After a speech, pro life activist Penny Lea was approached by an old man.
Weeping, he told her that he had lived in Germany during the Nazi holocaust. The entire town had heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but like most people today in this country, they tried to distance themselves from the reality of what was really taking place. What could anyone do to stop it A railroad track ran behind their small church. One Sunday morning, they became disturbed when they noticed cries for help coming from the train as it passed by. They grimly realized that the train was carrying Jews.
He then said, “Its was so terribly disturbing! We could do nothing to help these poor miserable people, yet their screams tormented us. We knew exactly at what time that whistle would blow and we decided the only way to keep from being so disturbed by the cries was to start singing hymns. By the time that train came rumbling past the church yard, we were singing at the top of our voices. If some of the screams reached our ears, we would just sing a little louder until we could hear them no more.
Years have passed and no one talks about it much anymore, but I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. I can still hear them crying out for help. God forgive all of us who called ourselves Christian and yet did nothing to intervene.”
The Bible forewarns us with the knowledge that the end days will be very difficult, dangerous and violent. With each passing day a new story emerges that reminds us of just how unsafe and unstable our world is as we stand in the shadows of the end of the age. In fact, we seem to have heard such stories so often that the shock value does not register as high as it once did.
However, to think such stories no longer have an impact on our lives would be false. In Matthew 24:12, Jesus said concerning the last days, “And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold.” The word “iniquity” means lawlessness, rebellion and wickedness. The implication is that the more the world runs wild, the greater the risk we face of becoming hard and calloused. Whenever we hear of crime, conflicts and violence, we have a tendency to close up and go into self-preservation mode.
We are afraid to open the door to those who are strangers. We look the other way from hitchhikers on the side of the road. We stand at a distance to avoid making eye contact with the homeless. We keep the doors of our churches locked and bolted.
The lines are slowly being blurred between shyness and coldness, silence and indifference and being guarded and uncaring.
I like what A.W. Tozer wrote: “Keep me, Lord, from ever hardening down into the state of being just another average Christian.”
Consider with me the ways that we are growing cold.
The forming of selfish instincts.
In II Timothy 3:2, Paul prophetically pointed to a sign of misplaced love in the last days. “For men shall be lovers of their own selves“…. . It is describing someone too intent on their own interest. The moment a child is born, a self-love is firmly enthroned in their hearts. They yell. My ball!” “My spoon” or “My doll!” if that child is not taught to share, take turns or think of others, they will grow into adults who live for self and self alone. Such hearts become the breeding ground for aggressive, competitive spirits consumed with taking rather than giving.
The mentality of pursuing pleasure, success and material treasures at all cost has made idols of things and devalued human life.
On the one end of life, the vast majority of abortions are being performed out of selfish convenience.
On the other end of life, I expect to see in my lifetime when caring for the aged and feeble will so cramp the lifestyles of their children that the aged will be removed so the inheritance is not wasted. Ultimately, to live at the expense or exclusion of others can only produce a miserable existence.
Charles H Parkhurst wrote, “The man who lives by himself and for himself is apt to be corrupted by the company he keeps.”
A man cannot help but grow cold when he has cut himself off from everything and everyone that could have provided warmth.
The fear of social injury.
In II Timothy 3:3, Paul registered a second sign of deformed love in the last days, noting they would be
“without natural affection…” It is describing someone unsocial and unloving towards even those of ones
own family: someone without a natural obligation of love.
No matter whom we engage in life, involvement calls for investment and investment implies risk. Wherever love exists there is always the vulnerability of being hurt.
We have all been used, conned, and manipulated and taken advantage of. Such experiences in life can leave us bitter and cynical. It then seems natural to begin seeking means to insulate ourselves from such hurt and disappointment. However the greater the attempt to keep our hearts unbroken, the more we are becoming unbreakable.
When we talk of the changes in the last thirty years of the church, we can easily identify the worship styles, leadership styles and preaching methods. But, I wonder how many have noticed the dryness in our eyes? We no longer see tears born out of a sense of desperation. We are solemn at a time when there is so much which should cause us to weep.
F.B. Meyer wrote, “ I believe that if there is one thing which pierces the Masters heart with unutterable grief it is not the worlds iniquity but the church’s indifference.”
While the darkness may cast shadows and raise fears, it is not the night that brings death, but rather the chilling frost.
Just because life can be hard does not mean that we have to be.
The forsaking of spiritual intimacy.
In II Timothy 3:4, Paul noted a final sign of declining love in the last days when he said they would be “…lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God…” This does not imply that God is against honest pleasure. The psalmist said “..at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.” The idea is that a love for God is replaced with a burning desire for pleasure. In Revelation 2, Jesus said that the church in Ephesus was a working, disciplined and persevering church. However, in spite of their activity, He said, “…thou hast left thy first love.” It was not they they stopped loving the Lord, but rather that they did not love Him as they once did. The busyness had produced barrenness and their passionate fire was gone. The moment our service becomes hollow and habitual is the moment we risk it becoming hypocritical.
Ugandan minister Festo Kivengere said, “Spiritual indifference is always the result of losing God at the center and source of spiritual vitality.”
After Moses received the 10 Commandments, he had to wear a veil because of the glow of Gods glory on his countenance. Over time, the glow would fade from his appearance.
We seem to live in a world of veiled Christianity today. But perhaps, the veil is only to cover the shameful fact that the glow is gone. When a man has been with the Lord, he cannot hide it nor deny it.
In Matthew 24:7, as Jesus spoke of the signs of the last days, He noted, “and earthquakes, in divers places.”
I’ve wondered, of all the natural disasters Jesus could have mentioned, why did He single out
earthquakes ?
Perhaps Jesus was signaling the fact that in the last days, men will be so hardened that there will be few things left to shake him. With all this happening in our world today, could it be that the Lord is trying to stir us?
The choice is ours to either respond or strike up the band and sing the 30th round of a chorus just a little louder, as the train car full of lost souls makes its way down the tracks.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Friday, March 4, 2016
A Crisis is Coming
President Obama recently made the statement, in effect, that anyone who tells us the economic situation in the United States is not getting better is "peddling fiction." This he said despite the fact that the debt clock is ticking at a rate that will soon have Americans and generations to come owing beyond $20 trillion. Extrapolated out over an extended number of years, some economists are saying unfunded liabilities of this nation amount to in excess of $200 trillion.
Like it or not, believe it or not, you and I are being swept along by the tide of human history toward something profoundly ominous. Hourly news accounts, no matter how much they’ve been doctored to try to present a recovering national and global economic picture, engender fearful concerns about things to come. It is almost impossible to grasp the causes and effects of the evil shaping and moving America and the world toward a destiny the supposed best minds on the planet can’t determine. However, that inability to define the problems, much less find solutions, doesn’t stop them from making seemingly wild stabs at trying to channel all of us into a drastically changed economic national and world order.
But, are their attempts really wild stabs, or is there method to their madness? History is replete with attempts to reshape national and even global economic realities. Money equals power and power exerts control upon this fallen planet. Power is the ultimate endgame of all who seek it for themselves. Henry Kissinger put it this way: “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”
The declaration can be understood in recalling the most ancient of accounts of an infamous personality seeking the greatest of all power:
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (Isaiah 14:13–14)
Humankind's determination to do the same—acquire the power to which the angel named Lucifer aspired—hasn’t changed since the serpent first told Eve that she and Adam would be like God if they ate from the fruit of the forbidden tree (see Genesis 3:5). Tracing the serpent’s trail of power madness to a later time recorded in the Bible (Genesis chapter 11), Nimrod was the would-be one-world- order builder of his day, following the Great Flood of Noah’s time. He, like every megalomaniac since, lusted for God-like power.
Man’s lust for power continues to grow; he has not learned the lessons of the past because, as a whole, he regards the Word of God as irrelevant to the governance of the earth. One philosopher of renown, George Santayana, put it this way: “He who does not remember history is condemned to repeat it.”
The corruption that God saw and condemned in antediluvian times, which caused Him to destroy all upon the earth except eight people, has again reached a dangerous level.
Dictators prove the truth of another bit of philosophical wisdom, this by Lord Edward Acton: “All power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
In my estimation we see this level of power being sought in the words and actions of the current presidential administration. Circumventing the U.S. Constitution at every opportunity because this president has "a phone and a pen" poses a danger to this republic. To at the same time have another branch of government that is supposed to act as a check and balance to an out-of-control executive, yet does nothing to present opposition, creates real and present danger to this nation.
While mainstream media types of network and cable seemingly sway acceptingly in the mesmerizing economic flute notes of the charmer -- the real peddler of fiction -- the immediate future looks ominously bleak, according to true financial experts who are without the benefit of the mainstream's ubiquitous microphones and cameras to get out their warning. The nation and the world are about to experience economic collapse the likes of which has never occurred, is their message.
These are most all in agreement. There will come a trigger point, or a tipping point. This will be one moment in time, and it will prick the immense financial bubble that the money powers that be have manipulated to this point of crisis we face.
My own belief continues to be that it is God's great hand of control rather than the would-be economic masters that has prevented the bubble from bursting. The crisis awaits the moment in time when the Lord, Himself, will burst the bubble.
If one studies carefully the news of late, it becomes clear that the term "cashless system" is coming more and more into vogue.
The economic gurus at the highest levels -- in human terms and in supernatural, satanic terms -- seem to be preparing a system of Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). They want to do away with physical currency and go to the cashless, computer system so they can carry out their sleight-of-hand, monetary machinations electronically.
The marks-and-numbers system of economics of Revelation 13:16-18 is more than just on the drawing board. We are seeing it come to pass in our daily news. All that is required for its implementation is the crisis that will bring it forward. I am convinced that crisis will be created by the Rapture of all who place their complete trust in the finished work of the Cross of Christ.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
What Do You Know of The Religion of Peace?
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (1 John 4:1-3).
These verses are an appropriate start to any discussion about Islam.
Here’s another.
“For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” (2 John 1:7).
Islam epitomizes this spirit of antichrist, forthrightly denying that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save mankind through the power of His atoning blood, was resurrected on the third day and will return again as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Of interest, Muslims do believe that Jesus (known as Isa in Arabic), will return again. Only, Isa will return to tell the world that he was a Muslim and prophet of Allah. This would be quite a declaration, considering Jesus lived, died and was resurrected six-hundred-years before Islam was invented. Then Isa will lead Muslim armies in the slaughter of all Christians and Jews.
So much for the abominable notion: That Jews, Christians and Muslims worship the same god.
The God of the Tanakh, the Jewish Holy Book, which contains what Christians know as the Old Testament, and the Christian God of the Bible (is the only true God).
The god of the Quran is Satan, using the alias, Allah.
Shall we proceed?
To refer to Islam as a false religion is only minimally accurate as Islam is much more. It is a brutal, totalitarian system of governance, controlling every aspect of a person’s life; how you think, how you speak, how you act and interact. Even how you dress. It is not a religion anymore than Nazism or Communism is a religion.
Islam is seditious toward every form of non-Islamic government. Read that again. It seeks to overthrow all governments and replace them with Sharia (Islamic) Law by any means necessary.
Those who seek common ground with Muslims foolishly engage in their own demise.
There is no peaceful co-existence with Islam unless you count the peace of the grave for those who resist.
It is treason against our Constitutional Republic to allow this insurgency of Islam into our nation.
Have you ever wondered what a wholly Satan-concocted government/religious system would look like?
You don’t have to wonder; Islam has been that curse to humanity for just over 1400 years now.
Muslims claim that the Bible is corrupted and that Allah sent his last prophet—Muhammad, to bring his true word to humanity.
It’s stated that Muhammad was chosen because he was a virtuous, perfect man.
Some of his “virtues” include mass murder, rape, pedophilia, thievery, robbery, torture, slavery, blasphemy and habitual lying. In short, he was a self-serving, demented, perverted, psychopath who exemplifies the Muslim ideal.
Let’s test the Islamic theory that the Bible is corrupted.
Is God all-powerful, omniscient and omnipresent? I think all who believe in God would say, “Yes.”
Can the will of all-powerful God (then be thwarted by Satan, man or a combination of the two)? The answer would by necessity be, “No.” (As we’ve acknowledged God’s infinite power and knowledge.)
Mankind was created on earth in the neighborhood of six-thousand-years ago. Archaeological finds prove that the modern Bible is in alignment with discovered ancient biblical texts, therefore the alleged corruption that Muslims claim had to have taken place some time before the earliest artifacts, even at the beginning.
Could it be as claimed by Muslims, that God’s Word was corrupted by Satan and then allowed this corruption to go unchallenged for several millennia, up until fourteen hundred years ago?
Does that make sense to anyone?
Satan got the jump on God and it took him thousands of years to set things right?
When you read the Bible and the Quran, it’s easy to discern which is the inspired Word of God and which is the corrupted utterings of a lunatic.
By the way, the word “lunatic” is derived from the Latin word “lunaticus” meaning, “a madness caused by the moon.” Keep this in mind as you read.
There are two Muslim holy books: The Quran and the Hadith.
The Quran is supposedly comprised of the revelations of Allah to Muhammad while the Hadith is a collection of Muhammad’s sayings.
Neither was penned by Muhammad as he was illiterate.
The two main sects in Islam are Sunni and Shiite.
The difference? Sunnis believe that Mohammed was the last prophet of Allah.
Shiites believe that Mohammed’s cousin, Ali, who was also his son-in-law, was the chosen successor to Mohammed.
It may seem to be a minor difference of opinion, but it’s sufficient for unending bloodshed between Sunnis and Shiites.
Without exaggeration, the Quran is the most rambling, incoherent, twisted and poorly written collection of contradictions that I’ve ever read.
Ridiculous levity aside (Mohammed claimed that drinking his blood or urine or eating his excrement would keep a person from going to hell), evil pervades the entire book.
To understand Islam, one must understand from whence it came.
Before Islam, the dominant theology amongst Arabs was paganism. Of the 360 different pagan gods worshipped, one was named Allah, the moon god. The distinction needs to be made; Allah is not a name of God or even another name for God, it is the pagan-originated name of the false god of Islam.
To this day, the symbol of Islam is the crescent moon and a star. Not coincidentally and a point very revealing, Satan is referred to in the Bible as the son of the morning star. It makes perfect sense: The moon, Satan’s false god, and the star, Satan himself.
This is Islam.
Mohammed was born in Arabia in the town of Medina in 570 AD. He was known to be mentally unstable and went to a cave on occasion for reflection and solitude. At age 40 during one of these sojourns, Mohammed claims to have been approached by Satan, then by Jibril, the Arabic name for the biblical angel Gabriel.
Whether he actually was approached by Satan can be debated. What’s undeniable is that Satan, one way or the other, found in Mohammed the potent mixture of evil, charisma and crazy.
From Jibril, Mohammed claimed to receive revelations from Allah, the pagan god he revered above all the others.
In short, when Mohammed wanted something, he got a revelation confirming it. When caught in a lie, voila, another revelation clearing things up! “Allah says so” became the justification of every kind of ruthless self-indulgence that Mohammed could imagine.
At first, Mohammed had few followers.
During this time his teachings were conciliatory toward Christians and Jews as he lacked the numbers to challenge them openly.
Then he had another revelation: Allah said it was okay to attack caravans and villages, that Muslims could take the livestock, gold and silver as plunder. The captured children could be kept as slaves, the women as concubines and the men slaughtered.
With this new directive serving as a powerful recruiting tool, the number of Muslims quickly grew into the thousands.
Mohammed became a warlord, his later “revelations” reflecting his growing military power.
This is the Mohammed who married a six year-old Aisha, consummating the marriage when she was nine and he in his early fifties. The Mohammed that beheaded 900 captured and bound Jews from the village of Banu Qurayza, their blood filling trenches that he had dug for this slaughter. Water had to be added as the blood coagulated too quickly to achieve the desired visual effect.
Muslims emulate Mohammed. They prefer beheading their enemies because it was his favorite method of execution. Pedophilia is justified because Mohammed was a pedophile. On and on it goes. Mohammed died in 632 AD after being poisoned by one of his wives. His legacy continues to be written in human blood.
It’s imperative that you understand what I’m about to say. The Muslim understanding of the Quran operates on the theory of abrogation. That is, when an earlier verse is contradicted by a later verse, the earlier verse is abrogated, or nullified by the later verse. Mohammed’s later violent verses demanding Muslims war against non-believers cancels 124 earlier verses that advocated peace and friendship with Christians and Jews.
Satan depends on a person’s ignorance of the Bible to mislead and destroy them.
Likewise he depends on our ignorance of the Quran so that we don’t see Islam for the threat that it is.
In Islam there are two houses: Dar-Al Islam, the house of peace for believers, and Dar-Al Harb, the house of war for all the rest of us.
You are an infidel, a kuffar (which is a highly derogatory word in Arabic for a non-believe). As such, you are sub-human and have no rights.
“And wage war for the sake of Allah, and know that Allah is hearing, knowing” (Surah 2:24).
You’ve been fed the lie from presidents, politicians and even some preachers that “peaceful” Islam has been hijacked by a “few radicals and extremists.” Now read the truth. Muslims are commanded in the Quran to wage jihad against non-Muslims without mercy:
“So when the forbidden months are passed [a pre-Islamic tradition of not fighting during a four month period, no longer observed], so kill the polytheists [Christians] wherever you find them, and take them [as captives], and besiege them, and lay in wait for them with every kind of ambush, so if they repent [convert to Islam)] and perform the prayer [the Shahadah] and give the legal alms, so leave their way free. Surely Allah is forgiving, merciful” (Surah 9:5).
The Shahadah is the first of the five pillars of Islam. It is a declaration of faith that must be repeated three times by a convert. “I declare that there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger.”
The Shahadah is a direct denial of Jesus as the Son of God as well a denial of the God of the Bible.
“O you who have believed [Muslims], engage in war against the infidels who are near to you, and let them find in you harshness, and know Allah is with the fearer” (Surah 9:123).
There you have it, infidel. Convert, or be subjugated as a slave (also known as Dhimmitude) or be killed. That’s it. There are no other choices. Many times a jihadist (one who engages in holy war) skips options one and two, going directly to option three.
You need also know that the Quran says that any Muslim who doesn’t wage jihad will go to hell.
“O you who have believed, when you meet those who became infidels marching, do not turn your backs on them. Whoever will turn his back to them on that day, unless he turns strategically to engage in war or to rally some other troop, so indeed will return with wrath from Allah. And hell will be his abode, and wretched will be his final destination” (Surah 8:15-16).
You may have Muslim neighbors who are nice, decent people.
I also know kind folks who are Muslim.
These would be considered secular Muslims just as there are secular Christians; those who claim a faith but don’t commit wholly to the tenets of that faith.
What does the Quran say about such?
“O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Nasara (Christians) as friends. They are friends to one another. And whoever among you takes them as friends, so surely he is of them. Surely Allah does not guide the unjust people” (Surah 5:51).
Thus, as renowned Muslim expert, Robert Spencer states:
There are peaceful Muslims but there is no peaceful Islam.The strength of Islam is that they clearly understand who their enemy is. It’s all non-Muslims, every last one of us. This plays well into our greatest weakness. Despite unnending attacks and atrocities commited all over the globe we still cannot bring ourselves to admit who our real enemy is.
Part Two posting soon
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
A Welcome Correction
In his most famous Psalm, Israel’s most famous shepherd wrote, “Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).
David knew well what a shepherds rod symbolizes.
It speaks of defending, examining and disciplining his sheep. A watchful shepherd will use his “rod” --usually a short wooden club-- to defend his sheep, as if it were an extension of his right arm. He will strike nearby predators with it, throw it at those farther away and beat the bushes to warn snakes and other foes to stay away from his wooly, four-legged followers. The sight of their shepherd with club in hand is an enormous source of security to otherwise defenseless sheep, especially while traversing the deadly, dark “valley of the shadow” (Psalm 23:4). Its an equally strong intimidation to their would-be attackers. Sheep are further relieved by knowing they will pass under their shepherds rod nightly.
To “pass under the rod” refers to a shepherd counting his sheep as they enter the door to their sheep pen every evening. As they enter, the shepherd not only numbers them but also carefully examines them with his eyes and hands for signs of injury, disease, scabs, nose flies or other parasites. Without this close vetting, their hidden ills would remain undetected beneath their thick coats of wool, leaving them weak, sick and vulnerable to predators. This intimate, unerring care warms the hearts of the sheep. They are confident that if in them should be detected any harmful condition, their shepherd will discover and remedy it when they “pass under the rod”.
Conversely the shepherd rod is further used, when necessary, to discipline his sheep. When sheep stray from the safety of their shepherds side and flocks fellowship and come near predators, poisonous weeds or flowers, or other dangers, the shepherd may fling his rod in their direction to alert them to return to safety. If they stubbornly continue in their own way, he may strike them with it! But the temporary discomfort inflicted is motivated by the tenderest of love, to spare them needless, painful wounds or a tragic, premature death at the hands of their ever-waiting, ever-watching, ever-malicious enemies. A shepherd from his youth, David wisely pondered these benefits of the “rod” he used while nurturing Jesses flocks.
Consequently, in his most trying “valleys” he was deeply reassured and relieved every time he remembered that, however chaotic and cruel his circumstances, he was still “under the rod” of the Lord, the heavenly Shepherd; “Thy rod….comforts me.” And it obviously soothed his oft troubled soul whenever he saw the Lord using His “rod” on his enemies, humbling, confounding or turning back those who proudly pursued or plotted against him, such as Saul, Nabal and Shimei.
But David’s insight went even further.
The more he let God humble him, the more David also learned to be comforted rather than chafed when the Lord used His rod on him. Every time the Lords searching examination, precise convictions, or stinging discipline overtook him, though initially distressed, he always found consolation.
How? He recognized the soul and life correction as a sign of the holy love of his Shepherd, who centuries later said “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Revelation 3:19). He also wisely reasoned that the rods agitation was better than its alternative- remaining uncorrected, self deceived, troubled by sin and vulnerable to his persistent, merciless enemies. Inspired by these insights, David meekly vowed to love the rod of reproof even if it were wielded by his peers! “Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness. And let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent perfumed oil, which shall not break my head” (Psalm 141:5)
His quick, quiet, and humble acceptance of the “perfumed oil” of correction applied by Abigail, Natahan, and Joab at crucial moments proved that he meant what he had vowed.
Are we as humble as David or still harboring foolish pride?
Do we rejoice when Gods “rod” stops our enemies, yet chafe when He pokes us by peering under our wooly pride and self-defense to convict us of wrong motives, attitudes, words, actions or reactions, or when He smites us with adversity for persisting in sin or self will?
Isn’t it time that we despise the pride that hates correction and delight in the Spirit who convicts us, the Abigails who counsel us, the Joabs who warn us and the Nathans who face us with our secret hypocrisies. These “rods” are proofs of the Shepherds love----and were far better off with than without them.
Don’t just contemplate the famous words of Israel’s famous psalm.
Live them.
Be comforted not chafed by the Good Shepherd`s rod.
David knew well what a shepherds rod symbolizes.
It speaks of defending, examining and disciplining his sheep. A watchful shepherd will use his “rod” --usually a short wooden club-- to defend his sheep, as if it were an extension of his right arm. He will strike nearby predators with it, throw it at those farther away and beat the bushes to warn snakes and other foes to stay away from his wooly, four-legged followers. The sight of their shepherd with club in hand is an enormous source of security to otherwise defenseless sheep, especially while traversing the deadly, dark “valley of the shadow” (Psalm 23:4). Its an equally strong intimidation to their would-be attackers. Sheep are further relieved by knowing they will pass under their shepherds rod nightly.
To “pass under the rod” refers to a shepherd counting his sheep as they enter the door to their sheep pen every evening. As they enter, the shepherd not only numbers them but also carefully examines them with his eyes and hands for signs of injury, disease, scabs, nose flies or other parasites. Without this close vetting, their hidden ills would remain undetected beneath their thick coats of wool, leaving them weak, sick and vulnerable to predators. This intimate, unerring care warms the hearts of the sheep. They are confident that if in them should be detected any harmful condition, their shepherd will discover and remedy it when they “pass under the rod”.
Conversely the shepherd rod is further used, when necessary, to discipline his sheep. When sheep stray from the safety of their shepherds side and flocks fellowship and come near predators, poisonous weeds or flowers, or other dangers, the shepherd may fling his rod in their direction to alert them to return to safety. If they stubbornly continue in their own way, he may strike them with it! But the temporary discomfort inflicted is motivated by the tenderest of love, to spare them needless, painful wounds or a tragic, premature death at the hands of their ever-waiting, ever-watching, ever-malicious enemies. A shepherd from his youth, David wisely pondered these benefits of the “rod” he used while nurturing Jesses flocks.
Consequently, in his most trying “valleys” he was deeply reassured and relieved every time he remembered that, however chaotic and cruel his circumstances, he was still “under the rod” of the Lord, the heavenly Shepherd; “Thy rod….comforts me.” And it obviously soothed his oft troubled soul whenever he saw the Lord using His “rod” on his enemies, humbling, confounding or turning back those who proudly pursued or plotted against him, such as Saul, Nabal and Shimei.
But David’s insight went even further.
The more he let God humble him, the more David also learned to be comforted rather than chafed when the Lord used His rod on him. Every time the Lords searching examination, precise convictions, or stinging discipline overtook him, though initially distressed, he always found consolation.
How? He recognized the soul and life correction as a sign of the holy love of his Shepherd, who centuries later said “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Revelation 3:19). He also wisely reasoned that the rods agitation was better than its alternative- remaining uncorrected, self deceived, troubled by sin and vulnerable to his persistent, merciless enemies. Inspired by these insights, David meekly vowed to love the rod of reproof even if it were wielded by his peers! “Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness. And let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent perfumed oil, which shall not break my head” (Psalm 141:5)
His quick, quiet, and humble acceptance of the “perfumed oil” of correction applied by Abigail, Natahan, and Joab at crucial moments proved that he meant what he had vowed.
Are we as humble as David or still harboring foolish pride?
Do we rejoice when Gods “rod” stops our enemies, yet chafe when He pokes us by peering under our wooly pride and self-defense to convict us of wrong motives, attitudes, words, actions or reactions, or when He smites us with adversity for persisting in sin or self will?
Isn’t it time that we despise the pride that hates correction and delight in the Spirit who convicts us, the Abigails who counsel us, the Joabs who warn us and the Nathans who face us with our secret hypocrisies. These “rods” are proofs of the Shepherds love----and were far better off with than without them.
Don’t just contemplate the famous words of Israel’s famous psalm.
Live them.
Be comforted not chafed by the Good Shepherd`s rod.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
In our series titled, “Have we been given power to heal in Jesus name,” we’ve been looking at reasons why prayers for healing fail. Today we continue with Part Four.
Please don’t look at any one of these reasons as being necessarily applicable to you.
Such a conclusion would be premature. Rather, you should see them as a set of diagnostic tools. A way to check your spiritual health, if you will, to see if any of them apply so you can take the appropriate action.
Demonic Interference
In the NIV translation, the New Testament contains 82 references to “demon” or “demon possessed” and 8 more for “evil spirit.” The King James does not distinguish between “the devil” and “a demon” using only the word “devil” to describe Satan and all of his hordes as well. But it’s clear that Satan, not being omnipresent, could not perform all of his evil work alone but needs a vast army to assist him.
Most of us will never receive his personal attention, but that doesn’t make us immune to his schemes. His associates are well trained and vigilant, looking for any opportunity to help advance his cause.
Compare them to criminals in the physical world who know what they’re doing is wrong, but they do it anyway thinking they won’t get caught. When they see an open window or a flimsy lock they see a chance and in they go. It’s up to the police to catch them.
Demons operate the same way in the spiritual world, only there the “open window” is behavioral. Paul showed us an example of this in Eph. 4:26-27 when he said, “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.”
Anger that’s not resolved by sundown that same day is an open window through which a demon can crawl and establish a foothold in our mind. Unfortunately, there are no demon police to catch him and carry him away. Once he’s in it’s up to us to get him out.
Other behaviors besides unresolved anger that can leave us with open windows include all kinds of addictions, habitual sexual sin including pornography, and other flagrant sin.
Jesus had some advice on this subject for those who have gotten rid of a demon:
“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.” (Luke 24:24-26)
Leaving a demon’s habitation empty is like hanging out a welcome sign. It must be occupied by something else.
One of the reasons some folks find AA effective is that it replaces the spirit of alcoholism with the Spirit of God. Every recovering addict should receive this advice and take it to heart to avoid reacquiring the addiction.
And Paul said we can demolish the stronghold a demon has built in us with divine weapons we’ve been given as believers.
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:3-5).
Demons want us to believe false doctrine. Once they’re in our mind they begin feeding it to us to cause us to doubt the promises of God, just like the Serpent did to Adam and Eve. These promises include the fact that we can be healed. If the demon can cause us to doubt that, he can hinder our prayers for healing.
When we know what the Bible really says we can dispute the demon, tearing down his arguments, taking the thoughts he feeds us captive to make them obedient to Christ. In the process we demolish his stronghold and force him to leave. James said, Come near to God and He will come near to you. Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7).
Demons can seem like powerful creatures, but John said, “He who is in you greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4), and Paul reminded us, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7).
Remember, these demons know their Bible too, so you can’t just make this up as you go. You have to know what you’re talking about. This is exactly the way Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11) and it’s the way you can defeat the demon you’re fighting, too.
Failing to Steward the Natural
For the most part people ignore their bodies, taking them for granted and acting like they’ll last forever. It’s commonly known that much of what we eat and drink is not what our bodies really need and a lot of it isn’t even good for us. But we go blissfully on not paying any attention to what we ingest, as long as it tastes good, and most of us get away with it.
But there comes a time when some of us get a warning that all is not well. It could be mild or it could be serious, but for most, a couple trips to the doctor and a hand full of drugs with a warning that we should start watching our diet usually puts us back on track, at least for a while. We quickly forget the doctor’s dietary advice, maybe even forget to take the medicine, and go on as if nothing happened.
This is the time when we should get serious about “stewarding the natural.” Signs like this tell us our body needs attention. If we give it what it needs now, better food, reduced weight, no more smoking or drinking, reasonable exercise to work off the stress, faith building prayer and Bible study, we can avoid big problems later. All these things will result in better health, But we don’t apply them, and because we don’t we’re not prepared mentally, physically or spiritually later.
I know of a man who actually got into a huge argument over a scratched fender while he was still in the hospital after suffering a major heart attack, and made his wife, who was responsible, leave the room. The monitors attached to him showed the effect of his anger but he paid no attention. Another acquaintance stopped by a fast food chain on the way back from a trip to the emergency room for a burger and fries. Just minutes earlier the doctor had warned him about the need to reduce his cholesterol.
People like this keep smoking and drinking even though they know they’re poisoning themselves. They maintain their high stress lifestyle, knowing that it’s killing them, but convinced that they’ve beaten the odds. Finally it all comes crashing down and as they listen while their loved ones ask God for healing they finally realize they haven’t taken very good care of themselves. They’ve neglected their mind, their body and especially their faith and are in no way prepared for the ordeal they’re facing.
Our Allotted Time in Life is Fulfilled
“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16).
After Adam and Eve sinned God withdrew the eternal life with which they had been created and they became mortal. He said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever” (Genesis 3:22). He banished them from the Garden and placed a cherub with a flaming sword at the entrance to guard it.
Since that time man has been mortal and God has written in the Book of Life the total of days appointed to each one of us. None of us can know what the total of our days is, but when that total has been reached our time on earth has come to an end.
It’s not that God chooses how many days we’ll get, but that having seen the end from the beginning He has seen our last day and appointed it to be so. In the meantime we can be healed to prevent our days from being shortened, but once our last day has come our time on earth has ended.
The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10)
According to this Psalm, the average life span is about 70 years. But this is a principle and not a rule. And is not meant to imply that we’re guaranteed 70 years of life. However, when a person reaches the upper levels of this 70-80 year range, it does appear likely that his time on earth is nearing an end . It would then seem that prayers for healing would be less likely to be answered.
As an example, while responding to a request for visitation to the hospital to pray for an elderly person who had been admitted that night, and upon arriving at her bedside, she looked at me with piercing eyes and said, “Are you here to pray for me?” When I said yes she said, “Then pray for Jesus to take me home.”
This woman had been in pain for years. She said she was tired, and that although she knew her family would prefer her to stay with them, she felt that it was time for her to go. This woman was sure that if she died she would be with Jesus. So I prayed and I asked for her to be healed, but added that it was her desire to be taken home. It was her desire that the Lord answered, and later that night she died and received the ultimate healing, eternity in the presence of the Lord.
Based on my research, these represent the major reasons why prayers for healing can fail. Certainly there are others. And there are admittedly many unknowns. But my purpose here is to show that God is not arbitrary. He doesn’t heal some and not others based on His own reasons, anymore than He saves some and not others.
The idea that He would do such a thing is simply man’s attempt to justify not being healed. Remember, when we try to justify ourselves, we end up condemning God. Better we should spend a lifetime trying to understand the human component of healing than to spend even one hour trying to make God responsible.
As I’ve indicated before, the reason that this study is being offered is only that I am an evangelical Christian who takes the Bible very seriously, believing it means just what it says.
My goal in posting this study is to see what the Bible actually says about healing, as opposed to what people think it says, and to see if I could find any reasons for the disconnect between what it says our experience should be and what it actually is. My research identified several reasons, which I described in the previous segments.
In this concluding segment, I want to explore what the Bible says about who we are in Christ, and by that I mean what is the extent of our authority in Him.
We all know our destiny is to be kings and priests in the Lord’s Kingdom, but what are we between now and then? Let’s find out.
Ambassadors of Christ
The fact that we’re destined to be kings and priests makes us a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) and having been adopted as God’s own children (Galatians 4:4-7) confirms that we’re part of the ultimate royal family.
In royal families the princes often serve as ambassadors and that’s exactly what Paul called us. Using a Greek word he only applied to us (2 Cor. 5:20) and himself (Eph. 6:20), he called us ambassadors (representatives) of Christ sent with the ministry of reconciliation to reconcile men to God (2 Cor. 5:18-20).
Through the cross, God has made peace with His creation (Colossians 1:19) and as His ambassadors we are called to explain the terms of His peace to all the nations, in other words to share the gospel with them.
When an ambassador is appointed to the country where he will serve, he presents his credentials to the host country. His credentials show he has the authority to act on behalf of his home country’s leaders.
When Jesus sent His original 12 disciples out to minister to the people, He gave them credentials to show they had the authority to act on His behalf. He said, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons” (Matt. 10:8).
Later He sent out 72 others telling them to heal the sick in every town that welcomed them (Luke 10:9). And just before He left, after reminding them that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him, He told His followers of that day and ours:
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:18-19).
To show that we have the authority to act as His ambassadors today, we have also been given the ability to do the things Jesus did.
[He said,] “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing” (John 14:12).
Notice He didn’t say, “Whoever in this generation” or “Whoever until the New Testament is complete” but “Whoever believes in me.” Prefacing His statement with the phrase “Very truly I tell you” indicates He was being as honest and direct as He could possibly be. That means whether you know it or not, you have the authority as the Lord’s ambassador to do the things Jesus did.
We who believe in Jesus have been authorized to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach the gospel, and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
We don’t need anyone’s permission to do these things, they are part of our job, even part of our responsibility. They are what we’ve been sent to do, just as they are what Jesus was sent to do.
Jesus didn’t pray to His Father, asking Him to heal someone if it be His will, He commanded the person to be healed. He commanded demons to depart. He commanded dead people to come to life. He did this because He had the authority to do so.
The disciples didn’t pray to Jesus or the Father, asking for healing on behalf of someone.Instead in Jesus’ name they commanded the sick to be healed, the lame to walk, the demons to depart, the dead to rise. They had been given the authority to do so.
What Can I Do for You, Lord?
So many times I’ve received emails or have counseled with people who say, “I’ve prayed for God to show me what He wants me to do with my life. I keep listening, but I never hear anything back. What’s missing?”
What’s missing is that He’s waiting for us to do what He’s already commissioned us to do as one of His ambassadors.
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach the gospel, and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Why do we expect Him to give us another job when we’ve yet to begin the one he’s already given us?
It doesn’t matter how busy you are or how important your job is, you could find at least a little time to begin acting as an ambassador of the Lord by doing some of the things He has commissioned you to do. Even if you could only commit a few hours a week to this, you would be serving the One who gave His life to redeem yours.
Imagine, if you can, how different the world would be if each of us spent just a little time each week in our role as an ambassador of Christ.
Instead of being known primarily for what we hate, wouldn’t the Church be better known for Who we love? Isn’t that what the Lord wants? (John 13:34-35).
One final word about ambassadors. They don’t try to impose their country’s culture or values on the country they’ve been sent to. And they certainly don’t try to take it over. They know they are guests who serve a special purpose.
In the same way it’s not the Church’s job to take over the world or impose the Christian culture upon it. We are also guests who serve a special purpose. Jesus told the 72 that if they entered a town and were not made to feel welcome, they should leave, shaking the dust from their feet as they did (Luke 10:10-11). And Paul said it’s not our responsibility to judge those outside the Church (1 Cor. 5:12).
Our job is to show them something better by our actions.
So before you say that to be an ambassador for Christ you would have to leave your home and become a missionary in a foreign land, consider this.
“Our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).
No matter where you live on earth, you are only a visitor here, so you could start right where you are.
Our purpose is to introduce the very special benefits of our home country (heaven) to those who live on earth and influence them to change their citizenship.
And how do we do that? The way Jesus told us to.
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach the gospel, and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
If you’ve never done anything like his before, you shouldn’t expect to do all these things successfully right out of the box. For example, just as it takes faith to be healed, it takes faith to heal others. Most of us don’t have that kind of faith because we’ve never developed it, and we’ve never developed it because it has never occurred to us that we could.
But there are thousands of ways to show the gospel to people. All it takes to get started is to make a commitment to do something. And with prayer, study, and practice, we can all learn to do all these things because we have all been given the authority to do them.
It’s who we are in Christ.
Please don’t look at any one of these reasons as being necessarily applicable to you.
Such a conclusion would be premature. Rather, you should see them as a set of diagnostic tools. A way to check your spiritual health, if you will, to see if any of them apply so you can take the appropriate action.
Demonic Interference
In the NIV translation, the New Testament contains 82 references to “demon” or “demon possessed” and 8 more for “evil spirit.” The King James does not distinguish between “the devil” and “a demon” using only the word “devil” to describe Satan and all of his hordes as well. But it’s clear that Satan, not being omnipresent, could not perform all of his evil work alone but needs a vast army to assist him.
Most of us will never receive his personal attention, but that doesn’t make us immune to his schemes. His associates are well trained and vigilant, looking for any opportunity to help advance his cause.
Compare them to criminals in the physical world who know what they’re doing is wrong, but they do it anyway thinking they won’t get caught. When they see an open window or a flimsy lock they see a chance and in they go. It’s up to the police to catch them.
Demons operate the same way in the spiritual world, only there the “open window” is behavioral. Paul showed us an example of this in Eph. 4:26-27 when he said, “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.”
Anger that’s not resolved by sundown that same day is an open window through which a demon can crawl and establish a foothold in our mind. Unfortunately, there are no demon police to catch him and carry him away. Once he’s in it’s up to us to get him out.
Other behaviors besides unresolved anger that can leave us with open windows include all kinds of addictions, habitual sexual sin including pornography, and other flagrant sin.
Jesus had some advice on this subject for those who have gotten rid of a demon:
“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.” (Luke 24:24-26)
Leaving a demon’s habitation empty is like hanging out a welcome sign. It must be occupied by something else.
One of the reasons some folks find AA effective is that it replaces the spirit of alcoholism with the Spirit of God. Every recovering addict should receive this advice and take it to heart to avoid reacquiring the addiction.
And Paul said we can demolish the stronghold a demon has built in us with divine weapons we’ve been given as believers.
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:3-5).
Demons want us to believe false doctrine. Once they’re in our mind they begin feeding it to us to cause us to doubt the promises of God, just like the Serpent did to Adam and Eve. These promises include the fact that we can be healed. If the demon can cause us to doubt that, he can hinder our prayers for healing.
When we know what the Bible really says we can dispute the demon, tearing down his arguments, taking the thoughts he feeds us captive to make them obedient to Christ. In the process we demolish his stronghold and force him to leave. James said, Come near to God and He will come near to you. Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7).
Demons can seem like powerful creatures, but John said, “He who is in you greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4), and Paul reminded us, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7).
Remember, these demons know their Bible too, so you can’t just make this up as you go. You have to know what you’re talking about. This is exactly the way Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11) and it’s the way you can defeat the demon you’re fighting, too.
Failing to Steward the Natural
For the most part people ignore their bodies, taking them for granted and acting like they’ll last forever. It’s commonly known that much of what we eat and drink is not what our bodies really need and a lot of it isn’t even good for us. But we go blissfully on not paying any attention to what we ingest, as long as it tastes good, and most of us get away with it.
But there comes a time when some of us get a warning that all is not well. It could be mild or it could be serious, but for most, a couple trips to the doctor and a hand full of drugs with a warning that we should start watching our diet usually puts us back on track, at least for a while. We quickly forget the doctor’s dietary advice, maybe even forget to take the medicine, and go on as if nothing happened.
This is the time when we should get serious about “stewarding the natural.” Signs like this tell us our body needs attention. If we give it what it needs now, better food, reduced weight, no more smoking or drinking, reasonable exercise to work off the stress, faith building prayer and Bible study, we can avoid big problems later. All these things will result in better health, But we don’t apply them, and because we don’t we’re not prepared mentally, physically or spiritually later.
I know of a man who actually got into a huge argument over a scratched fender while he was still in the hospital after suffering a major heart attack, and made his wife, who was responsible, leave the room. The monitors attached to him showed the effect of his anger but he paid no attention. Another acquaintance stopped by a fast food chain on the way back from a trip to the emergency room for a burger and fries. Just minutes earlier the doctor had warned him about the need to reduce his cholesterol.
People like this keep smoking and drinking even though they know they’re poisoning themselves. They maintain their high stress lifestyle, knowing that it’s killing them, but convinced that they’ve beaten the odds. Finally it all comes crashing down and as they listen while their loved ones ask God for healing they finally realize they haven’t taken very good care of themselves. They’ve neglected their mind, their body and especially their faith and are in no way prepared for the ordeal they’re facing.
Our Allotted Time in Life is Fulfilled
“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16).
After Adam and Eve sinned God withdrew the eternal life with which they had been created and they became mortal. He said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever” (Genesis 3:22). He banished them from the Garden and placed a cherub with a flaming sword at the entrance to guard it.
Since that time man has been mortal and God has written in the Book of Life the total of days appointed to each one of us. None of us can know what the total of our days is, but when that total has been reached our time on earth has come to an end.
It’s not that God chooses how many days we’ll get, but that having seen the end from the beginning He has seen our last day and appointed it to be so. In the meantime we can be healed to prevent our days from being shortened, but once our last day has come our time on earth has ended.
The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10)
According to this Psalm, the average life span is about 70 years. But this is a principle and not a rule. And is not meant to imply that we’re guaranteed 70 years of life. However, when a person reaches the upper levels of this 70-80 year range, it does appear likely that his time on earth is nearing an end . It would then seem that prayers for healing would be less likely to be answered.
As an example, while responding to a request for visitation to the hospital to pray for an elderly person who had been admitted that night, and upon arriving at her bedside, she looked at me with piercing eyes and said, “Are you here to pray for me?” When I said yes she said, “Then pray for Jesus to take me home.”
This woman had been in pain for years. She said she was tired, and that although she knew her family would prefer her to stay with them, she felt that it was time for her to go. This woman was sure that if she died she would be with Jesus. So I prayed and I asked for her to be healed, but added that it was her desire to be taken home. It was her desire that the Lord answered, and later that night she died and received the ultimate healing, eternity in the presence of the Lord.
Based on my research, these represent the major reasons why prayers for healing can fail. Certainly there are others. And there are admittedly many unknowns. But my purpose here is to show that God is not arbitrary. He doesn’t heal some and not others based on His own reasons, anymore than He saves some and not others.
The idea that He would do such a thing is simply man’s attempt to justify not being healed. Remember, when we try to justify ourselves, we end up condemning God. Better we should spend a lifetime trying to understand the human component of healing than to spend even one hour trying to make God responsible.
As I’ve indicated before, the reason that this study is being offered is only that I am an evangelical Christian who takes the Bible very seriously, believing it means just what it says.
My goal in posting this study is to see what the Bible actually says about healing, as opposed to what people think it says, and to see if I could find any reasons for the disconnect between what it says our experience should be and what it actually is. My research identified several reasons, which I described in the previous segments.
In this concluding segment, I want to explore what the Bible says about who we are in Christ, and by that I mean what is the extent of our authority in Him.
We all know our destiny is to be kings and priests in the Lord’s Kingdom, but what are we between now and then? Let’s find out.
Ambassadors of Christ
The fact that we’re destined to be kings and priests makes us a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) and having been adopted as God’s own children (Galatians 4:4-7) confirms that we’re part of the ultimate royal family.
In royal families the princes often serve as ambassadors and that’s exactly what Paul called us. Using a Greek word he only applied to us (2 Cor. 5:20) and himself (Eph. 6:20), he called us ambassadors (representatives) of Christ sent with the ministry of reconciliation to reconcile men to God (2 Cor. 5:18-20).
Through the cross, God has made peace with His creation (Colossians 1:19) and as His ambassadors we are called to explain the terms of His peace to all the nations, in other words to share the gospel with them.
When an ambassador is appointed to the country where he will serve, he presents his credentials to the host country. His credentials show he has the authority to act on behalf of his home country’s leaders.
When Jesus sent His original 12 disciples out to minister to the people, He gave them credentials to show they had the authority to act on His behalf. He said, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons” (Matt. 10:8).
Later He sent out 72 others telling them to heal the sick in every town that welcomed them (Luke 10:9). And just before He left, after reminding them that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him, He told His followers of that day and ours:
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:18-19).
To show that we have the authority to act as His ambassadors today, we have also been given the ability to do the things Jesus did.
[He said,] “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing” (John 14:12).
Notice He didn’t say, “Whoever in this generation” or “Whoever until the New Testament is complete” but “Whoever believes in me.” Prefacing His statement with the phrase “Very truly I tell you” indicates He was being as honest and direct as He could possibly be. That means whether you know it or not, you have the authority as the Lord’s ambassador to do the things Jesus did.
We who believe in Jesus have been authorized to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach the gospel, and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
We don’t need anyone’s permission to do these things, they are part of our job, even part of our responsibility. They are what we’ve been sent to do, just as they are what Jesus was sent to do.
Jesus didn’t pray to His Father, asking Him to heal someone if it be His will, He commanded the person to be healed. He commanded demons to depart. He commanded dead people to come to life. He did this because He had the authority to do so.
The disciples didn’t pray to Jesus or the Father, asking for healing on behalf of someone.Instead in Jesus’ name they commanded the sick to be healed, the lame to walk, the demons to depart, the dead to rise. They had been given the authority to do so.
What Can I Do for You, Lord?
So many times I’ve received emails or have counseled with people who say, “I’ve prayed for God to show me what He wants me to do with my life. I keep listening, but I never hear anything back. What’s missing?”
What’s missing is that He’s waiting for us to do what He’s already commissioned us to do as one of His ambassadors.
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach the gospel, and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Why do we expect Him to give us another job when we’ve yet to begin the one he’s already given us?
It doesn’t matter how busy you are or how important your job is, you could find at least a little time to begin acting as an ambassador of the Lord by doing some of the things He has commissioned you to do. Even if you could only commit a few hours a week to this, you would be serving the One who gave His life to redeem yours.
Imagine, if you can, how different the world would be if each of us spent just a little time each week in our role as an ambassador of Christ.
Instead of being known primarily for what we hate, wouldn’t the Church be better known for Who we love? Isn’t that what the Lord wants? (John 13:34-35).
One final word about ambassadors. They don’t try to impose their country’s culture or values on the country they’ve been sent to. And they certainly don’t try to take it over. They know they are guests who serve a special purpose.
In the same way it’s not the Church’s job to take over the world or impose the Christian culture upon it. We are also guests who serve a special purpose. Jesus told the 72 that if they entered a town and were not made to feel welcome, they should leave, shaking the dust from their feet as they did (Luke 10:10-11). And Paul said it’s not our responsibility to judge those outside the Church (1 Cor. 5:12).
Our job is to show them something better by our actions.
So before you say that to be an ambassador for Christ you would have to leave your home and become a missionary in a foreign land, consider this.
“Our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).
No matter where you live on earth, you are only a visitor here, so you could start right where you are.
Our purpose is to introduce the very special benefits of our home country (heaven) to those who live on earth and influence them to change their citizenship.
And how do we do that? The way Jesus told us to.
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach the gospel, and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
If you’ve never done anything like his before, you shouldn’t expect to do all these things successfully right out of the box. For example, just as it takes faith to be healed, it takes faith to heal others. Most of us don’t have that kind of faith because we’ve never developed it, and we’ve never developed it because it has never occurred to us that we could.
But there are thousands of ways to show the gospel to people. All it takes to get started is to make a commitment to do something. And with prayer, study, and practice, we can all learn to do all these things because we have all been given the authority to do them.
It’s who we are in Christ.
Monday, October 26, 2015
In the last few days, I have been questioned about my doctrinal or denominational affiliation, some ask if I am of the Word of Faith Movement or perhaps of the Charismatic slant. For the record I’m an evangelical who takes the Bible very seriously and who believes it means what it says.
That means I believe God is still in the healing business, because I can’t find any place in the Bible where it says He got out of it.
So I’m trying to convey what the Bible really says about healing and why it doesn't happen for some.
Let us continue our study and look at some more reasons why our prayers for healing sometimes fail and see if we can get to the bottom of this.
Lack of Knowledge
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10)
Because the concept of faith healing is neither taught nor practiced in many churches, a great majority of Christians don't know anything about it.
The idea of going to the elders to ask for prayer, as instructed in James 5:14-16, never occurs to them. Neither would it occur to the elders to offer prayer, because they likely have never been told that's part of their responsibility.
Sometimes, when all the “miracles” of modern medicine have failed them, believers will turn to God in desperation for healing. But even though they know the Lord, they don't have a relationship with Him based on biblical knowledge. Therefore they don’t have an understanding of Him, or His character, or the limitations they may have placed on Him by their own lack of knowledge that can prevent Him from responding to their prayers.
We’ve already discussed the view among some evangelicals that the so-called sign gifts (healing and tongues) were withdrawn when the New Testament became complete, based on an incorrect interpretation of 1 Cor.13:9-12. And we've mentioned others who claim these gifts were a sign to the Jews that Gentiles could receive the Holy Spirit and ceased after the Council of Jerusalem when Gentiles were given direct access into the Church. This can't be documented in Scripture either.
Both of these groups will have difficulty praying for healing because of this.
You can't very well ask God to heal you when you don't believe He does that anymore. (There are some believers in these groups who believe God still heals people, but no longer uses individuals to perform miraculous signs such as healing others. And they condition their belief by saying while God can heal us and we should pray for Him to do so, we shouldn’t be surprised if nothing happens.)
As another example, because of the convoluted teachings of Calvinism, some people think God's sovereignty extends to every event in their life, and that He's actually the cause of their illness, or their child's birth defect, or the accident that left a loved one horribly mangled.
How does one pray for healing to the same God they believe brought these things into their lives for His divine purpose?
Aside from this being a serious assault on the character of God, it forms a cognitive dissonance in the mind of believers that makes it impossible for them to be of one mind when praying together. It’s not hard to see that believing God brings illnesses upon His children to somehow make them better Christians can be a major obstacle when praying for healing from the same illness.
What Does the Bible Say?
God never created anything that wasn’t perfect. And so it was with Adam and Eve. After He created them in His image He told them to be fruitful and multiply, to take dominion over the earth and rule over every living thing (Genesis 1:28). From then on they were in charge of bringing new people into the world and God was no longer directly involved.
But before they began having children, they sinned and their nature was irrevocably changed. When one of their first two children murdered the other one and was banished, it became clear that their children would be born in their fallen image and not God's perfect one.
As their descendants reached child bearing age they joined in. That's why the process is now called procreation. It's also why John described our first birth, the physical one, as being of natural descent, or a human decision, or a husband's will. God is only directly involved in our second birth, the spiritual one (John 1:12-13), the one that makes us perfect again.
When Adam and Eve sinned, Satan used the opportunity to steal dominion of Earth from Adam and is now the god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4) with the whole world under his control (1 John 5:19).
God's once perfect creation was irrevocably changed, allowing sickness, disease and death to become part of the human condition, along with all kinds of sin. The Creation is now a decidedly unfriendly place where evil things can happen to anyone at any time for any reason or no reason at all.
One of the most serious injustices Calvinism has done to God is to blame Him for the work of the devil.
Satan is the one responsible for the sickness and disease, the birth defects, the senseless accidents and all the misery they cause.
Once you understand that, you understand that by praying for healing from one of these things, you're not praying to the one who caused it, but to the One who is the Ultimate Authority with the power to overrule what Satan caused.
We know God wants us to be healed because His name is “The Lord Who Heals You” (Exodus 15:26). His Word is filled with promises of healing that cross dispensational lines and carry no expiration date. He’s waiting for us to develop the same single mindedness of purpose He has about it because His nature is such that He cannot deal with a double minded person.
James said such a person should not expect anything from God (James 1:7-8).
If you’ve been carried away by hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ (Colossians 2:8), I urge you to get back into God’s Word and rebuild the foundation of your relationship with Him based on Biblical knowledge, rather than on Man’s doctrine.
Lack of Faith
Truly I tell you, 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" (Matt. 17:20).
This verse and many others tell us that with sufficient faith we can accomplish anything.
Reading the stories of those who've been called into a healing ministry, I was surprised to learn that even though they were called and obeyed the call, they went through a period of praying for people without success before experiencing their first healing.
And even then, their first successes were often small ones, aches and pains and such. Then, as their faith grew, they were able to tackle larger challenges successfully. All of them attributed this to their own lack of faith at the beginning.
This tells us that the faith to be healed is not something we can take for granted. After all, most of us haven't done anything to develop such a faith.
At the first sign of a little ache or pain, we don't look for someone to pray for us, we head for the medicine chest or the drug store for a pill or potion.
As a result our faith never has a chance to grow. Then, when something serious happens we're not prepared with the faith to meet the challenge so we look instead to doctors, hospitals and such for healing. We don't realize we've replaced our Lord's promise to heal us with the medical profession. As a society we spend billions on health care every year while the God who promised to heal us for free stands by waiting for the call that never comes.
Then, if all else fails and we do go to someone for prayer we say, “I had the faith, but the Lord didn’t heal me. How come?” Well, according to a literal reading of the Bible, if we had the faith we would be healed, to which I add, if we had exercised and developed our faith we would have it. Remember, Jesus never said, “My faith has healed you” but He often said, “Your faith has healed you.”
Perhaps this is why so many of the reports of supernatural healing we hear today come from underdeveloped countries where there is no alternative to God’s provision and where faith is a necessary component to successful living. It’s reported that thousands come to faith every day, many because they’ve been healed and others because they saw someone else being healed.
Faith Comes Through Hearing
When you were searching for better solutions to the problems of your life you began to give consideration to the Gospel. God, in His grace, invested in you the faith to believe the death of His Son had paid the penalty for all your sins.
“For it is by grace you have been saved by faith, and this is not of yourself, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).
Because of that gift of faith, you believed and were saved. If you're like most new believers, what followed was an immersion in the gospel of your salvation. You read and listened to everything you could find on the subject. You began attending a Bible Study. You discussed it with like-minded friends.
You heard the message repeatedly in church. You saw others being saved. As a result, your faith grew stronger until you no longer have even a shadow of doubt about your eternal destiny, and today you eagerly await the Savior you know is coming for you.
Now, compare that with your experience where healing is concerned. That same gift of faith that saved you was meant to grow into a belief that the God who saved you can also heal you. But for most of us that hasn't happened. We haven’t read and listened to everything we could find on the subject. We haven’t attended Bible studies on healing, or discussed it with like-minded believers.
We don't hear messages about healing from the pulpit. We haven’t seen other people being healed, nor have we asked for prayer for our own healing. As a result our faith in God’s power to heal us has never grown, but has all but withered away.
I am by no means trying to justify all the excesses of the Charismatic movement, but perhaps one of the reasons why they're the ones who are experiencing healing in their midst is that they're the ones teaching it, preaching it, talking about it, studying it, and practicing it.
One of the dangers in taking these reasons one or two at a time is it's easy to conclude that each one is the only one. But I'd like you to think of them as diagnostic tools instead, using each one to give yourself a checkup. Each time you find something amiss, and can act to correct or eliminate it.
In the case of this one, you can start building your faith by study and exercise. Go back and really read “Have we been given power to heal in Jesus name” carefully, taking time to look up the citations I’ve included.
If you have some like-minded friends ask them to join you in a study group on healing.
Be careful not to invite anyone who isn’t open to the idea.
Commit to pray for each other for healing.
Then, before you automatically reach for that bottle of pain reliever for some minor ache or pain, ask one or two of them to pray with you instead. If nothing happens the first few times don't be discouraged. Keep studying and learning. As your faith grows you could soon see a miraculous healing.
Part 4 to be posted in a few days.
That means I believe God is still in the healing business, because I can’t find any place in the Bible where it says He got out of it.
So I’m trying to convey what the Bible really says about healing and why it doesn't happen for some.
Let us continue our study and look at some more reasons why our prayers for healing sometimes fail and see if we can get to the bottom of this.
Lack of Knowledge
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10)
Because the concept of faith healing is neither taught nor practiced in many churches, a great majority of Christians don't know anything about it.
The idea of going to the elders to ask for prayer, as instructed in James 5:14-16, never occurs to them. Neither would it occur to the elders to offer prayer, because they likely have never been told that's part of their responsibility.
Sometimes, when all the “miracles” of modern medicine have failed them, believers will turn to God in desperation for healing. But even though they know the Lord, they don't have a relationship with Him based on biblical knowledge. Therefore they don’t have an understanding of Him, or His character, or the limitations they may have placed on Him by their own lack of knowledge that can prevent Him from responding to their prayers.
We’ve already discussed the view among some evangelicals that the so-called sign gifts (healing and tongues) were withdrawn when the New Testament became complete, based on an incorrect interpretation of 1 Cor.13:9-12. And we've mentioned others who claim these gifts were a sign to the Jews that Gentiles could receive the Holy Spirit and ceased after the Council of Jerusalem when Gentiles were given direct access into the Church. This can't be documented in Scripture either.
Both of these groups will have difficulty praying for healing because of this.
You can't very well ask God to heal you when you don't believe He does that anymore. (There are some believers in these groups who believe God still heals people, but no longer uses individuals to perform miraculous signs such as healing others. And they condition their belief by saying while God can heal us and we should pray for Him to do so, we shouldn’t be surprised if nothing happens.)
As another example, because of the convoluted teachings of Calvinism, some people think God's sovereignty extends to every event in their life, and that He's actually the cause of their illness, or their child's birth defect, or the accident that left a loved one horribly mangled.
How does one pray for healing to the same God they believe brought these things into their lives for His divine purpose?
Aside from this being a serious assault on the character of God, it forms a cognitive dissonance in the mind of believers that makes it impossible for them to be of one mind when praying together. It’s not hard to see that believing God brings illnesses upon His children to somehow make them better Christians can be a major obstacle when praying for healing from the same illness.
What Does the Bible Say?
God never created anything that wasn’t perfect. And so it was with Adam and Eve. After He created them in His image He told them to be fruitful and multiply, to take dominion over the earth and rule over every living thing (Genesis 1:28). From then on they were in charge of bringing new people into the world and God was no longer directly involved.
But before they began having children, they sinned and their nature was irrevocably changed. When one of their first two children murdered the other one and was banished, it became clear that their children would be born in their fallen image and not God's perfect one.
As their descendants reached child bearing age they joined in. That's why the process is now called procreation. It's also why John described our first birth, the physical one, as being of natural descent, or a human decision, or a husband's will. God is only directly involved in our second birth, the spiritual one (John 1:12-13), the one that makes us perfect again.
When Adam and Eve sinned, Satan used the opportunity to steal dominion of Earth from Adam and is now the god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4) with the whole world under his control (1 John 5:19).
God's once perfect creation was irrevocably changed, allowing sickness, disease and death to become part of the human condition, along with all kinds of sin. The Creation is now a decidedly unfriendly place where evil things can happen to anyone at any time for any reason or no reason at all.
One of the most serious injustices Calvinism has done to God is to blame Him for the work of the devil.
Satan is the one responsible for the sickness and disease, the birth defects, the senseless accidents and all the misery they cause.
Once you understand that, you understand that by praying for healing from one of these things, you're not praying to the one who caused it, but to the One who is the Ultimate Authority with the power to overrule what Satan caused.
We know God wants us to be healed because His name is “The Lord Who Heals You” (Exodus 15:26). His Word is filled with promises of healing that cross dispensational lines and carry no expiration date. He’s waiting for us to develop the same single mindedness of purpose He has about it because His nature is such that He cannot deal with a double minded person.
James said such a person should not expect anything from God (James 1:7-8).
If you’ve been carried away by hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ (Colossians 2:8), I urge you to get back into God’s Word and rebuild the foundation of your relationship with Him based on Biblical knowledge, rather than on Man’s doctrine.
Lack of Faith
Truly I tell you, 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" (Matt. 17:20).
This verse and many others tell us that with sufficient faith we can accomplish anything.
Reading the stories of those who've been called into a healing ministry, I was surprised to learn that even though they were called and obeyed the call, they went through a period of praying for people without success before experiencing their first healing.
And even then, their first successes were often small ones, aches and pains and such. Then, as their faith grew, they were able to tackle larger challenges successfully. All of them attributed this to their own lack of faith at the beginning.
This tells us that the faith to be healed is not something we can take for granted. After all, most of us haven't done anything to develop such a faith.
At the first sign of a little ache or pain, we don't look for someone to pray for us, we head for the medicine chest or the drug store for a pill or potion.
As a result our faith never has a chance to grow. Then, when something serious happens we're not prepared with the faith to meet the challenge so we look instead to doctors, hospitals and such for healing. We don't realize we've replaced our Lord's promise to heal us with the medical profession. As a society we spend billions on health care every year while the God who promised to heal us for free stands by waiting for the call that never comes.
Then, if all else fails and we do go to someone for prayer we say, “I had the faith, but the Lord didn’t heal me. How come?” Well, according to a literal reading of the Bible, if we had the faith we would be healed, to which I add, if we had exercised and developed our faith we would have it. Remember, Jesus never said, “My faith has healed you” but He often said, “Your faith has healed you.”
Perhaps this is why so many of the reports of supernatural healing we hear today come from underdeveloped countries where there is no alternative to God’s provision and where faith is a necessary component to successful living. It’s reported that thousands come to faith every day, many because they’ve been healed and others because they saw someone else being healed.
Faith Comes Through Hearing
When you were searching for better solutions to the problems of your life you began to give consideration to the Gospel. God, in His grace, invested in you the faith to believe the death of His Son had paid the penalty for all your sins.
“For it is by grace you have been saved by faith, and this is not of yourself, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).
Because of that gift of faith, you believed and were saved. If you're like most new believers, what followed was an immersion in the gospel of your salvation. You read and listened to everything you could find on the subject. You began attending a Bible Study. You discussed it with like-minded friends.
You heard the message repeatedly in church. You saw others being saved. As a result, your faith grew stronger until you no longer have even a shadow of doubt about your eternal destiny, and today you eagerly await the Savior you know is coming for you.
Now, compare that with your experience where healing is concerned. That same gift of faith that saved you was meant to grow into a belief that the God who saved you can also heal you. But for most of us that hasn't happened. We haven’t read and listened to everything we could find on the subject. We haven’t attended Bible studies on healing, or discussed it with like-minded believers.
We don't hear messages about healing from the pulpit. We haven’t seen other people being healed, nor have we asked for prayer for our own healing. As a result our faith in God’s power to heal us has never grown, but has all but withered away.
I am by no means trying to justify all the excesses of the Charismatic movement, but perhaps one of the reasons why they're the ones who are experiencing healing in their midst is that they're the ones teaching it, preaching it, talking about it, studying it, and practicing it.
One of the dangers in taking these reasons one or two at a time is it's easy to conclude that each one is the only one. But I'd like you to think of them as diagnostic tools instead, using each one to give yourself a checkup. Each time you find something amiss, and can act to correct or eliminate it.
In the case of this one, you can start building your faith by study and exercise. Go back and really read “Have we been given power to heal in Jesus name” carefully, taking time to look up the citations I’ve included.
If you have some like-minded friends ask them to join you in a study group on healing.
Be careful not to invite anyone who isn’t open to the idea.
Commit to pray for each other for healing.
Then, before you automatically reach for that bottle of pain reliever for some minor ache or pain, ask one or two of them to pray with you instead. If nothing happens the first few times don't be discouraged. Keep studying and learning. As your faith grows you could soon see a miraculous healing.
Part 4 to be posted in a few days.
Friday, October 16, 2015
People come up with all kinds of reasons why prayers for healing aren’t answered, most of them placing the responsibility on God. He’s not doing that anymore, it wasn’t His will, or His timing. He gave you your disease to help you become a better Christian. He did answer your prayer and the answer was no, and the list goes on.
It’s obvious that many prayers for healing go unanswered but in this study I’d like us to consider that God is not the problem.
He calls Himself the God who heals us (Exodus 15:26, Psalm 103:3). His word tells us that one result of the suffering and death of His Son is so we can be healed (Isaiah 53:4-5).
When we’re sick, His word instructs us to go to the elders for prayer and promises us that the prayer offered in faith will make us well (James 5:14-16).
The New Testament contains many examples of the Lord and His apostles healing people without a single verse to justify man’s opinion that all that somehow stopped. In fact, news from around the world tells us of numerous healings happening in our time.
Because so much of the Western church denies the existence of supernatural healing today there are no ”official” statistics on the reasons why prayers for healing fail. But having done a fair amount of research on the subject I can give you an unofficial list of the top reasons faith healers from all over the spectrum that we have compiled over the years.
Unforgiveness
By far the number one reason is our unwillingness to forgive those who have wronged us. In doing so we think we’re punishing the other person, but it turns out we’re the ones who suffer for it. Here’s why.
In Matt 6:14-15 Jesus said, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
Remember, there are two kinds of forgiveness believers receive. One is the forgiveness that brings salvation and eternal life. It’s a once for all time unconditional forgiveness that cannot be revoked (Eph. 1:13-14).
The second is the forgiveness believers seek when they sin. It’s the forgiveness that keeps us in fellowship with God while we’re here on earth. This is the forgiveness John spoke about in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
In Matt. 6:9-13 Jesus was teaching the disciples how to pray by giving them what we call the Lord’s prayer. Only a believer can call God "Our Father in Heaven" (John 1:12-13) so Jesus was not talking about the forgiveness that brings salvation, but the forgiveness that keeps us in good standing with God. Among other things, this forgiveness is conditional upon us forgiving those who sin against us.
Paul explained it this way.
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Eph. 4:26-27).
If we let the day end without forgiving the person who has made us angry we’re sinning. This will give the devil a foothold in our life which, if we continue in our unforgiveness, he will build into a stronghold, causing it to fester until it can actually turn into a sickness or disease.
I know of some God fearing born-again believers who have held on to their anger toward someone who wronged them for decades. It has made them bitter, unloving, untrusting, and in some cases physically ill, and yet they adamantly refuse to forgive the person who wronged them.
What a different life they could be enjoying.
Our prayers to be healed from a sickness or disease caused by this anger will go unanswered until we confess our sin to the Lord and are forgiven. And we can’t just go through the motions hoping the Lord will heal us if we say the right words. He knows the motives of our heart and is not happy when people try to fool Him. We have to sincerely forgive the other person. If we can, we should forgive the person face to face. If not, we can confess our sin to the Lord and ask His forgiveness.
Remember, James 5:16 tells us to confess our sins to each other so we can be healed. Confession purifies us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9) and makes our prayers powerful and effective.
The Unmerciful Servant
The Lord explained all this in greater detail in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant Matt. 18:21-35:
“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?
Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven times.’
Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
What Does That Mean to Us?
We’ve often discussed the nature of parables; how they’re heavenly stories put into an earthly context and how the major characters always symbolize others. In the case of this parable the King is the Lord, you and I are His servants, the debts we owe represent our sins, and the jailer is Satan.
The King had forgiven a debt the servant couldn’t have repaid in a thousand lifetimes, and did so simply because he was asked to. The servant on the other hand demanded full and immediate payment from a friend for a much, much smaller sum. But the issue is not the legitimacy or even the size of the debt, it’s the comparative value.
Shouldn’t being released from the burden of a debt so large he could never repay it have made the servant more forgiving toward his fellow servant?
The servant’s demand for payment demonstrated his lack of gratitude for what the King had done for him. That’s what aroused the King’s anger, and He turned the servant over to the jailer.
Our debt of sin against the Lord is similarly impossible to repay, but in the Lord’s case He can’t simply overlook it. His requirement for justice demands the debt be paid in full. Knowing we could never pay it, He sent His Son to pay it for us. This freed Him to completely and unconditionally forgive us just because we ask Him to.
Don’t forget, from the Lord’s point of view we were all murderers, adulterers, blasphemers, thieves and such when He forgave us (Eph. 2:1-5). These are all crimes punishable by death.
We’ve been forgiven so much, isn’t even a significant sacrifice justifiable under the circumstances?
What offense would be too large to forgive in others when compared with what the Lord has forgiven in us?
Our unwillingness to forgive legitimate sins others commit against us demonstrates our ingratitude for what the Lord has done for us.
It’s the result of the typical human double standard wherein we demand justice from others while expecting mercy for ourselves. This ingratitude is itself a sin and like all unconfessed sin can cause us to miss out on blessings we might have otherwise received.
It also leaves us open to attack by our enemy which may even subject us to torment from the enemy. That’s why, in the parable, the jailer represents Satan.
The great lesson of this parable is in the Lord’s final statement.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart” (Matt. 18:35).
Please read this carefully. If your health issues are due to your refusal to forgive someone who has wronged you in the past, you can’t blame God.
Holding onto your hurt or anger has put you out of fellowship with Him and given the devil a foothold in your life, which he has turned into a health problem for you.
Matt. 6:14-15 says God can’t forgive you for your sin of unforgiveness until you forgive the one who wronged you from your heart. Your sin of unforgiveness is blocking your prayers for healing.
Don’t take this lightly. When I asked the Lord to show me all the people in my life I had failed to forgive, I was amazed at the number. It seems like every day for weeks He was recalling another incident to my mind
Ask Him the same question and when He brings someone to mind, forgive him or her from your heart. It doesn’t matter if your feelings were justified, the Lord would have been justified in refusing to forgive you, but He did it anyway. Consider that truth and attempt to go and do the same.
The Bible spends a lot of time on this subject and we must as well.
In the next posting we will continue to examine the reasons that we may not see prayers for healing fullfilled.
It’s obvious that many prayers for healing go unanswered but in this study I’d like us to consider that God is not the problem.
He calls Himself the God who heals us (Exodus 15:26, Psalm 103:3). His word tells us that one result of the suffering and death of His Son is so we can be healed (Isaiah 53:4-5).
When we’re sick, His word instructs us to go to the elders for prayer and promises us that the prayer offered in faith will make us well (James 5:14-16).
The New Testament contains many examples of the Lord and His apostles healing people without a single verse to justify man’s opinion that all that somehow stopped. In fact, news from around the world tells us of numerous healings happening in our time.
Because so much of the Western church denies the existence of supernatural healing today there are no ”official” statistics on the reasons why prayers for healing fail. But having done a fair amount of research on the subject I can give you an unofficial list of the top reasons faith healers from all over the spectrum that we have compiled over the years.
Unforgiveness
By far the number one reason is our unwillingness to forgive those who have wronged us. In doing so we think we’re punishing the other person, but it turns out we’re the ones who suffer for it. Here’s why.
In Matt 6:14-15 Jesus said, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
Remember, there are two kinds of forgiveness believers receive. One is the forgiveness that brings salvation and eternal life. It’s a once for all time unconditional forgiveness that cannot be revoked (Eph. 1:13-14).
The second is the forgiveness believers seek when they sin. It’s the forgiveness that keeps us in fellowship with God while we’re here on earth. This is the forgiveness John spoke about in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
In Matt. 6:9-13 Jesus was teaching the disciples how to pray by giving them what we call the Lord’s prayer. Only a believer can call God "Our Father in Heaven" (John 1:12-13) so Jesus was not talking about the forgiveness that brings salvation, but the forgiveness that keeps us in good standing with God. Among other things, this forgiveness is conditional upon us forgiving those who sin against us.
Paul explained it this way.
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Eph. 4:26-27).
If we let the day end without forgiving the person who has made us angry we’re sinning. This will give the devil a foothold in our life which, if we continue in our unforgiveness, he will build into a stronghold, causing it to fester until it can actually turn into a sickness or disease.
I know of some God fearing born-again believers who have held on to their anger toward someone who wronged them for decades. It has made them bitter, unloving, untrusting, and in some cases physically ill, and yet they adamantly refuse to forgive the person who wronged them.
What a different life they could be enjoying.
Our prayers to be healed from a sickness or disease caused by this anger will go unanswered until we confess our sin to the Lord and are forgiven. And we can’t just go through the motions hoping the Lord will heal us if we say the right words. He knows the motives of our heart and is not happy when people try to fool Him. We have to sincerely forgive the other person. If we can, we should forgive the person face to face. If not, we can confess our sin to the Lord and ask His forgiveness.
Remember, James 5:16 tells us to confess our sins to each other so we can be healed. Confession purifies us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9) and makes our prayers powerful and effective.
The Unmerciful Servant
The Lord explained all this in greater detail in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant Matt. 18:21-35:
“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?
Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven times.’
Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
What Does That Mean to Us?
We’ve often discussed the nature of parables; how they’re heavenly stories put into an earthly context and how the major characters always symbolize others. In the case of this parable the King is the Lord, you and I are His servants, the debts we owe represent our sins, and the jailer is Satan.
The King had forgiven a debt the servant couldn’t have repaid in a thousand lifetimes, and did so simply because he was asked to. The servant on the other hand demanded full and immediate payment from a friend for a much, much smaller sum. But the issue is not the legitimacy or even the size of the debt, it’s the comparative value.
Shouldn’t being released from the burden of a debt so large he could never repay it have made the servant more forgiving toward his fellow servant?
The servant’s demand for payment demonstrated his lack of gratitude for what the King had done for him. That’s what aroused the King’s anger, and He turned the servant over to the jailer.
Our debt of sin against the Lord is similarly impossible to repay, but in the Lord’s case He can’t simply overlook it. His requirement for justice demands the debt be paid in full. Knowing we could never pay it, He sent His Son to pay it for us. This freed Him to completely and unconditionally forgive us just because we ask Him to.
Don’t forget, from the Lord’s point of view we were all murderers, adulterers, blasphemers, thieves and such when He forgave us (Eph. 2:1-5). These are all crimes punishable by death.
We’ve been forgiven so much, isn’t even a significant sacrifice justifiable under the circumstances?
What offense would be too large to forgive in others when compared with what the Lord has forgiven in us?
Our unwillingness to forgive legitimate sins others commit against us demonstrates our ingratitude for what the Lord has done for us.
It’s the result of the typical human double standard wherein we demand justice from others while expecting mercy for ourselves. This ingratitude is itself a sin and like all unconfessed sin can cause us to miss out on blessings we might have otherwise received.
It also leaves us open to attack by our enemy which may even subject us to torment from the enemy. That’s why, in the parable, the jailer represents Satan.
The great lesson of this parable is in the Lord’s final statement.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart” (Matt. 18:35).
Please read this carefully. If your health issues are due to your refusal to forgive someone who has wronged you in the past, you can’t blame God.
Holding onto your hurt or anger has put you out of fellowship with Him and given the devil a foothold in your life, which he has turned into a health problem for you.
Matt. 6:14-15 says God can’t forgive you for your sin of unforgiveness until you forgive the one who wronged you from your heart. Your sin of unforgiveness is blocking your prayers for healing.
Don’t take this lightly. When I asked the Lord to show me all the people in my life I had failed to forgive, I was amazed at the number. It seems like every day for weeks He was recalling another incident to my mind
Ask Him the same question and when He brings someone to mind, forgive him or her from your heart. It doesn’t matter if your feelings were justified, the Lord would have been justified in refusing to forgive you, but He did it anyway. Consider that truth and attempt to go and do the same.
The Bible spends a lot of time on this subject and we must as well.
In the next posting we will continue to examine the reasons that we may not see prayers for healing fullfilled.
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