FEED YOUR FAITH AND YOUR DOUBTS WILL STARVE TO DEATH
Greetings to all those who have desire to feed on the incorruptible Word of God. I often say as I am speaking publicly, that I push the Word out in front of me and I hide behind it. On the 22nd of June, 2001, I woke up early with a deep disturbance in my soul. The Lord had dealt with me on this specific Lord's Day to speak on an unusual subject and there was some question and restlessness in my soul concerning it. The subject was THE REIGN OF TERROR. The chapter for the message was Amos chapter 6. Let me give you a brief outline of the message in our letter for this week:
A MESSAGE TO THE COMPLACENT
Now this was on June 22nd of 2001 and the message was, "THERE WAS A REIGN OF TERROR THAT WAS COMING TO AMERICA."
I even apologized to the church that morning, not knowing that some 72 days later 2,996 people would loose their lives as a result of the terrorist attack on the twin towers, the Pentagon, and the crash in Pennsylvania. As a result of that fateful day, terror still reigns. This is why I have now said, "IT IS TIME TO CLINCH OUR HEARTS."
TODAY, AS A PASTOR, I FEEL THE NEED TO ENCOURAGE YOU TO HIDE THE WORD OF GOD IN YOUR HEART. REMEMBER, THE WORD OF THE LORD IS A STRONG TOWER, THEY THAT RUN INTO IT ARE SAFE.
LET ME CHALLENGE YOU TO FEED YOUR FAITH AND YOUR DOUBTS WILL STARVE TO DEATH.
Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. —James 5:14-15
Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you. —Exodus 23:25
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. —3 John 1:2
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. —Psalm 147:3
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. —Isaiah 53:4
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. —Proverbs 17:22
THE POWER OF CONFESSION
Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. —Jeremiah 17:14
THE POWER OF LISTENING
My father-in-law and Kenneth Hagin were friends. They were in a meeting in Dallas where several hundred pastors and believers were gathered in a Faith Meeting. A friend of there's a prominent faith preacher in those days was sick and a call went out to come and pray for him. People were gathering around him to pray but Hagin did not move. My father-in-law leaned over to Hagin and ask him why he was not joining them. He answered, "God spoke to him about what not to do and he did not listen." The man died at a young age.
IF YOU LISTEN CAREFULLY to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, IF YOU PAY ATTENTION to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you. —Exodus 15:26
NOW BEFORE YOU READ THIS NEXT VERSE, I WANT TO LOOK AT THE END OF MATTHEW CHAPTER 9, VERSE 35-38 FIRST.
35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
AND IN THE NEXT CHAPTER IT BEGINS WITH
And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. —Matthew 10:1
HEALING IS THE DINNER BELL TO SALVATION
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. —Matthew 10:8
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. —James 5:16
Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.' —Luke 10:9
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. —Proverbs 13:12
The Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. —Psalm 146:8
When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. —Psalm 32:3
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. —Isaiah 53:3
GOD'S WORD IS A FORECAST OF THINGS TO COME
Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?
The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him.
He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. Justice miscarried, and he was led off— and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he'd never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn't true.
Still, it's what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.
Out of that terrible travail of soul, he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many "righteous ones," as he himself carries the burden of their sins. Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly— the best of everything, the highest honors—Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep. —Isaiah 53 (MSG)
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." —Revelation 21:3-4
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. —Matthew 4:23
Pastor Cleddie Keith
A MESSAGE TO THE COMPLACENT
- WOE TO YOU WHO ARE AT EASE IN ZION
- TO YOU WHO FEEL SECURE ON MT. SAMARIA
- TO THE NOTABLE MEN WHOM THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL COME
- NOTABLE CITIES: CALNEH - A SYRIAN CITY, NEXT, THE WALLED CITY OF GREAT HAMATH, THEN, TO THE CITY OF GIANTS - GATH, ONE OF THE ROYAL CITIES OF PHILISTIA.
- THEY WERE CITIES OF LEISURE; SLEEPY CITIES, SNOOZING IN THEIR EXTRAVAGANCE.
- THEY WERE CITIES ABOUNDING IN SUPERFLUITY.
- THE WORD PLACES AN EMPHASIS ON HOW THEY SATISFIED THEMSELVES WITH CHOICE LAMB CHOPS AND PRIME RIB.
- THEY DID ALL THIS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE POOR.
- THEY DID THIS WHILE BEING ENTERTAINED ON HARPS, LIKE THAT OF DAVID. THEIR SONGS WERE SONGS OF RIDICULE OF DIVINE INSTITUTIONS.
- THEY WERE WINO'S AND BATHED THEMSELVES IN THE FINEST OF LOTIONS. IN OTHER WORDS, THEY ANOINTED THEMSELVES. THEY LOVED THEIR OWN PERSONAGE.
- THEY HAD NO PASSION OR COMPASSION. THEY DID NOT GRIEVE OVER THE RUIN OF JOSEPH, WHICH WAS BOTH JUDAH AND ISRAEL AT THAT TIME.
- THEY WORSHIPPED WITHOUT A CONCERN FOR THE GREATER PICTURE.
- WHO WERE THEY LIKE? THE BUTLER AND THE BAKER, IN THAT THEY FORGOT JOSEPH — GENESIS 40:21,23
- IT IS OFFENSIVE TO GOD TO FORGET THE NEEDS OF OTHERS.
Now this was on June 22nd of 2001 and the message was, "THERE WAS A REIGN OF TERROR THAT WAS COMING TO AMERICA."
I even apologized to the church that morning, not knowing that some 72 days later 2,996 people would loose their lives as a result of the terrorist attack on the twin towers, the Pentagon, and the crash in Pennsylvania. As a result of that fateful day, terror still reigns. This is why I have now said, "IT IS TIME TO CLINCH OUR HEARTS."
TODAY, AS A PASTOR, I FEEL THE NEED TO ENCOURAGE YOU TO HIDE THE WORD OF GOD IN YOUR HEART. REMEMBER, THE WORD OF THE LORD IS A STRONG TOWER, THEY THAT RUN INTO IT ARE SAFE.
LET ME CHALLENGE YOU TO FEED YOUR FAITH AND YOUR DOUBTS WILL STARVE TO DEATH.
Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. —James 5:14-15
Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you. —Exodus 23:25
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. —3 John 1:2
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. —Psalm 147:3
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. —Isaiah 53:4
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. —Proverbs 17:22
THE POWER OF CONFESSION
Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. —Jeremiah 17:14
THE POWER OF LISTENING
My father-in-law and Kenneth Hagin were friends. They were in a meeting in Dallas where several hundred pastors and believers were gathered in a Faith Meeting. A friend of there's a prominent faith preacher in those days was sick and a call went out to come and pray for him. People were gathering around him to pray but Hagin did not move. My father-in-law leaned over to Hagin and ask him why he was not joining them. He answered, "God spoke to him about what not to do and he did not listen." The man died at a young age.
IF YOU LISTEN CAREFULLY to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, IF YOU PAY ATTENTION to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you. —Exodus 15:26
NOW BEFORE YOU READ THIS NEXT VERSE, I WANT TO LOOK AT THE END OF MATTHEW CHAPTER 9, VERSE 35-38 FIRST.
35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
AND IN THE NEXT CHAPTER IT BEGINS WITH
And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. —Matthew 10:1
HEALING IS THE DINNER BELL TO SALVATION
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. —Matthew 10:8
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. —James 5:16
Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.' —Luke 10:9
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. —Proverbs 13:12
The Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. —Psalm 146:8
When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. —Psalm 32:3
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. —Isaiah 53:3
GOD'S WORD IS A FORECAST OF THINGS TO COME
Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?
The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him.
He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. Justice miscarried, and he was led off— and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he'd never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn't true.
Still, it's what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.
Out of that terrible travail of soul, he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many "righteous ones," as he himself carries the burden of their sins. Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly— the best of everything, the highest honors—Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep. —Isaiah 53 (MSG)
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." —Revelation 21:3-4
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. —Matthew 4:23
Pastor Cleddie Keith