Diagnosis or Miracle: Who are you partnering with?

When God created the heavens and the earth, He did so with the power of His words. Words have creative power. They can bring destruction or they can bring restoration. The power of life and death is not in the hands but it is in the tongue. We vasty underestimate the power of our words. And our words are the overflow of our hearts and beliefs. That is why what we believe and what we partner with and what we speak out into the atmosphere can shift our entire lives. And that’s why is it is important to take constant check-ins with your heart and with God to find out… When you speak, who are you partnering with?

You choose.

We get to choose this day what your mouth will create into existence… the power of life or the power of death? It’s a willful choice you get to make. No one can make it for you.

If the doctor says, “Yes, there’s a strong possibility of cancer in 8 years,” who will you partner with? And first of all, why are so many doctors quick to speak death? Second of all, you need to decide whose words you will give authority to over your life. You can easily hold on to that word of the possibility of cancer. You can let fear grip you. You can let that seed sink into your belief system and you can basically determine that you’ll have cancer. Whether you end up with cancer or not, you will have put yourself in a prison of fear and worst-case scenarios and you’ll live a life as if you have cancer whether you do or don’t. I’m serious. This has happened so many times. Who do you want to partner with? You can choose to partner with a medical diagnosis or you can choose to partner with faith and God’s Word.

How do you partner with faith and God’s Word? [You find yourself a promise from God.] You memorize it. Meditate on it. Cling to it. And speak it out.

Diagnosis.

When I was about 19 years old, doctors told me I would never have children. They gave me a diagnosis and showed me tons of evidence in scans and bloodwork to support that diagnosis. But “the blood of Christ speaks a higher word.” And so I hung my hat on God’s Word and His ability to heal more than the doctor’s evidence and belief/proof that I would never be able to have children.

Decision day.

I decided at that young age of 19 that I had to refuse those words. I don’t recall anyone in my life teaching me about this or how to do this. But I had the Wonderful Counselor in my life, and I just knew so deep in my heart that my biggest desire was to be married and be a mom. Nothing in me was going to let bloodwork and evidence take that desire from me. And so I cried out to God. I believed He could do it. I prayed. I fasted. And I also did everything I could in the natural to care for my body. I met with other doctors to try to give me wisdom on how to heal.  I ate right and exercised to help my body heal. But what I had to do most was exercise my faith that God could and would heal me.

Testimony.

Then one day, I met a young man at the World Prayer Center. I was there about midnight praying. He recognized the weary look on my face and asked if I was ok. Nope. No I was not ok. And I told him about the health stuff I was praying through. He told me that when he was a little boy, like 8 years old, doctors found he had a rare sinus disorder that when he had his next sinus attack, it could kill him. They told that to an 8 year old boy!?

And what did this 8 year old boy do with a terminal diagnosis?

He began to search God’s Word for promises of healing. He memorized them as if arming himself for battle. He memorized God’s Word so that he would have those words with him any time anywhere. And the next time he started to have a sinus attack, he began to speak God’s promises of healing. And guess what? The attack stopped. This happened a few times and he stood on God’s word each time. And eventually, they stopped all together.

He told me his story and it strengthened my faith to believe in God’s power and the power of God’s Word to heal. He had to choose who he would partner with: the evidence-based diagnosis or the faith-based hope of a miracle.

Miracle.

And because he strengthened my faith with his testimony, because he partnered with me in faith and in prayer, and because God loves to answer the prayers of His people who agree on something in Jesus name… God healed me that day!

I’ll share more details on the entire miracle story another day, but the short of it is that God did a jaw-dropping miracle. Starting that very day, my body started acting right. And years later, after Dan and I got married, we had the sweetest baby girls.

Evidence.

There are so many legitimate miracle stories around their birth and arrival into this world. But I have to tell you that every single one of them required me partnering my faith with God’s Word. I had to choose each time between believing the diagnosis and “evidence” or believing the hope of a miracle.

Faith is being sure of what we hope for, the evidence of what we do not see. Let’s look this up in three different translations and see what we can glean by the differences:

Proof

Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see. Hebrews 11:1, Contemporary English Version

Evidence

Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]. Hebrews 11:1, Amplified Bible

We have to choose which evidence we will partner with… evidence of the diagnosis or evidence the miracle. I’m starting to think that our partnership and agreement with God’s Word and promises are the foundation of operating in the power that Holy Spirit give us.

When faced with a diagnosis, we have a life-altering decision to make. Are we going to partner with medical evidence or the evidence of faith? Choose this day and choose wisely. Diagnosis or miracle. Death or life. Hope or despair. You do get to choose who you partner with today. The kingdom of heaven or the dominion of this earth.

And if you are reading this thinking of a past miracle you had faith for and it didn’t come to pass, I want to encourage you about that next. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post.