Stop press; repeat

It is a very exciting thing to hear new believers receiving miracles of healing in their physical bodies and it is even more overwhelming to see how thrilled they become. I still remember the joy of getting healed dramatically myself. As we move on with God, we should never lose the sense of awe at how God can touch a person and heal him or her without any natural intervention. It is still the most frequent way that a person comes to faith in Jesus. 

As we see more of God's ways, we should understand that God has the same passion to heal us every time but He is also doing a greater work in our lives and we should never be confused when things do not happen as it did ten years ago. From the body, God is moving on to treat diseases of the soul and the Spirit of God wants to cleanse us from the inside out. Sometimes, a (temporary) lack of healing becomes the only way to convince us to look inward. We are not babies any more and we do not have to see a miracle to convince ourselves of God's love for us. Instead of being a miracle-receiver, He is slowly moving us to become a miracle-giver. It can happen only when we learn more regarding the sovereignty of God and His grace. God is God and it takes a long time for us to grasp that. He is not bound by our eager attempts to please Him and our sulking afterward when prayers are not answered. A greater revelation of Jesus is always the greater goal that God is after.

We need those fig leaves!

Isn't it strange that degradation in society is revealed not by lawlessness in every sphere but in some. For example, we do not see many people wanting to disobey traffic laws but we find other laws broken with impunity. People will always want to have some semblance of maintaining rules while involved with wrongdoing in others. Men always prefer to hide their daggers in its sheaths. 
     The real problem is not which laws are broken and which are not. The devil's strategy is not as much as to remove every law but to change the standards on which laws are made. What he is gunning for right now is in the area of morality with regards to sex and marriage. If he can get mankind to be dysfunctional in this area, he can cause society to hurtle down the slope of self-destruct. The book of Romans in chapter 1 talks of dishonored bodies, degrading passions and depraved minds - in that order. The institution of marriage is being bombarded. There was a time when you could use it as a standard to determine morality. Not anymore. It has become an old fashioned thing. And what is still worse is that any relationship can be called marriage. Society does not want to banish that word. Just to redefine it. We still need those fig leaves to hide under.  

The Obedience of Faith

After we are born again, there are different courses we may take. Some become aggressive evangelists, thinking that’s the way to please God. Others become recluses, staying away from family and friends. Some are caught up with personalities and others begin to pore over the Scriptures. Some of us are amazed at how many strongholds have been brought down and some of us are surprised why we still have many habits yet to be broken down. Whatever place we find ourselves in, let us understand that the most important thing God requires of us is a total commitment to God and a presenting of ourselves to Him. The obedience that we are to have is called the obedience of faith. Most of us think that it comes naturally but soon we find out that it is not so. All hell will strive to hinder us from taking those first steps that will prevent him from snatching away the word sown in the heart. 

Do we understand that living for Jesus means that we have stopped living for ourselves? For many of us, living for Jesus means we should be following the rules of Christianity. Or, it means that we should be ready to do whatever He tells us to do. The problem here is that, most of the time we lose our patience, waiting to hear Him speak to us. Do we see that more than anything else, the very thrust or direction of our life needs to change? Yes, we have to obey but our obedience includes a turning to Him - an obedience of faith.

 

One Moment?

It is quite often that we can hear a preacher passionately declare,"One moment in God's presence can change your life forever. That is what should really happen in your life. Nothing else can help you, not even your months of studying God's Word". Now this leaves us wondering and then we keep longing for that moment that can change our destiny forever. What is the preacher really saying? What about our prayer times? Are we not meeting with God there? Is that kind of presence something that we have to struggle to achieve or does is just happen? Unless we decipher this carefully, we would always think that we are in lack of something even though we may be moving on in God.
The Bible does speak of instances where the glory of God can descend in a visible manner and a powerful encounter with God takes place. However we also see that even when God manifests in such visible manner, the effect it has on the saint can be varied. For some, they fall flat on their faces (Daniel), others just listen and obey (Ananias), some are moved to a deeper yielding (Isaiah) and some still disbelieve (Zacharia, the father of John the Baptist). The effect of a manifestation of God can produce a variety of reactions and by itself, is not the hallmark of God producing results that cannot happen otherwise. If God speaks in a audible manner or if He manifests in an supernatural manner, we have much to be thankful about but it is neither necessary or sought after as if nothing else can change us. Paul in the New Testament speaks of the presence of God as something that is so natural and normal for us. 
Our ultimate victory is our faith which is the conviction of things not seen. Faith is what God has ordained for each one of us and we can rest assured that He is and is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him.