Back in my younger days of my walk with the LORD we were told by those in leadership that we now could look for health wealth and an abundance of over flow for all of our earthly needs and that all we needed to do was to name and claim a thing of our desire. But then the Holy Spirit started to work within me big time and I soon found that all was not to be completely true. There was little or nothing mentioned about things now being Spiritual. There was so much more to all things than what meets the eye of our understanding. GOD did not actually Promise what was being promoted by the church of many denominations. What on this earth was I to do, what to do? And how and where do I start to explain what the LORD was showing me, this was my dilemma. Back then there was no such thing as the internet or home computers or even cell phones. Heck the LORD when HE first called me to be a pastor teacher did not tell me to build a church or any such thing. HE did not even tell me to go into the lost world to be a missionary. HE said, be instant in season and out of season. It was not even told to me that I should check the scripture for validation of these words, so for years upon years I did not check this out for myself. 2Timothy 4:1-5. All to that said lets look at what Pastor Hoekstra's said concerning Grace and Faith. And then I will turn my attention to Health Promised to the Obedient.
"The Contrary Desires of the Flesh and the Spirit"
"For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." (Galatians 5:17)
"Every believer in Christ has had the frustrating experience of wanting to do what pleases the LORD, but being unable to actually accomplish such. We are told here a Spiritual struggle is behind that failure. "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh." The Spirit of GOD dwells within our lives. He is the "Spirit of Holiness" (Romans 1:4). He desires that we be "partakers of His Holiness" (Hebrews 12:10) and thereby walk in Godliness. However, the flesh (natural humanity) is also present in our lives. These natural desires of man are not toward Holiness, but rather toward self-indulgence and self-sufficiency. Thus, what the Spirit Desires and what our flesh craves are set against each other. "These are contrary to one another." The consequence of this internal conflict is "that you do not do the things that you wish." Even though Godly desires develop in us as New Creatures in Christ, we find ourselves unable to implement these new longings by our good intentions.
The Apostle Paul gave testimony to his own failure in this battle. "For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice" (Romans 7:19). The problem was that Paul's personal resources (the flesh) were not adequate to produce the desired results. "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find" (Romans 7:18). Yes, Paul had some godly desires. "For I delight in the law of GOD according to the inward man" (Romans 7:22). Nevertheless, there was a problem that he could not resolve on his own. "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members" (Romans 7:23). A tendency to sin that dwelt in Paul's human members (his body, his brain) pulled him down to defeat. He needed help.
Access to that necessary Divine Rescue was through a humble cry for a deliverer. "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24). This appropriate confession of the spiritual bankruptcy of his flesh led to another confession of certain victory. "I thank GOD [it is] through Jesus Christ our LORD! " (Romans 7:25). This humble turning from self to Christ allows one to walk in the Spirit (Romans 8), living by His victorious resources. "For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2)."
Spiritual Health Promised to the Obedient:
The title in my Bible for this first illustration is, "the LORD Provides water"
Exodus 15:22-27 "Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and there HE tested them, saying, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in His eyes, and give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I Will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer." Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water."
Deuteronomy 7:12-16 "And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the Covenant and the Steadfast Love that HE swore to your fathers. He Will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He Will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that HE swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. And the LORD Will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. And you shall consume all the peoples that the LORD your God will give over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you."
Proverbs 4:20-27 "My son, be attentive to My words; incline your ear to My sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil."
Jeremiah 30:12-17 "For thus says the LORD: Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous. There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you. All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant. Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, I have done these things to you. Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall be plundered, and all who prey on you I Will make a prey. For I Will restore health to you, and your wounds I Will heal, declares the LORD, because they have called you an outcast: 'It is Zion, for whom no one cares!'"
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