Jonathan Brenneman's Blog, page 24

Divine Protection Part 3-Overcoming Evil With Good

Romans 12:20 (NRSV) if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.

 

 

In part one, I talked about the part that being free from fear can play in averting danger. When we are delivered from fear, we can start to see from God’s perspective in order to partner with what he is doing. In part two, I shared some personal testimonies of times that I felt danger was averted through prayer and hearing God’s voice. Today we will discuss violence being averted through blessing our enemies.

How Should We Respond To Violence?

I’ve shared in the last few posts about the danger we have faced where we live, including a threat of kidnapping my daughter. I’ll be honest. There have been times when I’ve kept a machete close by in case of someone breaking in our house. When I escorted the 85 year old man (who was repeatedly assaulted) back to his house to get his things, I picked up a heavy metal pipe before going inside. And there have been moments where I felt like I just wanted to grab the guy who was threatening us and attacking people by the throat, and throw him on the ground.

In this country, we could easily hire an assassin to kill the people causing trouble. My father-in-law had the chance to, but we didn’t. It hurts my heart to think of killing someone, but at the same time, I want to protect my family and other innocent people from being killed. What would it accomplish in the long run? It is possible that it could put us in more danger, because everyone has connections.

There have been some times of soul-searching. I struggle with these issues, like Dietrich Bonhoffer did in Nazi Germany. I do love my enemies. The Spirit of Christ in me does. Violence breaks my heart, even violence against evil people. I know that Jesus died for them. I know he can redeem them.

Yet may physical force sometimes be necessary to stop evil? I think it may be. The Bible says in Romans 13:4 that the ruling authority doesn’t bear the sword in vain, but is the servant of God to execute wrath on the evildoer. Might not many lives have been saved if Hitler’s threat was dealt with sooner? I think so. He was allowed to plunder weak nations far too easily, and a quicker intervention of other nations would have saved many.

Please don’t take this as a post about pacifism. Regardless of a theological stance on pacifism, I’m convinced that allowing law-abiding citizens to have firearms is a huge deterrent to crime and actually reduces violence and saves many lives. But I’m not going to argue that here. I’m just being real about where I am and what the Holy Spirit is saying to me as I face real violence. (In a country where law abiding citizens don’t have firearms and can go to jail for defending themselves, but criminals have machine guns and often get of the hook on even serious crimes.)

The Weapons Of Our Warfare

Psalm 20:7 (NRSV) Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses, but our pride is in the name of the Lord our God.

Psalm 44:6-7 (NRSV) For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. But you have saved us from our foes, and have put to confusion those who hate us.

These scriptures have spoken to me a lot as I prayed about these situations and have processed things. I have realized that human weapons do not deserve our trust. The Lord doesn’t want me trusting in human might or a machete by my bed, but in Him! I have weapons that are more powerful than a machine gun.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 (NRSV) Indeed, we live as human beings,  but we do not wage war according to human standards; for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds.

A lot of times we make light of the weapons that we have been given. Yet many people have been delivered from physical violence as they dealt with the spirit behind it. Use a weapon to stop an evildoer, and someone else could easily retaliate. It could start a war. We who are believers actually do have weapons that are much more effective. The wisdom of God may seem like foolishness and weakness, but it is wiser than human wisdom and stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 1:25)

Heap Burning Coals On Their Heads

In part one, we began to look at how Elisha was delivered from the Aramean army that surrounded him. He was not afraid. Because he saw from God’s perspective (Armies of angels), he knew how to partner with God in the situation. The whole army was supernaturally blinded and he led them to another place.

Let’s look at the second part of this story now. The first part of God’s protection in this story was a miracle. The second part is about overcoming evil with good. (Romans 12:21) Elisha blessed them, and the raiding stopped. This wasn’t just a one-time fix for the problem.

2 Kings 6:20-23 (NRSV)  As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O Lord, open the eyes of these men so that they may see.” The Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were inside Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them he said to Elisha, “Father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?” He answered, “No! Did you capture with your sword and your bow those whom you want to kill? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink; and let them go to their master.” So he prepared for them a great feast; after they ate and drank, he sent them on their way, and they went to their master. And the Arameans no longer came raiding into the land of Israel.

Romans 12:20 (NRSV) No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.”

Does It Really Work?

Although blessing your enemies is contrary to human wisdom, it really can be more effective than human force! I feel like this is a truth that is becoming so real in my heart right now. I have heard many testimonies of Christians escaping violence as they showed love to a person who was threatening them, overcoming evil with good. I recently heard a testimony of a woman escaping rape as she ministered to a man who was threatening her. Instead of doing what he was threatening to do, he broke down and began to weep. The Lord gave her words that cut to his heart

I remember reading David Wilkerson’s book “The Cross And The Switchblade“. Nicky Cruz was a very violent and angry young man. He was heard-hearted, a guy who people thought had no hope of ever changing. He threatened to cut David into a thousand pieces. He responded, “You can cut me into a thousand pieces, and every one of them will still say ‘I love you.'” Nicky-and his gang-ended up meeting Christ.

A few years ago, I met an old man named Henry Gruver. He was very different than many other ministers that I had met, but he was full of the Lord’s life and had some very encouraging testimonies.

When Henry was 18 years old, a very angry guy held a knife to his throat and threatened to kill him. Henry began to quietly “remit the man’s sins”-speaking forgiveness in order to “lift off the heavy burden of guilt” that his assailant was carrying. The attacker lost the desire to kill him and dropped the knife. Many times since then, Henry has been delivered from violence as he ministered the love of God to assailants. He has many stories! He wrote some of them in this book.

As I was writing this and remembered Henry, I looked on the internet to see what I could find of him speaking. I found a video of him on youtube here, in which he talked about some of the dangerous places he walked into. I have heard so many stories of people who escaped violence or death as they showed love to possible assailants. As I listen to Henry, the way that he talks reminds me of many other people who have remarkable stories of escaping potentially violent situations.

You Can’t Kill Me!

Henry says things like “You can’t take my life! It’s hidden in Christ!” and “You can’t kill me! I’m already dead!“. It seems that many Christians who have repeatedly escaped very dangerous situations have this attitude. They are not afraid of death, and are willing to die for Christ, if need be. “For to me, living is Christ, and dying is gain.” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had the same attitude. They had such an unwavering commitment to the Lord that they were willing to die, if need be. They were delivered from the fiery furnace, but even if they would not be delivered, they were unwavering.

Romans 14:8 (NIV) If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

As I have faced the possibility of danger, the Holy Spirit has reminded me of this verse again and again, and it has helped me. Knowing that whether I live or die, I belong to the Lord, is something that gives me great peace and calms my fears. There is something very freeing about adapting this militant attitude, “I will serve Christ, and whether I live of die, I am his!” It has been this freedom from the fear of death that has enabled many Christians to face very dangerous situations and escape unharmed. In fact, many of the people who have experienced miraculous protection were people who walked right into the face of danger for the sake of the gospel.

Although some may laugh at the idea of escaping danger by blessing and loving our enemies, it has worked with some of the most hardened and violent of criminals. The weakness of God is stronger than human wisdom. But what about when assailants remain hard-hearted?

Just like the armies were supernaturally blinded in the story of Elisha, averting harm by blessing our enemies is also often combined with miracles of protection. The Argentinian evangelist, Carlos Annacondia, has escaped death many times by a combination of miraculous protection and assailants falling on the ground and receiving deliverance ministry. Next week I will write about deliverance from violence through miracles. These may include assailants being blinded, falling to the ground, or scared by angels, as well as things like guns failing to fire and believers being supernaturally transported out of harm’s way.

 

 

 

The post Divine Protection Part 3-Overcoming Evil With Good appeared first on Go to Heaven Now!.

Divine Protection Part 2-Protection Through Prayer And Hearing God’s Voice

In last week’s post we talked about the promise of scripture that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. When we fear the Lord, our eyes are opened to see from his perspective, so that we can hear his voice and partner with him in the way he has for us to be delivered. We also mentioned how Paul talked about the Lord delivering him through the prayers of other believers.

Here are a few personal stories of experiencing God’s deliverance from violence through prayer or hearing his voice. Although they are not nearly as dramatic as some of the stories that I will share in future posts, I think they are worth sharing and that they highlight some of the points I am talking about. I think it is quite likely that I have experienced the Lord’s protection many more times than in these instances. I have traveled to dangerous places and lived in the inner city. I’ve had a murder in front of one house and there was a big gang fight down the street from another. I do know that my housemates told me about angels in both houses where I lived in the US, and I may have no idea what schemes of violent men have been diverted by the Lord.

Warning In Russia

On my second trip to Russia, I experienced a greater time of walking in the glory of the Lord than I ever had before. I was speaking God’s word and sharing testimonies with great boldness, and it felt like currents of power and love were coming from my mouth. I often felt the love of God so strongly that I could sense it tangibly in my body. People were being healed, and gold dust was even appearing inexplicably.

One morning I had a vivid dream. A Russian police officer stopped me in the dream and said very sternly and angrily “What are you doing here?” He was very intimidating and he cursed or threatened me using some Russian word that I didn’t know, but which I thought was profanity.

I woke up and felt that there was a spirit of fear and intimidation in the dream. It seemed that this was a direct threat from Satan, who didn’t like what the Lord was doing in Russia. So I reaffirmed my commitment to follow the Lord even if it meant facing danger, and I began to thank the Lord, speak scripture, and rebuke the spirit of intimidation.

Then I left the apartment and went to go somewhere by metro. As I was walking by Park Pobedy (In St. Petersburg) I saw a gang of about 20 young men. They were very rowdy and it looked like they were up to no good. One of them came up to me and started to demand money in Russian. It also sounded like he used the same word that the Russian police officer had spoken to me in my dream. Even though it wasn’t a police officer, it felt like the same spirit that had threatened me in the dream.

I stayed calm and pretended not to understand everything he was saying. I talked to him in a friendly way, as if I didn’t understand that I was being threatened. He finally said in English “Money, money!” I responded “Oh, I don’t have money”. He walked back to the gang, and I went on my way.

“He Doesn’t Have A Gun”

Robberies on the highway are very common in Rio De Janeiro. Once my wife was the front car in a bunch of cars that were stopped by criminals. A man with a gun was standing in front of her and pointing it at the car. She freaked out, went in reverse, and escaped! That’s not usually a good idea, but thank God that he didn’t shoot at her!

Another time she was in the traffic jam, a young guy stopped her with his hand in his shirt like he was holding a gun, and demanded to get into her car. He could have hurt her and would probably have taken her car. But she says that the Holy Spirit told her “He doesn’t have a gun. He is bluffing.” She told him to get in the other side, and as he went to do so, she sped off. If he did have a gun, this would have been a very dangerous thing to do.

Lying Bloody On The Street

When I was 15 years old, I went on a trip with my uncle Burt which was very significant for me. My uncle felt like the Lord spoke to him about going to Washington D.C., carrying a wooden cross through the city in both directions, and praying. This wasn’t primarily to be an evangelistic trip, but a prayer trip. He needed someone to go with him.

My parents felt a lot of apprehension about this from the beginning, as if God was warning them of possible danger. But they felt like the Lord was saying that they needed to let me go.

This trip challenged and encouraged me in many ways. When Jesus sent out the disciples to minister, he told them not to bring a purse (Luke 10:4), because the worker was worthy of his wages. My uncle took this seriously, as he had on his trips in Africa. We went with not even enough money in our wallets for gas to get home. Burt said that we wouldn’t mention any need to anybody. But throughout the trip, people handed us $20 bills and took us out for dinner, and we returned with more money than we had left with! I also personally met three people who had been raised from the dead on that trip, received prophetic words about missions from a prayer group, and saw other believers minister healing to my uncle.

We started on a Thursday and went through the city one way that day. I think it was 15 miles. But we were delayed the next day, got a late start, and only got less than halfway through on Friday. There was a gay pride rally planned for Saturday in the center of DC, so the city would be full with hundreds of thousands of people. We called home to let our families know that we were going to take one more day to finish our trip.

Uncle Burt had been a missionary in South Africa and had gone to some of the surrounding countries doing evangelism. His wife is Afrikaans. She was not used to fretting about him, even though he had often gone to very dangerous places in Africa. She’s not a worrywort. But she had a vision of both of us laying dead on the street, with blood all around. She called my mom, and my mom felt the same urgent concern in her spirit.

I do believe that the Lord was warning them of possible danger. There was one time when my family lost our housing in a day, unexpectedly, and had to move immediately. My mom had already packed a month before that, because the Lord showed her that we were going to move before there was any natural sign of it.

My aunt and my mom began to pray fervently for the Lord to deliver us from evil. They contacted many people they knew, telling them about the vision and asking them to pray for us.

The next day the city was packed, and several city blocks were closed off by the police. My uncle tried to go through on the sidewalk beside the fence, but the Police wouldn’t let him. He tried to reason with them like a good African, but this wasn’t Africa! The only way to go through was to get tickets into the event. I suggested going a few blocks out of the way and going around it, but Uncle Burt was convinced that our mission, as the Lord had spoken to him, was to go through the center of the city. So he finally bought tickets. I think we waited for about 4 hours just to get into the event.

It was very interesting talking to people around us. There were lots of TV cameras. I remember a lady who was hiding from the camera because she was very embarrassed to be seen at the event. We ended up getting seen on TV with the big 6′ by 12′ wooden cross.

There were people who were very angry at our presence. Some of them mocked us. I suppose that they thought we had come to protest the event. They didn’t realize that we were just there because our trip had been delayed! Others assumed that we were there to promote the compatibility of homosexuality and Christianity. A lady hosting a booth was really happy when she saw us and tried to give us “Gay for God” stickers. When my uncle politely explained that we weren’t homosexuals, she was quite taken aback and upset!

We didn’t spend a lot of time in the event, because we were just passing through on our prayer mission. We spent more time waiting to get in. But the rest of the city was still filled with people who were there to attend the event. Although we encountered some people who were very angry and aggressive towards us, nothing happened. I am convinced that the Lord sent angels to calm the anger of people who may have harmed us, and to prevent them from acting on it.

Next week, we will talk about overcoming evil with good and I will begin to share some amazing testimonies that I have heard of God’s protection, along with their biblical parallels.

 

 

 

 

 

The post Divine Protection Part 2-Protection Through Prayer And Hearing God’s Voice appeared first on Go to Heaven Now!.

Divine Protection Part 1

Divine Protection

This is a bullet that came flying through our window and curtain, hitting the wall near our bedroom door. Two weeks ago, in Experiencing God’s Goodness In The Midst Of Tragedy, I began the first in a series of posts about some truths that have been highlighted to me in the midst of violence and tragedy. Last week, in I Will Sing Your Praise Before The “Gods”, I wrote more about the dangers and threats that we have confronted. I didn’t even mention the cars and buses being set on fire, or the time my wife was at gunpoint.

I have read testimonies of supernatural protection before, and had some experience with it myself. Some people may feel like talking about divine protection through faith is disparaging to the faith of Christian martyrs and the persecuted church. It seems offensive to talk about divine protection when we see Christians dying.

Yet the bible talks about the faith of those who shut the mouths of lions and escaped the edge of the sword, as well as the faith of those who were killed by the sword. (Hebrews 11:32-39). I honor the faith of those who have suffered and even given their lives for the gospel. Yet I know that scripture also talks of divine protection in real physical situations, not just spiritual ones. We can’t ignore that. King David was surrounded by real armies trying to kill him. So was Elisha.

So I decided to do a few posts about my experiences with God’s protection, thoughts from scripture, and other outstanding testimonies of supernatural protection. In this first part, I’ll share thoughts about the fear of the Lord and angels. In the next part, I’ll share some personal experiences with danger being averted through prayer or acting on the Lord’s direction. Then we will talk about overcoming evil with the goodness of God. I will talk about attacks being averted by a sudden change of heart, by attackers falling on the ground and being delivered from demons, by believers be transported out of danger by angels, by miracles, and by a cloud of God’s glory covering the believer. Finally, we will cover protection from poison and from disease, with more testimonies.

The Fear Of The Lord And Heavenly Perspective

In last weeks post we talked about refusing to let false gods capture our attention through fear. Instead, our attention should be captured by the goodness of the Lord. This is called “the fear of the Lord”. The fear of the Lord seems to be a key in scripture to experiencing supernatural protection.

Psalm 34:7 (NRSV) The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

When we refuse to let our attention be captured by false gods through fear, and instead keep our eyes on the goodness of God, our perspective changes. 2 Kings chapter six tells the story of how the prophet Elisha was surrounded with armies who were after him. His servant was afraid. Elisha had a different perspective:

 2 Kings 6:15-19 (NRSV) When an attendant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. His servant said, “Alas, master! What shall we do?” He replied, “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them.” Then Elisha prayed: “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw; the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.  When the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Strike this people, please, with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked. Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city; follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.

Because Elisha feared the Lord and he fear of enemy armies didn’t capture his attention, he was able to see from God’s perspective and to see angelic activity. We should expect the same thing, because scripture promises that the angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him. Even before Jesus was crucified, he could have asked and the Father would have sent more than 12 legions of angels to save him. Nobody took his life from him, but he laid it down for us!

Matthew 26:53 (NRSV) Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?

This is important, because when our eyes are opened to see from God’s perspective, we know how to partner with what God is doing. If Elisha hadn’t seen the angels but instead had been crippled in fear of the armies surrounding him, he would not have asked the Lord with confidence “Strike this people, please, with blindness”.

Violent people prey on fear. They can smell it. But we read often in the Old Testament of the Lord causing Israel’s enemies to fear them. When we walk in the fear of the Lord, we stop smelling like fear, and the Lord will cause those who want to hurt us to be afraid of us.

When we see from God’s perspective, we know what to do. Sometimes the Lord may tell us to flee. Joseph was warned in a dream to flee to Egypt to escape the threat against Jesus’ life. (Matthew 2:13) Sometimes the Lord will cause our enemies to become paralyzed in fear of us, as he caused the Egyptians to fear the Israelites. (Exodus 23:27) Or he may cause us to slip through them, as Jesus simply slipped through a crowd of people who wanted to kill him. (Luke 4:28-30) He can also reveal that people intend to harm us, so that the danger can be averted through prayer.

2 Thessalonians 3:2 (NIV) And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith.

2 Corinthians 1:10-11 (NRSV) He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again, as you also join in helping us by your prayers

“I Will Not Fear, Though Tens Of Thousands Assail Me On Every Side”

Recently, my wife and I wondered for a while if we were going to have to flee for our lives, but we weren’t sure where we could go or what we could do. We were not in a position to go anywhere else. We were in a very dangerous situation and felt distress. Criminals were angry at us for protecting an old man who they assaulted. In Brazil, calling the police doesn’t always offer much protection, even if they do show up.

I posted on Facebook and asked people to pray that the Lord would deliver us from wicked and evil men. As I prayed and turned to the Lord, I felt a confidence and boldness spring up in my heart. I chose to sing the Lord’s praise before the gods, refusing to let fear or intimidation capture my attention instead of the Lord’s presence. I found great comfort in reading the Psalms of David, and I was reminded that David was surrounded by real, physical armies when he wrote these words:

Psalm 3:5-6 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.

Psalm 27:2-3 When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.

I could now relate to David’s words. I felt in my heart that the Lord had answered the prayers of those who prayed for us, and we were surrounded by angels. I felt peace and confidence, awareness of the Lord’s presence surrounding us. Now, the attention is off of us, and I believe that those who wanted to harm us have become afraid of us. There is still a lot of crime and violence around us, but I believe that the Lord has delivered us from the situation we were in.

Not long after this, I went to a prayer meeting on Monday night. One of the ladies there said that she saw a bright light around my daughter Rebekah and I. She saw that I was protecting Rebekah. And she didn’t know of the threat we had received. Although I did not see the same thing with my physical eyes, I was aware of it as well. The Lord had sent his angel to protect us.

This post has already gotten long enough, so more next week! Meanwhile, be encouraged by the promises of scripture in Psalm 91.

Psalm 91 (NRSV)

1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High,

    who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,

2 will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;

    my God, in whom I trust.”

3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

    and from the deadly pestilence;

4 he will cover you with his pinions,

    and under his wings you will find refuge;

    his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

5 You will not fear the terror of the night,

    or the arrow that flies by day,

6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

    or the destruction that wastes at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,

    ten thousand at your right hand,

    but it will not come near you.

8 You will only look with your eyes

    and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge,

    the Most High your dwelling place,

10 no evil shall befall you,

    no scourge come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you

    to guard you in all your ways.

12 On their hands they will bear you up,

    so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread on the lion and the adder,

    the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.

14 Those who love me, I will deliver;

    I will protect those who know my name.

15 When they call to me, I will answer them;

    I will be with them in trouble,

    I will rescue them and honor them.

16 With long life I will satisfy them,

    and show them my salvation.

 

 

 

The post Divine Protection Part 1 appeared first on Go to Heaven Now!.

I Will Sing Your Praise Before The “Gods”

Anger At Crime And Corruption

Last week I wrote about the Lord working in the midst of a terrible situation, where my friends lost a child who was kidnapped and killed. That was a glimpse into some of the difficulties we have faced in Brazil, but there have been many more!

Many Brazilians right now feel very angry and disgusted at their own country. The bureaucracy and high taxes on everything are extremely frustrating, making this one of the hardest countries to do business in. Corruption and crime are rampant. The president is in the process of being impeached right now. It seems that the government protects criminals yet prosecutes honest people. Everything seems so backwards, and frankly, stupid. It seems that every day we see another story of kidnapping or murder, of money laundering, of a dam breaking or building collapsing because the job wasn’t done right.

We have been through the fire personally as well. We and several neighbors have gotten bullets in our houses. One criminal threatened to kidnap our daughter, because we helped an 85-year old man who was repeatedly assaulted. I no longer go out on the streets near our house with my baby daughter. And we have a stressful life and work schedule besides that. We work hard to make ends meet. My wife leaves early in the morning and often doesn’t get back until 8:00 PM. And most of the English classes I teach are late at night or on weekends, the only times I have to spend with my family. Our time together is precious.

There have been some really low points of great discouragement. There have been times where feelings of anger over the wrongdoing, the violence, the carelessness, and the “Brazilian way” seemed overwhelming. Yet I keep finding my help in the Lord. Last week I promised that I would write a few posts about the things these trials have forced me to think about, and what the Lord has been speaking to me through them.

The “Gods”

When I was 18, I visited a dangerous and violent town in Central America. At first my attention was on how spiritually dark this city was. But the Holy Spirit spoke to me and told me to change my perspective.

Isaiah 6:3 (NIV) Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.

Psalm 33:5 (NIV) The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.

The Lord told me that it was idolatry for me to be more impressed with the powers of evil in this place, than his glory which filled it! Yes, there were spiritual forces of evil at work. Yet by paying so much attention to them, I was giving them honor that they didn’t deserve. They were false gods, and I really shouldn’t be so impressed by  them!

 Psalm 138:1 (NIV) I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise.

God showed me that I should sing his praise before these false “gods”. I was to refuse to be impressed by them. So I obeyed. The Lord opened the eyes of my heart so that I saw that this town was filled with His glory. I had a heavenly experience, and within a few months the church in that place doubled because of so many new believers. Sometime I’ll share more of the story in another blog post.

Into The Fire!

The Lord has reminded me of this in Rio De Janeiro. I am not to be impressed with false gods or give them attention that they don’t deserve. I must never be more focused on or impressed by what the devil is doing, than what the Holy Spirit is doing. I must be careful about what I give my attention to.

We often think of idolatry as loving something more than the Lord. But how often do we think of idolatry as fearing something more than we fear the Lord? If you take the time to look at some images showing idols of false gods, it becomes clear that many of them are created to capture your attention through fear. On the other hand, Scripture talks about fearing the Lord because of his blessing and forgiveness. One definition of “fearing the Lord” could be “Being more impressed with the Lord’s goodness and the work of the Holy Spirit than anything else.” When we fear the Lord, He is the one who captures our attention.

I realized that in the story we read in Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not tempted to worship a false god by loving it more than they loved the Lord. They were tempted to give honor and worship to a false god by fearing it more than they feared the Lord. This was the decree of king Nebuchadnezzar:

Daniel 3:6  Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego still refused to honor or fear any false god by giving it their attention. In the same way, I must refuse to give anything I face, any circumstance, any evil, the attention that the Lord deserves. I must learn to always be more impressed with what the Holy Spirit is doing!

Daniel 3:14-20  Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?”

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace heated up seven times more than was customary, and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire.

I’ve had times of walking so wonderfully in the glory of God, constantly aware of His presence, that it felt like I was in heaven while on earth. It was as if currents of liquid love were flowing through me all day. And the heat got turned up.

I faced financial problems, loss, and all kinds of other difficulties and traumas. I felt so stressed that it felt like my head would explode. Sometimes it just seemed like one thing after another. And for a while, I got my eyes off of the Lord. I became negative. I began to give more attention to these things than to God’s goodness and what the Holy Spirit was doing.

In Brazil, the heat has been turned up even more! Yet I have never forgotten what the Lord  has done in my life, and the Holy Spirit has never stopped working. I finally got to the point where I was just tired of fearing false gods. I began to focus my attention again on what the Lord is doing, and I am so strong now! The trials have not stopped. Yet my faith has become much stronger! I won’t easily be moved.

I’m developing this attitude of saying to the devil “No matter what happens, I’m not going to bother giving you my attention!” I’ll sing the Lord’s praise before all false gods. I’m learning to refuse to fear or be impressed by evil. I feel my spirit, strong in the Lord, growling back at whatever comes my way.  I know that whether I live or die, I belong to the Lord. You can take everything from me, but you can’t take God’s presence! I will still be so much more impressed with the glory of the Lord, which is worth my attention, than all the works of the devil!

Daniel 3:24-27 (NRSV)  Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, “Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.” He replied, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.” Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics[f] were not harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them.

What a testimony to the world when you come out of the fire unharmed! What a testimony when you sing the Lord’s praise before all false gods and instead of being a product of what you’ve gone through, you are radiant with the glory of God and don’t even smell like smoke! You are still obsessed with Jesus and focused fully on what the Holy Spirit is busy doing.

 Faith

In earlier posts like “We All Prayed And We Believed, But He Died” Parts One and Two and “The Power Of Faith, Or The Goodness Of God?” I shared about how the Holy Spirit has helped me to grow in faith, showing me when I was not in a place of faith, and showing me what I could change in my thoughts and attitudes.

I think that today’s post should also be very helpful in understanding what real faith in God looks like. These concepts are applicable to healing the sick and to any situation that we face. What does strong faith look like? It is being so impressed with God that you laugh at the puniness of everything else in comparison with His goodness, power, and glory. It is seeing from a right perspective, seeing that the glory of the Lord fills the earth, and seeing that those other things which you used to be afraid of didn’t deserve the attention that you gave them. It is seeing from a heavenly perspective.

 

 

 

 

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Experiencing God’s Goodness In The Midst Of Tragedy

Violence

 I live outside of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Favelas surround us. Favelas are areas controlled by drug lords, where even the police are often afraid to enter.

The last few weeks have felt like we were in the middle of a war. We often hear of people dying. We and several neighbors have had bullets enter our houses. Our family has been threatened. These trials have brought a renewed focus on certain thoughts and scriptures. I have been challenged to grow in the Lord, and I plan to share some more about these things in the upcoming weeks.

 Losing A Child To Kidnapping and Murder

 A few months ago I met a large family who runs a snack bar a few blocks away from our house. A few people were healed there, and we became friends. I’ve gone back several times to hang out and drink their delicious soup, and the Lord has healed more family members on those visits.

Two weeks ago I stopped by again. They told me the horrible news. A little girl in their family had been kidnapped, and had just died the day before in the hospital from a bullet wound. There were no tears, just sadness.

I was a bit shocked. We hear of such things quite regularly in Rio De Janeiro, but this was my friends! I didn’t know what to say. My friend agreed. There were no words. And I knew that they had already lost other family members in traumatic ways.

In the last few years I’ve experienced so much stress and difficulty that sometimes I just have to keep going. I think my friends felt the same way. It hurt to lose a child. But they have just been struggling for survival for so long, that it felt like there was little time for tears. We just have to keep going…

Healing

 In the past, I faced times of great personal difficulty and loss and I found that laying hands on the sick and seeing them healed helped me tremendously. Seeing what the Holy Spirit did gave me joy and kept me from falling into despair and self-pity. And so I learned very well, that no matter what happens. The Holy Spirit is always working. He is always looking for ways to express his love to people.

So as I was leaving the snack bar, I saw a young lady with a knee brace. She had a cyst in her knee and lots of pain. I spoke, and all the pain left. She was quite surprised. The cyst was smaller, and I told her that I expected it to soon be completely gone. The next week, when I visited the snack bar again, my friend told me of the girl’s healing. I hadn’t realized it, but she was also another extended family member.

God’s Perspective

I have seen the way that many people react in the face of such pain. Others might feel that it would be almost disrespectful to think of laying hands on someone’s knee after hearing such horrible news. How could I…?

Others would be too overwhelmed by the pain to even think of ministering healing to someone. But the Father is always working. Tragedy breaks His heart as well. God is looking for ways to express his love, and he is looking for us to partner with him in loving people.

Experiences like this have shown me how different God’s perspective is sometimes than ours. There have been times that I was so focused on my troubles and so introspective that I wasn’t even considering what the Father wanted to do. When I saw from God’s perspective, I was surprised.

Our View Of God In Tragedy

 Many people have their view of God shattered in tragedies. They have trouble believing and understanding the Heavenly Father’s love.

“The Shack” is a book that has helped many people to understand the fact that God is not the author of evil, but that the Holy Spirit is constantly working redemptively. Evil is the result of men’s choices, not of God’s doing. C.S. Lewis wrote the following:

God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go either wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong; I cannot. If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata—of creatures that worked like machines—would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they must be free. 

Listen to Jesus words:

Luke 12:6-7 (NRSV) Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

God continues to care about the smallest details of our lives. We must not let tragedy rob us of understanding the Father’s love. God the Father had nothing to do with the kidnapping of the little girl, and he still cared about healing the cyst on the young lady’s knee.

In The Hiding Place Corrie Ten Boom wrote of miracles that showed the Father’s love and care in even little things, while they were in a concentration camp. There was suffering all around, caused by men’s evil. And yet the Lord multiplied vitamin drops for them so that they didn’t run out! Just as Corrie and Betsie Ten Boom did, we can learn to rejoice when we see the Lord’s hand even in things that might seem little, and in the face of great suffering.

I once saw a lady in a wheelchair who received ministry. She was not healed at that time. Now, I am still assured that Father’s will was to heal her, since Jesus healed all who came to him. (Matthew 4:23) We as the church are growing in learning to partner with what the Father is doing. As Hebrews says, all things have been placed under our feet. Yet when we don’t see all things under our feet, we continue to look to Jesus. (Hebrews 2:6-9)

Yet even though this woman was still in a wheelchair, some fillings in her teeth turned to gold! This was a gift that showed the Father’s love for her. She was weeping, so touched by the Lord’s goodness! God’s care for us is intimate and personal. He has time for us. He isn’t bothered by even the smallest of our requests.

You may have experienced some things that you still cannot understand. Yet I have learned that even if there are things that we do not yet understand, we cannot let them keep us from understanding the Father’s love for us. I pray that the Holy Spirit would open the eyes of your heart so that you would begin to comprehend the love of God. His presence and His goodness is a constant!

Romans 8:35-39 (NRSV) Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all day long;

     we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952; Harper Collins: 2001) 47-48

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The Traffic Light Miracle

Today’s post is a guest post by Michael King. Michael is a friend who has experienced some interesting signs and wonders and who wrote the first-ever book on the phenomenon of gemstones appearing supernaturally, Gemstones From Heaven. You can find his blog at www.thekingsofeden.com 

I’ve heard many Christians tell strange stories of how the Lord got their attention when they didn’t yet believe in His existence. Here Michael shares his side of the story of seeing the Lord stop a person to get their attention. Maybe someday in heaven we will hear the other side of the story from the person who waited at a red light for three cycles!

Street Witnessing

Back in 2004 I used to go out with a group from my church and we would do “street witnessing,” randomly evangelizing those in the college town in which we lived.  To be fair, it was quite fertile territory, as many youth were now free from the fetters of their parents’ rules, regulations, and belief systems, and they were able to freely question what they believed and the choices they valued.  The downside of this is that there was a LOT of alcohol that flowed freely between the many bars, clubs, and pizza joints on the main street, and the many parties on frat-house row just a few streets further.

One friend in particular carried a cross around when we would go out–a large, wooden cross that God had told him to carry some time prior.  Before anyone gets weirded out by this, this man is genuinely one of the more loving, Jesus-like people I have ever met, and he has a serious heart for evangelism.  We would often split in pairs and walk around, sometimes even opening up conversations about “that guy” with the cross.  Fast forward, one clear night the cross-man and I were working together and he felt led to stand on the sidewalk by a frat house with a loud party in full swing.  We prayed both in English and in tongues as we did this.  Shortly thereafter we walked half a block to stand at the corner of two one-way streets.

The Traffic Light

This particular corner had an odd three-way street setup, as there was a one-way street that ran straight, and a second that dead-ended into the first street to form a T.  In other words, all roads led to one direction.  While we stood there a single red sports car stopped at the red light on the straight street, with no other traffic in sight.  We stood there praying, and watched as the other light turned yellow, then red, but the light for the car remained red.  We watched the other light turn green, yellow, and red again, but the car’s light remained red yet again.  This went through THREE cycles, with the car backing up and pulling forward to try to set off a motion detector to turn the light green.  Finally, the car gunned it and ran the light.  Moments after running the intersection, we watched their traffic light turn green and continue on the normal schedule.

I will never forget that night–it stands out in my mind as one of the more stunning miracles I have witnessed, where God rearranged something as simple as a traffic light to work on the hearts of those in the car.  While we don’t know the depths of what God did that night, It was clear to us the inhabitants were under the conviction of the Holy Spirit as we stood there with a cross and a traffic light that against scientific reasoning just wouldn’t change.

We often think of miracles as these things of spectacular origin–legs re-growing, materials appearing from heaven before our eyes, or such things as multiplying food and turning water to wine. It can be easy to overlook the sometimes less-obvious but equally spectacular ways God works in our lives.  Often the first step to a miracle is putting ourselves in situations where miracles are needed.  If we hadn’t been standing at that street corner with a visible sign of God, I doubt that light would have remained red–why would it have needed to?  If we hadn’t been standing there our own faith wouldn’t have been encouraged by it either.  If we hadn’t been standing there, who knows what lives would have gone untouched, and what negative effects that could have had down the road.  God is a God of goodness and mercy, and he is far more able to perform miracles, signs, and wonders than we have been taught to believe.  Let us be a people who are willing to put ourselves out there, and who are willing to believe.

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“The Power Of Faith” Or The Goodness Of God?

“The Power Of Faith”

 Recently I shared the stories from last week’s post with a few people I met at a snack bar. Some of them had been healed weeks before when I first met them, or tangibly felt God’s presence like a weight coming on them.

Their response to these testimonies was something like “Yes, the power of faith is real.” I have heard different people respond in a similar way, and for some reason it really bothered me.

I didn’t know why at first. I believe that faith is extremely important, as you may have seen in some of my recent posts. So what was the problem? I went home and started to think about it.

Then I realized what felt so wrong.

Faith In God

Jesus didn’t just say “Have faith”. He said “Have faith in God.” (Mark 11:22) I was so happy with these miracles because of the revelation of Jesus that came through them. They showed God’s heart and God’s goodness. That was the point that I wanted people to get.

But they missed the point. They came away with “the power of faith”. It was sad. The power of faith was impersonal.

You can believe in “the power of faith” and not even believe in God. Brazil is a very spiritual culture. There is lots of witchcraft and idolatry. There are people who basically believe that everything is God, and they believe very strongly in “the power of faith”. But they are empty. I’ve ministered to such people and seen them healed. It was an experience that what they believed had never given them. Yet I didn’t want anyone walking away just being impressed with “the power of faith”. I wanted them to see Jesus!

God’s Nature

 The kind of faith that Jesus talked about was not just becoming convinced that something would happen. It was not just supercharged human willpower or “mind over matter”. This was not the same faith that practitioners of Macumba or Spiritism had. It came from a revelation of God’s goodness. It was a faith that was empowered by grace.

When I first started healing the sick, I didn’t feel like I had any faith. I felt weak. But I had a revelation of God’s goodness. I decided I was going to lay hands on people until God helped me to have faith.

I wasn’t convinced that anything would happen. I didn’t have faith in my faith. I felt like it was too weak. But I was absolutely convinced that God wanted to heal people. I had a revelation of his nature. Even when nobody was healed at first, laying hands on people gave me flashbacks of the healings I had seen at the conference, and I would sometimes start laughing or crying. And I didn’t even feel like I had faith yet, but miracles started to happen.

I began to have faith without feeling like I did. I wasn’t focusing on what wasn’t happening. My heart was overwhelmed by God’s goodness. To have faith in God is to behold his glory. We have faith in God when, in the eyes of our hearts, his goodness is far greater than anything else we behold. Our attention is captured by the nature of God.

You can feel very weak and helpless in a natural sense, and yet come to a place of faith. In spite of all weaknesses, you are not relying on yourself, but on God. You are weak, but you are relying on Him. Look at this scripture passage:

2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (NRSV) We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again

Most people believe that God can do anything. Few know how much He wants to do. And even fewer have such an experiential knowledge of His love that even when facing situations that look terrible, their hearts continue to be far more overwhelmed with the goodness of God than they are impressed with the situation. That’s what faith in God looks like. And if you have faith in God, Jesus said nothing would be impossible for you!

Feeling Like I Was In Faith When I Wasn’t

On the other hand, there have been times when I felt like I was walking in faith and I wasn’t. The Holy Spirit has helped me to recognize what was wrong in these situations.

I remember laying hands on so many knees that were healed, one after another. I began to think “If it’s a knee, it’s a done deal”. Then all of the sudden, it stopped working! Why wasn’t the knee healed?

I began to put my faith in past experiences. “I’ve seen so many knees healed before, that of course it’s going to happen this time”. And so I started to look with natural eyes, instead of seeing with spiritual eyes. I was putting my faith in a past experience, not putting my trust in God. I got my eyes off of the Lord.

In fact, if I was thinking that the knees would be healed because I had already seen so many knees healed, then what would I think if confronted with AIDS? I hadn’t seen AIDS healed yet. Can you see how I turned from having my eyes on God’s goodness and grace, to natural, carnal thinking?

Is it possible to rely on “my faith”, and thus turn from relying on the Lord as we behold his glory? Could it be that sometimes we turn from the faith in God which Jesus spoke about, by getting our eyes on “my faith”. I think so. When we do so we are really doubting, because doubt is misplaced faith.

To have real faith in God is to behold his glory so that the revelation of his goodness becomes more real than anything else that we face. When you have that kind of faith you don’t feel the heaviness of a bad report because you are so full of joy in His presence. You laugh because anything that comes at you seems so small compared to Jesus. Nothing that the devil does or tries to do can have your attention. You are looking into heaven and beholding the glory of God. The peace, the love, and the joy that are in the presence of the Lord are more real than anything else!

“The power of faith” without God will fail. Having the “power of faith” is unbelief from a scriptural standpoint, because we are in unbelief when anything becomes bigger in our perception than the presence of the Lord. It’s humanistic and self-centered. Those people who responded to my testimonies by talking about “the power of faith” are still in unbelief, because they don’t see Jesus yet. Their belief in the power of faith will never produce the results that faith in God does until they turn from darkness to light, seeing the goodness and nature of Christ which was revealed in those testimonies.

But if you have faith in God, you will speak to the mountain, it will be cast into the sea, and nothing will be impossible for you! (Mark 11:22-24) Faith in God comes from the knowledge of the Lord, and we are growing in the knowledge of the Lord (Colossians 1:10) as we are strengthened in our innermost beings by the power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 3:16) and the eyes of our hearts are opened (Ephesians 1:17-19) to see Him as He is.

 

 

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Remarkable Recoveries

Recovery

 Mark 16:17-18 (NRSV) And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

 Notice the word “recover”. When we lay hands on people, they often get well very quickly, immediately or in just a few minuets. But there are also times when they get better from that point on, or as they go, like the lepers mentioned in Luke 17:14.

 The important thing is that we keep looking to the Lord with eyes of faith, not just seeing with natural eyes. Sometimes we can start out in faith, and God’s power is already working in a person’s body, although we cannot yet see  it by natural means. Yet we get discouraged and start to get our eyes on the natural thing, when what is needed is to be in a position of continuing to release the Lord’s goodness on the sick person. See the person as a sponge. Keep releasing God’s goodness until it soaks into them and they are fully saturated, with no place for sickness or pain left. Stand firm, and having done everything, stand. Keep your eyes on the heavenly reality that is found in God’s presence, and not on natural things.

 Ephesians 6:13 (NRSV) Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

 We cut off the bark around the base of a tree to kill it. However, it can take quite a while until the leaves actually fall off and it looks dead. Yet the flow of sap has been cut off. Sometimes healing is like that-although we don’t yet see it naturally, the life of the disease has been cut off, and the disease will soon wither away and its symptoms will go, just like the tree will die and its leaves will fall off.

   Here are two recent stories from our lives in Brazil, of people who had remarkable recoveries. I thought they would be very encouraging for readers, because both of them were very serious life-and-death situations. I hope that when you encounter situations like this, you will remember these stories and also take heart and declare life.

 In both of these cases, I was unable to visit the person at the hospital, but I began to declare life and command sickness to leave from where I was. Neither of them was an instant healing. Both had recoveries that seemed pretty amazing to me. I believe the hand of the Lord was at work in both of these cases. I don’t think that such recoveries were very like from a purely natural perspective.

  Leaving A Coma

 Several months ago our daughter’s caretaker unexpectedly didn’t show up for work. We found out that her husband had been sick the previous day, and on Monday he collapsed on the ground. She was at the hospital with him.

It was a public hospital. Here in Brazil, everybody has a right to socialized health care. But the public hospitals are so notorious for malpractice and poor service that the “Dumb Ways To Die In Rio” video includes “wait in a hospital line”. (Almost anybody who is able to afford it gets private health insurance so that they can go to a private hospital.) After waiting almost all day to be seen, they did a quick examination and said that he was fine and there was nothing wrong with him.

Soon after being discharged, he collapsed again. This time he went into a coma. The hospital still hadn’t given a diagnosis (as far as I know), but it seemed like a stroke. Not only was the situation very distressful for his wife, but it was very difficult for us. She took off of work because of her husband. However, because of Brazilian laws, we had to pay her as well as pay another person to care for our daughter Rebekah while she was away. This was a large and unexpected expense.

He was in the coma for a few days. My wife thought he was going to die. I tried to work out going to the hospital to visit him, but wasn’t able to. It was complicated with my work schedule, and I would need someone to help me get there. I didn’t know where it was. But even though I couldn’t visit him personally, I began to command “In Jesus’ name, brain be completely restored, as if this incident never happened. Everything be whole now”. I decided to stand firm, as Ephesians 6:13 says.

Soon we heard that he had woken up out of the coma, but he would not be able to drive and his wife would still need to be off of work, caring for him. She took off of work for a month total, starting at the beginning of the incident. We didn’t know if she would be forced to quit, since she didn’t drive and her husband took her to work. It was complicated taking the bus all the time. But she did come back, and after a short time her husband was driving her. I have talked with him since then, and it was just as if nothing had ever happened. To the best of my knowledge, it was a full recovery. I don’t know his age, but he is probably over 60 years old.

A Child With Leukemia

We are very close with a neighbor across the street. She is the daughter of one of my wife’s three godmothers. A few months ago, she told us of a little boy she knew who was sick. He started bleeding from his gums and rectum, and was diagnosed with leukemia.

 They needed many people to donate blood to give him a transfusion, and they were looking for donors. My wife asked me if I would be willing to donate blood. I said I would, but I also asked if I could visit him in the hospital. They were not allowing visitors because of his weakened immune system.

 Again, although I couldn’t visit him, when I was alone I spoke “In Jesus’ name, cancer leave this boy’s body. In Jesus’ name, health be restored.” I did this several times.

I had the thought “Wouldn’t it be a cool way for him to be healed by receiving my blood transfusion?” If the Spirit of God lives in us, our blood can become infused with the life of God. However, I was never able to donate blood. I needed to know the time and place to do so, and nobody let me know. Maybe they got enough donors before they needed me.

Healed From Leukemia After Blood Transfusion

Just a little while ago, about a month or two after I first heard about the little boy, our neighbor told us that he was healed! After getting the transfusion, his white blood cell count suddenly went up and the tumor disappeared. She didn’t know all the details, but she had listened to an audio recording of the doctor pronouncing that he was healed.

  I thought that was interesting that even the doctor said he was healed, because I have heard of people completely recovering from cancer, yet the doctor only said the cancer was “in remission”. Of course I’m no expert on medical things. I’m just sharing my perspective on what I heard.

I thought that it was interesting that the white blood cell count suddenly went up and the cancer disappeared after the blood transfusion. Even though I wasn’t able to donate blood, I wonder if his healing on receiving the donation had anything to do with my thoughts. We have sometimes experienced very supernatural events that seemed to be triggered by just thoughts, such as supernatural rain in my house.

 Faith

 

In the last two weeks I posted parts one and two of talking about dealing with the statement “The Whole Church Prayed And We Believed, But He Died”. We looked at the promises of Jesus and the things which are possible if we believe. I thought it was good to follow up on that by sharing these two recent stories of people who looked like they were going to die, but whose lives were saved!

Next week I’ll be posting about the difference between the “faith in God” that Jesus spoke of, and the impersonal “power of faith”. I feel like it will help to understand what faith in God is, and what it isn’t.

Meanwhile, here is a great quote from Dan Mohler that has helped me to learn to walk in faith. It fits perfectly with these two stories of remarkable recoveries. “We have to not make faith hit-or-miss, win-or-lose, or a point in time. Faith is the position of your heart to believe what He accomplished.” This is from the video of Dan “Knowing Your Authority And Staying In Faith“. It’s really worth a listen!

 

 

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“We All Prayed And We Believed, But He Died”-Part 2

A Challenging Perspective

In Part 1 we talked about dealing with the disappointing experience of fighting so hard for someone’s healing, and then seeing them die. We talked about the scriptural role of faith, and why it is so hard for us to admit when we struggle with unbelief.

The perspective shared in Part 1 is so challenging that it may seem it would be very discouraging. You may see a person who you know to have great faith lay hands on someone who is not healed, and think “You means so-and-so didn’t have faith for that person? If he can’t have faith for them, how can I?” Yet remember how many people Jesus’ disciples had already healed, and Jesus still told them that they failed to  heal the epileptic boy because of their unbelief. Are we to look first to even the apostles (who according to scripture often didn’t have God’s perspective), or are we to look to Jesus? If Jesus told the apostle Peter (who raised the dead and walked on water) that it was because of his unbelief that he failed to cure an epileptic boy, then why is it so difficult to imagine that we may not have been successful because of unbelief?

Growing In Christ

As I have wrestled with these issues, this is how I have come to see it in a way that encourages me and keeps me going. Here are a few scriptures to consider:

  Ephesians 3:15-21 (NRSV) For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,  from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 4:12-13 (NRSV) …for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

Ephesians 4:15 (KJV) But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NRSV) And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

I ask myself some questions based on these scriptures. Have I come to the “measure of the full stature of Christ” yet? Or do I still have room to grow? Is one of the “all things” in Christ, which I am growing in, faith? Am I currently “filled with all the fullness of God”, not just in my spirit, but flooding my soul, emotions, and my whole body?

Moses’  face glowed with the glory of God which he was beholding, yet we have been given a much great and far surpassing glory. Is my face constantly glowing as I look to the Lord, reflecting his glory? It can be. I have had experiences where I was so filled with the Lord’s glory that it seemed like my face was beginning to glow, radiant. People stared at me. It felt as if currents of God’s love were flowing constantly through my body. Yet how consistently do I walk in that way? I’ve barely begun to walk in all that is possible in Christ.

Am I currently manifesting the love, goodness, peace, and glory of the Lord to the fullest degree possible, or is there room for me to grow? Is there a greater degree to which I can manifest the Lord’s glory?

I think the answers are obvious. Of course I have a lot of room to grow! When I look at it in this way, it doesn’t seem so scandalous to say that I have a need to grow in faith! I see things from the perspective that faith comes out of communion with God. Growing in faith is part of growing in the Lord. When I think like this, there is no more mental anguish with wheels turning constantly in my head, wondering, “Why weren’t they healed?” It doesn’t make sense to think that way anymore. In fact, I am amazed by the wonderful miracles that already happened even as I barely began to walk in all that is possible in Christ.

I don’t wonder why anyone wasn’t healed, but I know that they can be, as I look to the Lord and the manifestation of God’s goodness and glory through my life increases, flooding out through my spirit as I drink of the Living Waters of life!

Continual Increase Of Life In The Lord

John 4:14 (NRSV) …but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

John 7:38 (NRSV)…let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”

We see increase in these verses and throughout scripture’s teaching about our life with God. There is continual increase. When we drink of the Lord’s goodness, it becomes a spring of water which gushes up until it becomes rivers flowing from our hearts. We go from “one degree of glory to another”.

The kind of faith that Jesus’  talked about was faith in God, and faith in God comes from intimate experience with Him and His goodness. It comes out of the knowledge of the Lord. And we are “growing in the knowledge of the Lord (Colossians 1:10)“. As Ephesians 3:16 says, we are being “strengthened in our inner being by the power of the Holy Spirit”. Real faith comes from a heart that has become strong through communion with God, until it is bursting with strength!

Proverbs 4:18 (NRSV) But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

This is encouraging, because faith is not hit-and-miss. For faith to be a hit-and-miss thing that works sometimes, and sometimes it doesn’t, is discouraging! If it were so, then sometimes there would just be nothing that I could do. But the fact that faith is something that we grow in as we are strengthened by the Holy Spirit, is encouraging. It is encouraging because more is possible in the Lord than I have ever experienced before.

I’m not helpless. I can look to the Lord, I can grow in faith, and I can learn to stand firm. It is the idea that I am helpless and “I’ve done all I can but now it is up to the Lord” that is discouraging.

God Is Faithful. He Is The Author And Perfecter Of Our Faith.

In the end we win! Even if there are battles that we lose in this life, we have the hope of the resurrection from the dead! But what is really encouraging when I see faith from the perspective of growing in the knowledge of the Lord, is I know that God will be faithful to complete the good work that he has started in me!

Phillipians 1:6 (NRSV) I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.

Look at this:

Romans 8:29-31 (NRSV) For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

We are predestined to be conformed to Christ in character. But Romans 8:29 also applies to being conformed to the image of Christ in power and in doing the same works that Jesus did. John 14:12 makes this clear.

John 14:12 (NRSV) Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

I know God will be faithful to complete what he started in me, so I’m not going to give up and get discouraged if I fight for someone’s healing and end up losing the fight. Don’t decide that you’re going to give up and never get in this fight again. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would help you and bring you to victory!

Faith is like lifting weights. You get stronger by straining until your muscles actually tear a little bit. When that happens each time they heal they are stronger. Keep going. Keep pushing. Keep looking to the Lord, growing in him, keeping your eyes on Christ. Be strengthened with all the might that comes from his glorious power, as you are rooted and grounded in love! Never stop!

Hebrews 12:2 (ASV) … looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith…

Greater things are ahead of you! God is faithful! Your part is to keep going and keep obeying the gospel. God’s part is to pour out his abundant grace on you and perfect what he has started in you, and he will do it!

Next week I will share two stories of remarkable recoveries from serious conditions. They should encourage you if you have been discouraged by losing someone who you fought for.

 

 

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