Transcription
Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we come before you tonight with thanksgiving. We don't come trembling and we don't come as beggars. We come as children. We come because you invited us.
You said in your word that we could come boldly to the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And Lord, we take you at your word. We thank you for the blood of Jesus that opened the way. We thank you for the Holy Spirit who lives in us, who is our helper, our teacher, our comforter. And we thank you, Father, for the word of God that cannot fail. Heaven and earth may pass away, but you said your word would never pass away. So we put our confidence in what you have said, not in what we feel, not in what we see, not in what we've heard from the natural realm.
Now, Father, as we open the scriptures and as we talk about faith, confession, and healing, I ask you to make the word real to every heart. I don't want people just to hear a sermon. I want them to hear you speaking through your word. Because when you speak, faith comes. When you speak, light comes. When you speak, strength comes. You told us that your word is spirit and life. You told us in Proverbs that your words are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. Lord, I thank you that your word is not theory. It's not religion. It's not something we hang on the wall. It's medicine. It's life. It's power.
So I pray for the sick, for the weary, for those who've been standing a long time, for those who've been attacked in their bodies, attacked in their minds, attacked in their homes. I thank you that Jesus already bore our sins and carried our diseases. I thank you that the stripes of Jesus were not in vain. I thank you that the spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us. And I thank you that because he dwells in us, he is quickening our mortal bodies right now. Father, let faith rise up. Let discouragement fall off. Let fear be broken. Let every lie of the devil be exposed by the light of your word. And I thank you that as we hear and as we say what you said, healing will flow not because of my words, not because of somebody's emotion, but because of your word and because you watch over your word to perform it. We praise you for it. We receive it by faith in Jesus' name. Amen.
Now, let's lay the foundation. You know, folks want results in faith without following faith's rulebook. But faith has a way. Faith has laws, just like the natural world has laws. And if you ignore the laws, you don't get the results. The Bible doesn't teach that faith is a silent thing. The Bible teaches that faith works through the heart and through the mouth. People say, "Well, I believe God can heal." That's fine, but it's not enough to say God can. Even the devils know God can. Faith says God has and God does. Faith takes what God has already provided.
The Bible says, notice what it says in Romans, that with the heart man believes and with the mouth confession is made. That's not my idea. That's God's idea. He tied believing and speaking together. You can't separate them. If you do, you're trying to have a bird fly with one wing. You can't do it. The heart believes and the mouth says, the heart receives and the mouth releases. So your confession is not some little religious ritual. Your confession is faith giving voice to what God has said.
Now I've had people tell me, "Brother Hagen, I'm just not the kind of person who talks much." Well, you talk enough to get sick, don't you? You talk enough to worry. You talk enough to tell folks how you feel and what the doctor said and how long you've had it. So you're not silent. The question is not whether you talk. The question is what you're saying. And Jesus made it plain. Your words matter. He said that you will have what you say. He said speak to the mountain. He didn't say whisper about the mountain. He didn't say pray to God about the mountain all day long. He said speak to it. A mountain could be a tumor. A mountain could be pain in your joints. A mountain could be a report that says there's no hope. And Jesus said that mountain will move when it hears the voice of faith. Not the voice of fear. Not the voice of complaint. Not the voice of "well, I hope so." The voice of faith.
You see faith is not a feeling. Faith is acting on God's word. And one of the first ways you act on God's word is you put it in your mouth. God never intended his word to be a book you admire at a distance. He intended his word to live in you and come out of you. It's supposed to dominate your thinking and govern your talking. So tonight, before we ever get to the seven confessions, you need to settle this in your heart. Faith speaks. Faith doesn't wait till it sees. Faith speaks because it believes. If you wait for the pain to leave before you speak the word, you are not in faith. You are walking by sight. But the Bible says the just shall live by faith. Faith begins where the will of God is known. And the will of God is known from the word of God. So everything we're about to confess is not wishing. It's not positive thinking. It is agreeing with God. And when you agree with God, heaven backs you. When you agree with God, the Holy Ghost goes into action. When you agree with God, the devil has to shut up and leave.
Now, that's the foundation. If you're ready for that kind of faith, let's go on. Here's confession number one, and it's the cornerstone. If you miss this, you miss the whole building. Say it with me. By his stripes, I am healed.
Now, I want you to notice something. The scripture doesn't say, "By his stripes, you might be healed." It doesn't say, "By his stripes, you will be healed someday." It says, "You are healed." The Bible puts healing in the present tense because Jesus paid for it in the past tense. It's finished. It's done. It is a settled matter in heaven. You know, people read that passage in Isaiah about Jesus being wounded and bruised and striped and they think it's poetry. No, friends, it's not poetry. It's payment. It's covenant. It's the price of our redemption. Salvation is not just the new birth. Salvation in the Bible includes deliverance, preservation, soundness, and healing. Jesus didn't just carry your sin. He carried everything sin brought with it. He took it so you wouldn't have to keep it.
Now listen, this will help you. Healing is not something you're trying to talk God into doing. You're not trying to persuade him to be good. He already is good. You're not trying to convince him to be willing. He already proved his willingness at the cross. If he wasn't willing, why would he put sickness on Jesus? Why would he put stripes on Jesus? Why would he lay our diseases on him? The cross is God's eternal yes to healing. So when you say by his stripes, I am healed. You are not making a wish. You are declaring a legal spiritual truth. You are saying God said it. Jesus paid for it. I take it. You are enforcing your rights in Christ. And your rights don't change because your body aches. Your rights don't change because the report looked bad. Your rights don't change because you woke up in the night hurting.
Now, I know how it is. The devil will say, "Look at your symptoms," but I'm not moved by what I see. I'm moved by what God said. The devil will say, "Look how long you've had this," but I'm not moved by time. I'm moved by truth. The devil will say, "Well, maybe it's not for you," but God is no respector of persons. If healing belongs to one believer, it belongs to all believers, and I'm a believer. So, you take that word and you put it in your mouth. And you say it when you feel good. And you say it when you feel bad. You say it when you're alone. You say it when you're in church. You say it when fear tries to creep up on you. Because your confession is your stand. Your confession is your line in the sand. Your confession is you saying, "I refuse to bow to sickness because Jesus already conquered it."
Now say it again and don't say it timid. Say it like you mean it. Say it like you're not trying to get healed. You're the healed. Say it like you're not hoping for victory. You're standing in victory. By his stripes, I am healed. And I'll tell you something else. Don't just say it once and then check your body like a thermometer. Faith is not in the check. Faith is in the stand. You keep saying it until your mind lines up. You keep saying it until your heart is full of confidence. You keep saying it until your mouth is stronger than your symptoms. That's faith. And that's how you walk in what Jesus already provided.
Now, we go right on to confession number two. And don't let it just slide past you because you've heard it before. You know, sometimes the most familiar verses are the ones folks believe the least because they let them become wallpaper. But we're not papering a room. We're feeding our spirit. Confession number two is this. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead quickens my mortal body. That's not Kenneth Hagen talking. That's Romans chapter 8 and verse 11. The Bible says, "If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you."
Now, I didn't write that. God wrote that. The Holy Ghost inspired that. And he didn't inspire it so we could quote it like poetry and then turn around and live like helpless victims. He inspired it so faith would take hold of it. Notice it starts with "if." "If the spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you." Well, does he? If you're born again, he does. If you've confessed Jesus as Lord, he does. If you've received salvation, you receive the spirit. Because the Bible says, "If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his." So don't sit there and act like this verse is for some special class of believer. It's for believers. It's for you. That means resurrection life is not something you're trying to get down from heaven. It's already in you. I tell people all the time, you're not trying to get God to move. God already moved. You're not trying to get power to come. Power already came. The Holy Ghost came on the day of Pentecost and he never left. He lives in the body of Christ and he lives in you.
Now that word "quicken" is an old English word and it means to make alive. It means to energize. It means to restore. It means to impart life to. And the Bible doesn't say he's going to quicken your body after you die. It says he quickens your mortal body. Mortal means subject to death, subject to weakness, subject to pain, subject to the curse. God didn't say, "Well, I'll just wait until you get to heaven and then you'll feel better." No. He said the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is working in your body.
Now you see friends, that's why you don't have to be afraid of what you feel. Feelings are real, but they're not rulers. A symptom may be real, but it is not final. God's word is final. And if resurrection life is dwelling in you, then sickness is trespassing. It doesn't belong there. It has no legal right there. So when you say this confession, you're not trying to hype yourself up. You're not trying to use magic words. You are acknowledging what God has already put inside you. Sometimes folks say, "Brother Hagen, I just don't feel anything." Well, I didn't ask you what you felt. I asked you what the Bible says. If you wait until you feel quickened, you're walking by sight. But if you say, "The spirit of God is quickening my body right now," then you're walking by faith. And faith is what receives. Faith is the hand that takes. Faith is the wire that conducts. Faith is the bridge that brings spiritual reality into physical manifestation.
I remember years ago when my own body tried to tell me one thing and the word told me another and I had to make a decision. I had to decide who I was going to believe. I wasn't denying the report. I was denying its right to be lord over me. So I would say, "Body, you're not the boss. The Bible says, 'The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me, and he quickens you, so you line up.'" I said it when I felt weak. I said it when my heart was pounding. I said it when symptoms screamed loud. And I'll tell you what happened. Not because I'm special, but because the word is true. Life began to dominate death. Strength began to swallow weakness. Healing began to rise like the sun in my body.
Now, say it out loud with me and mean it from your heart. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is quickening my mortal body. Now, don't say it once, like you're checking a box. Say it like you're planting seed. Say it like you're turning on a switch. Resurrection life is not a theory. It is a person and he lives in you. And when you keep your confession lined up, that life flows into your flesh. Glory to God.
Now, confession number three is one of my favorites because it puts healing where God put it in his word. Here it is. God's word is medicine to all my flesh. That comes right out of Proverbs chapter 4. The Bible says, "My son, attend to my words. Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes. Keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh."
Now I want you to see something. It doesn't say the word is like medicine. It doesn't say the word is as if it were health. It says the word is health. It is medicine. It is healing. It is a healing force in itself. You know people believe in natural medicine. They don't understand how half of it works but they believe in it. And if a doctor writes a prescription and says, "Take this three times a day." Most folks will set an alarm and make sure they don't miss it. Why? Because they respect the physician. Well, here's the great physician telling you, "Attend to my words, for they are health to all your flesh." Are you going to respect him or not?
If you do, treat the word like medicine. Take it in. Digest it. Keep it in your mouth. Don't take one dose and quit. That's what some people do. They read a verse and say, "Well, I tried that." Tried what? You don't try medicine, you take it. You don't try seed, you plant it. You don't try faith, you live by it. The word works by law of seed time and harvest. Jesus said in Mark 4 that the word is seed. Seed always works the same way. You plant it, you water it, you guard it, you give it time, and it grows. But if you plant it today and dig it up tomorrow to see if it sprouted, you'll kill it. And that's what negative confession does. You say, "I'm healed." And then you turn around and say, "I'm getting worse." You just dug up your seed. You say, "God's word is healing to me." And then you say, "I guess I'll never get over this." You just choke the plant.
So we keep the word in us until it dominates us. Healing doesn't come by casual contact. It comes by saturation. You see friends, the devil doesn't mind if you own a Bible. He minds if you feed on it. He doesn't mind if you have verses marked. He minds if those verses get into your mouth. Because once the word is in your mouth, it's going to produce. God said in Isaiah 55 that his word will not return unto him void, but it will accomplish that which he pleases. If you'll keep it in your heart and in your mouth, it will accomplish healing in your body.
Now, I'm not saying you throw away common sense. I'm not saying you ignore doctors. I'm saying you give the word first place. You let the word be the final authority. A doctor can tell you what he sees. A report can tell you what the test shows, but the word tells you what God has already done. And God's word is truth. Facts may change. Truth never changes. So even if the facts say you're sick, the truth says you're healed. And if you keep speaking truth, the facts have to bow. So you take this confession like a daily dose, morning, noon, and night. When you wake up, before you go to sleep, when fear knocks, when pain tries to preach you a sermon, you answer it with God's medicine. Say, "God's word is medicine to all my flesh. I receive it now." And keep saying it. I've seen folks do that and get up out of wheelchairs. I've seen folks do that and tumors shrink. I've seen folks do that and strength come back into worn bodies. Not because of who they were, but because they honored the medicine.
Now say it with me and let it settle in your spirit. God's word is medicine to all my flesh. I take it in. I receive it now. And don't stop taking it. The word works every time. Every time. Glory.
Now, confession number four is where a lot of believers either rise up or they set down. And I want you to rise up. Confession number four says, "I have authority over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt me." That's Luke 10:19. Jesus himself said it. He said, "Behold, I give unto you power," that word means authority, "to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."
Nah, I'm going to say something simple, but it will change your life if you get it. Authority is not a feeling. Authority is not a title. Authority is a legal right granted by a higher power. Jesus is the highest power. He defeated Satan. He stripped him. He rose from the dead. And then he turned to the church and said, "I give you authority." That means if you don't exercise it, it won't be exercised. People say, "Lord, do something about this sickness." And the Lord says, "I already did." Now you do something about it. He gave you the name of Jesus. He gave you the word of God. He gave you the Holy Ghost. He gave you authority over all the power of the enemy. All means all. Not some, not most, all. That includes the devil's work in your body, that includes pain, disease, oppression, torment. And once you know that, you stop begging and you start commanding. You stop asking like you're unsure and you start speaking like you're seated with Christ.
Now, I like to illustrate it this way. A policeman has authority because of the badge and the law behind it. He might be 5 feet tall and weigh 120 lbs soaking wet. But when he steps out in the street and raises his hand, a big truck will stop. Why? Not because of his muscles, because of his authority. The law stands behind him. Well, when you speak in the name of Jesus, all of heaven stands behind you. You don't speak to sickness in your own name. You speak in his name. And his name is above every name, including the name of your disease. So don't play patty cake with the devil. Don't talk like you're impressed with him. Don't talk like he's bigger than God. He's not. Jesus whipped him publicly and gave you the right to enforce that victory. So when symptoms show up, you say, "Sickness, you're under my feet. I resist you. I command you to leave my body in the name of Jesus." And you don't say it like you're hoping. You say it like a policeman holding up his badge. You say it like a child of God who knows their father's word.
Now someone will say, "But brother Hagen, I tried that and the pain was still there." Well, did you try it once and quit? Authority is not exercised one time and thrown away. You hold your ground. James 4:7 says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Resist doesn't mean whisper once. Resist means take your stand and don't budge. The devil is a bluffer. He will test your authority. If you back off, he'll stay. If you stand firm, he'll go. And your standing firm is in your confession. So, we're not denying that an attack exists. We're denying its right to stay. We are not fighting for victory. We are enforcing victory. That's pagan style faith because that's Bible faith. Jesus never begged the father to heal somebody. He spoke the word. He rebuked the fever. He commanded the demon to leave. He said, "Stretch forth thine hand." And it was restored. And he said, "The works that I do shall you do also." That's not for preachers only. That's for believers.
Now, say this confession like you mean business with hell, because you do. Say it out loud. I have authority over all the power of the enemy. Sickness is under my feet. Nothing shall by any means hurt me. Keep that in your mouth and you'll find out the devil can't rule a believer who knows what Jesus already gave him.
Now we come to confession number five. And I want you to get this one down in your spirit because it's one of the things that separates people who receive from people who just hope. Confession number five says, "I call my body strong, whole, and sound."
Now, somebody will say, "Brother Hagen, why do you say 'call'?" Because that's Bible. Romans chapter 4 tells us that God calleth those things which be not as though they were. And Abraham is our example. God told Abraham, "I have made thee a father of many nations." While Abraham didn't have any children, God didn't say, "I'm going to make you." He said, "I have made you." Then the Bible says, "Abraham considered not his own body now dead, and he was strong in faith, giving glory to God." He didn't deny there was a natural problem. He denied that the natural problem had the last word. He chose to agree with God. So, he called himself what God called him.
Now, listen carefully. You're going to call your body what God calls it. God calls your body redeemed. God calls your body the temple of the Holy Ghost. God calls your body bought with a price. God calls your body a member of Christ. God calls your body strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. The Bible says in Psalms, "Let the weak say I am strong." It didn't say, "Let the weak say I'm weak." It didn't say, "Let the weak say I sure hope I'll be strong one day." It said, "Let the weak say I am strong." Why? Because faith speaks the desired end based on God's promise.
Some folks get nervous about this. They say, "Well, isn't that lying?" No, it's not lying to say what God said. It's lying to say what the devil said. It's lying to say the curse gets to rule you when the Bible says you're redeemed from the curse. You're not calling symptoms that aren't there. You're calling the promise that is there. You're calling the reality of heaven into the reality of earth. Truth is higher than facts. Facts are what you feel. Truth is what God said. Facts can change. Truth never changes.
I've had people say, "But Brother Hagen, my body doesn't feel strong." Well, who told you to consult feelings first? The Bible says we walk by faith and not by sight. Faith is not pretending. Faith is not ignoring. Faith is taking God at his word. So if the word says life is in you, you call your body alive. If the word says healing is yours, you call your body healed. If the word says strength belongs to you, you call your body strong. Your confession is like a steering wheel. It turns you toward life or toward death. Proverbs 18 says, "Life and death are in the power of the tongue." That means your tongue is not a decoration. It is a dominion tool.
Now, I want you to see another thing. Your body listens to you. You may not think so, but it does. Your mind listens to you. Your emotions listen to you. And the devil listens to you, too. Because he's trying to see if you believe what God said. So, if you keep saying, "I'm so weak. I'm so sick. I guess this is just how it is." You are giving your body a picture of weakness. You are giving your mind permission to surrender. You are giving the devil agreement. But if you say, "I call my body strong, whole, and sound," you are bringing your mouth in line with the word. You're planting a seed of strength in the soil of your heart, and that seed will grow.
Now, don't just say this confession once and think you've done your job. You say it in the morning before you look at the symptoms. You say it at night before you go to sleep. You say it when fatigue tries to set on you like a wet blanket. You say it when the report tries to scare you. You say it until your body gets the message. And I've learned something over the years. If you'll keep confessing the word calmly and firmly, your body will have to line up sooner or later because God's word is the creative force of the universe. God created everything by speaking and he made you in his image. So when you speak his word, you're releasing his life.
Say it out loud right now. Don't whisper it like you're embarrassed. Say it like you're in agreement with heaven. I call my body strong. I call my body whole. I call my body sound in Jesus' name. And you keep calling it that way until it manifests in the natural. Glory to God.
Now, confession number six is where you shut the door on the devil's favorite weapon. Here it is. I refuse fear. I live by faith. You know, if the devil can't get you off the word, he'll try to get you into fear because fear is faith in reverse. Fear is believing the wrong report. Faith is believing God's report. And you can't be full of fear and full of faith at the same time. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7 that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. So if fear didn't come from God, where did it come from? It comes from the enemy. And if it comes from the enemy, then you don't entertain it and you don't pet it and you don't give it a room in your house. You refuse it.
Now, refusing fear doesn't mean you never feel a symptom. It doesn't mean you never hear a bad report. It means you decide what is going to rule your heart. The Bible says in Isaiah, "Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee." Peace doesn't come from pretending we live in a world without problems. Peace comes from keeping your mind stayed on God's word. Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled." He didn't say trouble wouldn't come. He said, "Don't let it move into your heart." So when a symptom shows up, you don't let fear preach to you. You answer it with the word. You say, "No fear. You are not from God. I refuse you. I live by faith."
And you say it when your feelings are shaky because the confession is for your benefit. You're strengthening your spirit. The Bible says to hold fast the confession of our faith. That means there will be pressure to let it go. But you don't let it go. I'll tell you what fear will try to do. It will paint pictures. It will show you worst case scenarios. It will say, "What if it doesn't work? What if it gets worse? What if you don't make it?" But the Bible says in Romans 8 that we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. It says nothing can separate us from the love of God. And it says the spirit is helping our infirmities. So fear is lying. It's a trespasser.
Some folks think faith is pretending you don't feel anything. That's not faith. Faith is feeling something and still standing on what God said. The psalmist said, "Why art thou cast down, oh my soul? Hope thou in God." He talked to his soul. He didn't let his soul talk him into despair. You do the same thing. You say, "Soul, listen. I refuse fear. I live by faith." Faith doesn't need to see first. Faith speaks first. Faith acts first. Faith rejoices first. And you know, sometimes people say, "Brother Hagen, I'm afraid." Well, all right. You might be tempted to be afraid, but temptation is not sin. Yielding is sin. You don't have to yield. You can feel fear knocking on your mind and still refuse to open the door. You can feel your heart racing and still say, "I will not fear. The Lord is the strength of my life." Psalm says, "The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?" That's not poetry. That's faith language.
So keep this confession in your mouth. Every time fear comes, answer it. Don't answer fear with silence. Don't answer fear by calling a friend to rehearse your symptoms. Answer fear with the word. Say it now. I refuse fear. I live by faith. God's word is working in me right now. And you'll find the devil can't keep a believer in bondage who won't bow to fear. Praise God.
Now, confession number seven ties all the rest together because this is where endurance lives. Confession number seven says, "I hold fast my confession of healing without wavering because God is faithful." That's Hebrews 10:23. And you know, a lot of people lose the harvest right here. They plant the seed of the word, then they dig it up with doubt or they water it for two days and quit. But the Bible doesn't teach flash faith. It teaches steadfast faith. It teaches standing faith. Jesus said in Mark 11 that you believe you receive when you pray and you shall have. Notice the order. You believe you receive first, then you have later. There is a space between receiving in the spirit and having in the body. And that space is where you hold fast. That space is where you don't waver. That space is where the devil will try to wear you out. He'll say nothing is happening. But just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not happening. Seed grows underground before it shows above ground.
Now Galatians 6:9 says, "Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." Due season means there is a harvest time. But it also says, "If we faint not," what does fainting look like? Fainting looks like quitting your confession. Fainting looks like stepping out of faith into sight. Fainting looks like saying, "Well, I guess it's not for me." But you don't faint. You don't quit. You don't back down because your confidence isn't in you. Your confidence is in God's faithfulness. I've told people for years, the word always works. If it seems like it didn't work, it wasn't the word's failure. It was the interruption of the process. People say it once and then they change their talk. You can't speak healing on Sunday and speak defeat on Monday. James says, "A double-minded man is unstable and can't receive."
You have to make up your mind who you're going to agree with. Are you going to agree with the doctor's final word or God's final word? Are you going to agree with your symptoms or the stripes of Jesus? You can't agree both ways. So holding fast means you keep your mouth lined up. When you wake up and the pain is still there, you say, "By his stripes, I am healed." When you go to bed and nothing seems different, you say, "God's word is medicine to my flesh." When a report comes that tries to shake you, you say, "I have authority over all the power of the enemy." And you keep saying it without wavering, not because you're trying to convince God, because you're keeping yourself in faith.
And I want to say this kindly. Your confession is not you trying to talk God into doing something he hasn't done. Your confession is you keeping your heart in tune with what he has done. It's like tuning a radio. The signal is already there. But you tune in until you hear it clearly. The promise is already there. But you hold fast until the body tunes in and lines up. Now friends, I've watched people get miracles instantly. I've watched others receive gradually, but I've never seen a person keep their confession lined up with the word and lose in the end. Not once. Because God is faithful. He watches over his word. He is not a man that he should lie. If he said it, he will do it. If he promised it, he will bring it to pass. So your job is to hold fast. The devil is a defeated foe, but he'll test your stand. If you stand, he flees. If you waver, he stays. So don't waver.
Say it out loud like you're driving a stake in the ground. I hold fast my confession without wavering. God is faithful. Healing will manifest in my body. And keep holding fast. The harvest is on the way.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you tonight. We thank you with all our hearts for your word because you and your word are one. You are not a separate God who says one thing and does another. Your word is your will revealed. Your word is your covenant. Your word is your bond. And you said, Lord, that you watch over your word to perform it. So we are not leaving this place with mere information. We are leaving with faith because faith has come by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We thank you that your word has gone into our ears, into our minds, into our spirits and it is producing after its kind. It is producing life. It is producing strength. It is producing healing.
Father, I thank you for the precious blood of Jesus. The blood that speaks better things than the blood of Abel. The blood that cries mercy. The blood that cries forgiveness. The blood that cries healing. The blood that cries deliverance. We do not come on the basis of our goodness. We come on the basis of the blood. We do not ask because we are worthy in ourselves. We ask because Jesus is worthy and because he has made us the righteousness of God in Christ. Your word says in Hebrews that by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Your word says in Romans that there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. So we stand here uncondemned. We stand here accepted in the beloved. We stand here with a right to believe.
And Father, I thank you that healing is not something you are debating about. Healing is not something you are trying to decide if you feel like doing. Healing is not something you set aside for a few special people. Healing is the children's bread. Healing is part of redemption. Healing is part of the atonement. You said in Isaiah 53:5, "With his stripes we are healed." You said in 1 Peter 2:24, "By whose stripes you were healed," that is past tense. That is finished work language. That means the payment has already been made in full. Jesus did not go to the whipping post so that we might wonder. He went there so that we might know. He went there so that we might take what belongs to us. And Father, we do take it by faith. We take it right now.
So in the name of Jesus, I speak to every sickness, every affliction, every disease, every pain, every torment, every weakness that has tried to fasten itself to your people. Your word says that Jesus went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. So I call sickness, what you call it, oppression of the devil. And I say it has no right in the body of the redeemed. It has no right in the temple of the Holy Ghost. It has no right to stay where the blood has been applied. It has no right to remain where the name of Jesus is honored. Therefore, in the name of Jesus Christ, I command oppression to go. I command pain to leave. I command inflammation to subside. I command fevers to break. I command every organ to function as God designed it to function. I command nerves to be restored. I command blood to be cleansed. I command bones to be strengthened. I command hearts to be stabilized. I command lungs to be clear. I command immune systems to rise up and do what God created them to do. Not because of any power of my own, but because of the authority of the name of Jesus and the authority of your word.
Father, you said in Mark 16:17, 18, these signs shall follow them that believe. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. We are believers, Lord. We are not doubters. We are not spectators. We are believers. And recovery belongs to believers. Your word says in James 5 that the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. So we pray the prayer of faith, not a prayer of begging, not a prayer of uncertainty, but a prayer that rests on your promise. And you are raising them up. You are lifting burdens. You are removing yolks. You are restoring strength. We thank you for it.
Now, Father, I also pray for the heart and mind of every listener. Because sometimes the battleground is not only in the body, it's in the mind. The devil tries to bring fear. He tries to bring images of defeat. He tries to bring memories of pain. But your word says you have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Your word says you keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you. Your word says, "The peace of God which passes all understanding shall guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." So I thank you for peace rising in them now. I thank you that tormenting fear is broken. I thank you that anxiety is silenced. I thank you that depression is lifted. I thank you that the light of the gospel is shining in their thoughts. I thank you that hope is alive again. I thank you that their inward man is strengthened with might by your spirit.
And Father, for those who have been standing a long time, those who've been attacked again and again, those who've had symptoms come and go and sometimes come back louder. Lord, I thank you that you are teaching them to hold fast the confession of their faith without wavering. I thank you that you are reminding them that the seed is working even when they can't see it. I thank you that they will not dig up the seed with negative words. I thank you that they will not be weary and welloing. You said in Galatians 6:9 that we shall reap if we faint not. So I call them strong. I call them steadfast. I call them unmovable. I call them abounding in the work of the Lord. I thank you that the Holy Ghost, the helper, is helping their infirmities. When they don't know what to pray as they ought, he makes intercession for them. So they are not alone in this fight. They are not abandoned. They are not forgotten. Heaven is backing their stand.
Father, I pray that as they go from here, they will keep your word in their mouths. You told us this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. You told us in Proverbs to attend to your words, to incline our ears to your sayings, to keep them before our eyes and to keep them in the midst of our hearts. So I thank you that they will take the word like medicine morning, noon, and night. I thank you that they will say, "By his stripes, I am healed." I thank you that they will say, "The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is quickening my body." I thank you that they will say, "God's word is medicine to all my flesh." I thank you that they will say, "I have authority over all the power of the enemy." I thank you that they will say, "I call my body strong, whole, and sound." I thank you that they will say, "I refuse fear. I live by faith." I thank you that they will say, "I hold fast my confession without wavering." And I thank you that their mouths will stay in agreement with heaven until the facts of the body bow to the truth of the word.
And Father, we do give you all the glory. We give you all the honor. We give you all the praise. We won't take credit for what only you can do. We won't boast in our strength. We will boast in the Lord. For you are faithful. You are true. You are the God who heals us. You are Jehovah Rafa. You said, "I am the Lord that health thee," and you never change. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. What you did in the days of Jesus, you do today. What you did for the early church, you do today. What you did for others, you do for us. Because you are no respector of persons. So we seal this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. We believe, we receive, we call it done, we call it finished, we call it ours now. And we thank you that the manifestation will follow whether instantly or progressively because your word cannot fail in Jesus's mighty name. Amen. Amen. And amen.