Is laziness and lack of faith why there is so much sickness?

I have always been intrigued by John 9:1-4. In fact, I have preached a sermon at church based on that scripture. Until the last year or so my preferred Bible translation was KJV or NIV. They both read very similarly for this text:

1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me."

This week I have been reading it in the NLT and I have been stirred and convicted.  It reads like this:

1As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. 4 We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us."

Verse 4 is what is getting me. In this translation Jesus seems to be saying that this guy is blind so that God can get the glory from his healing AND we must quickly heal him. Is the "tasks assigned us by the one who sent us" referring to healing the sick as well as other works. 

I would love to help heal all the sick people I know but the truth is that I don't have the faith or boldness to tell some body "be healed". Jesus tells us: 1) if we had faith the size of 1 small mustard seed we could move mountains (Matt 17:20) and 2) we have all been given "the measure of faith" (Rom 12:3). If the Bible tells me this, why don't I act? The sad fact is that I must not truly believe this, otherwise I would act.

Or maybe the problem is that I don't truly love. When dad was diagnosed with cancer, I fasted and prayed for 3 weeks. At the end of the fast, I went to his house and with no emotions or tears I prayed a short prayer of faith and told dad he was healed.  Every test after that showed no signs of cancer. He died 9 months later as a result of a fall but when he died he was cancer free. 

I loved dad so much that I was willing to step out in faith. Do I just not lover others? I thought I did. I'm in the middle of another fast, praying for a number of things. One of them being that God will teach me how to exercise the faith that he has given me.

My hope is that this post will stir you to prayer so that you will learn to exercise your faith too.

God loves you and I do too!

John

Pretty Woman

Who would have thought that I could have been inspired by Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman?  Pretty Woman is one of my wife's favorite movies and when she stumbled onto it this week she had to watch it.  What stood out to me was a moment in the film when Richard Gere was telling her how pretty and smart she was.  Then, he said something like he didn't understand why she couldn't see it.  She said "it's easier to believe the bad". 

That one statement spoke volumes to me.  As a father with three daughters, I'm always conscience of my daughter's self-esteem.  My wife is so very good at watching out for their self-esteem.  I try to say the right things but I just don't measure up to her.  We are fortunate to have three beautiful (inside and out) girls.  But I can't help to think about all of the pretty girls that I knew in high school that thought they were ugly.  Back then, I just wrote it off and assumed they just said that so they would hear someone tell them "you're not ugly, you're pretty".  Now that I'm older I can look back and see, based on the way some of them made decisions, they really did think they were ugly.

After all these years of Dateline reports, news reports, and other studies that I've been exposed to, mostly common sense stuff I guess, low self-esteem can cause a young woman to do things that aren't very Godly.  Low self-esteem is a tool that the devil uses against our teens to deceive them into making very bad decisions.  How many teenage girls have you known that have made some really bad decisions involving a boy that just didn't make sense?  I'll go out on a limb and say 99% of those bad decisions are because of low self-esteem.  Why?  Why does someone that is so pretty need to feel accepted by a boy so badly that they will do anything to win his approval?

The fact is that the devil will use one single thing to tear a teenager down.  For some reason, no matter how much good that has been said about you and to you, it only takes one bad thing to shake your self-esteem.  Like Julia Roberts said "it's easier to believe the bad".   That's why, as a parent, we MUST tell our children how good, pretty, or smart they are.  Starting from the day our kids can understand what we say we must give them positive reinforcement.  Because there is going to come a day when some immature boy or girl tells them "you’re not as pretty as you think you are" or they aren't going to win the starting position that they've worked so hard for.  You can be guaranteed that there will be times that will shake your child's self-esteem.  It happened to me and I bet it happened to you.  When that time comes, will there be enough good that it makes it at least harder to believe the bad?

Dad's, your daughters HAVE to know (not just think or wonder) that you think they are the prettiest girl alive.  They have to know that you believe in them.  Mom and Dad, they have to know that when the chips are down, they have parents they can go to who will help them and pray with them.  You must teach them what it means to be "fearfully and wonderfully made" Psalms 139:14.  I know it's hard but we have to teach them that God's acceptance is the only acceptance that they need.  Dad's, I know it's hard for us to pay compliments sometimes.  I don't know why, it just is.  But for your children's sake, we must do a better job of complimenting them.

And above all, pray, pray, pray.  Build a hedge of prayer around your children to help protect them from the bad that the devil is going to send their way.

I love you and God does too!

Thank you God!!

If you are close to my family, you will know that the last few months have been VERY hard for us.  We have been presented with situations that we never dreamed we would be in.    We have been scared.  I know that we aren't supposed to be but the fact is that as God closed doors and opened others, we were scared.   We questioned God along the way, not much but we did.  

We saw God close a door in May and we knew it but we kept pressing until we thought it was opening again.  In June, we tried to open it again and it seemed like it was opening but once again, God closed it.  At the end of July, we tried once again to open it and much to our dismay, God closed it.  We knew what God wanted us to do based on this door staying closed but going through the open door was going to be hard, so hard.  As we were going through the open door, we tried one last time this past Saturday to open the closed door.  We did EVERYTHING we could to get this door open because it was the easy way out but for the last time, God closed it.

As we continue down this new path that God has set before us, we have to walk by faith.  We have to lean on God that he will always provide.  The thing that keeps us going is God's face and not His hand.  We do our best to have the attitude of Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednigo "Our God will deliver us, but even if He doesn't, we will not bow".  We trust in God to provide for our needs, but even if he doesn't, we will continue to serve Him.  

Thank you God for loving my family so much that you guide us to where you want us to be.  Thank you for not giving in to our selfish wants and providing us with what we need.  Thank you for giving me the most awesome wife in the world who trusts me as the spiritual leader in our house.  Thank you God for giving me children that trust their parents with future changing decisions.  Thank you God for sending your son Jesus to die on the cross as the eternal sacrifice for my sins.  Lead us God and we will follow.

We so often confuse God's voice with the voice in our head.  Sometimes God's voice isn't a voice at all, it's biblical truths, it's honesty, it's integrity.  I challenge you this week to hear God's voice.

I love you and God does too!

Send me a donkey Lord!

I've got a situation that came up today that has the potential for some serious change in my life.  Whether it is good or bad remains to be seen but to be quite honest, I'm worried to death about it.  That reminded me of a story I heard on K-Love the other day. 

A woman takes her kids to the movies but the theater is empty.  After a few minutes one of the workers tells her that there is a problem with the projector and the movie should start in 10 minutes.  The woman's two kids are pretty pumped up about the movie but they wait patiently.  After about 20 minutes the worker comes back and tells them they can't get the projector fixed so they are sending them to a different theater to see the same movie.  With this news, the youngest of the boys pitches an outrageous fit.  He begins to scream and cry and tells his mom "NO" he wants to see the movie where he is because that is where the movie is supposed to be.  He then asks why she brought him here just so they can't see the movie.  She tries to talk some sense into him but he won't hear of it.  She then drags the boy, kicking and screaming to the other theater to see the same movie.  When they get there, the movie screen was bigger, the seating was more comfortable, and when the young boy gathered himself he saw that they were actually in a better place.  Once the movie started, the mother asked him if he felt silly about the way he acted.  He just said no and then he said he wouldn't have acted that way if she would have just told him it was going to be better.

Isn't that the way we are sometimes with God?  Maybe I'm the only one that doesn't like change but I have to admit that, against my better judgement, I sometimes ask God why.  Sometimes God has to shut one door just so we are forced to walk through the door he has opened for us.  I wish I could tell you that I'm super-spiritual and can see with God's eyes 24x7 but the truth is, I generally see with God's eyes only when it is convenient for me. 

In most of my posts, I tend to extend a challenge to the readers but today my challenge is for me as well.  Have faith!  Sometimes we have to have blind faith, not knowing what lies ahead.  God doesn't always send a talking donkey like he did to Balaam.  God was steering Balaam one way, by way of the donkey, but Balaam wanted to go another.  After trying three times, the donkey finally had to talk to Balaam (Numbers 22:21-34). 

Right now, I feel like screaming "SEND ME A DONKEY LORD" but what he really wants me to do is listen to his voice so that I won't need a donkey.  I encourage you today (and me too) to listen to God's voice and have faith that he will guide your steps.  Let's pray that we only go through the doors that he wants us to and that we don't try to open the doors that He has shut.

God loves you and I do too!

Fear Stinks!

Can you think of a worse feeling than fear?  I don't think I can.  Fear is such a gripping emotion.  When we are faced with a fear, it can over-shadow even the best things in life.  For example, I hate spiders to the point of being afraid of them.  I know people with much worse fears but decided to spare them and use myself.  When I have to kill a spider in the house, I just hate it.  My skin crawls at the thought of it.  A big spider will ruin any event for me.  How about you, what are you afraid of?  This crude example isn't much of a fear but it shows that fear can exist and not be present at that moment.  If no spiders are around, everything is OK for me.  Bring in a big spider and my demeanor changes.  

Unfortunately, this type of fear isn't necessarily what the Bible was referring to when we are told to not be afraid.  Unfortunately, this isn't the type of fear that the devil uses to keep and beat Christians down.  I bet if you stopped to think right now of what you have feared in the last week, you might say nothing.  But if you get denial out of the way and really look inside, I think some of you may have a different answer.  Has anyone been afraid of:

·        Not being able to pay a bill

·        Not looking good in public

·        What people will think about you

·        Being able to say the right thing

·        Getting sick

·        Being alone

The devil will use these simple fears, and many more, to build doubt.  When you start to doubt then unbelief creeps into your life.  When you have unbelief, you begin to lose your faith in God and then let the out of control spiral begin.  STOP IT!!!  DO NOT BE AFRAID!

Fear will steal your joy so much faster than it took to obtain your joy.  I will never forget a time in mine and Kim's life when we were really struggling to make ends meet.  We hadn't been married long and I insisted that she not work.  Then we got out of church and stopped paying our tithes.  We went from living check-to-check to always being a little behind.  I will never forget the moment when I had to decide to get a grip on the fear that I had of not being able to provide for my family.  I was playing left-field and a routine pop-fly was hit to me.  As I was running to the ball, all I could think about was how many bill collectors names were on caller ID.  After I caught the ball, I began to weep because I knew that I let the devil use a temporary situation to completely steal my joy.

God has allowed me to conquer all of the fear in my life.  He has allowed me to see through His word that it is not His will for us to be afraid.  His will for our lives is for us to be strong and courageous (1Cor 16:13).  It can be a slow process to rid yourself of fear.  Some believe that controlling your fear is all we have to do.  I believe that is a start so that you can realize that the fear is not rational.  However, true victory comes when you no longer fear.

My favorite scripture on this topic is 1 John 4:18 – “there is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”  God is perfect love and if you allow Him to work in your life He will drive the fear away, that is a promise.

More to come on this subject later.  I want to avoid posts that are too long.  I am attaching a page that lists other scriptures about not being afraid.  http://sharemygod.blogspot.com/p/do-not-be-afraid_23.html