Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Taking a stand for strong health...

Have you ever noticed that when you are working for God, that seems like the times you are hit hardest with colds, flus, bugs etc?? For example, you go on a mission trip, and everyone gets sick! Does God bring that sickness to slow down the work?? Or could this possibly be an attack of the enemy?? How about at home? You want to get up and have devotions, and you even went to bed at a decent time....but for some reason, when you are ready to wake up and have devotions the biggest bout of tiredness clings to you!! You're in a fog! You can't think....

For years, I took every sickness, every bout of "tiredness" that came with a "grin and bear it" mentality! God must have a reason in this, so I just need to get through! However, as Eric and Leslie shared recently in regard to "Fortification" (if you made it through the longer post below - it is powerful!) I have begun to realize that maybe this attacks of health issues (for people that are normally healthy and have good sleeping habits) really aren't from God after all, but are deliberate attacks to discourage and destroy.

I have some friends that just finished some intense ministry. They are drained and depleted rather than feeling revived and refreshed. Is this right?? God tells us in his word, "Even the youth shall faint and be weary (even those strong and in good health), but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint!" As I read stuff like this, it doesn't seem to me that it is in God's plan that we serve him, and we faint....we get sick, we get knocked out with exhaustion or this flu bug or that cough. I just never realized this before.....maybe you didn't either!

Again, like I said, Eric and Leslie already talked some about this topic in the message on "Fortification" which I shared a couple posts below. However, in another message I just heard, they shared more specific answers to prayer and how God has been working in their lives and giving them victory, and I'd like to share more details in regard to their battle over poor health....especially relating to work in ministry.

Here's my notes I typed from this talk:

Let's jump in where Eric is talking...

Ok – fast forward a number of years…we are married now…we had been in ministry for 4 years and the battle, and chaos seems to be getting more and more intense. All these crazy things began to take a toll on our faith, and we were constantly fighting health issues. We began to pray more survival type prayers. Not bold prayers, not wrestling prayers, not prayers of intercession for others….more survival prayers, just for our own needs and just to get through the day intact. But as we did this, God began to convict us that there were breaches in our lives and things that the enemy was using to harass us with….like attacking our health, finances, staff …and on! It was getting really bad! We felt like we were being soo attacked that we couldn’t fulfill God’s purpose in our life. But we had been accepting these attacks with a cheerful attitude, "OK - I will bear this cheerfully for you!" But in the process we were getting more and more confused....


So we began to pray and seek to close breaches in our spiritual lives and then began to claim victory and God began to shore up these areas in our life, one by one by one. So we began to tackle the area of health.


Leslie: I was always getting infections….everytime trying to speak or involved in ministry activity, I would be sooo drained and exhausted, would get colds infections, bronchitis or something like this. It was crazy! It all revolved around our outpouring and service to God! Finally we began to realize that this was enemy attack, and we didn’t need to just grin and bear it and say, “Ok God, I accept this for your glory!” No we needed to awaken and fight this. So we started praying! We had a whole entire day of prayer just on the topic of health…. Corrie Ten Boom says, “Don’t pray when you feel like it. Make an appt with God and keep it. Pray when you LEAST feel like it!” We didn’t have much emotion or feeling, and were drained and exhausted from ministry, but we were seeking to obey….we kept praying….didn’t see break through right away….but after a few days, we began to have breakthrough….began to get stronger….however, the battle wasn’t done!


Eric: Leslie and I should have kept detailed prayer journal during this time….but we didn’t! Keep a journal because you never know what God is leveraging in your life for His glory, and you will want to refer to his answered prayers in the future. Anyway, We were praying during this time for any thing that came up regarding health – any congestion, stiffness in neck, HA, or anything….and funny thing is, we kept having things like this come up…one health issue after the other! We’re like, “How long do we need to pray!? This is crazy” But we were determined, we would not let go! I entered into a fast, and I was determined I would not stop until something changed. (Now, don’t do this unless God is telling you to do this!!)


So about 4 days I fasted….and then on the fourth day, the sickness suddenly was gone!!!! It wasn’t a natural getting better or healing….it didn’t work it’s way through and leave. No Leslie was sick, but I kept fasting and praying, and on the 4th day, God broke through. It was suddenly gone!! But this was a strategic process…a strategic prayer. We came to God for our command. And we knew we needed to take a stand and tell the enemy NO MORE!!!


Now for years, I'd just been letting things go by. She'll get over it, it's ok! Just grin and bear it, I would tell her! But then God began to open my eyes to what was happening! So, as the man of the house and protector of our home, I knew I needed to take charge and stand in God's strength and on His word. So in God’s strength, I started to take stands in our home and said…we are not going to take these health attacks any more. We are healthy, we are seeking to serve God, and this is not from God!! This is to destroy us!


Would you believe that for the next 52 days I prayed this, I was hit with exactly 28 different health issues!!! It was unbelievable! I never get sick, I NEVER have issues! It was always Leslie ! Now I was being hit!!!! As attack after attack came against us, I realized the enemy was in defiance of my prayer. I realized that “WE ARE ON TO SOMETHING HERE!!!” We cannot give up this battle! The enemy is going out of his way to try to stop us and discourage us. And I am not going to have my family part of this harassment….from enemy anymore. Our little two year old, Hudson run to emergency room 10 times during this period. He would fall down and split his lip open!! One crazy thing after the other! So I started to stand up on Ps 91 – They will not dash their foot against a stone. “NO! NO MORE!!!”


Finally, after 52 days, the attacks stopped!!! And that’s still the way it is in my home!! Leslie does not struggle with sickness anymore when we do ministry, or at other times either. We haven't been sick since!!! Anytime I see any “bonk” in our home with the kidds… I say NO!!!!! My family as a whole is strong physically….but you take us back when Hudson was in his first years….Leslie was constantly under attack. Hudson was having all kinds of accidents….we didn’t know we were being attacked. We just thought it was normal life! But now, NO!!!!!! We stand. And now we have 4 kids all under 5, and none of them have had accidents or had to go to emergency room and no one gets sick. None of that since then!!! We stand on faith.….if something tries to creep in, a sniffle or a cold, we say NO! And we go on!!! And it comes no further…


There is a family that we know that is always sick….sickness passes around entire home! We tell enemy NO….we are going to be healthy, because God has a calling on our life, and we are not going to be controlled by this….


There’s a principle of Fortification that few Christian’s in our day and age realize…there are two types of pain….Pain from God to grow up and bring glory, to prune you and bring more fruit, and pain from enemy to trip you up, slow you down, destroy you and discourage you….we’ve learned to know which pain we accept and which we stand up against! This is crucial in this battle…..


[IMPORTANT NOTE: Eric has made it very clear and numerous occasions, that he does not believe in the "health, wealth and prosperity" gospel! But He does believe in Eph 6, and that we are in a supernatural battle against darkness to destroy our lives, our potential for growth in God, and our potential to minister to others. So when something gets in the way of one of those three things happening, he shares how He and Leslie have been learning to take stands spiritually. God didn't give His Word and promise strength for nothing! It must be REAL, even for us today!!! Of course, there are trials and pain that God allows for a reason, to prune us, grow us, to bring greater fruit or to build our faith.]

5 comments:

Sari said...

Of course we want to hear more! For me, especially because this is definitely something that we don't hear. I'm pretty sure that we ALL just "grin and bear it"!

Sara said...

I want to hear more! Every one of your posts I eagerly read.

Sarah said...

very interesting!! thank you for sharing this! Everything you said is true-why do we just grin and bear it all? Why don't we fight against the "tired's"? I guess we just take it as being natural??

Sarah said...

lol! we have a Sari, a Sara and a Sarah as your first three commenters. hehe. ;)

Sari said...

Haha! That is hilarious! :) I didn't even notice! :)