Last week, we were in the hospital room, and the way they do it there is two babies per room. At first, we didn’t have a neighbor because they had just moved the other baby out. I think Micah had gotten a little irritable, so maybe that was God’s way of answering him: get the noisy neighbor out of here.
When the new family came in, I heard the Lord say, “I sent them to you.” So I thought, “Cool.” Their baby had just been born and had to be helicoptered into the hospital. The parents were completely caught off guard; they had no idea this issue was coming. Their child was born without a sternum.
That first night, I had to hold myself back from saying too much, because they were just sorting things out. The Holy Spirit nudged me: “Tomorrow will be a better day.” And it was. The next day, they were calmer, and we met their grandma. She looked at us and said, “You know what? God can grow a bone.”
I thought, “You’re right. And we’re going to join our faith with you.” From there, the story began to unfold. A couple of days later, their baby went in for surgery, and we happened to see the parents afterward in the hallway. We asked how it went, and they said, “Well, when they opened him up, they weren’t expecting to find any cartilage or muscle, because none of it showed up on the scans.”
But lo and behold, there was cartilage and muscle. All the doctors had to do was pull it together, and that’s the only surgery he’ll ever need. Who knows? Maybe if they had waited a little longer, he wouldn’t have needed surgery at all. But even so, God worked with the way they chose to proceed, and it was amazing.
The doctors had expected this child to need surgery at every stage of his life, because you can’t put in a prosthetic sternum as a baby and just leave it forever. But since the cartilage and muscle were there, it will grow with him, form into bone, and do what it’s supposed to do. What a testimony!
Romans 8:10–11 says:
“And Christ lives within you. So even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” (NLT)
The King James says the Spirit will quicken your body. That means by spiritual power to invigorate, to restore to life, to give increase of physical life. It even describes a seed germinating and springing up.
Some people stop at “your body will die because of sin,” but keep reading: “But…” Don’t forget the “but.” Yes, your body is subject to sickness and death because of sin, but if the Spirit lives in you, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, it will bring life and healing to your body.
In case you don’t know, Beth and I had our sixth child a few weeks ago. It was within the first hour after he was born that we were rushed to the ER, and everything started to unfold. On about day five or six, we were sitting in Micah’s hospital room, and things were not going well.
The doctors were doing their thing, and we were sitting off to the side, when suddenly the room noticeably grew colder. I mean, it felt like it dropped ten degrees. Death entered the room.
Beth and I sat on the couch next to his bed, and we both said, “No. Absolutely not. We do not permit this.” There was no shouting or dramatics, just a calm, firm “No.” In my spirit, I was strong. In my mind, I was strong, because it had been renewed by the Word. But my body was trembling uncontrollably at what was in the room.
And it reminded me of what Tim has been teaching us about spirit, soul, and body. Your soul leans one way or the other, and you get to choose. In that moment, my spirit and soul were strong, but my body was still reacting to the presence of death. Thank God I was able to speak out: “No. Not happening.”
The doctor was beside herself because it was that intense. I think in her mind, she thought it was over. His feet were blue, and all the signs were there. But death could not hold him. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in me, and whatever I forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven. We held the line and rejected death, and it had to leave.
Now that we’ve walked through that, what else does the enemy have? A broken-down car? All three of our vehicles decided to go out on us recently, but you think that’s going to shake me after facing down death? Not a chance. Beth and I just laughed. Praise God for my parents, who came to the rescue and gave us a ride.
John 10:9–10 says:
“Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” (NLT)
That abundant life doesn’t include what happened to Micah, or the diagnosis you’ve been given, or the sickness trying to take over your body. I hold on to the life Jesus purchased for me.
You all remember Melody’s testimony from last week. She had gotten a report that she had heart disease. Two weeks ago, she heard me preach about holding the line and decided to do just that. When she went in for her procedure, the doctors couldn’t find a thing wrong. One even told her, “Your heart looks better than mine.”
That’s not a coincidence; that’s the power of God.
And I’ve seen the same with Micah. One of the things the doctors wanted to treat, I felt in my spirit, “No, we’re not doing that.” I told them, “I hear you, I understand the risks, but no.” The very next day, the numbers in his chart began to drop on their own. They kept going down and down until they were in the normal range without the treatment. In his chart, it literally says the numbers dropped “spontaneously.” We know better.
1 Peter 2:24 says:
“He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.” (NLT)
Jesus bore it all: sin, sickness, shame, regret. It was all taken care of at the cross. The only cross we bear now is dying to ourselves. Everything else has already been paid for.
John 1:1–5 says:
“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” (NLT)
Jesus created your body the first time, and if something needs to be renewed, healed, or even recreated, He can do it again. His light drives out sickness, disease, and even death. Wherever you hold back from God, that’s where darkness lingers. But when you let the light in, darkness has to go.
The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy. The kingdom of darkness is sin, fear, and disappointment. Wherever those three things are in your life, that’s where darkness is hiding. But you don’t have to live in them anymore. Jesus already won your freedom. All that’s left is for you to receive it.
