by Jim Bramlett
Dear friends:
There is something I want to tell you. I have just been waiting for the right time. God says it is time. Almost no one else knows this until today.
The doctor gave me the shocking news that I had cancer. I was stunned. Me? The Big C? Impossible! But it was true.
The funny part (not actually funny) is that I really didn’t even go to the doctor. I had not been to the doctor for anything, not even a physical, for several years, trusting Yahweh Rapha (the Lord my doctor), for my health. He has all my charts and knows my physiology in detail.
Here is what happened. A nearby military hospital notified me that there was a new regulation that everyone over a certain age had to have a routine PSA test for prostate cancer. As a good soldier (even though retired), I had to obey.
They took some blood and said they would let me know the results. A few days later the hospital called and wanted me to come back in because the test result was above the normal range.
I went back to see the urologist who explained the PSA result and said he now had to do a biopsy because of the elevated test results, but he did not think there would be a problem. I was comforted by those words, and was scheduled for a biopsy.
The doctor did the biopsy. Afterward, the comfort from the doctor’s previous words suddenly evaporated.
He told me I had prostate cancer! He offered me only two options: surgery or radiation.
Surgery or radiation? Not good options. I didn’t like the idea of either and decided to go home and pray about it. I told him I would let him know.
I prayed, read the Bible, and reviewed the many healing Scriptures that I had always fervently believed. The Lord also gave me two personal verses:
“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man” (Psalm 118:8, NKJV).
In this actual middle verse of the whole Bible, I saw “man” as the doctor and man’s medical system. The Holy Spirit told me to just trust in Him and He would take care of it.
The second verse was also from Psalm 118:
“I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the LORD” (PSALM 118.18)
That was good enough for me, and all I needed. Radical that I am, I decided to run with it, take God at His Word and take a stand of faith against this thing which I knew from the Bible was not God’s will. God is not the author of cancer, which is from the one who came to “to steal, to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10). Jesus came to give us life, and life more abundantly. The cancer could not stand against God’s Word. I told the doctor of my decision.
By the way, such a decision on my part was not “denial.” The cancer was real. It was a fact. But I have learned that truth trumps fact. God’s Word is truth. Facts are facts, and God’s Word is truth. God’s truth always trumps man’s facts. The doctor’s evidence was the fact of the test result. My evidence was the truth of the Word of God. I was faced with two choices, the fact or the truth. And we know “the just shall live by faith,” faith in God and His Word. That is why it is so important to know, to believe, to receive, and to act upon God’s Word. Too many Christians do not know the Word. And God says for lack of knowledge of His Word, people perish (Hosea 4:6).
Back in the 1960s, I discovered that I could trust Jesus with my soul. In the 1970s, I discovered I could also trust Him with my body and everything else. In fact, the New Testament Greek word for “saved,” sozo (as in Romans 10:9), also means “to make well, heal, restore to health,” according to Strong’s Lexicon. I decided by faith that I am not only saved, I am “sozoed!”
(In the Hebrew, shalom, normally translated as just “peace,” also means health, healing, prosperity, and well-being, revealing God’s perfect will, little known by most.)
And now the good news!
Thankfully, all the above took place more than 15 years ago! Halleluyah! God has been faithful to His Word.
In the process, God also gave me a new commission: to “declare the works of the Lord,” which I have been faithfully doing. It has been the basis of this newsletter which began about 15 years ago, and a book in 2003 (see link at bottom).
Have I had any symptoms? Oh, my, yes. Four years after the initial diagnosis, I started passing a lot of blood. For just a moment, I was shaken. But then faith kicked in, and it angered me that the devil was persisting, trying to scare me, and talk me out of my healing. Did I run to the medical doctor? No, I immediately ran to Dr. Jesus and my prayer closet, got on my knees, reminded God of His Word and promises, and boldly stood on God’s Word for my total healing, rebuking the devil and his lying “symptoms.” I prayed, and actually laid it on the line with God, saying: “Lord, I am going to the mat with you on this one. If your Word is true, I am healed. If it is not true, life is not worth living anyhow. But I know it is true. You cannot lie.”
I also had two friends, Paul Fannin and Jack McGuire, with the gift and ministry of healing, to lay hands on me, anoint me with oil according to James 5:14-15, pray, and believe. Thank God for believing friends. The body of Christ is invaluable.
Gradually, the problem totally disappeared, as it had to do. It had no choice.
I have had other physical afflictions, but the Lord has delivered me out of them all, just as He promised in Psalm 34:19. I have learned to frequently vocalize (confess) God’s promises, which actually gives voice to God in the earth, which releases His power in the earth. Even mighty angels heed His voice, respond, and do His Word (Psalm 103:20).
I will be age 78 in November and thanks be to God I am in perfect health, not having a physical in 20 years, and have never once used the Medicare coverage I have had for 13 years. (As a patriot, I am trying to save the government money!)
I have the best doctor in the universe! He makes house calls, and He is available for immediate help 24/7/365. I can only praise and worship Him for His goodness and mercy, which follow me “all the days of my life” (Psalm 23:6).
“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psalm 34:8).“Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:3)
Old Covenant promises:
“I am the LORD who heals you” (Exodus 15:26).
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).
"Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague (sickness) come near your dwelling (house)” (Psalm 91:9-10).
“Bless the LORD, O my soul… And forget not all His benefits… Who heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:2-3)
God’s words “are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh” (Proverbs 4:22)
“Surely He has borne our griefs (Hebrew ‘sicknesses’) and carried our sorrows (Hebrew ‘pains)’ (Isaiah 53:4)
New Covenant promises (the “better covenant,” according to Hebrews 7:22).
“He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses” (Matthew 8:17).
“These signs will follow those who believe…they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17:18). (Follow who? Those who believe!)
“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19).
“By whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
“All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us” (2 Corinthians 1:20).
NOTE: Although always “yes,” receiving His promises is not automatic. They must be received by faith, and acted upon, demonstrating our trust.
Resources:
1. If you want to learn more about the power of God, its availability, how to release it, and how to be an instrument of it, see my 2003 book, THE POWER! which contains many personal testimonies of healings and miracles. The book is available in bookstores, amazon.com, or free online by clicking here.
2. For a comprehensive review of what all God says about physical healing in this life, see my well-researched essay by clicking here.
With great gratitude,
Jim