Will He find faith?

A few weeks ago  I was anointed with oil and prayed for by the pastor, and a few others, of the church group I had been attending since we have moved here.  It had taken some time to get this to happen as when I first asked if this was done there I was told that it was not.  Before they prayed the pastor started speaking to me about 'religion'.  Then, when they prayed, one of the men prayed for 'the spirit of religion to be removed.'   I thought this was quite strange, but did not say anything then.  When we came down from the upstairs room where the prayer had taken place I noticed a plaque on a wall with the word 'achieved' on it.  I thought 'Oh, that might be a nice sign to say that my healing has been achieved'.

 

Several days later, when nothing had started to change in my body, I was reminded of what had been spoken of regarding 'religion' and the prayer for the removal of 'the spirit of religion'.  I thought 'Are they saying that the anointing with oil and prayer for the sick was regarded as 'religion', a spirit that had to be removed'?  The following Sunday I questioned the man who had prayed regarding this and didn't really get a satisfying answer.

  

That morning my friend said that when she had come in to the church a lady had come over to her and said that the anointing with oil was in the Old Testament and was not to be done now.  My friend told her that it was in the New Testament and that I had actually had an instant healing through this being done when I first became born of God's Spirit in Australia, and at that time the Lord had shown me through the scriptures that it had been the 'prayer of faith' made by the elders of that church that had brought the healing about.

For several weeks the words 'Will He find faith'? have been constantly coming into my mind.  All this is now causing me to wonder if the 'achieved' I saw on the wall was a message to me of proof of what I believe the Lord was pointing out to me had been achieved,  the fact that there is a lack of faith in the church. 

 

Hebrews ch. 11 v. 6 says:- 'But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.' 
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  If we mix the Word of God with the word of man, or take away or add anything to scripture,  then we are in danger of 'making void the Word of God through the traditions of man,'  as did the Pharisees in Mark ch. 7 v. 13

I believe that a dream I had while all this was gong on, and a scripture I opened to the next day, is confirming what I feel is being revealed to me here:- The dream may appear to be a little crude, but I believe it was necessary to reveal what the Lord was showing me.
 
In my dream I was given a large beautiful house to live in.  It stood apart from other houses and had everything I needed in it and more. I walked around to a street  where a lady was saying how lovely was her house.  There were large houses in that street, but something caught my eye in the gutters.
At first I thought it was water running down the gutters.  Then on looking closer I could see it was a substance that condoms are made of that was lining the gutters. Then I awoke from the dream.
That day, when I opened my Bible to read, I opened to a page that had a section of a verse underlined.  I must have done it a while back.  It was the last part of Jeremiah ch. 5 v.7....'and trooped to the houses of harlots.' 

Although this is referring to the Israel of the old testament, the church is classed as 'spiritual Jews', (Romans ch. 2 v. 29,) and  the same scriptures apply spiritually to the church, God's spiritual Israel. 

Now the dream made sense to me.  I believe it is reflecting that the church, or 'house of God,  (as the church is the one combined 'house' that God dwells in)  is committing spiritual adultery when mixing the Word of God with mans' doctrine, and can become many 'houses' with mixed doctrines, through what should be the Water of the Word of God being replaced by the doctrine of man.

We have allowed the spiritual thief to rob us of the faith which comes from hearing the Word of God, and therefore miss out on the content of that faith, which is the 'substance' of things hoped for.  A few days ago I believe I had an incident happen which could be a sign to accompany this.

I was looking out of my lounge window onto the garden at the front of the house.  A magpie had landed on the soil and had a large white object in his beak. He dropped the object and started to dig a

hole in the soil using his beak.  Then he picked the object up, dropped it into the hole, and covered it over with soil once more using his beak.

When I went out to see what the bird had buried, I was amazed to find out that it was a large piece of fat with bird seed contained in it. I thought 'No wonder the Magpie is called 'the thief.'  It reminds me of the thief (Satan)  stealing and hiding the food of the birds 'heavenly creatures' ( those born of the Spirit.)  Isn't the enemy trying to bury the word of God in earthly doctrine (the doctrine of man) in so many churches these days? 

As 'Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God' (Romans ch. 10 v. 17),
  the Word of God must be above all other voices in my life, and I must not let circumstance cause doubt in my mind regarding the promises of God which are 'Yes' in Jesus. (2 Corinthians ch. 1 v. 20)
 

A recent example of this happening in my life is as follows:-
 

Because my healing had not come as my mind expected it to come after the 'sign' experience with the television programme, (contained in my last post)  and the prayer with anointing of oil finally coming about, I started to be a little fearful that the Lord was not going to heal me.
I had thought that my healing was going to be achieved when the pastor and elders of that church had prayed for me and anointed me with oil, and I thought the television program showing a dark skinned man praying was a sign of who was to pray because the pastor of that particular church was also dark skinned.  However, what was actually 'achieved' through all of this happening was me being shown that there is a lack of faith in the church in general.  There was no scripture to connect with the fact that the person who was to pray would be dark skinned, and I could see that the purpose of the people who prayed was to try to convince me that the anointing of oil was 'religion' as opposed to being 'instruction to the church', and that they believed that I had a 'spirit of religion' which had to be removed.  I believe absolutely that those instructions of anointing with oil are still to be carried out in the church today, and if a person praying for someone does not believe this then there is a lack of faith there.

Yesterday I went with my friend to a church gathering I felt led to go to that I had noticed while driving to my friend's house.  The pastor there spoke on Psalm 16.  When I opened my Bible to Psalm 16 I found that some time ago I had underlined one of the verses in that Bible.  It was verse 9 b which reads  'my body also dwells secure'
 

This was the only encouragement that could have convinced me that the promise of healing that I have had from the Lord will come about.  My convincing had to be from the hearing of God's Word, whether that be the prayer of faith of an elder or my own faith that comes from the hearing of God's Word , which I felt was spoken to me through v. 9b of Psalm 16.  I have prayed, and often do pray, for the Lord to increase my faith in Him, and He encourages me to trust absolutely in what He speaks to me regardless of what my eyes see and my ears hear.

 

Today I noticed a dove in my front garden and I took a picture of it through the blinds.  I thought it might fly away if I opened the blinds to get a clearer shot.  In the picture the blinds make the dove look like it is behind prison bars.

Even this picture portrays to me the Holy Spirit (represented by the dove) being imprisoned (deprived of freedom of movement), which I believe is happening in the church.

I believe all of what I have gone through has shown me that the Holy Spirit is being restricted by the church allowing the spiritual enemy to come in and rob us of our spiritual food - the Word of God, thereby robbing us of the blessings that God has for us.

When I first asked about this at that church I was taken to an upper room by an elder to discuss it.  In the room was a book entitled 'You are being used', and I believe even that speaks about how I have been used to bring out the fact that there is a lack of faith in God's word in the church today.

I continue to say:-
I will love Thee O Lord my strength. (Psalm 18 v.1) as I wait upon Him for my healing.

Am I being used?

For the last three months, since we have moved to this house, I have been attending a church a few miles away.  I would like to share some things that have been happening while I have been going there. I have written it all down and it will probably be done in three posts and, as the situation is still on-going - and as 'I know not what tomorrow brings' - it could be more than three.

Saturday, 2nd January 2016

I went to Emmaus charity shop,  saw a bottle of olive oil on a shelf, thought 'strange'.  That night I was in much pain and could not sleep.  I always ask the Lord for help.  Suddenly in the middle of the night all pain disappeared.  It was completely strange, as I have been in this 'Job' situation (with pain in my legs and joints for well over a year), yet with a promise of complete healing for a situation I have been in for over twenty odd years being given to me by the Lord when this started.  I turned back and forth in the bed with no pain at all and knew it could only be a supernatural situation brought forth by the Lord.  The bottle of oil came into my mind and I felt some kind of connection.  I said to the Lord, inspired by a scripture which came into my mind.  'Give Your beloved sleep', and went straight off to sleep.  I then had a dream in which I saw two dead fish.  Suddenly they came alive.

This reminded me of dead mankind (as in Adam all die) coming alive in Christ (so in Christ shall all be made alive) through Jesus' instruction in Mark ch. 1 v. 17 to 'Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men', and how  the 'dead fish' come 'alive in Christ' once we are born again of God's Spirit.  I also was reminded of how we have access to the gifts of the Spirit including access to healing and miracles.  Was the Lord pointing this out regarding the bottle of oil and the fact that I had seen it in a place with the name 'Emmaus'?

It was on the road to Emmaus that two of the apostles met Jesus, but they did not recognise Him.  It was only when He broke bread and gave it to them that their eyes were opened and they did recognise Him.  The bread represents the word of God and we are able to recognise Him through that word given to us with the Lord's blessing.  The Lord is that word which is the same yesterday, today and forever. and we are not to be carried away by strange and varied teachings. (Hebrews ch. 13 vs. 8,9....).

 

The next day I shared this and some of my testimony with a man who I believe is an elder in the church, saying that I had prayed for the gifts of healing to operate there and I wondered if the Lord might be indicating that this would happen through my experience, and if it was a time for me to be healed by the anointing of oil and the prayer of faith.  I had previously asked him if they anointed with oil there, to which he had answered 'No', but said that he would discuss it with the pastor.  After the service I went to the charity shop to see if the oil was still there. It was not,  and the staff there said that they did not know of a bottle of oil being on the shelf the day before.  I believe it was supernaturally done by the Lord to reflect the fact that it had not been done in the church.

On Monday 11th January my husband and I were on the way home from a town a few miles away and he mentioned that he would like some roast pork. We called into a store and he dropped me off outside the entrance and said he would wait in the car park.  I went in to find that there was none available.  When I came out I looked for him in the car par but could not find him.  I searched and searched but could not see our car.  Suddenly my mobile phone was ringing in my bag.  When I got it out I noticed that the name that came up was Merlyn, my husband.  I said 'Hello, hello', but there was no response.  Then I remembered that I also had my husband's mobile in my bag.  It appeared to be completely supernatural.  I heard a car beeping and it was my husband parked a way off.

Suddenly, I could see a spiritual meaning to it all, relating to what was going on at the time.  The mobile that belonged to my husband being in my handbag and calling me on my mobile, yet with no response, reminded me of a situation where the Lord (the bride's husband) is calling His people to obedience through the instruction in His word, but that word is being made void because the church is not acting on that word.  In the book of James we are told that if anyone is sick, they are to call for the elders of the church and they will anoint them with oil and the prayer of faith will make them well.

That night there was a drama on the television called 'Judge John Deed.'  One of the stories in it was a court case between the medical profession and a couple concerning a young child.  For two years since the child was born, he had been kept in hospital because he had problems, his heart kept stopping.  The medical profession (doctors) had restarted his heart several times but the child was in a coma and they wanted to stop resuscitating him.  However, his parents said that they were Christians and believed that God would heal their son.  It was eventually granted by the judge that the parents had the right to see if their son would be healed through their faith.  Shortly after, the child came out of the coma and was healed.  The doctors said it could only be a miracle, as nothing as far as science was concerned could account for his healing.  The father of the child, who had prayed, was a dark skinned man and I can not help thinking that maybe the pastor in the church that I attend, who is himself dark skinned, is supposed to anoint me with oil and pray for me.

When the drama on the television started I knew what was going to happen and told my husband that a miracle was going to happen.

In church I had seen upon the wall in the tea room a plaque with the words 'expect a miracle' written on it, and over the door one with the word 'believe' written on it.

My friend in Lancashire  called me a few days ago and I told her where I was going to church and that I believe the pastor had some kind of connection with a group in the past called 'Hot chocolate'.  She told me that one of their songs was 'I believe in miracles.'

When I first spoke to the elder in the upstairs room of the church, telling him about my testimony and the bottle of oil, I looked to the left and saw a book with the words 'You are being used.' on the front cover.  I have to wonder, am I being used by the Lord in this situation?

What I have written here was the first part of what has been happening in my life over the past three months.  God willing, I shall write another part of this testimony.