Joel and Brian both share things they claim took them over twenty years to learn that they wish they knew earlier. What are those things? Listen to find out

This week’s intro: Game On, by Disciple

Related Reading

Faith is Not Mental, Speaking to Mountains,

Believe That You Have Received,

How To Increase Your Faith For the Impossible part 1, & part 2,

If you’d like to subscribe to the Fire On Your Head Podcast, visit our directory in iTunes,  or visit FireOnYourHead.com for more subscription options.

This week’s intro: Surface of the Sun by All Star United

Download this episode (right click and save)

Relevant Fire Press Posts:

The Manifold Wisdom of God, Where Heaven Meets Earth, Supernatural (by Dave)

Believe That You Have Received, 8 Lies People Believe About Divine Healing, The Spirit and the Word, by Steve Bremner

New Life in Christ Series by Josh Kirkland

If you’d like to subscribe to the Fire On Your Head Podcast, visit our directory in iTunes,  or visit FireOnYourHead.com for more subscription options.

It’s been a while since I’ve written or posted anything about my favorite Bible doctrine or topic; divine healing. I’ve written quite a bit on the subject on both my blog, and Fire Press, and have taught this to seminary students in South America, and most importantly, put I’ve into practice what I preach and have hit the streets looking for people who’d let me pray for them and share the Gospel.

By no means do I count myself an expert, because frankly, the whole Body of Christ should be manifesting His presence, and seeing people healed, set free, delivered, saved, whatever term you want to use–it encompasses the whole person–not just some special “healing experts”.

That all being said, I feel I could summarize the most common misconceptions and hindrances people have regarding God’s will to heal them, and I present to you the following in no particular order.  First, though, allow me to say that in no way am I trying to be insensitive if you’re reading this and are sick yourself, know someone who is, or have lost a loved one.  The following post does not address every single point in detail that it could, but I believe browsing the appropriate links to further study on many of the following points will greatly enrich the reader and encourage them in regard to faith and healing.

1. “I’m Not Good Enough”

And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all. (Luke 6:17-19 English Standard Version, emphasis mine)

Everybody was healed. In a crowd of this magnitude, it’s more than certain there would be people of all stages of life represented, but yet everybody got the exact same result: healed in their body.

2. “God is Working On My Character”

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom andhealing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. (Matthew 4:23-25, ESV, emphasis mine)

This passage very closely mirrors the one selected to refute lie number 1 above, however, in contradiction to the lie that God uses sickness and disease to refine our character–because of erroneously quoted, misinterpreted and mis-taught passages of Scripture used as a proof texts–it should be noted that in this crowd of “all being healed”, there were demon possessed people–who probably had room for improvement as far as their character goes! These individuals did not get healed only after their character was healed, but immediately.

For more on that, check out the Fire On Your Head Podcast episode, Developing Supernatural Expectancy.

3. “God is Teaching Me A Lesson”

I’m aware that I’m making a generality in saying the following, and it’s not true of everybody, but common enough to state that I’ve seen many people point to Paul’s thorn in the flesh as some kind of proof text regarding this lie. Since I’ve done an extensive, but concise study on it, I’m not going to elaborate too thoroughly on this point, other than to post yet another passage of Jesus healing everybody, not just the ones that had learned all the lessons they needed:

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.(Matthew 9:35, emphasis mine)

It’s highly likely, since everybody was getting healed in these cities and villages, again, that people of all stages and walks of life would have been represented and therefore some being taught lessons in some ways in their lives, which excluded sickness and illness being some kind of method God was using. If God was teaching people lessons using sickness, then Jesus was contradicting or even rebelling against God’s plans for these people by healing them. But we know Jesus did what He saw the Father doing.

4. “It’s Not God’s Time”

When IS God’s time? This also sounds pious and religious, but is usually invented by people who are seeking a healing in their body but haven’t obtained it, or gave up before receiving the miracle. Nowhere in Scripture do we find that God withholds the healing until a certain vague and nebulous time. Healing is a part of the atonement on the cross, and if today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2), then today is also the day for healing (salvation of a physical body).

But in the meantime, notice that Jesus in his ministry healed people spontaneously in Matthew 14:14, where it says

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Notice it was compassion that caused him to heal the sick when he came across them here, not timing.

Also, recall with me the passage of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda in John’s Gospel,

In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. (John 5:3-4, NKJV)

Note:

• This passage proves that God did not determine who got healed, when they got healed or of what they got healed from.
• This proves God does not dictate the time of a person’s healing
• This also proves that God did not determine that some people should keep their illness until they had learned something (There goes the “I’m sick because God’s trying to teach me a lesson” lie).
• This also proves that God does not will some to be healed and for others to stay sick (There goes the “It’s not God’s will to heal everybody” doctrine).
  
• Notice that there is no mention of repentance from sin. This story proves that the Passover (Jesus) is our total freedom from sickness and disease.

For more on healing in the Atonement, check out this article by Joel Crumpton on Fire Press called Healing For The Follower of Jesus – Why and When?

5. “Sickness Is How We Die”

I wish to be respectful of any who are reading this and may have lost a loved one to cancer or terminal disease. It may be fact that it has happened, and nothing can be done now, and you may struggle with my saying this, but it was NOT God’s best intention for them–especially if they weren’t a believer! It’s the enemy (Satan) who seeks to steal, kill and destroy. For a brief yet thorough study on this, check out my post “Death and Healing“. In it, I tackle another lie I could have posted in this list that says “if healing is always God’s will, then we’d never die.”  I encourage the reader to give it a look, because my synopsis was yes, we WILL die one day, the same way a car wears out and eventually a new one is needed. But that doesn’t mean we blow the car up one day and then decide to buy a new one.  I stated in it:

When Adam and Eve were punished for their disobedience, God says in Genesis 3:22:

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever–” therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken…

Consider this: In order for God to banish them so that they won’t eat of the tree of life and live forever, it implies they were not going to live forever unless they ate it. This was AFTER they sinned and were now in a fallen state…

God refusing to allow Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of life now that they are corrupt and defiled, was an act of his mercy—He didn’t want man living forever in their sinful flesh, and in a fallen world. That, would be hell. Hell is eternity in sin cut off from the Lord, and if Adam ate of the fruit from the tree of life, it would not have been much better than an eternity in hell will be.1

Also, consider the meaning of the Greek word “Sozo”: to save; to preserve from harm; to keep; to rescue. Sin and sickness are both forms of death, and Jesus delivers and saves from both. The same way one woman’s faith forgave her of her sins (Luke 7:50), another woman’s faith healed her of her issue of blood (Luke 8:48). A few verses after the latter, in Luke 8:50, Jesus tells Jairus, to not fear but only believe, and his daughter will be made well (sozo). This turned out to be a dead-raising, not a healing, so to speak, but the same concept is applied and the same word is used throughout the New Testament.

Also take a look at the following Old Testament passage;

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6, NIV, emphasis mine)

Notice the interchanging of both being healed and being forgiven, by what happened to Christ on the cross. Nobody would ever say “sin is how we die” or “God is putting sin on us to teach us a lesson“. Why not? Because God saved us from the power of sin, therefore He wouldn’t put on us something he set us free from. The same goes for healing then, in the human body.

Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins“—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home. (Mark 2:9-11, ESV, emphasis mine)

Notice, to demonstrate Jesus could forgive sins, he healed the man’s body with a word.

It is true that some do, and have died from sicknesses and diseases, but that doesn’t mean it was God’s will or how he wanted to take them home. The enemy comes specifically to steal and kill and destroy but Christ has have come that we may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10).

For more on this point, check out my post “If Healing is Provided For In The Atonement, Then…“

6. Not Enough Faith

Usually the person saying this is referring to themselves, yet, Jesus healed people whether they had faith to be healed or not. The only time throughout the New Testament Jesus ever told anybody they didn’t have enough faith was his disciples–the healers.

I realize my post today has more links than a Polish sausage factory, but it’s just to point you to the right place for further study on some points in particular. So that being said, check out this post “Because of Whose Little Faith“, a little more in depth than some of the other ones I’ve linked to so far, but still worth it.

In a nutshell, I say in it that Jesus rebuked the healers, not the recipients for their faith.

7. “I Don’t Believe In Jesus”

There’s an anecdotal story many people share about how John G. Lake was sitting in his office one time and a man came in and spoke to him about some conditions he had and asked if he could pray for him to be healed. Lake agreed, and the man told him something to the effect of “you must know though, I don’t have faith to be healed”, and he pushed his chair back and got up and said “that’s OK, I’ve got enough for the both of us!”

It’s not known whether or not the man was an atheist, didn’t believe in Jesus, or was a Christian but didn’t believe he’d get healed, but presumably, the story concludes with Lake praying for the man and he gets healed.

In Scripture, we’ve got lots of accounts we could glean from, such as people getting lowered into the pool of Bethesda in John 5 like we mentioned in an earlier point–remember, it didn’t say whoever believed in God or Jesus got healed, but the first one to get in when the angel was stirring up the waters got healed (see John 5:4-5)

8. “I didn’t get healed the first time I prayed, so it must not be God’s will to heal me”

As I stated in my post, Because of Whose Little Faith, linked to in Lie # 6, we see how in Matthew 17:14-21, the disciples were unable to heal a boy with epilepsy, and then Jesus goes ahead and prays for the boy, and he’s healed instantly. This passage also shows that just because healing didn’t happen, doesn’t mean it was God’s will for someone to stay sick. His desire to heal is not always demonstrated properly just because of our inabilities to accomplish what He has ordained and authorized us to do.

Take note also of the following account:

And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see men, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesuslaid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. (Mark 8:23-25, ESV emphasis mine)

Notice, Jesus, who was God Himself, but didn’t live on the earth as though he were God, but as a human man (see Philippians 2:6-8). God in man, Christ even prayed more than once for someone to be healed before they obtained it. My personal experience is more like this than instantaneous healing, in that often times I pray several times for someone, or have had to persist for quite some time in praying for someone to be healed. Instead of making a ninth point, we could also include in this the idea that healing is not instantaneous like people believe, but requires perseverance sometimes.

Other resources to build yourself up further in your faith and receive healing:

• Episodes of our Fire On Your Head Podcast that are tagged as being about healing.

A personal teaching class from yours truly regarding faith and healing:

Download this episode (right click and save)

Steve Bremner is a missionary to Peru, called to raise up disciples who flow in the power of the Holy Spirit. He is general editor of Fire Press, and also produces & co-hosts its podcast called Fire On Your Head. Visit his personal site at http://stevebremner.com 

1. See http://www.fireonyourhead.org/2009/03/16/death-healing/

Outline and Notes from Charles Finney’s Lectures on Revivals of Religion

I propose to show:

1. Faith is an indispensable condition of prevailing prayer
2. What is it that we are to believe when we pray
3. When we are bound to exercise this faith, or to believe that we shall receive the thing we ask for.
4. That this kind of faith in prayer always does obtain the blessing sought.

1. Faith is an indispensable condition

To prove that faith is indispensable to prevailing prayer, it is only necessary to repeat what the apostle James expressly tells us: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” (James 1:5-6)

2. What we are to believe when we pray:

We are to believe in the existence of God (Hebrews 11:6). There are many who believe in the existence of God, but do not believe in the efficacy of prayer. They profess to believe in God, but deny the necessity of influence of prayer.

We are to believe that we receive:

Some specific thing we ask for (Luke 11:13). With respect to the faith of miracles, it is plain that the disciples were bound to believe they should receive just what they asked for–the very thing itself should come to pass. That is what they were to believe. Now what ought men to believe in regarding other blessings? Is it a mere loose idea, that if a man prays for a specific blessing, God will by some mysterious sovereignty give something else, somewhere? When a man prays for his children’s conversion or somebody else’s children – is it altogether uncertain which? No, this is utter nonsense, and highly dishonorable to God. We are to believe that we shall receive the very things we ask for.

3. When are we bound to make this prayer?

When we have evidence of it. Faith must always have evidence. A man cannot believe a thing, unless he sees something which he supposes to be evidence. He is under no obligation to believe, and has no right to believe, a thing will be done, unless he has evidence. It is the height of fanaticism to believe without evidence.

Kinds of evidence:

1. When God has specifically promised a thing. As, for instance when God says He is more ready to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, than parents are to give bread to their children. Here we are bound to believe that we shall receive it when we pray for it. You have no right to put on “if” and say “Lord, if it be thy will, give us your Holy Spirit.” This is an insult to God. To put an ‘if’ into God’s promise where God has put none is tantamount to charging God with being insincere.
2. When there is a general promise in the Scriptures which you may reasonably apply to the particular case before you. If its real meaning includes the particular thing for which you pray, or if you can reasonably apply the principle of the promise to the case, there you have evidence. For instance, suppose it is a time when wickedness prevails greatly, and you are led to pray for God’s interference. What promise have you? “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him” (Isaiah 59:19). Here you see a general promise, laying down a principle of God’s administration, which you may apply to the case before you as a warrant for exercising faith in prayer. And if an inquiry is made as to the time in which God will grant blessings in answer to prayer, you have the promise “While they are yet speaking, I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24).
3. Where there is a prophetic declaration that the thing prayed for is agreeable to the will of God. When it is plain from prophecy that the event is certainly to come, you are bound to believe it, and to make it the ground for your special faith in prayer (Daniel 9). Do not think, as you seem to, that because a thing is foretold in prophecy it is not necessary to pray for it, or that it will come whether Christians pray for it or not. God says in regard to this very class of events, which are revealed in prophecy: “I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.” (Ezekiel 36:37)
4. When the signs of the times, or the providence of God, indicate that a particular blessing is about to be bestowed we are bound to believe it.
5. When the Spirit of God is upon you, and influences strong desires for any blessing, you are bound to pray for it in faith. You are bound to infer, from the fact that you find yourself drawn to desire such a thing while in the exercise of such holy affections as the Spirit of God produces, that these desires are the work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit stirs up the very desires He is willing to gratify. And when they feel such desires, they are bound to follow them out till they get the blessing.

4. This kind of faith always obtains the object

The text is plain here to show that you shall receive the very thing prayed for. It does not say “believe that you shall receive, and you shall either have that or something else equivalent to it.” To prove that this faith obtains the very blessing that is asked, I observe:

1. That otherwise we could never know whether our prayers were answered. We might continue praying and praying, long after the prayer was answered by some other blessing equivalent to the one for which we asked.
2. If we are not bound to expect the very thing we ask for, it must be that the Spirit of God deceived us. Why should He excite us to desire a certain blessing when He means to grant something else?
3. What is the meaning of this passage: “If his son asks bread, will he give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:9). Does not our Savior rebuke the idea that prayer may be answered by giving something else? What encouragement have we to pray for any thing in particular, if we are to ask for one thing and receive another? All the history of the Church shows that when God answers prayer He gives His people the very thing for which their prayers are offered. God confers other blessings on both saints and sinners, which they do no pray for at all. He sends his rain on both the just and the unjust. But when he answers prayer, it is by doing what they ask Him to do. To be sure, He often more than answers prayer. He grants them not only what they ask for, but often connects other blessings to it.
4. It is evident that the prayer of faith will obtain the blessing, from the fact that our faith rests on the evidence that to grant that thing is the will of God.

What is our Bible good for if we do not lay hold of its precious promises, and use them as the ground of our faith when we pray for the blessings of God?

More Reading:

Finney on Intimacy With God

John 2:17 NASB “His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR THY HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.”  (Psalm 69:9 quotation of the LXX version)

I saw this verse referenced the other day on John Piper’s wall and it was further fueled by the Holy Spirit.  I was suddenly reminded of Paul’s references to the temple of the Lord in 1 Corinthians in chapters 3 and 6, one to the Body and one to the individual.  Then my mind raced back to the scene in the temple where Jesus is known to have constructed a “scourge of cords” and proceeded to let all Holy Ghost fire break loose.  Out with the beasts (some blind and maimed), out with the money changers (with their false weights and measures) and out with their tables.  OUT!

Wow, really?  Jesus?  Little-kids-sit-on-His-lap Jesus? And how about this word “zeal”?  It has broad application depending on context but comes from a word that has the idea of being hot enough to boil liquid or make solids glow in its heat.  It burned in Him to the extent that commonly held institutions and public opinion from the powers that be could not have sway with Him.  This is a relentless passion and drive for the sanctity of The Father’s house and most importantly for its intended purpose.  He got to the point where He was unperturbed by the possibility of any backlash or consequence and He simply had to do what He did.  Keep in mind, this is a building made with human hands.  Yes, assembled at the command of God but still a human construction…and this is Christ’s zeal for this place because of what it was meant to be as a witness to the nations.  When His witness is tarnished even by institutions that He Himself has decreed should exist, He will stop at nothing to clean it up or perhaps destroy it, as this temple was 40 years later, but I digress.  I have hope of glory for the Church at the end of time rather than an expectation of cataclysmic judgment upon it, though I’m not deaf to the warnings in Revelation to the churches listed there who were told to repent “or else”.

So how should this affect us, this knowledge of Christ’s zeal for His house?  Let me begin by stating that the temple of the Lord is now the individual and the corporate Body of Christ according to statements made by the apostle Paul (Eph. 2:22 in addition to the previously referenced verses in 1 Corinthians 3, and 6).  I believe that this was always God’s intention.

Now, if Jesus is “the same yesterday, today and forever”, then has His zeal waned?  If His zeal for a house of stone and gold and nicely woven curtains of extravagant physical beauty that was sanctified by the blood of animals was this intense, then how much more the temple (you!) that has been sanctified by His blood and Spirit?  Consider Hebrews 10:26-31:

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY ” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.”It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (NASB)

Indeed, Jesus is still very much about the business of temple maintenance.  He paid a very heavy price for each and every temple of His.  I would like to consider, briefly, a few moments in Israel’s history that show us how His tabernacle/temple was defiled and how God dealt with it.

First Samuel 2:12-17, 22 shows us a shocking bit of activity in God’s tabernacle.  Eli the priest had two sons who had sex with the women who served at the doorway to the Tent of Meeting and were not eating the portions of sacrifices that were set aside for them in the Law of God but instead were in essence asking for the filet mignon.  If anyone protested or desired to stick with the protocol of God they were threatened.  God’s response to Eli was grave:   “You will not have an old man in your lineage and I’m going to kill both of your sons on the same day and in their place I will raise up a faithful priest.”  How ironic that this faithful priest was the young boy Samuel whom Eli had charge over and did himself also issue a stern prophetic word to Eli regarding his wretched fathering and what was to come of it.

The symbol of the (realistically, the actual) presence of God was the Ark of the Covenant.  Nothing in all of Israel was more precious than God Himself in their midst.  At least nothing should have been more precious.  As you read on in chapter 4 you will see God not allowing Israel to live in sin and use the Ark as a good luck token and He lets it go into the hands of the Philistines and hands defeat to Israel while carrying out the rest of His proclamation against Eli and his sons.  We know from Jeremiah that, in fact, this tabernacle known as Shiloh was eventually destroyed for Israel’s idolatry and Jeremiah points this out to them because of their protest that God could never destroy His own temple.  God was quick to assert that, in fact, you cannot have a dirty life and a clean temple at the same time: the former negates the latter.

Since I basically combined epochs from Samuel and Jeremiah together, I will end with Ezekiel’s vision in chapters 8-10 (be sure and take a look at chapter 52 in Jeremiah to see how that all went down).

In verses 5-6, 10-12, 14 and 16 we see the progression of idolatry in God’s temple.  In verse 14 there were women mourning, ritualistically, for the fertility god Tammuz.  In verse 16 they finally got to a place were they had actually turned their backs on God.  They had already in spirit but now the posture reflected it and their worship went toward the sun instead of the glory of God.  Moving into chapter 10 we then see the Lord, great in patience and mercy, moving out of His temple in degrees.  First, He left the Ark from between the cherubim and went to the temple threshold (vs 4).  Then, as if He had been waiting for repentance and change but saw none, He finally left altogether (vs 18-19).  Judgment is pronounced in chapters 11-16 but a promise of eventual restoration is given in verse 60-63 of chapter 16.  But we can see pretty clearly that God will stop at nothing to have a clean house, a clean people and hearts devoted to Him and Him alone.  He won’t have “roommates”.

Some may object to referencing “the Old Testament God” to speak about New Testament realities.  He is not a new God, this Jesus character.  He’s not an improvement upon that nasty old Yahweh.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  His character doesn’t change, His outlook on life doesn’t change, His righteousness doesn’t change, His belief that only He is worthy of praise, worship and glory has not changed.  Even in the old economy He was just as rich with mercy then as now.  It took Him an awfully long time to become offended and angered enough to banish His people and destroy His temple and its priesthood.  It wasn’t a whim, it was long suffering that finally reached a cut off point and then something had to be done for the sake of His name.

Do You Have Idols In Your Life?

So what about you?  Do you burn incense to other gods (what do you listen to or watch?)?  Do you weep over fallen gods?  Really, who gives a rip about these dumb “reality” shows and who is a singing/dancing star or who lost the most recent UFC match?  Have you turned your back on God to worship the sun?  If your heart affections were a pie graph, who/what has the largest percentage of your love?  Are you discontent with what God has given you and feel the need to connive for more through dishonesty as Eli’s sons did?  They had wives already, but took other women who were not theirs.  You may not transgress in that way, but do you cross boundaries like this in your heart?  Are you simply not satisfied with God’s design and construct for ministerial function and so you invent your own “cool, relevant” way that makes Jesus easier to accept?  The list of applications from these stories is endless, the principles are eternal and will always apply to some kind of situation in our daily lives.

God is slow to anger.  That was a huge part of the revealing of His Name to Moses.   Let us rejoice in this but let us not take it for granted as Israel did.  God waited for a long time before sending Jesus to cleanse that temple.  It’s not like it got dirty overnight, it had been on the decline for some time.  I deduce that fact from the fact that God is slow to anger and judgment.  But Jesus did go and handle some business.  I believe He actually did it twice; once at the beginning of His ministry and then right before His crucifixion.  While you may not agree with the entirety of this article, at least pay attention to the case he makes for the belief in 2 cleansings and the significance of the Levitical law of “leprosy/corruption” in a house.

So, rather than getting a fear trip out of all of this, pull from this that Jesus is serious about anything in which He dwells.  When He chooses to dwell in a thing/person, then the witness of that thing/person is of great import because it is directly tied to people’s perception of Him.  In times past we see God angered over His enemies being given occasion to blaspheme Him because of human conduct that is supposed to reflect the Real God.

To this day, the thing that is supposed to be The Church is impotent, largely….well, maybe just in U.K., Canada and America.  So if you’re in a third world country, nevermind all this, you’re probably okay.  For the rest of us, let’s make sure nothing in our lives/minds bears any resemblance to those things in Eli’s sons or in the temple priesthood of Ezekiel’s day or Jesus’ day.  Let’s not offer lame sacrifices.  Let’s make sure that all “exchanges” are fair and just whether they be verbal exchanges or goods and services.  Let’s give Jesus our best…our BEST!  He will give us His in return.

For a recent Fire On Your Head podcast related to the themes mentioned in today’s article, check out “Keeping Ourselves From Idols“

Pool of Bethesda Revelation by Ron O’Brien

Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.  When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.” (John 5:2-9)

I was wondering about the quoted scripture where the infirmed man was waiting for an opportunity to get into the pool to be healed by the angel of the Lord as the water was stirred.

Jesus comes along and asked the man if he want to be made well!

I thought that man must have gotten so discouraged and given up for Jesus to ask such a question. Such a statement would sound so cruel or even foolish if we heard someone say that to someone who was sick. But this is Jesus! I thought, well God will not use discouraged men, they must be encouraged, get in line with God’s Word, and then something will happen. You know Jesus could have instantly healed that man, but chose another way.

The man appeared to want healing, as many say they do and say they have hope and are believing for that miracle. For crying out loud, that man had been lame/infirmed for such a long time (38 years) and his response seemed to show the hopelessness of it all.

I believe Jesus asked a very important question that we all need to get a hold of.  Now, we are not going to come down on that lame man, he had some painful life experiences  where he was trying to be healed and knew all too well how that worked out.

Jesus was asking him “do you receive this sickness from the devil for your life, or will you receive what I have?”

This burden of sickness, ‘WILL you/I keep going that way, CAN you/I keep living like that? Can you/I bare it? Will you/I accept and receive that pain AS YOURS/MINE?  Will you/I tolerate and carry that sickness of the devil?

You/I can!

You can go on and carry that burden for life and accept that you want to be healed but be so broken, beaten, crushed, burdened that you are just hanging on.

Such talk may sound so cruel, unless, we are accepting this sickness, in spite of, speaking our desire to be healed!

Devil I receive your sickness no more! I receive what Jesus has.

What Jesus offered to that lame man is now available for you and I.   We can know and quote the scripture inside and out that Jesus’ body was broken, beaten, scourged for us, paid the price, but we need to answer that question posed to that lame man.

I believe we can get so down on ourselves, disheartened, hurt, and taken advantaged of that we start to agree with the sickness and our condition.  Our hope can be crushed and the devil tells you that things will never really change.  We hear that no healing or miracle be for us now.

We say yes but our hearts may tell another story, of hurt, bad experiences to remind us and convince us even that nothing is going to change. If we be honest with ourselves, you may find this mixed/mixture lie exists and received, hiding in our hearts.

Have you had enough of receiving the sickness that is the devils?

Jesus says make the choice: either receive the lie that you will have to put up with it for the rest of your life,  or,  receive what I (Jesus) have for you.

Jesus confronts our hearts so that we may see what we have been receiving as truth.

What are you receiving?

Ronnie O’Brien

“You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
Then my enemies will turn back
in the day when I call.
This I know, that God is for me.” (Psalm 56:8-9, ESV)

David, as many Christians know, was appointed and anointed to be king over Israel at a very young age, possibly in his teenage years while he was tending sheep. So unlikely was he to be the candidate, he wasn’t even invited to meet with the prophet Samuel when he came to see all of David’s family. As the Biblical account goes on to share, not only was he to be Israel’s king, but it took a number of years before it finally happened.

It’s believed he penned this psalm while the Philistines were trying to seize him at Gath (see 1 Samuel 21:10 to 22:2 for the account). It was during this season, a number of years, that David lived in fear for his life on the run from King Saul, who repeatedly attempted to kill him for no other reason than basically the call of God on his life was a threat to Saul’s. I can only imagine what kind of praying David must have done during this time of his life, growing weary of wondering if the promise to become king over Israel would ever come true, since after all these years it still wasn’t even close to happening. In fact, I’m sure as David looked at the circumstances he found himself in, it was almost as though it could never come true. But God saw the end of the matter, even if like David, we ourselves can sometimes only see the circumstances that surround us.

In this Psalm, David spoke of weeping tears, but knowing that God was storing them up in a bottle. His tears were precious in the sight of God. David’s struggles were not forgotten or ignored by God. How often we too have poured out our souls in bitter distress to God, wondering if He even heard us when we cried out to Him. Wondering if His very promise was not in fact some kind of cruel joke He was playing on us, and we awaited the punchline hoping something good may yet still come of it?

Recently during a layover I had in a major American city, while flying on my way back to Lima, Peru where I serve as a missionary, a friend picked me up and took me to lunch. She was unfamiliar with the area surrounding the airport, and used a Tomtom GPS device to get there and take me to a mall about 15 km away from the airport. As we looked at the computerized directions on the screen, indicating the estimated amount of time it would take to get there, as well as which turns to take, all we could see ahead of ourselves through the windshield were the roads and intersections ahead as we approached them. From just looking immediately ahead as we navigated through traffic, we could not tell you how far we were from our destination, or how much longer it would take to get there, but the GPS navigator could. We put our confidence in it to take us where we wanted to go.

Beloved, you may be looking at the path ahead of you, wondering if there’s any end in sight to the circumstances you may find yourself in, or wondering how much longer before the promise will come to fulfillment, but in God’s point of view–He sees the end of the thing from the beginning. He’s got the bird-eye view and sees all the twists and turns He’s taking you through. You and I can read the account of David’s life in the first and second books of Samuel, and we know the outcome and the further challenges he went through as king. But as David went through these particular struggles, he didn’t have such confidence other than to put his hope and trust in the God of Israel, and that what God said would come to pass, would in fact come to pass.

Emptying Us That He May Fill Us

We see the same pattern in the life of Moses. It’s stated in Acts 7:25 “He (Moses) supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.” It’s implied here that when God first began to stir Moses’ heart to become a deliverer of the people of Israel, he understood the call. He believed it would be evident to everybody, but it wasn’t. Before God could use him, he had to strip him of all his self-sufficiency. Moses was raised in the Pharaoh’s house, received the best education, and yet God would take the next 40 years stripping him of that in the backside of the desert in order to prepare him FOR the call on his life. If God didn’t, Moses might have continued killing Egyptian soldiers and burying them in the sand, and at that rate, if he buried one per day, he’d never have seen Israel get delivered!1

I’ve expounded on this in a previous post of mine, Empty Vessels Fit For Filling, but it bears repeating here, that the more emptiness you can present to God, the more of His fullness you can receive. We cannot be filled until we are empty, and sometimes it’s THOSE seasons in the wilderness, where we feel our most lonely or our most deserted, that we are actually being fashioned for the season or moment when the breakthrough or the entrance into the promise will finally make itself manifest. We may not understand how come everything is going the way it is while we’re driving down the road just following the GPS instructions, but God knows where He’s taking us and why there’s some wildernesses and caves along the way.

The Breakthrough; In God’s Timing and Ways

In the meantime, as a mentor of mine, S.J. Hill says, “Hunger is born out of desperation and Father God is drawn to hunger like a magnet.”2 When God births, He births out of barrenness; when He builds, He builds out of brokenness. Allow me to encourage you dear friend, that

The longer the time of delay, the greater the joy when the answer comes. More than that, the change that happens to us in the process will protect us when the answer comes.3

You are being made for something great, and the fiery trials are only designing you for the breakthrough;

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17)

Hang in there and stay encouraged. In the meantime, for further reading, check out the post No Perishing Point.

1. See Surviving the Anointing, by David Ravenhill, p. 28-29
2. See A People After God: A Journey of Renewed Passion For Intimacy with God, by Denis Ekobena, p. 6
3. Mike Bickle, After God’s own Heart p.152

The following story is from www.runbare.com and once again, it shows the resolve that if you want something bad enough you can get it.

Michael Sandler, former speed skater and professional level cyclist, suffered multiple injuries over the course of a lifetime, the last of which occurred just over 3 years ago. Weeks before a planned inline skating world record attempt across the country, from Los Angeles to New York City, to raise awareness around ADD/ADHD, Michael experienced a life altering accident. While inline skating down Boulder Creek Trail, a father and toddler stepped in front of Michael’s path. To avoid a collision, Michael jumped backwards, landing on concrete. The result – a broken arm, broken hip and shattered femur. Doctors told him the usual story – he may not be able to keep his leg… he may not be able to walk again… he most definitely would never be able to run again.

Fortunately, Michael doesn’t believe in limitations. He’ll be the first to tell you he doesn’t believe in the word, “can’t”. Slowly but surely, through a combination of determination, meditation, trust in the universe and the power of nature, Michael became a walking miracle.

In 2006, a week out of his living room hospital-bed, Michael set the record for finishing the Bolder Boulder 10K on crutches (and a broken arm). Two weeks later, Michael finished the Denver Half Marathon and became the only person to ever complete the half marathon on crutches.

When he finally got off his crutches, Michael gradually worked himself into barefoot running. He was still being told he couldn’t run anymore, and with a ‘leg length discrepancy’ of over 10 millimeters, struggled to find balance and overcome nagging pain. Known as ‘Mr. Plantar Fasciitis’–as he needed custom orthotic braces just to walk across the living room floor–going barefoot was a major leap of faith. The first day, he ran 100 yards. Then he iced his feet for 2 days. The second time, he ran 200 yards. Then iced for another 2 days. And so it went. Today, Michael can be seen barefoot running up Flagstaff Mountain passing road cyclists. He’s capable of running 50+ miles barefoot and is currently averaging 80-100 miles barefoot running a week.

To Michael, barefoot running is not running at all. He says, “I don’t run anymore. I dance.” The benefits are multifold; barefoot running activates many more small muscle groups than running with shoes. It allows us to run as our hunter-gatherer ancestors did – the natural way our body was intended to run. It heals old sports injuries and by promoting a more natural form, gives us greater feedback from the ground, and by keeping us lower to the ground, it prevents new injuries. Barefoot running naturally promotes better, more efficient running posture and allows runners to surpass any speed they were ever able to attain with shoes. While the body heals, strengthens and economizes, the spirit heals and awakens. There’s something to be said about feeling the earth beneath one’s feet – feeling connected and grounded with nature. Suddenly, you’re thinking more clearly and you’re on top of the world.

******

It’s a crazy story, I also happen to be a big barefoot running aficionado. I really like the power of story and found that stories have done more to inspire me than almost anything else. I read Don Miller’s blog from time to time (www.donmilleris.com) and the most powerful thought he shared was in a post about writing your life goals as a story. He said every great story has a main character who wants something and goes through struggles to get it. So instead of writing a boring vision statement for your life turn it into a story to make it more real and compelling. I tried it and it came out something like this

David Hepting is a church kid, enthusiastic, idealistic and maybe a bit naive. More than anything he wants to know God deeply and lead people into the exciting life of following God joyfully. But he often gets distracted by Facebook, reputation increasing, and the Internet and sometimes he doubts that he can accomplish the great dreams he has in his heart. Wouldn’t it be easier to compromise? Will David follow God boldly and lead others into dramatic encounters with God and life-changing experiences with His love demonstrated practically, or will he be distracted, or just find a nice Christian girl, get married and live a nice Christian life?

Man, when I read that something just rises up in me and calls me to follow the path ahead and not be distracted by other things. So I have to come back to the original question. How bad do you want it? Your life shows exactly what is your answer to that question.

It reminds me of this story in the bible

¹¹And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines. ¹²But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the LORD worked a great victory.   2 Samuel 23

It was worth next to nothing but he wasn’t even willing to give an inch of ground to the enemy. I forget if I’ve mentioned it on here before but I had a kind of vision or images in my head of these two Angel generals who were so weary and tired and frustrated. They were talking to each other and said “We’ve captured this same territory hundreds of times, when will they defend it? When will we take new ground?” It provoked me. When David was king his kingdom kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger his whole life. The vision God has for our life is always one of expansion. To be clear, sometimes expansion in God’s mind is a lot different than our mind. We might lose absolutely everything but gain a sharper humility and faith and God considers that a great expansion. Don’t be satisfied with the same results you have gotten before. Fight for the new territory, for the promised land that God has placed before you in your life.

John G. Lake, the great man of faith, once said that if he could impart any spiritual gift to people there is one he would choose above all others the gift of hunger. There is nothing else more valuable in finding God and being fulfilled in the life God has called you to. God fills the hungry with good things. Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.” I think in these coming days I need to wrestle with that question more and more. Probably all this year I am going to begin to answer that question for myself.

How about you?