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Thursday, July 15, 2021

The Gift of Healing Part 9: Common Components of the Gift of Healing


When all you're left with is trusting Him


When you give the Savior your rocks (part 4), eliminate your reliance on man and his "wisdom" (part 6), have proper motives, step out of the box and hearken to God (part 7) and peel away the false traditions (part 8), you should be left with only the Savior to turn to in times of healing. In my opinion, trusting Him and healing naturally go hand-in-hand. Here's how one subscriber to this blog's Facebook group put it:
"Anyone who knows me knows that I can experience some pretty severe and devastating insomnia. For the past couple of days, I was prompted to try to fall asleep in the living room instead of my bedroom. 
I resisted this prompting because my bed is so incredibly soft and comfortable, and our living room couch is so incredibly hard and uncomfortable. I have back issues and my body melts into my bed, my bedroom is the perfect temperature, has the perfect night time lighting and is really quiet. It was all too easy to rationalize my reasons for not wanting to do this. I had plenty of reasons to disobey and only one reason to obey... TRUST. 
I quickly realized that He wanted to help me but first I needed to qualify for that help... and that qualification was to simply TRUST and OBEY. 
So, for the past two nights, I obeyed HIM and was able to fall asleep without much effort at all on my part. He helped to heal me by creating a situation that would prove I really did trust Him.
We've talked a lot about healing here lately, and I know we'll be discussing it a lot more this year. To me, one of the biggest takeaways thus far in my healing has been to simply trust Him, no matter how uncomfortable or irrational His way may seem at first. As we discussed here a few days ago, it really is a matter of first listening to what He tells us, then acting on it. When we pass THAT test, He rewards us immensely."
Joseph Smith would likely agree:
"For several days in October 1835, the Prophet made daily visits to his gravely ill father, attending to him “with great anxiety.” The Prophet’s journal records: “Waited on my father again, who was very sick. In secret prayer in the morning, the Lord said, ‘My servant, thy father shall live.’ I waited on him all this day with my heart raised to God in the name of Jesus Christ, that He would restore him to health, that I might be blessed with his company and advice, esteeming it one of the greatest earthly blessings to be blessed with the society of parents, whose mature years and experience render them capable of administering the most wholesome advice. At evening Brother David Whitmer came in. We called on the Lord in mighty prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, and laid our hands on him, and rebuked the disease. And God heard and answered our prayers—to the great joy and satisfaction of our souls. Our aged father arose and dressed himself, shouted, and praised the Lord.” (History of the Church, 2:289; from Joseph Smith journal entries, Oct. 8 and 11, 1835, Kirtland, OH)
When we trust man, we start from a position of cursedness. When we trust Him, however, we do so from a position of blessedness: 
"Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD." (Jeremiah 17:5)
"O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm." (2 Nephi 4:34)

 

Opening up the universe of healing possibilities


As stated at the end of my previous post, when you trust Him, a whole universe of possibilities opens up. And for some, this is a difficult proposition to grasp. That's because people say, "It's fine to have faith and dreams, but ultimately, you have to be a realist." 

Well, you don't have to be a realist. In fact, you shouldn't be a realist. 

We're supposed to be like God, and God isn't a realist. God doesn't just accept things as they are. God doesn't limit Himself by the reality of the world. He made the world. If He were a realist, He would've just looked at the situation and said, "Well, there's no light and we just have to accept that fact." Instead He said, "Let there be light!" And there was light.

God never just accepts things as they are. He doesn't care how things are. 

The realist would say, "Well that's it for Christianity. They just executed Jesus." But God would say, "Oh yeah? Wait three days and see what happens."

The realist would say, "God has said everything He's gonna say." But God would say, "Oh really? Watch what I do with this 14 year-old boy out in a grove of trees."

The realist would say, "Well, modern medicine and priesthood blessings can't solve your medical problem. So I guess you're stuck with feeling like crap for the rest of your life." But God would say, "Look what I did with this leper, this blind man and of course, Lazarus. Oh and P.S. -- I change not. I'm still the same God who's anxious to turn death into life and darkness into light."

If you call yourself a child of God, then you also can't be a realist. You can't be bound by what is real. You're not called to accept the world and its human-based conclusions; you're called to change the world! 

Whenever you're faced by a situation of darkness, fear, gloom, anger or sin - don't accept it. Whenever someone says, "Well, nothing can be done about it," Say, "Let there be light!" 

For your faith is found not in the real, but the unreal. Not in darkness, but light. (Inspired by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn's 2/24/21 Sapphires newsletter)

Common Denominators of True Healing


We latter-day saints love our checklists. We get them all the time -- in church talks, Liahona articles, firesides, lessons, etc. They're everywhere, and show no signs of going away anytime soon.

There is no checklist, no royal sequential list, for healing yourself or another. In its purest form, it's a pure blessing, which means it's entirely orchestrated by the Lord. As mentioned above, if you're correctly "dialed in" to the Lord (see Part 7) and have cast off the traditions of men (Part 8), then to a major extent, all you have left is the Lord to lead and guide you. This is EXACTLY where you need to be.

However, when I read several scriptural and personal accounts of healings, some "common denominators" begin to surface. Here's my summary:

Hear God's Words

When all you have left in the healing equation is the Lord, it becomes a heck of a lot easier to hear Him. Why? Because you're not trying to hear anything or anyone else. It's just you and Him.

Before we seek to utter one syllable of healing, we first seek God's own words, which will come to you in two directions:
"Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart." (D&C 8:2)
Note what I just said: you will be told not YOUR words, but God's words: 
"Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men." (D&C 11:21)
How do we obtain His words?
“Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man” (D&C 84:85)
Where do we find the words of life?
“The Old and New Testaments, the Book of Mormon, and the book of Doctrine and Covenants... are like a lighthouse in the ocean or a finger-post which points out the road we should travel. Where do they point? To the fountain of light.... That is what these books are for. They are of God; they are valuable and necessary: by them we can establish the doctrine of Christ.” (Brigham Young, JD 8:219)
"Scripture reading may...lead to current revelation on whatever [subject] the Lord wishes to communicate to the reader at that time. We do not overstate the point when we say that the scriptures can be a Urim and Thummim to assist each of us to receive personal revelation.
Because we believe that scripture reading can help us receive revelation, we are encouraged to read the scriptures again and again. By this means, we obtain access to what our Heavenly Father would have us know and do in our personal lives today. That is one reason Latter-day Saints believe in daily scripture study." (Elder Dallin H. Oaks, "Scripture Reading and Revelation," Ensign, Jan. 1995, p. 8)
Or, as author Stephen R. Covey explained,
"Obedience to General Commandments schools and prepares us to discern and obey the 'Personal Commandments' given us by the spirit." (Stephen R. Covey, “The Divine Center”, p. 247)
Thus, as Brother Joseph said, we should
"Search the scriptures -- search the revelations which we publish, and ask your Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to manifest the truth unto you, and if you do it with an eye single to His glory nothing doubting, He will answer you by the power of His Holy Spirit. You will then know for yourselves and not for another. You will not then be dependent on man for the knowledge of God: nor will there be any room for speculation. No; for when men receive their instruction from Him that made them, they know how He will save them. Then again we say: Search the Scriptures, search the Prophets and learn what portion of them belongs to you." (Joseph Smith, Jr., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 11)
In summary: As you make God's already-revealed words pre-eminent in your life, you thus qualify for further light and knowledge via personal revelation.
"Personal commandments are given by God through His Holy Spirit to His individual children. They are individualized, tailor-made to each individual in his or her particular situation.
Personal commandments come in the form of practices or specific things to do, which are largely based upon general commandments." (Stephen R. Covey, "The Divine Center", p. 247)
Now, in being open to God's personalized words to you, you need to be open to any possibility. There may be times when God says, "Yeah, let's proceed with the healing." Other times, it may be "Healing? Yes. Now? No." And in fact, sometimes, you'll get, "Thanks for asking, but nope, there'll be no healings of this person at this time."

Provided God's response is a green light, then you're permitted to proceed.

"First perceive with the Eye of Faith"

The spiritual creation FIRST precedes the physical creation in ALL things.
"But remember that all my judgments are not given unto men; and as the words have gone forth out of my mouth even so shall they be fulfilled, that the first shall be last, and that the last shall be first in all things whatsoever I have created by the word of my power, which is the power of my Spirit.
For by the power of my Spirit created I them; yea, all things both spiritual and temporal—
First spiritual, secondly temporal, which is the beginning of my work; and again, first temporal, and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work—" (D&C 29:30-32)
Here's what Elder Robert B. Harbertson of the First Quorum of the Seventy said about the "eye of faith":
"What is this eye of faith? What does it mean? Can you actually see the things that CAN come to pass? I believe that you can. You must be willing, though, to spend enough time to think about what you want to do, what you want to be, how you will react and what you will say under given circumstances. When you work on it hard enough and have it firmly planted in your mind with the eye of faith, you will actually see it happen. I believe you have to develop this kind of faith in order to be successful. It’s something more than just saying you have faith. You have to work for it. You have to live for it. You have to do all you can..." ("The Eye of Faith", New Era, September 1988)
Now, before you start thinking, "This is all great, but I can't do this," note that Pres. Kimball and I beg to differ:
"Herein lies the genius of the gospel of Jesus Christ, perceived by only the spiritual eye. Under the gospel’s beneficent laws, everyone—rich or poor, learned or unlearned—is encouraged first to perceive with the eye of faith." (Pres. Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Report, London England Area Conference 1976, p. 36).
So, before you endeavor to heal another, you actually EXERCISE faith. You make it not only an action verb; you make it REAL by envisioning what God wants to happen.

And then you watch God work a miracle before your very eyes.

This blog has extensively summarized the concept of visualization. Here's a listing of all the posts concerning visualization:

Pronounce the Commanded Blessing

When it comes to exercising the Gift of Healing, there shouldn't be ANY hint of indecision, weakness or uncertainty. If there is, then you haven't obtained God's words. 

The phrase "Arise and walk" uttered by Yeshua was not couched in the phrase "If it's God's will" or "If it's acceptable to God" because Yeshua had already obtained God's word and knew for a fact that Father desired the blessing to be executed. This allowed Yeshua -- and us -- to "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)

When words come out of your mouth that aren't your words, they are decisive, conclusive and final, they are what I call "Commanded Blessings." 
“The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” (Deuteronomy 28:8) 
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” (Psalm 133:1,3)
Some of the most powerful examples of faith in the scriptures are found among those who pronounced commanded spoke the commanded blessing God put into their hearts and minds, and it happened: 
"We understand that when a man works by faith he works by mental exertion instead of physical force. It is by words, instead of by exerting his physical powers, with which every being works when he works by faith. God said, “Let there be light: and there was light” (Gen 1:3). Joshua spake and the great lights which God had created stood still (Joshua 10:12-13). Elijah commanded and the heavens were stayed for the space of three years and six months, so that it did not rain; he again commanded and the heavens gave forth rain (1 Kings 17:1; 18:1, 41-45). All this was done by faith. And the Savior says: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this mountain, Remove…and it shall remove (Matt 17:20); or “say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up…and… planted in the sea; and it should obey you” (Luke 17:6). Faith, then, works by words; and with these its mightiest works have been and will be performed" (Lecture on Faith 7:3)
Enoch learned and spoke the word of God by which he performed mighty miracles:
"And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him." (Moses 7:13)
Other prophets have testified of the power of the word of God:

Paul: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Hebrews 11:3)

Moroni: “Who shall say that it was not a miracle that by his word the heaven and the earth should be; and by the power of his word man was created of the dust of the earth; and by the power of his word have miracles been wrought?" (Mormon 9:17)

Nephi: “Now ye know that Moses was commanded of the Lord to do that great work; and ye know that by his word the waters of the Red Sea were divided hither and thither, and they passed through on dry ground.” (1 Nephi 17:26)

Ultimately, God's example from the very first moment of creation should inspire us:
"Y'hee Or!' 
It's Hebrew for 'Let there be light!'  It's what God said in the beginning. 
This is His very first act of creation and the foundation of all His other works. 
It was in the darkness of a Judean tomb circa the year 30 A.D. that God said again, 'Y'hee Or! Let there be light!' And there was light, in the resurrection. 
So it's not just that God brings light, but that God brings light specifically out of darkness. 
Most believers curse, fear or shun the darkness; or, at best, avoid the darkness. That may be you. Chances are, there is some darkness in your life, in your circumstance, or on the horizon that you fear or look upon as a negative thing. 
But according to the scriptures, darkness is not something to be cursed, feared, shunned, or avoided. God doesn't fear the dark; He brings miracles out of it. And you need to be the same. 
It's only in the dark that you might have the awesome privilege of performing a miracle by the power of God.
Let's hear it: "Y'hee Or! Let there be light!" 
And there will be light." (Inspired by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn's 3/4/21 Sapphires newsletter, “The Darkness You Need for Light”)
Want to learn more about Commanded Blessings? Click here and here.

Experience the Blessed Presence of God

You've obtained God's word, you've envisioned what God wants to have happen and have approached His throne of grace with boldness to make it all happen. 

Now it's time to see what God does!

And there's no better example of this than John G. Lake. 

From 1908 - 1913, Lake served as a Christian, non-LDS missionary to South Africa. During that time, Lake buried many who had contracted Bubonic Plague. During that time, many nations sent ships with doctors and medical supplies to help stop this dreaded pandemic, which was so deadly, death was very likely if you even touched someone or something with the plague.

Unlike other medical professionals, neither Lake nor his assistant were affected as they interacted with others who had contracted the plague. One of the doctors sent for Lake and asked, “What have you been using to protect yourself? Our corps has this preventative and that, which we use as protection, but we concluded that if a man could stay on the ground as you have and keep ministering to the sick and burying the dead, you must have a secret. What is it?”

Lake answered, “Brother, that is the ‘law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus'. I believe that just as long as I keep my soul in contact with the living god so that His Spirit is flowing into my soul and body, that no germ will ever attach itself to me, for the Spirit of God will kill it.”

The doctor asked, “Don’t you think that you had better use our preventative?” 

Lake replied, “No, but doctor, I think that you would like to experiment with me. If you will go over to one of these dead people and take the foam that comes out of their lungs after death, then put it under the microscope, you will see masses of living germs. You will find they are alive until a reasonable time after a man is dead. You can fill my hand with them and I will keep it under the microscope, and instead of these germs remaining alive, they will die instantly.” 

They tried it and found it was true. The plague bacteria instantly died in Lake’s hand. 

The doctor questioned, “What is that?” 

Lake replied, “That is ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.’ When a man’s spirit and a man’s body are filled with the blessed presence of God, it oozes out of the pores of your flesh and kills the germs.”

Lake believed the Word of God is stronger than any sickness or any disease. And his faith in God was proven to be powerful enough to stop plagues on contact.

Thank God for your experience 

If the commanded blessing of healing has truly been aligned with God, then it should leave you rejoicing in God, praising God, then praising Him some more.
"And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive." (Alma 7:23)
"Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things." (D&C 59:7)
"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 5:20)
"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
"...give thanks in all things." (Mosiah 26:39)
"...in everything give thanks." (D&C 98:1)
"Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God." (Psalm 147:7)
"Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." (Alma 37:37)
In sincerely expressing this gratitude, we can expect even more reasons to praise His name:
"And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more." (D&C 78:19)

How it should be


This post isn't intended to be a "How to" of the Gift of Healing. If you treat it as such, you're missing the point.

Healing is a Gift of Faith. And whenever, wherever faith is truly present, so is God's power. Thus, the Gift of Healing should be, at the minimum, a clear manifestation of God's power.

I have no words to describe the times I've witnessed blessings which incorporated all of the above characteristics. They transformed not only the person receiving the blessing, but also me (as the one giving or witnessing the blessing).

How many times have you actually felt the power of God before a blessing, during a blessing and after a blessing? I mean, you could PHYSICALLY feel it?

These are supposed to be events when God's knowledge, words and power are manifest in miraculous ways! 

As I have said since Day 1 on this blog, "Aim higher! Reach further! Attain greater!"

UNLEASH THE POWER OF FAITH, THE POWER OF HEALING AND THE POWER OF GOD! (See 1 Kings 18:30-39)

In doing so, you'll never, ever forget the experience.




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