There are three essential questions in life that determine almost everything.

1. Does God exist?
2. Is God powerful?
3. Does God love me?

Most of the time we are unaware of core beliefs deep inside of us that determine our reactions to just about everything and our decisions in the aftermath of those reactions. These core beliefs are typically formed overtime and often are the results of conclusions we have drawn about life, God, and ourselves as a result of some powerful experience or the modeling of those around us. As adults, these beliefs have been with us so long and are such a familiar part of our internal landscape that we don’t even notice them. Yet, they still have a powerful influence on us.

In light of that, you may want to consider what you really believe regarding these three essential questions – not what you should believe but what you really believe. The implications are massive.

For instance, if God does not exist, all bets are off. You (and everyone else) are on your own in a dangerous and degrading world. If that is your core belief then there is no true north by which to set directions in your life – no absolute right or wrong, no absolute truth, no accountability beyond raw power. Nations that do not believe in God or, at least in a God who holds nations accountable with his judgment, act with no restraint except the restraint of resources and limited power. They assume that all rights and privileges are dispensed by the state rather than God and feel free to give those or take them away at their discretion. North Korea is a model for a world without God.

In your personal world without God you are on your own so control and power will be the highest thing on your agenda as well and looking out for number one will be your only option. In that world, man has little value because he us just part of the evolutionary food chain. In that world, selfishness and self-interest reign supreme.

On the other hand, if God does exist, what you believe about him is just as essential. If you see God as powerless (the doting grandfather view) or detached from this world and your life, then you are still on your own. The powerless God may love you but cannot help you. The detached God neither cares nor helps. You have direction and truth but no help to live out the demands of a distant God and no protection from those who would destroy you for your faith or simply because you are in the way.

If your view of God is that he is powerful and intrudes in this world but does not love you then your situation may be even more frightening. In such a case, God is involved and powerful but is not directed by love when he touches your world. Typically, this view of God paints him as the angry judge of all those who fail him. Then we live with fear, guilt and a sense of impending doom over our lives. With this view as a core belief we will tend to run from God rather to him.

The biblical view is that God does exist, he his powerful beyond imagination, he is involved in our personal lives as well as in the destiny of nations, and he will hold individuals and nations accountable. But…he is motivated by love when it comes to those who love him. If you have faith in Jesus you live in the best of all worlds this side of heaven because God is for you. But many believers are unaware that their view of God is skewed and because of that so is their ability to trust him, to give up control of everything and everyone in their lives, and their capacity for peace and security in a turbulent world.

As Christians, all of us would probably answer, “Yes” to all three of the essential questions above. But we might be expressing our “aspirational beliefs” rather than our actual beliefs. Aspirational beliefs are those we aspire to have because we know we should believe certain things. But actual beliefs can be different (and often are) and are revealed not by what we say but what we do.

To say that God exists, that he loves me deeply, and that He is unimaginably powerful implies that he is really there and because He loves me so, He consistently exercises his immeasurable power on my behalf for protection, provision, and direction.

Jesus believed that about the Father. I know he did because he slept through storms while others cried out. With small prayers he confidently took a few scraps of bread and fish and fed thousands. He walked on stormy seas and faced hostile leaders with the confidence that God would send a legion of angels to defend Him if needed.

But what about us? How often do we worry day after day about having enough? How many of us are “high on control” in our life and relationships so that we won’t be hurt? How many of us are plagued by anxiety and fears of abandonment? How many of us believe in our heads that we are children of the King but believe in our hearts that we are orphans living on our own, scrounging to meet our own needs, and always on the brink of disaster?

Knowing who we are in Christ, knowing who our Father is, and having that truth in our hearts is critical to everything. Paul prayed that God would give the church at Ephesus the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that they might know God better. Many of us have aspirational faith in the character and promises of God but our actual faith lags behind. We need that essential truth revealed to our hearts more than we need it deposited in our heads. That is the work of the Spirit.

Ask Him every day to write “Yes!” on your heart to each of those three questions so that you can live with the peace and confidence of Jesus. May the Lord give you His Spirit of wisdom and revelation today so that you may know Him better (Eph.1:17).

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.             Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Eph.6:13-18)

In his discussion of wrestling against spiritual powers, Paul, in addition to other weapons and armor, tells us to take up the shield of faith. The Roman army used various shields but, according to Strong, the word Paul used here denotes the large rectangular shield that covered the entire body. They were made in such a way that they could be hooked together with the shields of other soldiers to form an almost impenetrable wall in combat.

In so many words, Paul suggests that faith is the ultimate defense against any assault of the enemy. Faith is believing God. It is not just believing in God or that God exists, but it is believing that whatever God has said or promised is true and can be absolutely trusted. Satan deals in doubt and half-truths designed to undermine our faith and trust in God. He has operated that way from the beginning. In the Garden, Satan raised questions about God’s integrity and his commitment to Adam and Eve’s good. Satan twisted the words of God, suggested that God was withholding wisdom out of his own desire to keep Adam and Eve from being all that they could be, and simply declared that God was a liar when he told Adam and Eve that they would not actually die if they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as God had said. His words created doubt in the hearts of the first man and women about whether God and his word could be trusted. Once doubt cast its shadow, they abandoned the directives of God and went their own way resulting in the loss of their place in paradise.

Satan still deals in smoke and mirrors, threats, lies, and accusation. Faith in God quenches the flaming arrows of the enemy. Ultimately the answer to every temptation is to stand invariably on the Word of God. Of course, that requires knowing the Word. It also requires a firm conviction that God is good and that God is love. That conviction is what makes us willing to do all things God’s way because we believe that “His way” is always in our best interest because he always loves us.

Jesus modeled this principal throughout the gospels. When confronted with temptation in the wilderness, Jesus declared the word of God in response to Satan’s offers. After three attempts to draw Jesus into agreement with him, Satan abandoned his attack and left. James tells us to “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (Ja.4:7). But how do you resist the devil? The verse immediately prior to the one just quoted tells us to “Submit, therefore, to God.” In the original language the word translated “submit” means to surrender, to yield, or to line up under your commander as a soldier standing in formation.

We submit to God by aligning ourselves with Him and his word and surrendering our thoughts, our words, and our ways to his. When we do that, the devil flees because he cannot exercise any power or authority over those whose faith is truly in God. That faith shields us from every attack and extinguishes his attempts to draw us away from the God who is our protector. To those who love and serve Him, God says, “If anyone does attack you it will not be my doing. Whoever attacks you will surrender to you…no weapon forged against you will prevail and you will refute every tongue that accuses you” (Isa.54:15-17). That promise applies not only to your enemies in the natural realm but also in the spiritual realm as well. Therefore, take up the shield of faith and ask the Father for even greater faith on a daily basis. When the enemy comes against you today, be strong in the Lord, stand on his Word, and wield the shield of faith.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom.8:35-39)

Paul finishes this section of his letter, which translators have dubbed Romans 8, with a theological volley. It reveals the mindset of a spiritual warrior and a mindset that we must all adopt as we move into a probable season of persecution in the world and our nation. There is definitely a war on Christianity and Judaism unfolding all around the globe and we would be naïve to think we will escape it. The spirit of Anti-Christ is certainly on the move.

In the face of his own battles with this spirit, we should notice Paul’s emphasis in this section. It is not so much on power as it is on love. His great hope is the love of Christ and the devil’s inability to sever us from that love. As you look at this part of Paul’s letter, you realize that this love is a sustaining love. If you don’t watch the context, you might assume that Christ’s love keeps us from trouble in this world and just moves us from blessing to blessing as we live the good life above the fray. The context does not suggest that and Jesus never promised that either. In fact, what he did promise was persecution and trouble (see Matt.5:10-12 and John 16:33). He also promised great reward for those who did not abandon their faith in the midst of that trouble.

I have noticed an essential difference between our brothers and sisters in places like China and the Middle East and American believers. Those coming to Christ in “non-Christian” countries expect and even invite persecution and hardship for the sake of Jesus. They pray for strength to endure while we in America pray for God to deliver us from any hardships and almost take offense when they come.

Paul makes no promise that God’s umbrella of protection will keep us from struggles. To the contrary he uses words like hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, death and slaughter to describe the potential Christian experience in this world. Paul’s hope is not in a life of ease and blessing in this world but in the love of Christ sustaining him in seasons of hardship as he presses toward the next life.

Many believers see hardship as evidence of God’s indifference or abandonment. Paul saw hardship as the normal course of the believer’s life while we push back against the dominion of darkness. But in the midst of that he experienced the love and faithfulness of the risen Lord. In fact, it is in the midst of battle and struggle that we truly discover the goodness and faithfulness of God. Because of that he saw himself as more than a conqueror. The Greek word means to “completely prevail” and is actually a verb declaring that we live in a state of absolute triumph. The “indicative mood” of the verb makes it clear that Paul sees this state as an actual rather than a potential or figurative view of the believer’s life. The paradox is that we truly are more than conquerors even while sitting in a “Chi-com” cell in a re-education camp outside of Beijing or in a hospital room watching a loved one fight a losing battle with cancer. Only an eternal and relational view of our faith makes that possible.

Ultimately, for our faith to endure we must believe that God is, that God is always good, and that God is always motivated by his love toward us. We must also believe that the “norm” is this world is hardship at some level. We live in fallen world. We still live in enemy territory. We still have bodies subject to aging and our own bad choices in diet and exercise. Hardship comes in the form of persecution, broken relationships, damaged genes, internal struggles against temptation, demonic attack, and more. (Don’t think about it or you won’t want to get out of bed in the morning.) It is the rare believer and, probably, the one who keeps a low profile on the devil’s radar that doesn’t encounter significant battles in this world.

The victory comes in knowing the ultimate outcome of every struggle and every encounter with the enemy. The victory is often apparent in this world but at other times it won’t seem so apparent except that the “big win” is always being with Jesus. In the movie, Saving Private Ryan, Captain John Miller (played by Tom Hanks) told his men that his primary objective in the war was to get home to his wife. Our primary objective must also be to get home and our primary mindset must be that this world is not our home. How often do we find believers who are angry at God because some saintly person they knew died. If our primary goal for ourselves and others is to be with Jesus then we should not be angry when those we love reach that goal – maybe envious but not angry.

Paul’s celebration was not about “the good life” on earth but that no person, no demon, and no circumstance can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. No doubt there will be seasons of blessing in this life but there will also be seasons of battle. In all of that, the love and grace of God is assured and we can take heart in that. We will never be alone and his grace will also be sufficient. Knowing that, we can live without fear as those whose ultimate triumph is absolute and absolutely assured. Be of good courage.

When I first came to Christ I was part of a denomination that prided itself on Biblical knowledge and a commitment to be “biblical” in everything they did which is a value every believer should hold. However, because of their approach to biblical interpretation, they held great reservations about Christmas. There were no Christmas trees or decorations to be seen in any faithful church that belonged to that fellowship. No sermons on the birth of Christ were ever presented in the month of December just to make a point. The idea was that nothing religious should be connected to the holiday season.

These devout believers blacklisted Christmas as an ancient pagan holiday “baptized” by the Catholics centuries ago or because there is no biblical command or authorization for the holiday. To celebrate Christmas was to embrace something pagan or to “go beyond that which was written.” They argued that nowhere in scripture were we commanded to celebrate Christmas (or Easter for that matter) and doing so would violate scripture. The odd thing was that many of these faithful families would participate in the secular side of Christmas but would not celebrate the birth of Christ in relation to the season.   Any impulse or yearning to do so shrouded the season with a vague feeling of guilt or participation in some kind of ancient pagan ritual. Since my early days as a believer I have continued to discover other fellowships that also maintain those “anti-Christmas” positions although those groups may be dwindling.

For many years now I have embraced celebrating Christmas. For any of you who suffer from doubts about Christmas as day to celebrate Jesus or know those who do, I want to share my theology about that with you, hoping to brighten your holidays.

First of all, I will readily agree that scripture does not command us to keep Christmas. We have no definite date for the birth of Jesus and no record that the first century church did so in any way. If celebrating a season or a day that is not “authorized by command in scripture” is adding to that which is written and adding to that which is written is always sin, then keeping Christmas might just be sin. However, God is not religious and the heart behind many things is what makes it acceptable to the Father or unacceptable.

The gospels make it clear that on the last Passover Jesus and his followers met together to share the Passover meal, two elements of which were appropriated by Jesus as a memorial we call the Lord’s Supper or communion. In that meal, Jesus took a cup of wine (probably several times) and declared that in years to come it would represent his blood – the blood of the new covenant. I may have missed it, but nowhere in Old Testament do I find a command to drink wine at Passover. I see roasted lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread (Ex.12:8) but no wine. The cups of wine were added through the years by religious leaders as symbolic reminders of spiritual promises and events but I do not see wine “authorized” or commanded in scripture. Yet Jesus freely participated and even appropriated that “tradition of men” into sacred communion. To participate in something that is not specifically commanded in scripture cannot always be wrong or be sin or Jesus sinned. If something honors God or points us toward Jesus in the spirit of scripture, we may be on solid ground even if it is not specifically commanded.

The apostle Paul also speaks to the issue of “holy days” not strictly authorized in scripture. As a former Pharisee, he certainly was sensitive to “going beyond that which is written.” Yet he says, “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” (Rom.14:4-5). Paul makes it clear that if I want to celebrate Christmas unto the Lord I have the Lord’s permission and if I want to disregard it all together I also have his permission. The biblical principle is not to I judge those who hold a different view or insist that others hold the same view as I do. Our freedom in Christ allows either approach as long as I am doing what I do unto the Lord.

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Thirdly, Christmas in the spiritual sense reflects the nature of God. God loves to remember and celebrate! All through scripture, God’s nature is reflected in festivals for the faithful in which they were to remember what God had done for his people and to celebrate – not just for a day but for weeks! Joy is a constant quality of the kingdom and a fruit of the Spirit. Even under the Law of Moses, joy and celebration were to mark the people of God. “Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh.8: 9-10).

To me, Christmas passes the litmus test for remembrance, joy, celebration and an event that points us to the goodness of God in Jesus. We are also commanded to give honor to whom honor is due and Jesus certainly deserves to be honored. So…let’s celebrate as the angels and shepherds celebrated the entry of God into the world and have a very merry Christmas!

One of my favorite authors is Philip Yancey. As far as I can tell, his theology would not at all be charismatic but he has insights into the word and into spiritual things that are fresh, honest and thought provoking. One such insight is found in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew. As Christmas is upon us I want to share a lengthy quote from his book and then make a few observations that come to me as a result of his thoughts.

Sorting through the stack of cards that arrived out our house last Christmas, I note that all kinds of symbols have edged their way into the celebration. Overwhelmingly, the landscape scenes render New England towns, buried in snow, usually with the added touch of a horse-drawn sleigh. On other cards, animals frolic: not only reindeer but chipmunks, raccoons, cardinals, and cute gray mice. One card shows an African lion reclining with a foreleg draped affectionately around a lamb. Angels have made a huge comeback in recent years, and Hallmark and American Greetings now feature them prominently, though as demure, cuddly-looking creatures, not the type that would ever need to announce “Fear not!” The explicitly religious cards focus on the holy family, and you can tell at a glance these folks are different. They seem unruffled and serene. Bright gold halos, like crowns from another world, hover just over their heads. Inside, the cards stress words like love, goodwill, cheer, happiness and warmth. It is a fine thing, I suppose, that we honor a sacred holiday with such homey sentiments. And yet when I turn to the gospel accounts of the first Christmas, I hear a very different tone and sense mainly disruption at work. (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, p.29; Zondervan)

As I read this chapter again, I am reminded by Yancey and my own thoughts about how intrusive God can be and should be in our lives. Most of us like life to move along at our pace, according our plans and our prayers simply ask God to pave the way for our desires. However, the biblical pattern is somewhat different.

Mary’s world was turned upside down in a moment by an angelic visitation announcing that she would soon be pregnant by the Holy Spirit even though she was only promised to Joseph. Joseph, having decided to divorce his “unfaithful fiancé,” had his plans abruptly reversed by an angelic visit of his own. He would share Mary’s “shame” with her. Sleepy shepherds spending another uneventful night in the fields around Bethlehem were jarred awake in a moment and terrified when the heavens exploded with the glory of God and angels sang. Even wise men from the east were shown a star that somehow compelled them to take a long, difficult journey to find this new king and then to sneak quietly out of the country to avoid Herod’s wrath that had been stirred suddenly by the unexpected announcement of the birth of a new king in Herod’s territory.

Most of us are committed to comfort and doing things for God when the doing is convenient. We like to plan our steps and then enlist God to smooth the way. But in my experience, the big things God wants to do in each life usually require an intrusion that challenges us to drop what we are doing, shelve our plans, and go with God – or simply miss our destiny. Think of how intrusive Jesus was. “Come and follow me!” Leave your boats, your career, even your family on a moment’s notice to take up the call on God has placed on your life. That seems to be God’s approach. A burning bush for Moses. A voice in the night for the boy Samuel. A prophet calling David out of the pastures and pouring oil on his head. A staggering light for Saul of Tarsus at midday. Each was unexpected. Each was intrusive. Each was incredibly inconvenient and in some ways made no earthly sense. Each changed a life and the world forever.

The Christmas story is a series of intrusions that often led to hardship before it led to glory. Here is the question Christmas raises for each of us. Are we open to God’s intrusions or do we turn Him down? Would we be willing to let God have his way in our own lives and at a moment’s notice start down a road never contemplated – even if it is just a five-minute journey to pray for a stranger or to tell someone about Jesus? And before we think about God’s inconvenient intrusions into our own lives, think of God’s own intrusion into the peace and order of heaven when suddenly the Word of God laid aside his glory and his deity and became a small and helpless child who parachuted alone into a world of poverty, danger, disease, sin and persecutions for our sake. That intrusion pointed toward a cross. And yet each of these intrusions led not only to moments or days of hardship but also to world changing encounters orchestrated by the Father.

If we have any hunger for greatness or significance in the kingdom of God we must be open to intrusions – sometimes taking a small bite out of our day and at other times changing the entire course of our lives. My dual nature wants to do something great in the kingdom of God for Jesus while at the same time wants comfort, predictability, and security like a hobbit in the Shire. The question for the day is always which part of me will I follow. Will I embrace God’s surprising intrusions or turn them down as I continue on my own agenda. Christmas dares me to go with God.

In the ninth chapter of Mark, Jesus had just descended from the Mount of Transfiguration where he had taken Peter, James and John while the other disciples stayed behind. While on the mountain, Jesus had met with Moses and Elijah and during that meeting his clothing became as white as snow and as bright as lightening. The three apostles witnessed this miraculous meeting and then returned with him to the crowds below. When they returned they met a man whose young son had been tormented by a demonic spirit for years. The father explained that before Jesus had arrived he had asked the disciples and apostles who had stayed behind to cast out the demon but they could not.

After a brief dialogue with the father, Jesus gave a brief command to the spirit and the spirit left the boy. Mark then reports, “And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting ( Mark 9:28-29, KJV).

At first reading, we might assume that the father or the boy should have fasted and prayed before asking for deliverance or that the apostles, after encountering the spirit, should have prayed and fasted and then gone after the demon again. However, Jesus did not instruct the father to pray and fast for a season nor did he pray and fast for 24 hours himself before confronting the unclean spirit again. He simply cast out the demon. What we have left is that Jesus was instructing them that there are levels of demonic power and authority that sometimes require more than the ordinary level of spiritual authority that most believers carry. The text also implies that to walk in that level of authority, a believer should dedicate regular times to prayer and fasting as part of his lifestyle.

As we scan the gospels, we often see Jesus separating himself from the crowds and his disciples for nights of prayer and, we can assume, fasting as he prayed. We don’t see the disciples doing that until after Pentecost when the church often met for prayer and fasting. Since Jesus had incorporated extended times with the Father into his lifestyle, he simply walked with more authority than the band who followed him. When he encountered a spirit with greater authority than usual, the authority he walked in was sufficient for the moment and the unclean spirit was banished with a simple command.

There are two significant principles in this account. The first is that we must prepare in advance for spiritual battles. Too many believers wait until the battle is upon them before they start praying, fasting, making their declarations, and trying to summon sufficient faith. Any athlete knows that you must prepare for the game ahead of time with study, strength training, and drills. You can’t begin to get ready after the game starts or you will find yourself hopelessly behind in a hurry. Any soldier knows you don’t wait until you are being fired upon to clean and load your weapon. You always prepare for the battle ahead of time. The same is true in spiritual warfare. Get ready now for what is coming later by getting the word in your heart, praying and fasting as part of your lifestyle, and learning how to use divine weapons before you need them.

Secondly, it appears that spiritual authority increases as we pray and fast. If we want a greater anointing there is a price to be paid and that price should be paid on a somewhat regular basis. The increase comes because we are spending more focused time with the Father and because our relationship with the Father, the Son and the Spirit is deepening.

As I look around us in this season of cultural decay and rejection of biblical values, I believe we must prepare for spiritual warfare as we contend for our families, our marriages, our communities, and our nation. We must encourage one another to prepare before the battle, to increase our authority as followers of Jesus, and to learn how to use divine weapons in skirmishes with the enemy before the all out assaults begin. Otherwise we will be overwhelmed.

But the good news is still the same – He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. Jesus is certainly sufficient be we are commanded to join him in the battle as we put on the armor of God and wield the weapons of heaven. If you are not prepared or are not in the process of preparing, let me encourage you to get started because the battles are increasing all around us. The hope of our nation is in a church that arises prepared for war against spiritual principalities and powers. We need every soldier in the battle and we need him or her today.

Faith can be hard when life does not meet our expectations. Faith can be hard when promises we read in scripture that seem black and white and iron clad do not unfold as we anticipated. Faith can be hard when we expect God to intervene in supernatural ways to right every wrong yet we see wrong prevailing. This is not a new dilemma. The psalmists struggled with the same issues.

But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.      For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills…This is what the wicked are like—always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning. (Ps.73:2-5, 12-14).

Here was a man who tried to live for the Lord every day and to so what was right. And yet, his days seemed like a constant struggle. Nothing was working out. God seemed to be ignoring his prayers. Perhaps he had health problems or financial struggles. Maybe his business was failing or his boss was a tyrant. Maybe he had a rebellious child or his marriage was slipping away. Those things in themselves were hard enough but the kicker was what he observed in the lives of those who gave no thought to God at all. They were prospering – good looks, great health, a fine house, the best of food and wine, an upper tier education for their kids, amazing vacations and a Roman spa membership. Along with that they enjoyed fame and fortune built on deceit and unscrupulous business practices. Where was justice?

There is a slice of biblical theology in which God promises good things to the faithful – health, safety, prosperity, obedient children, and long life along with vengeance on the wicked. But there is also another slice that promises persecution, hardship, warfare with an invisible enemy, a need to put on armor every day and a prayer to keep the evil one from us. If we ever believe that our faith will smooth every road, give us favor in every situation, and that every prayer will be answered immediately just as we had envisioned it, we will probably live with disappointment. The greatest danger is that we will take up offense against God and decide that he is untrustworthy.

Scripture calls on us to preach, teach, and understand the whole counsel of God not just one facet that we find particularly appealing. All of God’s word is true and all of his promises are certain but they often come later than we anticipated. Think about Joseph who was given prophetic dreams that he would be a ruler some day with his brothers bowing before him. All that came to pass but only after being sold into slavery, falsely accused, imprisoned, and forgotten. Eventually there was prosperity and power but a season of hardship filled the parenthesis between the dream and the reality. Neither the suffering nor the prosperity contradicted God’s word. The key for Joseph was not to judge God as a liar because his dreams were not fulfilled immediately or even soon but to continue to trust God that his promises would come to pass – some in this life and some in the life to come. We greatly differentiate between this life and the life to come, but I suspect God sees them both as one continuum. Promises made now but fulfilled then are just as faithful.

The psalmist struggled with the idea that God’s justice should punish the wicked while all he saw was the wicked being blessed. He lamented, “When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me” (Ps.73:16). Sometimes our assumption in such matters is that God is blessing the wicked while we forget that the prince of this world can bestow wealth and fame as well. As he continued to seek God, however, he was given a revelation. “Till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny” (Ps.73:17). In a moment, God revealed the eternal destiny of the wicked and the certainty of God’s justice. We are also told that the kindness or goodness of God calls men to repentance. So judgment and mercy are both reserved for the wicked to be dispensed in different seasons.

All this is to say that when we live by faith, we trust in the promises of God and often we cry out for those promises believing God for an answer. When we don’t see his answer quickly or as we had imagined it or when we see those who are indifferent to God already enjoying blessings that we are still praying for, we may take offense at God when he is still being true to his word. Remember, Paul had to learn to be content in moments of abundance and in moments of scarcity as well. Faith and expectations must be rooted first in the goodness and faithfulness of God so that I know God will grant a harvest for whatever I am sowing into with faith and prayer. Then I wait on him to see how and when the harvest comes. May he always give us eyes to see what he is doing and understanding to know what he has already done and to always count him faithful.

The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things (Phil.4:5-8).

This familiar quote from Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi has a great deal to say to us today related to faith and peace. We have had a week of challenging news from friends who have been struggling with life threatening illnesses, emotional burdens, and relationship issues. Everything seemed to oppose our prayers and our hearts this week and move in the wrong direction. Maybe you have had a similar week or month so I thought we might reflect on these verses this morning.

The first part of the good news is that the Lord is at hand. Paul was not speaking about Christ’s imminent return but about the fact the God stays close to his children – within arms reach. In fact, he may stay even closer in times of struggle and pain. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Ps.34:18). “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Ps.147:3). God is close. He is not unaware. He hears our prayers and our cries even though he sometimes seems silent. He is there.

I know in my own life, during times of struggle, God may have seemed silent because I was not listening. I was doing all the talking as I offered up my prayers and quoted scripture to God and made my case for how things should turn out. I suspect I wasn’t listening because I was afraid of what I might hear. I may have been afraid that God would tell me something I didn’t want to hear. I don’t want to hear some things because I am not seeing life with God’s perspective. I’m reminded of God’s words to Isaiah. “The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil “(Isa.57:1). God’s expressions of love do not always match my desires because my desires are often all about me. Sometimes I need to hear from the Lord to readjust my focus so in the midst of my struggle or my pain I need to pause and listen rather than just crying out. Nevertheless, we must know that the Lord is at hand and there is grace for every struggle.

Next, Paul (who struggled and suffered more than just about anyone) reminds us to pray and ask God for all kinds of things but to baptize those prayers in thanksgiving. Especially, in the midst of our struggles, we can get so focused on the issue at hand that we forget the blessings and the faithfulness of God that still stand in every other part of our lives. When we are focused on our pain we begin to wonder if God really loves us although the expressions of his love are everywhere. Thanksgiving reminds us of God’s love for us and we must remember that God’s love is constant. He does not give it one day and withdraw it the next because we haven’t been perfect or because he is having a bad day. The Lord, who is love, at hand.

The certainty of God’s love and closeness is what opens our hearts to a peace that passes understanding. It is a peace that transcends our circumstances and reminds us that no matter what we are going through, a God who loves us is in the mix and his grace will be sufficient if we choose to trust him.

Finally, Paul instructs us to choose what we think about. Many of us believe that we have no control over out thoughts and some nights when I am trying to get to sleep I feel the same way. But, we are told to choose our focus and to take every thought captive (2 Cor. 10:5) so it is possible. Have you had any conversations lately with people who say they don’t watch the news anymore because it is just one negative and threatening thing after another? They have sensed that what they are watching is affecting their emotional and spiritual well-being. They are choosing not to give those issues center stage in their thought life anymore.

We need to make many choices like that and not be passive about our focus so that random thoughts are free to bounce around in our heads. Many of those thoughts will likely be from the enemy. We typically cannot choose to think about nothing (although men can certainly do that from time to time) but we can only shut down negative thoughts by choosing to focus on something positive…something good, lovely, honest, inspiring, etc. Read scripture, read or listen to faith-filled books, talk to positive people, praise God with thanksgiving for his faithfulness even when you don’t understand what is going on. If you have a prayer language then pray. I find it almost impossible to focus on the negative or be fearful when I pray in tongues.

Paul simply reminds us in this passage that we have a choice about what we believe and to a great extent how we feel since emotions are released by our thoughts. Choose your focus. Choose the topic. Listen to God from time to time. I cannot always have faith in the outcomes I desire but I can always have faith in the love and the goodness of God. A life of thanksgiving reminds me of that. Be blessed today and choose your focus. The Lord is at hand.

In this last installment of this series on Healing Prayer I want to talk about how we pray for healing. How we pray has a great deal to do with how we view God and how we view his willingness to heal.

I have to admit that when I began to pray for supernatural healing I did so with great uncertainty. I was uncertain about God’s willingness to heal and whether my standing with God was sufficient to merit his response to my prayer and whether my prayer was adequate for healing. Part of my uncertainty came because I still tended to separate what I saw in Jesus from my understanding of the Father and the fact that there seemed to be very different views of healing in different denominations. Basically, I was confused and because I was confused I was uncertain.

Here are the things about which I am now certain.

• God by nature is a healer and so he is always willing to heal when it does not violate his own spiritual laws regarding healing or answered prayers.
• God has the same heart for healing that we see in Jesus because those who have seen Jesus have seen the Father.
• When I pray for healing I do not need to end with the disclaimer “If it be thy will.” It is his will.

Since God is good and always willing to heal I don’t have to persuade him, nag him, coerce him or impress him when I pray for healing. I don’t need to get loud, quote scriptures for an hour, or impress God with my faith. I also don’t need to impress him with how much the person for whom I am praying deserves to be healed. Most of the people Jesus healed probably didn’t have a resume of righteousness and good works to attach to their application for healing. Jesus healed them because he had compassion on them not because they were righteous.

When we pray then how do we pray? I think we pray simply and confidently and we do so in the name of Jesus. We can certainly invite Jesus or the Holy Spirit to come and heal although that is not what Jesus told us to do. He told us to heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out demons in his name. The first way of praying suggests that we have no authority to heal and that all we can do is appeal to Jesus and hope that he shows up. I don’t think that is a bad prayer because we do need him to show up. The difference is how we view our part in the equation. Biblically, I think Jesus does show up through his Spirit and his Spirit heals through us.

We, then, should probably begin with a prayer asking Jesus to be present. We do that more for the one over whom we are praying than for ourselves. I think we should ask Jesus to show us anything that might hinder the healing we are asking for and then spend a few minutes to discover if there is unrepented sin, unforgiveness, demonic activity, sins of the Father’s to be dealt with, etc. If we discover anything then we should deal with it by the blood of Christ and our authority as believers. Having done that, we can simply command healing in the name of Jesus as we lay hands on the person and anoint them with oil if we feel we should. We can command eyes to see, ears to hear, legs to grown, cancer to leave, tumors to shrink, blood chemistry to submit to the Lordship of Jesus, muscles to be strengthened, pain to disappear, etc. in the name and authority of Jesus.

I believe we can quote a few scriptures to encourage some faith and to align our thinking and expectations with the word of God and simply pray what is on our hearts for the person. The entire prayer might be thirty seconds. Check out the prayers you see in the New Testament for healing. They typically are very brief and take the form of a command. We can pray all we want in our prayer closet for healing gifts or the healing of a loved one but when we minister healing, the examples are brief, confident, commanding, and in the name of Jesus.

If we begin to labor in prayer over the sick person then we easily slip into the mindset that we must persuade God to do something he really doesn’t want to do – which undermines our first premise that God loves to heal because it is who he is. We may need to pray several times or on several occasions but our assumption must be that God is willing. Because God partners with his people, our prayer and our faith release his power for healing and it only takes a word.

I hope this short series on healing prayer has been helpful.

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.