In this post I’m going to give a practical example of how we put the four key words I looked at last week, into practice when planting a seed, a promise of the word, in our heart.

The biggest felt need in my life for a long time has been for health. Chronic fatigue syndrome has been extremely debilitating and isolating, I have longed to experience the healing I know God wants me to have but I have struggled to receive it and hold onto it. So the example I’m giving today is of my favourite healing scripture and how I am planting that seed in my heart in order to receive health.

“By his stripes, we have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

A) Understand

Take time to understand the promise, study it, listen to it (lectio divinia) and read around it. I read a very detailed study on what Jesus went through on the cross so I can picture his scourging very clearly. I understand what his stripes really were, the agony and the brutality of his punishment. I comprehend these wounds were a payment for my healing, His perfect body was broken in payment for my broken body to be made whole. I believe that healing is just as much a part of Christ’s atonement as is the forgiveness of sins so I am confident that God wants me well!

B) Accept

Even though I don’t see that I have been healed yet in full in my body, I know this is the truth and choose to yield to the word over what I see. I can accept and delight in this truth on days when I am struggling as I know this truth is for me (as I am in Christ) and that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

C) Retain

Hold on! Refuse to let go of the promise even when it seems impossible. We have to keep the seed planted in our hearts or it will stop growing. On days when my health is not good, I can’t just let go and say well maybe this just isn’t going to happen for me! No! I have to take firm possession of the promise and keep hold of it until I see it come to fruition, regardless of how I feel.

This August was when I really decided I had to take hold of the word and refuse to let it go and it has made a massive difference. Before then on good days I was holding on but then on bad days I was really losing hope. So I had decide what was I going to do? I had to choose to believe and hold onto the promise even when it was really hard to see that things were going to work out for good.

D) Persevere

This isn’t enduring like gritting our teeth and biting down until the end of the road, because we have the promise and our God is faithful, we can endure cheerfully – with hope! (If I’m honest I’m still practicing the cheerful part). But we have to learn to stay steadfast even when we are weary and feel like we just can’t take our current situation another day. We cannot give up believing things will change for good or we will be stuck, a breakthrough might be just around the corner but we will miss out if we give up. I’ve had to persevere for a long time for healing, I’ve had a lots of ups and downs and it’s been very difficult. Along the journey, there have been days when I felt like giving up but I’ve chosen to persevere overall and I believe I’m beginning to see the fruit of my healing promise in my life now and I’m holding onto it until I see the fullness of it.

Since August my health has improved a lot and it is continuing to improve, but some days are still a massive struggle. I look at this promise nearly every day, hopeful, knowing there is more to come, believing I will enjoy consistent, good health in my future.

As a little activation, I suggest choosing one of your promises and taking the first step of looking at it more deeply, in order to understand it further. An easy way to do this is by downloading the app Blue Letter Bible, going to the scripture, tap on it, select interlinear/concordance and look at the Greek/ Hebrew definitions. This is one of the best ways to comprehend the writer’s true meaning of the words written and make the word really come alive in your heart.

I would really encourage you, if there are things you are waiting on God for, don’t wait passively, just hoping it will turn up because God says so. We have a responsibility to take hold of the words he has spoken to us, to bring them into a harvest. We have a part to play in receiving God’s blessing and if we don’t participate we will miss out! He has already provided it for us, but we have to take it and receive it into our lives.