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Wednesday 8 May 2013

Believing is seeing

Last Saturday morning I picked up my mobile phone and noticed that one of my granddaughters had tried to ring me.  My mobile was on 'silent' mode, I usually only text messages and that only when necessary, and so I texted her to find out what she wanted.  She texted me back and said that one of my songs had just dropped into her head and she felt she had to let me know.  The song, she went on to say, was 'By grace am I saved, through faith not of myself, it is the gift of God'. 
  


It was part of a song which began

You taught me how to love 
when all else was failing 
You taught me how to love 
You showed me how to care  
You taught me how to love 
You showed me the way Lord  
For when I needed You 
You was always there 

We used to sit on the floor of my granddaughter's bedroom when she lived with us for a year, with my guitar, and sing this and many other songs together.


There was great meaning for me in Hayley sending me this text with these words about faith in it, for the Lord has been speaking to me concerning faith for a few weeks.  When I wrote my post called  'I will love Thee O Lord my strength' on 2nd March 2013  I mentioned that the Lord had been speaking to me through the verse about Thomas, where Jesus said to Thomas 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.' (John ch.29 v.29)' , mentioning that someone phoned me asking 'Is that Thomas?' to which I answered 'No, this is not Thomas.'  


The very next day after publishing this post I had once more a person, I believe maybe the same one, phone me and ask  'Is that Thomas?' to which I again replied 'No, this is not Thomas'.  I believe absolutely this was the Lord's way of encouraging me to trust in Him for healing me from what I spoke about in my March 2nd post, and not to think of healing from the  carnal aspect of 'Seeing is believing.' but to think of it from the Spiritual aspect of 'Believing is seeing.'  



Now I was feeling that the Lord was actually going to heal me from my ailment after 22 years and when I opened my Bible to read, as I thought about this, I opened straight to the page containing Psalm 103 where the Psalmist is instructing his soul to praise the Lord and forget not all His benefits, including forgiving sins and  healing all diseases.   I asked the Lord that if He was telling me through this that He was going to heal me, then to have me open to this page again, which I did immediately.


After my granddaughter sent me the text last Saturday, I thought about all these things that had happened recently.   I remembered the fact that I had initially asked the Lord all those years ago to teach me about sickness and healing, as I could not understand why healing did not always happen after prayer. When I asked why in a church in Adelaide I had been healed miraculously when someone had prayed for me, He revealed to me that it had been the prayer of faith used at that time.  I wanted to learn more about sickness and healing and after I asked, my trial began.


Saturday night I had a dream in which there were two huge screens in front of me on which were written 'By grace am I saved, through faith not of myself it is the gift of God.' and many voices were singing the song that had dropped into my granddaughter's head that morning.  Once again 'faith' was being emphasized to me.  On Sunday morning I opened my Bible to read and opened straight to Romans ch. 4, a chapter on faith.  Verses 3-5 read 'What does Scripture say?  'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.'  Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.  However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.'


The end of verse 13 declares that 'righteousness' as 'the righteousness that comes by faith.'  So righteousness comes only from believing unquestionably what God has said to me regardless of what my eyes or my carnal mind might try to tell me.  If I, as Abraham did, believe what God has said to me then God will bring to pass His promise to me just as He brought to pass His promise to Abraham.  


I choose to believe the Word that the Lord has spoken to me, not what my eyes see and my carnal mind might try to tell me, and  I demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

I praise You Lord

This morning I have awoken and can not stop singing this little song over and over in my mind so I thought I would include it.

Cause me my God to trust in You
cause me to live in Your will
help me to rest in Your love for me
cause me my Lord to be still

Cast from my heart all doubt and fear

take from my flesh life's pain
fill me with sunshine and righteousness
wash me with faith's gentle rain

Take all the sorrow this world has known

take it - replace it with love
send forth Your Spirit - make us Your own
bring life to this world from above




29 comments:

Frank E. Blasi said...

Paul's letter to the Romans gives the clearest message about faith and imputed righteousness anywhere in the Bible.
An excellent post.

child of God said...

Hi Brenda,
Again I commend you on sharing this and I must say, not to puff up pride in you, but to encourage to keep on sharing, that I am learning alot from you and I love how the Lord speaks to you.

You might remember that recently my pastor died from a massive heart attack and we have an interim pastor for the next few months. He is 77 years old and just recently lost his grandson to cancer. He is talking to us about the healing, faith and why some people are not healed when prayed for, prayed over or just totally believe they will be healed and they are not. It is an eyeopener and I have many more questions than answers. :)

One thing my sister told me years ago was to be thoughtful in what you pray for and ask the Lord for because most often He will answer that prayer in a way we do not expect and usually through trials because that is the way we learn best.

Each person and need is different resulting in each prayer needs to be according to the persons needs and sometimes healing here on earth is not according to the Lord's will. Sometimes He wants us to suffer. If He wanted all of us to be healed then I am sure the disciples in the near after days of Jesus would not have been killed, beaten, and imprisoned, but that was the Lord's will. Why did Paul not become healed of his ailment? Paul mentioned it was to keep him humble. This is what pastor P is teaching us and like I said, I have more questions now than when we started on this journey.

One thing I am learning is to continue to learn from what the Lord brings into my path, pray fresh and new for every circumstance, rely on new blessings every day, like fresh mana.

Thanks for sharing Brenda and please keep on writing. :)

Blessings sister,
<><

S. Knowles said...

Great Post Brenda. Without faith it is impossible to please God. The just shall live by faith. With the shield of faith we will be able to quench every firery dart the enemy throws.
Faith is so important. I pray my faith increases. Your post always gives me something to think about.

Paul G said...

Good post Brenda!
Do you mean, Adelaide in Australia?

Brenda said...

Hi Frank,
Yes the Lord has really brought my attention to that chapter in this time of teaching me. He also brought me to add a little more to my post.
Your fellowship is much appreciated, there is some lovely encouragement on the blogs that I read.

Brenda said...

Hi child of God,
yes this is why I asked the question many years ago to the Lord about teaching me about sickness and healing. Almost immediately I had a dream about 'lumps' and then started to experience my teaching from the Lord. I had always believed that the Lord could keep a person alive if He wanted to no matter what, even if they were shot with ten bullets. He has kept me under the sufficiency of His grace for 22 years and now I believe He is speaking to me about 'healing' and 'faith'. This morning I felt let to add another bit of writing on my post, and I had a dream last night where 14 people were being invited to a party, they were all part of a choir and the gospel was mentioned in the invitation. Every person must work out the Lord's purpose in them, each is unique yet One in Christ. It sounds like 'faith' is being spoken about in many of our lives.
God bless

Brenda said...

Hi Sateigdra,
thank you for your encouraging comment. I love the meaning of what faith actually is:- 'The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' Sometimes we think we have faith when we have not. I have realized this, because if Jesus said to the apostles that they only had to have faith the size of a mustard seed to uproot a mulberry tree then any faith I think I have should be able to bring about what I hope for. The Lord tells us to 'ask and it shall be given', and I am sure that, because of your desire and the trials you have already gone through, He will increase your faith if you ask Him. He is a faithful and just God.

Brenda said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brenda said...

Hi Paul,
yes I mean Adelaide in Australia, that is where I became born again in the Adelaide Revival centre in 1982. It was a beautiful leading of the Lord that had come to that point from various happenings in my life, and as I walked in the building the man who had felt led to start the church there, John Khulman, was saying 'Only believe and you shall see the glory of the Lord'. Paul, I would love to hear your testimony, perhaps one day you will share it.
Thank you for your kind commen

Brenda said...

Hi child of God again,
I forgot to mention something that happened on Saturday evening in my reply to your comment. My husband was relaxing in his chair,listening to the radio, when suddenly and for no apparent reason the radio channel switched from Radio 4 to Premier Radio ( a Christian channel ). ' What the heck happened there'he said and was about to turn it back. 'Wait a minute' I said 'leave it on that channel, I want to hear what is being said.' I had a strong feeling there was a reason for this. As I listened, the man said 'The trouble with many Christians today, they do not pray in the Spirit as much as they should', and he went on to say that praying in the Spirit was praying God's word to us'. I felt absolutely that I was being spoken to as, since I have moved down this way, I have not been as strong in prayer as I used to be. I believe it is time for me to change.

child of God said...

Hi Brenda,
How cool!!!! This is true and I will confirm it. Before my pastor passed into the presence of Jesus, this is what the Lord laid on his heart and often his sermons were centered around prayer and the lack of God's people praying. Because he knew I have been commissioned by the Lord to pray he and other deacons from my church asked if I would start and run a house of prayer from my church. I agreed and have been doing so since February. The very sad, sad thing is there are only 4 others who show up regularly to pray. :( Although this really saddens me I am not discouraged for the Lord has told us that if 2 or more pray in agreement then that will be done by Jesus!! Those who do show up to pray are powerful, dedicated and totally on fire for Father.

I am so thrilled to see that you are going to dive into prayer again. That is a direct answer to my prayers that Father will raise up mighty prayer warriors and intercessors. :)

The power of God's Word is beyond our understanding but I know when I pray Scripture mighty things happen in my spirit and the atmosphere around me and around others.

Blessings sister,
<><

Never Forsaken said...

I demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
This is what I needed to read this morning.
I began reading your post last night, but decided to finish reading it this morning because I could see there was much to gleen from here.
I really have to close my eyes of flesh and shut out the voices of my carnal mind and just listen and meditate on what God is saying right now.
He removed the scales from my heart, and is working on a deeper level healing me where there is hidden wounds...He wants me to hang myself up to show the whole patchwork quilt of my life, but only in order to glorify Him and encourage others through it...He is doing the same with you and with many other Christians Brenda.
I agree with Child of God, and I encourage you to continue sharing the lessons of your life!
You can see through this experience how you have planted seeds in your granddaughter's heart, and you are priviledged to watch as God makes them grow...That is encouraging to me since my little granddaughter's 'other' grandma is a practicing witch, as well as most of the family on their dad's side...So you can see why I need to be ready to plant seeds.
My daughter's ex would never allow her and the girls to come visit us, and our visits were always very strained with him around.
I'm so blessed to have friends like you to learn from!
~Blessings and love~
Lisa

child of God said...

Hi Brenda,
How cool!!!! This is true and I will confirm it. Before my pastor passed into the presence of Jesus, this is what the Lord laid on his heart and often his sermons were centered around prayer and the lack of God's people praying. Because he knew I have been commissioned by the Lord to pray he and other deacons from my church asked if I would start and run a house of prayer from my church. I agreed and have been doing so since February. The very sad, sad thing is there are only 4 others who show up regularly to pray. :( Although this really saddens me I am not discouraged for the Lord has told us that if 2 or more pray in agreement then that will be done by Jesus!! Those who do show up to pray are powerful, dedicated and totally on fire for Father.

I am so thrilled to see that you are going to dive into prayer again. That is a direct answer to my prayers that Father will raise up mighty prayer warriors and intercessors. :)

The power of God's Word is beyond our understanding but I know when I pray Scripture mighty things happen in my spirit and the atmosphere around me and around others.

Blessings sister,
<><

Brenda said...

Hi child of God again,
I feel like I am in a room having a wonderful conversation with brothers and sisters in the Lord. I too used pray very deeply, when we returned from Australia and went to live in Lancashire for two years, and when I lived in my previous town in Wales. In both places the Lord did the most amazing things, including physical healings, dreams which spoke Spiritually and revelations when we prayed in the Spirit. Your last comment was published twice and even that speaks Spiritually. God bless you for your prayers and encouragement.

Brenda said...

Hi Lisa,
I praise God for every thing that has happened in my life from the minute I was born. I believe that everything I have gone through was for a purpose and that empathy brings sympathy and causes me, hopefully, never to judge those outside or call them 'evil' for once I was 'evil' myself. Hopefully, through the Holy Spirit, I will be able to 'bring forth fishes after my own kind' so to speak. After all, the Lord is making us 'fishers of men'. You say in your comment . 'He wants me to hang myself up to show the whole patchwork quilt of my life, but only in order to glorify Him and encourage others through it..' This is exactly what I believe also. How can we speak of, and be, a light in darkness if that light has never entered our own darkness? God bless you Lisa, hold fast that which is good.

Patrinas Pencil said...

Awesome, Brenda..

Thank you for sharing your desire for deepened faith and prayer life. We are on the same page. I want to thank you for your encouragement and prayers for my sister.

Sounds like we are both on a faith walk. I think it is a season the Lord is bringing us into...for His mighty purposes. I love how the Lord speaks to you...but it is you that is learning how to listen. To stop and discern. I love it when His plan unfolds in our lives.

So glad we can share of the goodness of the Lord in our individual life and be encouraged by each other. I always enjoy reading comments here too.

So glad that you did not stay away from blogging too lone :)

hugs fellow traveler
patrina <")>><

Brenda said...

Hi 'fellow traveller' Patrina,
yes I do believe that the Lord is bringing us and many others into a walk of faith. When I was in a church gathering where the Lord brought five people together and that gathering operated freely as the church operated two thousand years ago, each person sharing as the Lord led, the most amazing things happened, including healing and prophetic messages. During that time I used to get flashing brilliant lights when I prayed, so bright that I felt that if I opened my eyes they would blind me. Several times it appeared as if a dove was flapping it's wings within those lights, very much like the dove on your blog. I felt so close to the Lord at that time, and I feel the Lord encouraging me to come close again through prayer.
God bless you as we pray for the Holy Spirit to move as it wishes in our lives.

Reformed rebel said...

Hi Brenda,
I too have been being taught much about faith in the recent months. When you pray that you want your faith to be strengthened and become "unshakeable" look out....the Lord is happy to help you with that. At least He's been happy to help me with it! The cool thing is that it seems there are many of us that are learning this. I need to catch up on the last few of your posts as well. I have been a little out of the loop for sometime now. But, I feel it is time to get back in. My blog is not updating on anyone's blog roll and I don't know why. I have tried to fix it and can't. Will keep working on it. Maybe if you could just pray that the Lord will help me to take care of it I can figure it out. Will be back later to read more of what you have written.
Blessings my friend...Chelle

Aritha V. said...

It's very inspiring to read your blog and all comments And your answers :-) Thank you for it.

Brenda said...

Hi Chelle,
yes it does seem that a lot of people are hearing from the Lord about faith. I have a couple of blogs on my blogroll that are not up to date, I will have to see if I can find out why by visiting the forum one day. Blessings to you too Chelle.

Brenda said...

Hi Jedidja, nice to see you. Thank you for your kind comment, I will be over to catch up on your blog today to see how you are doing.

Laurie Collett said...

Praise God for His saving grace! Thanks, Brenda, for the excellent post. I love how the Holy Spirit inspires you and you share it with us.
God bless,
Laurie

Brenda said...

Hi Laurie,
Yes Praise God for His saving grace, and thank you too for sharing your faith in Him on your lovely blog, I love the way people share their thoughts and experiences on blogs, it is very encouraging. God bless.

David C Brown said...

The just shall live by faith.
The just shall live by faith.
The just shall live by faith.

Brenda said...

Amen, amen and amen to that David.

Ken said...

Hi Brenda, I sure do not know why the Lord chooses to heal some, and others not. But this I know, "the Lord causes all things to work together for good, to those who love God and those who are the called according to His purposes." I have heard of many testimonies where God took someone's sickness and brought good from it. I have also heard many testimonies where God miraculously healed someone, thus bring others to the Lord. Thank you for sharing and may God bless you

Brenda said...

Hi Ken,
Amen to the Lord working all things for good. He has a plan and we are all vessels used in that plan. The main thing is that we love Him and try to do what He asks us to do. Whatever trials we go through, life is worthless without Him, as I am sure you will agree. God bless you Ken.

Life and Breath and Everything Else said...

The words of that song are so beautiful. Reading this post was very timely for me. Thank you for the encouragement.

Brenda said...

Hello Lauren,
I'm so glad that you was encouraged by the post and the words of the song. This is what fellowship is all about isn't it - building one another up. I am so blessed by the scriptures that you put on your blog, and the beautiful pictures too. All credit goes to our loving Heavenly Father. God bless