For a period of just over two weeks I suffered the experience of some unknown issue that caused me to cough intermittently throughout the day and the night. I didn’t have a cold and cough bug. I was fine otherwise. But at unexpected times during the day and night I would suddenly feel a terrible tickling, an irritant of some sort in my throat area and begin to cough, even to the point of feeling tired and thirsty. I tried mouthwash, drinking honey, drinking ginger tea, gargling with warm salt water, and turning almost upside down when the coughing fits began. All this in an effort to either kill, flush, melt, or expel whatever the cause was. And all to no effect.
These coughing fits would happen at the most embarrassing moments such as when I was in the middle of a class at school; they would also awaken me at night. If you’ve read my
recent post on using melatonin to reset my sleep cycle to get much needed sleep, you have some idea at how this was costing me. I would almost always awaken at night simply to have a coughing spell, then would have difficulty returning to sleep.
I prayed about it quite a bit as the second week came around. I had not thought it was serious until it lasted so long and responded to none of my ‘cures’ and by this time I started wondering whether I should go to a throat specialist. Then one night I was laying in bed hoping to induce sleep as I caught up on reading John Bevere’s book,
Relentless which I’d started some time before. That particular night I got to a chapter where he was discussing the need for Christians to use the authority that Christ has given us to speak God’s word and will, and in this way resist and defeat our enemy until we see the victory manifest in the situations that arise against us. He illustrated this wonderfully by relating true life examples (as he wisely tends to do) where the victory was completely won, not just by asking God to take away the problem, but by using the authority already vested in us to declare what Christ has already done and refuse to submit to bondage. It was like a lightbulb went on in my heart. My throat irritant issue might have been ‘small’ but it was lasting much longer than I expected and causing a lot of discomfort, loss of sleep, and public embarrassment. As I pondered what John had written, I realized this lesson was not new to me because I had seen several victories this way by the grace of God, yet on this issue it had not occurred to me at all. Boldness rose up in me and laying there, feeling another coughing fit coming on, I pointed my finger at my throat and spoke to my mountain. The monologue went something like this:
“You cough and whatever you are causing this cough, I refuse to accept you in my body. In the name of Jesus, I command you to be dissolved, be repaired, or whatever is necessary but get out of my body without causing damage or harm of any type. You are not God’s will for me and I take authority over you in Jesus’ name. Go now!”
After saying this, I noticed with excitement that a stillness had come over me and the coughing fit never came on. But after a few minutes, there was the tickling sensation again. I began to sputter. John Bevere had also reminded me of the need to keep standing in my confession of faith and resisting until full manifestation of the victory. Again, I put my hand on my throat and I said, “Oh no you don’t!” I repeated my command to that problem to leave me and told it I would not accept it in my body, that it was not God’s will for me, and that I, together with my body, was God’s property! I continued reading my book and soon fell asleep.
It was not until a full day later or so that it suddenly occurred to me that I had not had a coughing spell since that night! That was about one full week ago and I am still without any cough or throat problem. Praise God!!!
In the authority of Jesus’ name, with faith, I had spoken to my mountain (which happened to be tiny enough to affect my throat, if it was indeed caused by a solid particle; I still don’t know) and had it removed from my body!
Apart from the obvious joy and excitement that I have in recognizing God’s goodness in equipping us for even situations such as these, there was another lesson here for me. We need to stand fast in what God has taught us by continually walking in it, applying it to every situation. Unfortunately, like I needed, sometimes we also have to be reminded of what God has taught us in the past. It’s incredible how, in answer to prayer, God will sometimes lead us to an answer by what another Christian shares. So, keep your life full of fellowship with God, then His people, in all the ways that you can!
“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." ~ Matthew 17:20
