Big Healing Book - Romans 4:16-21

Romans 4:16-21:

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb;
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Notes on Romans 4:16-21:

Here is a crash course in faith. Abraham believed God when everything in the natural said that God lied. He did not consider his own body or Sarah’s body. He gave glory to God because he believed God could do what He promised.

If you want to follow in Abraham’s footsteps, you will have to disregard your body when it comes to believing God’s promise. That doesn’t mean that you should operate in denial and put yourself in physical danger. It means that while you acknowledge the symptoms in your body (and do what you need to do in the natural), you believe that you have received your healing, and that God will back His Word that came out of your mouth. The comment that he was not weak in faith and did not consider his own body seems to point to the fact that people who are weak in faith will waver because they become preoccupied with their bodies instead of with God’s Word.

Like God, you need to “call those things that be not as though they were.” Give glory to God for the fact that He has already healed you, even though your body says your healing “is not.”

This is different from denial, which is calling the things that be as if they were not. We don’t deny the presence of symptoms, but we deny their right to remain in our bodies after we have received our healing.

One characteristic of someone who is “strong in faith” is that he “gives glory to God.” Show me someone whose prayer life consists solely of bombarding heaven with petitions, and I’ll show you someone who is probably not strong in faith. God’s will for us is to be full of thanksgiving and praise. The mature believer can be noted by his emphasis on thanking and praising God rather than his constant petitioning. The mature believer understands that his own personal needs are already met and that he simply has to believe and receive them. His petitions would often be for others, such as those in authority. He knows how to “minister to the Lord” as the prophets and teachers in Acts 13:1-3 did.