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I was sent this question in an email: "My question is the verse in 1 Timothy 5:23 where Paul advises Timothy to "take a little wine for his stomach's sake and thine often infirmities." God hadn't healed him and I'm confused about your teaching on healing". The question really is about whether God heals using remedies or simply through faith without them, and this is in order to give all glory to Himself and not man.
Jesus spoke to His disciples in parables, symbols that they came to understand and they became ways for them to speak to others. For example: Notice that in 1 Timothy 5:23, sin is the subject before and after the verse in question. {1 Tim. 5:22} Lay hands hastily on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure. {23} Be no longer a drinker of water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities (Infirmities here is the Greek word astheneia; meaning "weaknesses"). {24} Some men's sins are evident, going before unto judgment; and some men also they follow after. {25} In like manner also there are good works that are evident; and such as are otherwise cannot be hid. The wine for the stomach statement is certainly out of context unless it speaks of deliverance from sin.
The word translated "infirmities" is actually "weaknesses" which is clearly seen in other texts where the same word is correctly translated. (1 Cor.1:25) ...the weakness of God is stronger than men. Now we know that God is not infirm or sick so this word has to be "weakness". (2 Cor.13:4) for he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him through the power of God toward you. We know that Jesus Christ was not crucified through infirmity, but weakness. He would not defend Himself when He was brought before Pilate and the Jewish leaders. Timothy had spiritual weaknesses for which the only cure was the spiritual wine.
The stomach or belly was spiritually considered the seat of ruler ship for the carnal man. It represented being driven by the lusts (Gr: desires) of the flesh; driven by sin. {Phl.3:19} whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and [whose] glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. On the other hand wine was considered the cure for bondage to sin. Wine represents the blood of Jesus. {Mt.26:27} And he took a cup (of wine), and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; {28} for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins. {29} But I say unto you, I shall not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Notice, Jesus equates the wine with His blood. So this is the spiritual cure for the lusts of the flesh.
Through our own blood we have inherited the lusts of the sinful flesh and through Jesus' pure blood that nature is destroyed. {Lev.17:11} For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life. His blood is in us to the extent that we repent and partake of the life of His Word. {Jn.6:53} Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves. {54} He that eateth my flesh (and He was the Word made flesh) and drinketh my blood hath eternal life: and I will raise him up at the last day. Partaking of the blood or wine is a matter of walking in His Word by faith in His blood that was given to us. {1 Jn.1:7} but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Another common misunderstanding is Paul's Thorn.
Paul was caught up to the third heaven and received wonderful revelations that tempted him to be proud. (2 Cor.12:7) And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted overmuch there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger (Greek: angelos,"angel") of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch. Paul says the thorn was an angel of Satan to buffet him, not a sickness. The word "buffet" means "to hit over and over". You can see that this evil spirit was given to Paul to fulfill God's purpose of humbling him.
(2 Cor.12:8) Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. (9) And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. This angel of Satan was bringing about a humbling in Paul's life that God called grace. When Paul was in a position of personal weakness or inability to save himself, he got to see God's power to save. It should be the same with us.
The Scriptures are full of instances where God purposely brought people such as Moses, Abraham, Jehoshaphat, Gideon, and Lazarus to a position of human weakness so that He could perform a miracle to save them and no one would get the credit but Him. Paul understood this. (2 Cor.12:10) Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses (K.J.V. uses infirmities), in injuries (insults), in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
"Thorn in the flesh" is mentioned four other times in the scriptures, and not once is it an infirmity. This word "weaknesses" is from the Greek word "astheneia" meaning "want of strength". The King James Version translated this word "infirmities", but the same Greek word in many other places, including this text, is translated "weak" or "weakness" (1 Cor.1:25; 2 Cor.11:29; 2 Cor.12:9,10; 2 Cor.13:4). The same Greek word "astheneia" in the following two verses shows us that "infirmity" is a bad translation. (1 Cor.1:25) ...the weakness of God is stronger than men. Now we know that God is not infirm or sick so this word has to be "weakness". (2 Cor.13:4) for he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him through the power of God toward you. We know that Jesus Christ was not crucified through infirmity, but weakness. He was weak in that He would not defend Himself when He was brought before Pilate and the Jewish leaders.
Likewise, we are crucified when we are weak to save ourselves while we trust in God. In the previous chapter Paul lists what he calls weaknesses (2 Cor.11:23-30). He lists things such as shipwrecks, prisons, persecutions from enemies, and stripes. Not once does Paul mention sickness in the list. The point is that God uses evil angels to come against our lusts, to humble us, to chasten us, and to cause us to repent. (2 Cor.12:8) Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it (the angel of Satan or demon) might depart from me. (9) And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee.
God was saying that He would deliver Paul from the individual buffetings, but not from the angel of Satan for the time being. Paul said as much to Timothy. (2 Tim.3:11) persecutions, sufferings. What things befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. (2 Tim. 4:18) The Lord will deliver me from every evil work. In this, we see the sovereignty of God in both bringing the chastening and supplying the deliverance. Even though He permits buffetings to test us, ultimately He will heal and deliver the faithful.
The question as to whether God always heals is a moot one when we realize that He has already healed all believers but we must be believers. {1 Pet.2:24} who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. Jesus gave us an example by healing all believers.
Jesus said in Mar 11:24 "All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive (Greek: "received") them”. We received them because all of our provision was accomplished at the cross. Notice in the following verses that all things have been received and that the only thing left is for us to believe it and cease from our own salvation by works. Notice the past tense of all of our sacrificial provision in the following verses: (Epe.2:8) for by grace have ye been saved through faith; (1 Pet.2:24) who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.; (Col.1:13) who delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; (2 Cor.5:18) ...who reconciled us to himself; (Gal.2:20) I have been crucified with Christ, and its no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me; (Gal. 3:13) Christ redeemed us from the curse; (1 Pet.1:3) ...the Father ...begat us again ...by the resurrection of Jesus Christ;
(Heb.10:10) We ...have been sanctified; ... (14) He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified; (Epe.1:3) ...who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing, and God (2 Pet.1:3) hath granted unto us all things ... Jesus told us in his day which, of course, is also in the past that" Now shall the prince of this world be cast out" (Jn.12:31); "but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (Jn.16:33); "It is finished" Jn.19:30). This is why we are to believe we have received. The devil and the curse were conquered. We were saved, healed, delivered, and provided for 2,000 years ago. So if we believe we have received, would we continue to try to save, heal or deliver ourselves, since faith without works is dead?
Redemption from the curse is truly finished! In fact, God's "works were finished from the foundation of the world" (Heb.4:3), when He spoke the plan into existence. The only thing left is for the true sons of God to enter into those works by faith, believing they have received. Since the works are finished, we should believe and rest from our own works to save, heal, and deliver ourselves. (Heb.4:3) For we who have believed do enter into that rest. That is a spiritual Sabbath rest from our own self works. (Heb.4:9) There remaineth therefore a Sabbath rest (Greek: sabbatismos, "keeping of rest") for the people of God. This constant "keeping of rest" every day through the past tense promises is our New Testament spiritual Sabbath. (10) For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. This rest is to believe these past tense promises so we know we don't have to save ourselves.
(Heb.4:1) Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. (2) For indeed we have had good tidings preached unto us, even as also they: but the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united by faith with them that heard. Our faith in each of these promises brings us into more of the rest. For example, if we believe that "by his stripes you were healed," then we will not keep seeking a healing but will rest accepting that it was accomplished at the cross.
This is true faith and always brings the answer. Through believing the promises, we enter into rest from our own works. For a child of God to say that they believe they have received and yet continue seeking to receive, usually through worldly methods, is to be double minded. (Jas.1:6) But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. (7) For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; (8) a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways. Those who continue to work for what God has freely given, believe in salvation by works. (Heb.4:10) For he that is entered into his rest, hath himself also rested from his works. (Heb.3:19) And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.
Since the promises of deliverance from the curse are past tense, when we believe them, we must stop working. It is an evil heart of unbelief to not rest. God was angry with Israel because they would not believe His Word in their trial in the wilderness (Heb. 3:8-10). (Heb.3:11) As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. (12) Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God .... (14) We are become partakers of Christ (i.e. His health, holiness, and blessing) if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end.
When we believe we have received, we are put in a position of weakness because we cannot do anything to bring the desired result to pass or we prove we didn't believe and receive. This weakness is our wilderness experience because there is no help from Egypt or the world. Only God's power saves in the wilderness. God says, "My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor.12:9). Our weapon against our enemies who try to talk us out of our covenant rights is the two edged sword of these past tense promises (Heb.4:11,12). We are justified by faith and not works which is being proven day by day. Do you hear the ambulances going by with their sirens on?
I want to say something else that I think will be very encouraging to you there's a way to make it through this. There was a brother back in the time of Romans 16 and his name was Hermas. It's very possible that he's the one that received this revelation.
It was just a few years after the book of Revelation was written that he got this revelation it was called the Shepherd of Hermas and at that time of course they were going into tribulation and he was given a warning. I mean, the Church, the people of God were headed into a tribulation and he was given a warning that he was told to send to the churches and it's not part of the Bible.
It used to be, as a matter of fact. People thought it was part of the Bible. I don't believe that it is; I just believe that it's a very good revelation that's giving an encouragement; an exhortation to the to the scriptures to obey the scriptures and submit. I believe it’s very good and I think that since he was exhorting the Church, he was about to go into tribulation.
Some of the things are very pertinent to us at this time because that’s exactly where we are and I know that God preserved this through the centuries in order to give it to us again. It's not the level of inspiration that the scriptures are, but it's very good and it's anointed and it was given of the Lord; just like if god would give you a vision or just like Gene Fahey's vision about the great tree that was cut down and Babylon.
You know, God can give you one that’s concerning your immediate future because you know God speaks in general ways in the scriptures, but he really doesn't tell you about your immediate future and where you're fitting in and where you are at the time and what is your signpost at the time. So that's what dreams and visions are for is to give us these revelations.
Well anyway, God gave to Hermes awesome revelations; actually, it's one of my favorites outside of the scriptures. Okay, I’m going to read part of it to you because it's concerning coming tribulation and what to do about it and how he escaped it. Okay this is vision four. It's a vision of the Church and it's called, The Tribulation to Come:
That which I saw brethren, twenty days after the previous vision had occurred was a foreshadowing of the tribulation to come. I was going into the country by the Via Campana. The place is about six thousand feet from the public thoroughfare and is easily reached. (I don't think anything in here, kind of like the Bible; nothing in here is really in there by accident. “6,000 feet from the public thoroughfare” I wrote a little note in the edge of this book. I said, “off the road since Adam”. They're off the public thoroughfare six thousand feet and actually we're six thousand years off the road since Adam. So here comes the beast. This is a kind of a symbol of the timing for us too.)
The place is about six thousand feet from the public thoroughfare and is easily reached. So as I was walking along by myself, I asked the Lord that the revelation and vision which He had shown me through His holy Church might be completed, so that He might strengthen me and give repentance to His servants, who had been led astray in order that His great and glorious Name might be glorified, because he regarded me worthy to show me his wonders.
And as I was glorifying Him and giving Him thanks, something like the sound of a voice answered me, “Be not double-minded Hermas." and I began to reason with myself and to say, how can I be double-minded when I've been made so secure by the Lord and have been and have seen such glorious things. (And you think you would think that but, actually you get into situations and you do things that you don't think you would and that's where Hermas is headed right here.)
I walked on a little brethren and, behold, I saw a cloud of dust reaching, as it were, up to heaven and I began to say to myself, “are there not cattle coming raising a cloud of dust?” and it was about 600 feet away from me. (There’s that six again. Six, six and the next verse, by the way, is six.)
It was about 600 feet away from me when the dust cloud became greater and greater. I suspected it was something divine. The sun shone more brightly for a moment and behold, I saw a huge beast, something like a sea monster, and out of his mouth were coming fiery locusts. (Sounds like Revelation doesn't it? You know, locusts devour the grass, don't they? There it is, this huge beast is about to devour much flesh.)
And the beast was about a hundred feet in length and it had a head like a jar. (I made a little note here: 100 feet in length represents the fullness of the scope of this beast. Do you know we've read in scriptures that this beast is actually everyone who is outside of Christ. It is actually the whole lost world; the whole beastly kingdom of this world coming together into one like they were at the tower of Babel. Once again the whole world is joining together in order to oppose God. So I took to mean a hundred percent. The scope of this beast is a hundred percent of all lost humanity; everyone whose spirit does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in their flesh, is this beast.)
And I began to cry and to beseech the Lord to save me from it and I remembered the word which I had heard, “Be not double-minded Hermas.” So brethren, being clothed in the faith of God and remembering the great things He had taught me, taking courage, I entrusted myself to the beast. And the beast came on with a rush as if it could destroy a city.
I drew near to it and the sea monster, great as it was, stretched itself out on the ground and did nothing but thrust out its tongue and did not move at all until I had gone by it. And the beast had four colors on its head: Black, then the color of fire and blood, and then gold, and then white.
And after I had passed by the beast and had gone on about 30 feet, behold, a young lady met me, adorned, as if coming from a bridal chamber; all in white and with white sandals, veiled up to her forehead
and her head covering was a snood, but she had white hair and I knew from my previous visions that she was the Church. (Obviously the called out ones right?) And I became more cheerful.
She greeted me saying, “How do you do friend?” And I greeted her in return, “How do you do madam?” She answered me and said, “Did nothing meet you?” I said to her, “ Madam, a beast so great as could destroy entire peoples. But, by the power of the Lord and by His great compassion I escaped it.” “And it's only right that you escaped”, she
said, “Because you cast your burden upon God and you opened your heart to the Lord, believing that you could not be saved by anything but the great and glorious Name.”
(Isn’t that interesting folks? There are so many people that are expecting to provide for themselves, to save themselves, to defend themselves and yet here the revelation says that you can’t be saved by anything except by the name of the Lord. It is only our faith in Him that will bring us to the place where we can escape this great beast that's coming; only by faith in Him.)
“And therefore, the Lord sent his angel who has authority over beasts whose name is Fegri and he shut its mouth so it might not hurt you. You escaped a great tribulation because of your faith and because when you saw so great a beast, you did not become double-minded. Go then, and tell the elect of the Lord about His great deeds and say to them that this beast is a foreshadowing of the great tribulation to come. If then, you prepare yourselves in advance and repent with all your heart before the Lord, you will be able to escape it; for if your heart becomes pure and blameless and you serve the Lord blamelessly the rest of the days of your life.”
(What tribulation was he talking about that was immediately in their future? Well, there was the great Harlot of Rome and the Roman beast that was going to slaughter the people of God. And, as you know, the Church that they raised up, the Catholic church, heavily persecuted people who were people of faith and killed many. So they were heading into, very much, the same kind of a tribulation that we are. Apostate christianity, with a new Roman beast; a worldwide Roman beast, is going to persecute the saints. Well, there was a way to escape it. She said the church or “called out ones”. She was preaching the good news here.)
“If your heart becomes pure and blameless and you serve the Lord blamelessly the rest of the days of your life. Cast your burdens upon the Lord and He will set them straight. Have faith in the Lord, you who are double-minded, because He can do all things and turn His wrath from you and send out plagues to you who are double-minded.” (Interesting. Will God do that? Yes He will. He will plague the double-minded and deliver his people who are the faithful; who are the believers, who are the disciples.)
“Woe to those who hear these words and disobey it would have been better for them not to have been born.”
Charter 24: I asked her about the four colors that the beast had on its head and she answered me and said, “Again you are inquisitive about such things.” “Yes madam”, I said. “Make known to me what they are.”
“Listen”, she said, “The black is this world in which you live. The color of fire and blood means it is necessary for this world to be destroyed by blood and fire. And the gold part is you, who have fled this world. For just as gold is tested by fire and becomes useful, so also you, who live among those people are being tested.”
(Yes we are. God purposely put us here in the midst of the wicked to be tested and tried to see if we will be faithful to His Word.” Many cannot because they have more respect for the world, more fear of the world, more love of the world. They cannot be faithful to God so hence the exhortation to be blameless and pure and turn to god within everything.)
“Those, then, who endure and are made red-hot by them are purified. For just as gold casts off its dross, so also, you will cast off all grief and distress and you will be purified and be useful in the construction of the tower. (The tower is of course the tower of God's people that he's speaking about here. And there's a revelation of it. It's an awesome revelation about the stones that went into this tower you know and how that some of them were cracked and some of them were defaced and how that they were being perfected to be put in this tower of God's Zion.)
“And the white part is the age which is to come, in which, the elect of God will live because those who have been chosen by God for eternal life will be spotless and pure. So speak constantly in the hearing of the saints. You have also the foreshadowing of the great tribulation which is to come and if you so wish, it will be nothing.” (Notice that, “If you so wish it will be nothing" if you prepare; if you draw close to the Lord, if you repent, if you’re determined to be blameless and pure by faith in God's promise and in his Word, then God will have you ready for this.)
“Remember those things which have already been written.” (And of course that's true. What's written in God's word we cannot depart from.)
After she had said these things she departed and I did not see where she went for there came a cloud and I turned back, in fear, supposing that the beast was coming. (The guy got double-minded didn't he? You know, there's some curious things in here too.
Well, I want to read this part to you because the main exhortation that was given to Hermas to prepare him for the coming of the beast was, “Be not double-minded Hermas.”
And he received an awesome awesome exhortation in mandate 9 in, The Shepherd of Hermas. The Shepherd, of course, was the Lord Himself. That's the name usually given to this book. Cast off Double-Mindedness is the name of this mandate:
He said to me, “Cast off from yourself double-mindedness” (Many times it was the Shepherd who came and appeared to Hermas, who gave him these revelations. Sometimes it was the Church like in the past ones.)
“Cast off from yourself double mindedness and be not at all double-minded about anything about asking anything from God by saying to yourself, “How am I able to ask anything from the Lord and receive it, since I have sinned so much against Him?”
(Well, that's interesting you know. Is there anybody among God's people that hasn't sinned against Him and yet when Jesus went about doing good, healing all, who was oppressed of the devil for God was with Him. You know when the people of God came to Him, He demanded faith from them. They had a covenant already. He demanded faith from them for their healing or deliverance or whatever and He gave it to them. They weren't worthy of it but he gave it to them and now the Lord is telling him don't be double-minded by thinking, “How can god answer me? I've been such a sinner.”
Very interesting; You know the devil uses condemnation to destroy our faith in God but there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. And it actually was added there. It was added, I say, it was not in the original because there's no numeric pattern for, “who walked not after the flesh but after the spirit”. Because, of course, there's no one that's under condemnation who is walking in the Spirit. But, the problem is, many of us are somewhere in between; between the flesh and the Spirit.
Now, how in the world do we ever get there if we don't get our prayers answered and how do we ever get our prayers answered if we're condemned for our foolishness and for our failures? That's the grace of God and that's what the Lord is exhorting him to exhort us about. “Don't be double-minded” and what did he call being double-minded? Well to think in yourself, “I've been such a failure how is it that God will answer my prayers?” It is by grace.)
Verse 2: Do not consider these things but turn to the Lord with all of your heart. (That reminds me of what Paul said in Philippians 3, “forget the things which are behind and press forward to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." right? Forget what's behind just change the future okay and by faith in god you can do that.) Do not consider these things but turn to the lord with all of your heart and without hesitating ask of him and you will know his great compassion because he will not forsake you but will fulfill the requests of your soul. (Isn’t that good and great! The Lord is merciful and He is graceful and we don't deserve it but, that shouldn't enter into it according to what the lord's saying right here.)
Verse 3: For God is not as men who hold grudges but He seeks not vengeance and has compassion on what He has made. So cleanse your heart of all the worthless things of this age and of all the words which were spoken to you before, and ask of the Lord and you will receive everything and all of your requests will be granted if you ask of the Lord without hesitating. (Well, that's exactly what the Bible says and that's exactly what Jesus said, “all things whatsoever you ask in prayer believing you shall receive.” That's exactly what Jesus said.
Many of you out there that are listening to me; the devil has spoken to you these same things. That you're not worthy. You can't expect God to answer your prayers. But, the Lord is exhorting you, through this revelation here, yes you can receive from God. We have no hope without grace. You know, we can't pick ourselves up by our bootstraps. Everything that we receive has to come from without even the faith to believe has to come from without.
Because of our fallen nature we cannot be expected to be righteous before we receive from the Lord. Can you expect to be perfect before you can get anything from God? Well then, you'll never make it because the first thing you need from God is righteousness right? You'll never make it. So forget that. It's self-righteousness and foolishness. Ask of the lord without hesitating, that's what He says.)
If you hesitate in your heart you will not receive any of your requests. (Well, that's exactly what James 1 said, you know, that “a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways think not that man shall receive anything from the Lord.”) For those who hesitate before god they are double-minded and they do not obtain any of their requests. (That’s James 1-7 to the T, isn’t it?)
Verse six: But the ones who are complete in the faith ask for everything since they have trusted the Lord. (They asked for everything. Have you ever had that devil sit on your shoulder and say, “The Lord don't want to hear that! He's got more important things to do!” I mean, well first of all, when you pray about even the little things, what you're saying is, “I trust in you Lord. I'm not trusting me. I'm not seeking by my own efforts to bring this to pass. I know this is a trial of my faith and I trust in you.” And since He has “ministering spirits sent forth to do service that for them that are heirs of salvation” you've got angels right there to take care of it all. Just trust in God.)
But the ones who are complete in the faith ask for everything, since they have trusted the Lord and they receive it because they ask without hesitating; not being double-minded, for every man who is double-minded if he does not repent will be saved with difficulty. (Double-minded, of course, is when you listen to the spirit and then you listen to the flesh, and you listen to the spirit and you listen to the flesh. You have faith and you have doubt. Double minded actually in James 1-7 is “two souled”, schizophrenic, he would be called today.
And since we're always, you know, somewhere in the process of sanctification. The process of sanctification is the process of changing your soul to become spiritual like your Spirit is. Your spirit is born of God. If you're born again you have a born again spirit and your soul was created to obey your spirit which obeys God if it's born again right?
However, the soul there, is the soul of the flesh or the mind of the flesh and the mind of the spirit or the soul of the spirit and that means, of course, that your soul is divided in its attention either in following your spirit or following your flesh. It's two-souled; it's double-minded, but you have the authority to say “no.” You have the authority. Who you will listen to? You have the authority to cast down vain imaginations that are against God. You have the authority to listen to the spirit. You don't have to be double minded. So he goes on to say:
So cleanse your heart of double mindedness and put on faith because it is strong and trust God, so that you will receive all requests for which you ask. (Listen to that. All requests, all requests; all doesn't leave anything out, does it? Jesus said, “all things whatsoever you ask in prayer believing you shall receive.” It is the Word of God. It sounds too good to be true by most people who read these kinds of things, but it is the Word of the Lord and the very fact that it seems too good to be true, proves that you have double- mindedness right?)
Whenever you ask something from the Lord and you receive the request rather slowly do not be double-minded. (Well you know, this happens all the time right? People ask something from the Lord and they don't see it happen immediately or the first month or the second month or the third month or even in a year. Sometimes he says when this happens do not be double-minded, in other words, don’t shrink from your faith your confidence in God. Don't do it. Abraham was a very good example of that right? Well, he believed and he was double-minded for a long time, frankly, but within about the last year ,he finally straightened up his faith and received from the Lord.)
So, whenever you ask something from the Lord and you receive the request rather slowly do not be double-minded, because you did not receive the request of your soul speedily. For, in every case, it is because of some temptation or transgression of which you are ignorant that you receive your request so slowly.
(Well you know, when you believe God to do something you’re also trusting in Him to work in you. You're also being very careful that you don't offend Him. You know, in the New Testament, sin is different from the Old Testament. Sin in the Old Testament was a transgression against the written law, which made it impossible to be sinless.
But, in the New Testament, “to him that knoweth to do good and doeth not to him it is sin.” Sin to us is sin against the known will of God. Now if we're failing God because we don't have faith, then we just need faith. You know in Romans Chapter 7, Paul spoke about his situation and that he was being double-minded at first because he was looking at himself. He was looking at his failure.
He got a revelation from God and his revelation was, since “the good that i would do i do not it's no longer i that do it but the sin which dwelleth in me.” In other words, since he wanted to do good he wanted to please God but he was failing, then it was no longer him, that is him the spiritual man, it was instead, “the sin that dwelled in him” and he went on to say in the beginning of chapter 8 “there's no condemnation of them that are in Christ Jesus.”
See, basically God got on Paul's side against the sin in his life, not against him, against the sin. It's no more I that do it, it's the sin that dwells in me and he confessed faith; the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. He confessed his faith and he said there's no condemnation of them that are in Christ. That's what we need to do. If you fail in God, confess your faith and don't be double minded. Don't worry about the old man. The Lord is taking care of him. Did you know that?
You know, you don't have a problem with sin anymore. You might have a problem with faith, but you don't have a problem with sin. The sin the Lord already dealt with. He took it away. He said, “Reckon yourself to be dead unto sin but alive unto God.” Consider it done; that's what faith does, considers it done.
So you may be doing some things that the Lord needs to straighten up and He will do that, but meanwhile, you have to keep believing. There's nothing else you can do to come to the end of this thing. The revelation that Paul got was: He was going to keep believing because it wasn't him doing it anyway, it was the sin dwelling in him he was going to believe that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus made him free from the law of sin and death.
He was going to keep on believing that there was no condemnation in those that are in Christ Jesus, so you're accepting something by faith; you're accepting a gift of God's righteousness by faith and since you are righteous by faith, you are entitled to the things that you ask of God So faith is accounted as righteousness since you are righteous by faith, your faith is accounted as righteousness.
Now, of course, we're not talking about those who walk in willful disobedience and use Christ to live in their flesh. They're not doing what Paul was doing “It's not the good that they would do" because they would do evil and they're walking willful against God. "If we sin willfully there remains no sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful expectation of judgment" the Bible says.
But if you want to please God, you're seeking to please God, you hate the old flesh and you hate the sin and you want to please Him then walk by faith, because he is a sufficient Savior and, by the way, even before He's perfected you in holiness, you have a right to the rest of God's benefits because faith is accounted as righteousness.
So what can you do? You have to walk by faith no matter how much you've failed. You have to walk by faith to get out of it. The devil knows that and he tries to do everything to talk you out of it; to tell you that you're not worthy and to tell you that God didn't hear and to tell you, “Look how long you've waited and nothing happened.” So that you'd be double-minded.)
Verse 8: So do not cease asking for the request of your soul and you will receive it but, if you lose heart and become double-minded in your asking blame yourself and not the one who gives to you. (Hey, we've got doctrines out there that blame God. You know what they say, “Well sometimes God answers and sometimes God says no. And sometimes, you know, they got these crazy doctrines you know but the Bible says in 2 Co. chapter one, concerning the promises of God, that the answer of God is, “Yes”, it's always yes concerning his promises; not no.
So he says blame yourself if you get double-minded and don't blame the one who gives to you and see God gets all the blame when people don't receive things but think about the times when Jesus’ disciples, who had been trained by the very best, came back to him and wondered why they didn't receive results for their faith and he said, “Because of your unbelief”. He didn't say because you were unworthy, or because you failed me, or because you sinned; He said, “Because of your unbelief.”
He said consistently, “Be it unto you according to your faith." But often people don't receive answers and they say, “Well, it wasn't the will of God for me to have this or it wasn't the will of God because of this or that, you know. Well quite often folks it's because of unbelief.)
Verse 9: Watch out for this double mindedness for it is evil and foolish and it uproots many from the faith. (True) Even those who are very faithful and strong, for this double mindedness is also the daughter of the devil and does much evil among the servants of God. So despise double-mindedness and overcome it, in every case, putting on a faith that is strong and powerful. For faith promises all things; perfects all things. But double-mindedness, which does not trust itself, fails in all that it does. (So you see he said that faith is from above from the lord and has great power but double-mindedness is an earthly spirit from the devil which has no power.)
So serve faith which has power and refrain from double mindedness which has no power and you will live to God and all who are so disposed will live to God. (Well, he definitely exhorted over and over against double mindedness there didn't he? And it's true. Today we have a great tribulation coming upon us. God's giving us the signs so that we won't be taken by surprise and we know it's coming and we should be prepared by casting down our vain imaginations about saving ourselves or preparing for ourselves or sin in our life. All such things as what the Lord has already taken care of and already provided for us and learn to walk by faith now and prepare for these things that are coming now.
Hermas wasn’t, I wouldn't say, very much prepared because he immediately became double-minded when he saw the dragon or the beast or whatever it was and had to be reminded of the Lord. But when he did act on his faith, he found out it wasn't as terrible as what it could have been. You know, the devil is seeking whom he may devour and and “may” means permission you know. It involves permission and it involves your permission.
Quite often the devil devours people because of their unbelief. We found out that God would send those plagues to the double minded meaning, of course, because of their double mindedness they're giving the devil permission to take advantage of them and the dragon will devour many. So we need to learn to walk by faith in god's promises we need to put them down in our heart. They are the best provision we can possibly have for the things that are coming upon the world.
As we saw, America is going to very much change. Its nature is going to be turned over to the devil for the destruction of the flesh so that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord. Have you ever read that in 1 Co. chapter five he was talking about a man who had his father's wife? Well, you know who the "Father's wife" is don't you?
So listen, not only does God turn individuals over to satan for destruction of their flesh, He turns nations over to the destruction of the flesh and there's quite a bit of flesh in America.
You know, I'm just thinking of that man in 1 Co. 5. I don't know what form it was that the devil took him over but, we do know it was one form or another and we know that's what's going to happen to America folks, is for seven years it's going to lose its mind. This government is going to be very foolish and seek to save themselves by destroying the rest of the world. You know they’re gonna quite freely use up their nukes on different nations that disagree with them, not caring for the life of the people; not caring folks.
For instance, let me point out something to you about Iran. You've got an illegitimate regime running that country. They cheated in the vote process; they cheated every way they could. They made laws to kick out the rest of the dissidents from their government so that the only people that ruled would be these radical mullahs.
A lot of their country disagrees totally but there's not much they can do about it with their government and now we just read that their government is doing this on the slide. The people, a lot of people don't even know what they're doing. They're doing a lot of this on the side. Well, you know they're going to go over there and wipe out an awful lot of people that are not guilty. I mean everyone's guilty, don't get me wrong. There is nobody on planet earth that's not guilty and we all really deserve to die and there is a flood coming that's going to prove that. But in the natural there's a lot of people over there that are just ignorant.
I mean, they've been trained to be patriotic, of course, and they will defend their nation and I guess if they don't do it over there, it's a little different than over here. I mean they'll do more than put you in jail over there, they'll probably shoot you.
So they will defend their nation and many of them will die, not knowing the Lord in their ignorance; having been taken in bondage by satan himself. You have to pity people like that. But you know America; they're not going to have pity. Just like the Iranians are not going to have pity. You know the world doesn't know much about pity and they don't know much about grace. We're the only ones that really should be having the understanding of grace and pity for those who are in bondage to satan. The Bible in 1Co 5 tells us not to dare judge those that are without. Those that are without, God judges.
We don't judge them because they haven't been given the grace of God through faith to see and to partake of God's mercy and his benefits and understanding and all these things. So we have to be very merciful towards those people. In fact, I exhort you to pray for the Iranians folks. An Iranian that gets saved is just as good as an American who gets saved. Don't fall into that delusion. God's got people all the way around the world right?
Pray for these people because there is no doubt that through these great tribulations many will become Christians. Many in foreign lands will become Christians and it's not going to be because of the example of the United States; it's going to be because of the example of God's people and because of the grace and the love that they share with people. See we're to love our enemies. You know this. We're to overcome evil with good. We can't judge them, we have to love them.
But America is not going to be that way, and I might add, that a lot of radical American Christians are not going to be that way towards these people and it's sad, because this is what our Lord Jesus commanded in the Sermon on the Mount and yet it's totally ignored. But this is how people are impressed with Christianity. They're impressed with
our love, with our faith, with the provision that god gives to his people. I mean, they're impressed with your healings, they're impressed with your provisions that god has given to you through your faith.
You know there's a lot of people out there that have false gods and they're impressed when they run into real Christians and find that they
get answers to prayer; supernatural answers to prayer, that kind of reveals to them you really have a God who answers and that there is a God who is concerned and you know, it's sad that what they normally run into is not a Christian at all but somebody that's claiming to be a Christian.
So yeah, the world is going to fall all apart. It's going to be fighting one against another. America is, in a way, going to be turned over to the devil for the destruction of the flesh so that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord. You know the Spirit is in America, don't you? It's God's elect and great chastenings are coming over America and demon possession is coming over America. Revelation 18 tells us that Babylon is going to be filled with all these demons and what's the purpose? So that people in darkness, in bondage, will run to the light and who's got the light? Well, if we agree with the Word and we
represent our Lord to the world with his promises and with his blessings and provisions, then we are the light and they will run to us.
But if we're like the world because of a patriotic spirit or because we wrestle with flesh and blood instead of principalities and powers, they're not going to see any light in us. So we need to get prepared. You know, the Lord is putting us into a situation where it's a cross to our old man. He's putting us into a position of being weak, actually, because he's told us, "resist not the evil and love your enemies" and yet He’s raising up a bitter enemy all around us and he's giving us this opportunity.
We're being tried. We're going to be tested. You know Hermas basically approached the beast in faith after he cast down double mindedness and the beast wasn't used to judge him or destroy him, because he was walking by faith and because he was accounted righteous and so it'll be the same with us folks.
We just need to walk by faith in our God, cast down all that double mindedness and part of that is going to be the way we react to the
people around us. If you retaliate with the way of the world, that's sin. That's contrary to our Lord's commandments and if you lean upon your own understanding and you do things the way of the worldly
Church, that's sin. Read the New Testament. Make sure you're right with God. Make sure you’re committed to being a disciple of Jesus Christ and not a disciple of apostate Christianity especially Americanized, apostate Christianity, okay?
In order to be a disciple of Jesus, we have to obey what he said. He said, “Why do you call me Lord Lord and don't do what I say.” So there are many people who are loosely called christians and they are not and they will not escape. God will send his plagues to the double-minded just like he said in that revelation. They will not escape
this judgment.)
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