Spiritual Determination and Healing 8-4-2025

There is a condition of people in the Bible and in our time which is little known but yet so necessary that it is causing God's people who neglect it to not arrive at the place called wholeness. This condition is lacking perhaps because of the modern world mindset of a culture which has supported the medical profession and government which has stuck it's regulatory nose into some places it should not have. Ever since I was young, I remember the adults then holding modern medicine in such high regard that not many questioned it's science for fear of man, (neighbors).  The doctors weren't God, only treated like they were. What it looks like to me is that the truth of scripture was not widely developed in society so as to balance out belief in doctors.

Am I saying don't believe in doctors and medicine? No. Just presenting the balance of scripture which tells us that God is our healer and should be the first one we listen to when crisis arises. Your health outcome could be different depending on which doctor you go to. That's "which" and not "witch" doctor.

Modern communication has led to an open door of false health knowledge that can be quickly spread as if true. What you believe in your heart tends to drive you certain directions. So what is in your heart? The communication which is most important is between heart and mind, and is spiritual. God can contact us many ways, so it is to us to listen and seek the Eternal Ones' messaging.

Did those in Jesus time on earth have a choice of people to see when sickness manifested? They did have types of physicians in ancient times. Differing practices existed depending on who they were and what culture they lived in. Some foods were known as curative and still are today such as chicken soup.

The Bible tells of ancients being healed through things like herbs, poultices, amulets hung around the neck, etc. Sometimes religion and science were mixed together. Maybe later known as holistic medicine?

Judaism has had a rich tradition of healing.  Isaiah treated King Hezekiah for intestinal illness with an application of figs (Isaiah 38:21). According to ancient legend, King Solomon acquired knowledge of healing from God, then wrote a healing text, which was later followed by a school of Jewish folk practitioners (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, book 8, chap. 2). In addition, Solomon was said to be a sorcerer-astrologist who could banish illness demons (The Testament of Solomon).

According to stories in the Talmud certain rabbis were healers. Talmudic remedies  involved magical practices which came out of Babylon and were eventually discarded. The rabbis knew magic sorcery was involved but they declared as principle that "nothing done for the purpose of healing is forbidden on grounds of superstition."

Enter the current day and age and it's practices and we find that same logic. Only we, as informed Christians, know that when occultism is involved, curses follow the practice. So we need to define occultism. I advise look up the practice you want to know about in a Gene Moody book, Demon Buster.com, or Henry Wrights' literature. New Age practices do fall under occultism.

The question I ask is,  "Can one follow the devil and God at the same time and reap a good result?"

I started out talking about a certain condition that seems to be missing in today's spiritual quest for healing. Let's go into that.

Let me start by asking a general question of scripture. What did blind Bartimaeus, the four friends of the paralytic, the woman with the issue of blood, and the centurion who's servant was paralyzed and tormented all have in common?  Answer. Fierce determination of faith. Matthew 8:5-6 "⁵ Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, ⁶ saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.”

Matthew 8:7-10  "And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”⁸ The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!"

Determination! 

Determination definition:  is a positive emotional feeling that promotes persevering towards a difficult goal in spite of obstacles. Determination occurs prior to goal attainment and serves to motivate behavior that will help achieve one's goal. Empirical research suggests that people consider determination to be an emotion; in other words, determination is not just a cognitive state, but an affective state, so it affects things.

Let me demonstrate this by telling you a story. You all know I'm a carpenter by trade. I started out in Northern Wisconsin learning the trade back in the 1990s, with a man who is a healing evangelist whom I met at a Miracle meeting not long after Debra and I had moved there in 1991.

Brother Neal was his name. We had quite a few conversations on the job about God, miracles salvations, etc.  In  1997, I was working for a construction company whose owner was a Baptist. In February, I of my own fault, had a table saw accident in which my third and fourth digits on my left hand were cut off. The third one was cut in 7 pieces, and my wedding ring destroyed. The fourth pinky was cut in two from the knuckle . Other damage included palm of the hand, and thumb were cut as well.  The boss and I jumped into his pickup and sped off towards Rhinelander where the hospital is. It was 20 minutes away on snowy roads. I held pressure with a rag on my bleeding left hand and prayed in tongues all of the way in front of my Baptist boss.  Debra joined us in the ER and she prayed for me while waiting on the doctor. We also called our friend Neal to see if he could come and pray.

The Doctor came, (who was a top Orthopedic Surgeon in the area) a big, tall guy with a nice personality and just happened to be on call that day.  He looked the hand over and said firmly, "I can't save those fingers," and he gave several reasons. Not what I wanted to hear! I got mad and told him, "You put those fingers on and they are going to be fine!" Funny his reaction was, "Anything for a paying customer." My friend Neal had come in just in time to pray for the doctor. He walked over to him and said, "Give me your hands, I'm going to pray for them before you do surgery!" Like it or not the doctor was at his first prayer meeting, surrendering to God! Well, 4.5 hours later we came out of the OR and I had my fingers on!  Glory to God! The doctor tried to tell me the fingers probably wouldn’t last through the night . To which I replied, "They are going to be just fine." He mentioned the same thing again after a follow up meeting  later and claimed there was no blood flow in the ring finger and so it would not work. I said the same thing then. Talk about stubborn. All good stories have a happy ending so here it is. The doctor had a meeting a year later with his orthopedic business partners, one was a Christian who was reviewing my file notes and pictures and asked him why he attached the fingers when he should not have. My doctor replied, "All I can say is God made me do it."

Oh and the Baptist boss- he showed up at our door one day a couple of  weeks after surgery with some unexpected money for us. He told me he and his wife had returned to God after years of not going to church! Glory be to God! He thanked me and wished us well.

Ok, I did have a little help with the determination, but I arrived at where I wanted to be.

Well we have a treat for you tonight, a video story of the child who was born with and healed of 26 diseases in an  A.A. Allen crusade in 1959 in Birmingham. The Preacher who was in the tent that night was R.W. Shambach  who worked for A.A. Allen about 5 years. His testimony as a witness is like no other. See if you can pick up on the mothers determination from the story!

video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAnYQxXWCME

There is more to the story, as the video was not complete. The Woman who was living in Knoxville wrote Shambach a letter saying, "I went back to Knoxville, and I'd have walked home just to get a new baby." She went on, "You and that preacher went home early that night and I'm standing there and a little woman came and shook my hand. She was so happy for what God did for me. She said, there was a folded piece of paper between the palms and she left it in my palm. The lady said, I'm so glad for you." And when she looked in her palm there was a $20 bill.

And then other people began to line up (to give her money) and when it was all over she had been given a purse full of money, more than what she and her son had come with!

Isn't that glorious?  The likes of that night have not been seen since!

Sometimes God has to sovereignly shake things up to help us along the way. (And I don't mean send trials.)I shared this Saturday. We were driving on the freeway talking over some grandbaby arrangements when the Lord put before me a vision which shocked us both, (in a good way).

I was shown the robe of the Lord coming through the clouds and a person desperately and very determined hanging onto it, refusing to let go. I heard the word "determination" and knew it to be the part of our faith that was not activated, but is needed to overcome and bring us to our place of wholeness.

The enemy is determined so should we be. I believe this is something God showed us for the reason that He wants us to succeed in overcoming through faith. "This is the victory which overcomes the world, even our faith." 1John 5:4