Be Subject To The Word Of Truth

"The doctor, a good Christian man, was quietly walking up and down the room, sharing the mother's pain and grief.  Presently he stood at my side and said, "𝑆𝑖𝑟, 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛'𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠?"

Instantly the sword was flashing in my hand - the Spirit's Sword, the Word of God.

"God's way!" I said, pointing to the scene of conflict, "how dare you, Doctor, call that God's way of bringing His children home from earth to Heaven? 𝐍𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐫, 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋'𝐒 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊, and it is time we called on Him who came to "destroy the work of the devil," to slay that deadly foul destroyer and to save the child.

Can you pray, Doctor, can you pray THE PRAYER OF FAITH THAT SAVES THE SICK?"

At once, offended at my words, my friend was changed and saying, "You are too much excited sir, '𝑡𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝐺𝑜𝑑'𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒," and he left the room.

Excited! The word was quite inadequate for I was almost frenzied with Divinely imparted anger and hatred of that foul destroyer, disease, which was doing Satan's will.  "It is NOT so," I exclaimed, "𝐧𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐝'𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐧'𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦."

Oh, how the Word of God was burning in my heart:  "Jesus of Nazareth went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil:  for God was with him."

And was not God with me? 

And was not Jesus there and all His promises true?

I felt that it was even so, and turning to the mother I inquired, "Why did you send for me?" To which she answered, "Do pray, oh, pray for her that God may raise her up."  And so we prayed.

What did I say?  It may be that I cannot now recall the words without mistake, but words are in themselves of small importance.  𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫, 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭."

- John Alexander Dowie, the apostle of Divine Healing, the father of healing revivalism (19th-20th century)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ways of God are mysterious to those who do not know His heart. Israel knew His acts and Moses knew His ways (Ps 103:7), but we are in a greater covenant than all of them. Therefore, we can know His heart (nature) because Jesus is the Way to the Father.

The will of God is unclear to those who do not go after The Way, The Truth and the Life (John 14:6), but after the standard of men who teach based on their experiences and their sight. The Author and the Finisher of faith should be our standard.

To lower the standard of the Word to our experiences is human pride. It takes humility to raise the bar higher until our experiences match the standard of the Word. Humility acknowledges that our own wisdom and experiences must be subject to the Word of truth.

It takes an open and humble heart to realise that what I know can keep me from what I need to know. Therefore, I must be willing to re-evaluate what I know continually so that I can be subject to the Ultimate Authority, which is the Word of God.