Peter Marshall the Scottish-American preacher once said: “God will not permit any trouble to come upon us unless He has a specific plan by which a great blessing can come out of the difficulty.” This is such an encouraging quote, and gives us tremendous hope that something positive can come from our suffering, and has a plan for us.
It has been my experience that suffering brings us closer to God. I believe we instinctively realize that more than ever we need God to help us through our health crisis or any other crisis we may be facing.
I also believe that we become very special too God, and He is molding us through our suffering to be the perfect instrument He needs us to be. His love for us is unconditional and unending. Through illness or personal crisis He gets our attention. In most cases this is the only way he can get us to slow down, regroup, and begin serving Him.
Personally I am very stubborn, hard-headed, and its taken me years to learn why I am here on planet earth. Since I am now 73 years young I now realize why I faced a terminal cancer diagnosis. God finally got my attention. But, the great news is I now have more time to serve my Lord.
A man once said: “When God tests you, it is a good time for you to test Him by putting His promises to the proof and claiming from Him just as much as your trials have rendered necessary.”
This is exactly what I did. I looked up many healing scriptures. I’ll share with you a few of my favorites in a moment. I repeated them over and over trusting and believing God would heal me. God can not lie, and His word is more powerful than a double edge sword, it says that it will heal me and it did.
My doctor tells me I’m in remission, and that my last pet scan was clear. Personally I believe it was the hand of God that healed me. What follows are my favorite scripture verses that speak to healing:
“He was wounded by our transgressions. He was bruised for our inequities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. And by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:3). “He forgives all my inequities, and heals all your diseases.” (Psalm 103:3). “Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily.” (Isaiah 58:8). “Heal me, O Lord, and I Shall be healed, save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.” (Jeremiah 17:14).
There you have it. These four Bible healing verses I wrote out on the back of business cards. I repeated them daily while I exercised on my mini trampoline or when relaxing in the tub. The repetition and memorization made these healing verses part of my subconscious mind. Our subconscious mind never sleeps, and I believe this was a big part of my healing.
Smith Wigglesworth the famous British evangelist once said: “If God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” I have internalized these words and I apply them to scripture and the word of God.
Just remember that God has a plan for you. My hope is you are not facing a serious illness, please put your faith in Jesus. He can and will heal you when you turn to Him in daily prayer, and believe that He will heal you.
For my non Christian friends I ask you to consider the Bible as the best life instructional manual in the world, and that it can and will help you in all areas of your life. May God bless you abundantly, and shower you with His grace and mercy. With love and humility, Godspeed.
The One-Minute Prisoner 