I grew up in Amarillo, Texas. When I was twenty-three years old I started dating a girl who went to church every Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday night. She finally talked me into attending church with her on Wednesday nights. When I was younger I had attended a Baptist church with my family for a few years but after my mother and father divorced I had not been in a church. The people were friendly, the preaching was fairly entertaining, and the music was what I expected.

After I had begun attending on a regular basis, the girl I was dating asked me if I might be interested in a Bible study with a married couple at the church. Dinner would be included. I thought it over and agreed. I wondered who the couple might be. I assumed it would be a young, successful professional couple in a nice home with small children.   On the evening of the Bible study I was surprised. We drove to a low-income area of town and pulled up in front of a small clapboard house with a neat lawn, sparse flowerbeds and a few small trees. When we knocked on the door, a woman answered who was old enough to be my mother plus a few years. Her name was Mary. She invited us in and explained that her husband Joe and just gotten home from work. He was a mailman who walked a route everyday putting mail in boxes neatly mounted next to the front door of every house on his route.

Mary introduced me to Joe and during a simple meal I discovered that he not only was a “letter carrier” but also preached at a small country church a few miles from Amarillo on most Sunday mornings. He was paid in produce and eggs by the farmers who attended the church. We were eating some of his “pay check” that evening. Joe and Mary had raised two boys who were married and raising children of their own. After dinner, Joe pulled out a small projector and a filmstrip that was advanced manually after each slide would come up with a scripture and a brief explanation of some Biblical truth. We talked and I asked a few questions and then the evening was over. Joe and Mary asked if would come back the next week at the same time for another meal and more Bible study. I agreed and so it went for several weeks. Eventually, Joe asked if I wanted to give my life to Christ and be baptized and after some thought I said yes.

What I wanted to tell you was that the Bible study was academic and boring and not in the least compelling. What was compelling, however, was the love I felt in Joe and Mary’s home. Coming out of a very disengaged family of divorce, the genuine warmth and love extended to me along with the genuine warmth and adoration I saw exchanged between Joe and Mary was almost mesmerizing. The first time Mary opened the door you could almost feel the love in the home as if it had substance and was drifting out into the street. The Bible study explained Jesus but did not draw me to him. But the love I saw in the lives of two people who followed him did. I remember thinking that if that kind of love was found in Jesus then I wanted Jesus.

About five years later, I got word that Joe had died of a massive heart attack while delivering the mail. His funeral was scheduled mid-week and was to be held at a large church in Amarillo. I don’t remember if I had ever attended a funeral before but I was compelled to attend Joe’s. I ran a little late getting to the church and when I arrived I discovered that there was not even standing room left in the sanctuary so I had to stand outside and listen through open doors.

This was not a funeral for a preacher of a mega-church, a dignitary, or a pop-culture celebrity. It was the funeral of a letter carrier and country church preacher. Joe was, however, a celebrity in heaven. I’m certain of that. People were there because he and his wife Mary had touched so many with the genuine love of Christ. Every human being on the planet is starving for love. When someone genuinely touches that need, they remember. Even in the kingdom of heaven, faith, hope and love endure but the greatest is love.

As we search for more of Jesus, more of the Spirit, greater gifts, etc. we cannot forget love. Love is outward focused. All other things can look good – even spiritual – but can be self-focused. Jesus was outward. He came to serve rather than to be served and to give his life as a ransom for many. In his recent book, Soul Keeping, John Ortberg reports a quote from Dallas Willard who said in a response to Ortberg’s question about successful ministry, “What matters is not the accomplishments you achieve; what matters is the person you become” (p.49). The measure in heaven apparently is not how many people you bring to Jesus, the number of people you heal, or the number of demons you cast out but the number of people you love as Jesus loved. Joe knew that. Now I need to remember it.

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:1-6).

Most of the Christians I know have longed for the gift of healing at one time or another. The idea of imparting supernatural healing to someone who is suffering or dying stirs something in us because Jesus is in us and healing is his nature. Paul tells us to earnestly desire spiritual gifts so it is a good thing to desire that gift and others because it is through those gifts that God wants to manifest his love and grace – both to the church and to the world. So, let’s draw some lessons from this account.

Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, opens the curtain as Peter and John are going up to the temple to pray. In this account we discover that the Jews had set times of prayer throughout the day. In Daniel 6:13, we are told that the prophet regularly prayed three times a day. Peter and John were men of prayer and apparently had a discipline of prayer in their lives which is one major key to receiving spiritual treasures from the Lord. They were going up to the temple at 3:00 which was designated as a time of prayer for the Jews. That time also coincides with the time Jesus died on the cross. You can make your own connection.

On their way, they were accosted by a beggar who strategically had his friends or family bring him to the temple gates just before this designated time of prayer. It was strategic because anyone entering to pray would want to enter the temple in the good graces of God and giving to the poor might just set them up for a blessing. Peter and John lived under a blessing so I’m certain that their motive for healing the man was not that.

Notice that the two apostles were going up for a designated time of prayer. I’m sure they were focused on things they wanted to bring before the Father, getting into the temple on time, and maybe even finding a place in the shade. It is almost certain that there were many other beggars and disabled men and women who had strategically staked out the same area, but the lame man caught Peter and John’s attention. Although these two were set on a mission of their own, they were alert to the possibility that God might want to do something else while they were on their way. I believe that as they learned to be sensitive to God, God would direct them to speak, pray, heal, preach, etc. as he directed. Jesus told us that he only did what he saw the Father doing (Jn.5:19) which is a sensitivity I believe God wants every follower to develop.

I believe many of us (myself certainly included) do not experience what we hope to experience when sharing our faith or praying for healing because we are planting seeds in ground that has not been prepared. We are planting in places where God has not already been working. It’s not wrong to plant in those places, its just not always productive. Jesus sensed God’s leading and involved himself where God had already been working. Peter and John were doing the same thing I believe and sensed that God was directing them to a certain man. When we know God has directed us, we can have faith for a miracle.

In this story, the man was expecting a little financial blessing but God had a greater blessing in mind. Directed by the Spirit, Peter declared healing over the man in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Peter was very specific about the name as if to leave no doubt about the source and authority for the healing. As people began to respond to the miracle, Peter and John were again careful to take no credit for the healing but to point everyone to Jesus. That is also a key to walking in power. As a result of their faith, their prayer life, their sensitivity to God’s leading, their willingness to have their plans disrupted, and their willingness to point others to Jesus through the miracle, God was able to entrust a greater measure of the miraculous gift of healing to them.

Interestingly, they didn’t pray for Jesus to come and heal the lame man as we probably would. Instead, Peter said, “What I have (possess) I give to you. In the name of Jesus….walk.” Peter possessed a gift of healing that resided with him. After all, Jesus told his followers to go, preach, heal, and cast out demons. He told them to do so because he had given them power and authority to do so. That same power and authority is still available to those who have the Spirit of Christ within them today.

I do believe that there are those who have a gift of healing and, like Peter, the gift resides with them. The rest of us can offer prayers of faith for healing at any time. In that moment we might ask for Jesus to come and heal but I also believe that many times the Spirit releases a gift for a given moment that does not reside with us. Many of us get a prophetic word, a word of knowledge, or a spike of faith on occasion that doesn’t seem to be available most of the time. I believe healing can be the same but when it is released for a specific moment, we can command healing just as Peter did. When we occasionally in a gift, it is also likely that we have the gift in seed form that can develop into a gift we can frequently call on if we nurture the gift and risk exercising it as it develops.

If you hunger for a gift or if God has put a desire for a gift on your heart, remember the lessons of Peter and John – a discipline of prayer, a growing sensitivity to the direction of the Lord, a willingness to be detoured or inconvenienced, a willingness to point all eyes to Jesus, and the faith to exercise the gift when you feel directed by God – even if healing does not always occur or a prophetic word is not always on target. We grow in these gifts as we grow in all parts of life. When desiring a gift we should do three simple things: pray, pursue, and practice. If you hunger for a gift, then go for it. See what God does.

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord. (Ezek. 37:1-14)

This is one of the most poignant and compelling sections of scripture in the entire Bible and is filled with as much significance for us today as it was for the Jews in days of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel lived and prophesied during the days of Babylon’s world dominance. In 607 B.C. Babylon had invaded Israel and deported many of the best and brightest of the nation including Daniel. In 597 B.C. another invasion occurred and more of the Jews were taken. Finally, in 586 B.C. the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem, destroyed Solomon’s temple, and took the temple treasures back to Babylon. The Ark of the Covenant, which stood in the Holy of Holies and on which the presence of God rested, disappeared and has been searched for ever since. The destruction of the temple and the disappearance of the Ark seemed to be irrefutable evidence that God had finally abandoned Israel to her fate because of years of unrepented sin.

By all rational standards, Israel was finished as a nation. After all, it was an insignificant nation by world standards – only 65 miles wide and 120 miles long. Their capital was decimated, the temple which was the center of Jewish faith and culture was destroyed, and all the powerful, gifted, and educated members of Jewish society had been enslaved and scattered through out the Babylonian empire. Israel looked as if it would disappear into history and be absorbed by the nations around it showing up in old manuscripts as only a curiosity – a small nation that flourished for a few centuries and then faded into oblivion.

But God was not through with Israel. To demonstrate his plans for the nation, he led Ezekiel into a valley of desolation and death. There the prophet scanned a lunar-like landscape covered with the bleached bones of a long defeated army left for the wild animals and hot sun to clean. No one had even cared enough or had the capacity to come find these fallen men and bury them. They were alone. The symbolism of defeat, death, despair, and hopelessness fit the mood of the Hebrews who had left Egyptian slavery for freedom but seemed to have had come full circle now as captives and slaves in Babylon. Having brought him to this valley of desolation, God asked Ezekiel the ultimate question, “Can these bones live?”

Maybe you have asked that question about your own life or the lives of others you care about in a different way but with the same sentiment. “Can that marriage ever be put back together after the adultery?” “ Will I ever feel anything but this pain?” “Can someone so broken ever be freed from his addiction?” “Will the child, molested and raped, ever be able to trust and love someone else?” Our world is full of dry bones. Perhaps, there are piles of dry bones in your own life? Can those bones live again? We will begin to look at the way back to life in my next blog.

But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This miraculous sign will occur tomorrow. (Exodus 8:22-23).

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty. (2 Cor.6:14-18)

In Exodus 8, as God was in the process of delivering Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, he declared a distinction between his people and all others. Goshen was the region of Egypt where Jacob and his family had settled after they were invited to stay in Egypt because of Joseph’s service to Pharaoh. It was a fertile area of approximately 900 square miles on which one to two million Hebrews lived – first as farmers and ranchers and later as slaves. In the text above, God told Moses that from that point on, the plagues that were impacting Egypt would not touch Goshen nor his people living there. There were several reasons why God would treat them differently from all other tribes and nations. First of all, he chose Israel as a man would choose his bride. A man may treat women, in general, with kindness but he should do more for his wife and do it sooner than for anyone else. That is how God relates to his chosen people.

In the same vein, God treats his people differently because he has a unique relationship with them that is described by words such as bride, household, priesthood, sons and daughters, family, saints, chosen, and even friends. Those are words that describe intimate and even covenant relationships. In a sense, God may know all people, but he is not intimate with them nor does he consider them sons and daughters. In addition, God says that he will make a distinction between his people and all others because he is with them. God is with his people and his presence makes a difference. As they say…membership has privileges and we are members of Christ.

It is clear throughout the Bible that God makes a distinction between his people and all others but scripture also reminds us that we are to make a distinction as well. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians quoted above, he emphasizes the distinction again and draws a contrast between those who belong to the Father through Jesus and all others. Those distinctions are: righteousness vs. wickedness; light vs. darkness; Christ vs. Belial (Satan or a high ranking demon); believer vs. unbeliever; and the temple of God vs. idols. According to Paul, God still calls us to “come out from among them and be separate. Touch no unclean thing.”

In my experience, many Christians don’t see themselves as chosen and distinct from all other people. They don’t see themselves as different nor do they make much of an attempt to be different other than church attendance. God is not calling us to withdraw from society, move into the desert, and form monastic societies. He is not calling us to some form of ritual cleanliness.  What he is doing is calling us to be distinct – first in our own minds and, secondly, in our ways.

What we need is the “salmon anointing” (not a biblical term) that makes us a people who are always willing to swim against the current and the culture of the world rather than embracing it or compromising our faith in order to “fit in.” God has not commanded us to fit in but to be different – as different as night and day. Jesus said we should be “in the world” but not “of the world.”

Sometimes we want God to do supernatural stuff in our lives. But if we want God to “act like God” in our lives with miracles and blessings then we must “act like his people” and as sold out citizens of heaven rather than comfortable citizens of this world. How many “unclean” things do we touch in a day by choice – especially with our eyes and our ears? How often do we compromise our faith “just a little” at school or at the office in order to gain membership or standing with those who don’t know or don’t care about the Lord? How often do we forget that God is with us when we swim with the culture rather than against it?

A church that has forgotten who she is will be a powerless church. If we desire to see the power of God we must remember that power is not given until it is needed. It is not needed as long as we are “going with the flow.” When we remember who we are; when we see ourselves as distinct from all other people; when we push back against the world; when we get busy destroying the works of the devil; ands when we choose to swim upstream toward the source – then, power will be needed. When it is needed it will be released. So…let’s go for the salmon anointing. Let’s swim as hard we can against the current, reproduce ourselves, and encourage as many as possible to swim with us. Then he will be our God and we will be his people. Then we will be distinct from all other people.

Once you have discovered that you are royalty, you must understand how royalty operates. In the kingdom of God it is not about perks, servants, living large, or living in constant comfort with every material desire coming your way. It is about relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit. It is about contentment with what we have. It is about expanding the borders of the kingdom through faith, love, and sometimes war.

To be successful in your role of governing earth on God’s behalf, you must understand that you have authority as a member of the royal family and as an ambassador of Christ. Many believers today have no sense of authority or power in their Christian life. They believe that Jesus has all authority but have no concept that they also walk in authority and should exercise that authority on behalf of their king.

Jesus demonstrated the authority that a man in fellowship with God can wield on the earth. He demonstrated it as Son of Man not as Son of God. We know this to be true because Jesus declared, “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (Jn.14:11-15).

Jesus clearly says that those who have faith in him will do what he had been doing which he clearly identifies as his miracles – healing, casting out demons, raising the dead, stilling the storm, etc. He goes on to say that those who have faith will do even greater things than he did. Hard to imagine isn’t it, but that is what he said. As a member of the royal family and as a representative of Jesus on earth (who should re-present Jesus) you should expect Jesus to do miracles through you. If you read the context above, he not only gives you that opportunity but also commands you to ask him to do miracles through you for the glory of the Father.

Jesus modeled his plan for the church by exercising the authority of heaven himself and then delegating that authority to others. First he delegated his authority to those he called apostles. “He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness” (Mt.10:1). Secondly, he delegated heavenly authority to a wider circle of followers who go unnamed in the scriptures. “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Lk.10:17-20). Snakes and scorpions in this context are metaphors for demonic spirits.

After modeling his “delegation strategy” he continued with his declaration that those who had faith in him (any believer in any century) would do what he had been doing and would do even greater things. He then delegated his power and authority to his church by the distribution of spiritual gifts through his Spirit. “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,  to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues”(1 Cor. 12:7-10). Notice that power and authority are the benchmarks of the Kingdom. As a member of that Kingdom and the household of God, power and authority are attached to your position. You are appointed in the Kingdom and no appointing comes without anointing. Your anointing is the Holy Spirit who releases power and authority through you.

It’s interesting that we often teach people to pray for healing by asking Jesus to come and heal. That’s not a bad prayer but it is not what Jesus commanded. He told us to go and heal rather than to go and pray and ask him to come and heal. We often approach healing and deliverance like deputies who have been given authority to enforce the law but every time we should make an arrest we locate the criminal but then call the sheriff to come make the arrest. Deputies have been delegated power and authority to enforce the law. We have been given power and authority to enforce the laws of heaven. When we begin to walk in the knowledge of that authority and begin to exercise it for kingdom purposes, then we will be living as royalty.

That is who you are in Christ – appointed, anointed, empowered!

So far, in this series of blogs on healing prayer, I have attempted to make the following points:

• It is the nature and heart of God to heal.
• Illness and disability are the result of sin, directly and indirectly, and fall under “the works of the devil.”
• Although God is willing to heal, there are things that can restrict his response to our prayers.

Issues that may restrict God’s response to healing prayers are: (1) a lack of faith on the part of the one ministering healing or the one receiving healing when there has been ample opportunity for faith to develop. (2) Sin that has not been dealt with through the blood of Christ because it has not been acknowledged or confessed by the one who needs healing. (3) Unforgiveness in the heart of the one needing healing. (4) the failure of those needing healing to even ask for healing.

In addition to the above hindrances to healing, demonic spirits can play a significant role. Numerous times in the gospels, individuals came to Jesus with physical conditions or disabilities such as blindness, deafness, muteness, seizures, back pain, insanity, etc. and Jesus cast out a spirit. Healing then followed the deliverance because the presence of those spirits of manifested as illness. Until a spirit of infirmity is driven out, healing will not occur or will not be sustained.

The spirit is present because something in the life of the individual has given that spirit some ground or legal right to afflict the person. Sometimes the individual has opened the door through unrepented sin or unbelief. Others may be afflicted on the basis of the “sins of the Fathers” or curses spoken over them by those who have had spiritual authority in their lives and sometimes as a result of trauma and fear. In each case, unrepented sin or a curse must be dealt with by confession, repentance, and the blood of Christ so that the authority of the spirit to afflict the individual can be taken away. When that has been accomplished, deliverance can occur and healing may follow.

In addition, there may be times when healing does not occur and we will not know the reason. Those times can be reduced when we help sick people deal with the cause of their illness through a spiritual assessment, repentance, confession and dealing with any spirits who may be manifesting as an illness. When we pray for healing, we typically assume that a spirit may be involved and so simply command any afflicting spirits to leave so that our healing prayers will not be hindered if, in fact, a spirit is the source of the condition.

We need to remember that some supernatural healing is instantaneous while some is progressive. We should not always assume that healing has not occurred if it didn’t happen immediately. Authentic healings can also be lost because of fear and unbelief about healing that did occur. However, experience also tells us that there will still be some mystery as to why some were healed and others were not.

Although some mystery about healing will continue to exist. I am still convinced that healing should be the rule in the church and not the exception. A careful reading of scripture suggests that believers are not immune to illness because we live in a fallen world but when it comes, we can expect healing.

If healing does not occur, we should begin to look for hindrances that have prevented the healing so that God’s grace can flow unobstructed. If we can discover no reason for healing not to occur, and yet someone we love is not healed, our response must be to take no offense at God and continue to pray for others to be healed. If we believe in the supernatural ministry of God, we will have to be willing to live with some unanswered questions while we continue in faith.

In Monday’s blog I will discuss how we pray. Be blessed in Him.

Over the past two weeks I have focused on the biblical promise of healing. Since faith for healing is required for the believer and since faith comes by hearing (and receiving) the word of God, I want to finish this short series by quoting a few verses on which you can begin to build faith for healing. This passage from Proverbs helps us understand how to build our faith.

My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. (Prov.4:20-23)

When building faith from the Word we need to give attention to scriptures that speak about the promises for which we need faith. We need to incline our ear or hear the promise by frequently speaking it out loud. We need to see the word or read it and write it out until faith for the promise forms in our heart. We need to keep the promise in the midst of our hearts by meditating on it and by staying away from those who would contradict or discount the promise. The unbelief of others tends to dilute our faith. When faith comes for the promise, then healing and life are released.

Scriptures that point to God’s heart for healing his children

I am the Lord, who heals you. (Ex.15:26)

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. (Isa.53:4-5)

Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion (Ps.103:2-4)

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.” (Mt.1:23)

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. (Mt.4:23-24)

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases,   and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. (Lk.9:1-2)

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go…Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ (Lk.10:1, 9)

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (Jn.14:12-14).

And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues… they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well. (Mk.16:17-18)

To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit (1 Cor.12:8-9)

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. (Ja.5:14-15)

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed (1 Pet.2:24)

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. (3 John 2)

That is my prayer for you. Be blessed and well.

Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Rev.3:4-6)

In some ways, Sardis came off as the least pleasing church in the list of churches in Asia. Jesus charged them with living on a reputation that pertained only to the past. He pronounced them spiritually dead and charged them with not completing the work he had given them. He called them to repentance and obedience and warned them that if they did not “wake up” he would come when they least expected it to discipline them.

And yet, he was very aware of the few in their midst who had been faithful and had continued to serve while the rest had abandoned their calling. He described them as those who had not “soiled” their clothes. The Greek word translated as soiled means “to defile by sexual immorality and/or involvement in pagan idolatry.” Those who had coasted to a halt in their passion for Jesus and their service to God had drifted back into a mixture of Christianity and pagan immorality. They kept an appearance of faithfulness and maintained ties with the church but partied with the pagans on weekends.

God knows our hearts, our lives, our works, our secrets, and our sins. We cannot hide our unfaithfulness from him in the midst of the congregation on Sunday nor will our faithfulness go unnoticed even in the midst of the unfaithful. The writer of Hebrews told the faithful Jews, “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” Notice that God notices.

As difficult as it is to stay on track with the Father in the face of persecution, it is often more difficult to stay on track in a fellowship of lukewarm and dispassionate believers. In that environment, over time it is easy to begin to believe that “lukewarmness” is the standard and is somehow acceptable to the Lord. In his letter to Sardis, Jesus is clear that a casual attitude toward the cross and a double-minded man who tries to dance with the Lord on Sundays while dancing with the world the rest of the week is unacceptable. It’s like a man who sleeps with prostitutes six days and week but comes home declaring faithfulness to his wife on Sundays.

But Jesus declares that the faithful walk with him and they dress in white – the color of righteousness and priesthood. He promises all of us that when we live a life of overcoming the enemy and faithfully remain in the ranks of heaven, we also will be dressed in white. Not only that but those who continue in faithfulness will have their names eternally written in the book of life. Jesus declares that he will personally acknowledge the names of those who do not compromise, who do not become casual or careless, and who do not lose their passion for the kingdom before the Father and his angels.

Too many believers had a heavenly fire in their hearts for a season and served God with energy and passion for a time. But after a few years the kingdom of heaven lost its fascination for them. The riches and pleasures of the world began to glow brighter than the treasures of heaven. Little by little they began to mix the “not so bad” things of the world with the good things of heaven and eventually they simply slipped back in the world while maintaining their “membership” at the local church. Many believers know that their faith is not what is used to be but are banking on God remembering what they used to do when they stand before him. This letter indicates that these “believers” are in a very dangerous place.

We can easily look down on those who have slipped away but we can all be tempted to do the same thing when, after years of going to church, our faith can seem ordinary, humdrum, less rewarding than what the world is offering, and has even become unpopular and criticized in the culture. We must all guard against this “natural erosion” of faith and passion. How can we guard our hearts and keep the fire alive? Be sure you stay around people who still have a fire in their bones for the kingdom. The heat from their fires will keep your embers burning. If your group of believers has settled down and made peace with the world, find a new group. Intentionally risk. Develop a habit of doing “crazy things” for Jesus. Go on mission trips to 3^rd world countries. Pray for the sick at the local HEB. Share your faith with a stranger. Pursue the gift of tongues or prophecy. Consistently do things that are a “little scary.”

Risking things for the kingdom and being around others who risk makes your life in Christ an adventure. It does not get boring or irrelevant. It keeps stoking the fires and the excitement of seeing God do miracles through you makes the promises of the world seem lackluster. I believe that Jesus will not only acknowledge your name before the Father and his angels on the Day of Judgment, but even now as we passionately serve him. Those who serve faithfully now are already known in heaven and your name is already spoken there. Remember when God asked Satan if he had considered Job? Remember the angel who told Daniel that he was already highly esteemed in heaven. If you are living four Jesus, your name is already spoken in the courts of the King. Live in a way to insure that your name never fades in the halls of heaven but is mentioned there often until you arrive in person.  Be blessed.

There is an intimate relationship between joy and hope. While optimism makes us live as if someday soon things will go better for us, hope frees us from the need to predict the future and allow us to live in the present, with the deep trust that God will never leave us alone but will fulfill the deepest desires of our heart. Joy in this perspective is the fruit of hope. When I trust deeply that today God is truly with me and holds me safe in a divine embrace, guiding everyone of my steps, I can let go of my anxious need to know how tomorrow will look, or what will happen next month or next year. I can be fully where I am and pay attention to the many signs of God’s love within me and around me. (Henri Nouwen, Here and Now, p.33)

I like what Nouwen has said in this paragraph but I also believe his last statement is much broader than joy. We need to look for the evidence of God’s love in the smallest and largest of things because our greatest need is to truly believe we are deeply loved by our Father and our Creator. The thing that keeps nibbling away at my faith and that keeps me from asking for outlandish things is that I’m not sure that he loves me enough to keep me safe and do those things for me.

The thing that keeps me from embracing my position in heaven and walking confidently in the gifts of the Spirit is my awareness of my failings and my doubt that God loves me all that much because of those failings. I then live with the sense that if God doesn’t love me all that much he won’t give me the gifts I hunger for nor be there for me when I try to exercise those gifts. I fear he will be an absent or indifferent father to me.

The other huge thing my doubt affects is my ability to love. My experience tells me that we can’t love others if we doubt that we ourselves are loved by someone significant to us. Knowing that God loves me is everything. Noticing all the ways he loves me confirms that love in my heart and when I have love I can give love.

We can easily become like the older son in the parable of the prodigal who is so caught up in the day to day business of life that he failed to notice how his father loved him and provided for him every day. Then, when he realized he hadn’t been given a big party, he decided that his father didn’t love him at all. So often we ignore the myriad of things God does for us and then decide in one moment that he has never loved us when one disappointment comes our way.

Think about the little things. Smell the roses and the coffee. The little prayers that were answered as well as the big ones. They are both from God. Thank him for every little thing and the big things will take care of themselves. When I come to truly believe that the God of Heaven loves me deeply and thinks about me continuously, I will walk across this planet with hope, joy and the confidence of knowing that I am his.

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.             Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. (Acts 3:1-10)

This account of Peter and John healing a man at the temple gait contains a principal that we need to remember as we minister to the world around us. There are things that we can do for people in our own strength that will satisfy their apparent need but there are things we can do in the power of the Spirit that will go far beyond what they can imagine.

This is the story of a man whose vision for life was to accept his disability as inevitable and then to live with his limitations by getting bits and pieces of what the world could offer him. His view of life was that the best he could hope for was enough money to buy food and drink for a day.   He had someone, on whom he was dependent, carry him to the temple gate each day because he believed that his best hope for charity was from those who were going up to worship God. His view of that was correct but his view of what God could or would do for him was limited to the flesh. His hope was simply that God would touch a heart to share a little money for the day. Perhaps, he saw his hope that God would provide his daily bread every day for the rest of his life as faith pleasing to God and, perhaps, it was.   The problem wasn’t the faith it was the vision.

That is true for many of us. We have been taught that God will only work through natural means to meet our needs or to advance the kingdom. So we pray for doctors to do their best. We pray for a good job to meet the needs of our families. We pray for rain when the skies are already full of clouds. There is nothing wrong with these prayers except that we are asking God to guarantee what would likely happen in the natural even without his intervention. Sometimes our view of the miraculous is only one shade different from the natural. I don’t deny that God often works in the natural but I also believe he wants us to have a greater vision than that.

When Abraham and Sarah were told that they would give birth to a son in their late years they eventually defaulted to pursuing God’s promise in the natural. Growing impatient with God’s timetable, Abraham fathered a child with Hagar, a servant of Sarah’s who was a younger woman. When Ishmael was born, Abraham wanted to call God’s promise good but God rejected Ishmael because he was not the child of promise. In other words, the birth of Ishmael was not beyond the scope of what could happen in the natural. Older men had fathered children before. But what about a woman long past menopause? That would require a miracle and so in God’s timing Abraham fathered a son through Sarah. That was Isaac, the supernatural child of promise.

In the story of Peter and John, the man asked for a contribution to the poor. What he got was far beyond his vision of what God would do for him. Instead of a pocket change, he received a new set of legs. Peter and John’s vision of what God was willing to do set the stage for a miracle that brought praise to God because only God could have done what the crowds witnessed with their own eyes. Too many of us serve God in our own strength and ask him to simply bless what we do. That’s not bad but there is something much better. That something is to ask God to do through us what only he can do – something that is impossible for us to do in our own strength and in our own talents.

Even the world can do amazing things in its own strength – remember the Tower of Babel. Even atheists and worshippers of false Gods can build great buildings, feed the poor, fund research, and entertain us in amazing ways. Certainly followers of Christ should provide great architecture, feed the poor, and fund research but at the same time we should ask for more and ask God to do things through us that no man can do. That is what separates Jesus from every other name. That is what identifies Jesus as the only name under heaven by which men can be saved. Our view is that silver and gold given to good causes is a good thing but God is willing to go far beyond that when our vision goes far beyond that.

Today, lets ask God to not only empower men to do the possible with excellence but let’s ask him to do the impossible so that men will give him praise and the name of Jesus will be exalted.  Today’s word – Expect miracles.