Strength in the Struggle

Text Michele

Spiritual breakthroughs rarely happen immediately — just ask John Wimber, who prayed for 10 months before witnessing a healing, or Todd White, who persisted for over four years before seeing results. Their stories reveal a powerful truth: we sometimes have to engage in spiritual resistance training. Just as muscles grow through resistance, our faith can be strengthened through doubts, delays, and disappointments. Even Jesus prayed twice to fully heal a blind man, showing that sometimes miracles unfold step by step. So, if you feel stuck, don’t give up — you’re building spiritual muscle! Declare this: “I am getting stronger every day in the spirit and I won’t back down.” Share this episode with someone battling discouragement, and let’s push through resistance together.

Listen: Tom Petty — I Won’t Back Down

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Today’s Kus Word is spiritual growth with a touch of snark! Join author and spiritual formation prof, Michele Kus, as she serves up short, powerful teachings, immersive meditations, bold declarations, and f(reedom)-bombs to fuel your faith and get you laughing. #TodaysKusWord

*There is no actual cussing on Today's Kus Word. We keep it squeaky clean!

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Episode Transcript

Michele (00:00):
It's Thursday, March 13th, and this is Today's Kus
Word.
Welcome to Today's Kus Word.
Your five minutes a day.
.
.
Oh, who am I kidding?
Most of these episodes are muchlonger than five minutes, but
anyway, you can join me, MicheleKus, every Monday through
Friday as I drop some powerfullittle grace bombs that are

(00:23):
probably gonna be longer thanfive minutes.
It's true, right?
Happy Thursday.
Who else feels like kicking inthe gates of hell today?
So this past Tuesday night I washanging out with my glorious
small group at church.
Shout out to all you awesomewomen of God.
And we were talkingspecifically about praying for

(00:46):
healing and how important it isto keep pressing in and
contending for healing even whenwe see little or no progress
when we pray.
And we talked about the factthat John Wimber, who founded
the Vineyard movement, prayedfor people for like 10 months
before he witnessed his firstphysical healing.

(01:08):
So, despite not seeing anyresults right away, he persisted
and he pressed in and he keptgoing and he kept believing in
God's power to heal.
Todd White is another greatexample of this.
So Todd shares very openlyabout how he prayed for people
for healing for like four and ahalf years before he saw his

(01:32):
first physical healing, four anda half years! His story is a
powerful example of persistenceand radical faith that he's
continuing to pray and pray andpray for people daily, despite
not seeing any results at all.
I mean wow.

(01:54):
So Todd often shares how hewent through this season of
pushing against thisdiscouragement and doubt and how
it ultimately shaped hisunwavering belief in God's
desire to heal people and tolove people.
So you might have your ownstory of how you prayed and you

(02:19):
went after something for weeksor months or years or decades
before you saw a breakthrough.
Or maybe you're still waitingto see your breakthrough, maybe
you're still pressing in, maybeyou're still in that season,
maybe you're pushing againstdiscouragement or doubt.
Think about Jesus.

(02:40):
So here is God in the flesh,had to pray for a man twice for
healing in one story.
You can find that story in Mark, chapter 8, verses 22 through
26.
So in this passage Jesus heals ablind man at Bethsaida.
But the healing actuallyunfolds in stages.

(03:03):
So at first Jesus spits on theman's eyes, you know, which is
always an inviting way to start.
He lays hands on him and asksdo you see anything?
The man looks up and he says Isee people.
They look like trees walkingaround.
So his vision is partiallyrestored.
That's encouraging, but it'snot all the way there.

(03:25):
So Jesus placed his hands onthe man's eyes again, and this
time his sight is completelyrestored and he sees everything
clearly.
This, it's the only recordedinstance in the Gospels.
There may have been more, butit's the only one that was
recorded in the Gospels whereJesus actually prays for someone

(03:46):
in two stages, and we can seefrom that that healing sometimes
can be a process.
It's not always this instantevent, and it shows that Jesus
is compassionate.
He's persistent.
He did not want to leave thisman halfway healed and so he
stayed with him until thehealing was complete.

(04:09):
So even Jesus models tenacity inprayer, just like Todd White,
John Wimber.
There's this tenacity and itencourages us to keep pressing
in, even when we don't seeimmediate results or full
results right away.
We have to have a certainamount of grrr when we are going

(04:29):
after a breakthrough or healing.
Some people will call it gritor tenacity or perseverance, but
I just call it grrr.
So my, my favorite form ofexercise is strength training.
I am not a runner, y'all.
Unless I'm being chased by abear, I am not going to be out

(04:54):
there running just for fun, butif you give me a barbell, I will
deadlift that thing and benchpress that thing all day long.
I love strength training, I lovebuilding muscle and muscles
grow when they are put in frontof resistance.
Lifting weights creates thesetiny little tears, these tiny

(05:19):
little injuries inside themuscle fibers.
And after you rest and have agood, clean, high-protein diet,
something amazing happens themuscles repair themselves.
But more than repair, themuscles actually rebuild
stronger than before.

(05:39):
So spiritually, we go throughthese trials, we have
temptations, we have opposition.
Maybe all of hell is comingagainst you right now and you
pray and you see nothing.
And it puts these tiny tears,these tiny injuries, into your
faith muscles.
It could be tiny tears ofdiscouragement, tiny tears of

(06:03):
doubt, tiny tears of hopedeferred.
And what you need to do is takea rest, take a break, have a
good, clean, high-protein,spiritual diet filling up on
scripture, on belief, on gooddeclarations, prophetic words,

(06:27):
good books, the encouragingwords of others and your faith
muscles not only get repaired,but they are strengthened, and
then you can get back in thereand pray again, and again, and
again.
So when a caterpillar turns intoa butterfly, it has to push and

(06:50):
struggle and fight its way outof that cocoon so it doesn't
just kind of crack open and justfly out of there.
It has to fight its way out,but in so doing, the wings of
that butterfly are becomingstronger and stronger and
stronger so that it's going tobe able to fly.

(07:11):
If that cocoon just crackedopen like an egg, that butterfly
would never leave the ground.
The wings would be too weak tofly.
But because of that resistance,that fighting to get out of
that cocoon, those wings arestrong and ready to fly.
So if you feel like all of hellis coming against you right now

(07:34):
, I have two things for you todo.
Number one go find in the shownotes I'm going to link the song
by Tom Petty called I Won'tBack Down.
That's going to be your anthemfor this season and I want you
to say Today's Kus Word and hereit is Grrr, just kidding.

(07:54):
Today's Kus Word goes likethis: I am getting stronger
every day in the spirit and Iwon't back down.
One more time.
I am getting stronger every dayin the spirit and I won't back

(08:17):
down.
All right, that's what I gotfor you today.
I hope you enjoyed today'sepisode and, if you did, please
share it with a friend who needsto hear this message.
I bet you have one.
I bet you have at least onefriend who needs to hear this
message.
And remember to shoot me a textmessage.
We are an audienceparticipation podcast and I want

(08:42):
to know how you're doing, sotap the link down in the show
notes that says Text Michele andlet me know that you are not
backing down.
Thanks so much for joining metoday and I will see you again
tomorrow.