Healing Guidelines Prayer for Healing

Healing Guidelines Prayer for Healing and Rebirth by Sister Raquel Reodica, RVM
At 8:00 a.m. every morning, find a quiet place. Attune your spirit to Jesus through His blessed Mother Mary. Read slowly with your heart this prayer. Express silently your deep desire for complete healing. This is your one-on-one prayer with Jesus. Our Father in heaven, Creator of my body, wherein I (state your name) dwell and through which I live, make me realize in the name of JESUS that my present bodily ailment is a result of my own sins, my wrong doings, my wrong thinking, my transgressions against Your laws.
I ask forgiveness, Jesus, for these wrong doings, and promise to change my ways. Make me realize, in the name of JESUS, that Your creative power, which fashioned my body, is still in me, in my consciousness, in my mind, ready to serve me at any time of need. Make me realize that I, in my free will, now have control over this creative power within me which I can direct to act for my own well being, but only if my thoughts and feelings are attuned to You. In full realization of this, I NOW CALL UPON YOUR CREATIVE POWER within me, O Lord God, in Jesus' name, to correct and eliminate any and all my bodily imperfections and diseases and discomforts.
I KNOW AND EXPECT THAT MY REBIRTH IS NOW ACTIVELY TAKING PLACE WITHIN ME because of Your creative love and mercy, and Your healing grace in my every cell and nerve and gland and tissue and fiber and organ, especially my: (state any or all sicknesses). In accordance with my vision and my active FAITH IN YOU, MY ALMIGHTY GOD, CREATOR AND LORD, IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF MOTHER MARY, through the intercessions of MOTHER IGNACIA DEL ESPIRITU SANTO and all Your saints, I am healed. Amen. Amen. Amen After praying, remain in silence for 15 to 20 minutes in the presence of the Lord, and in meditation of receiving His healing. Preparations for Healing eastwind First of all, healing is between you and the Lord. Sister Raquel, holy water, blessed towels, or any other medium are just tools of the Lord for healing you. They do not heal by themselves but are „bridges‟ of the Lord to you. Sister Raquel does not have the power to heal, only the Lord through her.
Without spiritual preparation and spiritual transformation, there can be no healing. Healing cannot happen in a snap or a simple pray-over. It is not like turning a switch off and on. It involves a spiritual process. The person to be healed must undergo a SPIRITUAL CLEANSING prior to healing. Spiritual healing precedes physical healing. Return first to the Lord and submit to Him your entire being so He can heal you. People who were healed by Sister Raquel all speak about the change in their lives, the loss of impatience and sudden anger, the goodwill for people, and most
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especially the consequent inner peace derived from this spiritual transformation or cleansing. Here are simple guideline from Sister Raquel – pray and meditate often talk to Jesus in a casual conversation He is beside you more than you know pause for a moment and think of your past sins whom did you hurt or exploit or maltreat a housemaid, a friend, a spouse, your children? whom can you not forgive for things they did to you? without forgiveness it is hard to be healed even with all the prayers and healing visits you make ask for forgiveness for injustice and hurt you have done to others and forgive others who have hurt you no matter how serious resolve to correct your sinful ways resolve not to be cranky or impatient with people especially small people such as maids, drivers, workers help and give to others according to your capacity especially the poor do not just give money or material items give yourself, your goodwill, and your time no matter how busy you are only then can you ask the Lord to heal you when you are spiritually clean once you are pleasing to the Lord your healing is already in process as soon as you begin to pray and ask Him for healing invoke the intercession of Mother Mary, St. Joseph, and Mother Ignacia

It is also the message of the healings of Sister Raquel. Every terminal cancer she heals has the same message as the Bible, return to the Lord and be blessed. Healing is a product of conversion, of returning to the Lord.

Sister Raquel - Healing Testimonials - To God be the Glory!

Testimonials
These are testimonials received mostly by email to eastwind@edsamail.com.ph over a four year period. Aug. 28, 2002 I am LETICIA M. LOCSIN, 69 years old and the Executive Editor of BusinessWorld, an English-language business newspaper published daily in Manila, Philippines. I am also the Chief Operating Office of the publishing company. I am writing this to give testimony to the wondrous things that have happened to me since I started going to the Mother Ignacia Healing Center in Bagumbong, Kalookan. In December of 1999, I was diagnosed to have breast cancer and had to undergo a mastectomy of my left breast on Dec. 11 of that year. The pathological results showed that I had „Stage 2 Ductal Carcinoma‟. Two weeks after surgery, my wound had not dried up, due in large part to my diabetes. Thus it was that on January 1, 2000, I had to undergo a second operation – for what was clinically termed as „Scar Revision‟. On the afternoon that I was released from hospital, I was feeling very depressed. When I arrived home, I went directly to my bedroom and reclined on the sofa. I closed my eyes but I knew I was not asleep. It was more like coming out of anesthesia. Anyway, I saw in the mind of my eye (but clearly enough to be sure of a presence) the figure of Mother Ignacia – in her black habit, arms outstretched and telling me ever so gently that I should take heart, that she would always be there for me and intercede for my recovery. I opened my eyes at once. Of course, she wasn‟t there, but a faint scent of dama de noche pervaded the room. I was later told by Sister Raquel Reodica that dama de noche is, indeed, the scent of Mother Ignacia as the nuns themselves have come to know through her constant “visitations.” Two days later, after I felt sufficiently recovered from my second surgery, I went to the Healing Center and told Sister Raquel of my vision. She took me away from the crowds to the Healing Fountain in the Sanctuary, where she asked me to drink a glassful of water from the fountain. She filled the glass again and pulled me to a seat. She asked to see my wound. Then, without warning, she poured the water from the glass on the wound. I was panicky: I thought that the wound would surely be infected. Sister Raquel told me not to use anything to dry the wound but instead allow it to dry on its own. I did as instructed and went to sleep that night with the wound area still damp. At about three in the morning, I was awakened by the feeling of floating on water. I felt my beddings: they were all wet. I called for my nursemaid and asked her to see what was the matter. She panicked and suggested that we go to hospital. Strangely enough, I was calm. I was feeling no pain in the area of the wound or anywhere else. And I was not running a fever. Upon closer scrutiny, Menggay, my nursemaid, saw that water was oozing out of the wound, icy cold water. It was not bloody or yellow with pus. And it did not have a putrid smell. I promised Menggay that we would go to hospital in the morning if the emissions would not stop. I had a fresh change of bedclothes and linens and went promptly to sleep.
Everything was dry in the morning; there was no need to go to hospital. Besides, I was
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scheduled to see my doctor two days later to have the wound dressed. When she peeled off the gauze covering the wound, Dr. Diana Cua, breast surgeon at the Makati Medical Center, was surprised. The wound was dry. She said the sutures could be removed in two days and I would then be referred to an oncologist for further treatment. The oncologist, Dr. Priscilla B. Caguioa, of the St. Luke‟s Hospital staff, instructed me to go through four tests: (1) complete blood count, (2) an ultrasound examination of my liver, pancreas and gall bladder and (3) a bone scan, to include my kidney and (4) chest pa. Once again, I hastened to see Sister Raquel and asked her to pray that my tests would not bear negative results; and that, additionally, I would not have to undergo chemotherapy. Sister Raquel told me we were both going to ask the Lord for total healing, not bother Him with piecemeal requests. On the roadside leaving the Healing Center, I noticed a sign which read Chuck Cheme. I do not know what their business was, but to me it could only mean a sign that God had heard our prayers. It meant I was to chuck or do away with chemo. True enough, in a week‟s time the results were all in and I was declared free of recurrence or metastasis. I told Dr. Caguioa that the idea of chemo filled me with dread and she assured me that she would not prescribe the treatment for me since all the signs showed I could do without it. She prescribed Tamoxifen daily for five years and I have had a blood checkup every six months since then. I feel in my heart that I have been cured of my cancer, that the Lord, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary and Mother Ignacia, has granted me total healing. I make it a point to go to the Healing Center every week to pray with and be prayed-over by the nuns there – Sister Raquel, Sister Gloria Ross and Sister Rosita Fernandez, in particular. Through them I have found serenity beyond my expectations. I have experienced a deep awakening of faith in God; and I am more aware of the sufferings of others, especially those – and there are thousands of them – who frequent Mother Ignacia‟s Sanctuary for healing. Letty Locsin


http://www.sisterraquel.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/healingstories-of-sister-raquel.pdf



Dear Sister Raquel. Praise the Goodness of the LORD! Truly no one can predict GOD's mighty power. I myself had felt the healing hand of the LORD. Yesterday I received the document containing the directions to your place and the three published articles about you. Instead of reading it on the computer, my Tita Edna told me to print it because it was quite long, and so I did. Tita browsed through the articles but did not have the chance to read it because we were about to leave for the mall with my sister and cousin. When I returned home, the first thing on my mind was to read the articles. So I rushed to the room but before reading it, I had first to massage my back because the pain was there again. And so, I finally got to read it. In the first few lines, I immediately felt shivers all over my body. Then after the Hail Mary, I read the lines: "HEALING IS BETWEEN THE LORD AND THE SICK. SISTER RAQUEL IS ONLY A BRIDGE. PREPARATION FOR HEALING MEANS SPIRITUAL CLEANSING, WHICH INCLUDES FORGIVING ALL WHO HAVE OFFENDED YOU, BEING SORRY FOR THE PAST SINS THAT HAVE OFFENDED THE SACRED HEART".
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I felt the pain on my left thigh down to my toes. I paused and examined my heart and recalled the things and the people who have caused me pain in the past, and then in a loud voice, I said that I forgive them all! Then something "nakakakilabot" (strange) happened. I felt a strong pulse on the nerve on my left forehead, and my heart started pounding stronger by the minute. I felt the blood flowing through my left thigh, down to my toes. Then the pain suddenly vanished. Tears started to flow from my eyes and I started crying. I was healed. The LORD touched me and took away the pain from my system. I continued reading, and, at the end of each testimony, I burst into tears and kept on thanking God for His goodness. After reading the last line, I decided to follow it up with a rosary as my thanksgiving for the miracle that I have experienced. It is really the „miracle of the article‟. God made use of the article so that I could be healed spiritually, and eventually physically! I thank you, Sister Raquel, for the prayers and the enlightenment you have brought to my life. Thank you again. May God continue to use you as His bridge to bring us back to Him. We will attend your healing session together with my mom and Tita Edna this coming Wednesday. See you there! GOD BLESS YOU! Truly yours, Ryan E.


My miraculous healing. I, Yolanda S. Espedido, married to Antonio R. Espedido, testify that I was healed of Parkinson‟s disease and microaneurysm through the intercession of Mama Mary and Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo. I am a diabetic and, as such, Dr. Augusto D. Litonjua, who is my doctor, instructed me to consult an ophthalmologist for fundus evaluation for hemorrhages and microaneurysms within the inferior vascular arcade. (In layman terms, a tiny bleeding in the eye.) Based on the above instruction, I went to see and consulted Dr. Eunice Monica R. Batac on September 10, 2000. She made a thorough examination and submitted a report to Dr. Litonjua of her findings that I had sclerosis cataracts in both eyes. The dilated examination of the fundus showed microaneurysms and hemorrhages within the inferior arcade of the left eye. Sometime in June 2001, my youngest sister, Filipinas S. Litonjua, who had cancer of the colon, mentioned the healing center of Mother Ignacia in Bagumbong, Novaliches, Caloocan City. Because of her condition, we decided to go to the healing center. There, we met Sister Ma. Rosita Fernandez, who interviewed us and listed our names in her record book. After the interview, she referred us to Sister Raquel, who gave us a wait-list number. She later prayed over us. Our concentration was on my sister Filipinas as she was then scheduled for operation. She was subsequently operated on July 3, 2001. However, I continued going to the Mother Ignacia Healing Center. I was prayed-over twice, July 7 and 14, 2001, by Sister Raquel. During that time, my two hands were shaking (due to Parkinson‟s disease). After every session with her, I felt at peace and relaxed. Sister Raquel taught me how to pray and on July 18th, I noticed that the shaking of my hands stopped, and I could now use both of them. Thank you Lord! On August 18, 2001, I was prayed-over again by Sister Raquel. I also had a one-on-one talk with Sister Rosita. It was a very enlightening talk, and I learned a lot from her. On August 25, 2001, Sister Gloria Ross prayed over me. Her prayers gave me so much peace and comfort. Then, on September 2, 2001, I consulted Dr. Batac, who again made some tests and a thorough examination of my eyes. After evaluating the results, she informed me that it was now clear and the microaneurysm and hemorrhage seen on two previous visits in my left eye had vanished. I have many other ailments such as diabetes, bone tumor on my forehead, and varicose veins on my legs, which I believe and continue to pray, Jesus the Healer, through the intercession of Mama Mary and Mother Ignacia, will also heal. Praise and thank you, Jesus, that you have healed me. Yolanda S. Espedido

18 October 2001 Dear Sister Raquel, Good day. Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus. Sister, I'm not taking my medicine. Instead, I just go to church and receive the body of Christ daily as my maintenance medicine, which now heals my brain tumor. Thanks and more power to your healing. God's love, Regina Francisco ************************************

6 November 2001 Dear Sister Raquel, My husband Ansel III has end stage renal disease and is therefore on dialysis three times a week. He also has polysystic liver. My main recourse nowadays is PRAYER. Kung minsan nga Sister, pudpod na ang daliri ko at gasgas na ang dila ko sa kakadasal (Sometimes my fingers and tongue grow numb from praying). I still have faith in Him that He will give my husband a new lease on life. Ching Roman


22 October 2001 Dear Sister Raquel, I have a lump in my throat. I take Chinese medicine and DXN Ganoderma mushroom capsules. I go daily to Holy Mass for Eucharistic healing. The handkerchief you blessed which Mides Buensalido gave to my Sister Teresita, I tie around my throat when I pray my rosary every morning. The lump is slowly getting smaller. I pray the lump will be completely gone and I will be totally healin in God's grace and mercy. God bless. Yours in Christ, Antonio Sonido





MARK 11:24: Whatsoever your heart desires, believe and never doubt in your heart that you will receive it and you will receive it". God bless you!

Readings 2

How can I be a spiritual helpmate to my unsaved husband? He says he believes in God, and that Christ died for his sins. He even participates in Biblical conversations with my saved family. But when he’s with unsaved friends, he jokes about hell and how he’s going there. He doesn’t see anything wrong with sex in movies, doesn’t attend church because of the “hypocrites”, calls himself a pagan, and then comes home and prays to the God of the Bible over dinner time.

How can I encourage him to grow spiritually without his building up a high wall of defense? And also, how can I help myself from falling into the side of things that do not help my husband spiritually?

Advice: Your husband sounds something like my father used to be before he came to Christ.

He just wanted people to accept him. My husband and I took Dad and Mom to an evangelistic meeting at our church one Sunday. He started crying and as soon as the invitation to receive Christ was given, he ran down the aisle to receive Christ. Mom followed him and rededicated her life to Christ. Dad was 52 years old when he was saved — and he lived his remaining 26 years for his beloved Lord — no longer a double-minded man.

Your husband is an unsaved man, so don’t expect him to be consistent or to have the same principles you have. Refrain from chiding him. Live our loving Christ before him, showing him Christian love in action. Ask the Lord to guide you, to help him see Christ in you. Ask your friends to pray for his salvation, and some day it might happen that he will be in a place where he will come to Christ.

Invite your husband to Journey of Joy, a web site on Bill Bright’s four spiritual laws (salvation message) and an invitation to receive Christ.

In Christ’s love,
Dr. Muriel

Only God Has the Power to Change Quotes

• Everyone who believes in God at all believes that he knows what you and I are going to do tomorrow. ~ C. S. Lewis

• Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. ~ Winston Churchill

• Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
  ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

• Truth fears no trial. ~ Proverb

• The state of your heart dictates whether you harbor a grudge or give grace, seek self-pity or seek Christ, drink human misery or taste God’s mercy. ~ Max Lucado

• The more we love God the more we will obey. The more we obey the more we will be aware of the reality of Christ in our lives. The more we are aware of Christ in our lives, the more victory we will experience. The more victory we experience, the less difficult the choices are and the less conflict we have within ourselves. ~ Norma Becker
  

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• The more we depend on God the more dependable we find He is. ~ Cliff Richard

• Through the clouds of midnight, this bright promise shone, I will never leave thee, never leave thee alone.
  ~ Anonymous

• What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. ~Joseph Scriven

• If God is your partner, make your plans BIG! ~ D.L. Moody

• Only God can fully satisfy the hungry heart of man. ~ Hugh Black

• The world will never starve for want of wonders. ~ Gilbert Keith Chesterton

• Beauty is God’s handwriting. ~ Charles Kingsley

• Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

• I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God. ~ Abraham Lincoln

• The universe is centred on neither the earth nor the sun. It is centred on God. ~ Alfred Noyes

• Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just. ~ Thomas Jefferson

• If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. ~ St Augustine

• The worship most acceptable to God comes from a thankful and cheerful heart. ~ Plutarch, c A.D. 100

• Were there no God, we would be in this glorious world with grateful hearts, and no one to thank. ~ Christina Rossetti, 1830 – 1894

• There are three stages in the work of God:  impossible, difficult,done. ~ James Hudson Taylor

• We shall steer safely through every storm, so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed on God. ~ St. Francis De Sales

• God knows the secret plan of the things he will do for the world, using my hand. ~ Toyohiko Kagawa

• Without the Way there is no going; without the Truth there is no knowing; without the Life there is no living.
  ~ Thomas A Kempis

• If you have anything really valuable to contribute to the world, it will come through the expression of your own personality – that single spark of divinity that sets you off and makes you different from every other living creature. ~ Bruce Barton

• EXPRESSIONS Look without! Behold the beauty of the day, The shout of color to glad color, rocks and trees, and sun and seas, and wind and sky: All these are God’s expression, art work of His hand, which men must love ere they can understand. ~ Richard Hovey

• We should think of the church as an orchestra in which the different churches play on different instruments while a Divine Conductor calls the tune. ~ William R. Inge

• God’s gifts put man’s best dreams to shame. ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

• Is your place a small place? Tend it with care; He set you there.
  Is your place a large place? Guard it with care! He set you there.
  Whate’er your place, it is not yours alone, but his Who set you there. ~ John Oxenham

• I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in. ~ George Washington Carver

• To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances; To seek him, the greatest adventure; To find him, the greatest human achievement. ~ Raphael Simon

• Most of us wait until we’re in trouble, and then we pray like the dickens. Wonder what would happen if, some morning, we’d wake up and say, “Anything I can do for You today, Lord?” ~ Burton Hillis

• Our God is at home with the rolling spheres, and at home with broken hearts. ~ M. P. Ferguson

• If God shuts one door, he opens another. ~ Irish Proverb

• All that God requires of us is an opportunity to show what He can do. ~ A.B. Simpson

• God never uses a person greatly until He has wounded him deeply.

• The privilege He offers you is greater than the price you have to pay.  The privilege is greater than the price.
  ~ Helen Roosevere, April 13, 1993

• We remain such creeping Christians because we look at ourselves instead of Christ. ~ George McDonald

• Holiness is doing God’s will with a smile. ~ Mother Teresa

Readings....1

Spiritually Needy Husband

The Question

My husband needs to learn to grow spiritually and does not desire to read or pray in the early morning hours when he gets up. Sometimes he gets up around 4:00 AM and sits and watches cartoons on TV. I have been praying for him. We need another vehicle and have not had our prayers answered, and I am wondering if our prayers are hindered because he refuses to do what is required as the spiritual head of the household.

- SA from Unknown location

Constructive Approach (Part 2)

I’m not going to give you a guaranteed approach to change your husband into the spiritual head you want him to be. The truth is that you may try what I’m about to suggest and he will not change. Still, I believe this advice will give you your best shot.

You feel that your husband may be hindering your prayer for a new vehicle. You observe that he watches cartoons in the early morning rather than pray or read God’s Word. You say that he needs to grow spiritually. I’m sure those are all accurate facts. Perhaps you’ve gently mentioned these things at the very least or you’ve nagged him about his condition at the worst.

What if instead of seeing things for the way they are now, you act as if things are the way you want them to be? What if by faith you call your husband spiritually mature and operating as the best head of the household possible? What if you act like Abraham who “believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist”? (Romans 4:17)

Stop praying for your husband to change and start thanking God for the best most mature husband in the world. Treat your husband with the assumption that that is who he is. It is often the case that what we assume is what we get. Studies in the psychology world have confirmed this over and over.

I remember hearing about one in which teachers were told that an incoming class had particularly gifted students when in actuality they were underachievers. The study was looking to see how that might influence their academic year. The students performed in accordance to the expectations of the teachers who were surprised when they found out they had been part of a year long study. It shouldn’t be a surprise because that’s faith in action.

If you decide to do this I will tell you that you may have a tough time of it especially at first. You don’t say a word and you don’t scrutinize your husband’s every action. What you are doing is changing yourmindset, your perspective. You might wonder how this could make a difference but the truth is that we are all motivated to become our best selves in an atmosphere of acceptance rather than judgment.

Affirm all that your husband does well. Thank him and appreciate him for all that you like about him. Remember why you married him. Don’t for a second let him believe that he might be hindering an answer to prayer. Keep praying together for the vehicle and thank God together when it comes.

Suppose you never have the results I’ve mentioned? You will still be far ahead of the game because you will benefit from stretching and using your faith muscles. God will work maturity and character in you. There are really no bad results to this experiment. And – I know many women who have been quite successful over time. I pray you will be one of 

them!

Source: http://hannahscupboard.com/ST-husband-immature.html

Let Go And Let God

Cast all your burdens
on the Lord, because He
cares for you. I Pe. 5:7

God has really taught me a lesson this past week. It was a lesson I really needed to learn, and like most lessons we really need to learn, it was painful. I don't like to have to go through painful things, but I am very thankful for this particular lesson. It is usually the hardest-learned lessons that will last; the ones that cause us pain are the ones that we tend to remember.   So what was this lesson that I need to learn so much that I had to suffer pain to learn it? I needed to learn to Let Go And Let God. I needed to learn to trust God to work out some problems, in His own perfect time, in His own perfect way. He will, you know. I know that, and so do you. So why do so many of us have such a hard time putting that knowledge into practice? Why do we feel compelled to "help" get the situation worked out? Why do we feel like we have to be doing something?   So many times we say we want God to deal with a situation in our lives, and we earnestly pray about it and turn it over to God. But for some unknown reason, we don't seem to be content to leave it in His more than capable hands. We take it back. We worry about it some more, and try new solutions, and when we fail again, we once again earnestly beseech Him in prayer, "Oh, Lord, please help me with this problem! Please, Lord, I need your help!"   We really need to listen to our own prayer. We need His help; He doesn't need ours! In fact, oftentimes there is nothing He can do in a situation until we release it completely. As long as we keep trying to fix it ourselves, He will sit back and let us wear ourselves out. And that's exactly what we do, isn't it? We wear ourselves out, trying to do something we were never able to do to begin with.   One of the greatest lessons in life we can ever learn comes from what is known as the "Serenity Prayer". It teaches us: God, Grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change; The courage to change the things I can; And the wisdom to know the difference."   We all have at least one or two difficult people in our lives that we have to deal with every day. They may be family members, or co-workers, or someone else close to us, and there is no way we can avoid them. And if we can't avoid them, don't most of us do everything we possibly can to change them? To change their outlook, their attitude, their response to us, or something else about them? And when we fail, as we most assuredly will, don't we then turn crying to God, and ask Him to change this person?   That's where the wisdom is needed. To learn the difference between the things we can change and those we cannot. Have you ever tried to tell someone something for their own good? Did they listen to you? Have you ever given someone good advice, that they really needed to hear? Did they heed your well intentioned advice? Have you ever once succeeded in changing someone else into what YOU thought they should be, or made them do what YOU thought they should do? Neither have I.   And do you know what? That's a good thing! It's good that I can't change other people. Only God can do that. Who am I, that I should be so arrogant as to think that I know what's best for someone else, when sometimes I have a hard time figuring out what's best for me? What does it take before I finally learn, once and for all, to "let go and let God"?   Is any human being smart enough and capable enough to change another human being? Aren't we all God's creation; isn't HE our Maker? Then why on earth do we think we can change someone else, or even that we have the right to try? Read that line again: "To accept the things I cannot change..... ".   When a person in our life is causing us a problem we need to accept that we cannot change that person. Sometimes we have to accept people, just the way they are. With all their flaws, all their blemishes, all their junk. Even when they are annoying, even when they have done something really stupid, even when they are giving us problems, we cannot change them. Only God can possibly do that. And He can only do it if we get out of the way, let go of the situation, and let Him work.   But you see the next line there? "The courage to change the things I can......". We cannot change other people, but we can certainly change our own reactions. When somebody does something to me, I can choose to respond in kind, (my way) or I can choose to respond in love, (God's way). I can choose to ignore them, or I can choose to try to get revenge. I can choose to use a light-hearted joke to diffuse the tension of the situation, or I can choose to add fuel to the fire by blowing up in anger myself. I have to have the courage to change the thing that I DO have the power to change. The one sure thing that I do have the power and ability to change is ME!   The problem usually is, the flesh wants to respond in kind. Especially when we are unfairly wronged. Especially when we have loads of "ammunition" to use against that person who has caused us hurt. We want to hurt back, don't we? We want revenge. Yet the Bible clearly says: "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but [rather] give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance [is] mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." (Rom. 12:19)   It takes courage to change the way the flesh reacts. It takes courage to remain silent when we want to scream and shout at someone else's scheming or plotting. It takes courage, and the power of the Holy Spirit within us, to react in a loving way, when we have been wronged. It takes courage to show the love of Christ, instead of retaliating. Maybe that's why the Bible says; "Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; Love keeps no record of wrongs; it doesn't keep score. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things."(I Cor. 13:4-7)   Do we have the courage to truly live those words? Or are they just meaningless platitudes, good for Sunday School only? Do we have the courage to crucify the flesh, and it's desire for revenge and retaliation? Do we have the courage to do what we know is right, even when someone else does wrong, and let God work things out in His own way, in His own time? Do we have the courage to simply trust God?   Here's the lesson I learned this past week, and I pray I will remember it the next time some situation comes up in my life. I pray I never forget the lesson I learned: If we ever do manage to let go of the flesh, and allow God the freedom to deal with the situation, He is faithful and will do just exactly what He says He will. Honest! And when we let God be God, and allow Him to do what only He can do, what a tremendous burden that takes from our shoulders!   Maybe that's what Jesus meant when He said: "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free! (John 8:32) Hallelulia, and Praise the Lord! Thank you, Jesus!

Source: http://heavenawaits.com/sermonettes/letgo.html

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