Also, below are some more healing scriptures that Dodie Osteen (Joel Osteen's mother) used to speak healing over herself when she was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and given just weeks to live. Dodie was completely healed!
Please say these healing scriptures three times (3x) daily just like you're taking medicine. There is POWER in the WORD of GOD!
Exodus 15:26
He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."
Exodus 23:25
Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you.
Deuteronomy 7:15
The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt…
Deuteronomy 28:1-14, 61
If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock--the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity--in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground--in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you. The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
I Kings 8:56
Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.
Psalm 91:16
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.
Psalm 103:3
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits--who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.
Psalm 107:20
He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.
Psalm 118:17
I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.
Proverbs 4:20-23
My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body.
Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 53:4-5
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Jeremiah 1:12
The LORD said to me, "You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled."
Jeremiah 30:17
But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,' declares the LORD, `because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.'
Joel 3:10
Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, `I am strong!`
Nahum 1:9
Whatever they plot against the LORD he will bring to an end; trouble will not come a second time.
Matthew 8:2-3
A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.
Matthew 8:17
This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."
Matthew 18:18-19
"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
Matthew 21:21
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, `Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.
Mark 11:23-24
"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, `Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Mark 16:17-18
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Romans 4:17-21
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
Romans 8:11
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
II Corinthians 10:4-5
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Galatians 3:13-14
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
Ephesians 6:10-17
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Philippians 2:13
...for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
II Timothy 1:7
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:35
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
Hebrews 11:11
By faith Abraham, even though he was past age--and Sarah herself was barren--was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
James 5:14-15
Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
I Peter 2:24
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
I John 3:21-22
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
III John 2
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.
Revelations 12:11
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
Always Hope
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Healing Scriptures
Glorious Sunday to you, Dear Friends! I write this blog from my bed, where I have been the last three days due to a crippling flare-up in my body. But it's OKAY! My soul remains joyful and my spirit hopeful, for God is holding me tight in His grasp and the joy of the Lord is my strength! I am resting in His promises. Here is a wonderful compilation of healing scriptures for you today:
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Getting Out of Your Pit
This is a series from Beth Moore on "Getting Out of Your Pit." We all have them and everyone's are different. What pits are keeping you from living your life as God has called you to?
Always Hope
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Heavy Metal Toxicity as a Contributing Factor to Disease
My very first blog was about cellular malfunction and how virtually every disease can be linked back to this. I wrote about how following the right diet and eliminating toxins makes it possible to reverse the disease process. If you haven't already read this blog, I would encourage you to go back and do so now. While the idea of "bad stuff out, good stuff in" is simple, the actual execution can be completely overwhelming. Don't worry. As we go on, we will be talking about the specific steps you can implement to achieve good health. Today though, I want to talk about heavy metal toxicity--in particular mercury--and the effects it has on the human body.
I found out about heavy metal toxicity in a rather unusual way. I started feeling poorly when I was about 21, although my symptoms started off as vague ones and I was able to ignore them for a long time. I would complain to my doctor and she ran all kinds of tests but on paper, everything looked just fine. I graduated college and started law school, all the while having less and less energy and becoming weaker and weaker. When I started having dizzy spells during the spring semester of my first year of law school, my doctor told me I had anxiety and started to treat me for that. I felt like something deeper was going on with me, but at the time I had no knowledge about health or healing and besides, she was the doctor and she knew best, right? However, I never really felt any better and the only thing that happened was that any time I told someone I did not feel good, they thought it was all in my head.
In January of 2008, I was under a tremendous amount of stress. I woke up one morning and could not get out of bed. I was experiencing all my symptoms 10 times worse than what they usually were. I felt like a new born baby--I could not sit up and had no muscle control. For anyone who has seen the movie "Beloved," I looked like the daughter that died and came back to life but could not even hold up the weight of her head. I was having internal and external tremors--sometimes it felt like I was leaning up against a generator and my body was being vibrated from the inside out, other times, I could actually see different part of my body shaking but there was nothing I could do about it. My joints hurt terribly; I hard a very hard time breathing; I had difficulty swallowing and would often choke; I would bruise easily; I couldn't concentrate; was forgetful; my muscles twitched; I had headaches; acid refulx; dizziness; fatigue; weird sensory feelings like burning; tingling and numbness; malaise; my hair was falling out in droves--it was not a pretty picture.
At that point, I started to research my symptoms online and everything pointed to an autoimmune disorder. I went to my doctor and asked that she test my ANA levels. Sure enough, it came back that I had elevated ANA levels with a 1:160 titre and a Nucleolar pattern. She was shocked. For me, the results were bitter-sweet. I was happy to know I may have had an actual answer as to what was going on with me, but now I was facing the fact that I had a chronic, "non-curable" illness. I immediately went to see a Rheumatologist, who did not believe my lab results because they were so "rare." To make a long story short, my labs came back for the second time just the same and so I was diagnosed with "possible Scleroderma and/or Lupus." He told me things were only going to get worse and that besides putting me on steroids, there was nothing else he could do for me. It was scary not to even be out of my 20s and to think that my life was pretty much over.
I felt terrible, but I was determined not to have to be put on steroids because I knew that they could do terrible things to your body. What's more, I did not have the hallmarks of either Scleroderma or Lupus (no hard skin, no malar rash, no photo-sensitivity). Things did not quite fit together in my head or in my heart. I was praying a lot for direction (and because I felt so bad) and I started to research what other things might be caused by my "very specific" Nucleolar cellular pattern. God was really good to me because he started to put medical journal articles in my path that I was able to freely access and actually understand!
One particular medical journal article was about rats that were exposed to low levels of mercury. These rats became sick with Lupus-like symptoms and started produce the very specific Nucleolar antibodies that I also displayed. 'Mercury?' I thought, 'Well, that's fine for the rats that were actually purposely exposed to it, but where would I have ever picked up something like that? Surely it couldn't be from the mercury fillings in my mouth that the American Dental Association (ADA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) both says are completely safe?!' I had 7 “metal” fillings in my mouth so I began to research their potential effects on people's health. What I discovered about Mercury poisoning shocked and astounded me. It was the very first time I have seen all of my symptoms described together:
"...The primary symptoms of mercury-poisoning are vague psychic ones. Short-time memory deteriorates. You will find it difficult to concentrate on tasks which require attention and thinking. It is easier to execute tasks that are well known rather than to learn something new. You avoid social contacts which demand that you get out of your introvert behavior. You loose your temper easily and switch between different moods for no particular reason. Little by little, a more physical kind of exhaustion is added to the condition. More and more effort is required to initiate activities and you sometimes break things due to inability to co-ordinate your movements with your visual impressions (ataxia). Headaches, minor involuntary muscle spasms or ticks within groups of muscles can also appear. Hands and feet become easily cold, attacks of dizziness or vertigo can occur, and periodically you may find it difficult to focus your eyes and to see clearly. Joint and muscle pains, stiffness, lumbago (lower back pain) and similar symptoms often appear at an early stage. They can be caused or increased by low availability of the trace element selenium. Nervous heart, sometimes accompanied by a week pulse, sometimes by a hard pulse, creates a feeling of anxiety. You don't sleep well, you wake up stiff and never feel thoroughly rested. As a whole, you need more sleep than before, and you are constantly tired. Some individuals develop pronounced intestinal and stomach disturbances. Bloating is common and diarrhea can alternate with constipation. 50 to 200 micrograms of mercury from each amalgam can pass daily through the gastrointestinal tract. There is usually irritation where mercury first interacts with tissues. The upper respiratory tract easily becomes chronically inflamed and symptoms in mouth appear. The gums bleed when you brush your teeth, red and white irritations (lichen, leukoplakia) arise, blisters and sensitivity to certain nutritives develop, your teeth ache, the whole jaw can become more or less inflamed, and some persons develop sinusitis. Metal taste in your mouth is a direct sign of metal-poisoning (mercury, copper). The more poisoned you are, the more serious and chronic your problems become. The pituitary gland will be affected, which often leads to frequent urination. When the thyroid gland is affected, secondary effects on the metabolism can appear. Both glands accumulate mercury. Neurological symptoms such as numbness, hypersensitivity and paralysis exacerbate. It is often hard to determine if the cause is in the nervous or circulatory systems..."
I quickly learned that mercury is more poisonous than any other metal on earth except for plutonium. Although the safety of dental filling material containing mercury has been debated in dental circles since the 1800’s, the official opinion of the ADA is that when mercury is combined with other metals and used in dental amalgam fillings, the toxic properties of mercury are rendered harmless. However, there exists a growing awareness among health care practitioners and researchers that this is not the case and that a significant amount of mercury is released by these fillings to cause health problems, especially in genetically susceptible individuals (like myself). Research has demonstrated that mercury vapor is continuously released from amalgam fillings in measurable quantities from the moment fillings are inserted into teeth. Mercury is inhaled, swallowed and absorbed directly in the mouth. I would urge everyone to watch this VIDEO when you can.
Studies have linked mercury exposure with a number and variety of illnesses including allergies, chronic fatigue, Fibromyalgia, MS, Lupus, Autism, Alzheimer's, depression, anxiety, GI disorders (such as IBS and Chron's), immune system suppression, thyroid problems, periodontal disease, neurological problems, reproductive disorders, birth defects, kidney disease, heart problems, hypertension, respiratory disorders, skin disease, and the list goes on and on.
Mercury can interfere with any process or organ in the body, since it is poisonous to all cells, but it has a marked effect on the immune system. This has been shown by research indicating the presence of mercury amalgam fillings in the mouth reducing the immune system efficiency by one-third to one-half. If a person has a chronic health problem for which a cause has not been found and mercury fillings are present in the mouth, mercury toxicity may be a contributing factor. It is also important to note that while someone like me may be genetically predisposed to extreme mercury sensitivity, others may be toxic and not even know it. Somehow, someway though, if you are toxic, it will eventually catch up with you.
At this point, I must disclose to you that while the ADA still touts mercury amalgams as being safe, it seems that they have the most to gain by making this declaration because they are the ones that own two patents on the amalgams! Furthermore, in a recent development, the FDA has been forced (through legal action) to put up a disclaimer about the potential dangers of mercury amalgams in pregnant and/or lactating women and children. As soon as the FDA did this, the ADA removed any and all references to the FDA in all of their literature about the safety of dental amalgams.
Even if one does not have any silver fillings in their mouth, they are not necessarily in the clear with regard to mercury. One does not ever need to have had a mercury amalgam to have high levels of mercury in their system. Research shows that while we indeed get a steady stream of mercury from our amalgams, we get even more in our diet and just from the environment in general. What's more, people who once had amalgams, but have since had them removed (without using a biological dentist), can be almost positive that they have high levels of mercury toxicity.
So why hasn't your dentist told you about the dangers of mercury amalgams? Two reasons: 1) they just don't know any better because the ADA is telling them the mercury fillings are safe (they have been duped just like you and me); and 2) if they do happen to know better (and some of them do), they are not allowed to suggest that you get your fillings removed for health purposes BECAUSE THEY CAN LOSE THEIR LICENSE! The ADA will, and has, taken the licenses of dentists who have spoken out about the dangers of mercury. In the absence of a defective filling, a dentist must wait for the patient to ask for his/her amalgams to be removed; they cannot suggest that you remove them!
There is a highly specialized way of removing amalgams that involves filters, oxygen/gas masks for the dentist, nurses and patient, full body covers, protective eyewear, heavy suction of mercury vapors, and more. Most dentists are not trained in this area and therefore, a Biological/Holistic/Environmental Dentist should be consulted--particularly one familiar with the IAOMT removal method. Even if one is getting a mercury filling out and having it replaced with a white composite for aesthetic reasons, this very specialized procedure needs to be followed. If not, you will most assuredly expose yourself to dangerous levels of mercury vapors and particulate that can cause massive damage to your system. It is definitely worth noting here that when mercury is shipped to dentists to be put in your mouth, it comes in a bio-hazard container. Then, when the mercury is removed from your mouth--whether by a regular or biological dentist--it is placed in a hazardous waste container and disposed of accordingly.
So now that I had figured out at least one of the contributing factors in my "autoimmunity," I needed a solution! I found a biological dentist here in West Palm Beach that happens to be one of the front-runners of the mercury-free movement. He has been on talk shows and radio programs, written books, articles, etc. I met with this dentist right after I moved down here and set up an appointment to get my amalgams removed. It cost me about $2,000.00 to get my 7 amalgams taken out and replaced with bio-compatible, composite material. The morning after the procedure, I realized that for the first time, my jaw was not sore and that I had not been grinding my teeth in my sleep. I still have not done that again and my TMJ has pretty much resolved itself.
My biological dentist, Dr. Medlock, told me that I was going to need "oral chelation" in order to pull out and remove all the mercury that was hiding out in my joints, tissues, brain, organs, etc. Mercury does not detox itself very easily and many people have a genetic predisposition that won't let them methylate mercury to move it out of the body. To help me with the chelation process, Dr. Medlock directed me to Dr. Glenn Chapman, an "integrative" M.D. here in West Palm. Integrative medicine is wonderful because it combines the best of both the holistic and the conventional worlds. Doctors that prescribe to this method of practice try to do as much as they can holistically for their patients but they also use conventional medical tests and treatments if it will contribute to the overall healing of the patient. Within a year of getting my fillings out and doing about 20 chelation rounds, I was able to get off the couch and start doing some of the things that I enjoyed again. I will touch more on chelation in my next blog.
I received my actual diagnosis of Sjogren's Disease in May 2010 but I truly believe that my "autoimmune disease" (cellular malfunction) was caused by a perfect storm that I unknowingly and unwittignly created for myself. Mercury, and other heavy metals, is one of the main culprits that I believe has contributed to my "illness." Receiving this diagnosis has not deterred me from focusing on the CAUSES of the cellular malfunction in my body. I don't want to just treat my symptoms, as the conventional medical world would have me do; I want to get to the ROOT of my disease. If that is cellular malfunction, then to make myself well I have to reverse this malfunction so that my cells can operate like God designed them to. While you won't hear about it on Nightline, through your general physician or from any other major media outlets, cellular malfunction CAN be reversed. I have seen it happen in others and to some extent, I have had it happen in me. I still have a ways to go, but I will get there. I did not become ill overnight and I will not become well overnight either. But that's okay! Since I'm called to "just believe," I will continue to do the things that God is leading me to do to receive my healing and I will continue to tell others about how they can receive theirs. Because no matter what man says is impossible, I know that God says otherwise...and that is more than enough for me.
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
Your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:5
Always Hope
I found out about heavy metal toxicity in a rather unusual way. I started feeling poorly when I was about 21, although my symptoms started off as vague ones and I was able to ignore them for a long time. I would complain to my doctor and she ran all kinds of tests but on paper, everything looked just fine. I graduated college and started law school, all the while having less and less energy and becoming weaker and weaker. When I started having dizzy spells during the spring semester of my first year of law school, my doctor told me I had anxiety and started to treat me for that. I felt like something deeper was going on with me, but at the time I had no knowledge about health or healing and besides, she was the doctor and she knew best, right? However, I never really felt any better and the only thing that happened was that any time I told someone I did not feel good, they thought it was all in my head.
In January of 2008, I was under a tremendous amount of stress. I woke up one morning and could not get out of bed. I was experiencing all my symptoms 10 times worse than what they usually were. I felt like a new born baby--I could not sit up and had no muscle control. For anyone who has seen the movie "Beloved," I looked like the daughter that died and came back to life but could not even hold up the weight of her head. I was having internal and external tremors--sometimes it felt like I was leaning up against a generator and my body was being vibrated from the inside out, other times, I could actually see different part of my body shaking but there was nothing I could do about it. My joints hurt terribly; I hard a very hard time breathing; I had difficulty swallowing and would often choke; I would bruise easily; I couldn't concentrate; was forgetful; my muscles twitched; I had headaches; acid refulx; dizziness; fatigue; weird sensory feelings like burning; tingling and numbness; malaise; my hair was falling out in droves--it was not a pretty picture.
At that point, I started to research my symptoms online and everything pointed to an autoimmune disorder. I went to my doctor and asked that she test my ANA levels. Sure enough, it came back that I had elevated ANA levels with a 1:160 titre and a Nucleolar pattern. She was shocked. For me, the results were bitter-sweet. I was happy to know I may have had an actual answer as to what was going on with me, but now I was facing the fact that I had a chronic, "non-curable" illness. I immediately went to see a Rheumatologist, who did not believe my lab results because they were so "rare." To make a long story short, my labs came back for the second time just the same and so I was diagnosed with "possible Scleroderma and/or Lupus." He told me things were only going to get worse and that besides putting me on steroids, there was nothing else he could do for me. It was scary not to even be out of my 20s and to think that my life was pretty much over.
I felt terrible, but I was determined not to have to be put on steroids because I knew that they could do terrible things to your body. What's more, I did not have the hallmarks of either Scleroderma or Lupus (no hard skin, no malar rash, no photo-sensitivity). Things did not quite fit together in my head or in my heart. I was praying a lot for direction (and because I felt so bad) and I started to research what other things might be caused by my "very specific" Nucleolar cellular pattern. God was really good to me because he started to put medical journal articles in my path that I was able to freely access and actually understand!
One particular medical journal article was about rats that were exposed to low levels of mercury. These rats became sick with Lupus-like symptoms and started produce the very specific Nucleolar antibodies that I also displayed. 'Mercury?' I thought, 'Well, that's fine for the rats that were actually purposely exposed to it, but where would I have ever picked up something like that? Surely it couldn't be from the mercury fillings in my mouth that the American Dental Association (ADA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) both says are completely safe?!' I had 7 “metal” fillings in my mouth so I began to research their potential effects on people's health. What I discovered about Mercury poisoning shocked and astounded me. It was the very first time I have seen all of my symptoms described together:
"...The primary symptoms of mercury-poisoning are vague psychic ones. Short-time memory deteriorates. You will find it difficult to concentrate on tasks which require attention and thinking. It is easier to execute tasks that are well known rather than to learn something new. You avoid social contacts which demand that you get out of your introvert behavior. You loose your temper easily and switch between different moods for no particular reason. Little by little, a more physical kind of exhaustion is added to the condition. More and more effort is required to initiate activities and you sometimes break things due to inability to co-ordinate your movements with your visual impressions (ataxia). Headaches, minor involuntary muscle spasms or ticks within groups of muscles can also appear. Hands and feet become easily cold, attacks of dizziness or vertigo can occur, and periodically you may find it difficult to focus your eyes and to see clearly. Joint and muscle pains, stiffness, lumbago (lower back pain) and similar symptoms often appear at an early stage. They can be caused or increased by low availability of the trace element selenium. Nervous heart, sometimes accompanied by a week pulse, sometimes by a hard pulse, creates a feeling of anxiety. You don't sleep well, you wake up stiff and never feel thoroughly rested. As a whole, you need more sleep than before, and you are constantly tired. Some individuals develop pronounced intestinal and stomach disturbances. Bloating is common and diarrhea can alternate with constipation. 50 to 200 micrograms of mercury from each amalgam can pass daily through the gastrointestinal tract. There is usually irritation where mercury first interacts with tissues. The upper respiratory tract easily becomes chronically inflamed and symptoms in mouth appear. The gums bleed when you brush your teeth, red and white irritations (lichen, leukoplakia) arise, blisters and sensitivity to certain nutritives develop, your teeth ache, the whole jaw can become more or less inflamed, and some persons develop sinusitis. Metal taste in your mouth is a direct sign of metal-poisoning (mercury, copper). The more poisoned you are, the more serious and chronic your problems become. The pituitary gland will be affected, which often leads to frequent urination. When the thyroid gland is affected, secondary effects on the metabolism can appear. Both glands accumulate mercury. Neurological symptoms such as numbness, hypersensitivity and paralysis exacerbate. It is often hard to determine if the cause is in the nervous or circulatory systems..."
I quickly learned that mercury is more poisonous than any other metal on earth except for plutonium. Although the safety of dental filling material containing mercury has been debated in dental circles since the 1800’s, the official opinion of the ADA is that when mercury is combined with other metals and used in dental amalgam fillings, the toxic properties of mercury are rendered harmless. However, there exists a growing awareness among health care practitioners and researchers that this is not the case and that a significant amount of mercury is released by these fillings to cause health problems, especially in genetically susceptible individuals (like myself). Research has demonstrated that mercury vapor is continuously released from amalgam fillings in measurable quantities from the moment fillings are inserted into teeth. Mercury is inhaled, swallowed and absorbed directly in the mouth. I would urge everyone to watch this VIDEO when you can.
Studies have linked mercury exposure with a number and variety of illnesses including allergies, chronic fatigue, Fibromyalgia, MS, Lupus, Autism, Alzheimer's, depression, anxiety, GI disorders (such as IBS and Chron's), immune system suppression, thyroid problems, periodontal disease, neurological problems, reproductive disorders, birth defects, kidney disease, heart problems, hypertension, respiratory disorders, skin disease, and the list goes on and on.
Mercury can interfere with any process or organ in the body, since it is poisonous to all cells, but it has a marked effect on the immune system. This has been shown by research indicating the presence of mercury amalgam fillings in the mouth reducing the immune system efficiency by one-third to one-half. If a person has a chronic health problem for which a cause has not been found and mercury fillings are present in the mouth, mercury toxicity may be a contributing factor. It is also important to note that while someone like me may be genetically predisposed to extreme mercury sensitivity, others may be toxic and not even know it. Somehow, someway though, if you are toxic, it will eventually catch up with you.
At this point, I must disclose to you that while the ADA still touts mercury amalgams as being safe, it seems that they have the most to gain by making this declaration because they are the ones that own two patents on the amalgams! Furthermore, in a recent development, the FDA has been forced (through legal action) to put up a disclaimer about the potential dangers of mercury amalgams in pregnant and/or lactating women and children. As soon as the FDA did this, the ADA removed any and all references to the FDA in all of their literature about the safety of dental amalgams.
Even if one does not have any silver fillings in their mouth, they are not necessarily in the clear with regard to mercury. One does not ever need to have had a mercury amalgam to have high levels of mercury in their system. Research shows that while we indeed get a steady stream of mercury from our amalgams, we get even more in our diet and just from the environment in general. What's more, people who once had amalgams, but have since had them removed (without using a biological dentist), can be almost positive that they have high levels of mercury toxicity.
So why hasn't your dentist told you about the dangers of mercury amalgams? Two reasons: 1) they just don't know any better because the ADA is telling them the mercury fillings are safe (they have been duped just like you and me); and 2) if they do happen to know better (and some of them do), they are not allowed to suggest that you get your fillings removed for health purposes BECAUSE THEY CAN LOSE THEIR LICENSE! The ADA will, and has, taken the licenses of dentists who have spoken out about the dangers of mercury. In the absence of a defective filling, a dentist must wait for the patient to ask for his/her amalgams to be removed; they cannot suggest that you remove them!
There is a highly specialized way of removing amalgams that involves filters, oxygen/gas masks for the dentist, nurses and patient, full body covers, protective eyewear, heavy suction of mercury vapors, and more. Most dentists are not trained in this area and therefore, a Biological/Holistic/Environmental Dentist should be consulted--particularly one familiar with the IAOMT removal method. Even if one is getting a mercury filling out and having it replaced with a white composite for aesthetic reasons, this very specialized procedure needs to be followed. If not, you will most assuredly expose yourself to dangerous levels of mercury vapors and particulate that can cause massive damage to your system. It is definitely worth noting here that when mercury is shipped to dentists to be put in your mouth, it comes in a bio-hazard container. Then, when the mercury is removed from your mouth--whether by a regular or biological dentist--it is placed in a hazardous waste container and disposed of accordingly.
So now that I had figured out at least one of the contributing factors in my "autoimmunity," I needed a solution! I found a biological dentist here in West Palm Beach that happens to be one of the front-runners of the mercury-free movement. He has been on talk shows and radio programs, written books, articles, etc. I met with this dentist right after I moved down here and set up an appointment to get my amalgams removed. It cost me about $2,000.00 to get my 7 amalgams taken out and replaced with bio-compatible, composite material. The morning after the procedure, I realized that for the first time, my jaw was not sore and that I had not been grinding my teeth in my sleep. I still have not done that again and my TMJ has pretty much resolved itself.
My biological dentist, Dr. Medlock, told me that I was going to need "oral chelation" in order to pull out and remove all the mercury that was hiding out in my joints, tissues, brain, organs, etc. Mercury does not detox itself very easily and many people have a genetic predisposition that won't let them methylate mercury to move it out of the body. To help me with the chelation process, Dr. Medlock directed me to Dr. Glenn Chapman, an "integrative" M.D. here in West Palm. Integrative medicine is wonderful because it combines the best of both the holistic and the conventional worlds. Doctors that prescribe to this method of practice try to do as much as they can holistically for their patients but they also use conventional medical tests and treatments if it will contribute to the overall healing of the patient. Within a year of getting my fillings out and doing about 20 chelation rounds, I was able to get off the couch and start doing some of the things that I enjoyed again. I will touch more on chelation in my next blog.
I received my actual diagnosis of Sjogren's Disease in May 2010 but I truly believe that my "autoimmune disease" (cellular malfunction) was caused by a perfect storm that I unknowingly and unwittignly created for myself. Mercury, and other heavy metals, is one of the main culprits that I believe has contributed to my "illness." Receiving this diagnosis has not deterred me from focusing on the CAUSES of the cellular malfunction in my body. I don't want to just treat my symptoms, as the conventional medical world would have me do; I want to get to the ROOT of my disease. If that is cellular malfunction, then to make myself well I have to reverse this malfunction so that my cells can operate like God designed them to. While you won't hear about it on Nightline, through your general physician or from any other major media outlets, cellular malfunction CAN be reversed. I have seen it happen in others and to some extent, I have had it happen in me. I still have a ways to go, but I will get there. I did not become ill overnight and I will not become well overnight either. But that's okay! Since I'm called to "just believe," I will continue to do the things that God is leading me to do to receive my healing and I will continue to tell others about how they can receive theirs. Because no matter what man says is impossible, I know that God says otherwise...and that is more than enough for me.
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
Your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:5
Always Hope
Monday, August 15, 2011
The Cross We Carry
We complain about the cross we bear but don't realize it is preparing us for the dip in the road that God can see and we cannot.
Whatever your cross, whatever your pain,
there will always be sunshine, after the rain.
Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall;
But God's always ready, to answer your call.
He knows every heartache, sees every tear,
a word from His lips, can calm every fear.
Your sorrows may linger, throughout the night,
But suddenly vanish, with dawn's early light.
The Savior is waiting, somewhere above,
to give you His grace, and send you His love.
Always Hope
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Perserverence Through Longsuffering
We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4
In our modern society, it is difficult to digest the concept of longsuffering. When we find ourselves in a thorny situation, we often resign to our challenge and wait for the end to come. And if we do suffer, our confrontations are often short lived. How many of us have had to suffer for years . . . or most of our lives?
In our modern society, it is difficult to digest the concept of longsuffering. When we find ourselves in a thorny situation, we often resign to our challenge and wait for the end to come. And if we do suffer, our confrontations are often short lived. How many of us have had to suffer for years . . . or most of our lives?
Joseph did. And he could have easily given in to his inevitably horrible situation. Sold by his brothers, taken to a foreign land, accused wrongly by his master's wife, put in prison--yet Joseph refused to give up. Instead, he interpreted Pharaoh's dreams, became a ruling official, and saved the lives of many during the years of famine . . . including the brothers who betrayed him.
Joseph patiently served God, making the most of his situation while exhibiting the sweetness of long-suffering. He had no way of knowing what God had in store for him in the midst of his pain. The emotions he experienced reuniting with his father and saving his family from famine gave him great joy--erasing the years of sorrow. Like Joseph, we need to rest in God's purpose and plan when faced with trials.
Here are six questions to ask overselves when we suffer, and what to do if the answer is "yes":
Question: Am I being punished by God for sin?
Our Response: Confess known sin.
Question: Is Satan attacking me as I try to survive as a Christian?
Our Response: Call on God for strength.
Question: Am I being prepared for a special service, learning to be
compassionate to those who suffer?
Our Response: Resist self-pity. Ask God to open doors of opportunity and help
you discover others who suffer as you do.
Question: Am I specifically selected for testing, like Job?
Our Response: Accept help from the body of believers. Trust God to work His
purpose through you.
Question: Is my suffering a result of natural consequences for which I am
not directly responsible?
Our Response: Recognize that in a sinful world, both good and bad people will
suffer. But the good person has a promise from God that his or her
suffering will one day come to an end.
Question: Is my suffering due to some unknown reason?
Our Response: Don't draw inward from the pain. Proclaim your faith in God,
know that He cares, and wait patiently for His aid.
If a bird is flying for pleasure, it flies with the wind; but if it meets danger, it turns and faces the wind in order that it may fly higher. Corrie Ten Boom
Joseph, King of Dreams, can be viewed HERE
Recommended Reading Genesis 42-44 |
From Today's Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah
Always Hope
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Raised From The Dead
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Romans 8:11
For those of you still battling unbelief for your healing, check out this truly miraculous story based out of WA:
For those of you still battling unbelief for your healing, check out this truly miraculous story based out of WA:
Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com
And here is the website of the photographer that was there to capture it all:
Boy brought back to life after drowning in the ocean, Cranberry beach approach, Long Beach, Wa.
Always Hope
Boy brought back to life after drowning in the ocean, Cranberry beach approach, Long Beach, Wa.
Always Hope
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Jehovah Rapha
Last night I fell asleep with the TV on again. It's a nasty habit and one my husband admittedly isn't too keen on either. I have only developed this habit in the last three years or so; it was after I became ill and it seems to help me drift off to sleep. I cannot exactly pinpoint why I believe it helps me but I think it is a cross between drowning out the ringing and the rushing in my ears and just giving me some sort of noise so in that place between wakefulness and sleep, I can tell that I am still alive. That place isn't always easy for me....
Usually, once I have fallen asleep, I don't have a problem staying asleep. This is an absolute Godsend because I know most people with chronic conditions have a terrible time falling asleep and staying asleep. A lack of sleep is one of the biggest stressors on our body and simply makes everything ten times worse. I am not a morning person and never have been, so I usually sleep until 9 AM. This morning, however, I was awoken at precisely 6:30 AM due to a very quickened heartbeat in my chest. I do tend to have a lot of angina and other weird pains and flutters in my chest, but this was a rapid heartbeat and I confirmed it by taking my pulse. I sat up in bed and just the repositioning helped to calm my heart back down. It was then that I realized Joyce Meyer was on my TV screen.
For those of you that don't know who Joyce Meyer is, she is a Christian evangelist that has been bringing the message of the Gospel through TV, radio, books and live conferences for many years now. I like Joyce because she preaches the Word and strongly encourages the application of it in our daily lives. The cool thing about God is that he uses many people to reach His many people. What I am going to respond to may not necessarily be the same thing you are going to respond to; it's like a different strokes for different folks sort of scenario. God created us all differently, so doesn't it make sense that He would send us different people to bring us the same message in different ways? Of course it does. We still need to test the spirits to make sure what we are hearing is OF GOD (Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1), but we should not be so quick to judge every evangelist that we do not respond to. The teachers of the Word are accountable to God and He will judge them accordingly (Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we will be judged more strictly. Jas 3:1).
When I first tuned into Joyce, she was saying that the power that is in us is the same power that raised Christ from the dead and that if the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is living in us, it shall "quicken [our] mortal bodies" (Ephesians 1:20; Romans 8:11). It was at this point that I started to think it was the Holy Spirit who had woken me up by quickening my pulse because He had something to tell me. I stared bleary-eyed at the TV but the truth of God's Word still spoke to my heart. At least the Spirit had the good sense to tell my brain to record the program. I have gone back and watched it several times now so that I could bring to you, dear friends, the message of Health, Hope and Healing that the Holy Spirit wanted all of us to hear today:
Joyce’s message started off about the importance of knowing God. Now, there is a clear distinction between knowing of God and truly knowing God. The difference lies in having a personal relationship with God, not just a belief in who He is. The apostle Paul says in Ephesians, "I also, having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and of the love you are holding toward all saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, might give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him (the word knowledge is from the Greek word “epiginosko” meaning "full knowledge" or "acknowledgment"), that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know (from the Greek word “oida” as it speaks of knowing with a distinct and certain finality, very close to absolute knowledge; an instinct that is deeper than acquired knowledge) what is the hope (the certainty) of His calling (upon your lives), what is the wealth of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (His glorious deposit He has placed within you that makes you exceedingly valuable to Him), and what is the exceeding greatness of His power (released through the resurrection of Christ) unto us who believe...(1:15-19).
Joyce spoke of the different ways we could start to get to know God:
1) To really know God, we have to study His Word. There is no way to know God without reading His Word.
2) In the Word, you will find God's promises. Knowing God's promises is another way of getting to know God and we should take every one of God's promises personally. These are not just promises that were made to a foreign people in ancient times--they are applicable and relevant today!
3) We need to know what God expects of us. Again, being in the Word will help us learn about God's expectations. The number one thing God expects of us is to BELIEVE. John 11:40 says "Only believe and you will see the glory of God." So our job then--no matter what we are going through, no matter what our circumstances--is not to try to fix what is wrong, but to believe. If we have prayed, trusted God, and found a promise in the Word that He will take care of our situation, then we are not to doubt but to just believe!
4) We need to know what to expect out of God. Get to know His character. We can again do this by being in the Word and hiding God's scriptures and promises in our hearts. It is okay to have expectations of God and to verbalize them! Tell God what you are expecting. Not in a sarcastic, demanding way, of course, but rather saying to God that He has given us these promises in His Word and that we are expecting Him to do these things because we know that He is a person of His Word. This honors God.
We often see in the Bible or hear that we are to "wait on God." Psalm 27: 13-14 says, "Yet I am confident that I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord." The word "wait" in Greek means "to expect," "to hope for" or "to long for." Waiting on God then is NOT passive! We are to expect, hope and long for God to show up in a mighty way during this "waiting" period! With regard to everything then, including our physical healing, we need to EXPECT that God is working in us and through us even though we may not be able to see it or feel it.
God's character is wrapped up in His name. When God first told Moses His name, "Yhwh," it was unpronounceable. This signifies that God is so far above us in every way, we cannot even pronounce what He is really called. But remember, our Great God is so compassionate and loves us so much that He wants us to know Him and He wants to come live within us! So how can we sit around discouraged and full of self pity? Why are we so content to live under our circumstances and not over them? It's because we think about the wrong things, think about what other people say, focus on our problems and forget about God! For some of us, the answer has been to maybe live in church all the time and go to meetings (perhaps even becoming church or meeting junkies) because we feel good there. But the point is to get strong enough (no matter what our physical condition or other circumstances) in our relationship with God so that we can be happy all the time.
As time progressed, we put vowels in "Yhwh" and it became "Yahweh." Then it became "Yehovah." Then "Jehovah," which means "Lord God." Then we took it even further and added other names to His name. One of those names is "Jehovah Rapha," which means "God, My Healer." (Now let me just take a minute to add an aside here, because it was at this point in Joyce's broadcast that she mentioned how she "very rarely" does a whole teaching on this anymore, but that today, she felt it was necessary to talk about "Jehovah Rapha: God, Our Healer." Yep, definitely was a wake-up call by the Holy Spirit this morning. Okay, back to our regularly scheduled blogcast.)
3 John 1:2 says, "Beloved, I would above all else that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers." So we know that our Spirit is much more important than anything physically, but besides that, God wants us to prosper and feel well. As I often say, besides our salvation, our health is the next most important thing we can have. If you think about all of God's blessings for our lives, there is really no way to enjoy any of them when we feel terrible. Think about the last time you had the flu or were sick in bed. I don't mean just a little cold, I mean really, really sick. What was in the forefront of your mind? Feeling better so you could "get on with things," right?! It makes since then that the scriptures would desire good health for us. We simply cannot do much or enjoy much without it. Well then, if God wants us to feel well, why do we feel so terrible and what can we do about it? Read on.
"Saying, If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God and will do what is right in His sight and will listen to and obey His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you." (Exodus 15:26). So let's understand something right now: JESUS is our physician. The WORD OF GOD is our medicine. Healing is for our whole being--not just physically but emotionally, financially, mentally, socially, etc. Prov 4:20-22 says, "My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh."
One thing we need to do if we need any sort of healing OR if we would like to walk in divine health: be on the offensive not the defensive! We need to be fighting these issues before they arise, if at all possible, and if we already have them, we need to take an active, scriptural approach to dealing with them. Remember how we talked about needing to learn God's promises and recite them to Him when telling Him our expectations? Well, we are also to mediate and think--on purpose--about those things. Meditating means to mutter, over and over, under your breath. If you've never done that before, that's okay, here's an easy way to start:
God, you're my healer.
By your stripes I am healed.
I thank you that your Word is my medicine and that the more I meditate on your Word, the better I feel.
You're my energy.
Your strength is in me.
Your life is in me.
Every day I get better and better in every way and I believe the healing power of God is working in me right now!
If you are suffering from any physical infirmity, I encourage you to meditate on these words every day—they are all scriptural and part of God’s promises for us. Part of our physical healing is going to come from expecting God to honor His promises over our lives and verbalizing this. Does God give healing to others that don’t do this? Sure He does, but this is the message that He has given to me for my healing and for yours.
I’d like to pray for you right now, for your healing:
Father we trust you and we believe that you sent Jesus to heal our diseases, to forgive our sins and to really just restore us in every single area of our lives. Your Word says that by His stripes, we are HEALED AND MADE WHOLE. All throughout the Bible we see records of Jesus healing sick people and I believe that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. You said that we could pray the prayer of faith for the sick and that they would get well. So today I pray for everyone that is reading this who has sickness, disease, or pain in their body. I pray for them, that they would experience the healing power of God in their bodies right now. That they would trust in you for their healing and that whether those symptoms go away immediately or a little bit day by day, that they will stand in faith and believe that God’s healing power is working in them right now. So once again, I say, IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST BE HEALED! Father, we thank you that you are working in our bodies and that you will receive the praise. It’s in Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.
Always Hope
Usually, once I have fallen asleep, I don't have a problem staying asleep. This is an absolute Godsend because I know most people with chronic conditions have a terrible time falling asleep and staying asleep. A lack of sleep is one of the biggest stressors on our body and simply makes everything ten times worse. I am not a morning person and never have been, so I usually sleep until 9 AM. This morning, however, I was awoken at precisely 6:30 AM due to a very quickened heartbeat in my chest. I do tend to have a lot of angina and other weird pains and flutters in my chest, but this was a rapid heartbeat and I confirmed it by taking my pulse. I sat up in bed and just the repositioning helped to calm my heart back down. It was then that I realized Joyce Meyer was on my TV screen.
For those of you that don't know who Joyce Meyer is, she is a Christian evangelist that has been bringing the message of the Gospel through TV, radio, books and live conferences for many years now. I like Joyce because she preaches the Word and strongly encourages the application of it in our daily lives. The cool thing about God is that he uses many people to reach His many people. What I am going to respond to may not necessarily be the same thing you are going to respond to; it's like a different strokes for different folks sort of scenario. God created us all differently, so doesn't it make sense that He would send us different people to bring us the same message in different ways? Of course it does. We still need to test the spirits to make sure what we are hearing is OF GOD (Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1), but we should not be so quick to judge every evangelist that we do not respond to. The teachers of the Word are accountable to God and He will judge them accordingly (Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we will be judged more strictly. Jas 3:1).
When I first tuned into Joyce, she was saying that the power that is in us is the same power that raised Christ from the dead and that if the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is living in us, it shall "quicken [our] mortal bodies" (Ephesians 1:20; Romans 8:11). It was at this point that I started to think it was the Holy Spirit who had woken me up by quickening my pulse because He had something to tell me. I stared bleary-eyed at the TV but the truth of God's Word still spoke to my heart. At least the Spirit had the good sense to tell my brain to record the program. I have gone back and watched it several times now so that I could bring to you, dear friends, the message of Health, Hope and Healing that the Holy Spirit wanted all of us to hear today:
Joyce’s message started off about the importance of knowing God. Now, there is a clear distinction between knowing of God and truly knowing God. The difference lies in having a personal relationship with God, not just a belief in who He is. The apostle Paul says in Ephesians, "I also, having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and of the love you are holding toward all saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, might give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him (the word knowledge is from the Greek word “epiginosko” meaning "full knowledge" or "acknowledgment"), that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know (from the Greek word “oida” as it speaks of knowing with a distinct and certain finality, very close to absolute knowledge; an instinct that is deeper than acquired knowledge) what is the hope (the certainty) of His calling (upon your lives), what is the wealth of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (His glorious deposit He has placed within you that makes you exceedingly valuable to Him), and what is the exceeding greatness of His power (released through the resurrection of Christ) unto us who believe...(1:15-19).
Joyce spoke of the different ways we could start to get to know God:
1) To really know God, we have to study His Word. There is no way to know God without reading His Word.
2) In the Word, you will find God's promises. Knowing God's promises is another way of getting to know God and we should take every one of God's promises personally. These are not just promises that were made to a foreign people in ancient times--they are applicable and relevant today!
3) We need to know what God expects of us. Again, being in the Word will help us learn about God's expectations. The number one thing God expects of us is to BELIEVE. John 11:40 says "Only believe and you will see the glory of God." So our job then--no matter what we are going through, no matter what our circumstances--is not to try to fix what is wrong, but to believe. If we have prayed, trusted God, and found a promise in the Word that He will take care of our situation, then we are not to doubt but to just believe!
4) We need to know what to expect out of God. Get to know His character. We can again do this by being in the Word and hiding God's scriptures and promises in our hearts. It is okay to have expectations of God and to verbalize them! Tell God what you are expecting. Not in a sarcastic, demanding way, of course, but rather saying to God that He has given us these promises in His Word and that we are expecting Him to do these things because we know that He is a person of His Word. This honors God.
We often see in the Bible or hear that we are to "wait on God." Psalm 27: 13-14 says, "Yet I am confident that I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord." The word "wait" in Greek means "to expect," "to hope for" or "to long for." Waiting on God then is NOT passive! We are to expect, hope and long for God to show up in a mighty way during this "waiting" period! With regard to everything then, including our physical healing, we need to EXPECT that God is working in us and through us even though we may not be able to see it or feel it.
God's character is wrapped up in His name. When God first told Moses His name, "Yhwh," it was unpronounceable. This signifies that God is so far above us in every way, we cannot even pronounce what He is really called. But remember, our Great God is so compassionate and loves us so much that He wants us to know Him and He wants to come live within us! So how can we sit around discouraged and full of self pity? Why are we so content to live under our circumstances and not over them? It's because we think about the wrong things, think about what other people say, focus on our problems and forget about God! For some of us, the answer has been to maybe live in church all the time and go to meetings (perhaps even becoming church or meeting junkies) because we feel good there. But the point is to get strong enough (no matter what our physical condition or other circumstances) in our relationship with God so that we can be happy all the time.
As time progressed, we put vowels in "Yhwh" and it became "Yahweh." Then it became "Yehovah." Then "Jehovah," which means "Lord God." Then we took it even further and added other names to His name. One of those names is "Jehovah Rapha," which means "God, My Healer." (Now let me just take a minute to add an aside here, because it was at this point in Joyce's broadcast that she mentioned how she "very rarely" does a whole teaching on this anymore, but that today, she felt it was necessary to talk about "Jehovah Rapha: God, Our Healer." Yep, definitely was a wake-up call by the Holy Spirit this morning. Okay, back to our regularly scheduled blogcast.)
3 John 1:2 says, "Beloved, I would above all else that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers." So we know that our Spirit is much more important than anything physically, but besides that, God wants us to prosper and feel well. As I often say, besides our salvation, our health is the next most important thing we can have. If you think about all of God's blessings for our lives, there is really no way to enjoy any of them when we feel terrible. Think about the last time you had the flu or were sick in bed. I don't mean just a little cold, I mean really, really sick. What was in the forefront of your mind? Feeling better so you could "get on with things," right?! It makes since then that the scriptures would desire good health for us. We simply cannot do much or enjoy much without it. Well then, if God wants us to feel well, why do we feel so terrible and what can we do about it? Read on.
"Saying, If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God and will do what is right in His sight and will listen to and obey His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you." (Exodus 15:26). So let's understand something right now: JESUS is our physician. The WORD OF GOD is our medicine. Healing is for our whole being--not just physically but emotionally, financially, mentally, socially, etc. Prov 4:20-22 says, "My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh."
One thing we need to do if we need any sort of healing OR if we would like to walk in divine health: be on the offensive not the defensive! We need to be fighting these issues before they arise, if at all possible, and if we already have them, we need to take an active, scriptural approach to dealing with them. Remember how we talked about needing to learn God's promises and recite them to Him when telling Him our expectations? Well, we are also to mediate and think--on purpose--about those things. Meditating means to mutter, over and over, under your breath. If you've never done that before, that's okay, here's an easy way to start:
God, you're my healer.
By your stripes I am healed.
I thank you that your Word is my medicine and that the more I meditate on your Word, the better I feel.
You're my energy.
Your strength is in me.
Your life is in me.
Every day I get better and better in every way and I believe the healing power of God is working in me right now!
If you are suffering from any physical infirmity, I encourage you to meditate on these words every day—they are all scriptural and part of God’s promises for us. Part of our physical healing is going to come from expecting God to honor His promises over our lives and verbalizing this. Does God give healing to others that don’t do this? Sure He does, but this is the message that He has given to me for my healing and for yours.
I’d like to pray for you right now, for your healing:
Father we trust you and we believe that you sent Jesus to heal our diseases, to forgive our sins and to really just restore us in every single area of our lives. Your Word says that by His stripes, we are HEALED AND MADE WHOLE. All throughout the Bible we see records of Jesus healing sick people and I believe that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. You said that we could pray the prayer of faith for the sick and that they would get well. So today I pray for everyone that is reading this who has sickness, disease, or pain in their body. I pray for them, that they would experience the healing power of God in their bodies right now. That they would trust in you for their healing and that whether those symptoms go away immediately or a little bit day by day, that they will stand in faith and believe that God’s healing power is working in them right now. So once again, I say, IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST BE HEALED! Father, we thank you that you are working in our bodies and that you will receive the praise. It’s in Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.
Always Hope
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