Keep in mind, no one becomes a master of anything, including spiritual things, overnight. We may face a situation where we’ve done all we know to do and it doesn’t work. But it could be we don’t know enough. In that case, we need to go back to the textbook for more information. Then sometimes we may think we’re “doing it all right,” but we aren’t. We may need more light to shine on both what we know and what we are doing. Years ago I found myself in just such a situation when both children were sick with different but alarming symptoms. I too was having ongoing problems like I’d never had before. It didn’t just seem we were running from doctor to doctor—we were! One day, we left one doctor’s office where my daughter had been seen, and were signing in at another for my son. Our health had never been challenged like this! Frustrated and beginning to panic, I called my dad from the receptionist’s desk. “What is going on here?” I asked him. “Terri, I don’t know what the problem is,” he said. “But I do know that wisdom is the principal thing.” He was exactly right! We needed wisdom—or light—on what we knew and what we were doing.
The Amplif ied Bible, “He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses).” I chose to “look at” and believe that Jeremy’s sickness was in that Body, Aubrey’s sickness, George’s and mine were all in that Body as it hung on the Cross. After His body was laid in the tomb, the spirit life of those sicknesses—sin and death—clung to His spirit as He was banished to hell. There death dealt its greatest blows expecting to hold Him—as well as you and me—in bondage for eternity. But glory to God, Jesus arose! There in my mind’s eye, He arose. As He came out of the grave, all that had gone with Him into that grave was shaken off and left in hell below. There was nothing left in that Body but victory! And the victory that was in that Body belonged to us! I “looked” again to see Him give that victory to each of us. I repeated that process until I knew I believed. Then where my confessions had been empty and religious, now they were full of faith. Every time I said “by His stripes we were healed,” real faith was released, and it only took a little light from the Spirit and a little time meditating in the Word. The outcome, however,
The force of faith finds its parameters in the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” When activated, it will trump the “law of sin and death” and give substance to life, every time.
So George, my husband, and I agreed in prayer asking for the wisdom of God to enlighten us and we took Communion to settle by faith that the answer was ours. About two days later, while sitting in the kitchen, the light suddenly came on. A realization, or a knowing, came to me. You don’t really believe that by Jesus’ stripes you are healed. Now I certainly thought I believed that. But as soon as I heard those words, I knew they were true. Had I really believed that we were healed by Jesus’ stripes I would not have been in fear. If I had actually been in faith, faith would have given substance to healing. I was only acknowledging healing instead of releasing faith so healing could come. At that very moment I set all else aside and went to work on my believer. It was in need of critical adjustments. I went to 1 Peter 2:24 and began to choose to believe. I meditated on that verse by first visualizing Jesus on the cross. And then slowly I “looked” for the stripes that covered His body. Those stripes were for us, I thought. Then I remembered what Isaiah 53:4-5 says in
was life changing—if not life saving. The whole process I just described is found in Hebrews 11:6. It says: “He who comes to God must believe….” That’s first. “that He is…” God. That means He is what you need and He is all you need. “and that He is a rewarder….” He is Love—Love doesn’t hold back the provision He has for you. “of those who diligently seek Him” (New King James Version). People who don’t quit but continue to look to Him while looking into the Word are enlightened to the spiritual law of faith. Those kind of people, like Or ville and Wilbur Wright, can fly higher and farther with every enlightened discovery they make. And we can be those kind of people. V ictor y Terri Copeland Pearsons is the eldest daughter of Kenneth Copeland. She and her husband, George, pastor Eagle Mountain International Church located on the grounds of Kenneth Copeland Ministries. For information or ministry materials write to Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Fort Worth, TX 76192-0001.
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