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

God still answers prayers

Two Sundays ago was a beautiful day. We had an awesome time at church on Sunday morning and then just had a nice family day together. As the evening wound down, I stayed outside as I often do while Kim and the girls went in to cook dinner. I love sitting outside watching the sun set and just thanking God for his wonderous mercy and grace. For me, I can almost see the face of God in a sunset. I believe it is his most beautiful thing that He created (aside from Kim of course).

I sat on the back of my tailgate and just talked to God. I wasn't asking for anything, we were just talking. I talk to God much like I talk to Kim. I don't spend a lot of time asking for things, I mostly just tell Him how much I love Him and what He means to me. I also spend a lot of time thanking him. Like Kim, I don't think I my relationship with God would grow much if all I did was make requests. Kim wouldn't appreciate it and neither does God. That's not to say that I don't ask for things, because I do...and we should. I'm just saying that making requests isn't the center-piece of my time with God.

After about 20 minutes of just talking, I felt compelled to ask God for some help with a situation in my life. I have talked to Him about it before and asked for help many times, this wasn't the first. But this time, He said YES! After about 45 minutes God took care of the situation that I needed help with. The funny thing was that He handled it in a way I would have never thought of.

God is sooooo good and He always knows what we need. I just needed to be patient and wait on Him. (Psalms 27:14, Psalms 37:7, 9, & 34, Isaiah 40:31)

God still works miracles, especially when we wait on Him and don't try to solve our problems without Him. What do you need help with? Do you need a miracle? Wait on God, but while you wait, praise Him.

Time to get dirty

In November, I blogged about being burdened and carrying other's burdens. Galations 6:2 tells us to carry each others burdens. I think the question we all ask is how? How do I carry my brother's burden? How do I help carry your burden?

Until now, I thought I could help carry anyone's burden simply by praying. We all want to help and we all want to be hero's but what if I told you that sometimes there just isn't much you can do to carry a someone's burden? What if I told you that it takes a special type of person that can help you with your burden? I know that will stir some disagreement but that's OK. If we all agreed all the time then we would always be right. But in Numbers 11:16,17 God told Moses to pick certain people to help him. Moses didn't just go get any Joe, they were chosen.

I formed this opinion yesterday. As many of you may or may not know, all three of our kids have stomach viruses. Kim and I went away for my birthday and Kim's mom was keeping the kids at our house when it hit, and boy did it hit. Kim and I cut our trip short and when we got home, the girls were pitiful. After cleaning several messes, Kim said "I think this is what God meant when He said we are to bear one another's burdens". What Kim was saying is that if you REALLY want to carry someone's burdens you have to be willing to get dirty. To carry someone's burdens you have to jump in the mud or the fire with them. After talking to Kim and thinking about it, this made absolutely perfect sense to me.

If you are moving, would you want me to pray that God helps you or would you want me to show up with my truck ready to help you move? If your water line breaks, would you rather me pray that God sends you someone to help or would you rather me show up with a shovel to help you to dig down to the leak? If your going through a divorce, would you rather me pray for you or would you rather Kim and me take you to dinner and listen to you?

I hope you know that I'm not diminishing the need for prayer. We should always pray and we should always pray for each other. However, there comes a time for action for someone. James 2:15,16 addresses this and then of course we know that faith without works is dead. We live in a world of hurting people. Are you willing to roll your sleeves up and get dirty? What are you really willing to do to help carry someone's burden? Unfortunately, it is much easier for people to judge others rather than help them.

Pray, by all means pray. Pray without ceasing. But you should be well aware of those around you because sometimes, hurting people are crying out for help without you knowing it. There may be people around us that are stuck in the mud and they are just waiting for someone to get in with them to help them get out.

God loves you and I do too!

A Sinner's Prayer

We know that none of us are perfect so it is so important to repent daily so that we will be washed as white as snow AND so that we can teach others His ways.  In times of hurting, many of us use Psalm 51:17 but until this week, I really have ignored the rest.  I used Psalm 51:17 recently in one of my blogs when I said that God loves a broken and contrite heart.  But yesterday, my pastor (Brad) posted the same scripture on our churches Facebook site.  That prompted me to read the whole psalm today, Psalm 51 is my prayer and it will continue to be my prayer.  I challenge you today to read it and make it your prayer:

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.  4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.  5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.  6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.  7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.  8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.  9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.  10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.  13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. 14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.  15 Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.  18 May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

God loves you and I do too!

Do you want to have a good day?

Do you want to have a good day today or maybe tomorrow?  I don't think I've ever met anyone that would say "I don't want to have a good day tomorrow" and I'm sure you haven't either.  OK, we've established that you would like to have a good day tomorrow but what can you do to either make sure that happens or at the very least, increase the likelihood that it happens?


Some people I know can't start their day until they have had a cup of coffee or their morning cigarette.  Others I know can't start their day right until they have had breakfast.  And there are still others that can't start their day without a chaotic morning filled with getting the kids fed and off to school.  Do any of these things really get us off to a good day?  


What is a good day to you?


I think that's an important question to answer before I give my advice.  You should stop for a second and ponder what is a good day to you.  What would make tomorrow a successful day or a happy day for you?  Does it have anything to do with God?  If things go your way tomorrow, what part does God play in it?  Take your time, I'll wait.


At this point, if you are still on my blog, I will assume that God does play a role in you having a good day.


I fully believe that any good thing worth having is worth working for.  I bet you've heard that before.  I believe if you want to make good grades, you have to do homework.  If want to keep your job, you have to go to work.  If you have a garden and want good vegetables, you have to tend the garden.  If you want a good day, you need to plan for it and you will need to do something to attain it.


My advice is very simple and probably quite predictable; I believe to have a good day tomorrow you should start it with a quiet time with God.  For some, this is something you've never done and for others this is something you've known to do and don't.  My good friend Jon Sweet gave some very good advice for those that don't know how to have a quiet time.  He suggested that you simply make the very first thing you do when you wake up is to bow your knee and say the Lord's prayer.   If you can't do this, I suggest you tune in some Christian music in your car and meditate on God while on your way to work or to take the kids to school.  


How you choose to do it really doesn't matter, you just need to do it.  It is so important to make an effort to spend time with God.  Think about it, God is the most important thing in our lives and yet we probably sacrifice less for Him than anything.  I dare you to spend some time with God in the morning.  I promise it will make having a bad day a lot harder.  Good luck!


God loves you and I do too!

Have you drifted but don't know it?

http://sharemygod.blogspot.com/p/christians-prayer-when-you-dont-feel.html


God has been so amazing to Kim and me our entire marriage but this year has been so different. We have grown closer to God than we ever have.  I have been in church all of my life and I've seen a lot of things.  One thing that I've always observed is how good Christian families live.  This "Christian family" cliche is one of the things, I believe that is destroying Christians all over America.  This attitude was keeping my family from growing in God until this year.  More on this later....


We have been trained that as long as we say a prayer before ever meal, say our bed-time prayers, and go to church every Sunday then we are good Christians.  We believe we are pleasing God.  I personally believe that that this attitude is the attitude that the devil is using to break up families.  We have heard preachers all of our lives saying "if we aren't growing closer to God then we are growing apart from God" and this is true.  Now the devil will use scripture against us (like he did with Christ).  He will tell you this is nonsense and remind you that nothing can separate us from God's love (Romans 8:38,39) and he is right.  However, he is taking the scripture out of context.  


I believe that God turned his back on Christ while he was on the cross because in that moment on the cross, Christ became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21) and God can not be in the presence of sin.  Nothing can separate us from His love but sin can separate us from Him.  Our families, yours and mine, have let the attitude of complaisance and stagnation creep in and kept us from growing.  I'm not saying our families aren't saved and going to heaven, what I am saying is that this attitude has kept us from abundant living (John 10:10).  


God has shown Kim and me the error of our ways and we have committed our family and ourselves to Him the best way we know how.  


That brings me to the real topic of this post.  In our Christian walk we have up's and down's.  We seem to have seasons of victory and seasons of struggle.  C.S. Lewis called the down's and the seasons of struggle "troughs".  During these troughs, the devil tries to steal our victory.  I believe, as does C.S. Lewis, that God will withdraw that "feeling" we get when we are with him to see if we will continue to serve Him.  Nine days ago, Kim and I were both on the mountain.  God gave me a word of warning for Kim that soon, He would withdraw Himself from her and He wanted her to be ready.  By Saturday, Kim was in the valley.  She wasn't sinning, she was still praying and praising God but just couldn't feel Him.  Sunday afternoon after church, she decided that she was going to spend some time alone and seek God.  When she broke through He gave her a prayer to pray that was AMAZING!  When she read it to me I was certain she was reading from one of the Psalms.  God is SOOOO good to us, He reminds us to never stop seeking him.  


I am attaching a link to Kim's prayer that God gave her.  Please take five minutes and read it.  If you are struggling, read it out loud to God as your own prayer.  See if God will do for you what he did for Kim.  She isn't a poet, God gave her this prayer as fast as she could write it with no time spent thinking about it.   I am so proud of Kim for listening to God's voice.


http://sharemygod.blogspot.com/p/christians-prayer-when-you-dont-feel.html

God Loves you and I do too.