Deciding to be Well: Start Transforming Your Life

So in the last blog, 'Do You Want to be Well?', we discovered that sometimes the thing which can stop us in our tracks the most is if, in the depth of our hearts, we don't really want to be well. And it can be a bit of a shock to discover that we've been living in self-sabotage, resistance and cycles of failure because we've got something written our our heart (and not by God) that we didn't even realise was there.

But that all ends the moment we decide to be well. Because the fact that it's possible to write something on our hearts in the first place, also means that it's possible to re-write it. Scriptures such as Deuteronomy 11:18, Proverbs 3:3 and 7:3 reveal to us that we can actually determine what is written on our hearts - the place where we house the beliefs through which we live out our lives. If we want to see our lives transformed from excuses, resistance and limitation, to transformation and limitlessness, we need to change what we're believing in our hearts.

Deciding to be well means deciding to believe the truth.

Not what we perceive to be the truth. But the actual truth as God sees it and reveals to us in His Word. And at the core, often the truth we need to believe, is the truth about who we are, and the truth about who God is. It truly is this simple! Deciding to be well means deciding to believe the truth, because it's by believing a lie that we've - knowingly or unknowingly - chosen NOT to be well. A lie which paralyses us with fear, or tells us that we're too unworthy to move forward, or that God won't come through for us.

In order to come out of agreement with a lie, we need to find out what God believes and align our hearts with that truth. We could also describe it in one word: Repentance. Repentance is not about feeling terrible (punishing ourselves as though Christ's sacrifice didn't cover it), or about begging God for forgiveness He has already offered us. But it is an immediate turning away from what was out of agreement with God (our old man), and coming back into agreement with Him (our new man).

It's really nothing new. Every time we are given an opportunity to step into something in the Kingdom, we are being invited to exchange our old nature for our new one. This is the universal way God brings transformation to our lives. He does the work but we have to come into agreement with Him by believing that our old man is crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20) and that our new man is resurrected with Him (Colossians 3:1). Every time we see ourselves acting or thinking in line with our old nature (which is anything different than who Jesus is), we choose to put it off by coming out of agreement with it through repentance, declaration and prayer, and replacing it with the truth. We understand that if God says our old man is dead, it is, so it can have no more power over our lives. And we choose to walk in the reality of our new man by affirming our agreement that this is who we really are - our identity has now become Christ in us.

So this means, the fears that have kept us locked up, the unworthiness that has robbed us, and the secondary gains we've been seeking by not wanting to be well, are really nothing more than lies. We have been redeemed from these things, they have been nailed to the cross, and they are no longer a part of our new man. We can come out of agreement with them, and walk in the truth that His Word and life brings. This is just what the paralysed man did when Jesus said to him to get up! Jesus said it - and the man agreed with it! Jesus gave him the opportunity to believe the truth that he was healed, and he agreed with it, got up and got on with it!

So how do we take this word spoken by Jesus to the paralysed man, and apply it to our own lives?

Get Up: To get up is to see the truth for what it is, and believe it! I know for me, I had tried to move forward and fulfil my dreams for many years, and yet never seemed to be able to walk in what was so strongly in my heart. It was so frustrating to continually find myself 'failing' and falling short, yet not knowing why. However, I continued to seek the Lord about it, and He showed me that at the root of it all was unworthiness. I felt too unworthy to live a blessed life, therefore any attempt to live it was quickly countered by the self-sabotage in my heart. However, with that understanding also came the truth: That I was worthy and righteous because of Christ in me, and that God's promises for me had not changed, even though my heart had not been able to take me there. At that moment, I had a choice - would I recognise the lies that had been operating in my heart and embrace the truth that Jesus was offering me, to bring me freedom? Or would I ignore what the Lord was showing me and just continue trying to do what I'd always done, hoping for a different result?

I realised that the truth offered to me by Jesus was actually more reliable than the 'truth' offered to me by my own heart. And I decided to believe Him! I realised that the truth of Christ countered and nullified every single lie which had been empowering my fears and unworthiness, and bringing an underlying resistance to the forward movement of my life. I realised that the secondary gain I thought was so valuable that it kept me holding onto lies, was actually nothing compared to the awesomeness of His promise. His truth became my truth as I decided to get up in agreement with the one who called me righteous and worthy.

So what truth does the cross of Jesus Christ bring to the fears that have kept you locked up, the unworthiness that has robbed you, and the secondary gains you've been seeking? The resistance which has been working in your heart to bring you into self-sabotage has no defence against the truth. And when you see and truly believe the truth, there is only one response Jesus asks of you...

Pick Up Your Mat: Because it's the truth which sets us free, and when we see it we can get up and come into agreement with it. But to do so, we have to also pick up our mat by cleaning up the mess we've been lying in. Not only do we know the truth, but we actually choose to put it on, and put off the lies. We do something with that understanding the Lord has given us. This often happens when we've totally had enough of living lied to, and we are willing to actually lay down our excuses and take responsibility for the fact that we believed them but they were nothing more than lies. This is what happened to me. I got fed up with believing and living a lie - living less than Christ said I could! I got so fed up that I became willing to take responsibility for what I'd been believing and the deep, underlying resistance to being well, and I declared before God that I no longer had any agreement with it. And I wrote the truth which had just displaced every lie from my heart, by agreeing with it, declaring it, and deciding to live it.

And Walk: When we have embraced the truth and rejected the lies, we can then freely move into the wide-open, spacious life He created us to live. When I got up and believed the truth of my worthiness in His eyes, and rejected the lie of being unworthy, this left me only one option. To move forward as though I was a righteous, worthy daughter of the King. To live and move and act as one with authority and honour. I started stepping into what the Lord was showing me in ministry and business, and just trusting that He was walking with me because He was in me. And I started to see the manifestation of that which had been in my heart the whole time, but which had never been able to manifest because of the self-sabotage and resistance I'd been carrying around through unworthiness. To walk freely is the inheritance of the sons of God, and He wants you to be free from every limiting lie that would cause you to live as one who is not well.

So we need to understand what is required to get up, pick up our mat and walk, but how do we truly know that we're actually doing this? What is the fruit of deciding to get well? Here are some of the indicators:

When it flows out of your mouth.

The Word tells us that Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34). What do our words reveal about where our heart is at? Are you talking like someone liberated or someone condemned to repeat the same patterns and failures of your life thus far?

When you are ready to receive what He offers you.

Are you ready to receive what Jesus offers you? His love? His acceptance? His strategy? His identity? His Lordship? When you've had enough of doing it yourself and are ready to truly walk with Him, allowing Him to be Lord, you'll know you've decided to be well.

When you are willing to follow Jesus wherever He leads you.

He didn't ask, 'Are you willing to make yourself well?', or even 'Are you able to make yourself well?' He asked the man if he was willing to be made well? Jesus was offering the healing and wholeness. All He was asking was whether the man was willing to let Jesus heal him. Have you reached the end of trying to heal yourself? Are you willing to follow Jesus wherever He leads, so that He can make you well?

When you are finished with excuses.

The paralysed man responded to Jesus' question with an excuse - "I have no one to put me into the pool", and a whine - "Someone else gets there before me." Yet the healing Jesus was offering wasn't dependent on having a helper or getting there first. And you'll find that what He is offering to you isn't dependent on those things either. Your wholeness has been fully paid for by the blood of the cross and the resurrection. When you're ready to lay your excuses aside, you'll experience it.

When you decide to get up - and you do it!

It's one thing to say you've decided to be well. It's another thing to do it. If the paralysed man had just said, "Yes I'm going to get up", but stayed lying on his mat, he'd never have lived healed. What action is required by truly deciding to be well? What does getting up look like? There will always be a corresponding response.

When others can see it because you've changed

When the paralysed man got up and walked, it was obvious to everyone. Some will like it; others won't. The Jewish leaders actually got angry with him because he was carrying his mat on the Sabbath! You are not responsible for how others receive your choice to get well. Some people will celebrate our freedom; others will feel threatened by it. But the whole point is simply this: Those around you will know that something has changed because it will be obvious.

So today is the day: Decide to be well, and it will be the first step in transforming your life! You can download our 'Deciding to be Well' Progress Sheet, to help you to journey through this process with Holy Spirit.

Once you have truly decided to be well, there is nothing that can stop you, because this decision will negate every bit of resistance and self-sabotage that might have otherwise have prevented you from fulfilling the will of God for your life. Satan cannot stop you unless you agree with him, and deciding to be well takes you completely out of agreement with His will for your life, and aligns you completely with God's. Now let's move forward...