Dear Partner,
Well, it’s that time of year again! Southwest Believers’ Convention will be July 28-Aug. 2. This one will be different from ALL THAT HAVE GONE BEFORE IT! CREFLO DOLLAR IS WITH US AGAIN. BENNY HINN is helping me in Healing School. Joining us as new speakers will be Jonathan Shuttlesworth and Keith Butler, as well as our returning speakers. And, of course, you and your family will be there! FlashPoint LIVE with Gene Bailey will be Sunday evening, July 27.
Let’s begin with John 8:12 (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition):
- Once more Jesus addressed the crowd. He said, I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the Light which is Life.
Remember, now, how the Blood-backed covenants of God work. The prophets of the First Covenant, by the Holy Spirit, spoke so that in the life of Jesus, things could, would and will come to pass. So let’s go back 400 years before Jesus to the book of the Prophet Malachi, where the wonderful tithing scriptures are in the third chapter. But turn with me now to Malachi 4:2 in the AMPC:
- But unto you who revere and fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams, and you shall go forth and gambol like calves [released] from the stall and leap for joy.
No wonder Jesus said, “I am THE LIGHT of THE WORLD.”
Now let’s look at a very familiar situation in the life of Jesus in Mark 5:25-28, AMPC:
- And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years,
- And who had endured much suffering under [the hands of] many physicians and had spent all that she had, and was no better but instead grew worse.
- She had heard the reports concerning Jesus, and she came up behind Him in the throng and touched His garment,
- For she kept saying, If I only touch His garments, I shall be restored to health.
How had she heard of Jesus? How did she know to “touch His garment”? The King James Version says in Mark 5:25-28, “for she said.”
- And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
- And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
- When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
- For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole
Where, and how, had she heard? THERE WAS NO SECOND COVENANT AT THAT TIME! Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were about to write it. Back again, to our amazing and strangely written word of The LORD through the prophet in Malachi 4:2.
According to the Blue Letter Bible, the Hebrew word translated here as wings, means a “skirt-corner (of garment).” I can’t take credit for knowing this, though. Our Partner Bishop Keith Butler in Southfield, Mich., preached it and we shouted about it! Gloria and I heard about the woman with the issue of blood and how she released her faith and, now, thanks to Bishop Butler and the Blue Letter Bible app, we know how she heard. Let’s read this entire encounter in Mark 5:25-30 (AMPC):
- And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years,
- And who had endured much suffering under [the hands of] many physicians and had spent all that she had, and was no better but instead grew worse.
- She had heard the reports concerning Jesus, and she came up behind Him in the throng and touched His garment,
- For she kept saying, If I only touch His garments, I shall be restored to health.
- And immediately her flow of blood was dried up at the source, and [suddenly] she felt in her body that she was healed of her [distressing] ailment.
- And Jesus, recognizing in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around immediately in the crowd and said, Who touched My clothes?
Notice here that the woman and Jesus were the only ones who knew what was happening in the spirit (verse 31). Let’s look at verses 31-32:
- And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
- And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
Stay with me now, because I’m going somewhere with this. HE KEPT LOOKING AROUND TO SEE HER WHO HAD DONE IT! Partner, DON’T EVER LET the DEVIL TELL you that Jesus has forgotten about you or given up on you. NO, HE HAS NOT! NOT NOW, NOT EVER!
If the woman with the issue of blood was made whole, then she must have also regained her financial “healing”—verses 33-34; 3 John 2 (AMPC):
- But the woman, knowing what had been done for her, though alarmed and frightened and trembling, fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.
- And He said to her, Daughter, your faith (your trust and confidence in Me, springing from faith in God) has restored you to health. Go in (into) peace and be continually healed and freed from your [distressing bodily] disease.
- Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers.
“[By faith] from your [distressing bodily] disease.” Hebrews 13:8 says: “Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is [always] the same, yesterday, today, [yes] and forever (to the ages)” (AMPC).
What did she do? Four things: No.1, She believed it; No. 2, She said it; No. 3, She acted on it; No. 4, She told it. Even if she had heard or read what the prophet taught, she was considered unclean for those 12 years and was forbidden to be in public (Leviticus 15:25-27). But she made up her mind to “get where the garment was.” If she hadn’t acted on her faith and done that, she would have eventually bled to death. Let’s look at her again in Mark 5:33 (AMPC):
- But the woman, knowing what had been done for her, though alarmed and frightened and trembling, fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.
“Alarmed and frightened and trembling, fell down before Him AND TOLD Him the whole truth.” Glory TO GOD! What a wonderful confession of Faith! Anyone who will do these four things she did can receive anything they need from Jesus because “IT IS WRITTEN.” Jesus defeated the devil with “IT IS WRITTEN,” and so can we.
Let’s turn now to where our great and wonderful confession is located that says, “Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end].” Remember, Galatians 5:6 says, “Faith works by Love.” Living by Faith is a discipline, and victory is an attitude. John 13:34-35 in the AMPC says:
- I give you a new commandment: that you should Love one another. Just as I have Loved you, so you too should Love one another.
- By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you Love one another [if you keep on showing Love among yourselves].
First Corinthians 13:4-8 in the AMPC:
- Love endures long and is patient and kind; Love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
- It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s Love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not selfseeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].
- It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
- Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]
- Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]….
Where it is written “LOVE ENDURES LONG,” read it and confess, “I ENDURE LONG,” AND finish with, “I NEVER FAIL.” Then close it with Ephesians 5:1-2 (AMPC):
- Therefore be imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father].
- And walk in Love, [esteeming and delighting in one another] as Christ Loved us and gave Himself up for us, a slain offering and sacrifice to God [for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.
Glory to God forevermore! “BE IMITATORS OF GOD, AND WALK IN LOVE!” First John 4:8 says that God does not just have Love. HE IS LOVE: “FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD that He GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON” (John 3:16). SO LOVE GAVE His life for you and me? Well yes, and no. He gave His life FOR THE WHOLE WORLD—ALL MEN, FOR ALL TIME! It worked for Gloria and me in 1962, six months after we were married. She received Jesus as Savior and LORD in October, and I received Him Nov. 2, at 8 p.m. in Little Rock, Ark. Jesus changed my name from a lost airplane pilot to a born-again airplane pilot. I had flown a charter trip that day and arrived at our apartment that evening. And, as they say, “The rest is history!
This ministry is now on five continents. All of this because OUR GOD is a GOOD GOD, and HIS MERCY ENDURES FOREVER (Psalm 118:1-4, 29)!
In closing, remember this: God Loves YOU, we Love you, and Jesus is LORD!
PS. The LORD said to me, It’s time, now, for a million Partners before the end of this year. So “YOU ARE ONE IN A MILLION!”
