Don’t be mislead…

By: Shwanda Jones

So in this season, I’m reading a series of books, in regard to ministry, prayer and servanthood in the kingdom. There’s this one particular book that I’m reading titled “The Art of Prayer” by Kenneth E. Hagin and it’s a really powerful book. If you get a chance, you should pick it up and read it. This is my dad’s copy, I just swiped it from the house this past weekend J. Any who, I want to share with you a few excerpts from this particular chapter, then I want to translate to you the meaning I gathered from it…Here goes…

Chapter 13: Prayer for the Sick

“Another definition of the word translated “infirmity” in Romans 8:26 is “feebleness of body; frailty; sickness.”…We know it is the highest and the perfect will of God that every believer not be sick, but live out his full length of time here below until his body wears out and he falls asleep in Jesus…But we also know from the natural standpoint that for a number of reasons that does not happen with everybody – even all of God’s children…In dealing with the sick, I find that sometimes the Spirit of God hooks up with me and prays through me. And there are times I have tried to get Him to but He does not. You cannot make the Spirit of God do anything. Instead of using the Spirit, let the Spirit use you...How dependent we are upon the Holy Spirit in our prayer life.

Thirty years ago I went to a man’s bedside to pray for his healing. And I couldn’t even say the word “heal.” I’d say, “Oh, God,” and then instead of saying the word “heal,” I’d say, “bless this man.” I tried to make my tongue say “heal” and it would not. I couldn’t control my tongue. I said, “Lord, why can’t I pray for this man’s healing? He’s not old enough to die. You promised us a minimum of 70 or 80 years.”…But the Lord said to me, “Yes, but he was born again 36 years ago. I’ve been waiting on him to put away sin for 36 years. [Think about the patience of God!] He’s never lived right over two weeks at a time in 36 years. So I judged him and turned him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” …Then the Spirit said to me, “You can’t pray for his healing, but you can do this. Tell him you are going to lay your hands on him to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and his last days will be better than his first.””

This is my take…

Often times, we try to flip scripture to our own liking or make Holy Spirit say what we want to hear. The enemy has a way of intercepting and butting in at any time, which is why we have to be sensitive. The Holy Spirit can tell us one thing and we hear something totally different because we didn’t wanna hear what He originally said. This is often the case when we have been in prayer for something or if the Holy Spirit is not in agreement with the flesh. Waaa? Noo, not me? Die flesh die. Yes, we are inclined to let our flesh override our spirit and in psychology, if it’s something we don’t wanna hear, we can lie to ourselves and make it totally different.

Also, with sin. As Christians, servants, children of God, we should work towards a level of excellence in Christ. Don’t be mislead in thinking you’re getting away with your slip ups. Now, I’m not trying to be critical or pretend I’m perfect, because I’m not but even I know…the slip up, I will pay for…because I’m sensitive to the Holy Spirit and He notifies me. IF we’re not sensitive to the Holy Spirit, our slip ups will become more frequent and we’ll begin to lie to ourselves, thinking “it’s okay, it’s okay, we all fall short.” When in fact, we have the opportunity to live in abundance and in full but too many slip ups take away our life lines, literally and spiritually. God is a loving God and He does forgive and yes He knows we’re not perfect but that doesn’t mean He does not have expectations and the law is written that the wages of sin is death. Laws don’t tend to be reneged on. They’re set so we have to follow that standard. Unless of course! We come in tune with the Holy Spirit, repent and hearken to the Spirit and not our own minds. Sin of the flesh, reap of the flesh and so on and so forth. But don’t think for one second just because you’re sorry and you’re convinced in your mind that that was just a slip up and it’s ok that you won’t give in account for that.

In all these devotionals, I’m writing for myself too. We have to make up in our minds that we’re in or out. We’re not gonna be perfect but at some point we have to be accountable and set a standard for ourselves and follow the expectations of God. We as a people always tend to be sorry “after the fact.” We cry, we groan, we feel bad but the damage is done. Many of us are perfectionists in our crafts, our school work and our jobs…when are we gonna try to be perfectionists in living for God? Don’t be mislead.