Thanks PM. He is sovereign and does know best. Walking THIS out really does take faith!

God is definitely worthy to be praised Barb, even though your prayers weren't necessarily answered the way you thought they should at the time. Thank you for sharing that moving testimony. Mature words, to be sure.

Excellent scripture reference, Bev. They sure didn't expect to be rescued from the fiery furnace. For all they know, that was to be the end. But such was their faith, their love and devotion. What a great example for us today, to be willing to suffer anything for our Savior who suffered everything for us! (ps...I am almost ashamed to write this.... I, who have suffered so very little.)

Patrick, sad indeed. God didn't come through?? As if that were possible?

Herman, amen as always. Bless you brother, and thanks for weighing in.  Thanks Craftsreen.

Debbie, how about a star for Torches of Joy? lol

Tim, is it just me, or does it seem like we get like 50x more opportunities to exercise submission than faith? And could it require a little faith to practice submission? :-)

Thanks Jules

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What a good word, Mike. In this day and age of declaring and proclaiming (which I'm not saying is bad...because I do it too....) we do well to remember that God is soveriengly in command of the universe and humilty captures His heart.  

I started to write about how I could hear the humility in the prayer of the missionaries and kinda stopped to frame my words and saw Birdie's comment. I guess it is apparent, lol. 

Demanding is not in my character toward another person let alone God. I may have begged before, lol. 

I have grown so much in these last two months, that is not bragging, because He told me He was taking me higher...and He has done just that, took me. It wasn't my efforts. I think He is doing it for a purpose I do not know of yet but I am enjoying His journey and plans in my life. 

My faith is growing and as it does I realize just how big our God is and how much He loves us and it is easier to be humble in His presense. No pain to that type of humility. 

Love you brother.
 

I love the last sentence of Bitbet's prayer..."We commit her to you." Now THAT is trust!!

Thanks Juanita, Birdie, and Stu....I appreciate your thoughtful responses very much!

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My Dear Husband,  Your heart is a precious thing to behold.  Love this blog!!

Lara,

Do your kids ever come in from playing and ask, "Mom, give me something to eat"?

It's not a demand - but it is a demand.  They come to you expecting to have their need met.  If they asked for bread would you give them a stone...?

"Name it and claim it" does not mean ordering God around.  You name a THING and you claim the THING.  You never tell God what to do; you order the item in the spiritual realm because that is where all blessings reside.  Our job is to get those spiritual blessings to manifest in the natural realm (where we currently live).

Look to Jesus on this stuff.  Jesus didn't order God around but He did rebuke the wind and the waves.  Commanding that something be true in the natural is obedience to Christ - not arrogance against God.

Jesus said that we are to speak to our mountains.  And if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed you will say to this mountain, "Remove hence to yonder place" and it shall remove.  AND NOTHING SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE UNTO YOU.

Notice that Jesus did not say that "nothing will be impossible unto God".  He's not telling us to beg God for every little thing.  We have to use the authority we have been given by God to affect the necessary change this world is groaning for.

If you are not commanding your mountains to obey you then you are not obeying the commandment of Jesus.  And according to Jesus, if we aren't speaking to our mountains that proves that we do not have faith - not even as a grain of mustard seed.

"Name it and claim it" is not heresy; it's obedience.

Rob

Mike,

We should look to Jesus on this doctrine as well.  If we want to learn something about God we don't watch what the supplicant is saying or doing, we watch what Jesus is saying and doing.

How the leper requested his healing is of MUCH less importance than how Jesus satisfied that request.  Watch the transaction:

This is the request.  The important part is how Jesus responds (He's our example after all, not the leper).

It's important to realize that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Also, God is no respecter of persons.  Jesus revealed His will to the leper in verse 3 and by extension, the rest of us.

If you watch Jesus and take your eyes off the leper, you wind up with a different possibility - a different doctrine.  Maybe, if Jesus is willing to heal a leper, He's willing to heal all who come to Him?

Matthew 8 is one of the "healing chapters" of the bible.  The "Health and Wellness Gospel" leans heavily on Matthews account.

Casting out demons and healing the sick are part of why Jesus came to earth.  God is in the healing business.  Praise Him!

I realize that I've raised a couple red-flags.  "Name it and claim it"  along with "Health and Wellness Gospel" are two HATED doctrines.  I use those terms partly to get attention but mostly to summarize.  I'm not real good at briefly stating my point but these labels help.

Rob

Rob, your comments here now exceed the blog itself in terms of length. If you have anything more to say on the topic, I invite you to write your own blog, and if you want, post a link here. Ok? On many things we agree. In fact some of your posts have touched me deeply. However there are inevitably some things on which we just don't see eye to eye. That's ok, we don't have to be 100% in agreement to call each other brother.

Gotcha.

I appreciate your blog, Mike.  After a brief comment I'd posted before, it was revealed to me that the difference between us is that you are noticing the leper's request to a greater degree than I do.  Whatever we focus on becomes our doctrine and this is a prime example of it.  This is a fascinating development.

I have learned very much from our exchanges and I appreciate you more than you know.  

I want you to know that the brief comment I posted prior to the longer ones, I deleted.  This is a milestone, Mike.  I have NEVER willingly deleted a blog or a comment until this evening.  See how you affect me? :-)

Rob