THIS WAS NOT A BODY FIXATION, it was passion for the weak that drove him. Maybe he’d rather wanted to preach holiness, but when he saw suffering people around him all the time, he let them have advantage to his grace. Nothing is to hard for God, he can heal any sickness or any weakness. And his people can too, his servants and followers. The Assembly of believers is His body and it embodies all the glory and fullness that Jesus himself embodied. And all we have to do to see this happen, is to stop resisting it, and start believing it is true.
JESUS is really interested in healing you, if you have a pain. He hasn’t forgot you, but you maybe have forgotten him, and his power. The religious misery-preachers have made you expect sickness and misfortune, instead of health and well-being. ”Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” So John the Apostle wrote in his Third Epistle. Was John a prophet of prosperity? No, he was a prophet of God. And even if he saw much sorrow and tribulation awaiting God’s people, it didn’t take away his faith in personal joy and health. He didn’t make it his daily tradition to mourn and groan about the prevailing misery, or about the even worse misery that was to come. Have you experienced sorrows and griefs? So had Jesus and the Apostles. Have you been betrayed by near ones, forsaken by those you trusted, and met the Adversary where you expected the Comforter? So had Jesus and the Apostles, far more than others. Are we the children of God or not? Haven’t we got an armour which exceeds that of any soldier? What is the one thing that can destroy this armour? Only YOUR doubts and your disbelief! Your doubts that the plans of God will be fulfilled, that your prayers are heard, and that his chosen ones shall be saved. Are we privileged more than others? Yes, indeed we are, in every way. Not just regarding life after death, but also regarding life before death, here and now. But these blessings will not come automatically just because we call ourselves Christians. Nor will holiness or anything else of that which belongs to us. And it will not come by our own works. It will come through FAITH, faith in the completed work of Jesus. All things are ours, and all things we can do, through faith. Faith can move mountains, and it can also move you. But faith fails if you doubt, because faith and doubts cannot exist together. Who is most trustworthy, you or God? If the answer is God, than his promises are more trustworthy than your doubts and all of what you have heard about how impossible everything is. Doubts aren’t just thoughts, they create structures in your life and your lifestyle. You may have to break out of your habitual thoughts and traditions, and let yourself be corrected in accordance to the truth in God’s word. Are you expecting wonders or are you expecting everything to go on as before? Both God and the devil watches how concrete your faith is, and they will act accordingly, in their opposite parts. Somewhere goes the line between faith and disbelief, and that line you shall cross. And when you have crossed it, you no longer doubt. Then you are convinced, and if one is convinced, one acts accordingly. The conviction manifests, in speech as well as body language. And when body and soul senses your conviction, they react to it and starts receiving the health and strength you prayed for.
There actually is a force in existence which is superior to matter, and that is faith. Faith looks at things from above, and knows that God has everything in his hand. Faith knows that everything were framed by the word of God, and therefore all that is needed is just another word, of God. And this word he already has spoken for us. It happened at the Cross, when Jesus said: ”It is finished” (John 19:30). He speaks today too, but those words shook heaven and earth, and totally destroyed the devil. And those words can also destroy your problems and difficulties, sicknesses and doubts. It is finished for you, too. ”He that is of God heareth God’s words” (John 8:47). He lets the Word sink into his mind, so that the mind adjusts to what the Word says. He so to speak consumes the Word, so that it becomes a part of him. There is power in the word of God! There is healing in the word of God, and glory. ”Health is flowing from his wounds”, and yes, his strength is made perfect – in weakness – (II Cor. 12:9). In what weakness is God’s strength made perfect? Not in weakness of faith, and not necessarily in body weakness. It is the weakness of SELF-RELIANCE Paul is referring to, that is, the conviction that all which is good comes from God. ”The flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63), and the flesh – that’s you. You are one spirit as well, but only as much as you are joined unto the Lord (I Cor. 6:17). And the interface is faith. Faith is the life-preserving link between us and God, and between us and the heavenly world. So when you have faith, you have all that which is promised unto us in the word of God. So let it flow unto you, let the channel be open day and night. Through faith we stand, and through faith we understand. We understand ”that the worlds were framed by the word of God” (Hebr. 11:3), and that this word is the same word that he has put in our tongue, and in our hearts. ”The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart” (Rom. 10:8). Yes, the word of healing, the word of blessing, the word of deliverance, the word of transformation, and the word of prophecy! ”And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” So even if there is darkness in the existence, the Word shineth in darkness. ”In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4-5).
Is it the light of your life? Does it bring life to you? Life is glorious, when coming from God. And it does, it’s coming from God, like mighty rivers, for those who believe. And it manifests, being made ”flesh”, blessed flesh, that is suitable to serve and please God, in every way. Then you’ll be a light in the existence, spreading light in the existence. You’ll ”turn to flight the armies of the aliens” (Hebr. 11:34), and make way for the angels of God. They will make way for you in heaven, and you will make way for them on earth. Thus God’s will be done, ”in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). And you’ll become a powerful spiritual factor. One cannot neglect such a factor. You’ll make deep impressions without yourself noticing it. You will set borders and you will break through borders. Your words will be remembered and abiding, after you’ve gone, where you have sown them. And whether absent or present, we labor that we may be accepted of the Lord. Just we don’t forget that for us presence is absence, and absence is presence. When we go away, we go home. We are at home with the Lord, and absent from the body (II Cor. 5:6-9). (Some say we are absent from our minds too.) The words of a man of God turns into fix points and pillars, whether or not people wants it, whether or not they are received. Whatever your conduct is to the word, you’ll be changed by it, and your life will be. So ”stick to the Bible and speak out the Word, trust, and the battle leave to the Lord...” Let your light shine, don’t hide it with your own works. Because light shines, and life grows. Power works, and words speak. We should keep mostly in the background. God is working in and through us, and he doesn’t need any directors or script writers. We must practice in the art of not practicing at all. That’s the highest of all arts. To fight the good fight of FAITH (I Tim. 6:12), and not the cheap fight of the flesh. As long as you’ve got something to glory in, you are going to miss the glory of God. ”Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a FEW things, I will make thee ruler of many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matt. 25:21). ”And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not...” (I Cor. 1:28). Men chooses big, but God chooses that which is nothing. Lot did a bad choice, but Abraham did the right choice (Genesis 13:10-12). The Apostles selected the wrong man, but God selected the right man (Acts 1:26, 9:15). And that’s why God selected you, because in some way or another, you had reached to the bottom. ”When our assets have gone to nothing, our Father has only began to give out...” Leave your face where you dropped it. The religious gloria, too. Willingly join the ranks of the worlds’ miserable, out-casted and humiliated. Instead, take up the CROSS, and carry it as a true follower of Jesus. His yoke is easy, and his burden is light (Matt. 11:30). He gives rest and healing to tired souls, and his rod and staff is Beauty and Bands (Zechariah 11:7). ”But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord...” (II Cor. 3:18). Paint and pretense hides the light of God. He gives life to whoever he likes, whenever he likes. And he likes. ”God... will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2:3-4). So what is stopping you from receiving his all-mighty power? Disbelief. Jesus doesn’t force himself unto you, he’s a gentleman. ”Behold, I stand at the door, and knock”, he says (Rev. 3:20). He isn’t entering until you open. That’s how gentle he is, and if he isn’t getting any answer, he hurries to the next door and next, and so on.
He could pass by you. See to that no man take thy crown, that which was intended for you. ”Let his habitation be desolate”– ”his bishopric let another take” (Acts 1:20). God has limited himself, because he is love. But love isn’t laxity and lack of will-power. Love subdues, but with mild and unselfish gestures. A look at Jesus hanging at the Cross should be enough for us, to melt down the proudest of hearts. ”But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). The more we keep company with God and his Word, the brighter his work will appear to us. From the Throne proceeds the river of life. ”And it shall come to pass, that everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live” (Ezekiel 47:9). And the trees by that river yields their fruit every month, that is, always. God is the god of Eternity, and for him there are no seasons. He is in full operation day and night, and the work around the throne continues without ending. There are myriads of angels, all busy with our salvation. There is a fervent activity going on regarding prayers and different missions, all with one sole purpose – your salvation.
It is said that when a chosen one is born, God’s angels stands around almost fighting to become that child's guardian angel. So you can feel privileged more than many, you who believe. O, to be famous in heaven. Here you are an unknown, but up there a star, a real star. An uprising star, not a descending star. Here all stars descend sooner or later. But heaven has great expectations on the human kind. Here our life is hid in God (Col. 3:3), not because it can’t be seen, but because the world is closing its eyes for it. But he who closes his eyes gets a limited view of the world, and will walk astray. We are the lights of the world, and those who take us as landmarks will see the right way. It’s plainly a matter of discerning the signs, a matter of seeing the obvious, the invisible (II Cor. 4:18, Hebr. 11:27). All humans have got this spiritual gift, and it’s called the conscience. The conscience is the best of all preachers, and, amazingly enough – it is Christian. The conscience confirms the commandments of God and is affirmative to Jesus Christ and all his sayings.
So for anyone not to be saved, he or she must first silence the conscience. And sadly, most consciences become martyrs, imprisoned behind thick walls of disbelief. ”But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you” (Acts 3:14). That is what most people do, and would have done, confronted with Jesus and Barabbas. They don’t want to be exposed, fearing the day of reckoning. But the sooner we render our accounts with God, the better it is. And no matter how much depth there is on the account – you can have it all balanced in one moment, through the blood of Christ. Then one could speak about debt-clearing. But it will not relieve you from the duty to put right what you can put right. If you have stolen you shall return the stolen or pay for the loss, as far as you can. If you have hurt and injured people you must ask for their forgiveness. And this even in minor details. ”He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much...” (Luke 16:10). Everything is recorded in our consciences and it has to come out from there, before peace can reside there fully. And peace gives health and health gives strength. And strength we need to be able to serve God. Both heavenly and earthly strength. When earth and heaven meets, a lightning usually strikes down, and the heavenly power is loosened. Expect a struck of lightning now and then, by the quickening power of God. Listen to the voice of the Spirit, and be corrected, so the contact won’t be broken, or choked (Hebr. 12:5-6). Be very radical, but not too radical. And be very free, but not too free. It’s enough to be as radical and free as Jesus himself was. He could show great mercy towards humble sinners, no matter how fallen they were. And he could show great anger towards stubborn saints, no matter how ”holy” they were. The Way of Life is narrow, but not so narrow that it becomes impossible to walk. One doesn’t have to trip on toes on the Way of Life, or crawl on one’s knees. Rise and stand with booth feet on the earth. And see to that you are grounded, so that the heavenly power runs through you, out into the world. Be like a windmill, which just doesn’t receive the power, but also does something with the power. See to that you get a mission, a calling in the work of God. A spiritual calling, where the gifts are working and are expected to work. Make yourself dependent on God and his power, and as little as possible dependent on the world and its powers.
A Christian brother prayed for years to come out to the mission field, and today he is there, in a fruit-bearing ministry. (He didn’t just go there, but like Paul abided fervently for God’s green light.) Such people are worthy of all admiration and all the help they can get. They have forsaken all luxuries and comforts of home for the sake of Jesus, and has really taken his Commission seriously. And out there is a hunger and thirst for the Gospel, while the rich world mostly tramples it under its’ feet. It must be our greatest sin, that we have neglected the great mission fields of the world. If we are chosen, we are also called, and called to be followers of the first Christians. Consider that Northern Europe had to spend at least 15 centuries in unnessesary darkness, because some disciples of the Apostles neglected their calling for the North. We should have been reached by the Gospel already in the days of the Apostles. Perhaps it’s you who shall bring the blessings of Christ to China, or Tibet? Or to the nearby village? No matter where it is, just as long as it’s where God wants it to be. There is a calling waiting for all who believes, and a mission ministry, great or small. Your health and strength is part of the mission equipment. Are you interested? That’s not enough, you must be desperate, and totally unbreakable in your longing and prayers. You must pray as Rachel: ”Give me children, or else I die” (Genesis 30:1).
”For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him” (II Chron. 16:9). Can He see your heart differ from the common herd? Or are you in spite of all your religion just as lukewarm and uninvolved as all the others? Can we even confess the minimum request for Jesus’ disciples? ”We have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 16:10). Have we even done that? Paul did far more than what was his duty to do. He had laboured more abundantly than they all, he wrote, referring to Jesus’ 12 apostles (I Cor. 15:10). If you know you are coming short – ”for in many things we offend all” (James 3:2) – then you owe to yourself and humanity to stop for a while and revise your merits. God probably has more for you than you hitherto had considered.