Praise God He Still Heals Our Afflictions

I AM LIVING PROOF, CHAPTER 11

by Bob Russell, ©2018

(Aug. 26, 2018) — The second Saturday of every month at Lifechanger Church in Claremore is Manna Ministry Saturday.  We provide a hot meal and a box full of groceries to people in need.  Between the meal and passing out groceries they receive a message from a member of our pastoral staff.

Today the message was delivered by Associate Youth Pastor Chris Wofford.  He spoke about the Israelites being on the verge of entering the Promised Land and how Moses sent 12 spies into the land to scope out the situation and report back.  All of them came back with glowing reports of the fertility of the land and the amount and size of crops.  The land was inhabited by what the spies called giants.  Ten of them were fearful and said the Israelites could not defeat them, but the other two, Caleb and Joshua, said they could win because God was with them and reminded the people of all the things God had brought them through, from leaving Egypt when it looked impossible to water coming from a rock, clouds covering the sun in a hot desert wilderness, the Red Sea being opened for them and then crashing back to destroy the army of the Pharaoh that was chasing them, to manna falling from Heaven each day, enough to sustain them for a day.

I was able to hear this very clearly from my position at the outer door because the inner door had been left open, something that isn’t a usual occurrence.  This is very encouraging to me because I believe this situation is another sign from God to me.  I am not usually able to hear the message but I believe God intended for me to hear this one to help me deal with my situation.  I have been saying all along that I would completely recover from the stroke I had, especially since the dream of recovery I had in May 2016.  The prognosis from the stroke are giants that I shouldn’t be able to overcome, but since God is with me those giants are nothing and they will be defeated; God told me so in a dream and the dream He sent me WILL come to pass.  I have been and will continue to give the Joshua and Caleb report, that the giants of stroke effects are paper giants with no staying power because God is with me and those paper giants WILL be defeated.

I have seen many miracles in my health situations.  I wrote in a previous article about the food poisoning incident about ten years or so ago.  Prayer and faith overcame those giants and the current giants will be defeated the same way.  I am standing on the Word of God that I AM healed by the stripes on Jesus, in His name.  I have moments of disappointment and discouragement, but those moments CANNOT and WILL NOT cause me to give up on the dream God sent to me.  I am healed in the name of Jesus and nothing on earth or under the earth can prevent God’s will from being done.  Only I could thwart it and that WILL NOT happen.  I have seen so many cases of God delivering me from impossible situations that I know He will do so again if I will continue in the faith Joshua and Caleb showed.

Restoration has not come as soon as I want it to, but God has a plan and I know it is better than anything I could come up with.  I believe that, even at 68 years of age, my best days are ahead of me.  God has something very good for me and I AM NOT going to throw it away because it doesn’t come WHEN I want it to.  I am getting better all the time, even when I can’t readily see it.  I still regularly experience fatigue, pain, and muscle spasms, but I am also pushing myself harder and doing more to get the same levels of fatigue, pain, and spasms.  God is with me so the giants I face are merely little bugs trying to look like giants.

There have been so many things to give me confidence in this season of my life, and it is merely A season in my life.  I have never been disabled for more than a few months and then only minor disability on a couple of occasions, so four years is a LONG time, but I know that God will bring me through this.  I mentioned Job in a previous article, how his friends urged him to curse God and die but he refused, kept his faith, and waited for God to resolve it.  I am not comparing myself to Job but the situation is similar in that I am facing what looks like an impossible situation but am believing for restoration, praying for it, and doing all I can to uphold my physical role.  Scripture says that if one has faith the size of a mustard seed one can say to a mountain “Be removed” and it will be done.  My mountain hasn’t been removed yet but I believe it is in the process of being moved and that the process will culminate just as the dream said it would, in total restoration and everyone will be amazed.

A nurse at the Claremore Veterans Center who has become a friend said that the mountain can be moved all at once, a dump truck load, a wheel barrow load, a shovel full, or a teaspoonful at a time but it WILL be moved if I will continue to believe, pray, and do all I can to overcome it.  One of my pastors, Dr. Ted Estes of Lifechanger Church in Claremore, told me once that some people get immediate healing and that for some it is a process they have to walk out in faith.  This one is of the walk-it-out-in-faith variety but the process will culminate in the healing of my dream.  I believe this completely and I WILL NOT give up on it because God said it and I believe it!

I submit this in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, in faith, with the responsibility given to me by Almighty God to honor His work and not let it die from neglect.