A Vision for Healing

We live in amazing times. The progress that has been made in the medical field is astounding. The ability to transplant hearts and other organs is purely a miracle of modern medicine. The constant research opens new doors and cures for people who otherwise would die prematurely. Curative drugs abound as the war on disease continues. There are people alive who in just 50-100 years ago would have been gone; yet they remain alive, healthy, and active.

Still, there are life threatening diseases and some beyond medical reach. Still, doctors come to places where they say they have done all they can do. While research moves at a pace that is fast; it is still slow for those waiting. We still have diseases appearing that have not been known to man. Sexually transmitted diseases have increased in number to over 30. While years ago there were less then 10 or so to fight; now there is an explosion of various types.

You may wonder why I am siting such things and lauding the medical profession. The medical profession is an honorable duty. It is a God given gift to care and have compassion. The problem has come with the arrogance of science and the deification of doctors and particularly when it is self directed. Luke was a physician and the Bible never says not to use them. However, they have their limits as does any scientific pursuit. The Bible indicates that healing comes from God and he has put the various herbs and leaves in the world for healing. Science has exploited them and synthetically produced them.

So, as we move toward prayer for healing and asking God for a greater manifestation of the gifts of healings, what do we say? Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will trust in God. Meaning, we start with our trust in God. We go to Him first and foremost. We fight disease on every front. We fight with prayer, we fight with medicine, we trust the Lord.

It is a proven fact that those who are prayed for in the hospital heal faster, have a better countenance, and respond positively. Prayer is a key to healing. The body responds to prayer. This definitely indicates that there is a spiritual side to healing that is mostly ignored. I firmly believe that all healing comes from God. Doctors can administer surgeries and prescriptions, but healing is only aided by them. They do not heal. 

In the Bible we see both the administration of medical help and the application of divine healing. There seems to be no conflict in the scriptures. We see the woman with the issue of blood having spent all her livelihood on doctors for healing, but it was beyond them, but there was no condemnation from Jesus. She needed help beyond what medicine had to offer. We find that the Lord is mostly incensed when people remove Him and put their trust totally in man.

One of the greatest experiences of healing and care is when the doctor loves the Lord and understands that he is an agent of God to administer compassion and care. 

So, how can we operate in faith. Does faith exclude the medical profession as some have said and practiced? I would say not. I believe that life is precious and the enemy is evil. I believe we should fight the enemy with every weapon we have at our disposal. I have still not figured out the mysteries of faith and healing and miracles. I have watched as those that declare faith to the exclusion of any help have died and others completely delivered. I do not know why? And I certainly am not going to condemn or try to appoint blame on their faith. It remains a mystery to me.

I do believe that we should pursue God for healing. We need to pray, look for the deliverance, and trust the Lord. We should seek the anointing and exercise it completely. We need to know the scriptures and confess their power. We need to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We need to hold the Lord as number one.

We know from the word that healing is included in the atonement. It is in the blood of Jesus. It is the promise of Psalm 103. He heals our diseases. The benefits of serving the Lord are manifold. We should be appropriating those benefits and reading our policy to know what we have in it.

So, as we prepare to begin our healing room, we will be getting in line with the word and exercising the prayers that heal and aid in healing. We will see quicker healings, we will see instantaneous relieve and healing at times, (hopefully lots of them) and we will see miracles. We are expecting our faith to grow and the army of the Lord to grow. Mountains will be moved! Hope will soar. Joy will abound.

A Vision For Healing

 We have heard numerous prophecies about the church being a place of healing, a hospital for bodies and souls. We hear, but now we have to implement a walk toward that prophetic word.

For years I have heard the stories of people who spoke of how the church has hurt them, wounded them. A common joke of sorts was that the church was the only group that shot their wounded. Sad, but true in many cases. As a result, we have the jetsam and flotsam of Christian churches floating in the sea of humanity not necessarily in the world, but not in the church. Some people I know will not even talk about what happened to them and others will tell everyone of their hurt. The statistics indicate there are upwards of 10 million confessed born again believers who do not attend church. The hurt runs deep.

Some have overcome through the years, but walk cautiously with large amounts of distrust and a wild animal wariness of church and its leadership. In talking with a man this week, he spoke of how he disliked church because of cliques. Wary, distrustful.

But, when there is a move of God, many of these will be looking, once again, to find fellowship and an atmosphere of the Holy Spirit. But for them to fully engage there will be a necessary healing to take place. We must posture ourselves to provide an avenue of healing for the distraught and distrustful. It takes time. We once had a black lab that had been abused and neglected. We found him in Pennsylvania where our friend said there was this black lab the neighbors had, but neglected. He asked the neighbor if we could have the dog. The neighbor agreed and we headed home with a back lab which we named “Pepper.” Pepper did not trust us much at first. He guarded his dog dish and water with paws on both sides, keeping it directly in his possession. He had not been fed regularly and who knows how often he was given water. As the weeks went by, Pepper realized he was being fed regularly, water was always there, and there were kids that played with him and he was not tied up. He became the best frisbee football player we had. It took time to convince him it was safe and he was cared for.

The Hospital that God is calling us to be is more than a triage where we administer some short term fix. This is a call to healing that will embrace many facets and take time. Christians need their trust rebuilt through significant, long term commitment to their health. If you notice, insurance companies are now spending much more time in preventive medicine and strategies rather than the time worn attitude of dealing with it when it is a crisis only. 

Then there is the defeating “Pentecostal, Charismatic” understanding of healing which is manifested in the desire for the dramatic. Of course we want to see the instantaneous miracle, but it does not always come that way. We have produced a theology which implies or directly states that if it does not happen instantaneously that we did not have faith, the person did not have faith, or that God did not want to heal. So, we ended up in a blame game as to who was at fault.

Really, we need to change our attitude and theology. Healing is a process which man cannot duplicate. We can aid it, we can diagnose the problem, we can operate, but healing is a process of God. So, when we pray for healing, we should proceed with the idea of a process and rejoice if it happens instantaneously which, in my mind, moves it to the miracle category.

It seems John G. Lake had a grasp on that concept when he established the healing rooms where people would come and stay and be prayed for on a consistent, prescribed schedule. They had spectacular results through the years that it operated.

Our vision is to have the Healing Room available after every service where folks can be prayed for with intensity and time. In our services and ministry times we often cannot give the extended time it takes for healing and deliverance. Healing will take several prayers sometimes as progress is made. One of the approaches is to pray and if there is any movement and release of pain, the process resumes with more prayer. Sometimes it beings complete healing or a significant improvement. The prayer continues until there is no progress. Then the person is encouraged to come for prayer again next time. 

We are going to take the month of July and study healing in a morning seminar and then in August or at the latest, September, we will have our healing teams in place and will begin to regularly minister healing to those who come. Healing of the body and soul is our vision. 

May, The Month of Change

May is a month of transitions for many people. May comes with all kinds of promises and hopes. High School and college graduations provide their ceremonies with pomp and circumstance. Yet, for all the mortar board tossing and high celebration, there is the tomorrow where a career has to start or a job has to be found. For high schoolers, decisions are tough; college, military, tech school, or labor force. Coming to the end of one phase of life that has consumed our attention and energy and entering another phase is exciting and disconcerting. What was familiar and comfortable is now not available. Some will encounter boot camp and leaving home. Other will experience heading to college in another town or state. Some will stay home and commute to a local college campus. Some just want to be on their own and will find a job and an apartment.

For others of another decade, it might mean the finishing of a career, retiring, and wondering what comes next. Those retiring have the opportunity to explore new avenues of their life; possibly travel, or starting a new vocation or art. May is full of change and hope. Summer is straight ahead, but no time offers more opportunity for change than May.

In our church calendar, I have learned that May is a time of conclusion. By that I mean, it is difficult to make major progress or change as a church during the summer. Oh, it can happen, but the building process kind of plateaus for the summer. 

It has proven that the transitions in family deeply effect the progress of the church. We have kids that are graduating. Will they go away? Will they stay in the area? Will they continue to attend church? Will they be involved in some way? Or, will their experience as a member of the church be so shallow that they only came because their parents made them? Historically, the church loses the 18-25 year old. They go away, sadly, because of many reasons. Some of them include moving away for military or school, some of them are the young adult phase where they want to experience the world without the restrictions of parents and/or the church culture. For some, it is a loss of faith and the acceptance of the secular view of the world. There are probably more, but that is to name a couple. Personally, the church does little to address that issue. Maybe we can.

The college-career age is the least addressed phase of Christian life. Some colleges have good campus ministries. There are some groups that really help military recruits, but the world in both of those cases is calling loudly to our youth. There are such specific needs at that age. There is the drive to be independent. There is usually the need for social interaction with the opposite sex. Male and female relationships dominate the agenda, conversation, and the time. Exploring the limits is often part of the mantra. Extreme sports, adventure, speed, adrenaline, and the party consume the consciousness of the young adult. But as Solomon said, most of it is vanity.

However, most people survive and grow and find their way. Later, many return to their faith and return to the church. Often it comes after the first child arrives, the awakening to the need of training a child in the way he should go begins to take effect. The, “I want my kid to be better than me” takes hold.

Can we avoid all that somehow? I would like to think so. It is one of those areas where there is much to be done. Can the church be comfortable with young adults looking for a mate? Could we find a place for that to happen besides a bar, a wild party, or some tawdry concert? Now there is a challenge for the church. Do we have to have a mega church to address that age? Do we need to live in a college town to think about that age? Well, in my book, not everyone goes to college or the service, but they still go through 18-25.

Just so you know, I am thinking out loud here and do not have a particular plan, but would like to. Historically, this church has lost many good young adults for various reasons. It is sad because I know there were future leaders that were lost for this work. I pray we see a return and a raising up of more young adults.

But back to my thoughts. We work hard with our children. We have a youth ministry that we pour into. They graduate and there is nothing. This is not a problem of The River alone. It is church across the nation, world. 

I feel like the question becomes, “Whom will I send and who will go for me?” I would like to see someone who has a passion for this group of good young adults and would pour themselves into it. I would really like to keep our young people connected and involved. I know the need and I would like to see it addressed so that this church does not lose its upcoming leaders.

A Season

March blasted us into Spring. Trees popped with blooms and flowers came sprinting out of the ground. Heat swept across us like a late May day and we were surprised, but happy. People were out in shorts, convertible tops were laid back to allow hair to blow in the wind, lawn furniture sprouted across lawns, and smoke rose in the air as grills smoked signaled the new season of outdoor cooking.

Then came April. It reminded us that it was not summer yet and the chill sent us back inside and fireplaces blazed again on cool evenings. But the hope did not leave. The trees continued their blooming, but more slowly, and the flowers kept burgeoning with their colors, but more cautiously. 

Seasons. The transitions are interesting and sometimes violent. The clashes of warm and cold fronts produced deadly tornadoes. One day cold, next day warm, the violence left people homeless and in a few cases grieving for loved ones.

Our lives have seasons too. I always want peace. I like knowing where I am going. I like a game plan. I like order, stability, structures you can count on. But life offers seasons. I have found when God is changing the seasons of our life, it can get violent. We want to run for the storm shelter, close the door, and weather it out. Sometimes you have to face the storm and you cannot hide.

I remember one day in Cook’s Forest, PA. We had driven from Ohio to the Forest for a meeting. I was going to minister. The trip had included driving through thunderstorms and high winds. We had gotten to the other side of the front by the time we arrived; so it was coming at us again. As we stood in the yard of the home where the meeting was to be, a funnel cloud appeared and was bearing down on the property. We all stood together, stretched out our hands, and commanded it to depart and not harm the house or property. It immediately turned north and went around the property. There was no damage. We faced the storm, there was no time for running.

Through life, I have had to face some storms head on. I was recollecting the number of times I have had to face hard reality and stand. It is never easy. It is always dangerous and I have found, always painful. However, the long term of the matter brings peace and often, after some time, you see what God was doing. But almost always in the midst of the storm, I had little or no idea.

Cathy and I had the pleasure of attending a prophetic meeting a couple of weeks ago. The apostle/prophet who was ministering called us out and prophesied to us concerning our situation over the last number of months. He related some very accurate words even to the exact number of months the storm had been raging. The good thing was there was a new season breaking forth. The word was encouraging beyond our imaginations.

The new season is here. When I left the meeting, I could truly sense the breeze of the new season. I felt like the violence of the transition was giving way to the calm breezes of summer. Instead of the violent winds, it was changing to the gentle wafting of refreshing breezes. The kind of breeze that makes you happy to be alive. The kind that carries the scents of summer that renew the soul and brighten the spirit.

The new season allows growth to take place again. It offers productivity and fruitfulness. Along with the new season, the prophetic word said there would be new strategies and new friends. There would be new anointing.

One of the things this new season has brought is the joy of preaching the word. There is a fresh breath of God on the teaching and preaching. I am energized by it. I feel in this new season that I am back to my calling more fully than it has been for a while.

New seasons bring surprises. I have had questions that I have been asking God and now is the time to see how He answers them. There is an air of expectation which has been exhilarating. So, I get to watch as God puts everything together and opens new doors.

Seasons come and go. The analogy can work for many different situations, but I know that for us, it is like Spring moving to Summer. I thoroughly enjoy watching my garden bloom through the summer. There are so many varieties that each week and each month the garden takes on a new look. Life offers all these various facets for us to enjoy. The seasons, the storms, the bursting of life and color, all are a part of living. 

Rest has to be taken in knowing the Hand of God is working for us. As one said, “Fearing God is the beginning of Wisdom, and not fearing God is the beginning of the fear of everything.”

The Amazing Race

My granddaughter went out for track at her school. She wanted to be on a team, do a sport, but she did not want to run. We all laughed about that, but she worked it out to do shot put. She is a thin, petite girl and I can only imagine her trying to catapult that shot a few feet. But she is happy and she does not have to run.

We often think that the life of a Christian is a race, running hard, sweating profusely to make it. I have found it to be more of an endurance race. It is more of a Marathon, but you do not have to finish first, just finish.

Brennan Manning, in his book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, says it like you are on the football field and you are struggling and it feels like you are losing and suddenly the referee calls the game and declares you the winner. You did not earn it, you fought valiantly, but felt like you were losing. How did that happen?

I think I naively thought I could reach a place where I would live above the problems, I would have victory with years of maturity. Somehow I thought the older saints had it all together and nothing would shake them or challenge them. (Maybe I am not old enough yet) I have not reached that place of being on top of it. I have pretty much come to the conclusion that there is no place like that on this side of glory.

I think my granddaughter is right. Why run? Running is exhausting, necessary at times, but it is not the way to really succeed in the Christian life. 

I remember how people would encourage us to press into God.  I can tell you that no amount of pressing will make God allow you any closer to Him than He wants you to be. The illusion that He can be attained by force will lead you to disillusionment. Religion may give you a set of disciplines to follow and the disciplines may only make you religious and not any closer to God.

This life with God is eternal. He is not a mountain to climb and plant your flag. He is not one who is fully knowable. Someone said that the Seraphim have been crying “holy, holy, holy,” for eternity and do not tire of it because they see new facets of God constantly as they surround the throne. 

God is not a discipline to be learned. He is not codified in a manual. He is a living, life giving God. 

I have learned that life has its challenges in every phase. The understandings of a twenty year old are far different than a forty year old. Each decade offers its trials, its confrontations, its mountains. We never seem to come to the place that there is not something different to stand in our way and require us to conquer it.

It really is not a sprint, but a long walk with God. Paul uses the analogy of a race which indicates there is a course, a track, a way, but it is he who endures to the end. Maybe this Christian life is more like a steeplechase than a neat, lined track. We have many more obstacles to overcome in this race. We are contested every step of the way. We run through rivers, bogs, up mountains, across deserts, hurdle obstacles thrown in our path; it is a long term battle to finish the race.

Those who try to run too fast exhaust themselves with the effort only to find they did not accomplish much. Like one busy Christian said, “I am working like the devil for the Lord.” Many times we are creating more activity and dust than we are progress. Another observation made by many Christian workers and pastors is that the ministry is not a place to have closeness to God and spend hours in his presence. Most observe that the ministry gets in the way of that pursuit and the busyness of ministry robs them of their intimacy with the Lord. So, running fast does not get the job done.

I have found that slow and steady works, but there are the times you are prompted by the Holy Spirit and you need to run. Slow may indicate lethargy rather than determination. It really comes down to a life with the Lord that includes times of intensity and times of dryness, times of slow pace and others of fast pace. One thing is for sure, it is not dull.

In this world we will always have tribulations of some sort. It is the nature of life. If you care, if you have family, if you associate with friends, if you have a job, you will have times of difficulty. Those looking for perfection and no trouble will be troubled by the fact that they cannot get there. Some of Christian theology, at least, popular theology, wants to paint a picture of the ideal, peaceful life, no troubles, good family, good job, popular, material needs met and abundance. When, in truth, the race is won by those who are overcomers, maybe slow, maybe not the best runners, or even those who just walk because they do not like to run.  To finish is the goal.

Love So Amazing

 I was ten years old. My mother and I had been talking about what I would be when I grew up. Looking back, how serious do you take a ten year old? But she engaged me like I was an older person I guess. She did not make fun or push me aside with “you’re too young” or “we will talk about it later.” I was serious. I had been wondering about eternity and time and how long was eternity and what would we do forever? My head was swirling with thoughts and the abyss of thoughts that could not be answered pushed rationality to its limits. Fear would play with my mind because it was too incomprehensible to think of a forever in torment and punishment. I knew I needed to do something. Eternity was calling.

In Sunday School I had learned the many Bible stories from capable teachers who invested their time in kids. I liked the miracle worker and he touched so many desperate lives. However the part that gripped my heart and caused pain was the death of Jesus. It was an unfair execution of the innocent. It was a kangaroo court of hateful men exploiting the emotions of a mob to kill the Son of God. The injustice of all of it caused me anger and frustration.

The worst part to think about was the crucifixion itself. Imagining the agony and the humiliation of being stripped, beaten, and then nailed through the metacarpals and metatarsals caused a shudder in my body. What pain did he endure? What humiliation did he tolerate? When I went to see the “Passion of the Christ,” those particular scenes of the beatings and the crucifixion pushed me to the limits of my ability to sit and watch. I cried through the whole series of scenes depicting the moments that seemed like hours. I will probably never watch that movie again. Once was all I could take.

At ten, these eternal issues weighed heavy on my heart. God was calling. How could one man endure so much for me? For the world? For the haters and mockers at the foot of his cross? How? I knew I had to take care of my eternal destination. I did not want to be lost, forsaken, cast into outer darkness, sentenced to the Lake of Fire. I still don’t! What must I do to be saved from this eternal punishment? What must I do to enter the gates of Heaven? How do I find the narrow gate that leads to eternal life? For a ten year old these were important quests.

The preacher gave an invitation at church each Sunday. In our church, at that time, it was an invitation to accept Jesus. There was never any talk of being “born again,” just accept Christ. Our church did not really talk about getting “saved,” just accept Christ. We can use different terminology but the Holy Spirit knows how to get the job done. It was Good Friday Service and we were there. I knew when the invitation came, I was going up there.

In asking my mother what to do and how it was going to happen, I got the answer that we all do not want to hear. “ You just ask and you will know.” As always, we want a “how to” list. We want to know the procedure. Where do I sign? What are the prerequisites? But as is true with God and His important moments, it is not a list, but an encounter. It is learning to have spiritual experiences without the checklist. Too often we want to reduce the walk with God to formulae that can easily be used by all. It is not that way.

So, that Good Friday, with determination aforehand, I waited through the sermon. The sermon did not convince me, I was waiting for it to be over so I could get to my encounter. Finally he finished. I have no idea what he preached. He extended the invitation and I was out of my seat heading for the front. I knew this much, I needed to confess before men my decision to come to Christ. The preacher led me in a prayer of confession and acceptance. I then went to be baptized. I came out of the water clean in soul and spirit. There was a lightness and cleanliness indescribable for it was on the inside, not the outside.

Following that day, there was no more fear of damnation. But to this day, there is the wonder of the unknown. I still have the question, “What are we going to do for eternity?” Oh, I know a lot of what the word says we will do, but where do I fit in? Eternity is still a concept I cannot wrap my rationality around. I know it is there and I know I will be a part of it, but it still holds a lot of mystery for me.

But this I do know. One man, Jesus, paid a huge price and suffered beyond my imagination to bring us to himself and give us life eternal. The stakes must be huge to have God have His Son suffer like that to rescue us. The loss that people will suffer by not knowing Christ will be for them incalculable. What is the consequence of being wrong forever?

I am eternally grateful!!

Life is Messy

  When I was young I thought I would be out of debt by the time I was thirty. When I was young I thought I would marry and live happily ever after. When I was young I thought I would have several children and they would be perfect copies of my wife and me. When I was young I thought by the time I was fifty life would have smoothed out and it would be peaceful sailing with sweet grandkids around and vacations monthly. When I was young I was stupid, naive, and idealistic to a fault.

What happened was no way near those wishful thoughts. Life turned out to be real messy. Instead of all that peace, it has had its large portions of turmoil. The ministry which in idealism is wonderful with the opportunities to help, to proclaim the Gospel, to see folks born from above, and the church moving in perfect harmony; really turned out to be far more difficult and a lot more rocky. Church can be messy.

So, I have learned that family, church, life in general, is really messy. I like a clean house and things in order, but every now and then you have to go in and clean and re-order things. Cars are the same way. They need cleaned every now and then or it starts looking like someone lives in there with the wrappers, bottles, cans, and miscellaneous debris. Life is messy.

We want things to be in order. We crave peace. We work hard at keeping things in place, but messes occur. We do not plan for them, but here they come. Some things that we think are so right can suddenly turn horrible. Case in point, we had a man who offered to lease back an airplane that he wanted us to have. He bought the airplane, put it in the ministry’s name, leased it back, payments were being made, at the end, the airplane would be the ministry’s. Looked good. What an opportunity. Economics changed as the government removed the GI bill for that form of education. The person leasing back bailed out, we could not make the payment through the ministry, a lawsuit ensued. Life got really messy. It eventually was settled out of court, but it was extremely messy, strenuous, stressful, life threatening in some sense.

Church gets messy too. We start out loving one another thinking all will be well for eternity. Well, for eternity it will be, but getting through this phase of life offers its challenges. We see things differently, we act differently, we emphasize different things. Life is messy.

What do we do with the messes? It would be easy to just judge everyone and walk away maybe. If our kids mess up, disown them. If our friends fall, write them off. Trouble at church, leave. Marriage problems, just divorce. The progression sounds like it would be a pretty lonely life.

But then, do we want to be alone? Do we really want to ruin our family, tear down our church, run off from our mate, and have no friends? No. We really do not want any of that. So, we have messes. Clean up in aisle 3.

I am reminded of the story of the man who was shipwrecked, alone on an island. The day he was rescued they found three huts that he had constructed. When asked what they were, he responded, the first one is where I live, the second one is where I go to church. Asked, well what is the third one, he responded, that is where I used to go to church. We sometimes cannot even get along with ourselves.

I have known parents, mothers in particular, who have labored for years in prayer and agony for their kids and grandkids. They have seen failures, jail time, drug rehab time, divorces, infidelities, business failures, financial struggles, heartbreak to the max. Yet, in the midst of the crises, there is hope because we do not give up. We hate the mess, but we are experts in clean up. The clean up can take years, but there is the constant hope. When doing clean up we take any little sign as a positive thing even though in the next minute it can go bad again. 

Life is messy. God knows that. He still loves us and continues to work on our messes. We find grace in his heart toward us and even when we feel his disapproval there is an edge to it that offers hope. Is it not amazing that when we are in trouble, we want to go home? It seems there is acceptance at home. The prodigal turned homeward in the midst of his mess. The peace of home in his mind, even at a lower status in life, was still better than where his mess had him.

So in family and church we continue to love, work through the messes, and learn to love even in the midst of difficulty. We take the broken, we work with the imperfect, we accept when others reject. Oh, life is messy.