Jonathan Brenneman's Blog, page 12

The Pain Of Chronic Illness

[image error]Today and next week we have excerpts from the book “The Secret Wife”, by Janice Campbell-Paul. Janice found herself disabled and in a wheelchair, crippled by fibromyalgia. God supernaturally healed her and she moved to India to marry her internet boyfriend and share the story of what God did for her.

Today’s excerpt is the story of chronic illness and disability. Next week we will continue by sharing about her healing and hope for people who are suffering chronically.

Illness And Isolation

My physical pain just seemed to make Rod angry.

More tests were done and I saw more specialists as the symptoms worsened. Each doctor prescribed a new medication. Eventually, I was on anti-depressants, pain suppressants, anti-seizure medicine to control the shaking, and sleeping pills. The doses were increased as the months went by without much relief. Finally, the doctors gave it a name. Fibromyalgia.

I knew it was a little-known or accepted condition associated with depression. I had encountered a few women who had it and used to think they were probably hypochondriacs for all their complaining. I certainly was not like that! I was a woman who was in control of her life and not given to self-pity or tolerant of whining in others.

But this illness now controlled and changed every aspect of my existence. It seemed the harder I fought it, the worse it got. The drugs were of little use. They only took the sharpness off the pain and left me feeling like a zombie, unable to think.

I had become close to two other women who had fibromyalgia and were diagnosed a few years before me. Both were fully addicted to the drugs the doctors had prescribed. The problem is that the body gets used to the medication and eventually demands more to kill the pain. I witnessed how these two women would beg their doctors to increase their medication. But the doctors had to answer to the regulations set for approved dosages and could not increase the amounts.

I decided at that point to use alcohol as my drug of choice. It was something I was familiar with and readily available. Having three whiskeys every evening seemed to be the answer to the pain-filled nights. I was careful not to increase the amount or take any medication with the alcohol. I also only drank at night before bedtime. But some days I simply had to take the morphine instead, which left me feeling doped out for days afterwards.

I confronted one doctor about this problem. He said, ‘With fibromyalgia pain you have only two choices, either become a drug addict or an alcoholic. You take your pick.’ I left his office in such despair. What kind of life did I have to look forward to? I decided to do without both, the medicines and the alcohol. My resolve lasted only two days before the pain consumed me. I gave in and poured myself a drink. By now my smoking had also increased to a pack a day.

The symptoms were insidious, slowly creeping up on me and changing my lifestyle. First, I gave in and bought myself a cane. Though this helped for a few months, my loss of control over my legs became so severe that I had to resort to metal crutches, the kind that wrapped around my arms for support. I was no longer able to climb ladders to paint or plaster the walls in my home.

But the most humiliating symptom was when my body began to shake and tremble. At first, it was frightening. It was like I was sitting in an alien body watching it as it jerked and twitched out of control. Facial tics would appear and last for minutes or hours. If I became stressed my body would go into a series of spasms lasting for an hour or more.

I forced myself into deep breathing and relaxing meditation and found that this worked well. But if I was in public, or with my family and I felt the trembling coming on, I would rush home; my pride wouldn’t allow me to let them see me in that state, and I didn’t want them to worry more, or have pity on me.

For six months I was able to get around with the crutches, but the pain became so severe in my lower back and legs that I rarely ventured out. It was humiliating to be seen in such a condition by my friends, family and the people I used to work with. I got tired of answering the inevitable question, ‘What happened to you?’

On one visit to my doctor, I reluctantly asked him for a temporary ‘handicapped’ sticker for my car, explaining that by the time I parked and walked into a store the pain was so bad that I had no energy left for shopping. The doctor filled out a form and told me to take it to the local vehicle department. When I got home I looked at the form and noticed that he had checked off the ‘permanent’ box for the handicapped plates. Thinking that this was a mistake, I telephoned him. When I told him of his error, he said. ‘Janice, you have one of the worst cases of fibromyalgia I have ever seen. I must tell you that your condition will not improve, but will more than likely get even worse. The sooner you accept that, the better you will be.’ He was silent for a minute, then added gently. ‘Your condition is permanent, Janice.’ I mumbled a thank you and hung up.

The word ‘permanent’ echoed in my head over and over. Until that moment I truly did not consider myself handicapped. I was just ‘going through’ a tough time physically, but eventually, it would all go away. Was the doctor right? Was I in denial? ‘The sooner you accept that, the better you will be,’ I said out loud. For the remainder of that day I was in a sort of shock, vacillating between acceptance and denial. I asked myself, ‘If I accept it, does that mean I am giving up?’ Then, ‘Just because he says it is so, doesn’t mean it is!’

But it was my own body that told me the answer. It was my own body that would not respond to my efforts to move around like a normal person again. The pain told me the bitter truth.

By April 2001, I was in a wheelchair. By this time I had seen no less than six specialists. Every imaginable test was done. They all seemed to be in agreement. I would never walk again.

It is true that I wept bitterly, that I wallowed in self-pity for a few weeks and I hated my wheelchair with a passion.

Even though it was electric and had controls, I banged into everything in the house. I screamed out in anger at God and asked, ‘Why me?’

But there finally came a time when I accepted my condition. I woke up one day and said to myself, ‘Okay, it is time to go on with your life, such as it is. It is time to make the best of a bad situation. This may be the end of your old life, but it is the beginning of a new one. Make the most of it!’

I began to learn how to do things differently, to work around the affliction, to get some sense of control back into my life. My legs were not working, but my upper torso did; my arms and shoulders were strong and worked fine. I bought a stool with wheels so I could do dishes and cook. I adapted my environment to fit my condition, allowing me more freedom to do the things normal people did

Unfortunately, my husband, my family and friends just could not accept my condition. Rod became increasingly resentful and bitter the more I depended on him. From the beginning he had refused to go with me to the doctors. I had to depend on my parents to take me the many miles to specialists. His focus was only on what I could not do for him anymore. He reminded me daily how much of a burden I had become on him.

One of the most frustrating and unexplained things about fibromyalgia is that the pain levels vary and the pain moves from one part of the body to another. Though the pain in my lower back and legs remained constant, each day was a challenge depending on where another pain was focused. Then there were blessed days when I felt hardly any pain. On these days I could stand and walk a little.

The doctors had warned me that when this happened, I must be careful not to overdo anything. But it was as if heavy chains had been removed from my body and I was set free, if only for that moment, that day. I would rejoice and do a few of the many activities that had been taken away from me. Moving cautiously, I would clean the house, do some gardening, or visit my family. But I soon learned that those golden days were inevitably followed by days of excruciating pain and exhaustion.

But worse than this, those that were closest to me, those who saw me nearly normal one day and bedridden the next, began to doubt the reality of the disease. ‘It must be psychological,’ they would say. Or, ‘She’s just faking it to get attention.’ I understood their feelings—after all, hadn’t I thought the same of the women I had known who had been in the predicament I was in now?

Next week we’ll share another excerpt from “The Secret Wife” with Janice’s unexpected encounter with a stranger in the grocery story. Meanwhile, maybe you’d like to read the rest of Janice’s story, including the full story of her healing, secret marriage, and life in India. You can purchase the Kindle or print version of “The Secret Wife” here:

 

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When not to accept an offering.

[image error]Recently we prayed for some people who came for healing ministry. They were grateful and maybe a little overwhelmed after experiencing the touch of the Holy Spirit. Someone asked, “is there anything we can do for you?”

What Can I Do To Thank You?

It’s not the first time I heard this response. I remember one lady who even wanted to give me a present after I prayed for her. I appreciate the desire to reciprocate with blessing. But I have only one answer when people ask “what can I do” after God heals them.

Please, go and tell other people what Jesus has done for you. Go and give the same gift to others. Lay hands on the sick in Jesus’ name! If you want to do something for me, nothing will make me happier than you catching a hold of the revelation of Jesus and ministering the same thing you received to others! This is a ministry for all Christians because it is the very nature of Jesus.

When Not To Accept An Offering

There are some times when it’s not right to accept an offering. The apostle John mentioned some brothers on a mission refusing support from unbelievers:

3 John 7 (NRSV) for they began their journey for the sake of Christ, accepting no support from non-believers.

Now it’s not always wrong to accept a gift or support from unbelievers. The Israelites “plundered the Egyptians” when they left Egypt because the Egyptians gave them their gold. But sometimes the Holy Spirit will lead us to refuse a gift. There may be various reasons for that. Sometimes a gift comes with strings attached.

Many times there is something God wants to give someone and he wants them to know that it is free. At least free for them. Our forgiveness and healing are free for us, but they cost Jesus dearly. He paid in blood.

Pride

2 Kings 5:9-15 (NRSV) So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!” He urged him to accept, but he refused. 

Naaman almost didn’t follow Elijah’s instructions because of his pride. But his servants convinced him to humble himself and he was completely healed!

2 Kings 5: 19-27 (NRSV) But when Naaman had gone from him a short distance, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, thought, “My master has let that Aramean Naaman off too lightly by not accepting from him what he offered. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something out of him.” So Gehazi went after Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he jumped down from the chariot to meet him and said, “Is everything all right?” He replied, “Yes, but my master has sent me to say, ‘Two members of a company of prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim; please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.’” Naaman said, “Please accept two talents.” He urged him, and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and gave them to two of his servants, who carried them in front of Gehazi. When he came to the citadel, he took the bags from them, and stored them inside; he dismissed the men, and they left.

He went in and stood before his master; and Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” He answered, “Your servant has not gone anywhere at all.” But he said to him, “Did I not go with you in spirit when someone left his chariot to meet you? Is this a time to accept money and to accept clothing, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves? Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you, and to your descendants forever.” So he left his presence leprous, as white as snow.

Pride was still an issue. Namaan was a rich and powerful man. He wanted to give a gift worthy of his position. But God’s blessings of healing and forgiveness are meant to humble us. Jesus paid the greatest price for them. To imagine that was could buy them with anything else is an insult to the price that Jesus paid.

If we ever feel uncomfortable about receiving a gift or offering, the Holy Spirit may be revealing something about pride in the equation. I’ve heard Dan Mohler mention times when the Holy Spirit led him to not accept a gift. The people were “giving to get” instead of giving because they were participating in God’s nature. When that’s a factor, a refusal to accept the gift often exposes that pride.

Curry Blake holds events in which he teaches people to minister healing. Yet on the ministry night, he doesn’t take an offering. I understand why. Now I’m not saying it’s always wrong for a minister to take up an offering on the same night as a healing service. But Curry just wants it to be clear that only Jesus’ blood could ever pay for our healing. And when people are confused about that, sometimes it’s better to just not take an offering!

Indulgences

The Catholic Church in the middle ages sold “indulgences.” That is, they offered the promise of God’s forgiveness for money. More than once, I’ve heard a preacher imply that a financial gift could help you “receive your healing.” They may say something like “I’m not saying you can buy your healing, BUT….”

Such a practice is despicable, no matter which way it’s phrased. The story of Gehezi going after Naaman’s gift tell us what God thinks of this, and the church should have zero tolerance for it. It’s no better than selling indulgences, as Jesus bought both our forgiveness and our healing with is blood.

We can never put a price on these. They are priceless. Unfortunately, some people aren’t clear on this. And when people aren’t clear on it, the Holy Spirit may lead us to not accept a gift from them at all.

Many people in the world are still involved in spiritist religions, in which people offer gifts and sacrifices to various “gods” or spirits to receive a blessing. I’ve often seen these offerings, of food, whiskey, and other things on the street corners in Brazil. Every new year, thousands of people send little boats out with offerings of soap, perfume, and even gold coins to the “sea goddess” in order to obtain a blessing. We must make clear the distinction between Christianity and all of these other religions. Jesus is our perfect, once and for all atoning sacrifice to put an end to all others.

I’m happy to receive support from anyone whose heart moves them to help in the work of ministry. But when the context is someone having just been healed, the only thanks I want is that they would take the message of Christ the Healer, run with it, and give others what they have been so freely given!

 

 

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Don’t Be Afraid Of Failure!

[image error]Last week we talked about getting out of the “blame game.” Many people are afraid of the high standard that Jesus set for us to walk in God’s power, which is “those who believe in me will do the same works, and greater works will they do.” We saw that it’s not the high standard itself that makes us feel condemned and “not good enough,” but it’s a perspective of trying to measure up instead of resting in Christ. We can take responsibility for believing and ministering to others without playing the “blame game.”

This brings up another issue. If we are still living from the “blame game” perspective, we are too often afraid to admit failure or a need to grow in faith. Jesus told his disciples, who had already healed many sick, that they were unable to set a little boy free from epileptic seizures because of their unbelief. Then Jesus healed the boy.

We could make up all kinds of unbiblical reasons why we think someone “didn’t get healed.” Many have. We could blame it on the unbelief or sin of the person we ministered to. We could doubt the revelation of God through Christ, saying “maybe it just wasn’t God’s will.” We could make up phrases like “God gave her the ultimate healing in heaven.”

Or we could admit that if Jesus had touched them, they would have been healed. And we, as members of the body of Christ, failed to do what Jesus would have done.

Admitting failure is far too painful if we are still playing the “blame game.” But failure is not bad. Someone who has never failed has never stepped out in faith and tried anything! Most people who are wildly successful in some area have failed many times. If you are afraid of failure, I’d like to share a fresh perspective on it.

Why Do We See Death As A Failure?

Recently, someone asked “Why do we see death as a failure? Haven’t they received the ultimate healing in heaven?” 

I’ve heard that kind of reasoning several times after a Christian brother or sister received prayer yet died an untimely death. There’s some truth to it. Yes, Jesus has conquered death and to be absent from the body is present with the Lord.

But when Jesus said “heal the sick,” was he talking about laying hands on people so they could die and “receive the ultimate healing” with the Lord in heaven?  I don’t think so! How many people did Jesus “heal” that way? He healed all who touched him. When scripture says that, do you really think it means “some came to Jesus and after they touched him they died and received the ultimate healing in heaven?”

Was it what James meant when he wrote “The prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up.” Unless giving the “ultimate healing in heaven” was part of how Jesus healed the sick, the untimely death of someone we minister to is a failure to do what Jesus did. And if we claim these promises and then say “God answered by giving the ultimate healing in heaven,” it makes us a laughingstock to unbelievers.

Why would we rather let go of the revelation of God’s will and nature that we’ve been given in Christ, than admit failure? Why are we so afraid of failure?

Faith Muscles

When I was about 17 years old, someone gave me a prophetic word that really encouraged me. This person said “I see you as a muscleman. God is helping you build muscles of faith and making you strong so that you will lift heavy burdens off of people’s backs.” A few years later, I began to see that word fulfilled.

I recently read the book Do What Jesus Did by Robby Dawkins. His writing reminded me of that prophetic word. Robby talked about how bodybuilders “push ’till failure.” Pushing ’till failure is how they get stronger. It’s how they build muscle. Robby talks about taking the same attitude in power evangelism and exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Failure isn’t bad!

I remember when I was seeing people healed but I wanted to get words of knowledge. I stepped out many times and got embarrassed when I missed it. But my desire to see God touch people was greater than my fear of embarrassment. One night I was in McDonald’s and had the thought that the left ear was hurting of a certain girl working in the back. I really thought it was just me, but in case it wasn’t, I asked the girl at the cashier to call the girl in the back, and I asked about her ear. She said “How did you know that!” And God healed her ear!

All of the successes have made all the failures worthwhile! And if you stepped out in love, you may have failed with giving an accurate the word of knowledge, but your failure was a success! Why? Because stepping out in faith pleases God. Saying “Yes” to what God tells you to do, even when you feel like you can’t, pleases God. Stepping out to share God’s love with people is a success!

Faith Pleases God!

Peter was the only one who failed walking on water, but he was the only one who did walk on water. I’d rather fail many times more than most people have, but also see more miracles than most people could even imagine, than to live a life devoid of faith and risk.

When we understand this, then failure to do what Jesus did is no longer about feeling like we didn’t “measure up.” Rather, we feel the Heavenly Father’s pleasure that we are taking Him at his word and stepping out as representatives of Jesus! We must start with the position of being already highly favored, accepted in Christ!

Really, scripture says to “strive to excel” in spiritual gifts. How are we going to do that without ever missing it? If your “Christianity” doesn’t constantly challenge you to go beyond what is humanly possible and live in God’s ability, its message has been compromised. If our view of life in Christ looks even slightly doable according to human ability, out gospel has been compromised.

Paul said “It’s no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” He said to “Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.” He talked about being strengthened in our innermost being through faith in Christ. If fear of failure moves you, you won’t do anything. Rather, keep “pushing ’till failure” and become strong in the Lord. You will develop a greater and greater confidence in His power working in you.

Being unwilling to admit failure is like imagining that we have are already as “strong in the Lord” as possible and don’t have any room to grow stronger by being strengthened in our innermost being by the Holy Spirit.

The people who fail when getting a dying child healed, yet don’t change their perspective of God, are often the ones to see the next child healed. They say “We failed on that one, but not next time!”

I’ve heard so many stories like this of failures followed by victory. Dan Mohler ministered to a little child with terminal cancer. He lived longer than expected, but eventually died. He refused to compromise his view of God. The next time a child with the same kind of cancer, which the doctors called terminal, was miraculously healed.

Kevin Peterson lost his son to brain cancer. Instead of adapting powerless theology, he got a greater revelation of God. Eventually, he got to pray over the phone for a dying child with a brain tumor. She had already lost the ability to speak. And a few months later he heard she was fine and back in school!

Bill Johnson lost his dad to cancer. He chose to hold fast to the revelation of God’s goodness in Christ, and many testimonies of cancer healed have come out of Bethel since.

God is able to do far more than we could ever ask or imagine according to his power at work within us. All too often, Christians have been afraid to ask or imagine because they are afraid of failure. And then they get mad at Christians who do dare to believe what God can do through them, because such faith makes them feel even more inadequate and condemned. They take that faith as the other person condemning them.

I hope this week’s post along with last week’s article about the “blame game” have encouraged to you. If you are stepping out in faith and other Christian’s are getting mad at you, maybe this helps to understand why they are so upset. They are most often struggling with guilt and condemnation. When we understand our standing and approval with God in Christ, it sets us free from the “blame game” and from fear of failure. Then we can go from strength to strength in the Lord and not only ask or imagine, but experience, far more than we ever thought possible by Christ’s power working through us.

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Get out of the “Blame Game!”

[image error]Last week and the week before we talked about the fallacies of the “100%” criticism. The “100%” criticism claims that we have no right to teach the biblical doctrines of faith and God’s will to heal if we don’t demonstrate them 100% of the time.

Scripture couldn’t be more clear about God’s will to heal, and Jesus’ promises concerning faith are extreme! Yet many people struggle with accepting these scriptural promises at face value. They feel like accepting such a high standard inevitably leads them into a mire of guilt and condemnation. In fact, even the mention of these promises in scripture is painful, because they feel like if they take these scriptural promises at face value, then sickness is their “fault.”  If God’s will is always healing, God has done his part, and now it’s up to the body of Christ to act, who is to blame now for disease and suffering?

In part 2 of the “New Faith Movement,” we saw why the “New Faith Movement” totally rejects blaming a sick person for their disease or “failure to receive” healing. Yet even if some people understand that we’ve rejected “blaming the victim,” they feel like they are at fault for “failing to believe” for someone close to them. Or they conclude that if what we are saying is true, we are to blame for their sickness if we haven’t “gotten them healed” yet. The emotional pain that comes from playing the “blame game” is at the root of many angry comments by critics of teaching faith and divine healing.

On the other hand, people who step out to minister healing also sometimes fall into the trap of playing the “blame game.” If they don’t blame the sick person for “failing to receive their healing” because of “unbelief” or other “issues,” they blame themselves. After all, God has empowered us to do the works of Jesus. He said that if we would believe, we’d do the same works and greater.

That’s true. But it doesn’t need to lead to blaming ourselves if we step out to minister and don’t see the results we want. Falling into that trap is one of the quickest ways to get discouraged and stop ministering to others.

A High Standard Isn’t The Problem

Jesus said “Those who believe in me will do the same works, and even greater works will they do.” And Jesus healed all who came to him, all who touched him. Is this standard too high? Must it inevitably lead to guilt and condemnation? No! The problem isn’t the standard, but our perspective. Are we always trying to measure up, or are we enjoying life in Christ because Jesus has measured up and we are in Jesus?

Let’s consider what we believe about holiness. Do we believe it is ever God’s will for a person to sin? Of course not! So God’s will for the Christian is an absolutely sinless life? Yes. Is that too high of a standard? No, it’s quite reasonable.

So why would we think of it as “too high” of a standard to say that God’s will is for us to heal all the sick who come to us and live absolutely free from sickness?

1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (NIV) It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Colossians 1:22 (NIV) But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

Hebrews 10:14 (NIV) For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Does a high standard for holiness lead us into guilt and condemnation? It depends on our perspective. Are we always trying to measure up? Or did Jesus measure up and we have the joy of participating with him in holiness?

If we are coming from the perspective of being in Christ, we are perfect and blameless. We are at rest. That place of rest and abiding in Christ produces the fruit of holiness.

It is the same with manifesting God’s power. A high standard (“the same works and greater”) will only lead us into guilt and condemnation if we are trying to measure up instead of resting in Christ.

Trying To Measure Up, Or Already Adequate Because We Are In Christ?

This is such an important issue to understand if we are going to step out and do the works of Jesus. I remember I ministered to a lady for about an hour almost every day for a few months. She died of cancer.

If Jesus had touched her, she would live. What do I do? Blame myself? Wallow in defeat? Think “I just don’t have enough faith…I’m not good enough?” Or do I strive to enter God’s rest?

If I had blamed myself for losing her, I probably would have stopped. It would have been too painful for me to keep ministering healing or insisting on God’s will to heal. And a little boy who had cancer might not be alive today!

Does striving to measure up morally produce the fruit of holiness? No, abiding in Christ does. In the same way, abiding in Christ produces the manifestation of God’s nature through is, it is what produces the manifestation of God’s power through us.

Never fall into the trap of healing ministry or the gifts of the spirit becoming an attempt to “measure up” or “be good enough.” You may not feel like you have enough faith. But if you are resting in Christ, then His faith and His adequacy are yours.

2nd Corinthians 3:5-6 (NIV) For that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant…

If a high standard for walking in God’s power makes someone feel guilty, they are already coming from a perspective of trying to “measure up” instead of abiding in Christ. They are already “playing the blame game.” If we have changed our perspective and are resting in Christ and His work, a high standard doesn’t lead us into condemnation. A high standard for manifesting both Christ’s nature and Christ’s power is exciting! It is the great privilege of being joined to Christ, never something that makes us feel inadequate.

We manifest God’s power out of a place of rest, knowing we are in Christ, our competence is in him, and we don’t have to try to “measure up” because Jesus has “measured up.”

Jesus The Scapegoat

The word “scapegoat” comes from the Old Testament. The nation of Isreal would take a goat and lay their hands on it, imparting the sins of the nation into the goat. Then they sent the goat into the wilderness. (Leviticus 16:20-22) This was a picture of Jesus, who carried the guilt of the whole world on his back.

Jesus came to end the “blame game!” And he made us perfect and blameless before the Father. Playing the “blame game” and “scapegoating” will sap your strength and your ability to persevere in ministering to others. Acting out of rest and abiding in Christ brings increasing manifestation of God’s power and nature—until we grow up in every aspect, into the full measure of the stature of Christ!

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“If Healing Is So Simple, Why Don’t You Get 100% Results?”

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Last week we pointed out the fallacy of questioning God’s will to heal or a person’s right to teach it if that person doesn’t demonstrate 100% success with ministering healing. Today we continue to talk about the same, especially in response to those who use the “100%” criticism to argue that setting people free can’t be as simple for us as it was for Jesus.

“If It’s So Simple, Why Don’t You Get 100% Results?”

Some have used the “100%” argument to argue against my conviction that if supposed “blocks” or “hindrances” to healing didn’t make anything impossible to Jesus, so it shouldn’t make anything impossible to us. The same with the study we did a few months ago on the simplicity of Jesus’ deliverance ministry.

My response is the same as my answer to those who oppose teaching that God’s will is healing 100% of the time. No, I haven’t always had the same results as Jesus. But what I am saying has born fruit and continues to do so. Once I had the issue settled in my heart and stopped worrying about “hindrances” and “blocks” to healing, I saw a lot more fruit. I saw people physically healed who had little progress before that after hours and hours of counseling and ministry. I even saw people who were mocking or in total unbelief healed when I ministered to them.

We have heard multiple testimonies of people healed of severe emotional trauma, mental disorders such as bipolar, and serious physical conditions through one encounter with God’s love. What if we have the testimony of one person who was healed of bipolar and deep trauma in a single encounter with God’s glory, in spite of all their issues? What if I can show you one person who was healed of terminal cancer in spite of their rebellion, bitterness, unforgiveness, and anger at God? Why isn’t it possible for others?

If none of those issues “blocked” the healing for that one person, why should I consider them “blocks” when I minister to anybody else?

I personally was set free from mental torment and OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) in one encounter with God’s glory. It felt like I was in heaven for months after that and I felt so much of God’s love in my heart that I was just weeping half the time and wondering how it was possible to love so much. My friend Stuart in one encounter with God’s love was set free from suicidal depression, bulimia, OCD, and severe physical pain that had him bedridden for six months. Yet some people would have insisted it would take months of ministry for someone as messed up as Stuart to make some significant progress towards dealing with his “issues.”

Does holding to such a high standard for what’s possible in Christ mean that we disparage working through things, or fail to rejoice in gradual improvement? No. Does it mean we have no place for perseverance and tenacity? No. It just means that we refuse to adapt a theology that magnifies “issues” over God’s power to deliver. How great do we believe God’s power is to undo the works of the devil?

There is an increasing manifestation of God’s glory. We rejoice if we pray for five hours and a person no longer needs a wheelchair! We rejoice if it takes five months of continual progress! We celebrate even a small improvement and thank God for it.

I’ve prayed for many people for 15 minutes or half an hour until all their pain was gone. I’ve prayed for others for hours. I also know there is a manifestation of glory where people are healed in your proximity and you don’t even have to pray. You might not even know it until later. What I regularly walk in is very little compared to what I have at times experienced. And that is very little compared to all that’s possible in Christ. I am constantly aware of how much more is possible. I’ve just tasted enough to know.

The message that continues to bear fruit is a message that leads from glory to glory. If we are going from one degree of glory to another as we behold the Lord, there is a greater degree of glory to walk in. The river of God in Ezekiel gets deeper and deeper the more we enter. Who is going to say “No, it’s not possible for God’s glory to be manifest through me to a greater degree than it is currently?” 

If we focus on the stories of people who are healed, that group grows. If we begin to despise those testimonies we fall into unbelief and are blinded. Our hearts become hard. If we focus on the people who we haven’t yet seen healed, that group grows. Some people in healing ministry, discouraged by what they haven’t seen, lose the awe and thankfulness to God for seeing a headache supernaturally healed. But the more we continue to rejoice in what we do see, the more the manifestation of power and glory increases. Which attitude bears fruit that continues to increase?

Friends, what I do in many of my articles is paint a picture of what it looks like for the body of Christ to walk in the full measure of the stature of Christ. If I am not fully walking in all I talk about, does that make me a hypocrite? No! If it were so, nobody could be a minister. But it is God who qualifies us in Christ and works in us to will and work his good pleasure! If we don’t have that vision for what it looks like to walk in the full measure of Christ’s stature, what do we have to grow into? What do we have to behold? Are we not transformed from one degree of glory to another as we behold Christ?

Do you see how huge the problem is with criticizing a viewpoint that sees all that’s possible in Christ just because we aren’t walking fully in it yet? It actually implies that we as the church are already reflecting the full measure of the stature of Christ and it’s not possible for God’s power or nature to be manifest through our lives to any degree greater than it is currently! It implies that we have already fully appropriated all of God’s promises and there is no need to continue to do so.

Holding to an extremely high standard for what’s possible in Christ can lead to playing the “blame game” if our perspective is twisted. That’s one reason that many people reject such a big vision of what Christ can do through us. Next week we’ll talk about “getting out of the blame game.”

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Do You Get 100% Results Ministering Healing?

[image error]In part 1, part 2, and part 3 on the “new faith movement,” we looked at how today’s “faith movement” tends to differ with many past faith and healing movements.

Some of the main points were that the “new faith movement” emphasizes the faith of the minister and doesn’t blame hurting people from “not having enough faith” to get healed. However, it continues to hold a strong position on faith, according to Jesus’ promise in Matthew 17.

Matthew 17:20 (NIV) 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.”

The “Strong Man’s Gospel”

Scripture says that Jesus healed everyone who came to him and everyone who touched him. He said those who believed would do the same works and greater.

Choosing to believe this continues to generate a lot of controversy. People ask “then why wasn’t so-and-so healed?” In the past, some healing ministers blamed that person for not “receiving their healing.” Yet the “new faith movement” rejects such a cop-out. It emphasizes the faith of the minister, teaching that God has already done his part, God’s answer is yes, and His time is now. This approach is what John G. Lake called a “strong man’s gospel.” (And it’s the “strong women’s gospel” too!)

100% Healed

Some of the most common criticisms of healing ministers are “How can you teach such a thing if 100% of the people you touch are not healed?” or “if what you say is true, why do you wear glasses?” The very thought of facing these criticisms (and the anger that is sometimes behind them) is what makes many afraid of embracing the “strong man’s gospel.” 

Such critics say we are hypocrites if we teach what we do, yet cannot demonstrate 100% results in that everyone who comes to us is healed. (As everybody who came to Jesus was.)

I’ve also experienced some kickback from sharing my conviction that ministering healing and deliverance can be as simple for us as it was for Jesus. I’ve often pointed out that if everybody who so much as touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak was healed, Jesus didn’t have to have a counseling session with people to heal them. Nobody didn’t get healed when they touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak because unforgiveness, sin, or a need for inner healing “blocked” God’s power that flowed through Jesus. And so I don’t believe we should see these things as “blocks” for us either.

Some, who do believe in divine healing, have challenged my view on this by saying “Do you have 100% results?” I find it ironic that they also believe in God’s will to heal, yet they are using the same argument as people who absolutely oppose Christian healing ministry. Let’s look at how fallacious this “100%” criticism is.

The Word Is Continuing To Bear Fruit Among You

Let’s apply the logic of the “100%” criticism to a few other areas.

Do we believe that God’s will is for us to lead an absolutely blameless life, free of sin? I would think so! Do we believe that sin is ever God’s will? No.

Do we disqualify a preacher from talking about holiness because we saw him “lose his temper” once? Or we know him too well and he isn’t fully living up to his preaching? Do we invalidate his message about holiness from the Word of God?

Do we invalidate the 100% standard of the fruit of the Spirit because someone teaching it doesn’t walk in it 100%? Do we consider such a standard unreasonable or claim that nobody who doesn’t demonstrate it perfectly has a right to teach it?

Doesn’t scripture have amazing promises about God’s perfect peace for those who set their minds on the Lord and fullness of joy in God’s presence? Do we disqualify a preacher from talking about God’s peace because we saw how anxious he was last week over a financial problem? Do we doubt God’s promises because we haven’t seen them fully appropriated and lived out? No!

That kind of thinking— that says you can’t preach it unless you live it 100%—has encouraged many pastors to live hidden lives rather than being vulnerable and real. They feel like they are about to be exposed as hypocrites if they let others into their lives too much. That sounds kind of like some old-time healing ministers changing their names to check into hospitals, doesn’t it?

If we reject applying the same logic to other areas, how can we invalidate the clear scriptural revelation of God’s will concerning healing because we haven’t seen 100%? How can we disqualify a preacher from teaching on Jesus’ promises concerning faith because he has glasses? If it seems so preposterous to apply this “100%” criticism to topics such as God’s holiness and the fruit of the Spirit, then why does it seem reasonable to apply it to God’s will to heal as revealed in Christ, and to Jesus’ promises concerning faith?

As I was thinking about writing this post, the Holy Spirit brought this verse to remembrance:

Colossians 1:6 (NIV) In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.

Understanding God’s holiness and union with Christ through faith produces holiness. These are truths that continue to bear fruit if we hold fast to them. Failure to demonstrate 100% of what scripture talks about right now does not make you a hypocrite or invalidate truth. What matters is that truth is bearing fruit and increasing in your life.

We understand that holding to God’s promises of peace and freedom from anxiety produces the fruit of peace. As we hold fast to truth, that truth continues to bear fruit and grow in manifestation in our life. Yet even Paul who said “be anxious for nothing” was hard-pressed with anxiety at least once. Does that invalidate God’s promises?

Friends, here is my response to the 100% criticism. I can’t say that 100% of everyone I touch has been healed, as all who touched even them hem of Jesus’ cloak were healed. But I can say that what I believe has born fruit and is continuing to grow and bear fruit. The message of doubt doesn’t.

I can say that I had never seen a single person healed through my hands until I became convinced that healing is always God will. And the truth of knowing God’s will about healing has continued to bear fruit so that far more people have been healed than I can remember or have ever consistently kept track of, even though I’ve tried to maintain a journal at times. I’ve been healed several times. My grandmother was healed at least three times of major issues. My sister was healed in a moment of needing glasses. Lives of others have been saved and surgeries canceled. And as long as I continue to hold fast to this truth, it continues to bear fruit. The message that “sometimes God says yes, and sometimes he says no, and we can never really be sure of his answer or his time” doesn’t bear this fruit.

Next week we’ll continue to deal with the “100%” criticism from those who say “If it is really so simple, why don’t we see 100% results?”

 

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Four Marking Characteristics Of The “New Faith Movement” Part 3

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The last few weeks we’ve been talking about some of the ways today’s faith movement tends to differ with some of the faith and healing movements of the past. (See part 1 and part 2) Today we are looking at how many people’s view of faith has changed.

4. Faith Comes Out Of And Grows With Relationship

In some ways I don’t like the word “faith movement.” I prefer “Jesus movement.” Why? It’s not about faith in itself. It’s about a person, Jesus. It’s about knowing God.

I wrote before about how the phrase “the power of faith” bothered me because people just attributed God’s work to the “power of faith” instead of catching the revelation of God’s nature revealed in Jesus. You don’t even have to believe in Jesus to believe in the “power of faith.” I’ve talked to plenty of people who didn’t know Jesus, yet they believed in “The power of faith.” The “power of faith” alone will fail you if it doesn’t lead to a revelation of Jesus.

Sometimes teaching on faith has fallen into the trap of becoming impersonal and missing the real point, which is the revelation of Jesus. If you learn all about faith and all you come away with is “mind over matter,” you’ve missed the point.

I had someone write to me and say “I tried everything in your blog, the same as all of them teach, and it didn’t work for me.” I was a bit surprised because I have very little in my blog about “how to get healed.” Yes, I do have a few testimonies of how I was healed personally. But I don’t have anything like “5 steps to getting your healing.” Most of the articles here that talk about healing are in the context of ministering to other people who need it.

Seeing healing as “5 steps” or “The power of faith” has lead to so much frustration and disappointment. When someone says “I tried that and it didn’t work,” it’s a sure sign that the gospel has been reduced to a series of steps and principles. Several past movements have definitely done that with their teaching on finances, and sometimes they fell into the same trap when teaching about healing.

I don’t want to overgeneralize the faith movements of the past, as if they weren’t about Jesus. But sometimes they tended to be applied in an impersonal way, almost as if it was about faith itself. When that happens, people become disillusioned with the message. Our main message isn’t “The Power of Faith.” It’s “Look at who Jesus is and what he’s done for us!”

Thank God that the Body of Christ is growing! The “new faith movement” today has less tendency to see faith as merely “Do A and B, and C will be the result.” 

Growing In Faith, Grace, And Power

This is reflected in the understanding that we grow in faith and in power as we grow in the knowledge of Jesus. Jesus is the author and perfector of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2)  We are growing in the knowledge of Jesus (2 Peter 3:18), and growing up in all things into Him. (Ephesians 4:15) Who is going to say “I don’t have room to grow anymore. I’ve already reached the full measure of the stature of Christ.”? Who is going to say “No, it’s not possible for God’s power, glory, and nature to shine through my life to any greater degree than it is currently.”?

When we see things this way, we can walk honestly and still not compromise the truth of scripture about faith and the revelation of God’s will.

The ministers of this “new faith movement” today aren’t checking into hospitals with different names so that nobody knows they have a problem! They are honest about their own struggles as well as their victories. They are real. And if they are real about their struggles, they aren’t condemning other people for “lack of faith.”

The testimonies are real too! They don’t let issues stop them from ministering to others. For example, check out the video below where Todd White shares testimonies of healing when he had an injured knee and even when he woke up from surgery.

In the following video, a lady who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis ministering in God’s power to other people in need. I can’t tell you how many of my friends have ministered to others and seen great miracles when they personally were in physical pain. As I was, many of them ended up totally free from the problem as they continued to minister to others. But there was still that period when they were ministering to others and they were hurting. Todd was seeing God heal people’s knees and his knee was hurting.

If we viewed faith as only a series of principles, as the “power of faith,” we would let any little issue disqualify us from ministering to others. We would say “I tried it, and it didn’t work. I can’t minister healing to anybody else’s knees, because my knee is hurting.” That all too often leads to playing the “blame game,” then a hard heart and anger at God and at people who talk about faith and healing.

One of the common criticisms of healing ministers is “He wears glasses. Why didn’t it work for him?”

The person who brings up this criticism has a point if we are treating faith as “Do A, B, and C, and you will get healed.” If it were so, the healing minister wearing glasses might be a hypocrite.

But if faith is about being strengthened more and more in our innermost being by the power of the Holy Spirit, growing in the knowledge of Jesus, and being transformed as we behold God’s glory, then it’s unreasonable to criticise a healing minister for wearing glasses. It’s just as unreasonable as criticizing a preacher for preaching on the fruits of the Spirit if he has ever failed to demonstrate the fullness of what he is preaching 100% of the time.

And if faith is about a relationship with Jesus, then wearing glasses doesn’t disqualify you from opening blind eyes in Jesus’ name! A hurting knee doesn’t disqualify you from ministering to someone else with a hurting knee! And today there are so many testimonies of Christians being healed of their own issues as they minister to others! If we treat faith as simply a “formula” or “mind over matter,” too many people feel disqualified from being able to walk in faith or minister to others if they have an issue of their own.

I hope this series on the “new faith movement” has helped you to understand where some people are coming from when they react negatively to hearing the words “faith” or “healing.” I also hope it has encouraged you with seeing how the Church is maturing. We can learn from both the strengths and weaknesses of past movements in the church and also honor what God has done within them.

Putting the responsibility on the minister to believe rather than on the person in need keeps us from “blaming the victim.” But does that then mean that we either blame the minister, make things more complicated, or decide that sometimes healing just isn’t God’s will? (Thus blame God.) No. Next week we’ll talk about why having a high standard for what’s possible in Christ doesn’t mean we need to play the blame game. Let’s get out of the blame game altogether!

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Four Marking Characteristics Of The “New Faith Movement” Part 2

[image error]Last week we started our discussion of how the “new faith movement” differs from several “faith movements” that people are familiar with from the past. We started by talking about how the focus is changing from “getting your healing” to ministering to others. As we discussed, if the focus of teaching on faith becomes self-centered we miss the best opportunities to exercise faith and become vulnerable to unbelief. The second and third point are closely related to the first one.

2. It’s Organic

The model in the past often tended to be getting people to come to a meeting, a church service, or a crusade and then creating an “atmosphere of faith.” Some ministries still focus on this. It’s not bad. It’s wonderful to see hundreds of people healed in a big meeting and hear testimonies that will make you weep.

The weakness is that this has sometimes centered on a “man of God” who was ministering to the sick. I recently visited a big church in Brazil that has many miracles happening. They have people share the testimonies on television of cancers falling off and being healed of various conditions. We celebrate that! However, they are always focusing heavily on getting people to go to their meetings. It also seems like most things happen when one guy in the front is praying.

When there is such an emphasis on a “man of God,” many Christians invite their friend to church to hear a famous minister rather than ministering to them right then and there. If we fail to personally put truth into practice, we are at risk of falling into the trap of unbelief which we describe in point number one last week.

What about people who don’t go to the church? One strength of the new “faith movement” is that even in big meetings, everybody is ministering healing to each other. And they also minister in people’s houses, on the street, and in everyday life. We don’t feel like we need to bring people to a church meeting for them to be healed or touched by God.  We see God show his glory on the spot in front of their families and friends! We still have the big healing meetings, but they are no longer focused on just one person doing the ministry.

3. It Emphasizes The Faith Of The Minister

Having an atmosphere of faith and seeing mass healings is great. But what are you going to do when you see a kid with a broken arm at the gas station and his friends mock you? Or a lady needs to be healed and she is about to cuss you out because you just said something about Jesus? (True stories!) If you think it’s all just about getting people to believe so they can “receive their healing,” you won’t have much to offer! You can’t rely on having an “atmosphere of faith” in these situations!

The new “faith movement” puts far more emphasis on the minister believing than on the person in need. Why? Jesus did encourage people to believe, but he never touched anybody and said “Sorry, it’s not working because you’re not believing enough.” When Jesus said in Matthew 17 “Nothing will be impossible for you if you believe,” he was speaking in the context of ministering healing. He didn’t say “Nothing will be impossible if the people you lay hands on believe.”

Some healing ministers in the past believed that if a person left their meeting and wasn’t healed, it was because that person didn’t have faith. I recently listened to the autobiography of the great evangelist Reinhard Bonkke. Bonnke told a story of how God stepped out of the box of his theology by healing a wheelchair-bound woman who was totally in unbelief. The body of Christ today is learning to believe God for people who don’t have faith.

A few healing evangelists of the past, such as Jack Coe, would flat-out tell a person who didn’t get out of a wheelchair “You don’t have enough faith.” Even if others didn’t say it, it was an assumption that many held in faith-healing circles. Yes, I have heard people gossiping about someone who “just didn’t have enough faith to get healed.” And I’ve met people who had been very hurt by that kind of attitude. Some got angry at me because they assumed that if I believed in healing I’d treat them the same way. Others were relieved that I didn’t ask them to try to believe, and they got healed!

Of course, not all the old-time faith teachers and healing evangelists promoted such an attitude. Even so, it is far too easy to adapt such an attitude if we fail to realize that Jesus emphasized his disciples believing when they ministered healing, rather than focusing on the faith of the people they would minister to. When I once placed much greater importance on the faith of the person receiving ministry, it was also hard for me to avoid falling into the attitude of blaming the person I laid hands on for not receiving healing. 

I knew one older guy who was hardcore on “faith.” I heard him arrogantly talking down on other people who were having problems—not just health issues, but financial trouble and more. He also insisted that he was never going to die. But I never saw him reach out and minister healing to anybody. I’d probably seen more people healed through my hands in a week than he had ministered to in the last 20 years. This is how dogma about “faith” can become perverted when the focus is self-centered and we don’t actually practice it outside of the context of our own problems. I’ve met too many people who held fiercely to doctrine about faith and divine healing, yet I never saw them reach out to minister to anybody because they were putting all the responsibility on the person in need to “get their healing.”

When we understand that we can believe God to heal people who are in total unbelief, we have no reason to blame the person needing ministry for not having faith. An atmosphere of unbelief didn’t stop Jesus from healing people. If you understand that, how can you judgementally talk about another person’s “lack of faith” when you didn’t step in with faith to get them healed anyway?

In point number one, we discussed how a self-centered focus makes us miss the best opportunities to exercise faith and puts us in danger of falling into unbelief. This is closely connected to point number three. If we think the responsibility to believe God lies primarily on the person in need rather than on us as Christ’s ambassadors, it’s easy for our focus to become self-centered. We then have a cop-out when it comes to taking the best opportunities to exercise faith by ministering to others.

The “new faith movement” emphasizes the faith of the minister, whether the people we reach out to are receptive of hostile. It leaves no room for leaving a person sick and then suggesting “you didn’t get healed because of your unbelief.”

Next week we’ll go on to the fourth point about the trend in today’s “faith movements” is changing.

 

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Four Marking Characteristics Of The New “Faith Movement” Part 1

[image error]When we begin ministering to others and talking about faith and God’s will to heal, it sometimes uncovers a lot of emotional pain. When I started seeing God heal people, I was weeping all the time because of what I saw God do. I just wanted others to experience what I had. Yet a few people were so upset at me that I actually felt their mistaken judgments like a dark cloud coming over me. For a while I became introspective, wondering if I was in pride or some great sin. But I soon realized that the dark cloud was a lie.

I’d like to do a few posts that deal with understanding why the topics of faith and healing can be so painful for some. Satan tries to take truth and glory and twist it into condemnation and playing the “blame game.” This week and next, we’ll look at the weaknesses of some faith and healing movements in the past, and compare them with how things are changing for the better.

How Things Are Changing

Many older Christians think of the “Word of Faith” movement and healing evangelists of past decades when they think of faith and healing. Sometimes their pain is attached to bad experiences with these past “faith movements.”

I’m not writing as a critic of the Word of Faith movement or the older healing evangelists. I’m thankful for the great move of the Holy Spirit through their lives. Yet these past faith movements sometimes got derailed with a self-centered focus. (Kenneth Hagin recognized this in the area of prosperity teaching and wrote to correct it in his book “Midas Touch.”)

There is a new “faith movement” spreading around the world today, and it’s different in some ways from many “faith movements” of the past.” It includes many people ministering and seeing miracles happen in everyday life. A lot of the roots of this movement seem to trace back to Dan Mohler or Curry Blake‘s influence. It has been spread through people like Todd White and Pete Cabrera Jr. making Youtube videos. I met Dan Mohler around 2006 and was not familiar with Curry Blake until years later. Dan’s teaching encouraged me and I began to minister more to unbelievers and not just Christians. It’s amazing to see how much that teaching has multiplied and born fruit since then.

This “new faith movement” really isn’t totally new. It has a lot in common with the emphasis of John G. Lake’s ministry in the early 1900’s. It includes a strong belief in God’s will to heal and in the importance of us partnering with God in faith to see His will be done. However, it’s different in some ways than the “faith” and “healing” movements that many people have known. I think talking about how things have changed helps us see what’s happening in the body of Christ and understand why the topics of faith and healing have so much “baggage” attached to them for some people.

I see four areas where today’s “new faith movement” tends to contrast with much of the teaching on healing and faith from the past decades. I see this as a good thing. The body of Christ is growing into greater maturity

1. It’s Focused On Ministering To Others

I’ve read a lot of older books on faith and divine healing, and I’ve listened to messages by some famous teachers of the past. The Biblical foundation that they present on God’s will for healing is really valuable. However, many of them focus heavily on how to “get your healing” and how to “have faith for yourself.”

Is learning to have faith for yourself bad? No. Jesus also encouraged people to believe. However, the weakness of that teaching was that it sometimes became very self-centered. I’ve known people who were close adherents of “Word of Faith” teaching, but many of them never even tried to exercise faith until an emergency arose in their own family. I rarely or never saw them reaching out and ministering healing to others.

So even though they studied faith and talked about it a lot, they missed many opportunities to exercise and develop faith! The danger of that is that “faith” can become a religious dogma that we believe in but don’t really know how to exercise. I remember Bill Johnson talking about the time before he became totally unsatisfied with mere theory. He said “We would fight to the death to defend the doctrine of God’s will to heal, but few of us could remember the last time we actually saw someone healed.”

Of course, this was not always the result of teaching that emphasized the faith of the sick person. But it happens a lot more easily when teaching focuses too heavily on “getting your healing” rather than on ministering to other people. I often think that the worst kind of unbelief is to mentally assent to a dogma but never really act like it’s true! For kids and teens growing up in church, to hear people “confess the word” all the time but almost never reach out to minister to a neighbor is a breeding ground for unbelief.

The greatest unbelief I’ve encountered has usually been in religious environments where people had convinced themselves “I already know about healing. I believe it.” They actually say things like “Oh, you don’t need to pray for me. I’m healed.” Their hearts were hardened by talk without action.

James 1:22 (NIV) Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Many people have found it much easier to start ministering healing to others than to minister healing to themselves. It’s not that it has to be that way, but it’s just that we tend to take personal issues more personally! I personally saw hundreds of other people healed when I laid hands on them before I ever successfully ministered healing to myself!

The “Word of Faith” movement talked a lot about “confessing the Word.” While confessing the Word is good, confessing the word without acting on it leads to unbelief. We grow in faith much more by stepping out and ministering to others than we do by just “confessing the Word.” 

If the primary emphasis ever becomes “getting your healing” rather than ministering to others, we miss many opportunities to exercise faith. It’s a lot easier to get discouraged if we are waiting for a personal crisis to exercise faith. It then becomes easy to fall into the trap of talking without acting, which leads to unbelief and hard hearts.

The “new faith movement” focuses much more on ministering to others than on “believing for your healing.” People are taught to heal the sick. Many are doing so even when they themselves have issues that they are still feeling in their bodies. Regan Bothman, for example, was ministering and seeing God do miracles in hospitals when he was still having epileptic seizures. (He is now totally free from epilepsy!) This gives us much more opportunity to actually put faith into practice and grow in faith.

The first point is closely related to the second and third points. We’ll continue our discussions of the “faith movement” has changed for the better next week.

 

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The Supernatural Grace Of Giving

[image error]Last week and the week before, we contrasted the stories of two widow’s who gave offerings out of dire need. One of these widows experienced a miracle of supernatural provision. The other? Jesus grieved over her oppression.

Have you ever heard a testimony of someone saying “I had a big need and I gave everything I had left. Then I experienced a miracle!” Many Christians have struggled with being able to believe or accept such testimonies, because of how widespread guilt trips and manipulation have become in taking offerings.

What if there’s really something to this “supernatural grace of giving” without all the baggage? I believe there is. The stories of the two widows can help us to understand God’s heart and separate the truth from the abuse. When we remove all compulsion and giving becomes a thing of total freedom, such testimonies of giving out of need become something to be excited about!

So, What Should We Do With Those Testimonies Of “I Gave $5000 And Got A Financial Miracle!”

Do I believe such testimonies? Yes! Is the answer to your need always to do what they did? I don’t think so.

In Exodus 17, the Israelites had a need. They were in the desert and they were thirsty, so they started grumbling against God. They forgot the miracles he had done for them before. (That’s what you don’t want to do when you have a need!)

Moses cried out to God because the people were about to stone him, and God said “Strike that rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” Moses hit the rock, water came out, and the people drank. That’s a pretty cool story of supernatural provision.

Well, it wasn’t too long until the Israelites forgot how God provided for them. The story is in Numbers 20. They needed water again. Instead of praying with thanksgiving for God’s deliverance in the past, they turned on Moses again. This time God told Moses to speak to the rock and water would come out.

But Moses didn’t speak to the rock. He struck it again, this time twice. Water gushed out. But God wasn’t happy about what Moses did.

Numbers 20:12 (NIV) But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

Are You Following Principles Or Following Christ?

Could it be that Moses was attempting to follow a “principle” instead of trusting God and obeying Him? Moses disobeyed God and did “what worked last time.” 

Colossians 2:8-10 (NKJV)  Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him…

“Principles” aren’t always bad. Yet I think some of the “financial principles” we’ve heard taught are “the basic principles of this world” and not “according to Christ.” Life in Christ is not according to the basic principles of this world. It supersedes them.

“Basic principles of this world” in context refers especially to the law. Grace and life in Christ work differently.

Life in Christ is not about rules or the basic principles of this world, which is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Giving, by definition, cannot have rules, because if it does, it’s not a gift. It’s a tax. And there’s no such thing as a kingdom of heaven tax.

Let’s look at another story of supernatural provision:

Matthew 17:24-27 (NKJV)  When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the [i]temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?”

He said, “Yes.”

And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?” Peter said to Him, “From strangers.”

Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”

If you read the different stories in scripture of supernatural provision, you’ll find repeatedly that the pattern is of hearing God’s voice. God told the widow of Zarephath to feed Elijah. But here Jesus didn’t tell Peter to give anything, only to go fishing and take a coin from a fish’s mouth.

Hearing God’s Voice

2nd Kings chapter 4 tells the story of a widow who was about to lose her two sons as slaves to a creditor. The prophet Elishah didn’t ask for an offering or tell her to “sow a seed. ” He told her to borrow as many jars as she could, pour oil in them, and sell the oil. The oil multiplied.

We could look at other stories as well, such as the various times that God provided for the Israelites. The provision came through a specific word of God for their situation. I think we are missing the point if we teach these stories as mere “principles” rather than encouragement to have faith in God and live out of trust and relationship with Him. The same with testimonies we hear today about supernatural provision.

Life in Christ is about participating in God’s nature, the tree of life! It’s not about “Do A and B and C will be the result.” It’s about a relationship with God and hearing his voice.

When is it right to give out of your own need? When you have a specific word from God about what to do. Or when your heart moves you to give to meet a dire need, like the Macedonian’s hearts did.

Give To Get?

When it becomes about only “following principles” instead of knowing God, we end up giving out of compulsion. In that case, not only are we violating Paul’s New Testament command, but the motivation for “giving” becomes totally self-centered. It’s no longer “don’t look only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” It’s “give so you can get blessed and so God can take care of your needs.” It’s no longer grace and mercy, and it’s no longer gospel.

Giving under compulsion often leads us to give towards things that are straw, hay, and stubble, and will be burned up, just as the widow in the New Testament gave her last to adorn a temple that was about to be destroyed.

So how do we treat the testimonies of people giving radically and experiencing miracles of provision? I think that instead of turning them into “principles” of how to get our needs yet, we can take them as encouragement to trust God and to grow in the grace of giving.

If God provided for Jesus with a coin from a fish’s mouth, we can also walk in relationship with the Father so that we hear His voice and experience supernatural provision.

Michael Van Vlyman recently wrote a book on supernatural provision. I was really encouraged to find something that teaches growing in generosity and expecting supernatural provision without the legalism. He encourages you to grow in the grace of giving and take responsibility for where you give. He also has exercises to help you put truth in practice, and amazing testimonies of financial miracles to encourage you. I want to share what he’s put out because I really believe it’s needed and I haven’t found much other material that teaches on this subject like he does, but without the legalism. Here it is:

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