Challenging...

     Sometimes when our more comfortable beliefs are challenged, we react in fear.  From where does the fear arise? I’ve come to realize that I quickly refute what might well be a new, fruitful insight because to accept it as truth would mean a radical change in what I believe and, as a result, in how I live my life. It might also affect how people see me and whether they trust me ever again. It might end in severe disappointment
     My mind wants to return to its grooves of explanation for why I don’t see the fruit I should be seeing.  “Ah well,” I say. “Sometimes God works in mysterious ways.” Or, “God sometimes chooses to heal and sometimes He doesn’t.” Or, “I’m sure God doesn’t expect me to muscle into this situation and proclaim something so outrageous.  What if it doesn’t happen?”
     The problem, however, is that Jesus said, “You shall do even greater things than these [what you have seen Me do], because I go the Father.” [John 14:12]. Or, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed and do not doubt....you could tell this mountain to be cast into the sea and it would be done...” [Matthew 21:21]. Or to the centurion, “I have not seen so great a faith in all of Israel...Go and let it be done as you believed it would...” [Matthew 8:13].  What do I do with these pronouncements? Sweep them under the rug as poor translations or relegate them to ‘gloss,’ because I can’t begin to fathom how to put them into practice?
     Yes, that’s exactly what I’ve done. I’ve tried to either ignore them or attribute them to the first century disciples, or frankly tell God, “You’ve got to be kidding!”  However, there are those on this earth who are seeing come to pass exactly what Jesus spoke. In fact, they’re seeing this kind of fruit born on a regular basis, including multiple resurrections from the dead.
     So now I have a choice. I can re-bury my head, or this ‘old dog’ can be humble enough and expectant enough to learn how all this is possible...to put myself in a position to minister and expect
to see healing of body, soul, and spirit in those around me.  Not just by platitudes or by what I know
of human comfort or my current level of spiritual insight, but by the impossible reality of God’s life-changing power available right now to anyone who asks and is open to receive in faith, including me.
     And if I don’t ‘get it right’ the first time, I’m going to persevere until I do...or until it’s time for me to go Home. I know it will please Him that I am trying to learn better how to see “His Kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
     No matter how many times we fall on our faces trying, He’ll always be our Coach and Cheerleader. Let’s be brave and throw ourselves into the fray, believing that no matter how impossible it seems, what He said is true for right now, for today. Let’s seek to know more about this promise of physically manifested healing for ‘whomsoever will.’ No matter what people may think of us or what we think we already know, let’s trust that He will be pleased by our humble heart and our readiness to listen, and that, completely abandoned to Him, we will be able to rejoice at His ‘We’ll done, good and faithful servant!’ [Matthew 25:21]
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For those in Florida interested in learning from someone who has seen thousands of healings, including resurrection from the dead, missing organs come into existence, cancer banished, and blind eyes restored to sight....Andrew Wommack will be in Orlando February 7-9. I will be there with bells on. If you’d like to join me, go to www.awmi.net and select Events. If you’re a friend from another state, go to the website and watch his God Wants You Well series beginning the end of July 2018, as well as the Healing Journeys  testimonies from people from all over the world. If you have Roku, add his channel, Andrew Wommack Ministries, and go to the Healing Journeys icon or any of his teachings. They’re all free, including the conference itself.

Tumbling down the sides....

     Unless you are a brand new Christian, you probably know Matthew 5 and 6, often referred to as the Sermon on the Mount, pretty much by heart.  So it is often challenging to read it with a fresh eye. (No pun intended on Matthew 6:22.)  This morning, I was attempting to do so with the following verses:
     “Do not gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust and worm consume and destroy...but gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” —Matthew 6:19-21
     And we all begin singing Kumbaya, I mean Seek Ye first....
     However, instead, God gave me a funny picture of myself running back and forth in and out of Heaven, adding treasures to my stash, with Him smiling at me and giving me a thumbs up.  Once again, He made me laugh out loud. I always have to check with Him on these humorous thoughts, to make sure it’s not just Julie’s bizarre imagination. But He just smiled at me with confirmation and the reminder that, after all, we had indeed been searching the Scriptures for what gives Him pleasure.
     Gifts of charity, thoughtfulness, and self-sacrifice, without the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing—not to mention other humans—provide the stash. They make Him happy, and He, who by nature can’t seem to receive without giving back in geometric proportions, stores up every single gesture of kindness on our part in a heap of His own gifts for us, which reach so high they start tumbling down the sides like a cup running over.
     We choose kindness, mercy, and charity, giving away both the tangible and the intangible, to make Him happy. But since He’s the originator of Paul’s phrase outdo one another in showing honor, He takes joy in secretly magnifying the treasure trove waiting for us.  Go ahead, give Him pleasure; take delight in helping others behind their backs. It will never be behind His.

PS: Remember, try not to get caught!
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Psalm 23:5
Romans 12:10

The Rope

     In the Midwest, snowstorms can be so pervasive that people tie a rope between the house and the barn, so they can follow it back and forth without getting lost in a blizzard. Those new to the area might think this precaution unnecessary. However, those wiser and more experienced know that self-reliance can kill you in a whiteout.

     Sometimes that kind of arrogance can lead us into dangerous places in the rest of our lives, also.  We assume we have an inherent sense of direction and don’t really require assistance. However, in a spiritual whiteout, it is easy to make a quarter turn without realizing it and walk directly into frostbite of the heart.

     No matter how many years...how many decades we’ve walked with the Lord, or how many Bible studies we’ve done, how many spiritual fads, methodologies, and ideologies we’ve seen come and go, we still need to follow Jesus’ admonition that “blessed are the poor in spirit.”  Humility of heart acknowledges that the longer we live, the more we are aware of what we still have to learn. Wisdom and humility are paired hands in a fruitful servant who desires to honor God and make Him known.

     Let’s not forget to humbly hang onto the Rope as we navigate the challenges of our current culture’s chaotic winter, striving to serve as a beacon in the disorienting and chaotic blizzard around us.