Kigen Joh
Principal
ERM Bible School
What is the “truth”?
When we proclaim, “I am blessed”, then that will come to pass. Every morning, a sister in Okinawa was proclaiming, “I am blessed! I am loved by God just as God loved Jesus.” She, a single mother, and her daughter were both unemployed, but money came in and a call came from her former place of employment asking her to return to work. In the past, this sister used to say, “I am sinful and unclean”, but today she has become someone who proclaims, “I am blessed”.
“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him (mark 11:23). It says here that we must believe in heart and say it. What we say from our mouths, however, is not only about what we believe, what we doubt also comes out of our mouths.
Let’s take a look at Job who was respectful of God. “This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1). Job was such a wonderful person as this. Verse 3 says, “He was the greatest man among all the people of the East”. But he had a certain worry. In verse 5 we learn, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.” Job was worrying that his sons might be sinning. And then Job lost his fortune, fire took place, he got sick, and lost his sons and daughters. Why would these things happen to such an upright God fearing person? Job said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (vs 21). It is so written in the Bible, however, this was not what God had said, but it was said by Job. Job said, “God gives and God takes away”.
Actually, we believe that God is He who gives and gives even more.
Why did such a rich man like Job lose his fortune, get sick, lose his children and become like a beggar? The problem was with Job’s confession.
What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me (Job 3:25). Job was fearful. And what was in his heart had been said by his mouth. Perhaps he was saying something like, “maybe one day I might lose my fortune, or lose my children because they sinned.”
For us, what we speak will come true.
Because Jesus was cursed on our behalf, we are no longer under any curse. Because we all have the curse from the sin of Adam and Eve, Jesus was put on the cross to remove that curse from us. You who believe in this, is not under any curse.
Let us say out loud,
”I am not under any curse. God’s plan is not to harm me but to give me peace, hope and a future. In the name of Jesus”.
When we continue to speak this, it will come to pass just as it has been said.
I may have talked about another sister who had been living on a meager salary from the church. She said to herself, “Since Pastor Joh is always saying he is blessed, why don’t I say it too.”
When she started to speak, “I am blessed”, the blouse she had been wanting was given to her by a church council member, and she started to obtain things at low costs. When she was going overseas at the time fuel charges were escalating, she was told her flight had been changed and for that the fuel charge was being waived. It is important to confess!
Let us look at anther verse regarding confession. “From the fruit of his mouth a man’s stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (proverbs 18:20, 21).
Everything about us is decided by what we speak.
Speak what is good. Good things will happen to those who are saying,
”I am blessed!” “I am healed”. If you think and say, “I am sick”, then you are continuing to hold on to that.
Let us look into what it is that we should confess.
As a Christian, if you do not know the difference between the truth and reality, then faith can fluctuate.
A person questioned me, “Pastor Joh, you are always energetic. Do you not get discouraged?” I think this is because I know the difference between “reality” and “truth”.
What we are to confess is not the “reality”.
There are three types of Christians.
First, there are those who are praying but do not understand the heart of God. They do not know if their prayers will be answered or not, but they are praying.
Second, there are those, let us say are sick, for example. Though they are sick in reality, these are the people who by faith are receiving in advance, by praying and proclaiming that they have been healed. All is well as long as they are in belief. However, when the condition prolongs, because their standing position is in the reality, they look at the surroundings, and seeing that they have not been healed thus far, they become discouraged.
I had been suffering from an allergy related nasal condition. I kept saying, “I believe I am healed”, but I was not healing for a long time. It became painful for me to say, “I believe I am healed”, because I was beginning to feel as though I was lying.
Today, I would like for you to leave in knowing the difference between “reality/fact” and “truth”, that which is meant by the Bible. When you come to understand this, you can always be joyful.
I have here a bottled drink.
Who believes there is a bottled drink here?
You do not have to believe that do you? Because it is here, it is a fact that it is here. To believe means believing in something when that something is not in the reality. When asked, whether this bottled drink is the ” truth”, though it is actually here, can I say that is the “truth”? What is the “truth”?
Jesus said: “I am the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6).
And before Jesus was put to the cross, He said: “In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth (John 18:37). “What is truth?” Pilate asked (vs. 38).
Unless a Christian understands what the “truth” is, he cannot walk the true walk of life.
The “truth” is unchanging.
When this service is over, the remaining water in this bottle will be brought back to Ena in the car. Therefore, the fact that this bottled drink is here now, is not an unchanging matter. Therefore, it is not the truth, but a fact.
The fact that this bottled drink is here is not the truth.
We must be clear about this.
There is a difference between the “truth” and the “fact”.
What is it that we must confess?
We are not to confess our wishes, or, confess the present condition.
For some twenty years, I suffered in confessing, “I am healed”, when I was not healed. This suffering was solved.
First of all, what is the “truth”?
When you come to understand the difference between the “truth” and the “fact”, you will stand in true faith and not waver.
(It is this person who is standing on true faith which is the third type of Christian.)
“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth ( John 17:17).
God’s word is the “truth”.
Do you know how this world had come to be?
The reason why the people of the world do not understand God is because they only accept the “reality”, that which they can see.
As we journey in the way of the Christian life, we should know the realm of the “reality”, and the other realm which is that of the “spiritual”.
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible (Hebrew 11:3)”.
As we walk our Christian lives, we must recognize that there is the world of the “reality” and the world of the invisible (spiritual world).
”What is seen was not made out of what was visible”.
This is the creation of God.
Satan will say, “You say you are healed but you are sniffling. You are not healed yet.” Furthermore, we sin as we carry on in our Christian lives. Then, Satan will say, “You call yourself a Christian? A Pastor?” In “reality or fact”, that is so.
Satan is the ruler of this world. Satan is controlling what is visible.
That is why Satan will direct you to look at the reality.
I suffered in confessing “I am healed” though my nasal inflammation was there. As a Christian, lying will bring on suffering. Satan will also say, “Are you going to lie in saying that you are healed when you are not?”
I want you to understand well what it is that we should be confessing.
Unknowingly, we sometime say out loud the “present state” of things.
We say things like: ”I don’t have money.” “Sickness is prolonging.” “I’m lacking ability.”
Now let us see what Satan is like. Satan is the ruler of this world.
He is the controller of the visible world that this is.
The devil gives the riches of this world to those he picks.
“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Satan is not standing on the “truth”.
Furthermore, he is not standing on the “Word”.
Let us look once again at Hebrew 11:3,
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
This world was made by the Word of God.
”What was not visible” is meant as God’s Word.
All things were made by the Word of God.
Satan may talk about “reality”. But that is not the “truth”.
”God’s Word” is the “truth”.
In leading a Christian life, one will become discouraged as long as he is wondering if he can do something or not, if he posses such faith or not.
However, when you believe in God, in Jesus, and take the position that what God is saying is exactly about you, then your thinking pattern will begin to change.
“By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). In the Bible it is written so in the past tense. Therefore, we pray,“I have been healed.”
For two month, I was inconvenienced by the fact that I had double vision from my left eye. At that time I kept saying, “I believe my eye has been healed.” The following day I would say, “I believe I am healed.” After a month, I was saying, “I believe I am healed.” When I looked into the mirror I was seeing four eyes. Satan will say, “you are not healed, look at the reality.” For two month I continued to say, “I believe I am healed, and I was healed. Reality changes by the “Word of God, the truth”.
If we hold on tightly to the “truth, that which is unchanging”, then we can bring that into this world. However, for those who do not hold on tightly, that will not happen. To believe means not to recognize the “reality” of not being healed. I have talked about my wife before.
She was semi-paralyzed due to cerebral infarction.
“In the name of Jesus, left hand move!” Still no movement. But I don’t quit. The devil says, “It’s not going to move, it is impossible.” He attacks with “reality, the fact”. However, the “truth” is the “Word of God”.
1 Peter 2:24: “By his wounds you have been healed”. This is the “truth”.
Next day I said, “In the name of Jesus, hold my finger!” Then she held my finger. She recovered, and a month later she was released from the hospital.
What would have happened if my wife’s hand did not move the second day?
I would have continued speaking, “In the name of Jesus, left hand move!”
Is there anyone sick at this time? Perhaps in reality there is that sickness.
However, we must know what to confess. It is the Word of God that we shall confess. The Word of God is the” truth and it is unchanging”.
When we believe in that which is invisible and “unchanging”, “reality” will change. This is the nature of our faith.
If the Word of God says we are “healed”, then we are healed.
That is the “truth”.
A sister in Okinawa is confessing, “I am blessed!”
She has no husband, the daughters have no work, and she herself had no work in recent times. In such midst, by confessing the “truth” in proclaiming, “I am blessed!”, the “reality” begins to change. She received, 500,000 yen, 1,000, 000 yen, and I was told she was also given work.
That is because the Bible says, “ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).
When we continue to mouth, “that is mine”, then that begins to take place.
Let us proclaim again today:
”I am blessed in the highest!
“I am loved by God in the highest!”
“I am more than a conqueror.”
“I have decided to forgive all people and love all people!”.
“In the name of Jesus. Amen.”
Satan is a liar (John 8:44). What is a lie? Here is a bottled drink. This is “reality”. This can become a lie. What is it compared to that this becomes a lie? When that is compared against the “truth”. Perhaps you are sick at this time. Perhaps you are troubled financially. Perhaps you are amidst problems.
But looked at from the standpoint of the “truth” which is the Bible, those are “lies”. Satan is not standing on the “truth”. You may be suffering from illness. And Satan will say, “in fact that is so”. However, Jesus was put on the cross and had taken the curse of your illness upon himself, therefore, that curse does not belong to you. What is there is a “lie.” Anyone who understands this and proclaims, “I believe I have been healed in Jesus”, for him the “reality” will change no matter how many years he has been sick.
For 25 years, Abraham kept believing in being given a child. Why was he able to continue believing for such a long time? It is because he was not looking at the “reality”. “The child is not born yet, maybe it is not possible.”
Not Abraham. He was standing on the “truth”. Abraham did not waver because he was standing on the Word of God, the truth, that said, “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, like the dust of the earth” (Genesis 12~).
Those who have problems now, please say, “This present condition that I am in is not right!” It is not right for me to remain in sickness. It is not right for me to remain in poverty. It is not right for me to be without work. We must speak these. Blessings will come when we believe so. When we believe, those blessings will come. Galatians 3:13, 14: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”
Those who proclaim, “I am blessed”, who are standing on the Word that is the truth, do not waver. Those who are standing on “reality”, and speaking with the feeling of, “I wish if it would turn out this way”, when answers to prayers are prolonged, they relent to saying, “perhaps it is not possible.”
Today, I would like for you to remember that what we are proclaiming is not our wishes, but the “truth of the Word”. I suffered in not knowing the difference between the “truth” and “reality.” The Word is unchanging. We shall stand on the “truth”, on the “Word.” Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away (Mark 13:31). We shall be free when we know the “truth”!
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31, 32).
Many do not understand the truth. They only understand what is visible. But the“truth”is in the invisible.
Person with cancer gets healed, and like in Pastor Gwajima’s ministry, the deceased come back to life. Because there is belief in the Word of truth that says to raise the dead, such a phenomenon is taking place. Furthermore, if you will abide in the truth, you will truly become disciples of Jesus. Jesus is saying He has taken the place of your sickness. If you will believe that then you are His disciple, and just as He says will surely come to pass though we do not know when.
And when you come to know the truth, you will be free.
In the unseen, there are many “truths”.
For example, is there someone who is in financial difficulty? In the spiritual realm, there is the truth that says you shall not be troubled (Ephesians 1:3).
We are not to look at the world of “reality”. The Word is the “truth”.
Therefore, we shall stand on the Word. That is our standing position.
Jesus became poor for our sake.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Therefore, in Christ we are rich.
Therefore, we will continuously proclaim, “I am rich”.
Because we proclaim this “truth”, reality changes.
Like Job, should we say something other than what the Word says, then we happen to invite that on. We are not to be speaking the symptoms of the reality. The doctor may speak of worse symptom. He may say something fearful that may cause anxiety. We, however, will not be that way. For God has given to us a plan that is, “not of anxiety but of peace, future and hope”, which is God’s Word. Therefore, my life is rich in hope!
Those who believed that sickness has been healed knows that in the spiritual realm this has already been accomplished, therefore, he does not dwell everyday on whether he has been healed or not, but instead, he thinks about how he will exist in the reality until healing comes. He knows he is going to be healed, therefore, he can think about what he will do when he is healed. In the meanwhile, he is positive, perhaps thinking about obtaining qualifications to find work, etc.
I will confess of the “truth”.
The Devil will look at me and say, “Is your attitude appropriate for a pastor? And you call yourself a Christian?”
What is the Bible saying to us about the “truth”?
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 8:1). You are not condemned to sin.
This is the “truth”. God’s Word says you are definitely not condemned, but you are condemning yourself to sin. That is because you are looking at “reality/fact”.
Should we sin, then let us pray, “Father in heaven, I have sinned. I have done what is wrong but please forgive me now, for on the cross, Jesus has paid for all my sins until I go to heaven. I believe I have been forgiven, and I give thanks unto you.” And then we shall proclaim the Word of the truth.
As we look into the Bible, we are being the person that is even unimaginable to ourselves.
Japan’s revival will take place from now, but what is said of the kind of people God will use? He will use those who are without worldly wisdom, power or knowledge, the ordinary, marginalized and many kinds of people.
If someone is not able to believe that, then that is when he is looking at the “reality” of his ability, thinking that he will not be used.
Paul had wisdom. He was distinguished. Then, why was he of wisdom used by God? It is because he said, the wisdom and ability he held were “rubbish”.
“What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ”, (Philippians 3:8).
He did not say he was of excellence, far superior to others, and that surely he ought to be used. Rather, he said he has nothing.
You may say, “I have nothing”. But if you begin to speak the “Word of truth” and say, “I who have nothing is quite awesome in Christ”, then you will change.
Do not look at yourself which is in the“reality/fact”.
It is a fact that I am not smart. I am lazy and I am weak.
However, in the “truth”, I am more than conquerors. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us”, (Romans 8:37). When we confess that, then that which we confess will begin to take place.
We shall not look at the “reality”.
The “reality”, when compared with the “truth” could be a lie.
What is real is the ”truth”.
“But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation”, (Colossians 1:22).
Reconciliation has already taken place through Jesus.
Therefore, we are holy, without blemish, free from accusations. We shall confess this every day.
For when we do so, the “reality” of being holy, without blemish, free from accusations, will come to pass.
Let us proclaim, “I am holy. I am without blemish. I am free from accusations. That is me! That is the “truth”! I am successful. I have been healed! I have no reason to be sick.”
When we are speaking the “truth” in this way, then if sickness is there, it will change to healing, and change for blessings will come to be. We must know the difference between “truth” and “reality”, and speak not the facts, but the “truth”.
I will close with a prayer.
“Merciful heavenly Father, we give you thanks. And we return all glory unto you.
That though in reality each person is not yet able to see who he really is, I give you thanks because he will know the realm of the truth, and when he proclaims the Word, he will come to know who he really is.
I give thanks because when we say what you had said, when we say the Word of God, as the visible evolves out of the invisible, our true selves, the selves of the truth will become the reality..
Though someone might be sick at this time, the truth of 1 Peter 2:24 that says, “by his wounds you have been healed”, will heal him, restore his health, make him able to work, and give him a life of future and hope. Therefore, I give thanks.
Though some might be thinking, “I am not capable”, “I don’t have the ability”, I give thanks that these people will become as so in declaring the Word of truth that says in Philippians 4:13, “ I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
In the name of Jesus we will continue to speak the truth no matter what circumstances or situations we may be in.
We are not speaking lies. But the lies called “reality” will begin to change.
In the name of Jesus I give thanks.
Amen.”