Page 56 - Evidence of Things Unseen

healing, but that it was a test to see whether Richard would continue to wait upon God. I
was reminded of the tests that God brought before David when he was being pursued by
King Saul. Twice God delivered Saul into David’s hands where he would only have to reach
out and strike his enemy and the kingdom could have been his. David’s men looked at the
incredible way in which Saul had been delivered into David’s hands, and they told David,
“Surely this must be the hand of God, and it must be God’s will for you to strike Saul.”
David knew this was not the way God would provide his deliverance, and he refused to be
drawn into such an action.

I Samuel 24:3-6
He came to the sheepfolds on the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to
relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave.
The men of David said to him, "Behold, this is the day of which Yahweh said to you,
"Behold; I am about to give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as
it seems good to you...'" So he said to his men, "Far be it from me because of Yahweh
that I should do this thing to my lord, Yahweh’s anointed, to stretch out my hand
against him, since he is Yahweh’s anointed."

I Samuel 26:8-9
Then Abishai said to David, "Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand;
now therefore, please let me strike him with the spear to the ground with one stroke,
and I will not strike him the second time." But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy
him, for who can stretch out his hand against Yahweh’s anointed and be without
guilt?"

The Spirit of God taught me a valuable lesson through these accounts of David’s life.
He revealed to me that not all things that appear as a supernatural ordering of our steps are
an indication of God’s will. Twice God had very remarkably placed Saul into David’s hands
to see what David would do. David’s men rightly observed that God had done this, but they
wrongly concluded that it was God’s will for David to do that which unbelief would tempt
him to do.
In the same way, the Spirit bore witness that this opportunity set before Richard had
been orchestrated by God, but it was merely to test his heart. Like myself, Richard was a
minister to the body, and as such God looked to him to set an example to the rest of the
church. The very name of this fellowship was Living Faith, and God had spoken to Richard
and the rest of the ministers that He desired to lead us into our inheritance in Christ by
faith. He had revealed that health and provision were the two areas He would begin to bring
us into by faith, and now Richard was being tempted to quit looking to God, and to return
to the provision of man.
I shared these things with Richard, but he would not change his mind. I was
concerned that as soon as Richard quit waiting upon God that he would also quit urging the
body to do the same. Sure enough, the very next Sunday was the first Sunday in nearly two
months that he did not ask those who needed healing to come forward for prayer. He has
since led other members of this body to go with him to receive treatments. His attitude
changed from encouraging the saints to look to God for healing, to leading men and women
to lean upon the same source of healing that he had placed his trust in.
It has been over four years since God led us out from this fellowship of Christians. Last