Yesterday, we visited the Museum of Illusions in Toronto where we were reminded not every thing you see is real.
Tonight I am doing a healing service here in Toronto, and the revelation we need to grasp at Tree of Life ties both of these together – you should not trust your senses. Living by trusting your senses is called by Paul “living by sight”, and that’s the easiest way to live in defeat. It’s also referred to in the Bible as being carnal, letting your body led your soul, rather than your spirit.
Now I could tell you all on the very basic level, don’t believe the symptoms of sickness, don’t believe the symptoms of poverty, believe the Word. And that’s all true, and some of you need to be doing this in a major way. You see the problem, then you trust the problem because you trust your senses, then you speak the problem. That’s a very low way of living.
Trust the Word over your senses. That’s living by faith.
Now that’s all true and very important to all of us, but there’s another form of trusting our senses that has invaded the church and it is definitely causing Christians in Tree of Life to fail to listen to their destiny.
Let me explain, and I believe my words will provoke and inspire you to grow this week while I am ministering in Canada!
There was only one person in the Bible who impressed and amazed Jesus with his faith. A Roman centurion who had a sick, paralysed servant. This man comes to Jesus to ask for healing and Jesus says I will come to your house to heal him.
Now, just press pause on that right now. Don’t run ahead in your mind. Think about what Jesus coming to your house means. You can see Jesus in your house. I mean physically see him standing in your house. Your servant would be able to see him, feel his hands touch him and feel the power in Jesus and feel it go into him. You could audibly hear Jesus’ voice as he command your arms and legs to work again.
I dare say that’s what most people want when it comes to healing. They want to see Jesus, they want to feel Him touch them, they want to feel fire and glory alll over their body, they want to feel something happening, they want the fleece to be wet and the ground dry, they want to see fire in someone’s hands, they want the minister to lay hands on them, they want to hear the evangelist say “God is telling me there is someone in the room tonight with palsy”. And that entire list has one thing in common.
Everything on that list is sensual, carnal and in the physical realm. To receive your healing that way is living by sight, looking at the physical realm and expecting God to come and mollycoddle you.
It is not in any way living by faith. The centurion rejected getting healed that way and said boldly that all he needed was God’s Word and that was enough. That is living by faith.
We have to stop needing material confirmation of spiritual truth. Great faith, the kind of faith I want you to live in, the faith of Abraham, does not need something carnal or physical to trust God’s Word. It puts God’s Word above everything. There’s nothing wrong with experiences, but we do not need them, we need the Word.
I just recently heard a pastor say (not a Tree of Life pastor thankfully, I’d hate to have to come back from Canada and fire someone) that there was absolutely nothing better than hearing a certain minister in person in the UK, that having them there in person was essential to him.
It isn’t.
Jesus is essential. Can we all remember it is ALL about Jesus?
But we cannot see Jesus with our eyes or sense him, so we – being carnal – fix our eyes on preachers we can see. Again, I’m not against preachers, love the fivefold, I’m not against travelling to minister, I’m in the middle of a Healing conference as I write this, but my go will be to point people to Jesus.
Of course, a non-Christian or a brand new baby Christian who cannot see Jesus, that’s OK for us to be Jesus in the flesh to them, but for a pastor to think that, they need to grow up. And if you are part of a great church like Tree of Life Church, you should honour all our wonderful pastors who love invest so much into you day after day, but ultimately it’s not about us, it’s about Jesus and the Word.
You want to be healed? You want to live in victory? You want to be out of debt? You want to win every single battle? You want to amaze Jesus with your faith? Then just go with what the Word says. Just believe the Word. You don’t need me to call your condition out, you don’t need Richard to lay hands on you, you don’t need Lee to have fire flow from him into you. You don’t need to see a certain preacher in private, you don’t need anyone to come around your house or to your hospital bed, you don’t need Jesus to appear in the flesh, you don’t need an audible voice.
You have a Bible. You have the Word of God. That is all you need. Don’t let your circumstances, events or anything in this world define you. Your senses are unreliable, God’s Word is totally reliable. You might feel sick, you are healed. You might look broke, you are rich. You might feel unholy, you are righteous and pure.
Praise God you have a support system. A pastor who is writing to you daily while on Canada, a church full of people who love you, a God who gave us the Holy Spirit and all those wonderful, glorious gifts. You have such a team of great pastors at Tree of Life who are always pointing you to Jesus.
Praise God for international ministers who come to the UK, But understand this, you do not need them. All you need is the Word. Thomas needed a touch and a look to believe the resurrection, you didn’t. And you don’t need it to believe any other promise in the Word. Have some faith in your faith! Start trusting God just based on the Word. If the Word says it, it is so. If Jesus says you are healed, you don’t need a visitation. (Your life will change so much when you stop going to see ministers out of desperation and you go in faith).
Some of you don’t always go to church because you don’t feel it, you either don’t feel desperate enough or feel spiritual enough. Grow up and just go because that’s what the Word says, go to church. If the Word says it and that settles it with you, every day will be a day of victory. Every day will be a day of success.
The greatest day of your life will not be some guest speaker or some feeling of fire, it will be today because today you read the Word and believed it.
This is truly living by faith, not needing any training wheels to know what God said is true. It’s true because God said it and that is enough for me. That’s where I want you to be.
Selah.
Love you all, looking forward to seeing you all soon, especially at Heal the Nations.
Grace and peace
Ben
Tree of Life Blog 