Health, Healing, Wholeness - Javan Smith - Charis Unplugged - Season 2 Ep.3

Have you been diagnosed with a death sentence of cancer? Let's take the next 30 minutes and unplug from this world and plug into a biblical perspective Where you will see that only the Word of God as your treatment will heal you Hear the stories of people from all over the world whose lives have been radically transformed through the Word of God Welcome to Karis Unplugged Hi everybody, I'm Julianne Harris and I'm so excited that you are tuning in to this episode of Karis Unplugged It's gonna be so powerful I love how we are constantly showing the grace and the power of God in Every episode that we do so today we have Jovan Smith who is an instructor from Karis Bible College And then we have John Phant and before we get into this conversation though. Let's check out this video testimony So I was managing a bakery in Alabama And I was getting very tired Falling asleep at work Which was bizarre. It was odd for me I had this prompting on the inside of me that said I knew it was the Holy Spirit You need to go get checked out and doctors really aren't my thing Because I'm really always in good health. I've always been in good health, but I did I obeyed that prompting I went to the doctor. They did some blood tests on me and Lo and behold I go back to the doctor and She says well, I would have never guessed this but you have large B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma Cancer blood cancer and I was like, okay Great. Now. I know that there's something going on. I Took six months off of work and I committed myself to renewing my mind For two or three hours a day, I would walk around my property boundary lines and I just pray in the spirit Thanking Jesus for what he had done for me because it's the truth of the Word of God that God says that your faith is made effectual by the Acknowledging of every good thing that Jesus had made me to be Health healing wholeness It's in me Because of Christ who gave me abundant life I Had to affirm and acknowledge my healing through faith in Jesus Three years later. I visited the doctor and he was confused He said well, what are you doing? I said well, I'm trusting in Jesus He said well by the looks of it. We may never have to treat you for this. I said you won't And that pretty much was it. I Knew and what this greatest revelation anybody can have Going to Bible school being in a church Is the love that God has for them Because everything that had been accomplished for my healing my wholeness Was because of and motivated by God's love for me Man that testimony is absolutely amazing and I'm here to tell you whoever's watching today And if you've been diagnosed with cancer God is greater than cancer and we can see that and we see that a lot here in Karis Bible College and Andrew Womack ministry. So John, I can't wait to ask you some questions So first of all, I love how at the beginning when you weren't feeling Well, you said you felt like the Lord prompted you to go to the doctor So that tells me that you already had a relationship with God before that. Is that correct? Absolutely Yeah, and so were you born again for a long time? were you always a lover of the word like what did that look like in your life for you to be able to be like I don't like doctors, but I feel like the Lord's telling me. Yeah Well, I actually grew up Catholic, but I had my I guess born-again moment when I was 23 years old Okay, I've always been a seeker. Okay, I always Looking for the truth in life always believed in God Just was frustrated with how little it seemed people knew about him and It didn't make sense to me that he would create us and be so apart from us. Yeah, so I was always seeking That relationship that I knew he had to want why go to the trouble of making people in such a unique way and Then forsaking them or just going on with whatever it is He's doing yeah as we're living our lives down here. I knew I Knew deep down inside. He loved us and wanted to to do this life with us And then you were in a place that I love how you're like great They told me I have blood cancer great now I know what to pray towards and the fact that this is so countercultural is the fact that you Did not get treatment you didn't seek the doctors treatment instead you took six months off of work. Why did you do that? Please tell us Well, I know how important the word is And I knew the finished work of Christ Since I had been 23, I'd been in the Word of God and been to three different Bible schools seeking more truth and Because I did that I was established in it. My heart was established in the truth. It wasn't just something you sat in a service and heard and remembered because Eloquent words or some witty thing that the the preacher said and because that won't take you very far You have to your heart has to be grounded on the rock of truth and the Bible is where you find the truth Being a Christian we are free from opinion We're the only people on the planet that are free from opinions because we have truth And I knew the truth of what Jesus had done for me. I knew the nature of God and his motivation in Sending Jesus to redeem my life and and your life So I was I was established So you were basically looking towards the Word of God and spending time with him as your treatment. Absolutely I love the simplicity right testimony because it seems like such a complex problem and we think oh, this is cancer so I'm gonna have to do X Y & Z even if you're a person of faith, we make it complex and what I heard in that testimony was very simple and it's this the Gospels meant to be simple and I believe sometimes we Distort or compromise the simplicity of the message and of the truth and you just simply Believed and when you hear that report that comes to you just like when Jairus which ironically you've portrayed Jairus before but when Jairus heard the report of his daughter and then Jesus immediately when it was spoken said don't be afraid only believe and We can have a reaction to that report But that doesn't that reaction does not have to define our response and I love your response I don't know if there was maybe any moment where you you heard it and it kind of jarred you a little bit I don't know. Maybe not. It didn't sound like it from there wasn't from the from the testimony But one way or the other the response was very simple and and I I know people just human nature I think our tendency is to want to complicate things. I have a way of complicating things You guys my wife and I I had a professor a guy from Somalia one time who told me he's like you Complicate things so much. I feel like if I told you grab your ear you wouldn't do this you do this And and that's what we do in faith we really make things complex but there was just a sweet simplicity to your story and And so and that's wonderful. What a testimony and and you didn't go back to the doctor for three years Yeah, that was another mind-boggling thing because it's so counter What we always know what we always hear people do right, right? So it within those three years Did you just know that you know that you were healed from the beginning or was there a point during that time? And then I also want to know like where in this walk. Did you decide to come to Karis? Yeah, and and come to I didn't realize you had gone to a couple Bible schools already So yeah, beautiful thing you had that firm foundation of relationship with God. Absolutely, and it's vital. Yeah If you know you have something Then you don't have to be on a quest to find it Because you already have it And because I was established in the word because I had studied because I I made an effort to get to know the truth Which is the Word of God, like I said, we're free from opinions, but because I knew that and had set my heart By renewing my mind's to it There was nothing that could move me. It was just an event It was something that didn't belong in my life and I knew that Maybe it didn't but it found out pretty quickly that it didn't belong in my life Jesus died to give us a whole package of things. We're a new creation With better promises a better covenant and once you know that and you're established upon that There's nothing that can move you off the truth because you're not seeking for something else You found it. That's really good John And as you share what strikes me is that you have a deep conviction about what you're saying Because you're not speaking things that you just know the right words to say There's people who are in faith circles and they know the things they're supposed to say and they're almost afraid of saying anything else because the Confession police will find them and and so they're really afraid of saying a bad confession And so they say what they know they're supposed to say, but you're saying what you believe Absolutely, and so it's it's it's maybe the same content the difference is you believe it and that's how it's done to us, right? It is done to us according to how we believe I didn't need to go about receiving anything because what does father say to us? How would I not with my son give you every good thing and I'd already received him decades before The reminder and all process is about getting to know What was in that package that was my question? So like yeah during that six months because I know there's there's somebody watching going. Oh, that's what I need to do I need to quit my job and and you know Do whatever he did for six months, right? Cuz they turn we turn into human doings like instantaneous when it comes to good when it comes to healing for sure So what was the purpose of the six months taking it off of work? Well when you don't have a lot of challenges in life It's kind of like being on the bench When you're a Player and say a football player or something like that. You're sitting on the bench Waiting to get into the game. Well, the game came to me and that game was there's an illegal invader that's trying to come into your life and Steal something from you that belongs to you because you inherited it So that's not something that anybody can take away from me so instead of trying to look for an Answer I had the answer but I needed to get off the bench and get back into the word because you know you You go to church twice a week, you know for me it was Wednesdays and Sundays at that point and Life gets in the way you get busy But that busyness can cost you you need to stay focused in The busy times on the things that are important and that was the rock that saved my life And then and it's getting on the offense. I I like calling it be an offensive Christian Absolutely, because we sit on the sidelines and we have the full armor of God, you know, we got the shield We got the helmet We got all this stuff to protect us and we're like, you know trying to to dodge the fiery darts of the enemy Right when we're called to get off the bench and bring it to the enemy, right? So it's we're stepping into the battle into the ring and that's what that six months was about And we're there to enforce the victory. That's been one not to win the battle. We're more than conquerors in this good Amen, so we are more of an enforcement Bureau But you need to know what your rights are so that you can't enforce them when they are challenged. Amen That's so good So what would you say to someone John because I'm kind of building on my last two observations That this is a very simple process you walked out and it's something that you say because it's what you believe What will you say to someone who's watching right now and it's thinking it can't be that simple Yeah, and I know it's not a very glorious testimony outside of the result when you look at it. You're just like Wow, he makes it seem so easy, but it was easy. It was easy because of the work that had come before Because of my diligence and seeking truth because there's a lot of things out there that want to come against you as truth But you have to have the truth to know that those things are not that they are lies that they are other opinions But when you have the truth You don't need anything else. You are settled on that truth and immovable That's excellent. I believe it is a glorious testimony I've heard people say before sometimes we overlook the supernatural because we're looking for spectacular, right, but it's very glorious I mean, that's the the word of your testimony and no one can refute it. Yeah, and Do you have a take I'm gonna throw out? I think Scripture and I know that they tested your blood and I've encouraged people before They test your blood to see what your blood says about you Right, right and Hebrews 12 24 says that the blood of Jesus speaks better things in the blood of Abel But that means the blood of Jesus speaks right and and it says Abel's blood his voice cried from the ground I don't want to jump in a bunch of scripture but Is that something maybe you didn't consciously think on that? But but the difference of having to determine I'm not going to hear what my blood is saying about me Right only going to hear what the blood of Jesus says about me. What would you say give your perspective? Well, I mean you just took the answer right there. The only blood that's truly important is Christ's blood That was the payment For the covenant that we have that was the price needed Not just to redeem our lives but to Restore the relationship that God intended to have with us before the fall as sons of God So the blood that we have now is Christ's blood and that's the blood we need to look to and no other Good. I love it. Okay, so Man, the time is just zooming by let's get into this portion where you are going to ask Jovan as an instructor question so so one of the biggest questions I have because as a teacher and I love teaching the word and that's really where I Get excited and thrive is how do you? What is the key to believing for somebody that they can recognize? believing in their heart from the understanding of their mind because You can say you believe a thing because you know it in your head but it's only going to come to pass and manifest because it's truth to your heart and that area in between I mean That's really where the struggle is if you're a seeker Yeah, getting it from your head to your heart. Yeah, and how do you know that it's actually in I mean, I knew yeah, but How do you know that it's in your heart? It's passed from just mere head knowledge Well, I believe a lot of times what's in your heart's revealed by when the sponge is squeezed When there's something in life that takes place and you might have been saying all along because you do believe intellectually you have given Intellectual assent and so your mind you would say yeah I believe it, but when the moment comes and you get the report or there is a crisis that takes place That's what squeezes the sponge and that's what reveals what's in your heart And then you might be shocked to realize I wasn't believing as much as I thought I did In your case, thank you. Jesus when the sponge was squeezed faith came out And so that really is what was in your heart And so it is important to get the heart established and don't just assume that you've already That you've already established your heart in the truth continue and be very very proactive about it It's good for the heart to be established by grace But one of the things that I tell people for example when I taught here at cares We have a program called healing now Yes, and I tell people I encourage them come and be part and receive don't wait until there is a crisis or a bad report and then start Saturating your heart with what the scripture says about because that's like a pilot flying into a situation Where there's turbulence and he has to look up the chapter on turbulence to deal with it. It won't work, right? You've got to be prepared and you prepare your heart. So I believe that and I'm guilty of it We we're blessed to have for example Andrew Womack puts on his website all these free resources of decades of teaching and It's topical a lot of times you could scroll down and I'm guilty of when I see God wants you well Scroll past it because I'm well, I'm not dealing with a health issue right now, right? But I tell you what, it's not when your backs against the wall that you want to feed on those truths He sent his word and healed them and there's the seat of the word contains healing But it's better to have that harvest ready So that you're not having to run and look for a miracle But the harvest is there for you to draw upon and that's what you experienced. Yeah, so Yeah, I don't know if that addressed your question. No, it's good It's like when you stub your toe what comes out of your mouth, you know that type of thing Yeah, we need a list of Christian cuss words for those moments That's exactly right. I would call that in the press. I love how you said squeezed. Yeah Yeah, what what comes out of you when you're in the press? So it's yeah, that's great and I knew what came out of me right but I think there's a tangible knowing to you know, like when I had left Bible school, I was you know going out on faith and and My bills kept coming and the money wasn't coming in right? So I was standing on the scripture I I felt like God had given me a scripture and in that moment I would have said that I believe it like at a heart level, right? Every time the anxiousness the worry about my bills would come up I would just quote that scripture But I can tell you exactly where was in exactly the moment where it made that 18-inch drop To where it was like and I literally started crying because up until that point I thought I believed the scripture But in that moment, it was like it came out with a whole new level of knowing and that's where you know when you're listening to all the healing teaching and stuff and people are like When do you know if I should take you know? Should I get off my medication and it's like not until you have that knowing right? And then you're not asking anybody if you should or shouldn't yeah, because you'll know when you know You don't have to assume, you know, you'll know That's part of really it's a matter of you've got to sow and cultivate the ground of your heart in faith Believing that it is producing even if you don't see growth above the surface It's taking root and you just have to trust that and and trust that it's it's going to be there for you to draw upon When you need it and and sometimes, you know, I'd like to say to the people who don't have that same they're not in that same place of where you were when you heard the report because that's Frankly, that's not the norm. I mean we hear the parable the sower and it's only one-fourth It's good ground and even of the good ground. It's only one-third That's a hundredfold you were at a hundredfold place and and most people aren't and so I would say that don't don't Despair if you're in a situation if you hear a report and your immediate response is not what John's was Don't just assume will you now it's over. You're gonna sink. You're gonna die, right? No, the Lord will meet you where you are But it is preferable To prepare yourself and be where John was it's preferable He'll certainly meet you where you are. And so I think that's important for people to understand I agree, and I'm glad you brought that up because I would never tell anybody to just Go ahead and rashly do what I did, right? What I did came as a natural response from the inside out Not from the outside in I wasn't trying to remember a thing to parrot it to fight off Something that was coming against me. I knew it had no right in me. I knew it So it was a very easy. It was never even a consideration to go for treatment I mean you're intentional about it. I love the intentionality. Yeah And you can see that that was the fruit. Okay, you got another question. I do so we're sons of God now Partakers of his divine nature were more than conquerors. We've been equipped with everything that we need What do you think the main hindrance is from the church grabbing a hold of that? Revelation the grabbing hold of the revelation of being sons. Yeah, what is what is the hindrance? One of the enemy's greatest Objectives is to make you question your sonship And he does that through maybe the voice of condemnation like in the story of the prodigal son where he says I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Just make me one of your hired servants. It can also be in in the Temptation there's this peripheral element of temptation where when Satan was tempting Jesus He said if you're really the son of God And so the enemy really works overtime to make you question your sonship Why because of the enemy can make you relate to God as servant rather than son and he's making you work to earn something That's already yours by right of inheritance And so if the enemy if one of his main Job descriptions if you will is to make you question your role as son Well, then the opposite would be true for the Holy Spirit He's there to reaffirm your sonship Which is why Romans 8 15 says we haven't received the spirit of bondage again to fear But the spirit of adoption by whom we cried I'm a father and then it says the spirit himself bears witness With our spirit that we are sons And so one of the things that he constantly does is affirm our sonship Even when we don't feel like sons, even when we don't look like sons or walk or talk like sons Because that's the place of our first of all We have to keep ourself in the love of God and the greatest one of the greatest Demonstrations of his loving of course the cross but it says behold what manner of love the father's bestowed upon us that we should be called Sons, what greater love could he? Exhibit or display than calling us sons and man the enemy would love to fight our understanding of sonship Yeah, John G. Lake actually referred to it as a Christ consciousness. I know that's kind of a weird world because it word because it's been hijacked by other things New age and whatnot, right, but you really do I agree you have to have a consciousness of your identity and who you are The nature of God the nature of God was huge for me and you see it everywhere even on quote-unquote Christian movies, right? It's it's portraying somebody God is not and this whole Sovereignty and and God's in control and and taking your free will completely out of it And so yeah, I think all those things just play on it, doesn't it? This is a question also that I just kind of go I don't go back and forth with it because I mean I know what I believe about it That doesn't necessarily mean that it's the ultimate truth because we're all growing in the truth But do you believe That a true born-again Christian that Christ's salvation that he paid for them because they're in him now and in him is light And there was no darkness. So being born again, I'm in him. So there's no darkness in me Do you believe a true Christian can actually lose their salvation? They're in danger I believe a mature Christian can reach a point where they consciously reject their salvation. Yeah, they wouldn't lose it like losing a book, right? Right. It's a full-on rejection and I believe it can be done a person who's Tasted of his fullness and received of his fullness and knowingly in that place of maturity rejects Salvation they can they can choose to reject for sure But it's not like it's just lost right because it's something you've done You know But but it can be rejected and then sin over time can harden your heart To the place where you you eventually reach that place and you reject him, but it's not gonna make you you're not just gonna lose it There's a lot of people fear that just for one thing that they're not even thinking about. Oh gosh, I did this and Even though sin is not sin to us that was classified as a sin So do I mean am I out of Christ now, you know? Yeah I think a lot of times religion teaches us we can jump in and out of him Right, and I guess that's kind of the basis of my question is to give people that Confidence that when he saves us He saves us. No redemption. I mean you have to really make a strong decision To say I reject right Christ, but you have to be to a maturity level as well, right? And most Christians are not at that maturity level We're in the care circle and so we've all heard Andrew Womack teach on this topic and share his stories But for those who are watching it haven't heard him give it's a phenomenal illustration that really speaks well to the point we're making that Andrew Womack was talking about in his Childhood there was a day where he decided he was gonna run away and he didn't want to be a Womack anymore And if he had done that his decision as a child would not have stood up in court The court would not have even recognized that. Yeah, you've run away. Okay, you're separated From your family, but in his adult life, he could have gone to court and legally Separated and severed himself from his family and they would have honored it because of that place of maturity He can make that decision in the same way a Christian who's reached that level of maturity can reject the Lord and knowingly Knowing what's on the table choose death instead of life But it's not something in our immaturity. We can just all of a sudden. Well, I've I've messed up and that's it Accidental thing exactly. Sorry you guys I have to cut it short. We are out of time today I'm so glad that you guys have tuned in That was absolutely powerful if you need prayer or if you have more questions on any topic matter that we covered Please give us a call at the number on your screen. We have prayer ministers available 24 hours a day seven days a week Specifically to help you. So please don't hesitate to give them a call and make sure and go to Karis unplug Gtm.com we have free resources there. We have other things you can sign up for we want you to continue Your pursuit and continue your walk in your relationship with God That's our whole goal through Karis unplugged and remember if you unplug from this world and you plug into the Bible Your life will change and you will change the world