Article Display
Email  |  My Account  |  Donate
The “Evil” Day – On Sunday evening, July 7, 1991, I left the church service with a severe headache. A few minutes later, I suffered a seizure. Thankfully, there were doctors and others in the medical profession in church that night who acted quickly to get help.

Once at the hospital, many tests and MRI’s were done and the diagnosis was an inoperable brain tumor. My husband , Mark, took a stand on the Word and decided not to fear, but to only believe. He posted a sign outside my hospital room door which said, “No Wavering Allowed.” Next, he placed a tough lady outside of my door with a list of people who were allowed in the room. Only those with a strong spirit of faith could enter.

Faith has an attitude of boldness!

In times of crisis, it really does make a difference the company of people you spend time with. You need to be surrounded with people who will encourage you to trust God. It will determine if you have victory or defeat. Only a few people were admitted into my hospital room – people of strong faith.

When you are feeling sick you are more sensitive to negative attitudes of the people around you. Sympathy, though well-meaning, is detrimental to your faith and can even kill you! Jesus Himself had to put certain people out of the room to deep faith in the room (Mark 5:40)! You don’t need sympathy – you need support!

From Monday through Friday many tests were run, tears cried, battles fought and praises sung. I’m forever grateful to my family and friends who prayed fervently and praised God with strength.

Sympathy, though well meaning, is detrimental to your faith and can even kill you! Sometimes we’d get a guitar and start singing songs about the power of the Word to heal. It wasn’t time to sleep, it was time to speak the Word or to praise God. The TV stayed off and all conversations were filled with faith in God. We were in the fight of faith and that’s no time for goofing off!

The Fight To Focus
Numbers 21:1-9 tells the story about Moses leading the Jews in the wilderness. They were complaining about the menu of manna and talking about how hard their lives were. Because of their attitudes, poisonous snakes started biting them until they cried out for help from Moses.

When Moses prayed about what to do, God told him to make a brass serpent and put it on a pole. When the people would look at it, they’d live and not die. Think about the effort it took to look away from the snakes and focus on the brass serpent. Snakes were crawling everywhere, biting everyone except those who kept looking at that pole.

Imagine the frantic struggle parents had as they screamed to their children, “Don’t look at the snakes! Only look up and you will live!” That is the seriousness of keeping your focus on the Word. Look at it, keep saying it and you will live.

The Amplified Bible say in Numbers 21:9 that when anyone looked, “attentively, expectantly, with a steady and absorbing gaze,” they lived! Their hope and expectation were focused only on the brass serpent, which was a type of Jesus being lifted up on the cross.

That’s exactly what we did in that hospital room for five days. We kept our focus on the Bible which fed out faith. Our expectation was on God alone. Psalms 62:5: “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him!”

Friday came and preparations were made for a surgery to determine if the tumor was cancerous. My husband was briefed concerning the complications that could result from this surgery and warned of possible paralysis or other brain damage.

From the medical perspective, the future looked bleak as they presented the possibilities of more experimental surgery in Atlanta or Dallas. Thank God for the shield of faith! Those words of the doctors never penetrated my consciousness or moved us from a place of confidence in God.

The Power of Joy
God is the performer and we are the believers. After 25 years and trying to get a miracle their own way, Abraham praised God until his faith was strong (Romans 4:20) and Sarah’s laugh of disbelief changed to a laugh of faith (Genesis 21:6; Hebrews 11:11). Together, they received their promised son and called him Isaac, which means laughter.

My hospital room was filled of praising and joy because we wanted to stay full of faith. My nurse told me later that she was amazed to come into the room and see our faith in action. God inhabits our praises, it is the atmosphere for miracles to happen.

There was peace in my mind and joy from the inside that come bubbling up. That laughter was the joy of the Lord. I remember lying on the bed, being wheeled down to surgery, laughing at the contraption they had fastened to my head to assist them in the surgery. I had no fear or dread, only peace. There’s something big in a little laughter. It does good like a medicine!

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. (Prov. 17:22)

Job 5:22 says, “At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh…” I believe at this very moment, the Holy Spirit began a supernatural operation! He is the power that raised Christ from the dead and is the One who confirms the Word with signs following and brings joy unspeakable, full of glory!

The glory is the manifested power of God that destroyed the works of the devil! 1 John 3:8 says, “…the He might destroy the works of the devil.” The word “destroy” in this verse means to destroy, loosen and dissolve; a meltdown. The power of God can destroy any work of Satan. Joy and laughter release the power of the Holy Spirit to do an operation of a different kind.

That’s what Jesus was doing in Acts 10:38, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power and, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.” I believe that joy and laughter released the power of the Holy Spirit to do an operation of a different kind.


Source: God's Healing Word by Trina Hankins.
Excerpt permission granted by MHM

Author Biography

Trina Hankins
Web site: Mark Hankins Ministries
 
Mark and Trina Hankins travel nationally and internationally preaching the Word of God with the power of the Holy Spirit. The vision of MHM is to take the spirit of faith, the message of who the believer is in Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit to every generation and to every nation.
Read more...

About Us

The online ministry of cfaith has been helping people discover faith, friends and freedom in the Word since 2000. Cfaith provides a unique and comprehensive collection of faith-building resources for the worldwide faith community.

At cfaith, you can strengthen your faith and deepen your understanding of the Word of God by digging into the vast collection of teaching articles, streaming audio and video messages, and daily devotionals. No other website offers such a unique and extensive collection of spiritual-growth resources aimed at helping you grow in your knowledge of the Word.

Read More...

 

 

Support Us

Why support cfaith?


(All contributions are 100% tax deductible)


SUPPORT CFAITH WITH ONE CLICK!

For every Internet search you make using
goodsearch, cfaith will receive one penny!

GS Logo 250x38

Contact Us

Business Hours:


Monday—Friday: 9 a.m.—5 p.m. CST
Saturday & Sunday: Closed

Phone:

(763) 488-7800 or (800) 748-8107

Mailing Address: 

CFAITH.com
9201 75th Avenue North
Brooklyn Park, MN 55428

 

Login Form

Please ignore the “Secret Key” field; it is not needed to log in to cfaith.

Login Change Article

Spring360x442
You need to enable user registration from User Manager/Options in the backend of Joomla before this module will activate.