Are You Ignoring the Instruction That Leads to Healing

So many people have written me recently and they have expressed their frustration because they believe they're using their faith for healing And yet they still have symptoms of disease and pain in their bodies and perhaps you're somebody who's in that same condition today So I want to encourage you don't tune me out, but stay tuned because you might get an answer You know the lord dealt with me because of some of these comments to begin a series And really share with you some of the causes or potential reasons Why some people in the church still suffer from sickness and disease, you know You're going to have to go back to previous episodes and hear some of the teaching because I can't keep repeating the same things Over and over again just for sake of time, but one thing's for sure god wants his people Well, jesus paid the price for all of us to live in divine health That means if symptoms try to come against you you get healed you get victory over it And if we're not getting victory, we need to figure out why? And one of the things that I brought out is that galatians 3 13 tells us we're redeemed from the curse of the law Which includes sickness and disease? Now we know this from ephesians chapter 4 in verse 27 The apostle paul admonished the church to not give place to the devil Now paul wouldn't tell them don't give place to the devil unless it was possible to give place to the devil So what i'm bringing you today and what i've taught in past episodes is that the devil can be given a place? And you can give place to him knowingly Or oftentimes unknowingly, you know I've really entitled this series hidden causes for why some are still sick And the reason they're hidden is because we don't always know what we're doing wrong And you know, it's not what we're doing right in life that trips us up up in life It's what we're doing wrong. And so if you're wise you want to find out why is this continuing to linger? And so these videos are intended to be a blessing and a help to you Now as I said last time this is not going to be an exhaustive study by any means because there are so many possibilities And really it's the job of the holy spirit to reveal to you personally What might be the case, you know, what could be causing sickness to linger in your case? All of us have different reasons and so it's not really the job of the preacher to tell you why but what i'm giving you is Options or reasons scripturally and you go ahead and you examine and evaluate for yourself if one of these apply to you Now one of the things that we want to look at today Is first corinthians chapter 11 again because many people have also commented to me and said They didn't think we had to make any changes to receive healing Well many times newer believers or people that are going along fine don't have to make changes to receive healing but If it's working for you keep working what's working for you But you would have to dismiss what i'm about to share with you today to continue to hold fast to that belief system Because in first corinthians chapter 11 and verse 28 paul says this he said let a man examine himself Why would we have to examine ourselves if no change was needed? He said let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself Not discerning the lord's body now an episode or two ago I talked extensively about what not discerning the lord's body actually means but now look let's look at verse 30 here It says for this reason Many are weak and sick among you paul's writing to the church This is in the epistles. This is not the gospels. This is not the old covenant He's saying for this reason many are weak and sick among you and many sleep or in the greek It really means die prematurely So paul emphatically is telling us in this passage That there's a reason why many are weak There's a reason why many are sick and there's a reason why some die prematurely And if I was suffering from lingering symptoms of disease and pain, I would want to know. What is the reason? Therefore i've come into your home today to give you some solutions You know think about this for a moment denial is never a remedy We can continue to go on day after day and month after month and not get results and think we're okay But that is nothing more than denial It really would be wisdom if we would seek out from god. What is the thing that I need to change? It could just be a very small change that's needed But I would encourage you again go back to our previous episodes because i've already discussed four possibilities And today we're going to discuss another possibility And that is many people suffer from sickness Because they refuse to listen Now if I was you I wouldn't turn me off at this point because then you're refusing to listen people refuse to listen, you know those people that enter every Conversation or every situation in life with an attitude that I know everything nobody has to tell me anything Those people don't usually fare well in life This really is called pride and it's called being stubborn You know people can actually give place to the devil Remember in ephesians 4 neither give place to the devil. You can actually give place to the devil by refusing to listen Refusing to listen to god refusing to listen to your pastor Refusing to listen to your spouse You know Sometimes husbands don't want to listen to their wives and wives don't want to listen to their husbands And there are very various reasons for that But sometimes it's just that we won't listen to godly counsel Now in matthew chapter 5 in verse 5. It says blessed are the meek For they shall inherit the earth The cambridge english dictionary defines meek as this because some people think they know what meek means But meek simply means quiet Gentle And not willing to argue or express your opinions in a forceful way How many know we're living in a day today? And especially because of social media where everybody wants to argue and express their opinion in a forceful way Do you know that is not a godly trait? And it certainly won't get you healed if you're always arguing about your opinion with people To be meek is simply this it's to be teachable Unless you think meekness is a flaw or a weakness It certainly is not because jesus even said about himself that he was meek And if jesus was meek and we know he wasn't weak then you too can be meek and be strong Now when we receive instructions from the lord, even if it's through another person It would do us well to heed or listen to those instructions You know, we have an entire bible that is full of stories It is full of stories where people refuse to listen to god and refuse to listen to their leaders and particularly moses And you know god he is wanting us to live in the blessing and not the curse That's why he wants us to listen. That's why he wants us to heed You know, I actually spent over an hour in the last week reading over 200 accounts In the old testament alone of where people refuse to listen to god and they refuse to listen to moses or his prophets They just flat refused and each time in the bible when I read these particular places. It said they refused to listen That tells us it's a decision If you're refusing to listen that means you've decided to refuse And that can be turned around you can actually decide i'm going to be a good listener right now and even today And so if you do choose to listen to people it will go well with you Now in jeremiah chapter 7 and verse 23, i'm just going to give you a short synopsis here of what god had to say He said but this is what I commanded them saying obey my voice and I will be your god And you shall be my people and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you that it may be well with you See walking in his ways requires listening and the whole purpose for listening is so that it will be well with us You know god's not wanting it to be unwell with you. He wants you to have a good life Yet they did not obey or incline their ear but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts And they went backward not forward So you see what he is saying is here here is that they didn't obey and they didn't incline their ear meaning they didn't listen They refused to listen and so they went backward Listen, you do not want to go backward in life We want to go forward And then he said since the day that your fathers came out of the land of egypt unto this day I have even sent to you all of my servants the prophets daily rising up early and sending them Yet they did not obey me Or inclined their ear, but they stiffened their neck You know god wants it to go well with us And the only way things can go well for people in life is if they learn to listen You know people that are just know-it-alls and don't ever want to hear instruction from anybody else It is not ever going to go well for them in life And you know god often uses a messenger or other people to get information across to us You know, sometimes we're just waiting for god to speak directly to us and he can He wants to lead us and guide us by his spirit But so much of the time I found in my own life that my answers have come through a preacher or through a person That is just speaking in my midst And if you're sensitive to the spirit of god, you'll be quick to recognize that unction of the holy spirit That's on something that somebody is saying You know, I know of a preacher just as an example that he was at a restaurant with his wife one time And he was getting ready to eat some raw oysters that he had ordered And his wife looked over at those oysters and she said I wouldn't eat those if I were you Because she noticed that something didn't look or smell right about those oysters Well, this particular man decided to disregard what she said and he prayed over it And he ate those raw oysters Well, he got very sick with food poisoning and you know what happened in his case He tried to quote healing scriptures and receive his healing But until he repented for not listening to his wife, he wasn't able to get well But once he repented because he didn't listen His healing instantly manifested now. That's just one example But god wants us to learn to be listeners in that case The lord tried to warn him through his wife, but he didn't listen and sometimes we can be presumptuous and think well I'll just pray and everything will be okay, but not if the lord's trying to instruct you Otherwise prayer is a poor substitute for obedience. You have to obey the instructions of the lord And so it's important that we do that You know, some people have refused to listen to their pastor My husband and I have been pastoring churches for over 40 years now and I can tell you There are plenty of people that are self-willed and they don't want to listen now Thank god, there are plenty that do listen and life goes well for them You know when someone doesn't want to listen, we don't force our opinion on them. We don't force our suggestion on them We just silently know they're headed in the wrong direction And if they don't get that turned around it won't go well for them. And so we just primarily pray for them Unless the lord specifically deals with us to confront somebody we generally don't because we are not god We're just simply pastors God is a gentle leader Pastors should be gentle leaders, but pastors will have wisdom from heaven for you if you'll listen And sometimes you'll even hear advice or wisdom through private conversation or suggestions You know, we had a member of our church once that told us they were having problems with rashes on their back And it was going on for quite a long time month after month after month And this is a person who was given to perspiring a great deal Anyway, you know some people are and so my husband who's their pastor just simply said in passing Why don't you try wearing cotton shirts? Well, they just dismissed that suggestion as oh, that's not it You know that can't be it and they continued to suffer with rashes Until one day they decided to buy cotton shirts And when they started wearing those shirts lo and behold the rash completely disappeared And this person's wife said you should have listened to pastor Well, i'll tell you one thing we don't do we don't tell people I told you so But sometimes something as simple as a little instruction like that that person didn't need divine healing They just needed to make a change And so you may be in that same condition today There may be something in your life that just requires a change Don't be bullheaded, but learn to listen in matthew chapter 11 and verse 15 from the amplified classic Jesus said he who has ears to hear Let him be listening and let him consider and perceive and comprehend by hearing So it's important that we have ears to hear it and jesus is really talking about spiritual ears to hear Be perceptive to what the spirit of god is trying to say through other people and even to your own heart You know in the book of acts in chapter 27 We have an example where the apostle paul tried to warn the captain of the ship before they set sail for rome He said I wouldn't go yet if I was you He said I perceive that there's going to be great harm coming to us if we leave now, but they disregarded his advice They wouldn't listen And because they refused to listen in the end god did for the sake of paul spared everyone on the ship But it was with great loss great loss of cargo and riches and wealth And so there was a price to be paid by not listening Now in psalm chapter 1 in verse 1 from the amplified classic. It says blessed happy fortunate and prosperous and enviable Is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly Following their advice their plans and purposes Nor stands submissive and inactive in the path where sinners walk Nor sits down to relax and rest where the scornful and the mockers gather This tells us that who we listen to Is very important. We're not to spend our days listening to people that are ungodly and don't follow god Because even though you may get a nugget here or there Overall the advice of the ungodly will lead you astray and in the wrong direction So it's to be understood really in all that i've said today that ultimately our job is to be responsive to the holy spirit Leading and guiding us, you know One of the benefits of having the holy spirit in us is that he wants to lead us into all truth He wants to guide us and that primarily comes through the inward witness But if you have lingering symptoms of sickness and disease in your body You need to learn to listen. There may be a nugget that comes through in a message. Maybe today's message Maybe you need to listen to something your spouse has been trying to tell you Maybe you need to listen to something your doctor has been trying to tell you nonetheless learning to listen can go a long way and especially listening to somebody who has known god And known him for a long period of time and has much fruit in their life that they've borne over a period of time People like that are deserving of listening to and taking heed to when they speak and so I would encourage you again Today my prayer for you Is that you be well that you go back and listen to previous episodes where you could get your answer And i'm let me say this i'm not looking to be dogmatic. I'm looking to be a blessing in your life You know people they can argue with you that that's not how god heals I've heard somebody say well what she's saying is not right because god's not expecting us to do anything for our healing But we know this in the book of james. It says that faith without works is dead Or we could say it this way faith without corresponding actions is dead Faith always has corresponding actions and sometimes those corresponding actions are changes that need to be made in our lives And so again, i'm not here to be dogmatic I'm here to be a blessing in your life And perhaps there's something i've said today or in past episodes that can help you in your journey to inheriting your divine health Now if you were blessed by today's message, I want to encourage you to like and share this video Please subscribe to our youtube channel Also, I want to encourage you to become a partner with miller ministries You know, it's scriptural to sow into the work that you receive from and so if you've been blessed by this ministry Your seed is going to help others to hear this good word and to be blessed as well Until next time I want to remind you god has a great plan for your life Don't you ever forget that and it's so much bigger than you know. God bless you