Keys to Healing and Wholeness with Seantell Coffey Pt 3 - 43

Fear has a way of getting loud when your body is hurting, and your prayers feel unanswered. We sit down with Seantell Coffey to talk about biblical faith and healing in a way that protects the tender places: no blaming the sick, no shrugging with “God will do what He’ll do,” and no pretending symptoms aren’t real. We keep coming back to a simple, strong truth: faith is confidence in Jesus, and true faith stays alive with expectation of good.

We walk through what Scripture shows about faith in healing, from Jesus' commendation of faith to the surprising moments when friends or intercessors carry someone else’s breakthrough. Chantel shares a fresh take on “faith as a mustard seed” as disruptive, ground-taking faith that pushes out doubt. We also unpack Abraham’s faith in Romans 4, the centurion’s authority-centered trust in Matthew 8, and why your words matter when you’re praying for physical healing, mental health, and emotional restoration.

Then we get practical: how to build a faith-filled circle of prayer, why testimonies multiply courage, how to be honest about symptoms while speaking the Word of God, and what the laying on of hands means in the Bible. We also talk about worship in hard seasons, supporting a loved one in crisis, and resisting fear when symptom research and stress start spiraling.

If you need prayer, reach out, and if you know someone who’s fighting for hope, share this with them. Subscribe, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and send this episode to one person who needs healing encouragement today.

Transcript

Welcome, Guest, And Setup

Kim McIntire 0:08

Hey everyone, welcome to the It's Time to Rise Up Podcast. I'm your host, Kim McIntire, and I'm joined today by my co-host Amber Sampson. We pray you are encouraged, strengthened, and blessed by what is shared today. If you're not familiar with our show, please check out our website at itstimetoriseup.org where you will find our social media links. And for our podcast platforms, you'll find us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere else you find your podcast. We want to welcome Seantell Coffey back into the studio. Welcome, Seantell. Hello. Our last episode wrapped with Seantell sharing about doors we may have opened to enemy work in our life. So push pause here to go back and listen to part one and two if you haven't already done so. We would also ask you to grab your journal and Bible. You don't want to miss these important truths that Seantell is going to share today.

Amber Sampson 1:05

Yeah, so um let's just get right into it. Um so Seantell, um, tell us what does the Bible say about the role of faith in our healing?

Seantell Coffey 1:15

Oh man, Amber, this is a topic that's really a hot spot in the world of healing prayer. You know, in one camp you have those who say things like, if you just had enough faith, you wouldn't, or you would have gotten better, which, man, that's just so damaging to those who are sick. And on the other end of the spectrum, you hear things like, Well, God's gonna do what God's gonna do. So faith doesn't have anything to do with it because he's sovereign. And really, both views are heart crushing to a sick person as well as to their loved ones. These statements are not helpful. We always want to lead with love and compassion that has to be our guiding force. And we always want to stick to the truth of God's goodness. You know, faith means assurance and something or a confidence. I like saying that truth, that true faith is alive with expectation. It's a confident expectation of good. You know, it's not passive, but rather active with expectancy. So I keep praying until God answers. And remember, nothing happening doesn't mean He is saying no. So we want to keep praying even when we're not seeing things move. A thought to think about here also is we're saved through faith. And we are called to live this life by faith in God. And this means that everything we are assured, in everything we're assured and confident that God is good, that he's our source for life, and he's gonna carry us through. Faith is the way we possess really, you know, everything that God promises. We take him at his word, we believe what he says.

Amber Sampson 3:06

Well, I just want to circle back. You said I like what you said, that true faith is alive with expectation that we that we operate with an expectation that He's He can do the impossible, he can heal the most devastating circumstances, and so on. You know, the things no no diagnosis is too big, no it doesn't even matter how long you've had it. I mean you had you were sick for decades, right? And God still moved and healed. I just love that true faith is a being alive with expectation, right? It's so good.

Kim McIntire 3:44

Yeah, I love how in God's word we know that Jesus commends faith, that he loves faith, and there are some powerful statements from his own mouth about this. Um in Mark 5.34, Jesus says, daughter, your faith has made you well. Matthew 8.10, the centurion's faith. He says, With no one in Israel have I found such faith. Matthew 9, 2, the paralytic being lowered down through the roof. When Jesus saw their faith, and he was talking about the faith of the friends, not the faith of the man who was being lowered. Matthew 9, 28 and 29, the blind man, he says, according to your faith, be it unto you. Jesus says this to the blind man. In Matthew 17, 18 through 20, the disciples couldn't cast a demon out from a little boy. And the disciples went to Jesus privately and they asked, Why could we not cast it out? And Jesus says to them, Because of your little faith. And these are just a few examples from the book of Matthew. There are so many examples throughout the gospel of what Jesus says about faith. So it's important to be sure we aren't having faith in faith, but confidence and assurance in the object of our faith, who is Jesus, our provision, our healer. We talk to him and we look to him for our very lives.

Amber Sampson 5:05

Right. Yeah. But also on the other hand, the Bible has a lot to say about our lack of faith. Like in Matthew 13, 58, Jesus could do no mighty works because they of because of their unbelief. And in James 1, 6, um, the scripture encourages us to ask without doubt. I mean in Mark 9 and verse 24, um it acknowledges that we have um that we have a lack of faith at times and to ask for God to help us um not have any doubt. Right. And then in um Hebrews 11 and verse 6, without faith, it's impossible to please God.

Seantell Coffey 5:45

I love all of those pictures of faith. And one thing that I've recently come across that I think is a really a cool thought to think about in the realm of faith. In Matthew 17, it talks about faith as a mustard seed. But we always get hung on as small as a mustard seed. We hear that said quite a bit. But in older translations, the word small is not there. The verbiage they use is as a mustard seed. Some varieties of mustard seed are super invasive garden plants that dominate. It's a disruptive plant, and it disrupts all the plants around it, even causing some not to take root. It's a threat to the ground around it, and it spreads quickly. It's hard to eradicate. And so, mountain-moving faith, think about this. We need faith like this mustard seed. We need faith as a mustard seed. We need dominating faith, disruptive faith, invasive faith that takes ground and it disrupts the doubt and things that come in. And when we are trying to approach the Lord for our healing, that's a great kind of faith to have. That's right.

Kim McIntire 7:08

That's right.

Seantell Coffey 7:09

But what I want to say is, you know, it's easy to talk about this great faith and big faith, but there is no condemnation here. Everyone is given a measure of faith. And so my encouragement is to start asking the Father for more faith. And 1 Corinthians 14 tells us to desire the gifts, and faith is one of them. And I actually prayed that uh when I was going through my healing journey. Someone prayed over me. They asked, What gifts do you want? And that was one of mine. I want great faith. So pray for great faith. I want to share too some really a couple of great stories that highlight faith and unpack them here real quick. So everyone knows the story about Abraham, and he teaches us a lot about faith. And in Romans 4, starting around verse 17, Paul is talking about Abraham and that through him many nations would come into the world. Yet Abraham didn't even have children because he was so old. It goes on to say that Abraham believed what God told him about having a child, even though there was no physical evidence that he and Sarah could have a child. The Bible says here that God is the one who gives life to the dead. And get this, he calls into being things that are not. So think about that in the realm of our bodies not working like they should be working. This scripture says, against all hope, Abraham believed. And verse 19 goes on to say, without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and that Sarah's womb was also dead, yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he promised. Man, that is such a great example of faith. And Kim, I've heard you pray in that in that vein many times over people. Even though we can't see it in the flesh, we believe it in the spiritual realm. That's right. And so we want to pray that kind of faith. Remember, whether it's little faith, big faith, just use whatever faith you have. And if you have none, ask God to help you get some. Another story that I think is is a really great story on faith is about this centurion in Matthew 8, starting in verse 5. It talks about a centurion coming forward, talking to the Lord, and he tells the Lord that he has a servant that's lying paralyzed at home, suffering. And Jesus says, I'll come and heal him. But the centurion replied, Lord, I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I'm a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to one, go and he goes, and to another come, and he comes, and to my servant, do this, and he does it. And when Jesus heard this, he marveled. And that word marveled, girls, that means that he admired his faith. He was astonished and amazement that he had that kind of faith. And he said that he said to those who followed him, he marveled around and said it to all of them that were around. Truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. And then at in verse 13 it goes on to say that Jesus said to the centurion, Go, let it be done for you as you have believed. That's a key as you have believed. And the servant was healed at that very moment. So a couple of things to point out here. First off, the centurion was humble because he was like, I don't even want you to come into my house. I'm not worthy of that. And humility matters so much. So we want to come humbly to the Father. That's right. Secondly, I think the sin or the centurion understood the power of command. And I know you girls understand this so well just in the ministries that you're a part of, but the power of the spoken word.

Kim McIntire 11:28

Yeah.

Faith Filled Rooms And Prayer Circles

Seantell Coffey 11:29

He understood that Jesus had authority and that what Jesus said would happen, it would happen. He believed this. And so we should do that. Isaiah 55, 11, it says, So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth, it shall not return empty, it but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Oh my goodness, that's powerful. When we believe God's word and speak them out of ourselves, there is great power in this, so don't doubt God's word. Amen. So when we think about the healing stories of Jesus, I know you guys could like think of ones that come to your mind, but really there's three main categories or groups of the healings. Those one group is those who go to Jesus and ask for healing. They seek him out. Another is those who Jesus approaches for healing, and those who have an intercessory group that approaches Jesus on their behalf. The group where Jesus approached them for healing, faith is not referenced. In the group where the person or the intercessor approached Jesus for healing, Jesus comments on their faith. And my takeaway from these groups, if you group them up and you kind of look at it in this way, my takeaway from this is let's not wait for Jesus to approach us. Rather, let's do what the Bible says in James 5 and let's go to Jesus with faith. Let's ask faith-filled people to pray over us. Let's let's be people of faith and run to Jesus in the midst of our hardships and our struggling. And just I'm thinking about even like one last tidbit on the topic of faith. Some Bible stories talk about putting people out of the room before Jesus or the person would pray. Have you guys ever experienced that? Yeah, in Matthew 9, they talk about that. Well, I just want to encourage you to make sure that when you are praying over people, that you have faith-filled people in the room who are doing the praying. Because people that don't have faith, that is going to diminish, I think, the working power of God. I've actually experienced that. And Kim, I tell you have groups, your prayer groups are amazing to me. I mean, these women are powerhouse prayers. I've never been a part of praying of groups that pray with such fervency and effectual just faith than your groups.

Kim McIntire 14:18

Well, it's a gift from God. I can't take any credit for it. Amber's been part of those too. And we just um I think we spur one another on. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. But you know, faith fuels faith. Right. And when I'm around someone who's praying bold prayers, like I believe God.

Seantell Coffey 14:36

Yeah.

Kim McIntire 14:36

I believe that nothing is impossible with him. Yeah, I believe nothing is too difficult for him, as his word says. You get around some people that are speaking life in that way over you, like I know you're ill, and I know what the doctors have said, but the doctors do not have the final word. That's right. Jesus has the final word. God's word has the final word. That's right. And I just think being in an atmosphere of faith can only increase yours. Right. And I know we haven't gotten to the part about laying hands on the sick, but I want to go back to what you said about when Jesus put people out of the room, or some Bible stories talk about that. I've had situations in prayer groups where in my home where I have said, if you do not fully believe that this person can be healed, I would ask you not to lay hands on them during the prayer. But you can you can be in the circle, right, but but we never want to diminish the power of a prayer full of faith. And the truth is some people come into prayer group new, they're unsure, they're learning, and we want to welcome people in who lack faith and say, come along with us, link arms with us and grow in believing for impossible things. Right. But there is really and truly something to having a circle of faith around the person who needs prayer. Yeah.

Amber Sampson 16:10

Well, I think too, if you're a person who's in the prayer group, or you're praying or you're just that person like, Lord, I know you can do anything, but I don't really I'm just not my faith doesn't sound like Kim's faith. And and so I'm just trying to think of like how we can encourage people to be people of faith. Yes, pray, ask the Lord for more faith, but um share testimonies. I feel like that's something that I'm um really love about the women that I'm friends with is you know, before this podcast tonight started, I was like, girls, I want to tell you testimony. And it was encouraging to all of us, it was encouraging me to say it again. So yeah, um, so I think that's one way we can spur each other's faith along is to um share testimonies, even if they're small, yeah, um, but sharing those things and always be talking about what God's doing in your life, because uh that encourages me for what you know when I hear what my friends God's doing in my friend's life, or and then I want to be able to share with my friends what God's doing in my life. So to me, those are that's something that's really helpful in growing my faith is hearing my friends' testimonies and um what God's doing in their lives. So and one thing just to tag on to that, this is just a very practical tip for people.

Kim McIntire 17:27

If you are in need of prayer and you're asking whether you're asking to be put on a prayer chain at church or you're texting friends or family to pray for you, if you're asking for prayer and then the Lord answers, post it. The way you build your faith is to then say the testimony. It doesn't have to be with your mouth, although that's preferred, but through a text. Guess what? God answered that prayer. Thank you for praying. Absolutely. And and and that, if you really take note of the times the Lord answers prayer, it will build your faith so much that you will actually get to a place where you very rarely doubt. Right. You just hardly ever doubt God's gonna answer. I mean, I've been praying for someone to be saved for 30 years. I'm still praying on a daily basis for their salvation. Why am I doing that? Not because I have plenty of time to do that. I have it's it's not like I'm looking for things to pray for. It's because I believe there's coming a day they're gonna be saved. That's right. And I know we're talking about healing, yeah, but still, faith for anything. Faith for anything.

Seantell Coffey 18:33

Faith for anything. Right. Yeah.

Amber Sampson 18:35

It's so good. Yeah, and keep a journal if you need to. Some people do that. I'm not good at that journaling those things, but journal those things if you need to. But yeah.

Kim McIntire 18:43

If I picked up my phone right now and I let both of you read it, you would see probably a dozen answers to prayer in the last few days. That's amazing. Because if I ask someone to pray, they're most of my friends are really good to say, This is what God did. Yeah. And it's encouraging. Yeah. Amber, you're one of those people. Yeah.

Amber Sampson 19:01

You did that this week. Well, and I will say, if if you ask him to pray for you and then you tell her what God did, she is going to be more excited for you than you are. That is that's my testimony.

Kim McIntire 19:11

It's true. I get pretty excited. It's true. It's awesome. I usually am doing a hallelujah wherever I leave my prayer.

Amber Sampson 19:20

Thank you, friend. It's good. Thank you. That's awesome. Yeah.

Kim McIntire 19:25

Well, let's go on to our next. Was there any other thing that you wanted to add to this faith section, Seantell?

Seantell Coffey 19:32

Faith is important. It just is. And if you struggle with it, my encouragement is to find the most faithful people that you know and start hanging out with them. Start praying with them, start talking to them, start picking their brain on and ask them to pray over you because it makes a marked difference in the types of groups that you're in. I've been in prayer groups that have very little faith, in prayer groups that have enough faith to blow the roof off the house. Go for the go for the group that can blow the roof off the house.

Kim McIntire 20:06

If you're the person in a group that is not faith-filled, then get some fire in your belly. Say, Lord, put some fire in your belly. So I can be the fire starter in my prayer group, and people can believe for impossible things.

Hard Questions And Practical Ministry

Seantell Coffey 20:20

Do it. Get prayed over. Tell them to lay they lay their hands on you. Amen. Say do it.

Amber Sampson 20:24

So how would you respond when people say, yeah, he heals, but he he didn't heal everyone?

Seantell Coffey 20:33

Yeah. I like to think of it more like it's not really our job to answer for God on when and how he heals. I don't feel the need to have to defend him in that. He is God and He He works all of that out. But what my job is, is to pray and to seek truth in the situation. We know that Jesus did not heal every person he came into contact with, but there is no record of him turning anyone away who asked for healing. We know God doesn't want any of us to perish, so we pray fervently for the lost, right? He loves us, he wants us all with him forever, but not all are saved. I believe it's God's will for us to be whole and well, but not all are whole and well for various reasons. But we should pray fervently, keep praying until God clearly says no.

Kim McIntire 21:31

So, what do you think about laying hands on people when they are being prayed for for healing? Because that's something that's unfamiliar to probably some that may not be involved in a church that practices that.

Seantell Coffey 21:45

It actually was unfamiliar to me until I got in certain circles and then I did some study in scripture about it. But laying on of hands is really just a physical act that shows the transfer of blessing. And authority, spiritual gifting. Laying on hands is for equipping of ministry and for healing. And from Genesis through the New Testament, there are many examples of this practice of laying on hands. It's really even called a foundational teaching, which is amazing to me. In Hebrews 6, it talks, it says, therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God and of instructions about washings and the laying on of hands. I understand laying on of hands for healing to be a biblical practice that really just symbolizes transfer of power of the Holy Spirit, kind of like what you were talking about, Kim, when you talked about laying on hands. And just as anointing with oil symbolizes the Spirit's presence upon a person, the laying on of hands is a symbol and a transfer of power of the Holy Spirit. And this act brings power and authority to the body of Christ. The power is from God alone. And he uses humans as a vessel to transfer his power and authority. God has appointed his physical church to uh to use this symbolism to just demonstrate his will, his power and authority. And I love this thought that when we submit to having hands laid on us, we are literally acknowledging that we are under God's headship and authority in our lives.

Amber Sampson 23:38

So let's say we're praying for healing, but the symptoms are so tough.

Seantell Coffey 23:44

Yeah, that is a hard one, but God is present in that. There's many things we can talk about with that. God wants us to be truthful with Him, He wants us to be honest. And so I'm really not a proponent of saying I'm not sick when I really am sick. And I think that to make people feel bad about that, or to say, you know, you'll hear people say, don't claim that over yourself. Well, there is a place for honesty. So we are not denying that we are dealing with an illness. I don't think God wants us to do that. But what we are to do is to say what God says about the situation, kind of like what we've talked about speaking life into a situation, speaking life over to ourselves. So when the symptoms are hard, speak about what God says way more than what your body says or even what the doctors are saying. Because the report of the Lord trumps it all. And you want to, you want to apply God's word to your situation and say what He says about it. Say it a lot. There are so many verses about healing and health. So we we keep talking about this same, you know, get in the word, see what it says, but doing a study and finding all those little treasures and then apply them, speaking them over yourself is so powerful. Even what one thing I did was I wrote them down and I put them on three by five cards around my house and my when I was in the bathroom. I'd have them in the car when I was, you know, doing dishes, laying on the couch, and I could just look at those and speak them out loud.

Kim McIntire 25:26

I think this would be a great place to pause. And we have scriptures that um we believe have healing power. Right. And so we're gonna declare these over our listeners right now. So if you're not driving your car and you're in a place where you can just settle yourself, open your hands, posture yourself to receive because God's word is alive, it is active, it is powerful. And we're gonna declare these scriptures over our listeners now. Specifically, if you are struggling with an illness, whether that be physical, mental, relational, emotional, whatever kind of sickness, maybe it's soul sickness, you may not know Jesus. And these are words of life for you. Proverbs four, twenty through twenty-two. My son, give attention to my words, incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart, for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Yes, and amen. Psalm one hundred and three, verse three. This is one of my favorite scriptures, listeners. Really believe this. He forgives all your sins. If they're under the blood, they're forgiven. That's right. He heals all your diseases. This is the word of the Lord.

Amber Sampson 26:59

Second Chronicles 7, verse 14. If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from them, um, or I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will for and will heal their land. Amen. And then Acts 10, verse 38, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil. Amen.

Seantell Coffey 27:34

I love this one where Jesus said to the woman with the issue of blood, daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. Just imagine the Lord saying that to you right now. And then Psalms 118, 17. This is a personal favorite, and I spoke this every day over myself. Sean, you are not gonna die, but you're gonna live and you are gonna declare the works of the Lord. And I just envision myself getting well and healthy and going out and telling people all the goodness of God. So there are many verses on healing. There's I put together a little booklet and I stopped at 62 verses because you could just go on and on and on. And the ones that we spoke about here are just really the tip of the iceberg. So keep searching and meditate on them. Make them personal to yourself, pray them over yourself. There's you can't exhaust the list. Another thing that is important when we are dealing with symptoms is to remember this little. I when I picked up on this, I thought, this is so good. We want to resist the temptation to just kind of wallow in our symptoms. So temptation is to sin what symptoms are to sickness. Say that again. Temptation is to sin what symptoms are to sickness. And that is not, that's not unique with me. I I heard that somewhere. But we have to resist the temptation to waller in our symptoms because we know that that is from Satan. We resist sickness because Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus comes to give us abundant life. So my encouragement is don't make sickness comfy in your body. Speak to it and tell it to get out in Jesus' name. Just don't get comfy with it.

Kim McIntire 29:46

And I want to speak to something here because I know it's true. I've seen it, I've witnessed it, I've been in relationship with friends who and loved ones who have been in this situation. Sometimes, if you've always battled sickness or struggled with mental any kind of illness, mental, physical, emotional, relational, it becomes such like such a normal that it's almost like more comfortable to be in that situation than to be well. Right. Which is why I think Jesus asked the man, Do you want to be well? Right. Because what is familiar to us, the enemy can actually lie and confuse us and cause us to believe, well, at least I know what to expect if I'm like this. Yeah. But if I'm well, then I have to participate in life and engage in relationship in ways I haven't had to before. Right. And so I just want to reiterate that point. Don't let it be comfortable. Right. I mean, as as crazy as that sounds, that's a reality for some people. It is.

Holding Faith For Loved Ones

Amber Sampson 30:54

So I'm thinking about people who who sick like a diagnosis has come out of left field and and it's your loved one and you can barely get out of bed because you're so devastated, you can barely function through the day. How what what's your advice to people who are walking through something really really challenging and they're watching a loved one decline? Yeah. And they're people of faith.

Seantell Coffey 31:23

Yes.

Amber Sampson 31:24

But right now they're I mean, they're struggling to maybe really hang on to everything they know because of what's right in front of them. Um and so one thing I'm thinking about is, you know, I think all of us in this room are healthy right now. So maybe now's the time to find out what the Bible says about healing and be um what's the word I'm thinking of? Um educated. No um like be proactive. Oh, there you go. There you go. Yeah, be proactive. But still, there's still people who are listening to this right now who are probably who could be walking through something or know people who are. And what would you say to like I I don't I don't know. I'm reading through this, I'm like, yes and yes and yes, but I'm also thinking about people who are in that state.

Seantell Coffey 32:08

That's such a good question. And what I would say to them is there are times in life when that happens and and we're just not prepared. It comes out of left field, it knocks you off your feet, and that's where you need the help and the strength and the faith of other people. I love the phrase, and I use this with our prayer team, we are there to hold faith for them when they're too weary to do it. Hold their arms up, we're gonna pray for you, we're gonna speak over you, we're gonna do this labor while you take care of your loved one, or while the loved one, you know, can't do anything for themselves. That's the beauty of the body of Christ is that we come around each other, we support each other, we rally for each other when we don't have it. Right, we can call on our brothers and sisters to do that. And I'm with you about if you if you're well now, don't wait till you're sick to learn some of this stuff. Get it, get it under your belt now so that when the difficulties of life come, because they're gonna come. They come to us all. You live long enough, you're gonna come up against something. But build your faith, be in the word, get in with people that really know how to pray.

Kim McIntire 33:25

Yeah, that's good. That's good. One thing that I do, and this will probably sound I don't mean for this dispense to sound like it's I don't want to minimize anyone's suffering at all. I've never actually had a chronic illness, I've never had chronic pain. I just have the normal, you know, get the flu, or have strep throat, right? Or things that you get just every it's part of everyday life. But one thing that when I am ill, and I'm just gonna hold to this, that if I ever have to face a chronic illness, I'm gonna praise God through it. I'm gonna just because when I'm sick, and sometimes I just don't even want to like, and it for me to not open my Bible on a daily basis is a big deal. Right. But there are times I've been sick enough that I didn't open my Bible, yeah, that I can turn on a playlist and just and have it playing quietly and just hearing the praises, even though I may not have a voice to sing, yeah, but I'm hearing that and it's in my mind, it's a meditation of my heart, even though I physically can't engage in the praise and worship. But I would also say if you can just get the wherewithal and determination, I'm going to praise the Lord. Yeah. I'm gonna praise God, I'm gonna worship Him. Science has even shown that worshiping God has an effect on our body. It's amazing. Yeah, it's like research about this. Science has caught up to what the Bible has said for you know, millennium for sure. It changes our focus, it improves our brain health. So whether you can sing or not, the Lord knows. That's right. But he but we can put on some soft music and we can make it a meditation of our heart, right? That's good.

Seantell Coffey 35:09

I even want to speak to that. Like if you've got a loved one that's in the hospital, they are incapacitated. I want to encourage you to keep worship music going. I want to encourage you to talk to their doctors and nurses and just say, if you need to have conversations that are hard, let's have it outside of the door. This is a place of speaking life. This is a space of worship, and we want to keep it focused on that. That's a huge encouragement that I have for people. That's good. Another thing, if you're battling symptoms too, I think is to just again, we've already said this in the in some previous talks we've had, but to shift your prayer from heal me, which of course that's a desperate prayer, and it's okay to pray that. That's right, or need to see, or change for healing to occur. Just that little shift in your prayer can make you more attuned to be listening and watching for what he's going to tell you. That's right. Symptoms are tough, especially when I was at the height of my issues, uh, my nervous system was on fire. And there's I I don't have any way to describe that except I couldn't do much. I was in, I was in such misery to just sit in a quiet room with nothing, no light, no, I couldn't handle Wi-Fi, writing in a cart, the sound of my own voice was difficult. I think I spoke about that.

Kim McIntire 36:49

But and during that time, which I would call your darkest hour, you had shared with me some examples of things you did do despite the fact you couldn't take sound, you couldn't take light, yeah. You weren't around people, you didn't leave your home much, you weren't able at that time to attend church because your nervous system was so really wrecked. Yeah. What were some things that you were able to do? Because there may be someone listening that's in that place right now. Yeah.

Seantell Coffey 37:22

I that was actually it was the worst of times, but that situation actually taught me how to get in the secret place with the Lord. And the bet you can maybe just you can maybe have speak into this too, Kim and Amber, because you may have better words than I have, but Psalm 91 talks about being in the secret place with the Lord. And I developed the ability to use my imagination with the Lord and really came to understand what a gift imagination is. And so I might lay on the couch and just close my eyes and have one scripture running through my mind, and I would bring that to life in my heart and bring the Lord's presence into the room. I would imagine him if the Lord was here and he is here, but if he was physically here, what would he be doing? He would sit on the couch and he would probably just have his hand on me and just looking at me like, you're gonna make it, Sean. You're gonna get through. So good. Or running, I may get, you know, the healing stuff was also new to me. And if I'd find a verse, I would just chomp on that in my mind and pick it apart and think about it and pray, like, Lord, I don't understand this. Help me to understand that. I would envision myself. So the woman with the issue of blood became a very sweet story between the Lord and I. He, when I when I figured out that he was bringing that in to my day as kind of a Godwink to say, I'm here, I'm with you. When I figured this out, it got to be this really fun thing between the Lord and I in very random, weird ways. For probably two years, that story would come across my path in places it shouldn't have. And I would know that was God saying, I am with you, Sean. I see you and I hear you. And that story, that whole, you know, I'd imagine myself just reaching out and touching the hem of Jesus' cloak. And that story became so real to me, I just felt like, I am that woman. I am touching his cloak, and my faith is making me well. I'm believing that he's going to do it. So there's many things in the in the hardest, darkest time. And when I finally started to be start, I started realizing like I'm gonna get better. I started realizing that before I actually got better. But my faith was to the point I'm just like, I am gonna get better. I believe this. I believe I'm going to get there. And so I started, if I needed to get to the shower, I would just, Lord, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Because I would have trouble breathing and standing up straight. Yeah. And I just, I can do, I can do this in Christ. I can do this in Christ, and that might get me to the shower. Or I can do this in Christ, and that might get me to, you know, unload the dishwasher or whatever. There's many, many things that you can do in the darkest hours. And if you are in such excruciating pain and torment, ask people to be praying for you. Just humble yourself and beg them, please pray for me. Set an alarm. I need prayer support because that's the power that you need. That's right.

Kim McIntire 40:55

Yeah. And if you don't have those people, ask the Lord to give them to you. Yeah. But how much would God want us to have sisters or brothers in Christ who will pray? Amen.

Amber Sampson 41:09

I want to say if if that's you and you don't have anybody, reach out to us. You are you can comment on our uh podcast. You can find us on social media and send us a message, and we will we will uh we will be praying.

Kim McIntire 41:27

Yeah, we have a monthly prayer meeting and we can pray for those needs during the Monday prayer meeting for Rise Up.

Amber Sampson 41:34

Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. So it would be an honor. Yeah. So if you if that's you and you don't have anybody, we'll be your somebody.

Fear, Focus, And Final Invitations

Seantell Coffey 41:42

That's right. I love that. That's right. There's a couple more things I just want to say to symptoms I think that are important. We, you know, we're told in the Bible to walk by the spirit and not by the flesh. And I really think when it comes to symptoms, we can get so caught up in our flesh, like researching symptoms, researching treatments, researching, researching, researching.

Amber Sampson 42:05

Because that that makes us feel like we're in control.

Seantell Coffey 42:08

Yes.

Amber Sampson 42:08

No, maybe that's not the hundred percent 100% for everybody. It's not that's what I that's what it'd be for me.

Seantell Coffey 42:14

I'm not saying it's a sin to do it, right? But I'm cautioning you to not to really, really limit that because we're told to walk by the spirit. And so when you get in that realm of doing all the researching, it actually can put you in a fear-stress state because you're trying to make decisions, you're trying to figure it out, you're afraid, like if I do this treatment, that's gonna mess me up more, or I don't have the money to do this treatment. How am I gonna do this treatment? And so it can flare your symptoms. So I want you to think about, I'm gonna end here with fear, okay? When your symptoms are raging, you're really in a battle against fear. And fear can be, I love this acronym, false evidence appearing real. Fear. And in your heart, if you can just renounce that and just in Jesus' name, I am not going to be fearful. And try to keep your stress level down. That will actually help your symptoms because fear heightens, it lengthens your symptoms. And so learning to resist it is a great tool in your journey. Just get tenacious with it. It has to go. Resist it and focus on Jesus. It's kind of like a muscle, teaching yourself to focus on Jesus. And think about when, you know, Peter walked on the water and he when he was focused on Jesus, he wasn't sinking. Think about when the Israelites were in the desert and uh they Moses put up a snake. Yeah, the serpent, you know, focus on something that God tells you to focus on. Think about Jesus when he was in the desert when the devil was tempting him. He had to focus on God. Yeah. Not Satan. He focused on God. Not his hunger, not his weakness. Not all the things going around in the physical realm. Right. Focus on the spiritual things. And just lastly, you know, Psalms 34 talks a lot about fear. There's hundreds of verses about fear. And so fear is one of Satan's biggest tactics. And when we're really sick and we think about the ramifications of how this affects money, relationships, just our very life, it can take you down such a bad path. But asking the Lord to help you to focus on him and him alone, it is going to strengthen you. Amen. It's going to be your strength. And so that's just my encouragement to not focus. Don't let fear run the bus. Focus on the Lord. Amen.

Kim McIntire 45:01

Thank you so much, Seantell, for being with us again for part three. We're excited for part four. This is a great resource for our listeners and for people that our listeners know. I know I told you on our drive here, there are people I'm going to be sending this podcast to. Yeah. Not to promote the podcast, but to promote this resource about healing. Thank you so much. And thank you, listeners, for taking your time to be with us today for this podcast. Please share this series because we believe this teaching is going to change lives and heal bodies, minds, hearts, spirits, and relationships. We would love to hear your feedback. Please rate us or leave us a review on Apple Podcast. Don't forget you can find us on our website at it'stimetoriseup.org, and there you will find our social media links. We pray God's grace and peace will be with you all in Jesus' name.