For indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him…Phil 2:27 NKJV

What is the value of the fruit of the Spirit? Is it just to be happy, as wonderful as that is, or is there a far greater depth to the benefits of the fruit? God’s provision for healing and health is a reality right up the point of death, and even beyond as many of our ministers are realizing. The first thing I want you to realize is that no situation is hopeless, even if the experts have said there is no hope. We have seen people live and recover completely, whom the doctors said repeatedly that they would die. Doctor Jesus has overruled the expertise of the experts time and time again. Epaphroditus was knocking on Heaven’s door when the Lord said, “No, no…not yet!”

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Gal 5:22-23 NKJV

We all need healing from time to time, and some have struggled with long term health crisis that need to be overcome. Many times, a health crisis foments other crisis, like in the family and financially. Job’s health crisis was compounded by the loss of his children, his family and his wealth. His wife told him to curse God and die. I tried to minister one time to a young, wealthy man who was dying of cancer.  I saw in the spirit that his family was already dividing up his wealth – they wanted him to die – and that he needed to get away from them if he wanted to live. He didn’t listen to me, and he died. God have mercy on his family in the judgment! I’m writing this for people who need healing, and for healthy people who will face a health challenge. Preparation is key!

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him…1 John 3:21-22 NKJV

Let’s talk about cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is the great indicator of a healthy soul. A merry heart does good like a medicine, the scripture says. Lake said that he never saw anyone with a pure spirit who failed to get healed; in other words, a heart with no grief, no guilt, no condemnation, no habitual sin, no anger, no fear, no regrets or sense of unworthiness. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he, the scripture says.  What you have in your heart is lived out in your body. The idea of cultivation is that you make a plan to develop fruit and you carry out that plan.

We lived on a farm once, and our landlord developed a huge seedling operation on the farmland that he now sells around the world. He built large ‘greenhouse’ sheds to grow his seedlings year round, where the seedlings were protected and cultivated intentionally. We can be intentional about cultivating the fruit of the spirit. The first hour of your day is key…

…but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Rom 6:13-14 NKJV

I’ve learned and practiced for years as the first thing in my day to go out and praise God: ‘ABBA, I thank You’ ‘Lord Jesus, I love You’ ‘Holy Spirit, I praise You’ – repeating those and similar lines from the heart as I look up to Him. Then I sit before Him in the dark and pray in tongues without any distractions as I listen to His voice. We present ourselves and our members to God daily with no agenda other than to please Him. No agenda – no ‘God do this for me, do that for me’ NO! You are presenting yourself to Him. Our lives are a living sacrifice to Him. Finally, I take the rest of the hour+ to read the Word while praying in tongues out loud. I begin the day, and I have presented myself to Him. We are off and rolling!

‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…’

If you are intentional about loving God – if you walk through that first hour of the day faithfully, wholeheartedly, despite how you may feel that day – then it becomes easier to be intentional about loving your neighbor. As you are loving God and loving your neighbor you are positioning yourself for your own healing and health. Job remained faithful to God, never accusing God, but listening to Him as He spoke, then Job was healed and restored AS HE PRAYED FOR HIS FRIENDS.

…So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (Grk. RHEMA – a spoken sentence) of God. Rom 10:17 NKJV

Joy is a faith celebration. Rejoicing in the success of others is the great key to overcoming jealousy and positions you for your own success. Joy comes out of a vital relationship with Him. Peace comes out of hearing His voice. A dear man of God shared with me once how he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He listened to the Lord who said, ‘I will walk you through this situation.’ That was all he needed for his faith and his peace. Next exam, no cancer!

Today the addiction to technology and the pace of life are destroying hearts and minds and making everyone very sick, lonely, depressed, and almost a third of the USA can’t sleep soundly at night. Why are we allowing this to happen? Seek God stubbornly, passionately, humbly. He cares! He loves you, and He wants you to want Him to know you. Jesus told the wicked charismatics, ‘Depart from me, I never knew you.’ Matthew 7:21-23. Don’t let that happen to you!

For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive (Grk.LAMBANO) abundance (Grk. PERISSEIA) of grace (Grk. CHARIS)  and of the gift (Grk. DOREA) of righteousness (Grk. DIKAIOSUNE) will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Rom 5:17 NKJV

I’ve never been satisfied with the effectiveness of how I have ministered this truth. I sometimes make assumptions that people know more than they do, and when I think back to how I struggled to learn some of these things, I’m more understanding. I think the best way to minister this truth is to teach it thoroughly then invite people to receive it, because this is the key to that ‘pure heart that always gets healed’ that Lake talked about.

First we realize that this verse sets a contrast between the work of Adam and its effect, and the work of the second Adam, Jesus, in overcoming and overwhelming the work of the first. One caused death to reign – sickness is death in part – and one caused eternal life to reign – deathlessness, sicklessness. See how this relates to healing and health?

…who receive (Grk.LAMBANO) abundance (Grk. PERISSEIA superabundance) of grace…

LAMBANO is to receive into manifestation. There are times when Jesus ministered that everyone got healed. That’s superabundance of grace! There are times when I’ve ministered that everyone got demonstrably healed. Imagine superabundance of grace…what does that look like? It means grace for healing, grace for finances, grace for wives, husbands, children, grandchildren, it means saving EVERYONE on a wheatship even though there was only a handful of believers. It means having so much gold in Jerusalem that nobody cared about the silver, it means four leprous guys ransacking an enemy camp where they left all their wealth and food. It means healing YOU – you walking without pain, you seeing clearly, you rejoicing with energy, strength and health – in spite of what the doctors and everyone else have said! Take a moment and imagine right now what it would be like if you received superabundance of grace…God will do it just for you!

…and of the gift (Grk. DOREA) of righteousness (Grk. DIKAIOSUNE)…

DOREA is a gift that benefits the receiver. DOREA is an expression of His love for you. There are other Greek words for gifts that benefit others, like the gift ministries, but DOREA is all about YOU. The DOREA of righteousness – God’s OWN righteousness. ABBA has never sinned against Himself or anyone else. He is RIGHTEOUSNESS! Allow the Lord to help you forgive yourself and be clothed with His own righteousness, not just clothed but through and through washed and cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, made righteousness, with not even the smell of sin on you, but the sweet fragrance of the grace of Christ. Oh my brother or sister, how He longs for you and I to understand His gift of righteousness! Receive it right now…

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor 5:21 NKJV

Now finally the great key of healing is to hear God’s voice. For years I counselled that when you have a crisis, take three days and go hear what God says about it. I would counsel this and nobody would do it, even though it’s the most sane thing you can do, and I myself have done it hundreds of times. I finally realized that very few people are confident in hearing the voice of God, and this is true because we haven’t taught people to interpret tongues and faithfully, accurately prophesy. That first word you get in interpretation of tongues is revelation, it’s the voice of God. But we haven’t taught or trained people in that gift accurately! So, nobody has confidence to hear the voice of God because they haven’t practiced interpretation and prophecy. This makes someone like me want to pull their hair out…with what little I have left (at a recent conference the speaker mentioned that something was ‘as white as Kevin Porter’s hair!’ 😉 )

Remember the dear man of God with a prostate problem? He heard the voice of God. The voice of God imparts faith that overcomes anything. There is no problem, no situation, nothing that you are facing that you can’t speak to ABBA and hear His voice and receive faith to overcome that thing. Nothing – no sin, no sickness, no disaster, no catastrophe, no bankruptcy, no loss that you can’t run to ABBA and hear His voice, and you and Him overcome it.

Sometimes people are so sick that you and I must stand in their place before God and hear from Him concerning them, and that’s when you manifest no greater love, because you lay down your heart and life for them.

Dear One, the love of God for you is so great; His passion for you, His tender concern, His grace for you is so great! The world teaches us that there are throwaway people, like old people and babies in the womb, and the physically unfit and unusable (Judgement Day is coming, Bubba!). But Jesus even talked about leaving the herd and finding one lost lamb, and dear one, you are immeasurably far greater than any lamb, except of course the Lamb. God knows; He cares! He is sitting on the edge of His throne right now just waiting for you to invite Him to come into your situation. Get away from all the distractions and go hear His voice and watch the Mighty One of Israel and the Church come to your rescue. Amen? Love you!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Fathers business…