I know that I said the next entry would be about love and sin, but I need to write about healing right now.
Balm in Gilead
There is a Balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul
Lord I believe, help my unbelief.
This morning I could hear the voice of the Lord so strongly that it almost was audible. I had awakened in a state of panic because of my job situation. I needed that voice that directed me to sit and to listen for a brief moment to Randy Gilbert from Faith Landmark on the 7 AM program.
His message was about healing, which I so desperately needed to hear.
Jesus died to heal us from our sins, but He also demonstrated through His ministry that He wanted to heal us from disease, abuse, and failure.
With His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 and I Peter 2:24
These references refer to being healed from our sins.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Luke 4:18 referring to Isaiah 61:1-4
When Jesus read this passage in the Temple He was telling the people that He was and is the promised Messiah. He came to heal, not only your sins, but whatever ails you. Read all of Isaiah 61:1-4 for assurance.
The problem is that we do no seek, nor accept healing when it is offered. How often have you heard the Holy Spirit ask you, “What do you need, My Child?” And we fail to listen, fail to believe, fail to respond.
There was a father who brought his deaf and mentally ill son to Jesus. Jesus told him that all things are possible to him who believes. Then Jesus asked the man if he believed. The man cried from the depth of his spirit, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.” Jesus was able to heal that son on such a desire. Mark 9:17-27. I have many, many times prayed this prayer and have each time been rescued and healed. Praise the Great Physician!
So the seed of healing is faith, even the size of a mustard seed. Often we don’t even have that. So the remedy is to search the scriptures to acquire the faith that is needed.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10:17
Now listen to this! I told the Lord this morning that I had no intention of just opening my Bible and believing from whatever. No, my intention was to read a book or a familiar passage. The Bible opened by itself to Jeremiah 8 when I sat down to read. Yes, really it did, and here is the proof: Inside that passage were thoughts on healing and why Israel was not being healed, and the only passage that has the phrase Balm in Gilead. Keep in mind that I had just listened to a message on healing, and last night, my beloved son, Victor, talked about the Balm in Gilead.
What are the chances of all those things happening? Sometimes faith isn’t so difficult. If it is for you, start reading your Bible and ask for the blessing. Admit out loud your lack of faith and ask our loving Father to give it to you.
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her, take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go everyone into his own country: for her judgment reaches unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. Jeremiah 51:8-9
We often think we can’t be healed. But it is because we do not believe, because we want to continue to wallow in our sins. Even Babylon, the evil city, could have been healed. But Babylon would not change.
Do you want healing?
This is such a dangerous topic because people die from disease everyday. Healing, true healing, is having a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
There is a healing balm in Gilead. He will heal you and make the path straight in front of you. You will always be challenged by your faith, or lack thereof.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
My God is Sovereign Part 2
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". Genesis 1:1
This statement acknowledges a pre-universe era. I hesitate to use the term "time" because I'm not sure there was "time". We humans have time bred into us. We have difficulty comprehending existence without chronology.
The universe had a beginning, and before that God IS.
Without this simple statement, God probably is very limited in power.
New Age has become very popular and even some ignorant Christians think they can mix it with Christianity. Not so. Let me add that New Age is not new. It is at the root of old pagan philosophy called pantheism.
New Age or pantheism states that God, or the gods, were created along with the universe. They are in and part of everything. This means God is in the flowers, in the stars, and part of every human being. Thus we can worship anything and ourselves. We can make up our own rules as long as we are sincere about our beliefs. This sounds so nice on the surface, doesn't it? Yet this system ultimately fails us.
There are laws that govern the universe and no matter what we want to believe, these laws rule our existence. A woman can believe with all her heart that she is pregnant. But this is not what makes her pregnant. She is either carrying a fetus or she is not.
To every action there is a reaction. Have you ever seen steel marbles suspended on strings that when one marble on the end is released into the next marble that the marble on the far end will spring out and then comes back to collide with its neighbor, and the action continues on indefinitely unless an intervening force stops it?
So it is with our behaviour. There is always a reaction either with positive or negative reactions. We don't live in a vacuum. Our behaviour bumps and collides into one another's paths. Even when we are convinced we are isolated we are only fooling ourselves.
Some of the most basic laws that society would agree with are the Ten Commandments:
Don't kill
Don't steal
Don't desire your neighbor's wife nor his things.
Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the earth. (This is an interesting one that many ignore. If you mature, you will long to know more about your parents and grandparents. you will find understanding about yourself.)
Keep the Sabbath day holy. (Practical for good health.)
There is an order to the universe and there is One in charge who is the Author and Founder. He is sovereign. This means that we are not going willy-nilly through this existence called life. Someone - God has designed me and my surroundings. He is outside of time. He sees before my beginning and He sees way beyond my end.
Even though I appreciate the gifts of freedom of thought and ability to change the path in front of me, I am glad, so very glad, that ultimately I am not in charge. Good things and bad things can happen that are out of my control.
I am not the designer. I am the designed. And yet, here is the surprising thing: God is so big and so grand that He permits His creation to be creative. We can change much of our destiny and yet still be inside God's plan.
God is sovereign. He created this universe, this world, this people, this soul.
He has a plan. I am not the center of that plan, but I am part of it.
Love is my next topic for discussion. And after that: failure and sin.
This statement acknowledges a pre-universe era. I hesitate to use the term "time" because I'm not sure there was "time". We humans have time bred into us. We have difficulty comprehending existence without chronology.
The universe had a beginning, and before that God IS.
Without this simple statement, God probably is very limited in power.
New Age has become very popular and even some ignorant Christians think they can mix it with Christianity. Not so. Let me add that New Age is not new. It is at the root of old pagan philosophy called pantheism.
New Age or pantheism states that God, or the gods, were created along with the universe. They are in and part of everything. This means God is in the flowers, in the stars, and part of every human being. Thus we can worship anything and ourselves. We can make up our own rules as long as we are sincere about our beliefs. This sounds so nice on the surface, doesn't it? Yet this system ultimately fails us.
There are laws that govern the universe and no matter what we want to believe, these laws rule our existence. A woman can believe with all her heart that she is pregnant. But this is not what makes her pregnant. She is either carrying a fetus or she is not.
To every action there is a reaction. Have you ever seen steel marbles suspended on strings that when one marble on the end is released into the next marble that the marble on the far end will spring out and then comes back to collide with its neighbor, and the action continues on indefinitely unless an intervening force stops it?
So it is with our behaviour. There is always a reaction either with positive or negative reactions. We don't live in a vacuum. Our behaviour bumps and collides into one another's paths. Even when we are convinced we are isolated we are only fooling ourselves.
Some of the most basic laws that society would agree with are the Ten Commandments:
Don't kill
Don't steal
Don't desire your neighbor's wife nor his things.
Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the earth. (This is an interesting one that many ignore. If you mature, you will long to know more about your parents and grandparents. you will find understanding about yourself.)
Keep the Sabbath day holy. (Practical for good health.)
There is an order to the universe and there is One in charge who is the Author and Founder. He is sovereign. This means that we are not going willy-nilly through this existence called life. Someone - God has designed me and my surroundings. He is outside of time. He sees before my beginning and He sees way beyond my end.
Even though I appreciate the gifts of freedom of thought and ability to change the path in front of me, I am glad, so very glad, that ultimately I am not in charge. Good things and bad things can happen that are out of my control.
I am not the designer. I am the designed. And yet, here is the surprising thing: God is so big and so grand that He permits His creation to be creative. We can change much of our destiny and yet still be inside God's plan.
God is sovereign. He created this universe, this world, this people, this soul.
He has a plan. I am not the center of that plan, but I am part of it.
Love is my next topic for discussion. And after that: failure and sin.
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Great Grandfather Humes
Great Grandfather, Charles Humes, started the family interest in trucks. He is in the center of the picture and Great Grandmother, Eva Humes, is to the left of him.
