ACTING ON THE WORD

My husband and I have been reading "The Two Kinds of Faith" by Rev. E. W. Kenyon. (We've read many of his other books and have found him to be a reliable teacher of deep Gospel truths.)

Regarding faith, he says that most Christians have a "head knowledge" faith only. That is, they give mental assent to the Word of God but never act on it. Real true faith, or heart faith is what he calls Revelation Knowledge. This is the kind of faith that ACTS on the Word of God. And that's where I'm "hung up." As we prayed last night, I asked the Lord to show me what it means to ACT on the Word. Well, I think I got the "beginning" of my answer today.

I met with the Seniors of our church for breakfast early this morning. Then we drove out in the country and bought a flat of red raspberries. After that we did our weekly grocery shopping; and of course, all those groceries had to be put away when we got home! By that time it was almost noon and I was too exhausted to even think about making jam with those raspberries. And I was too tired to fix the stew I had planned for our evening meal even though the meat was thawed! I knew that both the raspberries and the meat would keep till tomorrow -- but I have laundry to do tomorrow as well as a casserole to make for our pot luck at church Sunday! Now what?

As I sat in my La-Z-Boy mulling over all this, I thought of God's promise that "(A)s thy day, so shall thy strength be." No, that's not a promise, I told myself; that's a statement of fact. OK, do I believe it? I asked myself. Suddenly I remembered what Rex and I had read and discussed last night: Believing, or true faith, is ACTING on the Word of God.

How could I translate this to my present circumstance? For sure God wasn't going to give me strength if I just continued to sprawl out in my easy chair. If I believed, really believed what God said about strength for the day, I'd act on it -- I'd get up out of that chair and start working, which I did. Guess what? Strength came right away! I made the stew, then made the jam. I even walked across the street and took a basket of raspberries to a neighbor! And I was going to do the laundry until my husband persuaded me to wait until tomorrow.

So now I'm beginning to understand what it means to ACT on the Word.

One question. How do I ACT on the Word when it comes to my healing? If you have any ideas, let me know. And DON'T tell me to stop taking my medicine. While some healing televangelists advocate that practice, I don't accept it. I believe it's televangelist Benny Hinn who says to let your doctor confirm your healing and take you off prescribed medications. Now, that I can subscribe to!

I'm still studying about and praying for physical healing which, by the way, I believe is part of the plan of redemption and available to all God's children.

What say?

Preacher's Kid