We had a wonderful time of healing and fellowship yesterday. I got to meet Jordan's group with Carlos and Caleb as helpers. As we ate pizza and chicken/rice/salad we talked about prayer and how to keep focused when our minds often drift asleep. My friend Karl had been struggling with this as well as Ted and Jeff.
This is the largest Alpha we've had in over 5 years and we've been seeing God at work in so many peoples lives. Pastor Ron shared his testimony of conversion through miraculous healing of his feet. I've known Ron for so many years and never heard his testimony like this before. He often says he went from "dope dealer" to "hope dealer."
Sin is the root cause of all suffering, pain and death. Sin is the work of the devil and Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 john 3:8)
This morning I'm reading Hope: a practical guide to praying for healing, the author had been sick for so many years, surviving by a strict regiment of lifestyle and medical procedures. Regarding prayer she says,
"There were moments when I cried out for relief of secretly wished for a miracle, but in many ways, my sickness and theology pacified my resistance to illness. I was resigned to my fate and lacked the physical and emotional energy necessary to do anything more than survive the day at hand...Miraculous healings and the idea that something spiritual could affect me physically were entirely foreign to me before I was healed. In fact, I was ignorant of any relationship between the spiritual and physical that could influence my daily life and found the idea offensive." - Rebecca Ribnick
This idea that people often see prayer and hope as "well-wishing" or "our thoughts and prayers are with you" until something miraculous happens is natural. To react to God's intervention with "I don't believe it."
A corner stone of the Christian of the Cristian faith is that God did something physical "Christ Crucified" that affects us spiritually. 2 Cor 5:19-20 NLT, summarizes how this happened: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors, God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!"
Not only Crucified, but Risen, alive today and interceding on your behalf. Romans 8:34 says that Jesus “is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” In 1 John 2:1 we read that Jesus is our “advocate with the Father,” and from Hebrews 7:25 we learn that Jesus “always lives to intercede” for us.
- For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! - Romans 5:10
May all the healings we experience build our faith to carry forward the word of Christ to everyone in the world.
- As God's fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. - 2 Corinthians 6:1
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