Aggressive Faith

“Pastor Greg, we just received a terrible report from our daughter, Jennifer,” Jammie, a member of our church, said to me one day while I was visiting the business where she worked. “They did an MRI on her and her unborn child and the doctor gave her some bad news. He said the baby has a hole in her diaphragm and that her stomach, liver, and intestines have moved up into her chest. Her heart also has moved and she only has 22 percent of her right lung. Would you pray for them?” 

“Sure, I’ll agree with you in prayer for Jennifer and her baby, Jammie,” I replied. While I was praying with Jammie, I sensed a strong impression from the Lord. After we prayed, I told Jam- mie, “You tell Jennifer the Lord is saying to her that if she wants her baby to be healed and come home and live a normal life, it’s going to be because of her faith, not mom and dad’s faith, and not the faith of others.” “Thanks, Pastor Greg. I’ll tell her,” she replied with a sigh of relief. 

Jennifer had been away from home, away from God, and out of church for a while. In her recent past she had demonstrated a pattern of depending on the faith of her parents and others to get her through a crisis. But I was certain she knew the Lord and had been taught the principles of the Word, both at home and in church, since she was a child. I was confident she would receive that word and act on it. I had opportunity to talk with Jennifer about her situation the following day. 

On May 3, 2004, Jennifer’s baby, Alicia, was born with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. According to medical records, only a small percentage of babies born with this condition actually survive. Alicia had a six-inch hole in her diaphragm, along with all the other problems the MRI had revealed. Miraculously, the child went home from the hospital within six weeks—TOTALLY HEALED! During those six weeks, three other babies that were being treated for the same condition at that hospital died. 

Here is a brief testimony from Jennifer regarding her daughter’s miracle: 

“After I received the report from the doctor on the MRI, at first I cried. But strangely enough I knew what I was going to have to do. If my daughter was going to come home, I was going to have to use my faith. When I talked with Pastor Greg later, he confirmed that. He said, ‘Jennifer, the Lord is telling me that it’s going to be on your faith that your daughter will be healed, not on your mom and dad’s faith, or the church’s faith, but yours. Of course we will stand with you and back you up, but it’s going to be your faith that brings her home.’ I immediately responded to him, ‘Well, if it’s on my faith then she’s coming home,’ and I meant it.

“Alicia was born by C-Section. The first time I saw her I cried because I hated to see her go through all that treatment. Then a great peace came over me. I knew that she was coming home. I just knew it and I never forgot it. I had three verses of Scripture printed out and hung them over Alicia’s bed. Every time I went in to see her, I spoke those over her. One of them was Psalm 118:17: ‘I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.’ Alicia was only supposed to be on the ECMO machine for twelve days. They allowed her to stay on it for 21 days, which was a miracle in itself. In the information package they gave us about ECMO it said that 75 percent of the children that are on this machine will develop problems with their eyesight, hearing, and have brain damage of some sort. When I read that, I said, ‘NO, I rebuke that, in Jesus’ name. Alicia will grow up normal and healthy with none of those problems.’ It was like God had placed me in a protective bubble so that I refused to receive anything negative about my daughter. Whenever the doctors would give us some negative report or possibility, I would tell them, ‘You are wonderful doctors, but what you can’t fix, God can.’ The nurses used to give me funny looks because I would not talk about the negative possibilities with them. They would say, ‘What if,’ and I would say, ‘She’s not, because she’s coming home.’ 

“And she did come home six weeks after she was born. Now, Alicia is almost three and has not taken any medication since she was one year old. She is a picture of health, a happy, healthy, perfectly normal child, thanks to the Lord and the strength that He gave me to stand in faith and fight for her life when it looked like she would not make it. God is so good to us.”

What a great testimony of what God can do through one person who will use their faith to fight the enemy off. One thing is important to note: God did this through someone who had just come back to Him—who had been away from Him for years—not someone who was mature in every area of life and had it “all together” spiritually. That should give each of us hope that we can win battles of faith over our health at any stage of spiritual growth—right where we are.

The key lesson from this chapter is that we must become aggressive in our faith when it comes to our health or the health of friends and loved ones we are praying for. Matthew 11:12, (NKJV), says, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” 

Wake up, Christian! We are in a spiritual battle. There is conflict over our souls, our inheritance in God, and our physical health. There is a real devil out there who is after our faith, and he will tempt us to get angry at God or to blame Him or others for our circumstances. He will use sickness, lack, relational conflict, and anything else he can think of to get our focus off our relationship with God. We must realize what is going on behind the scenes—in the spirit realm—and take appropriate spiritual action. We must become violent in our faith. That is exactly what Jennifer did. She refused to stop believing or to become passive in her faith when she heard negative reports about her daughter. Every time she heard a negative report, she just held onto what God had told her about her daughter—that she would come home well.  

We cannot afford to be passive, lie down, or play dead. Instead, rise up and take authority over the devil, sickness and disease in Jesus’ Name. He gave us authority over all devils. It is time to stand up and use that authority over every spirit of infirmity and every physical sickness that is afflicting our bodies. 

The Gospel of Matthew records Jesus’ words to us on this important subject about using the authority He gave us: 

I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (hell) shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven… (Matthew 16:19-20, NKJV). 

What this verse clearly says is that whatever you and I bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever we don’t, will not. In other words, the gates of hell (hell’s authority to kill, steal, and destroy) are only removed wherever you and I bind or take authority over them. The Sovereign God has given you and me authority and dominion on the earth and He is not going to exercise that authority for us. It’s all right to pray and cry out to God for help, but along with that draw on His strength and boldly exercise your authority. Stop speaking to God about your mountain and speak to your mountain about your God. Command it to be removed. (See Mark 11:23.) 

Let me ask you men a question. What would you do if you caught a burglar breaking into your home? You would do everything within your power to chase him off and protect your family, right? Well, the Bible says our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Neither cancer, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s nor any other disease belongs in the temple of the Holy Spirit. These are all evil intruders and trespassers, and are off limits to God’s people. It is time to run these trespassers off!

My purpose with this chapter is not to condemn anyone for being passive in the past. When it comes to being passive, we all can plead guilty for having been there at some point in our lives. Rather, I want to stir you up to use the authority God gave you and to be aggressive with your faith today—and in the future. People’s lives are on the line. Eternity, for some, is at stake. Arm yourself with the Word of God and resist the enemy and sickness with that Word. Respond to the devil the way Jesus did. Tell him: “It is written,” “It is written,” and “It is written again.” (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10). He cannot withstand the power of the Word on the lips of a believer!

Adapted from Greg Mohr’s book, Your Healing Door.