A few months ago I was preaching on the subject of thankfulness, and how posturing ourselves to live each day ‘from thankfulness’ is truly life-changing. As I spoke, I shared some recent testimonies of miracles and healings from everyday life that had happened without any need for prayer. In these scenarios, I often just thanked God for what He was doing and as the other person began to experience His Presence, they realised He was already healing them.
Most Christians live each day with a far greater awareness of what they don’t (seemingly) have than what they do have. Because Jesus paid the ultimate price for us, seated us in heavenly places with Him and made us sons and daughters – often the lack that we perceive in our lives is actually a case of viewing our world through a lens given to us by the enemy.
Many of the healthcare systems in the world today face some very real challenges and limitations. And as workers in those fields, the effects of these challenges on your own lives are also undeniably real. But it’s also true that there is something far greater inside each of us. The key thing for us is learning to live from this reality every day.
When I cultivate thankfulness in my life, it’s like I’m putting my truth goggles on. I begin to see how rich I am with all the blessings Christ has given me – both on the earth and in heaven. I begin to see how loved, how protected, how full of grace and power I am. It’s like the invisible starts to become visible again.
As I began to get the congregation excited about thankfulness, and as I shared more stories with them, the faith level in the room began to rise. People started to get healed, in many cases without anyone praying for them at all. Arthritis was healed. A lady with a serious kidney problem was healed (a subsequent hospital appointment confirmed all levels had returned to normal). Hearing was restored. Knees were healed. Back pain disappeared. The only thing I did was share the good news of who Jesus and what He likes to do.
When we see – or hear about – God moving in incredible ways, a momentum of faith starts to build in us. It doesn’t matter whether that thing happened in our own life or someone else’s on the other side of the world; we can partner with that momentum and harness it in our own life.
We’ve talked before about how the Hebrew eduth means “testimony, precept or warning.” It comes from a word that means “witness”. And that word comes from a primitive root (Ayin-Vav-Daleth) that means “to return, to repeat, to do again.”
But what is a testimony? This is an important question to ask ourselves if we’re to learn how to steward them well. If I shared with you a story about someone’s broken arm being healed, what is the testimony ultimately about here? Is it that God heals arms?
The bible tells us that when Jesus walked on water, the disciples were actually surprised, “for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened” (Mark 6:52). Immediately before this story, we have the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand. Now on the face of it, multiplying bread has nothing to do with walking on water. And yet, the bible is remarking on the fact that the disciples failed to make a connection. So what’s this really all about?
The testimony of the feeding of the five thousand wasn’t that God does food miracles. Just in the same way that a testimony of a healed arm isn’t that God heals broken arms. Every impossible situation that you and I face in our lives is essentially asking us the same question: Is He who He says He is?
The testimony is the emphatic answer to that question. It’s the evidence that I AM is here, He hasn’t changed, and He still does what He’s always done. Which means that right now, anything is possible. Once we understand that, the testimonies we share and hear take on a new power in our lives.
As you read this, I pray that today you become filled with an unstoppable flow of hope, faith, power and a tangible assurance of the Father’s love!