Published by admin on 27 Apr 2018 at 12:03 pm
THE WAY IT IS
We’ve all heard the expression, “that’s the way it is”. So whatever it is you’re talking about, you just accept it as that and drop it. That is, unless you’re like I am. I like to study deeper into things and get to the bottom of the matter. Now, while I appreciate the hard work and research of others, there’s still nothing like searching a matter out for yourself, so you are satisfied every stone has been turned over, every “I” dotted and every “t” crossed. Else, how are you going to stand up when the circumstances point contrary to what everyone else believes?
Well, that’s what I’m working on today. Generally, people believe whatever you tell them without checking it out for themselves. And that can be a huge mistake. Now I don’t mean to question EVERYTHING; you don’t need to do a spectrometer check on the color of grass to verify that grass is really green, unless you’re interested in the other nuances of color involved, like yellow or brown. But if you just got a cancer diagnosis, then you’d better question it, and find out what your options are.
In 1993, when I received a terminal cancer diagnosis for melanomas and liver cancer, I asked the doctor what my options were. He said, You don’t have any, you’ll be dead in three weeks or less. That’s just the way it is. Go home and get your affairs in order. That’s just the way is, huh? Not for me, I wasn’t going down without a fight.
My fight came in the form of the Word of God. The doctors gave me no hope, and up till then, I’d never heard of anyone surviving liver cancer. I don’t know why they call it “LIVER” cancer, when you don’t LIVE, you DIE. At my job, gathering evidence was a big part of it, so I was already used to searching things out until I found the truth, so it was natural for me to search out about cancer and look for a way to beat it. It’s just the “survival mode” built into each of us.
So here I had the doctor’s diagnosis, based on their experience with the disease and what they knew about it, and it didn’t look good at all. Most people would do what the doctor said at that point, and go home and get their affairs in order. Actually, that’s exactly what I did, only it wasn’t in the way they expected. I went to church every week like a lot of people do. Some people go out of habit, they do their two hours and go home, largely unaffected by what they heard, so God’s Word would kind of roll off of them like water off a duck’s back, even if they really DID hear the Word of God there.
Some churches are kind of lean on the Word of God, and heavy on social issues or the “bless me, bless me” stuff, and they really don’t much care about truly being disciples of Christ Jesus. They just want the “benefits”. At the church where I went, the emphasis was on “works”, but it was OUR works, not what Christ Jesus did on the cross. And it was real evident my works couldn’t fix my problem. Therefore, my help had to come from God, or I was finished. That prompted me to look further into the Word of God. As honestly as I knew how, I asked Christ Jesus to save me, because deep inside, I knew my “religion” wasn’t going to do it. At that moment, I experienced being “born again”. It was more than a warm and fuzzy feeling, it was knowing live or die, my sins were forgiven. Only there was MORE!
I’ve told this numerous times before, the LORD told me to read Psalm 103:2-3, which says, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.” So, right off the bat, what God said went totally against what the doctor said. God’s Word said He “HEALETH”, all my diseases. That’s “present tense” for all you grammar nuts. It isn’t “past tense, or future tense”. That means, as long as it is the PRESENT, all my diseases are healed. So, right now, all my diseases are healed. ALL of them! Including CANCER!
Well, the earthly evidence pointed contrary to God’s Word, and I was getting sicker by the day, and even though I was only supposed to live three weeks or less, nine months down the road I was still alive, although my weight was only 86 pounds. I tell people, I was so skinny, I only had one side. Still, I took God at His Word, and refused to be moved off of it. You see, God created us, not we ourselves, so He knows a thing or two about the human body. PLUS, the Word says it is impossible for God to lie.
Having read numerous miracles of healing that Jesus did during His ministry, it was apparent that it is God’s will to heal, not only by the miracles, but by the words of Jesus himself, saying He only did His Father’s will, and in another place, “I and my Father are One”. That was all the evidence I needed to be convinced I had other options than just laying down and giving up. To me, it was SETTLED, I was healed, regardless of what I looked like or felt like, or what the doctor said. It’s been 25 years, and I’m still here and I’m still healed according to the Word of God.
Some people aren’t willing to search things out for themselves, and that’s partly why this country is in the mess it’s in. They hear all this fake news on facebook or the internet and take it for truth, when, with some effort they could search things out and learn the REAL truth of what’s going on. I find that people want to be spoon fed, rather than taking on the task of intensive research, but I also find those who DO, once they know the truth, cannot be swayed by lies.
What lies? God’s Word says we are healed by the stripes of Jesus. Satan will come to you and hit you with symptoms of this or that, and if you aren’t firmly rooted in God’s Word, the devil will convince you that you have every disease that comes down the pike. It takes some gumption to stick to God’s Word when the devil is trying to kill you. That separates the spiritually “lazy” from the spiritual “overcomers”. I found a long time ago that I can do the research and spoon feed you to get you started in God’s Word, but if you’re not motivated enough to do your own research, sooner or later you will crash and burn and the devil will kill you. For me, to keep from dying was a real motivator, but even THAT doesn’t motivate the fearful or lazy.
There are MANY healing scriptures that will stand on their own merit, that can get you so strong in faith that the devil can hit you with his best shot and when the dust clears, you’re still standing. For me, it was Psalm 103:2-3. For you it may be another, but know this: when the devil or the doctor or the circumstance says “That’s the way it is”, that ISN’T the way it is. WHAT GOD SAYS IS THE WAY IT IS!
Today, right now, if you don’t know Christ Jesus as your LORD and SAVIOR, you need to do that, because none of us know what the rest of the day can bring. Settle forever where you will spend your “eternity”, for we ALL face an eternity which will never end, either we will be in the Kingdom of God, or we won’t, and there’s no changing places once your life here ends. There’s no going back and getting a “do-it-over-again”. The only thing you have for sure is RIGHT NOW! Don’t waste it on fears, doubts, and lies of the devil. ACT NOW! God DOES love you and He wants to spend forever with YOU. In the meantime, if you’re HIS, you can have all the “benefits” listed in His Word, right now in THIS life. But you need to get in His Word and seek them out for yourself as you would hunt for buried treasure. Don’t be lazy and miss out on what God has in store for you. God is GOOD, He loves YOU, and that’s the way it is!
Gary Loftsgard on 27 Apr 2018 at 3:49 pm #
“The Way It Is” is well written and very encouraging. Thank you, Reverend Baysinger!
Mel C. Montgomery on 27 Apr 2018 at 6:38 pm #
Thank you for this, Brother Jerry. Yours is an encouraging and inspiring testimony.