He Heals All our Diseases

Psalm 103:3
He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. (NLT)

It is important to realize God has NO limitations in what He can do. He does not need mankind to perform miraculous events in our lives and in the lives of others. As born again believers endued with the Holy Spirit we have the authority and power to see the same miraculous events occur through our hands as Jesus did when He walked the earth as one of us, as a man.

There is no reference in my Bible to aches and pains coming at a certain time in life. Yes as we grow older we are mature in life and hope to be mature in our faith as well. Yes old people die of old age now just as they did when Jesus was with us as a man. However, we are to be just as physically healthy then as when we were younger. The body wears out and God calls us home.

Do we get sick? Do we have physical issues that need to be dealt with? Yes we do, but how we deal has a lot to do with who we are in Christ. Do we accept the word of man over the word of God. Do we allow words of death spoken by man to affect how we live? We certainly can and most do. This is exactly what the enemy is working toward. Satan wants us a slave to medicine. a slave to man, a slave to him.

When someone does place their trust in a doctor God does not desert us. He is still present in our lives. Holy Spirit is still in us. But our Faith is not with them. It is with man. When someone puts their faith in man, we still pray for them and pray that the people healing them are doing the best they can and that God intervenes.

If God depended on man to heal, then why does God replace metal in someones body inserted by man with original parts? Why does God replace organs repaired by man? We have seen this happen time and time again.

God is the healer. But He uses you and I, our prayers and our hands to do the healing yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Thoughts on The Church

Woke up this morning thinking about the church today and how far off we have gone in our thinking and actions. God established a temple for His people to worship Him. In order for that temple to exist there had to be men to oversee it. They came out of the synagogues of that time and were led by Rabbi's. This was the "church" before Jesus came onto the scene and the "church" Jesus was brought up in. In order for this organization to do what God had ordained it to do, the people were instructed to tithe a tenth of what they had to support the established "church" of that time.

Along comes Jesus and His "church" is out in the marketplace and the countryside. It was anywhere He went. The crowds followed Him. They sought Him out wherever He happened to be. Yes, He did preach in the synagogues also. This was where the Jews were and those were the people He was sent to call unto Him. But, most of the stories we read about in the Bible are when He was between destinations, on the journey from one place to another. We are never told of Jesus taking an offering from the people. Although that must have occurred as Judas was the keeper of the coins and those funds must have come from somewhere.

Spring forward a few years and we have Saul, a member of the established "church" hunting down Christians. Then Jesus came to Saul in his travels and struck him off his horse. Saul's experience was so profound that he did a 180 and began to preach the Gospel to the gentiles. He never sat under the teachings of any of Jesus' original followers. No, Saul (now Paul) was given the same Holy Spirit who taught Paul all things.
 
Paul went on his journey to spread the Good News. Along the way he established "churches" made up of groups of new believers meeting in homes. There was no hierarchy; no persons placed between the church body and Father God. There were no offerings taken to support the "church". Instead they were told to share all they had with each other. There were no handouts, no food stamp programs or disability benefits. They helped each other in their needs as they got back on their feet. And they believed the Scripture that says if a man does not work he does not eat. Even Paul worked making tents.
 
This new "church", the body of believers in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, did take up offerings to help support other bodies of believers in other areas of the world. You might say this was the first example of supporting missions.
 
Then in about 300 AD things changed. Man, led by former Jews who had become Christians, formed a formal established church. No longer a body of believers as Jesus and Paul had established, but a brick and mortar one. One that had to be supported because it needed people to run it and it needed funds to maintain it. A blending of the old (synagogue) and the new belief in Jesus.

Instead of passing down the message by word of mouth, which had been working and bringing many into the Kingdom of God, a new order was established. A formal set of manuscripts was created out of the many letters that were being passed around. These were added to the already known Jewish writings and made into the Old and New Testaments we know today. Because of the lack of duplication methods, only the leaders of the new established church had them so they became the teachers. And Christianity was launched into a new era.
 
While the people were the "church" and sharing this Jesus to the world as commissioned by Him years before, signs and wonders was prevalent with all believers as the Holy Spirit moved both inside and outside of the "church". God's miraculous touch brought people into the Kingdom and took care of those already in the Kingdom.

When man took over, the signs and wonders seemed to have disappeared. But God's order was removed and replace with the new order of the new church. Holy Spirit was replaced by the priests. They took over the teaching of the gospel message to the people. They introduced fear of God to make converts to Christianity instead of signs and wonders. God did not take away signs and wonders. Man moved away from them. They had lost belief in the measure of authority and power given to each believer.
 
The new church is here today. It is not part of the established church which over centuries of revelation and revolution has splintered into numerous different sets of beliefs. It meets in homes and in the marketplace. It seeks to unite established churches into the one true church, the body of Christ. Signs and wonders abound in this new, Holy Spirit inspired work.
 
It is time to stop playing church and start being the church Jesus came to have. A church with the full authority and power inherited from Him. A church without walls that takes care of its own members. A church that reaches out to a lost world with the gospel message and with signs and wonders.
 
What about you? Are you ready to choose a church like the one described in Acts? Are you ready to take a chance and see the kind of change living in the Kingdom of God can make in your neighborhood?
 
I am not suggesting everybody run out of the established church. I am saying look around and become the church Jesus called us to be. Be the community of believers that reaches inward to each other in need and outward to the community. Be the church that unites with other established churches to do the work of the ministry in your area. One church. One body of Christ. One message for all.

Praying in the Spirit

Galatians 3:2,5
Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. (NIV)

The Holy Spirit is not a benefit we get for coming to church. It is not a reward. Holy Spirit is part of the Godhead. He is one of the three; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:38
Peter replied, "Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (NIV)

We receive Holy Spirit into our lives as a result of our decision to turn to God, our repentance of those sins we are aware of and an agreement to repent of those we do not as they are revealed to us, and our baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.

Mark 16:16-18
Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won't hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.

What is the evidence of that baptism and infilling of the Holy Spirit in our lives? The evidence of our being saved?

Jesus says it clearly in Mark when He says that those who are saved will do miraculous signs. And He speaks to four signs that follow the spirit filled believer.

1. They will cast out demons in the name of Jesus
2. They will speak in new languages [other tongues]
3. They will be immune to deadly poisons
4. They will lay hands on the sick and they will be healed

1 Corinthians 14:14-19
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. (NIV)

When speaking about praying, Paul tells us he prays in tongues (his prayer language) as well as praying with his mind (in his vocal language or known words). And he speaks about singing in tongues and singing with known words.

Jude 20-21
But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. (NIV)

Jude, the half brother of Jesus, explains that we build ourselves up in faith when we pray in the spirit, in our prayer language. The more we build ourselves up in this manner, the more power we receive from above.

Ephesians 6:18 8
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (NIV)

Once again Paul is speaking about praying in the Spirit. When we place those we are praying for and those requests we have into our mind and then pray in our prayer language, we believe our spirit reaches up to God's Spirit and lays those needs at His feet.

So, is having a prayer language evidence of being Spirit filled? Yes, it is. But it is not the only evidence. We are filled when we are saved. We are saved when we believe. We are baptised when we confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior.

Evidence of being saved is the fruit of the Spirit visible in our lives. It is the change that only God can make in the person we used to be. It is Christ shining forth to the world around us. It is casting out demons in the name of Jesus. It is laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover. It is being Jesus in the marketplace by showing His love everywhere we go.

Obeying the Law

Galatians 2:16
A person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law." (NLT)

Law as defined by Wikipedia is "a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible."

The Jewish law caused followers to be a moral god fearing nation believing they became righteous simply by abiding by the laws and traditions handed down over generations and defined in their Torah, "the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts."

Then came Jesus, their Messiah who came to fulfill the law. He came to show them and now us the way to righteousness. He took us away from traditions, special seasons and holidays, and works to obtain salvation.

We are made right simply by our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Only through Him can we be declared righteous. Only through Him do we obtain salvation.

Now I am not saying we are to ignore the Ten Commandments. We are to do what is right and holy in all our dealings here on earth. Even traditions and celebrations are still good for us. But only when what we do is not placed above God. We are to worship Him and not the events we organize and participate in. Only He is holy.

Are we to do good works? Yes, Jesus tells us so, but they alone do not get us to heaven. It is only belief in Jesus that does that.

People Turn Simple to Hard

It amazes me how complicated it has turned out to become a Christian. And complicated to be one. Let's start with the become part.

John 3:16-17
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. (NLT)

To be born again or saved and have eternal life in heaven we have to believe in Jesus. We ask Him into our life and to forgive us of our sin. We ask Him to be Lord of our life. He sends the Holy Spirit to live in us and the past is history. We are a new person born of the spirit and led by the spirit as we give Him permission to do so each day.

And yet, that has turned into a period of convincing one that they would rather be going to heaven than the alternative, hell. Then the saying of a well crafted "sinners prayer" right then and there or, more often, the dragging them to a church service days later so a trained team can lead them through the prayer and line them up with the hours of training necessary to become a Christian, as they understand it.

When we ask Jesus into our heart and begin that relationship with Him each day with the guideline of the Holy Spirit we are convicted of those things we are doing wrong, the sin in our life. And yet many "programs" hand out lists of do and don'ts for "new" Christians to follow. Lists of what is acceptable behavior. This is all wrong. It is not us who judge the world, but God. It is not even Jesus!

Jesus died on that cross for all our sins-past, present, and future. They are all erased. This means that there is nothing we can do that will not be erased. All but one thing; we cannot grieve the Holy Spirit. Father God never sees our sin after we have given our life over to His son, Jesus. This means that when we die in this mortal body and ascend to heaven He judges us on all the good we have done. He has never seen anything else in our life because Jesus took all sin away shielding us from Father God.

Jesus commissioned us to go into the world and tell. We are to speak the truth to people all around us. If they do not believe, we are to walk away and not waste any more time. We are not to argue the Bible or try to manipulate people into saying empty words so we think "we got another one!"

He did not commission us to lead the troops to cancel out sin in the world. No. That is His job, not ours. These we lead to salvation will change if they truly have believed. They will not have to be told of their sin. The Holy Spirit will do that and in the proper order in their lives. he does not use a list from 1-100 of sins to convict them. He does it one at a time as they grow in Jesus. Sure that does mean that some believers will still smoke. Some will continue to live out of wedlock. They may lie, cheat, and use vulger language from time to time. But over time in their relationship with Jesus they will change. And that change will be some of the fruit of their salvation.

There are many things all around us in this world that go against the grain of a committed Christian. But we are not to go about trying to change the world. With God nothing is impossible. It really is pretty simple. We are to reach the lost one person at a time. He will change them.