Does it hurt now?

O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. (Psalm 30:2)

If you don't believe that God does miracles today, this post may not make much sense to you. But please continue, because you might still get something out of it.

I'm taking a class in healing at my church. Like, actual, miraculous healing. The kind where people can say "I was blind, but now I see." We've been studying it from a Biblical perspective, and then we take a practical approach: we pray for healing, for each other. It's amazing in a group of 6 how many weeks at least one person needs prayer for some kind of pain or illness. (Sadly that's been me quite a few times)

We follow a specific model. Ask what the person wants Jesus to do for them, diagnose it (get an idea how long it's been a problem, what may have caused it, etc), pray, ask how they're doing, and pray again. Repeat the last two steps until either you run out of time (or energy) or the person no longer feels any pain.

That's the part that's hard for me. I think when most people contemplate the idea of God healing us, it's an instantaneous thing. I used to not see, we prayed, and now I see. Done.

But it's not always that way. It's not that God can't heal us or even that He won't. There can be a lot of factors to it. Perhaps the people receiving prayer don't quite believe that this will work. Perhaps God is using this as a learning experience. Whatever it is, there is to be no shame in asking how the person feels, and hearing that there is little or no difference. What it means is this: If there is no change in pain level, you should keep praying. If there is some reduction of the pain, hooray, and keep praying. And if there is no pain at all, huzzah, and pray one more time to "seal" it. So really, it's all about layers of praying.

The funny thing is that there is a medical equivalent. I had carpal tunnel and I went to a physical therapist for a while to work out the pain. One of the things she did was put pressure on different parts of my arm in order to relax the muscles. To know if it was working, she would poke my arm. If it still hurt, she kept applying pressure. It was really hard for me at first to say "it still hurts. It still hurts. It still hurts." I felt almost as though there was a problem with me, and I had this need to say "yes, you took away all the pain, good for you." even though it would not have been true. Fortunately she is a professional and can figure out when you're still in pain. (For example, she poked my leg (something that didn't hurt at all) and said "ok, this is no pain. We'll work on your arm until it feels like that." She didn't expect the pain to go away completely, but had to keep asking me how I felt in order to know how to respond to the pain.

So am I saying that God will never heal us in one go? No! It could happen that someone prays once for like 3 seconds and boom: healed. And that's the prayer. But in the occasion that it does not happen that way, we are to persevere in prayer. we are to keep on keeping on. Because look at today's verse again. God DOES heal us. And while He will not always heal everyone for whom we pray, it is our job simply to pray, and keep on praying. Otherwise we have pretty well a 100% certainty that He won't.

The Fragrance of Forgiveness

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (John 12:3)

I love the story of the woman who pours perfume on Jesus' feet. There are a couple different versions, and this is certainly one of the shortest, but what I love is the second sentence: And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Do you think Mary was able to hide what she did? Not if everyone could suddenly smell this excellent perfume. They would have all come to see what was going on. This woman, whether she had realized it or not, was going to be in the middle of a crowd as she wept and wiped Jesus' feet clean with her hair.

And you know what? She didn't care. Her focus was solely on Jesus. I think that we can take a lesson from this. If we keep our focus on Jesus, even if we have to fall at His feet and confess our sins--even if we have to do it in public--we will be forgiven, just like she was. Isn't that the important thing, that we seek God's mercy and grace over the acceptance of the world, even of our friends and family?

One last thought, as Mary did this thing, the fragrance filled the house. This was the holy fragrance of human submission and God's forgiveness. She became a light to others by her selfless actions. She did not care what people thought as she worshipped Christ, and so her story earned a place in the Bible, so that generations would read about it. The fragrance continues today as you read it, and it continues as we each fall at the feet of Jesus to praise Him and seek His forgiveness for our sins. Let us do so.

Keeping a Clean House

When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. (Matthew 12:43-45)

Alrighty. I hate cleaning. But I'm about to make a very important point about it.

I just spent my entire weekend cleaning my apartment. Some of it was things like Swiffering the floor, wiping down the sink, cleaning the toilet. And some of it was picking up all of my clean clothes from the clothes mountain on the floor and actually putting them away. I didn't get my entire bedroom cleaned and I haven't even looked at the hall closet, but I made a very sizeable dent in the whole process.

The thing is, no matter how good a job I do, I'm going to have to do it again.

And again.

Why you ask? Because if for no other resason I have long hair and a cat, and those two things contribute quite highly to a constant need of Swiffering.And it's annoying, really. I mean, I just spent a day and a half doing little other than cleaning. Once I'm done I should be done, right? I should just be able to lean back and enjoy the clean house, right?

Sadly, no. It's all about upkeep. You know this. I can wash every dish in the sink and put them all back, and in about 20 minutes when I have breakfast--whoops, now I have to wash another bowl.

Our spiritual houses are like this too. I'm just going to go on the assumption that you believe in "evil spirits" or "demons" here, and that they very much enjoy attaching themselves to humans in order to completely muck up their lives.

And of course, we don't want that. So we will do whatever we can to be delivered of these demons. And so we do--hooray! You are now demon-free. You should be able to just lean back and enjoy your clean spiritual house, right?

Nope. It's all about upkeep. You must keep your house full of Jesus, and that means that you'll be going in to clean stuff out pretty much every day. Because of course we sin every day, and you don't want Jesus living in a filthy house, now do you?

So what if you don't invite Jesus into your spiritual house right away after getting rid of those pesky demons? Well, they'll come back. Because they know you. They like you. You're a great host. And if they come back and see this nice clean empty house what will they do? Why, they'll have a party. And they'll invite all their friends. And pretty soon you'll be up to your eyebrows in demons, just when you thought you'd gotten rid of them for good.

What's the moral of the story then? The moral is that we need to be constantly and consistently cleaning up our houses, spiritual and physical. If we realize that we have let either one go, we absolutely must take the time to wipe it clean from top to bottom. And then we have to keep it clean. And in the case of our spiritual house, there's no better way to keep it clean than to invite Jesus to live there. We do generally take better care of our homes when we have a guest, don't we?

Only Jesus doesn't just want to be a guest, He wants to be your roomate. Like forever. So keep those dust cloths out, honey, because you're gonna want to keep your place in order for a long, long time. (But itsn't that better than the alternative?)

And no matter your views on cleaning, you know that it's important. Maybe you just didn't realize how important.

But now you do. :)

Rejoice in the Promise

I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil. (Psalm 119:162)

Did you know that we live in the time where the Kingdom is here, and not here yet? That Jesus Christ was the living harbringer of the Kingdom of God? And with his death and victory over Satan, Jesus opened up the possibility of God's great wisdom and power to abide in each and every one of us.

Only, it's not complete yet, because we are yet sinners and unfaithful to our covenant with God.

Wow, them's some heavy words, eh?

But here's what I'm using them to get at: God has a promise for us. But it is not fully realized yet. Part of it could just be because it's not time yet. I mean, if God has great things in store for me later in life, well then I won't see that plan come to fruition until... later in my life.

What I'm really trying to get at here is that we should thank God for the promises that He will fulfil for us, but just hasn't yet. For example, I thank God for the promise of love, the promise of a stable home, strong finances, beautiful children, and a career that is aligned with my God-given gifts and talents. I haven't seen all of those yet. But I thank God for them, because they will come. I know that God has not made me to be single my whole life. So I thank Him now that He can see what will happen, and that He will bring blessings into my life.

I feel as though my words don't even begin to touch on what I'm trying to say here. I might have to come back and rework this post, or continue writing on it. Because I think that this is one of the most important things I've tried to say since I started blogging, and it's just not coming out right. So stay tuned for possible continuation. And thank God that His Word is complete. :)

Ask for Wisdom

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2:1-5)

This is a rather big "if" statement, right? I mean, you have to both cry out for understanding and look for it in order to receive it. Maaaan, why does life always have to be so hard? Is this why we have to go through so much schooling, to look for wisdom?

Well, no. As much as little miss straight-As over here sometimes hates to say it, schooling does not wisdom make. There is a difference between smart and wise. Smart is knowing that acids and bases explode when mixed; wise is knowing not to do it.

So ok, you might be saying "wait a second, that verse never said wisdom, but it said knowledge." Yes, it did say knowledge. We must seek a knowledge of God. Wisdom is very much shored up by knowledge. But what is Solomon (the author of Proverbs) known for? His wisdom. This "understanding" for which we are to cry out and seek, is wisdom.

Do you do that? Do you cry out for it? I admit I do not always. Usually I decide what I think is right and barrel on ahead in life, sometimes remembering to at least ask God along the way to bless it. But what God ardently desires to give us is the wisdom to know which path leads the best way before we even start out.

But, you have to ask. God grants us each gifts, and some he has bestowed with wisdom at birth. But wisdom is a gift that is available to all who ask. Those who seek only "learning" or who seek to lead themselves by creating their own wisdom are merely munching away on the apple of the tree of knowledge, while Eden burns around them.

Seek the knowledge and understanding of God, ask Him to grant it to you, and He will. He loves giving gifts to His children, only He does not delight in giving us harmful gifts, and sometimes we do not realize that what we ask for is not the best for us.

So start with this one today. Ask for wisdom.

Lord God, I adore you for taking care of me so far in my life, and for giving me the insight that you already have. Increase my wisdom God, so that I may see clearly the path before me. Help me to discern the righteousness that you wish me to live out, and to share Your wisdom with Your other children, not for my own glory, but for yours. Amen.

Dance With All Your Might

David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets. (2 Samuel 6:14-15)

The context here is that David is bringing the ark of the covenant to his home. Because at that time the ark was the most important object connected both to faith in God and to His actual presence on earth, you can possibly understand the joy of David at bringing it to his city.

Also it might help to realize that David was at first afraid to have the ark with him, for fear of God's wrath. When God blessed the household of the man who kept it for a time, however, David realized that God's blessings came to those who protected the covenant with God.

So he gathered his people and made sacrifice and as this holy of holies was brought into the city, he danced. And what I love is that he didn't just sway back and forth or tap his feet, but he danced with all his might. David threw himself bodily into worship of God. Plus he was only wearing a linen shift, which means that David, the great ruler who was bringing the ark of the covenant into the city named for him, could only care about one thing: worshipping God. He didn't care what he may have looked like to others.

David is always said to be a "man after God's own heart." True he had his problems. But if you want to see examples of someone who worshipped God with abandon, David is who you want to study and emulate. Not necessarily in dance. But what gift has God given you that you can give back? Do you sing? Draw? Write poetry? Or think of it this way. Did the verse say that David danced well? Or just that he danced?

There is something to be said for throwing yourself bodily into worship, whether or not you do it "well." Don't forget that we are also told to "make a joyful noise" unto the Lord. We are told to use our gifts for the glory of God, but I also believe that we are each called to worship Him by singing and dancing, in our own ways, and without regard to "talent." True, if we are leading a worship group then we likely need to have some gift in music, but are we always leading? If every worship leader only ever worships God when they are on the stage, then they are not actually focused on God enough to lead others to Him.

It is in the moments, both corporate and alone, that we let go of our reservations, and accept that God will give His blessings unto us, that we can truly worship Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength.

And then we will dance like David danced.

Not One Stone

Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, "As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down." (Luke 21:5-6)

Do you ever ask yourself if what you're doing to honor God is really honoring Him?

Not that I'm saying you're not.

But think about it. Is building a grand cathedral or adding on to a church or taking a vow of poverty an honor to God?

It totally depends on the heart behind the action. I believe that some people truly wished to honor the Father of All Creation by building immense cathedrals in an attempt to be worthy of His presence. I also believe that the second people started putting their own names on parts of that cathedral they forgot what the original intent was.

I believe we can all fall prey to this. Think about worship music. Whether it's a choir, a worship band, or one guy with a guitar, there is always the possibility that in the attempt to honor God and lead people into worship it sudddenly becomes a show, and the focus moves away from God and more into pagentry.

When the disciples commented on the beauty of the temple, Jesus spoke end-time words. He said that not one stone would remain on top of another out of the entire temple. Because when Christ returns, He will turn the world on its head, and nothing made for human glory will be able to withstand His presence.

I believe that's true of all things, not just tangible. Remember Matthew 6:19-21:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

"Treasures on earth" could be money, and could be accolades, a special pew that you paid for, a fancy car, influence with those in power... all sorts of things that do not translate to Heavenly riches.

So be aware of what you are building up on earth, because that is for yourself. Keep your focus on God and the Crucified Christ and you will build up your storehouses in Heaven.