I wrote a recent article entitled "I Really Doubt It." In it I share a
story of a women who became so discouraged that she left the church and
began to blame the LORD when things did not go right. The discouragement
had left her in a place where she did not expect God to fix any of her
problems. This came as a result of reading a book by a well know
Christian author who basically discredits the supernatural as not being a
part of the church today as it was in the early church. Unfortunately,
this very issue continues to crop up over and over again among believers who struggles with understanding God's will when it
comes to healing or really, not knowing God's will when it comes to pretty much anything in this life.
I received an email from a believer that asked me if I would watch a
particular video that they included in their email which was linked to a
particular website. The video was a discussion between two well known
figures from Christian circles. I will not mention their names, but I venture to say, you mostly know or heard of them. As I watched and listened, I was excited
to hear their opening statements concerning the power of God. The one
person was praising God for all the supernatural things that He is doing
around the world. All kinds of miracles, healing and deliverance from
demons. However, shortly after all the praises of the wonderful things
of God, (which happened to be what the video was really about) it was stated, "God doesn't heal everybody. He chooses who He wants to heal and who He
doesn't want healed." This statement was based on a young Christian
woman that was seriously injured, received pray and was not healed. We
must ask ourselves, "Why does God seem to do the supernatural all around
the world but little to none in the USA?" There are many answers to
this question, but the one that I believe is at the top of the list is a
statement that Jesus made, "...Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8)
According to Numbers 19:23, "God is not a man, that He should lie,
nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not
do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" In other words, God is incapable of saying anything but the truth. Jesus said, "...Your word (God's Word) is truth." (John 17:17) Furthermore, Numbers says, "...Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"
In other words, God does exactly what His Word says. As He is eternal,
so His Word is also eternal. It does not change with time and space nor
does it change because people choose not to believe it or negotiate it
away do to their personal belief or actually their unbelief.
The people in the video, like many others in the church today, made
their statements about God not always healing with no regard to
scripture, but personal experience. If this is not sad enough, they also
indirectly made the church in the USA out to be an organization where
healing is unpredictable because God picks and chooses who He wants to
heal. Keep in mind Numbers 23:19 and look at what Jesus says, "Ask,
and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will
be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks
finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there
among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if
he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will
your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:7-11)
Take notice to the words in this passage, "For EVERYONE who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."
Does this sound like a God who picks and chooses who receives healing
and who doesn't? Next, Jesus asks some questions concerning the care and
desire of human parents to their children. He then concludes with a
powerful statement and promise, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good
things to those who ask Him!" Look what the apostle John tells us, "Now
this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything
according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us,
whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked
of Him." (1 John 5:14-15) Observing these two passages (there are
numerous other with the same thought) it should be obvious, however it is unfortunate, that many believers do not know the will of God and
therefore do not have the faith to believe Him for what He has given to the redeemed through Jesus Christ.
If we could take the best of the best parents on the entire earth and
mold them into one super parent they would fall millions of miles short
of the greatest parent of all, our Heavenly Father. Let's look at the
statement again that was spoken on the video, "but God doesn't heal
everybody. He chooses who He wants to heal and who He doesn't want
healed." How many parents who had just given birth to twins would say to
one, "I am going to make sure that you are always provided for and
protected" and then say to another child "I chose not to provide for you
or protect you." Of course no parent in their right mind would say
something so ridiculous. The Bible repeatedly tells us that the believer
is a child of God. (John 1:12, Romans 8:15-16, 1 John 3:1) Do we some how suppose that God will take care of one of His
children and heal them and not another? Do we suppose that God is a
respecter of persons when scripture says the contrary? (Acts 10:34,
Romans 2:11) Can you see the twisted human logic in a statement such as
"God doesn't heal everybody. He chooses who He wants to heal and who He
doesn't want healed." Notice that I said "human logic." There is
certainly no faith in a statement like that, only human logic or reasoning.
Why is it that Christians do not want to admit that it is not God who is
holding back, but a lack of faith in their own lives. I believe the root
stems from pride. Why do I say pride? James and Peter tells us, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
(James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5) Grace is the ability and desire to do God's will (Philippians 2:13). A lack of grace due to pride results in a lack
of the ability and desire to do God's will. Plus, there is one other
thing to consider. It is difficult, especially for church leaders to
admit that they do not have enough faith to
lay hands on the sick for them to recover. They look for a disclaimer,
that is, someone or something to blame (in this case the LORD, although
indirectly) by saying that no one truly understands His ways. Of course
they site Isaiah 55:8-9 which was 750 years before the restoration of
humanity through Christ. They should consider what the apostle Paul
says, "...but we have the mind of Christ." (1 Corinthians 2:16)
It grieves me to hear believers say that God's will is a mystery when Jesus said, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also...He who has seen Me has seen the Father..." (John 14:7, 9) and the apostle Paul tells us, "having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself." (Ephesians 1:9) Honestly, God's will is not a mystery. It's that God's children do not exercise faith by acting on God's Word. Instead of having an excuse let us practice building up our faith in His Word, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17) and watch Him do the supernatural throughout the entire
world using ordinary people like you and me who must have this one thing
in place in our lives. We must believe and act on God's Word, period!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.