm a Ph .D., doctorate in philosophy and

Christian apologetics, musician, recording artist,

worship leader. I added something new, graphic

designer. Dad and I, we work on all the graphics

that you see, like anything that's online, the

website, whatever. Even our sermon series and

things, we're creating that each week. So it

is like ours. We're doing it in -house, literally,

like in my house. So I'm also, I've been a professional

photographer before, been an aerobics instructor,

a DJ, a custodian. evangelist, chaplain, preacher,

and now associate pastor here at Alation Church.

That's a lot of different hats, you know. Some

of you feel, you know, some of you understand

you wear a lot of hats in life. I've wore a lot

of hats throughout my life, but I'm just one

person. And that's important for us to realize

when we're looking at God's names, and he's revealing

all these different names, that It's just one

God. We're not looking at different gods each

time a name comes up. He's just one God, and

he's revealed himself by these different names,

okay? So what's in a name, identity, relationship,

and activity, what a person does. And that's

why knowing his name, and that's why this study

is so important, is so vital for us as Christians

and growing in our faith. is growing in the knowledge

of who God is. Amen? That's our goal in life,

to grow in the knowledge of who he is. And that

takes us from faith to faith as we grow in that

knowledge. In Psalms 9 .10, as our main text,

it says, And those who know your name will put

their trust in you. For you, Lord, have not forsaken

those who seek you. We got to know who God is,

right? We got to know who he is, and that's why

we're doing this study, to know who he is, because

when we know him, we can trust him. When we know

the kind of relationship that he wants to have

with us, right, we can expect that in our lives

on a day -to -day basis. When we know what kind

of activity he does based upon his name, that

way we can trust that he's going to do those

things. That is faith, right? We can count on

him. We can depend on him. Because we know him,

right? And when we seek him according to, right,

our faith in him, our knowledge of him, that's

when we will experience the fullness of him in

our lives. That's when we see him fresh each

and every day. This week's name for God that

we're looking at is Yahweh Raphael. It's Yahweh

Raphael. As we've looked in previous weeks, Yahweh

means I am that I am. It's God's eternal name,

meaning to always be or exist. It's eternal name.

So he wants to be known by this name forever,

right? As long, you know, forever, this is his

name. And it's interesting, these Yahweh names

that we've been looking at, they're compound

Hebrew names for God. He's saying that I am and

will forever be this. And this next name is Rafal,

meaning to mend, stitch together, restore, cure,

heal, and thoroughly make whole. This is his

name. So when we put these together, It's meaning

this, I am the one who heals, mends, restores,

cures, and thoroughly makes you whole. Amen.

This is who God is. This is how he's revealed

himself to each one of us. It shouldn't be that

difficult. You're looking at me like that's a

difficult pill to swallow. But if it's going

to be a difficult pill to swallow this morning,

this is who God is. This is how he's revealed

himself to us. And let's look at that now. Let's

turn to Scripture and look at the context in

which this name was given. So this story here,

and right before God gives it, it's... of the

Israelites being delivered from Egypt, from captivity

in Egypt. They just crossed the Red Sea. So this

is very early on in that wilderness journey.

And it says in Exodus 15, 22 through 26, reading

through the NLT version, you can follow along

on the screen or follow along in your Bibles,

verse 22, then Moses led the people of Israel

away from the Red Sea and they moved out into

the desert of shore. They traveled in this desert

for three days without finding any water. When

they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was

too bitter to drink. So they called the place

Marah, which means bitter. Very creative title.

Very creative title here. 24. When the people

complained. They like to do that. When the people

complained, and we like to do that too. When

the people complained and turned against Moses,

what are we going to drink, they demanded. So

Moses cried out to the Lord for help. That word

cried is he petitions God. He requests of God.

And he calls to him for guidance. That word help

there. And the Lord showed him a piece of wood.

Moses threw it into the water and this made the

water good to drink. He makes this declaration

then. God makes this declaration and at the end

of that declaration in 26 is where we see his

name revealed. This Yahweh Raphael. And he tells

them, he says to the Israelites, God's people,

says, For I am the Lord who heals you. This is

a very interesting story, right? Because God

is demonstrating here, see, He just healed the

water. He restored the water. He cured the water.

And then He's telling them, I will, I'm the one

who heals you. It's not just in that moment,

but heals meaning continually. Throughout their

lifespan, he's continually watching over them,

healing them as they go on their way. It's a

promise. And there's a promise connected to his

name, amen? God healing the water demonstrated

that, listen, it was God's will and purpose to

continually heal them and to keep them healthy.

And this is evident as we... Keep going through

Scripture. In Psalms 105, 37, it says this. He,

God, also brought them out of Egypt with silver

and gold. He not only provided for them, blessed

them, but what is written about their life and

their wilderness journey is that there was none

feeble among his tribes. It was no one weak when

they came out of Egypt. And you're talking like,

you know, rough estimates here. 3 .5 million

people never getting sick. There's no story,

there's no account of them ever getting sick

or being weak and people not being able to go

on in the wilderness for 40 years, right? That's

crazy. Now, some of them died, some of them,

you know, that kind of thing, but still, there

was none feeble among his tribes when they left

Egypt. So drinking contaminated water, right,

it would have brought sickness, could have possibly

brought sickness, could have brought possible

death. But God is purifying the water then to

keep them healthy. So it's showing his provision.

It's also showing his protection. And then he's

telling them, I am Yahweh Raphael. And it's Yahweh

Raphael Ka, meaning you, because it's... personal

to them it means that he fixes and restores and

makes whole listen he makes whole because why

was the water contaminated why was water contaminated

in the first place god is fixing and restoring

and makes whole what sin has broken and this

is important thing for us to realize that our

reality Our experience in life is a mixture of

God's good and perfect creation. This is his

will that has been corrupted by sin. It's been

corrupted by sin, just like that water. It was

good. God created water good. Most planets, water.

Most of our bodies are water, right? Water's

good. It nourishes us. But then all of a sudden

it's contaminated here when they're needing to

drink from it. And God's restoring what sin had

broken. And this is how he reveals his name.

You see, our reality is God's good and perfect,

God's imperfect will is that there be no sickness.

There be no disease in the world. There be no

illness. Think about it. When he created the

world, When he created man, did he say you're

going to be sick in the Garden of Eden? Was that

anything? Did God create that? No. When we think

about heaven, is there going to be sickness,

illness, or disease in heaven? Is heaven God's

good and perfect will? Amen? Right? So if it

wasn't his will then for them to be sick, and

have disease and illness, and it wasn't his will

in the future that we know, right? Has God changed?

Does he change his mind? Just asking real questions.

He said, Yahweh Raphael is his eternal name.

This is who he wanted to be called, identified

by his relationship and his activity towards

his people. He said, I'm the one who heals you.

I'm the one who cures you. I'm the one who restores

what sin has broken. Amen. You should get happy

about that. It's enough to put a smile on your

face. You know, there's a lot of people, though,

who kind of, you know, have trouble. And it's

based on their experience, I think, right? Because

our experience in life is not always the will

of God. I'll say that again. Your experience

in life is not necessarily God's good and perfect

will for you. Is everything that happens the

will of God? That brings to this question. But

you hear a lot of people say that, right? You

hear a lot of people say that. Well, it's the

will of God. Even the insurance claims a bad

storm is an act of God. Even though clearly in

the Bible we see God rebuking the storm. Speaking

to the storm. If he caused it, why is he speaking

to it? You know, something happens, like something

gets stolen. Right? Is that the will of God?

No. God says, thou shalt not steal. So is it

the will of God when someone commits sin to steal?

Think about it. This is very simple. I know I'm

trying to break it down, but so many people,

millions of people, good religious people in

churches all over, go to church, they'll be like,

well, I got, you know, brother so -and -so got

cancer, and it must just be the will of God.

We just don't know his mysterious. You know,

he just has plans, and we just don't always know

his plan. And, brother, it's, you know, God's

going to work something good, and you just don't

know it yet, but God brought this on you to make

you stronger. You're going to grow from this.

How many of you have heard this? How many of

you have said this? How many of you have seen,

like, been in conversations with people, and

they're like, well, God gave me this. And they

equate God giving them this with some sort of

good thing that happened in the middle of it.

Just because something good happens in the middle

of it does not mean that God gave you that bad

thing. It just means that God is busy working

in your life. God is busy turning things around,

turning what the enemy meant for evil to good.

That's the God we serve. Not the God who gives

sickness, illness, or disease, but the God who

has the ability that in the middle he can turn

it around. He can turn the worst thing into the

best thing. But my question is, in all these

situations, right, when people face this, where's

the verse? Where's the verse in the Bible that

shows us that God gives sickness, that God gives

all these things that we equate to him that he

gives, right? That God did this and allowed this

to happen to me. Where's the verse? Sounds good.

It might make you feel good. It might even, you

know, for some people I call it like a no -fault

religion, right? Because if God's responsible

for everything that happens, well, I can just

live however I want to because God's making me

be that way, right? If I eat McDonald's every

single day of my life and develop diabetes, come

on now, and I get some kind of illness and Alzheimer's

and all those things linked to fast food, right?

That science and all these things, we're real

conscious about those things and how that leads

us and the diseases and illnesses that those

things can bring. We're very conscious of that

now. But listen, if I eat that all the time,

guess what? Did God bring that on me? All of

a sudden, I'm like, oh, I got... Alzheimer's.

Oh, I got, you know, whatever. I got diabetes.

Well, this must be God's mysterious plan for

me. I just don't know. How silly. How silly.

And sin has corrupted and is the cause of every

bad thing that we experience in our life. I want

to say this and preface this with this. It's

not necessarily in that example. Like, that could

be my sin of gluttony that brought that on my

life. Sometimes sin and the corruption of sin

comes into your life from those people around

you, connected to you. Could be things that they

say. Could be things that they've done. It could

be hereditary where you're predisposed to those

kind of things happening, right? And then...

Above that, it's just the fallen nature of mankind

and that it's all kind of in a downhill spiral

into the end times, right? Things are not getting

better. We're not evolving to this better, perfect

thing. Eventually, it's all kind of slowly decaying.

2 Peter 3 .9, listen. and there's a lot of different

understandings. There's a lot of like religion

you got to wade through and pre -understandings

because everybody has a different experience,

right? But I want to say this, that just like

think of the biggest thing I would say is like

salvation. Is it the will of God that everyone

be saved? Yeah? The verse right here, 2 Peter

3, 9, The Lord is not willing that any should

perish, but all should come to repentance. But

is this true? Is this going to actually happen?

Or no? It says, Wide is the road that leads to

destruction. Narrow is the road that leads to

life. People are going to go to heaven, yes,

and that's God's will. But people are also going

to go to hell. Is that God's will that they go

to hell? No. Where's the verse? Here's the verse.

It's his will that none should perish and all

should come to repentance. That's God's will.

So is God's will always being done in the earth?

Is God's will always being done in the earth?

No. In the Lord's prayer, he says, your will

be done, you know. Your will be done on earth

as it is in heaven. Why are we praying for God's

will to be done if it's already being done? That'd

be kind of silly, right? Not doing that. So box

over. Salvation is God's will, just like healing

is God's will. Okay? And we're going to be looking

at that. Psalms 107 .20 says this, and often,

listen, often healing and the concepts of healing

are often tied to the work of God in Christ to

receive salvation and his finished work on the

cross. And often when we look at these scriptures,

we see both them talking about salvation. talking

about God's finished work, and then also healing,

okay? This is one of those examples, even though

there's many. Psalms 107 .20, he sent his word

and healed, that same word, ratha, them, but

it doesn't stop there, and delivered them, different

word, meaning to escape, to deliver, to save,

to rescue from their destructions. So he's not

only healing us from the corruption of sin for

salvation, redeeming us, washing us clean, right?

It's not only just a spiritual thing that he

did on the cross. It's a whole body thing. What

he did on Calvary and what he accomplished. He

defeated death, hell, and the grave, and every

consequence of sin. He defeated that. He has

victory over sin. Amen? Sin is under his feet,

right? And guess what? You and I as believers,

we are in Christ. Sin is under our feet. And

millions of people say, I know God can heal.

Because usually in church, we know about healing.

You know, many people believe God can heal. We

don't question his ability. But you might ask,

is it always his will to heal? Is it always his

will to heal me? How many of you have been praying

for someone or even heard someone pray? Like,

God, if it be your will, heal them. And how many

times have we prayed and asked God for something,

right? We've asked him to heal, and maybe we've

not experienced it. Yeah? Let's be real. Maybe

as someone close, maybe we're like, well, God,

I believe you can heal, but I'm praying and like...

You know, is it your will for them to be healed?

You know, and we kind of struggle and we waver,

right? Well, what does the Bible say? Does the

Bible say that it's God's will to heal? And that's

our main question this morning. Is it God's will

to heal? Okay? We're not questioning his ability,

but is it God's will to heal? So let's look at

it. How do we know the will of God? We look at

Jesus because Jesus was the embodiment of God's

word and God's will in the earth. He's the word

and will of God in action, right? So let's look

to him and see what he did. John 6, 38 says,

this is Jesus saying, for I have come down from

heaven to do the will of God who sent me. John

14 .10, don't you believe that I am in the Father

and the Father is in me? The words I speak are

not my own, but my Father who lives in me does

his work through me. Jesus is the will and word

of God in action all throughout the Bible. And

his earthly ministry, his earthly ministry consisted

a lot of healing. That was a huge part of what

he did. So how do we know healing is God's will?

By the Word and Jesus' actions. Okay? By Scripture

and by Jesus' actions. And now we're going to

blitz through a ton of Scripture. So hold on.

Hold on, and we're going to talk about it. But

one thing I want to, one story I'm going to really

focus on, even though there's plenty of... stories

in the bible with this same same kind of pattern

because i want and i do want to preface all this

by saying um this morning we are talking about

healing but healing is a very multifaceted subject

and there's no way in this short period of time

that we can cover every angle and every potential

thing and what we're doing here this morning

and what we're learning so This is not an exhaustive

teaching on healing, okay? Maybe one day we'll

do that. But for now, I just want you to, the

focus of today is healing God's will, okay? That's

as far as we're going. So how do we know if healing

is God's will? By the word and Jesus' actions.

I love this story, Matthew 8, 1 through 3. So

many stories like this, but listen. Large crowds

followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside.

Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and

knelt before him. What is leprosy? It was a disease

in which, an incurable disease, where somebody,

like if they get cut, their body wouldn't do

the natural process of healing. Right? God created

us to heal, right? If you cut your finger, it's

going to heal. If you have a surgery, guess what?

You still have to go through a time of healing,

right? God is our healer, amen? This is natural.

This is a natural occurrence. It's not just something,

you know, mysterious happening. No, this is the

way God created us to be. And it's actually looked

at as a disease when if they were cut and their

bodies weren't healing themselves. It's an incurable

disease, leprosy. to the point where they would

excommunicate them, they would put them off in

a colony all by themselves. They had all these

rules and regulations where they couldn't come

out and converse among the people for fear that

it would spread. And you've got to understand

here that this man, he's literally risking it

all. It's not just coming to Jesus. It's like

do or die in this moment. Because everyone around

him, they had right. They had legal right to

just stone him dead in the street. Everybody

say, this is faith. Because you would not risk

your life for something or someone that you do

not believe could heal you, right? You do not

risk your life for something you don't actually

believe. And he is literally laying it all out,

and he goes over to Jesus. There's a large crowd,

and I imagine everybody goes, And this man with

leprosy does what? He kneels before him. He respects

God. He honors him. It's a position, right? And

he says, Think about that. He's calling him Lord.

Lord, the man said, if you are willing, you can

heal me and make me clean. He's not questioning

God's ability. Listen, he's not questioning God's

ability. He's questioning whether or not it's

his will. We've all been there. We've all thought

this. Millions of people think this. Is it God's

will to heal? This is just one of many stories.

He knew God could heal him, but he didn't know

if God was willing to heal and listen to what

Jesus did. Jesus reached out and touched him.

Imagine how long it's been since someone touched

him. To touch the untouchable. He touches him,

reaches out, touches him. When everyone else

is backing up, Jesus steps forward and touches

him. Come on. What's the will of God? What does

Jesus say? Does he say, be healed? He says, I

am willing. He said, I am willing. Then he says,

Be healed. And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

It's good stuff. It's good stuff. Now this is

just one of the many healings that Jesus did.

And this is not the only time something like

this happens. In fact, over 60 % of Jesus' miracles

talk about faith and specifically mention faith.

Of the person or faith of those around them or

faith in the. So this is not just cherry picking

some little verse to prove some little point.

God is willing. If he said he was willing to

heal. Then is he willing to heal now? Very simple.

Moving on. When we look at the life of Jesus

and his miracles, did Jesus ever refuse to heal

someone who came to him? Did he ever say, nah,

I'm not feeling it? Did he ever refuse anyone?

Did he ever say, this sickness, no, no, no, you

just need to hold on to that for a while so you

can grow stronger. This is on you for a reason,

right? Because everything happens for a reason.

That's like saying the sun is shining so it's

hot outside. The law of causation, right? You

know what? Makes no sense. Yeah, everything happens

for a reason. Sickness is for your good? No!

Did Jesus heal everyone? Another good question.

Did Jesus heal everyone? Could Jesus heal everyone?

Was it his will to heal everyone? But did Jesus

heal everyone? You're thinking. You've got to

be thinking this morning. I'm sorry. It's a little

different what a normal Sunday morning pattern

is. But did Jesus heal everyone? No, in fact,

in Mark, it talks about Jesus. It talks about

Jesus. It specifically says he was only able

to heal in his hometown. He was only able to

heal a few because of the unbelief of the area

in which he was at. He wanted to do more. His

will was to heal more. But what? He was hindered

by unbelief. And that's one thing that will always

keep healing away. Will keep God's will for you

away from you. And away from happening in your

life is unbelief. Anything that impacts your

faith impacts your ability to receive healing.

Because faith is always connected to healing.

So meaning, too, that hate would also impact

healing. Bitterness would also impact healing.

But everyone, listen, everyone that came to Jesus

in faith to be healed, that came to him, knowing

who he is and what he wants to do in their life.

Everyone. This is what the Bible, I mean, you

go read it. Don't take my word for it. Read it.

Everyone that came to Jesus in faith to be healed

was healed. And like I said, 60 % of the miracles

that Jesus did specifically mentioned that it

was the faith of the believer. All the other

times it specifically talks about you can see

faith demonstrated in the actions and in their

life and in what happens and things like that.

So let's look at some of these where those who

came to him in faith received healing. Luke 4,

38 through 40, as the sun went down that evening,

people throughout the village, what did they

do? They brought sick family members to Jesus.

It's a faith. It's a faith act. No matter what

their diseases were, the touch of his hand healed

everyone. Matthew 15, 29 -31 Jesus returned to

the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat

down. A vast crowd brought to him. Another faith

act they're bringing to him because they believe

he is the Messiah and they knew that when the

Messiah comes, he's going to have healing in

his wings. Or they had heard about him from the

nearby village where everybody's getting healed.

Things are happening. When Jesus is here, things

are happening. He's at work. And a part of what

he came to do was to seek and to save that which

is lost and he came to heal the sick. The vast

crowd were brought to him. People were lame,

blind, crippled, those who couldn't speak, and

many others. They laid them before Jesus, and

what? He healed a few of them and told the rest

of them to keep it. No, he healed them all. Amen.

The crowd was amazed. Those who hadn't been able

to speak were talking. The crippled were made

well. The lame were walking, and the blind could

see again, and they praised the God of Israel.

Matthew 8, 16 and 17, same thing again. That

evening many demon -possessed people were brought

to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a

simple command and he healed all the sick. This

fulfilled, listen to this, this fulfilled the

word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah who

said this, he took our sicknesses and removed

our diseases. We so easily get healing from the

consequences of sin when we look at salvation

and what God has redeemed us from. And that's

so important that we know that God has redeemed

us. He has freed us. What he accomplished on

Calvary didn't just stop there. It wasn't just

a cleansing of your spirit. It was to cleanse

you and reverse all sin's effects for your mind,

your body, and your soul. Because he's concerned

about not only your spirit and one day spending

eternity with him in heaven. He's concerned about

your life right now. And he came to give you

abundant life, not just in the glory cloud, but

right now. To the fullest, in excess, overflowing

is what abundant life means. And that doesn't

include what sin and the effects of sin and the

consequences of sin in your life. This fulfilled

the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah

and is specifically talking about It's talking

about disease. It's talking about the illness,

everyone who was brought. He took our sicknesses

and removed our diseases on the cross. And that's

why when we talk about healing, God's never asked

us to pray about healing. Pray to be healed.

Why would we ask God to heal us when he's already

did it on the cross? Do I ask God to save me?

Sometimes we word it that way. But Jesus is not

dying on the cross every time someone believes

in him and turns from their sin and confesses

him as Lord. He's not continually dying on the

cross. No, his work is already finished. It's

already available. And what's happening is I'm

receiving what's available by grace, the Bible

says, through faith. That's how I receive salvation.

That's how I receive the consequences of sin

was death. That's how I receive life. And it's

something that as church we talk about all the

time and it makes perfect sense. Well, I believe.

Well, guess what? Healing is connected to his

work on the cross, just like so many other things.

He's made it available to you and available to

all. It is his will to heal. Because on the cross,

he took our sicknesses. He bore our sicknesses.

He bore our diseases. Everything that has been

and everything that will be, he bore it on the

cross. The full weight of sin was upon him. Healing

is not just available to some, it's available

to all to come to God in faith. And listen, everyone

who heard, everyone believed, and everyone who

acted on the knowledge that Jesus is God and

that God heals received healing. Another story,

Matthew 9, 27 -30. Getting close. Two blind men

followed along behind him shouting, Son of David,

have mercy on us. Son of David, have mercy on

us. And they went right into the home where he

was staying. And Jesus asked them something.

Did he say, be healed. Go your merry way. No.

He asked them something. He goes, do you believe

I can make you see? It's interesting, right?

The miracles that Jesus did on earth, it's revealed

that he did way more than any books could hold.

He did so many things that are not recorded,

but I believe each one of these that are listed,

each one of these personal healing accounts are

listed in the Bible to give us a better perspective

on... People coming to God in different ways

and receiving healing different ways by different

things. It's all by faith, but it's wrapped differently

in the ways that man will come to God, right?

And God's saying here, do you believe I can make

you see? What'd they say? Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.

They told him, we do. Then. He touched their

eyes and said this, because of your faith, it

will happen. Because of your faith, it will happen.

Then their eyes were opened and they could see.

Healing is available by grace and received through

faith. And what is faith? We talk about this

a lot at Alation Church, but it's hearing. Kind

of like we've all heard this morning. It's hearing

about God, learning who he is, learning things

about him, his activity in the world. But it's

not just intellectual knowledge. It's believing.

Because in order for the word to change you,

it has to be in you. In the parable of the sower,

the word in the fertile ground. Produce the harvest,

right? So the word of God, that's the word of

God being planted in you, producing a harvest

from the inside out and changing you. That's

what belief is, is accepting, yielding to, surrendering

to the word and the will and the way of God,

his understanding, his spirit, and then speaking

in accordance with it. Putting our words in agreement

with who the Bible says he is and what he wants

to do in our lives. Not saying, God, heal me

if it be your will. Or, you know, God, I thank

you for this sickness and this disease and just

show me how it's going to make me stronger. Or,

oh God, I know you needed an angel and all this

kind of stuff. No, it's speaking according to

the promises and the word of God. Putting our

words in agreement, not just our own imagination,

but based upon who he is and how he's revealed

himself. And then we act upon it. So God's identity

is revealed by his word. And his word, the Bible

talks about it being the medication to heal our

bodies. So how do we take God's medicine for

healing? How do we stand in faith? Okay? Let's

apply this to our lives. How do we stand in faith?

How do we take God's medicine for healing? For

one, you can't take a pill and it just magically

cures everything, right? You know, you got to

take it consistently. A lot of times you got

to take it in pattern. You got to take it over

and over and over again, right? Not all of the

healings of Jesus happen instantly, but a lot

of times that's what we expect in our lives,

you know? We talked about Naaman going having

to dunk seven times, you know, after it was already

spoken. Like that was a process. Healing was

a process. The spittle, when Jesus spit in the

dirt and rubbed the blind guy's eyes, he told

him to go wash in the pool, right? Wash it off.

They had to go. They had to find the pool. They're

blind. How funny is that? But they actually had

to go and do something. They had to act upon

the word that was already given. Could Jesus,

you know, was Jesus just going to lay, he could

have just laid his hand and be like, be healed,

right? But he's showing us something. He's the

will and word of God in action, and he's showing

us that it's by faith. God plays a part, and

then he expects us to play our part. God's accomplished

everything to live a life of godliness, right?

He's accomplished everything, but he expects

us to reach out to him in faith. In the same

way that not everyone receives salvation, in

the same way not everyone is going to have the

faith to be healed. But God's not holding out

on us. God is faithful to keep his promises.

And we stand in faith. Proverbs 4, 20 through

22. I realize that this is a weird verse to talk

about this, but the more I read it, the more

it came alive to me. And I want you to really

pay attention to what it says. My child, pay

attention to what I say. Listen carefully to

my words. Don't lose sight of them. Let them

penetrate deep into your heart. For they, and

I put it here, God's words, because that's what

it's talking about. God's words bring life to

those who find them. Does it stop there? No.

They bring life to those who find them and healing.

Different word here, but it's healing, cure,

health, remedy, and medicine. God's word is medicine

to your body. So healing comes, if we take this

down and just talk about it, healing comes to

us when our attention, listen, says my child,

pay attention to my words, when our attention

is on God's word and not our problem or sickness.

We're real bad about, oh, I got a sniffle today,

and so tomorrow I'm going to be in bed with a

cold for four days, you know. Because my attention

is now on the problem and whatever I put my attention

on is going to grow. And I give authority, I

hand my authority over to it. Because I'm saying

yes to it. To its reality instead of God's reality.

And what he wants and his will to be accomplished

in my life. So when our attention is on the word

and not the problem or the sickness. And when

our ears receive the word and our eyes see ourselves

here. When we look at ourselves in the mirror

and we see ourselves the way God sees us, God

wants us to look beyond our circumstance and

our current situation, and he wants us to see

the realities of who he is being fulfilled in

our lives, being made real to us. That's what

he wants for us. Healing comes when what God

provided for us is made real to us by the Spirit.

And healing comes when we obey, when we act on

what God tells us to do. You can believe, right?

You can hear, you can believe, you can speak.

But sometimes we always want to do what we think

is best and not what God says. It makes no sense

for the blind man to go dip into the pool after

he's already encountered Jesus, right? He could

have reasoned away. And I don't believe he would

have received his healing because it's unbelief.

Faith receives healing. Unbelief does not. And

we got to obey what the Spirit tells us to do.

And sometimes the Spirit, I'm just going to say

this, sometimes the Spirit, will reveal you to

do something that's natural, right? Sometimes

the Spirit will say, take this medication. Sometimes

the Spirit will lead you to go see a doctor.

It might not be the doctor that you would always

go see. But he might say, hey, I want you to

go do something. I want you to go visit this

person. Because all healing, listen, all healing

comes from God. And no matter what the doctor

said, no matter what the pill does, no matter

what, it's still going to come from God. But

he's expecting your, you know, your compliance

in it. He's wanting you to act in faith to his

word. And when you act in faith according to

his word, that's when you receive the promises

of who he is. That's when God is real to you,

okay? But we see all these different facets.

of healing it's not just one size fits all guess

what we're all different right we all face different

stuff we all have different and guess what healing

is kind of the same way it comes differently

to each and every person so think about that

next time we pray let's don't just you know ask

god to do something that he's already done let's

believe And pray in faith that his will be done

in our lives. Amen. And then we be still and

we listen to his voice for direction. Not the

voices of the sickness and the illness and disease.

We're not going to listen to those. We're, you

know, we're going to listen to his voice above

any other voice in our life. Right? Amen. Let's

pray together. All right. Yeah. Let's pray together.

Father God, we thank you for today. We thank

you for your word. I pray that it will enter

our hearts. I pray that it will fall on good

soil. In Jesus' name, amen. And when we know

who He is, we can put our trust and our confidence.

Everybody say confidence. When we know who He

is, we can put our confidence in Him. Somebody

say amen. Because He's not going to forsake us.

when we seek Him. Everybody stand up with me.

We're going to put our words in agreement with

what God says, alright? Are you ready? Some of

you might need to move your feet a little bit.

Legs might be asleep. Everybody say this with

me. One, two, three. My God is Yahweh Rapha.

God heals me. sickness, illness, and disease

are not God's will for me. Some of you aren't

moving your mouth. Read it with me. Don't wait

and repeat it. Let's start at the beginning again.

Let's say it like we're in fifth grade all reading

something together off the board. You ready?

One, two, three. My God is Yahweh Rapha. God

heals me. Sickness, illness, and disease are

not God's will for me. God mends me and makes

my spirit, body, and mind whole. By faith, I

am healed. Does anybody believe that? Do you

believe it? Take out your phone, take a picture

of it. You need to say this more than one time.

And that's who God is. That's who He is. How

many of you grew up hearing that that's not who

God is? Maybe that's who God used to be, but

He's not that today. Hello? God doesn't change.

Everybody say, He's the same yesterday, today,

and forever. Some of us, it's going to take a

little while to wrap our brains around this.

It's going to take a little while for us to unlearn.

Has anybody ever had to unlearn any bad? Does

anybody have to unlearn anything? Some of us

are going to have to unlearn a little bit to

receive who God is. He is Yahweh Rapha. This

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