5 Understanding the Principle
Now that you have gone through the scriptural confessions, let's look at the principle that could be the key to you being a partaker of God's provisions concerning your healing.
There is probably no other subject as important to your healing and health than the principle of CALLING THINGS THAT ARE NOT*. We see in Romans 4:17-22 that Abraham became fully persuaded that God would do what He had promised. The way he became fully persuaded was by calling those things which were not manifest as though they were.
We pick up on this in Romans 4:17:
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quicken the dead,
and call those things which be not as though they were
Here Paul is referring to Genesis the 17th chapter. You will notice that God called Abram the father of nations before he had the promised child, and He taught Abram to do the same. God changed Abram's name to Abraham, which meant "father of nations, or multitude." This was the means He used to convince Abraham to call for what he did not yet have in reality. God had established it by promise, but Abram had to call it into reality by mixing faith with God's Word.
Every time he said, "I am Abraham," he was calling things that were not yet manifest. Abraham did not deny that he was old. He didn't go around
saying, "I'm not old," because he was old. But he said, "I am Abraham," (Father of Nations). This was God's method of helping him change his image,
and it caused him to be fully persuaded. Paul also gives us insight into this principle in 1 Corinthians 1:27,28:
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought
things that are.
In other words God uses spiritual forces which are not seen to nullify natural things that are seen. This is the Bible principle of calling things that are
not as though they were.
Then in 2 Corinthians 4:13, Paul says:We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.
Paul is quoting David when he said, I believed, and therefore have I spoken.... In Psalm 118:17, David said, I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.
When it comes to divine healing this is a vital principle. We should declare to ourselves what God's Word reveals about us, regardless of the circumstances or how we feel about it. In Romans 10:6-8 Paul says that the righteousness which is of faith says ... the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. Notice, the Word is first in your mouth and (then) in your heart. God's Word becomes engrafted into your heart as you speak it. There is nothing more important to your faith than declaring what God has said about you with your own voice. Giving voice to God's Word is a method of calling for things that God has given by promise and are not yet manifest.
When you do this, some would say that you are denying what exists, but that's not true at all. You are establishing what God has said to be true
concerning healing even though it is not yet a reality in your body. You don't deny that sickness exists, but you deny its right to exist in your body,
because you have been redeemed from the curse of the law and delivered from the authority of darkness. (Gal. 3:13; Col.l:13.)
God has also given you all things that pertain to life and godliness. These things belong to you. (2 Peter 1:3,4.) When you are sick and confess that you are healed by the stripes of Jesus, you are calling for what God has already given you, even though it is not yet manifest.
This is God's method of calling things that are not as though they were until they are. There are some who have misunderstood this principle, and
they call things that are, as though they are not. In other words, they deny what exists. But there is no power in denying that sickness exists. The power is in calling for healing and health by mixing faith with God's Word.
If you are sick, you don't deny that you are sick; yet, on the other hand, you don't want to always be confessing your sickness, for that will
establish your present circumstance to you. Denying sickness won't make you well. But by mixing faith with God's Word, you are calling for
the promise of God to be manifest in your body. This will cause you to be fully persuaded, and healing is the result.
There are some who would say you are lying if you confess you are healed when you are sick. No, you are simply calling for healing that God has
already provided, even though it is not yet manifest in your body. What you are really doing is practicing God's medicine.
You are not trying to convince anyone that you are not sick, but you are simply proclaiming what God has said in His Word to be a fact, regardless of
your present condition. The Word says, by whose (Jesus') stripes ye were healed (1 Pet. 2:24). Notice it is past tense as far as God is concerned, but not yet manifest- in your body.
You are calling your body well according to Luke 17:5,6 and Mark 11:23. Your body is listening to you and it will obey you if you believe and doubt not in your heart. Your words have more effect on your body than anyone else's words.
Your body was created with the ability to heal itself, and if every part functions properly, it will. Some sickness is caused by a chemical imbalance in
the body, and the part of the brain that controls the speech also controls the secretion of chemicals to the body. This sheds some more light on what Jesus said in Mark 11:23, "...he shall have whatsoever he saith."
Call What You Want
The one mistake that so many Christians make is that they call things that are, the way they are. By doing this they are establishing the present
condition or circumstance in their heart, mind and also in their body.
I read an article many years ago about a lady that had a fever continually for several months. Doctors couldn't find anything wrong physically.
They questioned her thoroughly and discovered that when she got upset about anything, she would always say, "that just burns me up." She used that phrase several times a day. They were not sure if it had anything to do with her condition or not, but they asked her not to use that phrase anymore. Within weeks, her body temperature was normal.
How many times have you said, "Every time I eat that, it makes me sick," "My back is just killing me," "Those kids make me so nervous" or, "I'm
trying to take the flu"? Your own words are giving instruction to your body and your immune system will eventually respond to your instructions.
But God's method is to call for positive things, even though they are not yet a reality in your body. You call them until they are manifest. You have a God-given right to exercise authority over your body. In Romans 8:13, Paul tells us " . . . if you live after the flesh you shall die: but if you through the
Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live." Your flesh wants to say it the way it is, but your spirit, if trained properly, wants to say it the
way God said it in His Word.
Your body will respond to the demands of the human spirit.
If you feed the spirit man God's Word, it will make demands on the flesh to line up with the Word of God.
When you exercise, you demand more energy from your body. The heart beats faster and more blood flow brings more oxygen to body cells, and
your body responds to your demands in a natural manner. But you must make the demand on it before it will respond. Even your dog or your cat will respond to the command of your voice. How much more shall your body respond to the demands made upon it by the Word of God spoken out of your mouth. The truth is, your body always responds to your words in some manner, either for better or worse. So choose your words carefully.
Several years ago an article appeared in the Shreveport, Louisiana, TIMES, written by a neurosurgeon. The title of the article was "Talk to
Your Body to Rid Ills." He was using a method which he called mental exercise which involves literally telling your body what to do.
He offered examples such as a diabetic who instructs his pancreas to secrete insulin or a person with hypertension to say, several times a day, "my
blood pressure is 120 over 80."
He said, "It makes no difference whether the patient knows where his pancreas is or what 120 over 80 means. The body knows.''
There is more truth to Mark 11:23 than most people realize. You can have what you say in faith, but most people are saying what they have.
God created man's body to live forever, but sin brought the curse of sickness and death. The human body has an inherent ability to heal itself,
but because of improper chemical balance and improper functioning of certain organs, certain medicines and chemicals will aid the body in the
healing process. But God's Word is the original and most powerful medicine available today.
It was His Word that created the human body. It is the original medicine sent for the specific purpose of healing. (Ps. 107:20.)
Medical science is finding that the principle of Mark 11:23 really works even to bring health to our physical bodies.
The words of Jesus in Luke 17:6 ring clear: If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
The INTERLINEAR GREEK-ENGLISH NEW TESTAMENT* says, "it would obey you." Jesus is not really talking about literal trees here, but problems you face in life. Whether you are calling for your blood pressure to be 120 over 80 or confessing that your pancreas secretes the proper amount of insulin, there is always someone that wants to accuse you of lying, because they don't understand these principles of faith. So, it is not necessary to make your confessions before others—make them to yourself in your own prayer time as you fellowship with the Lord.
Remember—when you are sick, call yourself well, for you are calling for what you don't have. If you put this into practice and make it a way of life,
then your body will respond to your faith demands that are based on the authority of God's Holy Word.
No, it won't happen just because you say it, but saying it is involved in causing it to happen. Saying it is the way you plant the seed for what
you need. The spoken Word of God imparts spirit life into your physical body (John 6:63), for His Word is incorruptible seed, and it produces after its
kind.
I challenge you to set aside a time by yourself, daily, to fellowship with God. Make it a practice to meditate His Word by speaking it to your body. Do
it two or three times a day. Then double up on your confessions in the area where you have the most problems. Pray the Word over your body. Declare it to be true until you are fully persuaded. Your body will respond to your voice; how much more will it respond to God's Word spoken in FAITH.
There is probably no other subject as important to your healing and health than the principle of CALLING THINGS THAT ARE NOT*. We see in Romans 4:17-22 that Abraham became fully persuaded that God would do what He had promised. The way he became fully persuaded was by calling those things which were not manifest as though they were.
We pick up on this in Romans 4:17:
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quicken the dead,
and call those things which be not as though they were
Here Paul is referring to Genesis the 17th chapter. You will notice that God called Abram the father of nations before he had the promised child, and He taught Abram to do the same. God changed Abram's name to Abraham, which meant "father of nations, or multitude." This was the means He used to convince Abraham to call for what he did not yet have in reality. God had established it by promise, but Abram had to call it into reality by mixing faith with God's Word.
Every time he said, "I am Abraham," he was calling things that were not yet manifest. Abraham did not deny that he was old. He didn't go around
saying, "I'm not old," because he was old. But he said, "I am Abraham," (Father of Nations). This was God's method of helping him change his image,
and it caused him to be fully persuaded. Paul also gives us insight into this principle in 1 Corinthians 1:27,28:
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought
things that are.
In other words God uses spiritual forces which are not seen to nullify natural things that are seen. This is the Bible principle of calling things that are
not as though they were.
Then in 2 Corinthians 4:13, Paul says:We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.
Paul is quoting David when he said, I believed, and therefore have I spoken.... In Psalm 118:17, David said, I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.
When it comes to divine healing this is a vital principle. We should declare to ourselves what God's Word reveals about us, regardless of the circumstances or how we feel about it. In Romans 10:6-8 Paul says that the righteousness which is of faith says ... the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. Notice, the Word is first in your mouth and (then) in your heart. God's Word becomes engrafted into your heart as you speak it. There is nothing more important to your faith than declaring what God has said about you with your own voice. Giving voice to God's Word is a method of calling for things that God has given by promise and are not yet manifest.
When you do this, some would say that you are denying what exists, but that's not true at all. You are establishing what God has said to be true
concerning healing even though it is not yet a reality in your body. You don't deny that sickness exists, but you deny its right to exist in your body,
because you have been redeemed from the curse of the law and delivered from the authority of darkness. (Gal. 3:13; Col.l:13.)
God has also given you all things that pertain to life and godliness. These things belong to you. (2 Peter 1:3,4.) When you are sick and confess that you are healed by the stripes of Jesus, you are calling for what God has already given you, even though it is not yet manifest.
This is God's method of calling things that are not as though they were until they are. There are some who have misunderstood this principle, and
they call things that are, as though they are not. In other words, they deny what exists. But there is no power in denying that sickness exists. The power is in calling for healing and health by mixing faith with God's Word.
If you are sick, you don't deny that you are sick; yet, on the other hand, you don't want to always be confessing your sickness, for that will
establish your present circumstance to you. Denying sickness won't make you well. But by mixing faith with God's Word, you are calling for
the promise of God to be manifest in your body. This will cause you to be fully persuaded, and healing is the result.
There are some who would say you are lying if you confess you are healed when you are sick. No, you are simply calling for healing that God has
already provided, even though it is not yet manifest in your body. What you are really doing is practicing God's medicine.
You are not trying to convince anyone that you are not sick, but you are simply proclaiming what God has said in His Word to be a fact, regardless of
your present condition. The Word says, by whose (Jesus') stripes ye were healed (1 Pet. 2:24). Notice it is past tense as far as God is concerned, but not yet manifest- in your body.
You are calling your body well according to Luke 17:5,6 and Mark 11:23. Your body is listening to you and it will obey you if you believe and doubt not in your heart. Your words have more effect on your body than anyone else's words.
Your body was created with the ability to heal itself, and if every part functions properly, it will. Some sickness is caused by a chemical imbalance in
the body, and the part of the brain that controls the speech also controls the secretion of chemicals to the body. This sheds some more light on what Jesus said in Mark 11:23, "...he shall have whatsoever he saith."
Call What You Want
The one mistake that so many Christians make is that they call things that are, the way they are. By doing this they are establishing the present
condition or circumstance in their heart, mind and also in their body.
I read an article many years ago about a lady that had a fever continually for several months. Doctors couldn't find anything wrong physically.
They questioned her thoroughly and discovered that when she got upset about anything, she would always say, "that just burns me up." She used that phrase several times a day. They were not sure if it had anything to do with her condition or not, but they asked her not to use that phrase anymore. Within weeks, her body temperature was normal.
How many times have you said, "Every time I eat that, it makes me sick," "My back is just killing me," "Those kids make me so nervous" or, "I'm
trying to take the flu"? Your own words are giving instruction to your body and your immune system will eventually respond to your instructions.
But God's method is to call for positive things, even though they are not yet a reality in your body. You call them until they are manifest. You have a God-given right to exercise authority over your body. In Romans 8:13, Paul tells us " . . . if you live after the flesh you shall die: but if you through the
Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live." Your flesh wants to say it the way it is, but your spirit, if trained properly, wants to say it the
way God said it in His Word.
Your body will respond to the demands of the human spirit.
If you feed the spirit man God's Word, it will make demands on the flesh to line up with the Word of God.
When you exercise, you demand more energy from your body. The heart beats faster and more blood flow brings more oxygen to body cells, and
your body responds to your demands in a natural manner. But you must make the demand on it before it will respond. Even your dog or your cat will respond to the command of your voice. How much more shall your body respond to the demands made upon it by the Word of God spoken out of your mouth. The truth is, your body always responds to your words in some manner, either for better or worse. So choose your words carefully.
Several years ago an article appeared in the Shreveport, Louisiana, TIMES, written by a neurosurgeon. The title of the article was "Talk to
Your Body to Rid Ills." He was using a method which he called mental exercise which involves literally telling your body what to do.
He offered examples such as a diabetic who instructs his pancreas to secrete insulin or a person with hypertension to say, several times a day, "my
blood pressure is 120 over 80."
He said, "It makes no difference whether the patient knows where his pancreas is or what 120 over 80 means. The body knows.''
There is more truth to Mark 11:23 than most people realize. You can have what you say in faith, but most people are saying what they have.
God created man's body to live forever, but sin brought the curse of sickness and death. The human body has an inherent ability to heal itself,
but because of improper chemical balance and improper functioning of certain organs, certain medicines and chemicals will aid the body in the
healing process. But God's Word is the original and most powerful medicine available today.
It was His Word that created the human body. It is the original medicine sent for the specific purpose of healing. (Ps. 107:20.)
Medical science is finding that the principle of Mark 11:23 really works even to bring health to our physical bodies.
The words of Jesus in Luke 17:6 ring clear: If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
The INTERLINEAR GREEK-ENGLISH NEW TESTAMENT* says, "it would obey you." Jesus is not really talking about literal trees here, but problems you face in life. Whether you are calling for your blood pressure to be 120 over 80 or confessing that your pancreas secretes the proper amount of insulin, there is always someone that wants to accuse you of lying, because they don't understand these principles of faith. So, it is not necessary to make your confessions before others—make them to yourself in your own prayer time as you fellowship with the Lord.
Remember—when you are sick, call yourself well, for you are calling for what you don't have. If you put this into practice and make it a way of life,
then your body will respond to your faith demands that are based on the authority of God's Holy Word.
No, it won't happen just because you say it, but saying it is involved in causing it to happen. Saying it is the way you plant the seed for what
you need. The spoken Word of God imparts spirit life into your physical body (John 6:63), for His Word is incorruptible seed, and it produces after its
kind.
I challenge you to set aside a time by yourself, daily, to fellowship with God. Make it a practice to meditate His Word by speaking it to your body. Do
it two or three times a day. Then double up on your confessions in the area where you have the most problems. Pray the Word over your body. Declare it to be true until you are fully persuaded. Your body will respond to your voice; how much more will it respond to God's Word spoken in FAITH.