The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: Every time you get sick, you have a problem, there's a conflict in your home or in your marriage, there's a great decision to make, you feel depressed, you are troubled, you know what is going on? It's the serpent, it's Satan striking at Christ. Satan isn't very concerned about you at all; matter of fact, he doesn't care a thing about you, but he knows if he hurts you, he hurts Christ.

Guest (Male): Faith is essential in prayer, but what does it mean to truly pray with faith? Today Pastor Jack Morris joins us once again to explore the prayer of faith and how trusting God's promises brings confidence and peace to our prayers.

Pastor Jack Morris: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Being sure. Faith is being sure. Say that: "Faith is being sure." That's how faith is. It's being sure. That means already there is a guarantee, there is convincing proof. There are times that I pray and begin to act on that prayer because I am sure. I already have convincing proof. I already inside me have the guarantee.

Sometimes people say, "Well, I don't know, that's risky." Yes, but if you have the guarantee, you see, that makes the difference. That takes the risk. I can't prove to anybody that I have the guarantee; I only have it inside. I have convincing proof that I'm convinced.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. There is a certainty. It is treating the future like we already have it in hand. It's treating the invisible as already seen. Someone says, "Well, how do you know?" I just know within me. You know within you that the Lord has answered, that he is directing you, that you have proof. So it's only a risk to those that can't see, but to those who have been given the faith, there is no risk.

The future is now. The invisible is seen. There is a faculty of second sight. Faith sees things that are way out there that are still invisible. It's a mysterious intuition into the spiritual world. That's how faith works. You can actually pray and be fully convinced and see it and have it in hand even though you don't have it in hand. It couldn't be any more real to you if you had it, if you saw it.

That's what happened to me when all this whole thing about the Largo Community Church began, from day one until this very moment. It was here before it was here. I saw it before I saw it. I had convincing proof. That's why I couldn't be talked out of it. I couldn't be persuaded out of it. It had come with divine force. It had to happen because I'd already seen it in my heart.

That's how faith works in your life, in your family life. You can know even before you see it that you have the answer. That's the kind of faith that God wants to give us. Look again at First John, chapter five, verses 14 and 15. This is the confidence—I hope the Lord breathes this into our hearts. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know—say the word "we know." No guesswork. We know that we have what we have asked of him.

Faith will lift you into a different dimension. It'll do something for you. It'll bring you into God's presence. It'll make the divine very real to you. You will not only walk on terra firma; you'll be living in the heavenlies. It'll transform your life and make you into the kind of Christian, the citizen of heaven, the redeemed of God, that person of that other world that God would have you be.

You'll be able to exercise faith and pray prayers of faith, the title of the sermon: The Prayer of Faith. Notice to whom this is given. Look at verse 13. All the promises of God are not just for everybody. They're not generally given. God writes this letter to specific people, to certain people, to you people. He's telling you people.

Look at verse 13: "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know—so that you may know—that you have eternal life." We are part of the eternal, and God is doing something of the eternal for us. He's helping us to know. Right now, I know I have eternal life. No atheist, no professor, no philosopher could talk me out of that.

I know also that I have a place in heaven, mansions in heaven. I haven't seen it, but it is just as convincing, just as real, just as certain. I'm just as sure as if I had seen it. I can't be talked out of it. There are things that God is doing in your life right now that he's wanting to make very visible to you. But before it can become visible and you can have it in hand, you must have it in heart. And when you see it in your heart and you pray according to his will, then you're going to have this supernatural intervention.

There are many fine Christians that my heart goes out to because they have never moved over into the realm of the supernatural. They have never felt the divine. They have never become a partner with God in praying through and getting particular answers or interventions. But this is what God is doing, and he's going to do it today. Just allow him to touch your heart. He will, and the revelation will come.

Now notice this, dear friends. Do you have your Bibles open to First John, chapter five, verse 14? This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know we have what we have asked of him. So we're going to have to ask according to his will.

How do we know the will of God? Only then are we going to be able to exercise this kind of supernatural divine faith and get some of the answers that these people... this father had cancer, the cancer's gone, this man's father had cancer and the cancer's gone, and this person is being healed, and somebody else is being blessed financially. You heard those testimonies.

How do we know that this is the will of God? When we know something is the will of God, you can stand on that. Nothing can shake that. Nothing can shake you off the rock. The promise of the Word, that's one way of knowing what is the will of God: the promise of the Word. When you have the Word of God to stand on and you can pray off of that platform, then you know that you're going to get an answer and that God's going to come through.

When you have the Word of God, heaven and earth will pass away; this is God-breathed. This came right from the heart of God. This is his divine promise, and if you have it, this you can pray. You know it's his will. You don't have to guess anymore. George Muller, who founded a great orphanage in Bristol, England, many years ago, the only way he received money—and he received millions of dollars to feed the orphans—he didn't have foundations and organizations and churches as a rule that supported him.

He only prayed. And this is how he prayed. All of those little babies, all of those children needing clothing, needing school books, needing food, you know how that man prayed? When he needed something, he would open the Bible, he would find the chapter and the verse, he would put his finger on it, and he'd quote it to the Lord. "Lord, I know it's your will to feed these babies. I know it's your will to—right here you say it is." He put his finger on it, and he would pray it to the Lord with an open Bible and with his finger on it.

You can pray. Someone says, "I don't know whether it's the Lord's will to save souls or not." Well, you can turn to First Peter and put your finger on it and read where it says the Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. So Lord, if you're not willing that any should perish, then you must be willing that all should be saved.

You can put your finger on it. You can put your finger on verses that teach you about healing, about helping you with your financial needs, about helping you with your marital family needs. There are a multitude of scriptures. Matter of fact, this whole book was given to be a revelation to help you to know what is the will of God. Someone asks, "What is the will of God?" Here it is.

Someone says, "I don't know whether I can find those scriptures or not." Friends, that's why we need to become familiar with the Word. The other day I was preaching these series of messages on the power of prayer, and Dick Bedard told me that he has a Bible, a concordance, and a Bible dictionary. You really don't need a whole lot of books, but you do need a concordance. He said that some things I was saying or what he was reading in the text he didn't fully understand, and so he got his concordance and his Bible down and he searched it through and found out what the Word says. You can know, and when you know and you open the Bible and you put your finger on it and you pray it to the Lord with your finger on it, you know that's the will of God.

So this is what it says in First John, chapter five, that if we ask anything according to his will... number one, we can find out the will of God by the great revelation of God, the truth, his book. What is number B? What's it say? The Holy Spirit's revelation. Now what happens sometimes when we're praying and there is no chapter and verse for that particular need? We're praying about something specifically that has come up and we are somewhat concerned because there isn't really a chapter and verse to turn to.

The scripture says—and if you'll turn with me now over to Romans, chapter eight, verse 26 and 27—in the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings and words which cannot be expressed. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

So there it is again. Number one, the Word of God will tell you what the will of God is. Number two, the Holy Spirit is going to help you to pray prayers according to the will of God. You have the Word, you have it in your hand. We have a lot of Bibles in the pew racks. You have a number of Bibles in your home. Find out what the will of God is by putting your finger on it, opening the Bible, looking up to heaven, and saying, "This is what you said. Now let me have it; give it to me."

If it happens that you cannot find a particular verse of scripture, you don't really know how to pray about a particular situation, then you can say, "Holy Spirit, I'm going to lean my weakness now onto your strength. You help me to know how to pray according to the will of God about this. Help me to know what is the will of God." There are burdens that come to us sometimes that are so heavy, and we begin to pray and we wonder, "Just how should I handle this? How should I pray about this?"

And you sigh. You lack words at the moment. You groan, or you almost groan within in you. The burden is heavy. The burden is there. Here are some people whose fathers were dying of cancer. Sometimes the burden is so great, the ministry of the Spirit is so strong within, and you are at a loss exactly as to know how to pray. The Holy Spirit will come and help you to pray.

Friends, there is a wonderful God that is present to help you in your home, in your life, in your church, and in this world, even in this government. God will help us to know how to pray. He really will. He'll help you to know how to pray for your government. How do you pray for your elected officials? He'll teach you how to pray for your church, how to pray for yourself.

You have the Word of God. There are tremendous promises that speak to every physical and emotional need that you'll ever have. It's right there. If you can find it and put your finger on it and pray it, you're going to get an answer. If there is a need that is outside the book, then you have the Holy Spirit, who is, by the way, the author of this book. He is with you to help you to pray. And all the time, you know you're going to get an answer.

How do you know you're going to get an answer? What have I already said? Because you prayed according to the will of God. That's how you know. You can be certain, you can have the confidence, you can know, you can be sure. Hebrews 11:1. The Word tells you this is the will of God. The Holy Spirit tells you this is the will of God or this is not the will of God. You will know and you'll pray according to the will of God.

God wants to do his own will, does he not? He wants to do what he wants to do. And what is taking place is that the divine in me, or the divine down here, is synchronizing and praying according to the will of the divine up there. You can know when the divine here prays according to the divine there, when it has that kind of link, you can know that you're praying according to the will of God. You can come away with a great peace and a great assurance.

In Luke, chapter two, Jesus taught the disciples to pray what is called the Lord's Prayer. And there he says, "Pray: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." Remember that? We just prayed it here just a moment ago. "Thy kingdom come." This simply means—and to me, all of these are extremely important: opening the Bible and putting your finger on the verse, praying according to the movement of the Holy Spirit within you—they're all of equal importance in prayer.

But here is one that really comforts my heart. When I really don't know how to pray according to a certain situation, I can pray that into his hands, tell him about it, and then say these words: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." I don't have to know anything else but that. I can take that prayer request, that prayer card that I have filled out or you have filled out, put it between my hands, and say, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done."

I have put the request in his hands, and when I said, "Thy kingdom come," I have prayed his entry into my problem or to my situation. When I say that prayer, that phrase "thy kingdom come," what I am saying is, "God, you are the judge of heaven and earth. Rule in this matter." You've been in a courtroom, you've seen courtroom proceedings, and somebody will say, "Well, we're waiting on the judge to rule in that matter." You've seen that? We're waiting on the judge to rule.

When you say those words "thy kingdom come," what you're saying, "God, rule. Make a pronouncement. Come into this situation. Come in with your entry. You enter into this particular situation." And whatever the outcome is, it's going to glorify God and it's going to be best for us. You see, the choir sang just a moment ago "Majesty," one of my very favorite choruses. There's two words in there: "Majesty, kingdom authority." Remember those words?

God has endowed each Christian believer with kingdom authority, meaning you are endowed or authorized by the Almighty God to pray his kingdom rule into any situation: home, church, government, person, problem, need, pain. You are endowed with kingdom authority. You see, the scripture says in Genesis, chapter three, verse 15, when Adam and Eve fell from grace, God spoke to Adam and Eve and said it would be through the woman's seed—a prophecy of the coming of Christ, which would later be fulfilled in the Virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus—it would be through the woman's seed that the Savior would come.

And that the Savior, the woman's seed, the heel would be bruised by the serpent, who is Satan. Now what has been going on all of this time, all of these problems, sicknesses, diseases, dread, dreadful situations, is that the serpent, Satan, has been like a snake striking the church, striking out. Like a snake will open its mouth and strike, open its mouth and strike, open its mouth and strike with its fangs.

Satan, whenever you get sick, you have a problem, there's a conflict in your home or in your marriage, there's a great decision to make, you feel depressed, you are troubled, you know what is going on? It's the serpent, it's Satan striking at Christ. Satan isn't very concerned about you at all; matter of fact, he doesn't care a thing about you, but he knows if he hurts you, he hurts Christ. It's for Jesus' sake we do and say and believe as we are taught in the scripture.

So when the devil gets you upset, when he puts trouble on you, he can say, "Aha, I got you, Jesus, on that one." He is bruising the heel of Christ. You see, friends, when you carry a grudge, when there is division, when you won't make things right with your wife or with your spouse or with your fellow man or with a believer in Christ and there's a division, it's Satan bruising the heel of Christ and you are allowing him to do it.

How could you love Christ and allow Satan to do that to Christ? He is striking out. He is striking out. Now what God has done, he said, "Greater works than these shall ye do. I'm endowing you with kingdom authority to heal divisions. I have come and imparted to you kingdom authority to bring prayer to bear and the presence of God to be prayed and to enter into those ungodly, hurtful, troubling situations." You have kingdom authority.

But the thing is, the problem is—and I'll say it again and I'll say it again and I'll say it again and I'll say it again—we think, somehow we have been brainwashed into believing that we the church, or as an individual Christian, is a helpless, hopeless victim of circumstances. You have power over your circumstances, and we need to stop allowing our circumstances to have power over us.

He is saying in First John, chapter five: "This is the confidence"—oh, we lack so much confidence. We don't have confidence in very many things. We don't have confidence in our government, we don't have confidence in our friends, we don't have confidence in our family, we don't have confidence in our churches. We don't even have confidence enough in the Word of God to study it and know what it says.

But when we become the people of his name and when we begin to realize the great endowment that we have, that confidence will come. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. He hears us. You can pray him right into your home, right into your job. You can pray his power, his presence, and his purposes right into your career, right into your financial problem. That's when you pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." So you have the Word, you have the Spirit, and you know you're part of his kingdom. You're a child of God.

Guest (Male): The prayer of faith is rooted in trusting God's character and believing that he is able to work in ways beyond our understanding. At thehealingword.com, you can download the free devotional, "A Year of Weekly Devotionals," and explore more teachings that will strengthen your faith. If these programs are helping you grow spiritually, we invite you to consider supporting this ministry with a gift. Your generosity allows us to continue sharing God's Word with people everywhere. Join us next time.