FIGHT FOR YOUR HEALING!--By Maria        9/85     DO 2072
--Lesson on Fighting & Prayer for Maria's Sore Eyes!

AFFLICTIONS--OUR MOST FREQUENT BATTLES IN LIFE!

         1. It's the job of a leader, as Peter & Sara know, & as Grandpa has taught us, not only to confess our own problems & get the victory, but to try to help other people get a lesson out of it as an example! We can't just do it privately & in a corner. We don't only have to get a victory ourselves, but we're responsible to make our problems an example for other people, & when we get the victory, we're responsible to tell you about it & to tell you how to get the victory. I haven't exactly gotten the complete victory yet, but by faith I have! So I want to share it with you & help you to also be able to know how to get the victory if you are sick, or if you have to pray for somebody else, that you'll know how to pray for them & you'll know what to do.
         2. Some of our biggest battles in life are our physical afflictions. It's almost more frequent & common to have physical afflictions than it is to have spiritual afflictions. Of course, we always have ongoing spiritual battles & we're always gaining victories, & we're always progressing in our spiritual lives. If I were to ask, "Who has had some spiritual battles this week?", maybe you'd all say you had spiritual battles as well as the physical battles we all suffered! But a lot of times the physical things seem more bothersome & are more difficult to get the victory over than the spiritual ones!--And get you more down & discouraged. It's a little more difficult to know how to attack them sometimes & what the Lord is trying to teach you through them.

HOW THE ENEMY USES SICKNESS!

         3. Physical afflictions are really stubborn & you get them over & over & over. You get healed of one & you get another! Why do you think that is? (Fam: To keep you dependent on the Lord. To keep you humble.)--Yes, both, to keep you dependent on the Lord & keep you humble & keep you sympathising with other people. (Fam: To keep you in the Word & close to the Lord!)--Right! Actually, there are about 30 reasons why you get sick listed in the Kidz MOP! (See Kidz MOP Vol. 2, Pgs.588-601)
         4. Did you ever stop to think why maybe the Enemy uses illnesses & sickness to attack many of us sometimes even more than things like jealousy, selfishness & pride? Number one, you usually become discouraged when you're sick.
         5. Not only do you get discouraged, but it can make you irritable with other people, so it doesn't help your relationship with others much. If you adults have, for example, a bad headache or an actual sickness where you're down in bed & you can't do anything, then you have to neglect your children or your husband or wife. So you not only get discouraged about the sickness itself, but you get off guard & you get weakened to the point where you become irritable, upset, sharp with others. See, a physical attack is usually double-barrelled, with a spiritual attack at the same time.
         6. The Devil attacks us with these physical afflictions because through it he can try to get us discouraged & get us down, but there's a greater victory in it, much greater than the Enemy's discouragement! The Enemy thinks he's really going to get us with it, but the Lord brings a victory out of seeming defeat!
         7. Some of the people that have been the sickest & have had the most problems have grown the closest to the Lord, because they've learned from it & accepted that those things are to draw them closer to the Lord.--Not that they exactly accepted the illnesses, they need to fight those, but they've accepted that even though the Devil brought it to them, in a way, the Lord allowed it for a reason, for His reason, a good reason, not a bad one.

REBUKE THE ENEMY!

         8. Look how many times Grandpa said this in his prayer for me:* "Rebuke the Enemy! Rebuke the Enemy! Rebuke the Enemy! We rebuke you, Satan! We resist you, Satan! Resist the Enemy & he will flee from you! Resist the Enemy! Rebuke, Lord, these afflictions! Rebuke this thing in the Name of Jesus! Rebuke this affliction! We resist you, Satan! We rebuke this affliction! Why don't you get the victory?" Well, that's not exactly saying the same thing as "fight", but in a way it is because to get the victory you have to have the battle! You have to fight in order to get the victory, so that's the result. So Grandpa in a way right there is saying, "Why don't you fight & get the victory?" Victory denotes fighting, because you can't have a victory without a fight!--Right?--Without a battle! Let's see where else he said something like that. *(See full Letter, para.19-38)
         9. "Will you please get the victory? Are you going to claim the victory? Are you going to rebuke the Devil? Do you rebuke Oplexicon? Do you rebuke the Devil? Resist the Enemy! Rebuke them, all the devils!" He said, "I'm getting the victory over them. Rebuke the Devil, resist the Enemy! Rebuke it! Fight! Fight, Team, fight! He's fighting you, you've got to rebuke him & fight! Sit down, look at that paper & fight! Rebuke the Devil who is trying to blind you, in Jesus' name! Trust the Lord! Why don't you rebuke the Devil? Claim the promises!"
         10. That's another thing, claiming the Promises! You're resisting the doubts of the Enemy and the lies of the Enemy when you claim the Lord's Truth in His promises, so that's fighting too. "Quote Scriptures against the Devil, come against him," that's fighting him too. "Lord rebuke this devilish sickness!" That's about it, but that's only half of it all. Grandpa just kept repeating it over and over. He really wanted me to get the point!
         11. Grandpa made it clear my sore eyes are an attack of the Devil, even though the problem may have come through a physical channel, through my not treating my eyes properly. Do you think most of our sicknesses & illnesses & diseases are attacks of the Enemy? Well, either they're direct attacks or they are used by him to hinder us. So we know they're of the Enemy one way or the other because they hinder the Lord's Work, & we know they're not of God & they're not of the Lord if they do that. We know they're of the Enemy & they're not of the Lord & they need to be rebuked & fought against if they hinder the Work.

FIGHT FOR YOUR HEALING!

         12. The Lord's healing is there just as much as it always was & it always is, but the Enemy is really fighting us very hard, fighting against the Lord's healing. Remember that Letter "Difficulty in Spiritual Communications"? (#1846) Dad said he's going to come back & help us, but there's that hindrance there, that force, the Enemy fighting. The Lord said it & we believe it, but we're going to have to fight for our healing! It's there, & it's not that the Lord won't do it, He wants to do it & He's going to do it, but we've got to get over that barrier & really fight the battle in the Spirit & not just be lethargic!
         13. It's not enough just to claim & quote the Scriptures! Grandpa said to quote the Scriptures & claim the Scriptures, but he also said you've got to do more than that. He said fight! Resist! Rebuke the Enemy! So that's a big part of our healing. He said all this before. This isn't anything new, but the more I think about it the more I see that in some cases just believing is not enough. Sometimes it's enough, like with little tiny things that don't bother us much, we just claim a verse & thank the Lord, & that's enough. But in some of these difficult cases & big cases, we've got to really fight the Enemy! Jesus made a difference in cases when He said, "This kind cometh not out but by fasting & prayer."--Mat.17:21. In other words, some required more effort than others.
         14. Sometimes it's a big spiritual attack!--I'll just take my own eyes for example: I have a very important job & there are some things I have to do that nobody else can do, so if I don't have my eyes those jobs just don't get done.
         15. So it's a real attack of the Enemy & we have to rebuke it, not just go to bed! In "The Power of Positive Praise" (#1375) I came to the conclusion that going to bed wasn't going to help my headache. If it is a spiritual battle, just going to bed isn't the cure, even though there are times when if you have a headache from tiredness or overdoing, going to bed is probably part of what you need & it'll help. But if it's a real attack of the Enemy, no matter what you do it isn't going to get you the complete victory unless you really fight the Enemy & rebuke the Devil & get the victory over him! Sometimes taking an aspirin may help my headache temporarily, but to get a real lasting victory over headaches I need to really pray & rebuke the Enemy & claim the Lord's victory!

DON'T BE LAZY!--STIR YOURSELF UP!

         16. We can't be lethargic & lazy! That's my tendency! It's a natural tendency to be lazy & lethargic & to do sort of the minimum that you have to do. I dare say that most of us are like that, it's sort of human nature.--But not everybody is like that! I'd say Dad is far from that way & there are a lot of other people that aren't. But the majority of us usually take the easy way out & we are normally a little lazy & lethargic & we don't want to get into too many fights, it's too much of a problem, it takes too much out of us. So we just sort of sit back & say a little prayer & let things go on until they get so desperate that we've gotta fight & there's nothing else to do!
         17. Like Dad said, every swallow for him is a fight! He's got to fight constantly! You have to fight constantly with the Word! It's not enough to just read the promises over & say, "Okay, Lord, I know I can be healed. Look, everybody else has been healed, & of course You're going to heal me. I ask forgiveness for my sins & I know I'm going to be healed." Do you understand the difference? In a way that's fighting, you're claiming the Scriptures, that's what you're supposed to do, that's one part of it, but that's not enough to win the battle! You've got to really be militant about it & aggressive & really sock it to the Enemy!
         18. Tell the Enemy, "'The Lord healeth all our diseases' (Psa.103:3), but you are the culprit & you get out of here! I don't want anything more to do with you & I resist you, Satan, in Jesus' name!" It's not enough just to look at the verses on healing & quote them, "Who healeth all our diseases, lay hands on the sick & they shall be healed, by His stripes we are healed"--fine, we are, that's true--but we've got to also on the other hand sock it to the Enemy & overcome that barrier that the Enemy is trying to put in our path to keep us from appropriating that spiritual blessing & that healing.

STUBBORN SPIRITUAL CASES TAKE MORE FIGHT & EFFORT!

         19. There's a difference! Some healings & deliverances come out pretty easily & we get our problems taken care of pretty easily, but others take a lot more. Remember how many times we had to pray for Magdalene? We had to pray three times for her & I think we got rid of a few more devils every time! Some of these things just take real fasting & prayer, a real concerted effort & real perseverance. They aren't all so easy & there are different degrees, so we can't treat every problem the same, demons & devils or spiritual or physical afflictions, whatever they are.
         20. There are different conditions for different people. Some people's afflictions and sicknesses are actually because they've really been bad. For instance, in "Are You Deaf?" (ML# 1040) the Lord was trying to show the parents that the problem was because they were a bad problem and a bad influence. In other cases it's not because they have a big spiritual problem, it's more of a real outside attack to hinder the Work.
         21. So we really need to go on the attack and remember, that especially nowadays when the Enemy is really fighting us hard, we're going to have to really fight back and really stir ourselves up to really want the victory! It's not just a matter of saying a little prayer, but it's stirring up our spirits, stirring up ourselves, asking the Lord to make us desperate to get the victory, to want to fight! You can say the words, but with spiritual problems and spiritual battles you have to continually have that attitude of desperation, of a stirred-up spirit on the attack. We have to have that attitude in our heart!--Not just come here and shout at the Enemy, which is a good thing to do and we'd better do that, but we've got to really feel it and continually be on the attack against our lethargy. (See Jer.29:13; Isa.64:7)
         22. We've got to stir ourselves up, we can't be lazy & lethargic any more because we're in an army! This thing about fighting & rebuking the Enemy, this is what armies do, they fight! And we should actually have much more the attitude of an army! I think it's good to call ourselves an army, to keep that in front of us, to keep reminding ourselves that it is a fight & we've got to "endure hardness as good soldiers", we've got to "fight the good fight", "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal", "earnestly contend for the faith!"--2Tim.2:3; 1Tim.6:12; 2Cor.10: 4-5; Jude 3.

DAD IS A FIGHTER!

         23. A revolution is a total change from one government or political or religious system to another, & sometimes changing it takes armed conflict, war, fight! We've had to fight to have this revolution & we're still having to fight to keep it a revolution, & to keep changing. And that's what makes Grandpa & our movement different than any of the other movements. So do you see how important fighting is & what the Lord thinks of it? We wouldn't even have the Family or the Revolution today if Grandpa hadn't been a fighter & started it & continued to keep it going. We'd just be another denomination or youth group or church organisation.
         24. So you see why the Lord evidently thinks pretty highly of fighters. There are very few of them in the World! The majority of people just aren't fighters, even most of us aren't fighters normally, that's not our natural tendency. But we have to learn to be, because it's so important to the Lord. That's what the Lord wants in an army, in this movement. He doesn't have the potential for such a strong army of fighters anywhere else in the World, so we've gotta be His fighters! That's what He's trying to make of us, although it's really hard. I've prayed that He would make me one, but I need to pray it more!--Not only me, but all of us! We need to really stir ourselves up in everything, not only in healing, but in everything we need to be fighters!
         25. We're an Army & a Revolution! Dad called us a Revolution & the Lord confirmed it, & the Lord calls His people an Army & soldiers in the Bible. That's what He would like them to be & that's what they're supposed to be, but there are very few Christians that are real soldiers in His Army! Where are they? So the Lord's counting on us to be the soldiers by even naming us a Revolution, even naming us an Army!

IT TAKES EFFORT!--MORE CREDIT FOR OVERCOMING!

         26. If there's something that's difficult for you & you do it anyway, the Lord's going to give you even more credit for it than somebody who just likes to do it & for whom it's not difficult! Of course in a way it's difficult for all of us fighting the Enemy, but I'm just saying some people naturally like to do one thing & other people don't. So it's harder for them & when they do get the victory the Lord really gives them more credit in that particular area than the one who is sort of created to be that way & likes to do that.
         27. It says that "Jesus endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, so be not weary & faint in your minds."--Heb.12:3. Grandpa got that verse for me one time. Jesus endured contradiction against Himself, "but ye have not yet resisted unto blood."--Heb.12:4.--Resisting unto blood! We haven't fought the battle like Jesus did. But we're at least supposed to be strong & not faint in our mind, not be weary in well doing! "I have fought a good fight", "ye endured a great fight", "strong, waxed valiant in fight", "so fight I, not as one that beateth the air", "whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven." Don't tell me that's not a fight! I mean, that's something that you really have to put a lot of effort into & really get all the forces of the Lord on your side. "And they overcame them by the blood of the Lamb & by the word of their testimony!"--Rev.12:4.--They overcame! That is a war too, that's a fight! "The spirit of a man sustaineth him", in other words a fighting spirit, one that's alive, one that's ready to go on the attack!--Pro.18:14. "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small."--Pro. 24:10.
         28. There's a good quote in the MOP that says he who attacks us or persecutes us, helps us! Our adversary makes us strong, & in fighting the battles we get strong, our prayer & our faith muscles get used & get strengthened. (MOP 38:22) So don't be afraid of the fight! But most of us aren't so worried about being afraid, we just need some more umph, we need more of an attitude of fight. We're not so afraid, we just need to stir ourselves up & get on the attack--in everything! I don't just mean healing or spiritual battles, but in our everyday life & in everything we do we need to have enthusiasm & inspiration & put effort into it, be aggressive!

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!

         29. Grandpa says: "I love to fight, because I know I'm fighting for the One that's worth fighting for & the souls that are worth winning & the goals that are worth attaining!" (MOP 38:1)--That should be our prayer, that we get to the point where we love to fight, we love to put forth the effort, we love to teach others, instruct others & fight the Enemy!
         30. So even though fighting the Devil is hard work, if you love the battle & ask the Lord to give you that fighting spirit, then it's not going to be such an "Oh what a weariness, another fight with the Devil!" You're going to be challenged & you're going to love to do it! You can love to do it because you know you're going to win the victory!
         31. We know we have all the Lord's power on our side & we'll always get the victory over the Enemy! So we can always love to fight because even though we get a little bruised & battered in the process, we're going to win, & we're going to have a victory!--Not only a personal victory for us, but a victory for the Lord's Work & for others. So it's a good motivation for fighting!--Right?
         32. The Lord doesn't want us to fear the battles or think, "Oh dear, not another battle!" He wants us to enjoy them! Of course, He doesn't want us to desire to have conflicts just so we can have a battle, but because we know there are always going to be battles coming He wants us to be challenged in fighting them & full of faith because we know we're going to get the victory! So let's get on with it, let's have the spirit to win the battle!

MORE IMPORTANT THAN BEING A FAMILY IS BEING A REVOLUTIONARY ARMY!

         33. We're a Family, yes, but we need to be a fighting Family! We need to keep in mind that it's more important to be a fighter even than a Family, because if our Family quits fighting it's not going to be a Family very long!
         34. A Revolution & an Army take real work, real struggle! You've got to keep your place, you've got to be a real soldier if you're going to be able to stay in the army, you've got to be a real team & everybody's gotta pull their weight!--And if you don't, out you go! You've got to hold fast that which thou hast. (See Rev.3:11.) I thought that was a real good parallel which Ho brought out in one of his articles, that it's important to look at the Revolution, which is what we started with. We became a Family later. When our couples got mated they had children & we were more a Family, but we started out as a Revolution & we've never changed from being a Revolution & an Army. We've always been that. That's even more important than being a Family, to keep in mind what our job is & what we're here for & what we're supposed to be doing. The Family is more our sample to the World. The Revolutionary Army is our vocation & job for the Lord! (See FSM 25)
         35. I think fighting is the main point that the Lord's trying to get through to me about. I preached a pretty good sermon to myself, & to you in the process!--That we really need to fight & we really need to stir ourselves up, not only with healing but in everything else. Of course, then you have more battles, but you get stronger every time you fight them!

WHY RECURRING AFFLICTIONS?

         36. I also wanted to tell you about herpes. I really think you here who have prayed for deliverance have been healed. Now this is not to say that I think everybody in the Family who has prayed to be healed of herpes but still has attacks has been healed. But you who have done everything you could & you really confessed & progressed, & your problems that the herpes may have been a physical manifestation of are gone & you've taken care of them, then you have a right to claim your healing. You really did get the victory over the things that the Lord was dealing with you about when you had such bad cases of herpes. You did really get healed & you also got spiritually healed at the same time. You made progress & you got some of these things taken care of that the Lord was dealing with you about.
         37. Occasionally you have recurring symptoms, but you shouldn't minimise your healing! I think there's a reason the Lord lets those things recur sometimes, or even some little symptoms hang around, & it's not because you haven't been healed!
         38. It's not always just for humbling, sometimes it may be sort of a monitor to keep you desperate, to catch you up & say, "Okay, watch it!"--Sort of like a warning bell! Maybe it's not only for humbling, but as a warning, sort of a monitor or to keep you desperate & close to the Lord. This doesn't just apply to herpes, it applies to everything! So you see, that's pretty smart of the Lord! He doesn't let you have anything permanently that will distract you from your work or keep your work from going. That's good efficiency! The Lord really has things under control & He knows what's going to really keep you in line without hurting your work or others or anything like that.
         39. If sometimes you don't get completely healed--maybe your hair falls out & the Lord heals you & brings it all in again but leaves a little bald spot--you don't say you're not healed! You're healed & obviously the Lord did a miracle, but maybe He just wants you to remember that! But you would never say you weren't healed. You've got to keep claiming the victory!
         40. But I think in these recurring things that if you're really on the right track & your heart's really right with the Lord, that you ought to search further for a reason & not think it's because the Lord didn't heal you or because you're necessarily doing something wrong.--You could be, I don't know! You've got to know in your own heart. But you've got to accept your healing & know you were healed! Everybody does some things wrong occasionally, but if you can't find anything wrong, any specific thing that the Lord's dealing with you about at the moment, then I think you could look for another reason why the Lord allowed it, maybe to keep you humble or to keep you in tune & in touch with Him! So I think that's something that we ought to think about & reflect on to see why it is.
         41. We say the Lord delivers us out of all our afflictions, a-l-l, all, every affliction! Well that's true, but I don't think the Lord is going to deliver us out of everything entirely in every case until we get our new bodies! It's a promise, but I don't think the promise is always for the present.--In most cases it is. In most cases the Lord "delivers you out of them all" one at a time, He delivers you out of one & then you get another, & the Lord delivers you from that, He keeps delivering you!
         42. But people like Fanny Crosby & Helen Keller & other great people of the Lord, the Lord didn't deliver them from their afflictions until they went to be with Him! So in some cases the Lord allows some afflictions. You could accuse them of not having enough faith, but I don't believe that. Fanny Crosby was a woman of great faith, Helen Keller too, as well as many many Christians down through the ages. So I think it was for some other reason. If they hadn't been blind they never would have accomplished what they did. So there are a lot of different reasons sometimes why the Lord allows some afflictions to hang on or maybe even be permanent.
         43. Dad gave me that verse, "Whom the Son shall set free is free indeed."--Jn.8:36. The Lord really frees us from some of these things! If we're bound or chained by the Enemy, the Lord has got to free us! PTL! Well, maybe you could lay hands on me now & pray for the Lord to heal me.

Copyright 1996 The Family