Oral Roberts

Richard Roberts wants to share something to you. Now when you do this, when people come into My presence they’re going to be healed, they’re going to be saved, they’re going to be delivered from evil spirits.” So from that moment to this, I phoned Don Moan over at our office and I said, “Don, I want every music, every song that Living Sound has done for the last 13, 14 years, I want every song examined.

We’re going to begin to do praise and worship at the command of the Lord. We’re going to lead people in the presence of God in praise and worship. And when we do, we’re going to see them healed.” I had no evidence that would happen, other than the word of the Lord He spoke to me in my bedroom.

It’s your faith. Your faith was the evidence that would actually come to pass. That’s right. And I’ve never had a meeting where I invited people to come into the presence of God in praise and worship where there hasn’t been healing, outstanding healing, crippled people walking. We saw a cripple person walk in Singapore. The blind eyes opening, deaf ears unstopped. It’s just, it’s awesome and yet I remember I shared it with your dad.

I said, you know, “I question, would God heal in praise and worship? Oral,” I said, “I’ve never seen you move in that dimension.” I said, “You had to lay hands on the sick and they were healed through the impartation of your faith and you had faith to believe when you laid hands on them.” I said, “I didn’t have faith for that. God said to me, ‘Lead them into My presence in praise and worship.’”

Well, Terry, it’s the same as when the Lord called me into the healing ministry. He said, “You won’t lay hands on the sick. You’ll speak the word.” (That’s right) Now, Jesus touched some. To others, like the centurion, He spoke the word. But the bottom line was healing. (Healing) And the good news is, Oral can’t heal, Terry law can’t heal, Richard Roberts can’t heal. Only God can heal.

And that’s so exciting. Praise the Lord.

Richard Roberts wants to share something to you. Well, can you give us an example of something that happened? Well, we saw a, we saw a man from England and his wife who were visiting. Of course the English controlled the port of Singapore until 1970 and so there’s a lot of the English influence still in there. They still drive on the wrong side of the road, you know, like they do in England and things like that. And you kind of have to get adapted to that again.

But this man and his wife had come back just on a visit and he’d had an arthritic condition for over 20 years. And his wife had had an emphysema problem in her lungs. And the power of God came on both of them in the praise and worship in our meeting. I prayed a prayer of faith for them and they were instantaneously healed by the power of God, instantaneously they came up and gave their testimony.

Now, Terry, you talk a lot about praise and worship and there might be someone who is watching the program who says, “Now, Terry, what do you mean praise and worship,” because I know what you’re saying but there’s someone who says, “I don’t know exactly what you mean.” Would you explain that? Praise and worship is a, I believe, a divine tool, a divine door that God has given us to walk through in coming before Him. I think it’s all tied up with the prayer language that your father has taught so much about here at ORU.

And when I lost my wife Jan in 1982–I’ve told the folk the story on the television program before–I went into a collapse. I went into a spiritual struggle that is almost difficult, it’s very difficult to put into words. But through it all your dad spent time with me, we shared on the truths of the Word of God and your dad told me to go home and get on my knees and pray.

And the hardest thing for me to do, spiritually the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life was to get on my knees and pray, when I hurt so bad, when I was grief-stricken, when it seemed that my life was falling apart. (Yes) And in the quietness of my bedroom just about two miles from where we’re doing this program today, I, before daybreak got up, began to pray and it was so hard.

I battled the devil sitting on my shoulder saying, “What right have you got to praise God when your wife’s been killed.” (Yes) And so many people when they got through the struggles of life blame it on God. They think God was the source of their problem.

When you’re flying 37,000 feet above the earth and your plane’s engine suddenly quits working, it will get your attention! This was brought home to me in an alarming way recently, when my wife Lindsay and Richard Roberts flew to California to celebrate my father‘s birthday. We were on our flight home and had been in the air about 25 minutes when, all of a sudden, we heard what sounded like a sonic boom. In fact, it sounded like a bomb had exploded!

There was a strange grinding noise, and the plane tilted over to one side. We were flying over the mountains and strong crosswinds, going every direction, caused the plane to shake and vibrate as it was tossed to and fro.

Fear tries to come in Now the first thing that usually happens in a situation like that is you panic. Fear comes rushing in, and the thought races through your mind: We’re going to die! Lindsay and Richard Roberts grabbed on to each other. We had a split-second choice to make: We could react in faith, or we could let our own feelings of fear take over. We could go into agreement with what God’s Word says, or we could go into agreement with the circumstances that we were in. Satan was rearing up, and I could feel the fear coming all over me. But while I could almost hear him shouting at me, “You’re going to die! You’re going to die!” I could also hear another voice—a still, small voice on the inside of me—and it was saying, “Your work is not finished yet. You’re going to Africa next week for a crusade. I’ve called you to 40 nations. You’re not going to die in the California desert today.”

We started praying together in the Spirit out loud. In fact, we got so loud, I’m surprised they couldn’t hear us on the ground. After a few minutes the pilot motioned to me and said, “We’ve lost the left engine. We’re going to circle back and make an emergency landing.” As we began our descent, we caught sight of a sea of long green fire engines waiting on the runway, with ambulances on either side. We began to declare, “In the name of Jesus, this plane will land. In the name of Jesus, we will live and not die, and declare the works of the Lord!”

About 10 minutes later, with one engine gone, we landed safely. Just as we had declared by our faith, our lives were spared.

We have a choice

Our experience on that plane is an example of choosing faith over fear and doubt…of believing God and His Word no matter what circumstances you may be facing. The world has it backwards—it says, “Seeing is believing. If I see it, then I’ll believe it.” But faith says, What I believe—based on the truth of God’s Word—I can see come to pass in my life.

When you face the storms and troubles of life—whether they happen at 37,000 feet or standing on firm ground—often there’s no time to find a Bible and try to figure out what you believe. But when you feed on God’s Word on a regular basis and have it hidden inside your heart, faith can rise up big inside of you. And when the rubber meets the road, I believe you can do what Lindsay and I did on that airplane: cast off doubt and fear, and declare, “In Jesus’ name, I choose to believe God.”

Richard Roberts wants to share something to you. Jesus didn’t leave us without hope. Because of His resurrection, those things in our lives that need to be healed can be raised up by His supernatural power.

This is the time of year when flowers are blooming and trees are starting to bud, but sometimes everything isn’t coming up roses for you and me, personally. All around us people are celebrating the Easter season–Jesus’ going to the Cross so we could have abundant, eternal life. But we may not feel much like celebrating if we’re going through a struggle or loss.

Being a Christian doesn’t mean everything is always going to go smoothly for us. Jesus Himself told us in John 16:33 that while we’re in this world, we will have problems and trouble. Sometimes difficult things happen—sickness strikes, or there may be a tragedy or a death. Our family has experienced things like that and I know you have, too.

The Unsinkable Apostle Paul

I was reading the other day how the apostle Paul was stoned and left for dead on the side of the highway (Acts 14:19,20). In fact, many difficult things happened to Paul. But no matter what happened to him, he couldn’t be stopped. And I believe that when you and I are going through difficult times in our lives, it’s important for us, as believers, not to have any “quit” in us either.

There’s no place in the Bible where it says that it’s going to be easy. Paul said, We fight the good fight of faith (I Timothy 6:12). You say, “Richard Roberts, how long am I going to have to fight this fight?” Well, I’ve been believing God for some things for a long time. But I refuse to give up. I refuse to stop believing God for the miracles I need.
Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. I believe we have to fight the good fight of faith until we finish our race, until it’s time for us to go home to be with the Lord.

We’re In the Flesh

Why do we have so many questions that don’t seem to have any answers? Because we’re human. Because we’re not in heaven yet; we’re in the flesh. Look at John the Baptist’s life. If anyone knew who Jesus was, it should have been John. John is the one who baptized the Lord in the Jordan River and saw the Holy Spirit descend on Him in the form of a dove. John heard a Voice from heaven say, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). But at the end of his life, when John was sitting in a prison cell about to die for his faith, suddenly he began to question whether Jesus was really the Messiah (Matthew 11:2,3).

Paul said in II Corinthians 4:7, We have this treasure in earthen vessels. He’s talking about the human frailty that every one of us has because we’re human beings. We don’t always have a clear understanding of things. First Corinthians 13:12 says, We see through a glass darkly.

What was the answer John received to his questions? Matthew 11:4,5 NKJV shows us that Jesus didn’t condemn John’s uncertainty. He sent word to him, saying, “Tell John…that the blind see and the lame walk…the deaf hear; and the poor have the gospel preached unto them”. In other words, “Tell John that I am the One!”

You Can Know His Resurrection Power!

In this world, we all experience trouble. But Jesus didn’t leave us without hope. In John 16:33 AMP, He also told us that we could take heart because, I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] We have a living Savior, and Easter means we can have resurrection. Jesus was raised from the dead so the things in your life and mine that need to be resurrected or healed could be raised up by the power of Jesus!

If you don’t know Jesus and His resurrection power, you can pray this simple prayer from your heart: Lord Jesus, come into my heart and forgive my sins. I surrender my life to You. I lay my life down at the Cross, and I receive You as my Savior, my Healer, my Deliverer, and the Lord of my whole life.

Amen.

Do you know people who seem never to have a problem? said Richard Roberts. They have plenty of money, are never sick, and everything goes right for them…but they wouldn’t know God if they met Him coming down the road? Yet you are struggling.

If you know someone like this, it doesn’t take long to start making comparisons. Their situation is on the “green grass” side of the fence, looking good. Your situation is on the other side—battling and fighting everything satan is throwing at you. You may be at the point of saying, “I don’t want to fight anymore. I’m just going to give up.”
Richard Roberts has something to share.Don’t give up; the fight is worth it! The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, Accept, as I do, all the hardship that faithfulness to the gospel entails in the strength that God gives you (II Timothy 1:8 Phillips). In another passage Paul told Timothy, You…must endure hardship as a good soldier (II Timothy 2:3 NKJV). In other words, accept the fact that when you serve the Lord, you’re going to face some difficulties.

Christians can expect satan to attack with trials and troubles. But the Bible says, When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives…don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! (James 1:2-3 Phillips).

“Give me a break!” you may say. “How can I welcome my trials as a friend?” James gives the answer in verse 4. He says that al-though trials come to test your faith, they pro-duce endurance so that you can stand firm and say, “No matter what, I am going to over-come!”