God Can, But He Hasn’t
Pastor Adalis Shuttlesworth
Have you ever heard someone say, ‘God can heal me.’? It sounds good to the misinformed ear, but the problem with this statement is that it implies that He hasn’t already healed you.
Maybe you’re reading this and you need healing and you’re saying to yourself, ‘I’ve said that, and I’m not healed yet.’ I’ve got a word for you today!
Maybe you’re reading this and you don’t need healing, but you need a breakthrough in your marriage, in your finances, in your job. Whatever it is that you need from God, He’s already done it for you. Anything you need, you can find in the Word of God. And that’s what it’s going to take for you to receive it; find where God said you can have what you desire.
As real and large as your problems may seem to you, they are not new problems and they are not especially yours. There’s an answer to your specific problem in the Word of God. I promise you it’s there.
Paul’s Prayer For Us
In Ephesians chapter one, Paul’s message to the church is one of empowerment. He wants the church to realize what already belongs to them. Paul’s prayer is that the church, which means you, is that you would receive the knowledge of God and understand everything that Christ has already done.
‘I always pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation [that gives you a deep and personal and intimate insight] into the true knowledge of Him. And [I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very core and center of your being] may be enlightened [flooded with light by the HolySpirit]...’
Paul prayed that the eyes of your understanding would be opened. If it were possible for Paul to simply tell the church what he wanted them to know about God, he would have written it in his letter. But you have to experience the revelation, the ah ha moment, of what God has already done for you, for yourself. No one can do it for you.
The good news is, this revelation is as attainable as it is personal. In order to truly receive this understanding you need to get intimate with the Word of God. When you get intimate with God’s Word you’ll find that what you need from God, He’s already done. Then you can stand on that Word, which is your seed, and it will produce fruit in your life.
In the natural, we understand how babies are made. There’s a time of conception. During that time of conception, a seed is planted which eventually bears fruit. But before that seed can be planted and conception can occur, there’s a time of intimacy.
The same is true with the Word of God. The Word is your seed. If you want to produce fruit in your life there has to be seed. Seed comes through intimacy with the Word. So you have to purpose in your heart to get intimate with God and make time to get in the Word.
Oftentimes we’re so desperate to see fruit, but we haven’t planted seed. There was no intimacy with God’s Word in order for us to obtain the seed that’s going to bring forth fruit. But that seed is what’s needed to get you from, ‘God can heal me,’ to ‘I am healed in Jesus name!’ from ‘I’m praying that God will deliver me from stress and anxiety.’ to ‘I am more than a conqueror in every situation!’
So, get in the Word and meditate on it day in and day out. But here’s the caveat, don’t treat it like a checklist. ‘Read the Bible, Pray, Shower, Breakfast’. No. Nor is it something you do on Sunday mornings and then go about your week and check back in next Sunday for your breakthrough. The more you make time to spend in God’s Word the more time you’ll want to spend in God’s Word.
The next part of Paul’s prayer in Ephesians is that you would receive an understanding of God’s power at work in us.
“…and [so that you will begin to know] what immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His [active, spiritual] power is in us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength which He produced in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name, not only in this age and world, but also in the one to come.”
Let’s unpack this a little bit because it’s powerful. Paul is explaining to the church that Christ is seated far above all powers and principalities. That means cancer, stress, poverty, lack, and any type of evil. The Word says that when you are born again you become one with Christ.
If you are one with Christ and He is seated far above all the problems that you could possibly face on this earth, where does that put you?
God put ALL THINGS under His feet. And you’re seated right next to Him with all the cares of this world under your feet. That means you don’t have to be sick, you don’t have to stress, you don’t have to know lack. But it does you no good unless you know it, receive it, and act on it. The second you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior everything that was ever going to come against you for the rest of your time on this earth was placed under your feet.
Where’s My Harvest?
Then why are some christians living proof of this and others seem to struggle, battle and fight and still don’t have victory over their problems? Luke chapter eight explains this for us.
‘The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed some fell beside the road and it
was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the sky ate it up. And some seed fell on the
rocks, and as soon as it sprouted, it withered away because it had no moisture. Other
seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. And some
fell into good soil, and it grew up and produced a crop a hundred times as great.”
In this parable, Jesus is telling a crowd what happens when people hear the Word of God. He’s depicting why two people can believe in the same Jesus, attend the same church, give tithe and offering, yet one can turn the Word into fruit and the other yields no crop. Both received the Word, but it’s the cultivation of that Word that bears fruit.
Then Jesus explains the parable to His disciples, and to us,
’Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. those beside the road are the people who have heard; then the devil comes and takes the message away from their hearts, so that they will not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky soil are the people who, when they hear, receive and welcome the word with joy; but these have no firmly grounded root. They believe for a while, and in time of trial and temptation they fall away. The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, but as they go on their way they are suffocated with the anxieties and riches and pleasures of this life, and they bring no fruit to maternity. But as for that seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word with a good and noble heart, and hold on to it tightly, and bear fruit with patience.”
You have the ability to turn seed into fruit. You can yield a harvest. But you have to be like the seed that fell on good soil.
Don’t let seed fall on the rock. Don’t allow the devil to deceive you into believing you’re not really healed or you’re not really saved. Don’t believe the lie that you don’t already have what you’re believing God for.
Likewise, don’t be the seed that fell on rocky soil. You hear the word and get excited about what you have received and then you forget about it. You have to continue to meditate on it. If you’re not continually in the Word you’re a prime target to get your seed snatched. When you face storms and temptation in your life you’ll fall away if you’re not anchored in the Word of God. Jesus said so Himself.
The seed that fell among thorns describes too many christians. They hear the word, but it’s suffocated by the cares of this world. People spend too much time worrying. Worrying about what’s on the news, worrying about what they’ve read on Facebook. If you reallocated your time on Facebook or whatever other social media platform you frequent and spent that time in the Word of God, you’d be unrecognizable in one month. But when you care too much about this world you fail to produce a mature fruit. You have the Word, you have a seed, but it’s not producing a mature fruit. You’re not living up to the potential God put inside of you.
But when the Word of God falls on good soil, it produces a huge harvest. The Bible says you’ll reap one hundred-fold. So cling to God’s word. Trust it. Align yourself in agreement with it. Hold fast to it in times of trouble and be patient because you know that everything is working for your good. If you don’t yet see what you believe God has done for you it doesn’t matter because God’s word is true. It doesn’t return to Him void, and He watches over it to perform it. Amen!
Remember, you are who God said you are. Allow God to speak to you in your time of intimacy with Him. I challenge you to allow your seed to reach maturity in your life. God’s calling you into something greater. If you’ll section off time to spend with Him, you will reach new levels through Christ.
