Say What?!?!?!?!

It was literally out of nowhere. I was just minding my own business sitting on the couch at prayer meeting snuggling with baby Megs. I didn't bring my Bible because I knew I'd be holding the baby, and wouldn't want to have something else to keep track of. I came expecting Jesus to do something amazing, but this was not what I had in mind.

As the Bible study portion of the evening began, one of the gentlemen there began passing out Bibles to those who needed one. Did I look like I needed one sitting there with my arms wrapped tightly around my little one? I guess I did, because next thing I know he handed me one.

I stared at it for a moment and then figured I might as well use it, so as not to offend. "Turn with me if you would like to Matthew 9:35," Terry said. Okay, I suppose I will. This being healing prayer, I was not surprised at the verse choice.

"And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction." (ESV)

That was Jesus alright! He was a regular healing ministry. Would have been fantastic to see that! Would have been amazing to experience that! Wow!

And that should have been it. Terry continued on with his notes, but for some reason my eyes lingered in Matthew 9...

After reading/hearing a passage of Scripture a thousand times plus, you would think I'd have 100% understanding of it; that there would be nothing left for the Holy Spirit to reveal to me. Right? WRONG!
Apparently the Spirit still has things to teach me... who would have thought??

Let's look at 9:35 again, but pay attention to the verses that follow (context!)

³⁵ And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (ESV)

What's this? Here we have one of the most well used verses of the great commission. Missionary after missionary has preached on needing laborers in the field. There's even the song that I have heard sung so many times, "My house is full, but my field is empty... who will go and work in my field." Jesus had compassion on this world of people lost, and on their way to hell. Jesus' only prayer request was for soul winners - missionaries. Get 'em saved, teach 'em and baptize 'em... end of story.

Ummm... not really! Context!!! He's not just talking about the state of their souls, he's also talking about healing their physical and emotional being! He has just spent all of chapter 8 and all of chapter 9 healing everyone with sickness and disease, and cleansing all of those who were possessed of demons. Now he looks out and sees these multitudes of sick, oppressed people and says, "If only I had more people to heal them all!" Wow! Now, I'm not saying that his only goal was physical and emotional healing, for that would be heresy. "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10 (KJV) But what I am saying is that the kingdom that Jesus preached was soo much more than I ever realized!

Not sure you agree with me? Let's keep reading. Chapter 10 of Matthew starts out with Jesus giving authority to the 12 apostles to do what?

"And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction." (ESV)

And then the commission:

"proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' ⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons." (ESV)

I have heard people say that this giving of authority to the apostles was a one time thing, having nothing to do with us. It was after all meant for 'the lost sheep of the house of Israel' (10:6 ESV) and not the Gentiles. If so, then we have no business pulling the harvest verse out and applying it to Matthew 28:18-20, and Jesus' only prayer request has nothing to do with us!!! OOPS!

This could not be more wrong! In Luke 10:1-17 Jesus then sends out 70 with the same authority and the same message. One could still think that this kingdom message was only to the Jews, except for Matthew 24:14

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." (ESV)

What gospel? The gospel that Jesus preached! What kingdom? Well, it's been called the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, but it's one and the same... It's Jesus' kingdom! It's Jesus' gospel! It's not just the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, although that is indeed the pure gospel (I Cor 15:1-4), it's also the miracle power of God giving us authority over sicknesses and disease. Sound kooky to you? What does the great commission verse of Matthew 28 say?

"ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME," therefore, go and teach and preach the gospel.

What good is the gospel of Christ without the power of the Holy Spirit? We are mere men. We can preach the gospel until we are blue in the face, but without that power and authority there will be no change in the hearts of men. Period. It would be better if angels came and preached, or if Jesus himself had remained on earth after the resurrection and continued his kingdom ministry.

And what exactly did Jesus give us power and authority for? Healing, raising the dead and casting out demons. Hmmm... Makes you think, doesn't it?

"And these signs shall follow them that believe" Mark 16:17 (KJV)

The Chastisement of our Peace

Isaiah 53:5 KJV
But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Learned something for the first time at prayer meeting Thursday... As many times as I have read this verse, I never pondered the significance of the chastisement of our peace being upon Jesus. Sure, he shed his blood for our sins, and his body was beaten so that we could have physical healing, but what does it mean when it says the chastisement of our peace was upon him?
He not only died so that we could be redeemed, and so that we could have healing, but also so that we could have peace... not only peace with God, but peace of mind! He rebuked that which kept us from being at peace. In the Hebrew this word peace has many different meanings which I will list here:

1) completeness, soundness, welfare, peace

a) completeness (in number)

b) safety, soundness (in body)

c) welfare, health, prosperity

d) peace, quiet, tranquillity, contentment

e) peace, friendship

1) of human relationships

2) with God especially in covenant relationship

f) peace (from war)

g) peace (as adjective)

It is interesting to me that completeness and soundness are the first two definitions listed. After we are saved we are given the mind of Christ! We are given the keys to freedom from the prison of anxieties, worries, stress, and all mental disorders! He has completed us in Christ and given us a sound mind! I wish I'd realized all this back when I was in therapy! I've always thought of peace in other aspects such as our restored relationship with the Father, our ability to get along with others, and the millennial kingdom when Jesus sits on the throne and the lion and the lamb lie together. Funny, I have talked of wanting some peace of mind, and even talked about renewing my mind in the Word... but never stopped to think that all of that is part of Christ's finished work on the cross! Maybe I'm the only one, but I thought I'd share that. I never connected those dots! How are we to be given the mind of Christ, how are we to have that sound mind absent of fear, how can we possibly renew our minds in the Word of God if Christ had not made a way for it?? All gifts that the Father gives are a result of the Son's death, burial and resurrection! WOW! Just gives me renewed faith to be healed of all this depression and mood swing junk I've dealt with for so long.

Spiritual Disorders Part 2

Ever been mountain climbing? Well, I haven't, but I've watched those national geographic shows about it. Imagine you are climbing Mt. Everest. You are making amazingly fast time and are set to make a world record for length of time to reach the peak. After scaling sheer cliffs, crossing vast glaciers, surviving avalanches and terrible weather, you reach a small boulder. "AAAAHH!" you shriek. "A boulder! I can't get over that boulder! I need to quit right now!! Time to turn back team. This obstacle is just too much for me. I'm done. I will never reach the top." That would be so silly, wouldn't it? I laugh to myself as I imaging the whole team descending the mountain over a rock when they had overcome much greater obstacles that that before. And yet....
How many times in my walk with Christ have I been scaling the heights in Him... flying high! I knew I was victorious, I knew things were going to be okay. The trial may have been enormous, but in Christ I was more than a conqueror! And then a small hurdle was placed in my way... "OH NO! God has forgotten me! How could he do that? We were doing so well... the end was in sight, and now this? How could he do this to me?" And in that instance like Peter the waves become greater than faith in the Saviour.
I call this Spiritual Attention Deficit Disorder. Satan LOVES to use this one. He realizes that our faith is strong, and he can't stop us by using that huge thing he places in our path; so he places tiny nuisances along the way. It's kinda like the straw that broke the camels back! Oh, how we get soooo focused on the little things! "I'm getting the victory! Oh... look! there's a puddle in my way!" And suddenly that 'puddle' becomes the most important thing in the world to you... until the next little thing, and the next little thing. And suddenly we melt in a pile of anxiety and worry and depression because we are completely unable to stay focused on what the battle really is about!
My most recent SADD moment (Lol! sadd!) began last week. I have terribly weak ankles due to bad bone structure. Every time I gain weight from a pregnancy they get worse. After having Meagan in July, they reached a pain level I have never experienced before. I felt like I was walking on tooth picks. SCARY! I worried that I would drop Baby Megs at any moment. On top of all this, my insurance ran out. Both ankles needed surgery, and that's a total of 6 months recovery time. Impossible with 3 kids and a husband working, besides the fact that there is no way we could ever afford it. Our new church has healing prayer on Thursday nights, and I got to thinking that it wouldn't hurt anything to ask God to heal them.... why not? So I went (Aug 24). I was prayed over. God brought to light some things I needed to deal with in order to receive healing, and the elders prayed for that too. (another story!) I left that service on cloud 9! My ankles still hurt, but I KNEW God was doing something. Friday and Saturday were amazing days. My faith was soo strong. I was going about my day with so much joy that I hardly even noticed my ankle pain. Then Sunday came... that afternoon we were going to the mall, but the boys wanted to go to the park. Everybody changed plans on me. I was ticked. I grudgingly went along with them, but I wasn't going to like it! They played for a while, and I persuaded Chris to take us to the mall... only to remember that they close early on Sundays. Now I was ANGRY! The only thing I wanted to do that day and I didn't get to. I was so focused on this little thing that I remembered how bad my ankle pain was. I started to doubt what God was doing in my life, and I let my attitude show it. I realized what was going on that evening and renewed my faith in our evening devotional time.
So... now I'm on track, right? Not for long... I had a repeat of this on Tuesday because I had a long wait at an appointment. (It sure doesn't take much for me to lose focus on Jesus! lol) That was easily overcome with a trip to the mall, a Starbucks caramel frappuccino, iced lemon pound cake, and an apology to God and my husband (who I had hung up on several times that morning in frustration!), but it could have been avoided.
Backing up a bit, I have had a cold for the last three weeks or so... nothing too bad, just irritating. I woke up at around 2 o'clock in the morning Thursday (Oct. 1) and that cold had changed to bronchitis. YUCK! I knew the only way to beat it was antibiotics, but I no longer had insurance. I moped all day. My ankles killed me, I was depressed, I was upset. If God couldn't keep me well, how could he heal my ankles? I heard this voice in my head saying that the bronchitis was an obstacle Satan was throwing at me to try to steal my faith, but I ignored it. I made a choice NOT to go to prayer meeting that night. I was just going to go to bed and take care of myself since God couldn't.
Long story short, I ended up at prayer meeting.... and they prayed for me again. As one of the elders prayed for my ankles he looked up at me and said, "God wants you to know that this bronchitis is an attack of Satan trying to sidetrack you from what God is doing in you." WOW! funny... I guess I should have listened to that voice earlier in the day! They prayed for the bronchitis to leave me, and I left that meeting with my joy restored! The awesome thing in this is Friday morning I woke up and the bronchitis was GONE! I can breathe normally again! I have some residual coughing and runny nose, but it's all loose. I've never gotten better from bronchitis without meds! And that quickly?! God is good!
So, what in the world is wrong with me? God is faithful! Christ himself lives in me, and it should be soooo easy to focus on him 100% of the time! Shouldn't it? Why do all these little obstacles so quickly steal my undivided attention?
I am reminded of my conversation with Jessica the other day.... It's gaps in my conscious. My heart and head KNOW who I am in Christ, that my faith comes from Christ, that my victory comes from Christ, that all that I am comes from Christ... but sometimes my mind plays tricks on me. There are these little places in my mind that still have that old programming. Those little 'gaps' think that my faith is from me, that victory is up to me, and that I have to figure things out for myself. WRONGO! But those are the places Satan most likes to attack! He knows my weaknesses. All he has to do is figure out those areas and throw something in my path, and BAM! I forget the way of grace and walk in disgrace! As I said yesterday in Part 1, the only way to fix this is renewing my mind in the Word, reminding myself of my spiritual REALITY, and claiming authority over Satan. He has no business messing with a child of God! And I will be able to quench all his fiery darts in Jesus Christ as I immerse myself in his Word.
:) Here's to victory over Spiritual ADD!!!