DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL?

In John chapter 5, Jesus asks a man an interesting question, but one we must all answer for healing to come.  "Do you WANT to get well?"

Within healing there are, it three involved (a Trinity, if you will).  One of those is the Great Physician--God--Jesus--and he is THE ULTIMATE HEALER.  He put within our bodies great systems to heal itself, to move blood, to move oxygen, to move cells to kill infection.  Pretty great idea, right?

But also this same God decided to, at times, use miracles such as Jesus did in John 5,where a man 38 years in an invalid condition, got up to walk at Jesus request.

So 1) God is Ultimate Healer

Second within the healing realm are the medical facilities, medications, doctors, nurses, staff, that discover, promote, educate and provide their knowledge to healing.  Many acknowledge that God is the ultimate healer, but whether they do or not, they work with existing systems that they did not put into place in the human body.  They tweak, and discover, and learn new ways and technologies to aid the healing.

Third, is the patient--you, me, us.  Each of us need a hope, a reason, a purpose, people in our life that make us want to be healed.  When hope is gone, physicians can go no farther.  Hope is necessary to the healing process.  It is easy to live a long-haul disease and give up hope for improvement--that life can get any better.  For some who are very old, that may be God's way of helping them get less settled and comfortable with this world, and prepare to enter the world to come.

But for younger ones of us, God may want to give us hope through encouragers, family, supporters, churches, a new granddaughter (just thought I'd throw that one in, since I have one--want to see pics?).  He may want to give us hope through reading the Bible, through prayer for change, through gifts or love brought from friends, family, church members.

Two Sundays ago, I received a bombard of text messages at Barnes Hospital.  My pastor, Wes, had at a certain time in their service, people with cell phones take our phone number and send messages of prayer, encouragement, love, hope to us.  WHAT AN ENCOURAGEMENT!  Novel idea--Turn your cell phone ON, not OFF, during worship as a tool of ministry.  THANKS PASTOR WES.

But three parts, and that is where the question of Jesus comes in.  "Do you WANT to get well?"

Whatever the ailment, YOU have something to do about your healing, your overcoming whatever the problem or affliction is.  YOU have to WANT to get well.

God's Part
Medical Staff Part
Your Part

Do you want to get well?  Keep up the hope, the purpose, the "want to" so you too can overcome.

FATHER GOD, WHY?

As I sit in this hospital room, beginning the second round of chemo for leukemia, these things I ask the Father God:

• Why do You allow me, a fulltime minister of yours for over 30 years, to be suddenly unemployed before retirement age?
• Why do You allow a person who was called "the youngest 60 year old I know," suddenly to be fighting for his physical life at 62 with cancer?
• Why God, after a year of unemployment, but now hired in a full time teaching position, am I not allowed to teach one day of the school year?
• Why God, do you strike down one seeking to preach and teach effectively your Word to others at the peak of his gifting and knowledge?
• Why Lord, do you give a man a wife who is his best friend for 36 years, and make his days wonderful due to her dedication and love?
• Why do you grant children to be proud of, and a grandchild to be proud of as well?
• Why do you allow a little boy from a small town literally to impact people around the world without leaving his home state?
• Why do allow me a love relationship with You, the King of the Universe Creator, Provider, Sustainer, Redeemer?
• Why did you give me such loving parents who believed marriage was for life, and lived it over 60 years?
• Why did you allow me to have received an inheritance, that paid off my house before this illness was made known?
• Why do you have a special place prepared for me, with other disciples of yours, to worship you forever and ever, and why is that secure, so that I do not worry what will happen if the next breath does not come?

Because You are God!  Because You are Sovereign!  Because You are worthy of my praise, adoration and worship!  Because You are Love and Loving!

Whether it's 62 years, or 92 (like my father) or 100 (like my mother), I give thanks to the LORD for He is good, and His lovingkindness is everlasting.  Join me in giving thanks to the LORD.

Memorizing Scripture

One of the things I was challenged to do, years ago, was to memorize Scripture.  Little did I realize the value of that as the years went by.

One man that used to be at College Student week at our national camp was Rollin.  He said the greatest thing he had encouraged students to do in his ministry was challenging them to "hide God's word in their heart."  Rollin would get up before maybe 2500 people and quote the 46th Psalm or an entire chapter in a NT book.

Because memorized Word is present it is always "living and active and sharp as a two-edged sword, to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Heb 4:12)

I attempted to memorize single verses or a few together such as Philippians 2:5-11 or Philippians 4:13-19.  And some of those stuck.

Guess what--now 20- 30-40 years later, memorized Scripture comes to mind in various situations and gives me strength, challenge, encouragement. 

You say, "I can't memorize Scripture."  And I say, "Have you ever really tried it?' The key is going over the verses again and again over time--days, years, months.

Most of us know our Social Security numbers, driver's licenses, license plates, kids names, friends, various store names--which is more important to know--these or God's Word?

Review--review--review.  And lots of it just comes down to laziness.  I don't memorize and review because I don't want to.

But believe me, this is something that helps me so often right now--a sleepless night--a worry--a fear--a child out too late--being told I have leukemia.

So I want to encourage you to memorize God's word.  Find verses that especially speak to you as you read the Bible.  Work to memorize them perfectly.  Then review them often--every day or so until you have them down.

When my wife did a Beth Moore study in James, she took up Beth's challenge to memorize book of James.  She had most of it down.  She told me one of the neatest things about this was as she reviewed and did it over and over, new meaning came forth from the Word.  But most of us will never take the challenge--make the time to "store God's Word in our hearts."  So what a blessing you miss.

"Hide the Word of God in your heart, that you might not sin against God."  But do it also just for the pure pleasure of relating to the God of the Universe, Creator of Heaven and Earth, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords--the One who loved you so much He sent Jesus to give His life a ransom for your (and my sin).

Memorizing Scripture is a way of getting to know God better for those (not just preachers) who are willing to take the challenge.  Start small--1-2 verses per week--review everyday or every other day--and see what benefits it brings to your life!

When I have no physical Bible, I still have God's Word within me, speaking, challenging, convicting, teaching me.

So when are you going to begin memorizing Scripture?  Maybe--today?

REFLECTIONS ON FAITH

What is faith?  Personally I believe I do not have faith in prayer, nor in the church, nor in people, But in God and His Son, Jesus.

Do I believe in prayer and the church?  Yes, but because of belief in the Lord God.

I've noticed during this time of "retreat" due to my medical confinement that several have commended my wife and I on the depth of faith we have.  But it seems to me that's where the priority may be off a bit.  The faith is in God and Jesus.  It is not because of the "bigness" of my faith that I will get through this all.  It is due to the loving Father, the Sovereign God who has plans and brings them to effect in life.  Jesus said, "If you have the faith of mustard seed"--that's not much, though He did chide His disciples as "you of little faith."

Faith--trust--genuine subordination of oneself to a loving, holy, righteous, compassionate God is what's important.

Faith should reflect God not you and me.  It should glorify Him, not me. 

Some of us do not live by faith; we walk by sight.  We live by God's blessings, family, personal inner strength, things human not divine.  When the blessing of God is there, then praise the  Lord.  But when things turn sour, at times even due to our undoing, we move away from God.  We abandon Him and His church.  We do not seek to be true and faithful to a Holy God, a Righteous God, or to Jesus way of living life.

Hebrews 11 is a wonderful listing of as someone has said, "the hall of fame of faith."  But there are many other examples such as Abraham, David, Ananias and a man renamed Paul.

I preached last on August 11th, just before my hospitalization.  I said, "Faith is not faith if it is only for the good times."  I stand by that.  It is especially for the hard times, but in all of them, good or bad, trust is essential--trust that God has not only "a" plan, but "the" plan.  That plan is to redeem and save, to love all, to establish a faith relationship with everyone.  And that plan is also that He would be glorified and worshiped for who He is.

Do my wife and I have stronger faith than many?  Well maybe.  We are learning in this struggle more of what faith means.  Faith can be grown if you cooperate with God in the process instead of fighting God in the process. 

The process begins when you decide to "follow Jesus" and when you decide also to be part of His body, the church, and when you seek not only to grow through teachings of others (preachers, teachers, etc.), but also do your own study/reading/praying/reflecting on spiritual literature.  It is cultivated over time.  Maybe why my wife and I seem to have great faith to many (I say we're still weak--the strength is God, not us).  Faith is cultivated over days, years and months of "seeking after God," trying to listen and be true to His purposes, through minutes which over time turn into hours getting to know God in Scripture.

Don't look for a Bible-believing church, nor a Bible-teaching church.  Look for a Bible-living church--where people seem to attempt to put into practice the teachings of Jesus and God.  Often those combine, but not always. 

And always remember that a breakdown for all of us is "living what we say we believe."  Ask for God's forgiveness when you fail (you will).  Forgive yourself, but get back to the path of faith so you don't lose your way on the journey to knowing God.

Words from 2 Corinthians 12 today:  ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (NIV, biblegateway.com)

 So where are you in faith today?  And what do you need to do to strengthen faith NOW for the hard times to come LATER?  It is well worth the seeking and the journey to know God. 

Whose Fragrance Do You Give Off?

Reading in 2 Corinthians 2 today, I came across this:  "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him." (2:14, NIV)

O that when people walked past us--when people were around us--when they saw our true nature, it would be shedding the fragrance of Christ--His love, His compassion, His caring, His genuine nature!  That would be a prayer for me worth praying.

So often I am impatient--I am self-centered--I am frustrated with people and get angry at them.  So often I say things out of wrong motives--focused on me, not the need of the other, even the need of the other for growth, improvement.

But what if, what if, today I would focus more, and you would focus more, on being the essence, the odor, the fragrance of Christ to those whom you are around?  How would others respond to us and their world differently today?

I plan to attempt (that may not last long) to let the fragrance of Christ smell through me today.  I guess that aids in the knowledge of God being seen as the Psalmist said, "Taste and see that the LORD is good."  Could that happen through me today?  I  hope so.

Mom Visited Me

Was it chemo or a dream?  I really don't care.  I'd had fevers most every night since I entered the hospital almost 2 weeks ago.  A couple of nights ago, on chemo overnight, I began having some colorful dreams, images, etc. appearing to me when I closed my eyes.  Many colors, shapes, even scary spiders, upon which I decided to praise and thank God for focus my mind of Him and His ways (Philippians 4:8).

And then it happened.  An outline of the top of a door came, as if open with light shining brightly through it.  Several figures seemed to go past, but then one came, stopped and just stayed there for a short while.

As I saw the outline of the head, I realized it was my Mom, in her later years of life (she died in 2007)--the outline of her white hair, all freshly permed and picked out--so pretty it was.  She was there for a moment, looked a minute or two, it seemed, and then was gone.

As I pondered the experience, I wondered what this meant.  Was she coming from my family members or even the Lord to say, "Now you too can come home, my child"?  No, I don't think so.  What I believe was happening was a confirmation from God that I am still to be here for a while.  It was a tender momma, with a sick son, seeing if his fever had broken. When I was a boy my mom would come and put her hand on my head, seeing then it was ok, and then moving on to her own bed. And to me, that's what happened that night.  She came to make sure I was ok, to say "You'll be all right," and then to go back to her peaceful night of rest with the Lord.

Dream, chemo, empty thoughts, intellectual--I really don't care.  It was an opportunity to feel the love of my earthly momma, given to me at this troubled time by my Heavenly Abba.  And for that I grateful!

NOT STOPPED BY PROBLEMS

God works despite problems!  Do you believe that?  And things fall into His plans even when they look like they cannot.

Acts 8:1-8, 12-17, 25-31, 35-40.

Saul was there when Stephen was stoned.  Persecution, due partly to Saul made the followers, except for the apostles, scatter from Jerusalem.  They scattered to Judea and Samaria.  (See Acts 1:8—fulfillment of Jesus’ saying).

1.      Notice who it was that scattered—not the Apostles, but their followers—other believers—those who learned from them—ordinary people we might say.

2.      Problems may lead to God’s plan and purpose being accomplished.  Both good reminders for us.

Story of Philip—remember who was Philip—called to wait on tables—but “full of Holy Spirit and spiritual wisdom.”

What was Philip doing here?  Waiting on tables?  No.  Scattered by persecution to Samaria and other areas and sharing Christ as he went.  Just as Stephen—doing more than we saw him called to do.

Because of his witness in Samaria, people were accepting Christ.  Peter and John, apostles in Jerusalem, came to check it out.  Could Samaritans accept Jesus?  Was their conversion genuine?  Early church being sure to watch over new conversions as the gospel message spread.

Interesting that these Samaritans had accepted Christ and were baptized in water, but Holy Spirit had not come into them yet.  When one accepts Christ, we believe at that point the Holy Spirit of God comes to reside in the person.  Probably this did not happen yet, until Peter and John came, just so the early apostolic leaders and church in Jerusalem would accept these Samaritan conversions and believe what happened was genuine as they came and confirmed it.

Peter and John pray for them—lay hands on them—and Holy Spirit comes to live in them.

v. 25  Peter and John really believed Samaritans could accept Christ, because we see as they returned to Jerusalem, they shared Christ on their way.

Story of Philip and Ethiopian eunuch—Philip obedient to leading of Holy Spirit—leads this important man in government of a North African country to Christ.  More Acts 1:8 fulfillment—“Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”  Fulfillment through apostles—no—through man called to wait on tables in early church.

After baptizing the eunuch, Holy Spirit moves Philip away quickly, and he continues sharing Christ on his way, until he reached Caesarea.  Contagious enthusiasm to share Christ with others.

Several things for us to compare to our lives from this passage.

1.      How anxious are we, His church, to share the gospel message with others.  A man who was not an apostle was seeing conversions through his life and witness. 

2.      Do we look at problems in life as God’s plan—and possibly as God’s plan to use us effectively in the lives of others for His sake?  Persecution led to the spread of the gospel message into new parts of the world. 

3.      How often do we believe that His Holy Spirit has us where we are for God’s purposes?  Could it be that we are in places we are—school, work, shopping, sports events—to reflect Christ to others and minister to people? 

4.      When people seek God, we need to be ready to sincerely listen to them and then share the truth about God with them.  Eunuch asked some good questions—Philip used an Old Testament passage (Isaiah) to lead the man to Jesus the Messiah.  

5.      We should always be listening to the Holy Spirit’s voice in our lives, and then obey Him.