Free Download! CALL THOSE THINGS Chapter Nine – Healing Confessions Over Cancer

Call Those Things - Expanded Version Front Cover Because there are so many people fighting a battle for their very lives against the enemy CANCER, I want to share this chapter from my book, “CALL THOSE THINGS: Bible-Based Healing Confessions” with anyone who will take the time to download it. Yes, I want to sell books, and I believe the Lord will see to it that they sell; but even more than selling books, I desire to see people walk in healing. Please, if this book or even this chapter in any way blesses you, tell someone else about it.

cancer chapter—call-those-things-bible-based-healing-confessions-ebook

Be blessed…

Lisa

Prayer Over the Emotional Health of Those in Christian Leadership

“Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us.” — The Apostle Paul, in his first letter to the church at Thessalonica (1 Thes. 5:25)

It’s one of the least talked-about issues in the church, because leaders oftentimes feel an obligation to appear stronger than their congregations; yet some of the greatest pastors and Bible figures have had struggles with anxiety and depression! We’re more than a little naive if we think that our leaders are immune to the struggles we ourselves face. I can tell you firsthand, a mature Christian can absolutely suffer emotional issues. Although we don’t sorrow as those who have no hope, we still suffer sorrow and loss, grief, oppression, and we still have to guard our hearts from the attack of an enemy who definitely doesn’t want leaders to be effective.

Look at King David, man after God’s own heart, who often wrote psalms that revealed despair and uncertainty—on the mountain in some of his songs, and hitting rock bottom in human desperation in others. Paul had a recurring or chronic obscure problem of which that he sought earnestly to be relieved. Jonah fell into depression after he’d completed the task to which God had assigned him. Elijah called fire down from heaven in between declaring a 3-year drought and declaring its end; and in the very next chapter, was hit by anxiety and asked God to just let him die. At age 23, Charles Spurgeon was hit with depression so great he nearly didn’t recover. On and on, the list would just continue to grow. My point? We have a completely saved spirit, but we have a soul and body that are still navigating a fallen world. Whether it’s environmental, trauma-induced, hormonal, generational, too-little sleep and exercise and quiet time, or just an attack of the enemy to derail a person—emotional issues can be just as huge a matter for a leader as they are for his/her followers!

So while we certainly need to pray for one another, we also need to know how to pray for ourselves. Our leaders are indeed there for us; but they are human too, and we all can lean too heavily on them at times. They wear many hats and get very little downtime. The person you’re counting on to listen to your problems and get that prayer through may be encountering an inner battle you know nothing of. That person’s spouse may not even have a clue that there’s a private agony of anxiety, depression, emotional exhaustion, burnout from packing a burden the size of a church on his or her shoulders. Ask yourself, in whom can your own spiritual leader(s) confide, go to for honest accountability and prayer, and feel comfortable being real? Leaders want to be bulletproof. Many don’t want to reveal their own struggles because the devil wants them to believe they are incompetent leaders if they’re not always on the mountain; that their followers will lose confidence in them or begin to view them as hypocrites! They don’t want to be judged as weak, out of God’s will, or flawed and unfit for service. So today, while I realize many of you are wrestling with depression and emotional issues of your own, could we just turn our attention away from ourselves and pray collectively for the front line leaders, apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, teachers, ministry workers, and intercessors who are oppressed?

Father, You already know our personal struggles and we trust You to finish the work You’ve begun in us. So in this prayer, we turn to the emotional health of our leaders and ask You to bless them and meet them where they are. Oh how they need Your angelic assistance, Lord! You alone know the agony they feel when they’re under pressure and feel they must put on brave masks in front of their constituents. You know the pressure of feeling as if they can never relax or come out from under the burden of other people’s miseries and suffering. You know the guilt they feel when they get weary of late nights and other people’s drama. You know every time they stand behind a lectern or pulpit or a writer’s pen feeling bankrupt—disqualified to help others because they too are wounded and bleeding. You know the very ones who’ve thought of suicide, who might be self-medicating, and who’ve thought of quitting the very ministries You’ve called them to. Lord, intervene! Teach us how to pray for those in authority over us, instead of expecting the prayer relationship to be one-sided!

O God, we pray, send Your ministering spirits to them! Father, we plead the blood of Jesus around our pastors, teachers, elders, public speakers, and believers who serve You as they work in civil government. Bring laughter and lightheartedness to their weary souls. Let a joy bubble up within, a calm and assurance and a FREEDOM, that actually matches the face they put on in front of others. Give them wise answers to the questions they often take to their pillows with them at night, so that they can sleep in peace. Give them opportunities for recreation and fun and keep insisting in that still small voice that they need to take what You’re making available to them! Father, we ask for special confidantes and mentors and accountability partners, for counselors, and for genuine friends for these in leadership. They need people they can “get real” with to talk about and pray about their private struggles, fears, and failures. Finally, Father, help them keep open doors of communication between themselves and YOU; and as You bring healing for their anxieties, and for the depression the enemy tells them they wouldn’t have if they were walking worthy of their vocation.

Father, ease their financial burdens and their family tensions we pray. Whatever issues are bombarding leaders tonight, we pray angels are released to do war in the heavenlies on their behalf. Give them days and nights where not one phone call fetches them away from needed rest or time with family. Intercept delays perpetuated by the enemy to keep them too busy to pray and invest time in study. Send laborers into the harvest so that they’re not doing all the work themselves; place armorbearers around them who will not bail and betray, and assign intercessors who not only pray daily for them, but who are awakened and sensitive to pray “emergency” prayers when that leader is silently suffering. May You keep those (including leaders on every level) in perfect peace whose hearts and minds are steadfast because they trust in You!

And Lord, for every fallen leader who’s given up, succumbed to temptation, walked away, or departed from the faith, we ask that angels and people You assign will go to their aid and help them regain their bearings. Remind them that it’s time to repent, get healed up, and strengthen others after they themselves are restored. Their latter days CAN be greater than their former ones!

Open up ministry centers geared toward the healing of wounded and weary leaders, where they can get help in a nonthreatening environment. Let this be the year when leaders have healed marriages, restored families, and renewed sense of purpose; not just painted-on facades of how they think they’re expected to look. And Lord, help us to cut the faltering a little more slack! Forgive us for not forgiving them their shortcomings, for judging them inappropriately, for speaking evil of them when we should’ve instead been on our knees in intercession.

We rebuke spirits of suicide, doubt and unbelief, pride, lust, delusion, anxiety, depression, fear, lack, mental illness, confusion, and afflicting spirits of every kind who are trying to take out godly people in authority. The Lord rebuke you and break your assignment off God’s chosen! We speak it in Jesus’ name and we release healing and a time of refreshing over the lives of apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, leaders on every level, intercessors, and godly civil servants. May these last days find Your called ones more determined than ever to make it and to bring in the harvest! Seal it, we pray, with good sleep, much laughter, and contagious joy, in Jesus’ name. Thank You, good good Father!

Emboldening Your Child in the Face of Christian Persecution

“God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way. You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5:10-16

We all try to shield our children from being bullied and from being a bully, and as well we should. No one likes to encounter the milk money monster who waits on the curb every school morning for that one intimidated child. And, while the clique of mean-spirited girls who pick on that one whose clothes and hair are not as nice as theirs may get some snickers of approval from other kids, they will carry the brand of a bully and a snob for the rest of their lives in the memory of that person whose life they made a living hell. Some things may be more called-out nowadays than they used to be; but all-in-all, not much has changed across the generations.

In this society where tolerance and acceptance are being talked about night and day, there’s a new form of soft persecution going on in the Christian faith: the pressure to avoid having to be recognized as the “outsider.” Believers have fundamental moral codes which come from the Word of God; and cultural relevance takes a backseat when it comes to truth. When truth is priority in a person’s life who walks among peers with only self-serving motivations, there’s bound to at some point be a dividing line. Children are hearing so much about tolerance and acceptance (and in some ways it’s a good thing) that they’re feeling a pressure to do whatever it takes to be tolerated and accepted–including compromise in the area of their faith. We will probably continue to see that dogma of inclusion being strengthened toward other belief systems and choked off on the side of evangelical Christianity. It’s an unusual time, the last days…where evil is called good, and if you embrace good, you’re considered evil, closed-minded, bigoted, prudish, and a reject.

As a parent, what you do need to teach your child early-on is that it is ok to be rejected for Christ’s sake…and the best way you can enforce that in your child’s life is for him or her to see you modeling it in yours. If you’re becoming increasingly tight-lipped about the Gospel–if you’re hiding or relaxing your faith in order to get promoted on the job or accepted in certain social circles–that’s the example your child sees and will probably follow. Just as we teach our children the beautiful truths of God’s Word, we must also be transparent with them about the reason why Jesus wound up being crucified. Though it was ultimately the plan of God to purchase our salvation, it was carried out at the hands of men who hated Christ’s teachings and wanted to silence Him at all costs. As our children get a little more mature, we shouldn’t conceal from them that there have been martyrs throughout the history of our faith who bravely gave their lives rather than deny Jesus. Don’t be afraid that your child is too young to “get” the message of the cross. I mean, look at the things you allow him or her to watch on tv! Even if you’re very protective about what you already low, children manage to be exposed to sex, violence, drugs, and the stark ugliness of life far sooner they should. They know much more than we did at their age! So in the matter of eternity? If they can handle the movies and video games available nowadays, I think they can more than handle the truth.

Have more than one heart-to-heart with your child about boldness in his or her Christian faith! Reassure your child that, if persecution, bullying, or exclusion should happen, he or she has nothing to be ashamed of. Certainly, we need to defend our children when someone’s treating them unfairly; but God does reward the tenacity of His children when they refuse to compromise for the sake of popularity. There are life lessons your child will be confronted with soon enough; and you need to have prepared him or her to trust in God for His protection and vindication.

Whenever you as a parent are pressured to allow your child to participate in events, parties, even holidays that go against your Christian conscience, please, hit your knees before you make foolish decisions. Your child may get teased for not being allowed to go to a seance, a sexually-explicit or contraversial movie, or a party where alcohol may be being served to minors; but I promise you, you’re not doing your child any justice by violating conscience to avoid peer pressure. If your children see you ashamed of the Gospel, they’ll have no hesitation in being ashamed of Jesus themselves. The subject of persecution is by no means a fun one to address, but remind your children, when they experience difficult times, of the story in Acts Chapter 5, where the apostles were arrested, publicly humiliated, commanded not to use the name of Jesus (sound familiar?), even beaten for their faith, then went away rejoicing that they’d been counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ. A very unpopular message in today’s world–but it’s at the heart of the very faith we embrace!

There are going to be hard times. There may even be times when your child messes up, or gives in to peer pressure, or does as Peter did–denies Jesus three times before the rooster crows. Strive to have an open enough relationship with him or her to talk about these things openly…and help your child quickly recover and move forward from stumblingblocks. If our children know they can come to us and openly confess their sins, and receive forgiveness not only from Jesus but from their parents, they’ll run to that place of sanctuary called “home.” When your child does encounter persecution for the sake of his or her faith, as a parent, be your child’s cheerleader! Be an encourager, a praiser, and quick to show your child you’re proud of him or her for being resolute in the faith. Reinforce that meekness isn’t weakness. Christians don’t storm around angrily demanding that people celebrate us, not as the world does. Teach by example. We can share Jesus without being obnoxious or overbearing. We can pray for others without constantly hounding them or looking down on them. It’s very important that we be salt and light in this lost world–something our children can see and emulate. We must remind our kids as well as ourselves that our calling is not merely to fly under the radar and escape this world undetected; we are called to shine a light to a very lost world.

We do need to teach our children the hard lessons of life concerning a bold witness, but not just so they’ll be a little tougher. In truth, if we can’t help them remain steadfast under the relatively benign persecutions of our American culture–the shunning, the exclusion, the teasing–how can we ever expect them to be bold enough, should a swordsman ever stand over them and demand a recantation of their faith or else suffer execution? I pray that we never see the same horrors as our Christian brothers and sisters on the other side of the globe; but that’s something we cannot guarantee we won’t encounter in our lifetimes. We should teach our kids that they can put their trust in God to keep them safe; but we also must gradually prepare them not to be jaded by the cruel reality of the world in which we live. There is an enemy who, 2000 years later, still vehemently opposes and despises the cross and all who call on the name of Jesus. May our children be taught by us to remain strong, unwavering; a next generation of the faithful who may very well be the last generation before the end of days!