‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.’ (Jeremiah 32:17, NKJV)
When I am seeking the Lord in prayer over some specific issue, I want to see His answer in writing! Twenty years ago when I was battling over my lung cancer, God gave me the clear answer that I would be healed from the very Scriptures that I want to share with you in this article!
I have an affinity with Jeremiah, because here in Jeremiah 32, whilst the King of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, Jeremiah was shut up in a prison! I was in prison for preaching the Gospel in the communist days in 1972; Jeremiah was in prison for prophesying that God would hand Jerusalem and her king over into the hand of the King of Babylon…
And whilst in prison the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, that his uncle’ son, Hanameel, would come to him and ask him to buy his field, because the ‘right of redemption’ belonged to him… Jeremiah 32:6-7. And so it happened, according to the Word of the Lord. Hanameel came to Jeremiah and said, “Buy my field, for the right of inheritance is yours and the right of redemption is yours.” 32:8.
This relates so much to our salvation and the way that God dealt with His Son Jesus – Jesus had the right to redeem us. Just as Jeremiah had the right to the field but had to pay the price – seventeen shekels of silver – so the price of your redemption and mine is the Blood of Christ, His death became the atonement for our sin, He bought us, and now we are His Inheritance!
But why was Jeremiah the prophet almost contradicting himself here?! He’s in prison because he’s prophesying Jerusalem will fall and the people taken into exile, into captivity… But now God is telling Jeremiah, “Buy land, here!” We understand this was prophetic, that a day would come when the Jews would return to the land, and the right of inheritance would be fulfilled – v15 – ‘for thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, “Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land!”’
So when Jeremiah – still in prison, Jerusalem still under siege – delivered the evidence of the purchase, the sealed contract, he says in v17, “Ah Lord God, You have made the Heaven and the earth by Your great Power and stretched out Arm – there is NOTHING TOO HARD FOR YOU!” I love Jeremiah! He’s so bold in his statements, he confirms by his actions what he believes God is saying in prophecy… So many ‘prophets’ today prophesy – but where is their action? I won’t accept to be called a ‘prophet’. But over the years God has revealed many things to me in Bible prophecy – and every time when He does, He then also puts a responsibility on me to go out and DO IT! I must ACT, in order to see the fulfilment of what God has said!
After I was in that communist prison, 1972-3, after my release, I still went back and continued to work behind the Iron Curtain – despite all the difficulties and dangers! I was condemned for it, in fact my own denomination wanted me to become a pastor again in the UK, and when I refused and said I was going back to the communist countries, they said, “You can’t!” And they excommunicated me! But if God says something, I DO IT!
So when God said to Jeremiah – even though the people of Israel were about to go into exile – “I want you to buy the field which is your inheritance, as the evidence that I will redeem the land of Israel” – Jeremiah does it! He delivers the contracts for safekeeping, v16, and in the very next verse, Jeremiah is saying, “Now, Lord God – You made Heaven and earth by Your great Power – and because You did that, NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR YOU TO DO – I’m believing and signing this contract and buying this land BECAUSE I’m demonstrating that I BELIEVE YOU ARE AS GOOD AS YOUR WORD – YOU’RE GOING TO DO IT!” If only something of that spirit that was in Jeremiah would come into the Church today, into the pastors and the preachers…
I have proved through my life, time and time again, GOD DOES WHAT HE SAYS!
‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ (Jeremiah 33:3, NKJV)
Now, in Chapter 33, again the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, for the second time whilst he was shut up in prison, ‘Thus saith the Lord, the Maker – that formed Heaven and earth – to establish it, “Call unto Me and I will answer!”’ Come on! So many pray in doubt… Remember how amazed the disciples were when Jesus cursed the fig tree and it died from the root? Jesus explained to them in Mark 11:22-24, “If you will speak to this mountain (the Mount of Olives) and command it to be cast down into the sea (the Dead Sea), if you speak it and believe in your heart without doubt, what you say will be done!” It’s time today, in the 21st century that we believed that God will honour His Word and do what He says!!! Come on!
I believe God to such an extent that, in those days when I was diagnosed with lung cancer, 2002/3, I did not doubt. At that time it was already 40 years since God had miraculously healed me of the throat cancer. God does not change! Well, to me, He gets MORE powerful!!! So I said to the Lord, “I’m 70, if You don’t need me anymore, if You don’t need me in Russia, I refuse to retire, let me just go Home! But if You want me to continue with my ministry, I need a miracle. I’m not going to preach a God of Power who works miracles and heals the sick, I cannot preach with authority, if I’ve had chemo and part of my lung removed!”
Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. (Jeremiah 33:6, NKJV)
As I was praying and reading Jeremiah 33, God’s saying to Jeremiah, “Call unto Me and I will answer – AND SHOW YOU GREAT AND MIGHTY THINGS YOU DON’T KNOW!” Not only will God answer, but when He answers, He will show miracles, powerful things, bigger than anything we can imagine! Do you see what entered my mind?!! And in v6, God is saying, “Behold, I will bring health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth – the abundance of blessing!” It jumped out at me, I knew God was saying that to ME!!! Health and healing! God promised me healing – I knew at once He would heal my body of lung cancer. But not only that, He would also give me health – that means, I don’t get sick! Come on, nearly 20 years later, I’ve got more energy, more vitality now than at any time – it was part of the promise! GOD DOES WHAT HE SAYS!
I know that I am going to go on in health and I am going to see the fulfilment of Jeremiah 33:3, where God says, “Call and I will answer and show you great and mighty things which you don’t know!” That’s why I cannot be sick, I cannot stop my ministry, I cannot retire, I have more Fire – BECAUSE GOD STILL HAS TO REVEAL TO ME AND SHOW ME WHAT HE MEANS, AND SHOWS ME THINGS BIGGER, MORE POWERFUL THAN ANYTHING I HAVE SEEN BEFORE IN MY LIFE! And I will work with the Lord and go out and fulfil what He has shown me! And together we will see the things fulfilled that God has spoken!
Be encouraged, be strengthened, pray – and go out there and do what He says!