I need to take you on a trip down memory lane
- Amber Miller: A Word of Truth
- June 17, 2018
- 2196
Several months ago a healing service was held at our church. There were roughly 150 people there, and it was led by my friends Gary and Marie. It was such an encouraging time for me because I have dreamed of having people from our area congregate together in a setting like that, people who believe in healing and are hungry and eager to learn more about it.
In order for you to properly understand the encouragement it was to my soul, I need to take you on a trip down memory lane first. I have to warn you though. It is not a happy trip back for me but rather a very hurtful one.
A few years back I was in a group setting, and we were watching a video. As soon as the video started, I knew where it was going, and I could foresee that I would have some serious problems with it, problems that would not lend me to keep silent.
The preacher in the video starting saying how God allows sickness to teach us and make us better. I could feel my blood starting to boil because what he was saying was diametrically opposed to what scripture teaches.
He did use scripture, but he twisted it, not understanding the meaning behind it. He even had little excerpts of people saying things such as “God gave me cancer” and whatever other sicknesses they had. They were accusing my heavenly daddy of those things.
As I was sitting there watching, I glanced across the room, knowing what he was saying was feeding the wrong beliefs about God the people already had. I knew I could not keep silent, but I was not looking forward to how the outcome of me speaking out would be.
As the video ended and the discussion was about to begin, I spoke up and said I did not agree with it. Let’s just say it was not well received. My husband was not able to be there, and I felt very alone, probably as alone as I have ever felt in my life.
Everyone who spoke up was very against what I had to say. At one point I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience, like I was looking at myself not actually believing how much anger was being spewed at me for saying God didn’t want or allow sickness or tragedy. It was awful to say the least, and I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
A few days later the leaders wanted to briefly meet with us to discuss what happened, and the one said to me, “Does anyone else believe like this?”
He said it in such a way with such a tone that he meant, “Lady, you are so out there. Seriously, no one else believes this way do they?”
That experience was heavy on my heart for a long time.
Now maybe you can see why that healing service at our church was such an encouragement to my soul. I went from a time that only a handful of people I knew believed in healing to sickness is not the will of God and being in this room full of people who believed healing is God’s will. Women stood up and gave their testimonies. They did not say God wanted them to suffer with sickness but rather how through understanding Jesus had paid for their sickness on the cross and had given them authority over that sickness they had been made well.
There was no one saying, “God allowed this sickness to teach me. He wanted me to suffer.” No, just the opposite. They were adamant God wants us all well and that sickness is not the will of God but is from the enemy. It was so powerful and amazing to me to hear these believers speak the truth with such boldness.
This was what I had been dreaming of, people in our area catching hold of the truth and standing on it, distinguishing between the will of God and the will of the enemy and not mixing the two in error.
It did this soul good, and I know it did so as well for all who were there because there was such excitement in the air.
There isn’t excitement when you don’t know what God is really like and think he is behind the bad things happening. But when you recognize sickness and tragedy is from the enemy or the result of living in a fallen world and that Jesus had paid the price for us to triumph over that through him, there is such an unspeakable joy that resounds from it.
God is good, and it is my prayer that everyone receives revelation of that.
Amber can be reached at amberdeemiller32@gmail.com or through her AmberRiceMiller Facebook page.