Healing When We Abide

It was Saturday, January, 12 and I was starting to get a cold. The cold was nothing serious at this point, but I was starting to feel a little achy and my throat had a little scratch in it. This is always such a bummer when I start to feel sick on the weekend ,so I was trying to combat it with extra sleep and lots of tea with added cinnamon and sugar of course!
When I woke up Sunday morning my throat was still scratchy but my husband, Jeremy, and I were able to go to church together for the first time in a long time. This is a rare occurrence because we both serve on the worship team at church. Later on that day we went out to eat with my mom and brother and I was feeling good. After returning home from a quick trip to Walmart, I started to feel really bad. I tried to lay down for a nap but was not even able to do that because I could not swallow. I was in so much pain.
Monday morning came and I wanted to try and go to work that day. I thought I would be okay and the day would go fast, no big deal. It was a terrible day and to be honest, I barely made it through. I was starting to feel worse and worse, my fever was 103.5 and I didn’t know if I was going to make it. This is not to say I thought I was going to die, I just felt so bad and I was in so much pain.
When Jeremy and I were laying our son Elam down for bed, Jeremy prayed healing over my body and shared that when we make the Lord our dwelling, no harm will overtake us and no disaster will overtake our home. Like our promise to move on this week (Psalm 91:9-10) says in the New American Standard version, this also includes “Nor will any plague come near your tent”. So as Jeremy started praying this more and more throughout the night, we started believing it and trusting God to heal me.
Our son Elam still tends to get up in the night and when he woke up about 1:30, I quickly realized my fever broke. This was an answer to prayer! When I woke up Tuesday morning, I felt great! The Lord had healed me and I was feeling back to normal. This was not only a boost to my physical body, but it was such an encouragement to my prayer life. It has made such a difference focusing on abiding in the Lord ALL the time. What a difference that makes on the outlook of situations. What a difference that makes in the situations that life brings us. Dwelling in the Lord, abiding in Christ…every second, every moment, all the time- makes such a difference! 

Week 2: Psalm 91:9-10

"If you make the Most High your dwelling - even the Lord, who is my refuge - then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent."

Psalm 91:9-10

 

Sorry everybody, I am a day late with this one.  I know you all have been sitting at home so ready to move on our promise for this week and are going to have to start a day late now because of me!  I suppose, like I said last week, it's better late than never.  And on that note, if you haven't yet, please join us!  God did some incredible things in our lives last week as we moved on the promise from 1 John 3:6. 

 

If you joined us, please let us know how your week went - we would love to hear how God moved in your life. 

 

If you are planning on joining us for this week, please let us know - we would love to pray for and with you while we move together on trusting our Lord and Savior!

 

Now on to the good stuff:

 

As much as this pains me to say as a Cleveland Browns fan, our promise to move on this week comes from Baltimore Ravens Linebacker Ray Lewis.  Following their victory last Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts he was sporting a shirt that had Psalm 91 written on it.  Jake decided to look up Psalm 91 (I am far too stubborn a Browns fan to look up a verse on a Ravens player).  Thank the Lord someone doing this experiment isn't an idiot when it comes to sports. 

 

As it turns out, Psalm 91 ties directly into the promise we moved on last week from John 3:6, in which we focused on abiding in Christ in order to eliminate sin from our lives.  So when Psalm 91:9-10 talks about making the Lord our refuge and dwelling place, it kind of caught Jake's attention.  He shared the verse with Jana, Liz and I and we all agreed that this would be a great promise to move on for this week.

 

In Psalm 91:9-10 the outcome changes a little though.  We are still focusing on abiding in the Lord.  We are making Jesus Christ our refuge, the place we run to when we are in need - of anything! - we are making Him our dwelling place.  Just like you dwell in your house or apartment or tent or cave.  When you are dwelling in it, you are surrounded by it, protected by it, it completely covers you.  That is what we have been focusing on in these past two weeks.

 

The change in this promise comes in the outcome.  Where as abiding in Christ eliminated sin from our lives last week, this week abiding eliminates evil and plagues from our lives.  Now while I can't say that I am incredibly worried about plagues befalling my house, I would be more than happy to see sickness eliminated from my home.  And that is what we are counting on!

 

The rest of Psalm 91 continues to lay out the protection, deliverance and long life that come to those who make the Lord their dwelling and refuge.  I would highly suggest you read the entire Psalm.  I would also highly suggest that you join us in moving on that promise.  Cling to Him!  Cling to Him so tightly that He becomes absolutely everything - even the air that you breathe.  We learned from experience last week that abiding in Christ can eliminate sin from our lives.  This week I fully expect to see how abiding in Him also eliminates evil, sickness, danger and fear.

 

Just to make sure that this experiment is fully put to the test, Jana decided to come down with strep and I have developed a pretty nasty chest and sinus cold.  If there is anything last week taught us, and the Bible continually teaches us, it is that God's promises are faithful and true!  Give it a try...He won't let you down!

 

MOVE!