<TITLE>04. Par 14-17</TITLE>L-14 They said, "Go up by the way of Edom, through the desert."
And another thing, as soon as Jehoshaphat, ordinarily now, would've prayed over the subject, would've thought about it first and said, "God, what--what must I do?" But being yoked up with unbelievers, he took the unbelievers' way. And that's the way many spirit-filled Christian, after revival fall, because they yoke themselves up amongst people that said, "Well, I go to church. We're as good as the rest of them," and you lose your experience. Stay right in the road, no matter what the rest of them does. You know where you belong; you know Who you belong to. Stay right under the power of prayer all the time. Don't let them call you off to something else in amusements and so forth, saying, "There's no harm in this." If there's a question, don't do it. Stay away from it.

L-15 But now, Jehoshaphat, like all members or all church people, signed the agreement. And they went up the way of the desert without consulting the Lord. Now, then if you go do something without first consulting the Lord, you're sure to get in trouble. They was out there a few days, and the first thing you know, they were in trouble. They fetched a compass for seven days, enough to carry them over; and after seven days their water supply was cut off. They had nothing to drink. There they was setting out in the desert, and they said, "Now, look where we're at." Out in that condition, going without asking the Lord, going without consulting Christ about it, the first thing you know they were dried up in the desert, no water around them.

L-16 So Jehoshaphat, being the Christian man, as usual, thought the first thing is to seek God about it. I guess he thought then, we'd better start a prayer meeting. Kinda a late time sometime, to start a prayer meeting after you find yourself in the desert, isn't it? That's the way we all do though: wait till we get in trouble. Sometimes, you say, "I don't even believe in Divine healing." You have to wait till you get sick enough; then you'll believe in it. You just haven't got sick enough yet to believe in it. The doctor's never walked away and said, "There is nothing I can do for you." That's when you believe in it, then.
How many times have I seen people like that in my day. And I've heard people that take the argument and say, "Oh, it's such a blessed thing to be sick. God uses it to bless us." How can it be a bless and cursing the same time?

L-17 A man, one time, in South Africa, where we was having a meeting at the Dutch Reformed Church, he stood up, after he'd... First, their papers blasted it everywhere, but when they found out that their members become so spiritual when they went back, they'd holler, "Amen," in church, and everything, they thought that then he got fanatically. So he went to church and he said--talked about such a blessing, how the Lord blessed the people with sickness. And the man's wife, a couple days later had appendicitis; rushed her to the hospital and cut the blessing out. Why? Yes. If it's such a blessing to be sick, let her go ahead and be sick. Don't do nothing about it; you'd be doing something God wouldn't want you to do. If it's such a blessing to have a cancer, why take radium or anything; just let it go ahead and be a blessing.
If you're more blessed when you're dead, and you can do more for the Lord when you're dead than when you're alive, well, go ahead and die. But God wants you here to fulfill His program. The grou--... The Bible said, "Above all things, I would that you'd prosper in health." That's Scripture, "... above all things, that you'd prosper in health." The writers of the Scripture, inspired by the Holy Spirit, which the Scripture says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." Amen.


<A HREF="P5">Next Page</A>