Another
Coffee Break:
Dealing With Fear, Part 11
October 31, 2014
More and more as I share on
this topic, I realize that our entire society is predicated on a culture of
death. We are all horrified at what we
see taking place with ISIS and other terrorists across the globe and even here
in the U.S., but they only represent the extreme aspect of this culture of
death -- and the Fear of Death -- that pervades our society. That said, let's consider this spirit and its
operation and its camouflage in the body of Christ -- never mind society.
Let me start once again with something
that David writes in the Psalms:
“The sorrows of death
compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the
snares of death prevented me. In my
distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out
of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears."
(Psalm
18:4-5, KJV)
The Hebrew word translated
"sorrows" in this passage is the word, khehbel,
and this draws the picture more clearly of what David is saying. This word describes the twisting of a
rope. It also describes the sense of a
noose tied around your neck and the unbelievable emotional and psychological
effects it causes within a person.
Though perhaps not as dramatic as
these words might describe, this is precisely what our entire global society is
caught in. Worse, far too many believers
in Christ Jesus are caught in this snare and struggle to get out of it or evade
it, or simply suppress it.
Back in late 1969, Derek Prince was
teaching on deliverance from the fear of death and he made a profound statement
that I've never forgotten.
"Suppression is not the same as
deliverance!"
The very concept of suppressing fear
is foolishness personified! The more a
person tries to suppress fear, the greater the hold it has on them. That hold captures people in ways they fail
to recognize and often consider that what they are dealing with is nothing more
than a part of their makeup and character.
That's a lie, and it is a lie of the spirit(s) of fear!
The various spirits of fear want to
dwell and live and occupy every nook and cranny of our lives so that they can
divert our attention from the things of God and contaminate our relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Last week on
our healing prayer call, I made a statement while teaching on deliverance from
fear that needs to be re-stated here in writing and even amplified.
First, let me dig into the culture
of fear and the culture of death that pervades our lives and our society at
large. David has a unique way of
expressing it in Psalm 49.
"Nevertheless
man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that
perish. This their way is their
folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah
Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and
the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty
shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall
receive me." (Psalm 49:12-15
KJV)
David
makes the statement that , "like sheep they are laid in the
grave." He got that right! The Fear of Death produces what we sometimes
refer to as "sheeple." Like sheep, they follow with a "herd
mentality," doing what some wanna-be leader (or leaders) think everyone
should do.
[I
know I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but that's what happened in
2008 and 2012 in the national elections.
People who should have known better and had some sensitivity to what
Holy Spirit was warning against went ahead and followed the herd and voted
their emotions instead of what the Lord was saying.] Folks had better wake up and listen to Holy
Spirit when they vote in next week's mid-terms!
OK,
I'll behave!!
The
current mentality of death and dying pervades every aspect of our society. One of the most worn-out clichés is,
"The only thing we are guaranteed in life is death and taxes." And that, folks, is a lie! It flies in the face of John 11:26, along
with a fistful of other instances when Jesus made virtually the identical
statement. (more on this after a bit)
Think
about insurance companies for a minute.
Have you ever considered the fact that they are betting that you will
stay healthy. You pay them because you
are betting that you will get sick. If the
policy you purchase happens to be a life insurance policy, the insurance
company is betting that you will live beyond some actuarial projection. You are betting that you will die, and so you
pay them gobs and gobs of money over a span of years, and depending on what
kind of policy you buy, the money you pay is virtually thrown away!
Some
folks believe that life insurance policies are a good investment -- and that's
the drivel the insurance company sells you in order to entice you to bet on
your death. Now, folks, hear me well! I'm not telling you not to buy an insurance
policy. What I'm addressing here is the
mindset that considers insurance a necessity.
I'm addressing the Fear of Death that drives the decision-making
process.
Della
and I have not purchased, and will not purchase, either life or health
insurance policies because we simply don't believe in them. When folks ask me what kind of insurance I
have, I simply tell them that I have a Life Assurance Policy -- one that is
guaranteed by God's Word! Understand?
Have
I gotten sick or suffered injury? Of
course! You've heard me share (or read
some of my testimonies in these Coffee Breaks) of numerous occasions and
infirmities: tuberculosis, cancer, arthritis, tumors (and a variety of lesser things
like colds, flu, etc.), not to mention dropping dead of a heart attack at age
41.
That
doesn't count the broken wrist in a car accident, the broken leg when I was 15
and dropped 150-pound barbell on my ankle, the snapped tendon in my leg
following a spill on the ice carrying over a 100-pounds of newspapers on my
back, along with the usual other bumps, bruises and fractures that come in
childhood.
My
personal repertoire of receiving health and healing and being raised from the
dead includes the tuberculosis, the cancer, the arthritis, the tumors in my
sinus cavities and/or the instantaneous healing of the snapped tendon, along
with headaches, colds, sinus issues, flu, etc., etc. Because the Word of God is so clear on these
things, and the covenant we have with the Lord Jesus Christ for our healing,
our health, our deliverance from death when the Enemy tries to take us out, our
safety in the midst of crisis -- and on and on and on -- I'm sorry but I've
become rather biased on this topic, and not ashamed to admit it!
I was
healed instantly of tumors in my sinus cavities at age 22. I was healed instantly of tuberculosis at age
40. I was raised from the dead at age
41, along with medical proof of a new heart and new lungs. Healing from skin cancer came at age 47, and
the healing from arthritis came at age 68 without medicines or medical
intervention.
The
Lord Jesus Christ is my health from day to day.
If I need healing, I go to him.
That healing was paid for by Jesus with the stripes that he took on our
behalf. (see Isaiah 53:5 and I Peter
2:24) When I suffer injury and have
broken bones or other severe injuries, the Lord is my healing and restoration
-- NOT the doctors or the hospitals or the medicines!
After
sharing all this, you're going to think that I'm opposed to doctors and
hospitals and various remedies. NO, I'M
NOT! I just don't have or live in a
culture of death, death expectancy or sickness and disease expectancy. For those of us who are in Christ Jesus,
whose lives are being transformed by His Word, we are in a transition, folks --
a transition from a death and dying and sickness mentality to having our minds,
our thoughts and our character into His character!
There
is no sickness or disease or infirmity in Jesus. There is no dying in Him. There are no injuries or broken bones in
Him. He is the totality of everything we
have need of and are being transformed into.
And that's the catch word here!
Transformation! This is a
process.
Two
of my daughters are, or have been, in the healthcare profession. My daughter-in-law, Michelle, is heading
toward her degree in nursing. I have
cousins who are (or have been) medical doctors.
There are many, many, many really good doctors and nurses whose mindset
and lives are oriented towards healing and wholeness. There are many physicians and healthcare
professionals who receive divine wisdom and understanding -- and they depend on
the Lord for that wisdom and revelation -- in how to treat people.
What
I'm driving at is the fact that the Lord is out to change our mindset and our
dependencies. He is out to deliver us
from the Fear of Death and the contamination it brings us in our
decision-making processes.
The
medical profession as a whole is not our answer: Jesus is! But that doesn't mean that the Lord hasn't
provided some really good physicians in the meantime until we can totally
transfer our dependency from the medical profession to Him. There are doctors who don't depend on the pharmaceutical
companies to provide answers to various symptoms and problems -- and that's not
meant to be an accusation against pharmaceuticals.
At
the same time, I'm not endorsing medicines as a whole. There are many, many medicines whose side
effects and after effects are worse than the intended cure, and the premature
release of these medicines to the general public is more of a money-decision
than a health decision. The companies
that release these medications trade on the Fear of Death, and make their money
because they know that our society is both fear and death-minded.
I'm
making these points in order to highlight a couple of scriptures that we need
to be aware of in our decision-making, and all the more so as we grow closer to
the Lord and His mindset.
Consider
what the Word says about Asa, King of Israel -- and this was no compliment!
"And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was
diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet
in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians." (II Chronicles 16:12)
The
clear implication is that had Asa sought to the Lord for his health and
healing, he would have been healed. Then
there's this one:
"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. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried
up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague." (Mark 5:26-29)
Here's
a lady who literally spent her life savings and monies she needed just to live
on with doctors and medicines who got worse instead of better. When she came to Jesus and simply touched the
hem of His garment, she as instantaneously healed and delivered!
Am I
making this clear to you? Are you seeing
the picture? I'm the last person to beat
someone up because they go to the doctors or the hospitals and depend on
various and sundry medicines in order to stay well. What I'm after is to borrow from the apostle
Paul and say this to you: Yet I show unto you a more perfect way.
Jesus
put it like this: "Verily, verily, I
say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from
death unto life." (John 5:24)
The
last thing I want to do is to convey any sense of condemnation to anyone
because they haven't arrived at the place of perfect trust or confidence or
faith in the Lord for their healing, their health or their deliverance. What I'm trying to do is to point folks at an
answer that costs nothing more than faith.
We don't have to live with a mindset of fear, doubt, unbelief, death and
dying.
You
can take steps methodically and systematically to change your way of
thinking. You can move from death unto
life. One of the simplest changes you
can make is the way you speak about yourself or your situation.
Jesus
makes this very clear when He says, "But I say unto you,
That every idle (non-productive or destructive) word that men shall speak, they
shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be
justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." (Matthew 12:36-37)
Instead
of praying about your situation or your need, begin to speak directly to it --
and I mean, speak out loud. If you have
a heart condition, begin to speak to your heart and command it to be whole. If need be, call for a new heart from the
"body parts room" in Heaven.
(We've done that many times with demonstrable results! :-) ) If you are afflicted with cancer, speak to
the cancer as a spirit and command it to leave your body. (We have a case with a pastor friend who
spoke to the stomach cancer that was plaguing a woman in his fellowship a
couple weeks ago. She began coughing and
coughed up a tumor. She was healed
instantly.)
You
get the picture.
We'll
continue this line of sharing in the weeks to come, and pick up the series on
dealing with fear from time to time, but we're going to take a break next week
and shift gears. We will begin talking
about the necessary foundations that MUST be laid in our lives if we are going
to move from the natural to the supernatural realm, from spiritual baby-hood to
spiritual maturity in Christ Jesus.
Again, if you are in
need of healing -- especially if you have some terminal disease or prognosis of
a very short time to live from the doctors -- please join our prayer conference
calls on either Monday or Wednesday of each week at 7:00 PM Eastern. Once
again, the number to call is (805) 399-1000.
Then enter the access code: 124763#.
To get into the queue for prayer, when Randy opens the call up for
everyone, hit *6-1 on your keypad. Let us minister to your need for healing!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org
Our book, A
Tale of Two Brides, published by Destiny Image, is available on
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