Becoming Christ-like
I have been waiting many years for my healing to come to pass. God gave me a promise that I would be healed of all the ailments that plague me (including fear and anxiety disorder) and that this would happen as I received a greater infilling of His Holy Spirit. The greater infilling also includes a greater anointing to set others free. Normal healing methods have not worked on me. I have declared the word, had ministers who walk in healing gifts lay hands on me - all to no avail. I have repented and cast out demons also to no avail. He had told me that He was leaving my healing until the end (when all the blockages were revealed and I was sanctified and delivered) and had talked to me many times about this greater infilling. Waiting is so very hard to do when you are suffering. I have had to at times make a concerted effort to guard against distancing myself from God due to disappointment.
Recently I wrote a prayer about praising God for His perfect timing and after I had prayed this and again spent time in His presence worshipping Him I received this word about why my healing was taking so long. This is the word ~ “Your Ministry is not about healing – it is about becoming more Christ-like. It is about empowering people to become more like Me. A Healing Ministry focuses on healing as its central focus and carries an anointing from Me to do so. All you have to do is believe to receive it. Your Ministry carries healing but focuses on becoming more like Me as its central focus. Becoming Holy as I am Holy. God’s Holy people are about sacrifice and surrender to the Spirit of God and His ways. You have not received your healing yet because My main focus for you has been to recreate you into a Christ-like creation. This came first. This is what you will teach – how to be raised up into a Christ-like creation. The blockages which are things like mind-sets, fear, unbelief, unholy practices etc. need to be removed before you can become more like Me. The flesh has to be crucified. ‘You’ need to be removed to make room for ‘Me’. It is about dying to self. A new infilling is coming for you, and for many others who have been made ready and you will all be raised up into the new creations I have always purposed you to be. This is for the end times Ministry to help those through what is about to come upon the earth. ‘Becoming Christ-like’ is the new name of your Ministry. You will teach about the sacrifice and the laying down of self that it takes to be changed. Never walking away from Me and continuing to believe in Me no matter the circumstances. The healing comes as a result of the change into a Christ-like creation which is why your healing will come when you are raised up into the new ‘you’. Your walk was never about healing. This journey for you was not about being healed, it was about changing ‘you’ for ‘Me’ to better use you for My purposes. Sanctification and healing go hand in hand. You are washed in the water by the word. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:25-27, KJV). Remember the man who had to wash in the Jordan 7 times before he was healed. This represents the sanctification process and the many layers of things that one can have that need to be removed. The holier you become the more wholeness you walk in. Healing is a gift and can be received by many. Becoming Christ-like is a sacrifice of self and a willingness to go deeper in Me. This is imperative and needed for what is about to come.”
I smiled when I received this word and finally understood why. I had been concentrating on my healing. I was so focused on my healing I had lost sight of what this Ministry was created for. I had always known this Ministry was a deep Ministry but I had assumed that healing was its main focus. Others had also been focused on my healing and wondering why I hadn’t been healed of the many things that plagued me, especially when I had prayed and done all I needed to do in order to receive. I now understand it was never about my healing. It was about God revealing to me all the things that were unholy so that I could be raised up into a ‘new me’ and help others to do the same.
Matthew 16:33 says to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and everything else will be added unto you. It is about putting God first in our life. It is about surrender and complete yielding to His Spirit and His purposes. It is about saying ‘Jesus what can I do for you’, rather than saying ‘Jesus what can You do for me’. It is focusing on your calling and allowing God to change you into a vessel He can use even greater than before you were changed. Becoming Christ-like is also not about doing it all yourself in your own strength and your own works. Recognising your weaknesses and being able to surrender them to God and acknowledging that you can’t do it and need Him to change you is a big part. It is realising that healing and receiving from God is not a one-size fits all and that not all Ministries are the same. Many Ministries use methods and different ways of healing. This Ministry is about changing you and the healing goes hand in hand with the change. Being open to God and allowing Him to guide you is paramount to entering into all He has for you. Becoming more Christ-like doesn’t mean you have to be perfect in your own strength. God does His part and you do yours. The parts that you have weaknesses in and find it difficult to change, God will help you. You just have to let Him. Laying down all those false walls of protection and pretences goes a long way to allowing God to move. God changes you – bit by bit- piece by piece. As much as you can handle. He is gentle and working precisely in your life to accomplish all that He set out to do. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6, KJV).
(PRAYER) – “Father God in Jesus name I offer myself afresh to You today for Your good works and purposes. I repent for believing one size fits all and that there is only a certain way in which You do things. You do things differently for different people in accordance with Your purpose for them. Thank You for all the Healing Ministries where Your anointing is a free gift to heal those in need. Thank You for the deeper Ministries where You teach people how to become more like You. Today Lord Jesus I ask You, ‘What can I do for You’? Thank You for all You have done for me. I want to become Christ-like and am willing for You to change me. I understand I am saved and You love me just as I am, but in order for me to do the greater works You did, it requires sacrifice of myself so that ‘You’ can be raised up in ‘me’. Less of me, more of You. I must decrease so that You can increase. I want to accomplish all that You have for me. Although it has been hard I am willing to go all the way with You. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.”
By Tania Francis