Abundantly

On March 15, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.

One cannot claim every verse in the Bible as their favorite, but this one certainly ranks well towards the top on many people’s lists. We can see why. First of all, these are the words of Jesus. All the words in red tend towards the top of folks’ lists. Second, he revealed one of the key reasons he was sent to earth. That makes this a very important verse for us all. Mostly, though, I think we like it because of the monumental promise it contains. The promise of a full and abundant life.

Jesus is so big, and his thinking is so big that it is hard for even his words to express, much less our minds to absorb, his thoughts. Had he said that he came to earth so that we might have life, that would have been good. There would be tomes of theology from that statement alone. He didn’t stop there though, because that did not express what he was thinking or trying to convey. He didn’t just come so that we would have life, but that we would have abundant life.

Immediately, that phrase takes our minds out of the eternal life paradigm and lands us right here on planet earth. Of course, we will have abundant life in heaven. Since that truly goes without saying, that is not what he was communicating. Besides, there will be no thief in the after earth life to steal, kill or destroy. Yahoo! So, Jesus’ message has something important to say about our life here on earth.

The New Life Version of John 10: 10 reads, “The robber comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I came so they might have life, a great full life.” Think of Jesus’ statement this way, God sent Jesus to earth to bring us not only life, but a great, full life. First, It wasn’t life such as just breathing and hearts beating that Jesus came to bring. People were already living on earth. So, when God said to him, “Go to earth and give them life,” He must have had something else in mind. Second, when Jesus said he came to bring us a great, full life, there was certainly a great deal implied in those words. We need to consider what that means. What did God intend in sending us abundant life through Jesus? The answer to that question affects every facet of life. That is why I think we need to seriously ponder these questions and this verse.

Of course, life is certainly not ours in abundance without our health. A healthy body is foremost to a great and full life. So, did God have our health in mind when he sent Jesus? Of course, He did. Remember that Isaiah foresaw the torture that Jesus would endure so that he could bear our disease and infirmities in his body.

A full life also suggests a long rich life. Surely no one would consider a full life to mean thirty or forty years of abundance and then a bunch of years of a half empty life. That doesn’t make sense. The glass must be full and overflowing from beginning to end.

Jesus came to earth to bring us life in abundance. It was one of his main objectives. Let’s not let anyone talk us into anything less than God’s intention and Jesus’ purpose. Believe God for fullness. Believe Him for overflowing abundance. It is His will.

Back to Top

Recovery

On March 14, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mark 16:17 – 18

And these signs will accompany those who have believed; in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.

Here is a passage written in red that we are challenged by! I would like to preach on the whole bit for a week, but I cannot. I hope you, though, will ponder all the things Jesus said. Each of these should accompany those of us who believe. Thus, the question becomes, “Do we believe?” Today I am just trying to get us to believe the last one, “they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Have you already conceptualized this statement even as you read it? What does it mean to you? Surely, this puts us in a different position than previous verses. No longer are we necessarily the sick person, though that could still be where we see ourselves in this scenario. However, we could also be, and the passage suggests this, the person who lays hands on the sick.

We have already seen that there is power in agreement. Jesus is taking us a step further today. He suggests that if we are the sick, we should call for a believer to pray for us with the inevitable outcome that we will recover. However, he really wasn’t speaking from that perspective. He was sharing what the life of a believer looks like. Wherever they go, the blessing follows them. Not only do they benefit from the blessing but also, others share in that benefit.

If you are sick, you should call for a believer. Then, that believer should lay hands on you and pray the prayer of faith. The prayer offered in faith shall quicken mortal flesh and the sick will recover. You recover from sickness.

Now, the other side of the coin. Are you a believer? Well, of course you are! Then, you may be the person called upon to pray for the sick, and what should you expect when you lay your hands on a person and pray for them? You expect them to recover, right? It is not by our power nor our might but by the loving grace of our Father and big brother. Jesus already healed every one of us. So, we are simply the marshals of his good will towards them. You are the point of agreement between the sick and the Lord. In that moment of contact, there are three of you in agreement and whatever you ask, the Lord shall do.

Okay, what if the sick person is a believer? It doesn’t actually change the equation. Call for another believer knowing the signs that are supposed to follow believers. Have that person pray for you. You can still use your faith too, but Jesus is giving us a model here. He was teaching that signs, wonders, and miracles should follow believers. Where we go, there goes the Spirit of God and where there is the Spirit, there is always healing power.

Can your heart embrace this today? I know some of you accept this truth readily and would be the first to pray. For others of you, this passage presents a challenge. You have been very private in your faith and perhaps have never prayed for another person. We have not done enough corporate prayer in church, so we have learned to be bashful. I can promise you this, no one ever described Jesus as bashful. Faith needs an outlet, and here is a bit of good news. It grows as you let it out.

Now, I understand that laying hands on others and praying for them may not come easily to you but if Jesus said it, we must move ourselves towards compliance. Do you agree? The easiest thing is when someone asks you to pray for them rather than you having to offer so do a believer a favor, ask them to pray for you. Require that they lay their hands on you. If you are the pray-er, you can just put your hand on someone’s forehead or on their hand. It doesn’t have to get weird. Just make a physical and spiritual connection and ask Jesus to make the person whole. We know his healing is running around in their veins. It just needs to be made manifest in their flesh. Jesus said the sick will recover so let it be so.

Back to Top

Mountains, Again?

On March 11, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mark 11: 23 – 24

“Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, shall be granted you. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you.”

Well, here is our mountain again! Is it still insurmountable?

When Jesus began a teaching or a sentence with “truly” he was trying to get people’s attention. He was saying, “Listen to me. I am telling you something important which is the absolute truth.” He wanted people to hear him yet he knew that some hearers would not be able to accept the truth.

We are back to “all things.” What does “all things” mean to you. I know for myself that I exclude things. It happens in my brain so fast that it could outrace lightning. I read a verse like this and think, “Yes, all things! That means, my knee can be healed,” but in the back of my brain I hear, “but not my finances, not my relationships.” In my heart and mind, God has limitations, and it is true. I do have the ability to limit God by my lack of faith and belief in Him and His desire to bless me. Let’s go back a few sentences though.

How many of you caught me? Should I think “my knee can be healed” or should the thought spring quickly to my mind, “my knee is healed?” Is there a substantive difference? I think there is.

If we believe Jesus healed us 2000 years ago when he endured the torture which injured every part of his body, then isn’t it true that I am healed now? My believer needed to kick up to my brain that I am healed. I should read a verse like today’s and have my spirit recognize the truth and then inform my brain. By his stripes, we were healed. So, when I ask Father to heal me, I am simply asking Him to fulfill the truth in my experience. I am saying to Him that I accept His truth and with my faith, I lay claim to it by asking Him to reveal His health and restorative power in my body. He has healing in His hands and truth be told, that healing power is running all through our bodies right now. Do you believe me? I can prove it.

I am not asking you to cut yourself, but what do you think would happen if you got a paper cut right now? Would you have that cut for the rest of your life? Why not? You see, you have the two necessary ingredients working on that cut, the Father’s healing power and your faith. It might take a day or two, but you are going to manifest healing. Right? You probably aren’t even going to ask Him to heal your finger because you know you already have the healing. See, you are a faith machine.

When you were a child, you couldn’t jump over items you now step over without thinking. There was probably a time when you practiced jumping over things, each obstacle getting progressively higher. It’s the same thing. We need to practice jumping with our faith. What is bigger than a papercut? Just jump a little higher. Practice jumping. Increase your ability to believe bigger. Remember Jesus’ words, “all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you.” Believe you have already received the healing Jesus bought for you 2000 years ago, then pray, ask, and watch that mountain move!

Back to Top

What do You Want?

On March 10, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 21: 21 – 22

“Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the seas,’ it shall happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.”

Jesus was keen on prayer. All things, when approached through prayer, are, he taught, possible. He didn’t need to speak to us directly on healing because he was interested in all things. The conclusion being “all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” So, here is the question, have we asked, while believing, for healing. Let’s do that today, shall we?

What physical ailment have you? I know we often have several but let us choose one to focus upon today. Imagine Jesus is holding a healing meeting. You see yourself walk up to him. He asks, “What do you wish healed?” You tell him. Then he asks, “Do you believe I can do this?” What do you respond?

Jesus deals with a world of unbelief. In fact, most of the people who read this verse read it in unbelief. Want me to prove it? When Jesus spoke of casting the mountain into the sea, was he speaking literally or metaphorically. Most people do not believe Jesus was speaking plainly. In fact, Jesus had a very difficult time being understood because when he was being quite literal, people took him as speaking figuratively. Let me give you the inside scoop on the meaning of today’s verse. Jesus spoke literally. He meant exactly what he said. You don’t have to look for the hidden meaning. He meant that if we understood and believed, we have power over the physics of this planet and could, literally, cause the mountain to be removed. However, because of doubt and unbelief, we have made his words capricious, though that is not how most of us would describe Jesus. So, it turns out that we only categorize him as fanciful when we encounter statements that our faith is too small to handle. This, then, is the task, to believe Jesus. How can he teach us if we will not take him at his word? Do we believe him or do we not? If we will answer this very basic question, we can move forward.

In yesterday’s Word of the Day, Jesus taught that God would do what we ask when two or more of us agree about anything. Today we learn that anything we ask will be done for us if we ask without doubting. This is where the work comes in. Twice Jesus has said that Father will do all things for us, but the condition of faith is sometimes a tough hurdle to get over. We have a difficult time believing Jesus’ words. How, then, are we going to believe he will actually do what these scriptures promise? Harder still is that we must move out of our thinking centers, our minds, and into our believing centers. You would either call that your heart or your spirit. You see, we sometimes “believe” with our minds though doubt remains in our hearts. How can that be? Well, your mind is not your believer. What we really should say is, “I think that is true,” because we are actually thinking in agreement, but have not graduated to believing in agreement with Jesus. How do you get your spirit to come into alignment with Jesus’ words?

It comes down to these tools again: mediation, prayer, visualization, rehearsal. This is where it is beneficial to write down a key verse and talk with Jesus about it continually. Visualization is very helpful. See Jesus sitting in a chair at your house and ask him to teach you how to have the kind of faith you need. See him sitting there teaching you and even praying for you. Watch as he lays his hand on you and prays for your healing. Do this until the switch goes on inside you. All of a sudden you have an “aha” moment.

These things should be the most natural things in the world, but because the world is broken, it has come down to work for us to believe and see as we should. You, however, are built as a faith machine. You are God’s own handiwork. Listen to me in this! He has prewired you with the network to believe all things. You even have the capacity to look with your God given visionary ability and see that mountain get up and jump itself into the sea. Do not be discouraged. Jesus sends you this good word today so that you will be encouraged. All things for which you ask and believe, you shall have. It has been proven time and time again. You are the blessed, living in the blessing. This is your birthright and God’s will. Fire up that believer and ask what you will because the Father is willing and waiting to get into agreement with you. What do you want?

Back to Top

Let’s Agree

On March 9, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 18: 19

“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.”

One of the characteristics I like about this verse is the emphasis one can hear in Jesus’ tone. It is clear that he is being emphatic on this point about agreement. I wonder if it was a new concept to the disciples, this idea that there is power in agreement.

Jesus is talking about prayer here, but it goes beyond just muttering some words. Jesus is talking about two of us, any two people it seems, being of one mind on a topic and then asking Father to do something specific. He was teaching people to pray a prayer of agreement. When we combine our spiritual energy in agreement, Jesus says Father shall do what we ask. That seems like a pretty big promise to me.

So, what does this look like in practice? Well, pretty different from most of what we have been taught about prayer. We have mostly learned of prayer being a solitary event. There is nothing wrong with praying in solitude, but we have not learned, or been taught, about praying together or about agreeing in prayer and that is a shame. We have raised an entire generation of people who are embarrassed to pray in front others. Clearly that is not what Jesus intended.

So, what does this have to do with healing? I would begin to answer that by saying that any lesson on prayer has a large impact on healing. Second, prayer can, and should be more than solicitation. In its basic definition, prayer means to ask for something. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, isn’t that what Jesus is talking about here? However, being in communion with God is another important aspect of prayer. What do I mean by that?

Positioning ourselves, spiritually, so that we can speak with the Lord and hear Him speak to us is life blood. Suppose you and a friend wish to pray for healing for yourselves or another. As you slow yourself down and tune your spirit to hearing what God has to say, He may bring a scripture to your mind, or He may lead you in a specific direction for your prayer. Imagine the impact that has, not only on your prayer, but also on your faith. However, think about this for a moment with me. If you receive in your spirit guidance from the Lord on what to pray, doesn’t that mean that you are getting into agreement with Him? Surely, knowing you are praying the Father’s will stimulates faith and belief.

Here is the short and simple of what you should take away from today’s verse. Jesus taught his disciples to pray together and to set their hearts and minds in agreement. Do not believe for a moment that your prayer closet is the only place to pray. Your kitchen with a friend is an important sanctuary. If we understand this, grasp it, and begin to pray together, we will revolutionize the church and the way we think about prayer. In the process, we will revolutionize our lives too.

If you need healing, get someone to pray with you, for you.  Don’t be bashful.  Be healed!

 

Back to Top

Willing

On March 8, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 8:2-3

And behold, a leper came to Him, and bowed down to Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

People have messed up this passage so completely, but we are here to set the record straight today. This passage is more of Matthew recording the miracles of Jesus as proof of his deity. What we were supposed to learn from it was first, that Jesus heals and second, that he is willing to heal.

It was forbidden to touch a leper. Doing so would make one unclean. In fact, the question arises as to why this leper was even in town. The beginning of the chapter tells us that a large crowd surrounded Jesus, so this fellow was mixing in a crowd. Lepers were supposed to isolate themselves outside of town. Then Matthew makes a point of saying that Jesus touched this guy. There are several messages there, but the one I wish to highlight is that Jesus became ceremonially unclean when he touched the fellow. Jesus knew the law. He knew the implications of touching the man. Okay, but then the leprosy was cleansed so what are the rules now? Legally Jesus would have needed to go through the rites of ceremonial cleansing, but do you see how he turned the law on its head? Most importantly, the chap was healed. Jesus proved his willingness to heal.

Here is how we have turned this passage on its head. We have made this passage a question about Jesus’ willingness to heal rather than a statement. The passage is Jesus saying, “I am willing.” We no longer need to ask him if he is willing to heal us. It is said and done. I hear people say often, “If God is willing.” We get prayer requests for healing on our Prayer Request page expressing the same uncertainty, and if you have ears to hear, doubt. We don’t know if God will heal or not, don’t know if He is willing or not, so we overload our immediate environment with the doubt ladened words of, “if He is willing.”

Well, let us put that to bed forever. God is willing! Remember yesterday’s verse where Jesus healed all. He didn’t discriminate but was willing to heal all. Re-read today’s scripture. Jesus said, unequivocally, “I am willing.” We know “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever,” (Hebrews 13: 8). If he was willing 2000 years ago, he is willing today. He doesn’t change. He has not gone hardhearted on us during the ensuing years.

If you had any doubts about Jesus’ willingness to heal you, I hope they have been resolved today. He healed all the people who presented themselves to him, not choosing between them. He healed the blind, the crippled and those with infectious disease. He healed the broken hearted and abused. There is not one ailment, malady or disfunction that he is not willing and able to heal today. Let his willingness to touch you be resolved in your heart and mind today and forever and let that understanding heal you.

Back to Top

All

On March 7, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mathew 8:16 -17

And when evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, “He Himself took our infirmities, and carried away our diseases.”

In telling Jesus’ story, Matthew recorded scriptural prophecy being fulfilled. We read this passage from the Prophet Isaiah last Wednesday. It is Isaiah 53: 4 – 5. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would bear our infirmities and diseases in his body and that by his stripes, we were healed. Jesus took our infirmities, all of them, and he carried away our diseases.

You can hibernate on that language for a long time. If he carried away our disease, where did he carry it? I have a theory on that. I believe he took all of the disease straight to hell and left it there. He didn’t take it to heaven for goodness’ sake. Further, if he took our infirmities, then we don’t have them. Is that right? How can we have what he took? Also, have you thought about the word infirmities. I think that is worth mediation and journaling. What condition do you have in your body that could be classified as an infirmity? It can be any physical weakness. From our youth people, even Christians, convince us that our infirmities, our physical or mental weaknesses, are ours for life. We learn how to manage our infirmities, but first we must accept them. I believe in getting all the help you can from all the sources with healing modalities. I do not, however, believe the infirmity belongs to you or that any of us should accept those abnormalities as our normal. Scripture says Jesus took our infirmities. We have to establish who we are going to believe.

I am not trying to tell you that sickness and disease aren’t real. Injuries, disease, birth defects, that is all real world stuff. I am trying to get us all to believe what the scriptures say and to understand what Jesus did for us. Look again at Isaiah 53: 5, “But he was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging (stripes) we are healed.” We accept, wholeheartedly, that the piercing of his hands and feet to hang him on a cross was successful at taking away our sin. And as an aside, where do you think he left all that sin? Anyway, if we can believe that part of the verse, why are we challenged to believe the second part?

Isn’t this part of the good news? In fact, when I tell you that the scourging Jesus endured did for your health what the cross did for your eternal soul, that he has taken your infirmities so that your body is healed every bit as much as your soul is cleansed, isn’t that great news? How many messages have we heard on what the cross did for us? Have you heard even ten percent as much on the great miracle of healing? Why did Jesus endure such torture? It was not for salvation. It was for healing. Yet, we don’t preach this, or at least, not like we should.

Here is my point. First, you and I have been conditioned to be sick. We have been taught since we were children to accept infirmity and just live with it. Second, we have not been taught the good news about Jesus as healer. If it had been drummed into us at a young age like John 3:16 has been, we would be better able to believe. But since it wasn’t, the work is on you to reverse your programing.

Matthew is making a point in this passage. He is proving to people that Jesus is the Messiah because his healing of people is the fulfillment of scripture. This is an enormously important scripture and lesson. It is by healing that Jesus showed his Messianic mission. The proof was in the healing. It makes perfect sense too because we already know that God said, “I am your healer.” Then, when Jesus came to earth and healed in accordance with scripture, he showed that he was, indeed, from his Father. He healed according to the power that was within him. The Jews of the age should have been able to reconcile all of this for themselves. Some did, but mostly people were unable to connect the dots.

Matthew used examples of Jesus’ life and ministry to prove his deity and here it is. He healed all that were brought to him. In fact, there is not one circumstance where Jesus didn’t heal a person who asked to be healed. This passage specifically says he healed “all.” That is important for us to realize. Maybe that one word is what you needed to hear to make this whole series come alive for you. Jesus isn’t a specialist. He didn’t only heal skin disease. He didn’t only heal orthopedic issues. He didn’t have his apostles sorting through everyone putting them in groups of diseases over which he had authority and others he couldn’t help. He healed all!! Come on. Let this fire up your spirit!!! If you were in that group that day, the pain and infirmity that you carry in your body right now would have been vanquished back to hell where it belongs. YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN HEALED!

So, here is where we are. What makes Jesus different from today than on that faithful day? What makes our infirmities different from those people’s infirmities? If Jesus walked into the room you are in right now, would he have the same power to heal you that he did on that day? Or, maybe because he isn’t in the flesh, he doesn’t have the same effectiveness. What do you think?

This could be the day that you manifest healing. This could be your moment. There are some among you who will receive healing today. You will receive this good news and accept it into your bones and throughout all the tissue of your body and the good word will do its work. By his stripes you were healed.

Please write me and tell me about your healing!

Back to Top