The Love Challenge (Part One)

Together with our precious and faithful Holy Spirit, I am going to attempt to bring clarity on the reality of love, mostly from the writings of John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. It is evident from John's writings that he had a deeper understanding of who Jesus was, and I can only presume that it came from his close walk with Jesus. I imagine him hanging onto every word and movement Jesus uttered while the others were picturing Jesus as an earthly king to set them free from Roman oppression. He had deeper insight into who Jesus was and what He came to do. He certainly had great insight into God’s amazing love, and he put a lot of emphasis on it in his writings in both the gospel of John and in his letters, the Epistles 1, 2, and 3 John.

Let us start with 1 John 4:7: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

I thought one had to say a sinner's prayer to be born of God. 

When we are born of human parents, we inherit their characteristics - our features, talents, nature, and personality. Have you ever been told, "I can see your mom in you," or "you remind me so much of your dad"? When you do certain little things, such as clearing your throat, making certain facial movements, or speaking, aren't you often reminded of one of your parents you see in yourself? Even weaknesses your parents have/had show in you.

What is the sign of being born of God? 

May I quote a description of God to you?

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Amplified: [4] Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

[5] It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

[6] It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

[7] Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].

We'll read in 1 John 4:8 that God is love. We can, therefore, replace the word love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 above with the word God. These are all of God's characteristics. We said earlier that you were born to your parents and inherited some of their characteristics.

Therefore, if you are born of God, you would have inherited His characteristics, which are summarised in one word: love.

Can you change the mannerisms, strengths, and weaknesses inherited from your parents? No, you can't. You are stuck with them.

Can you change the characteristics that you inherited from God? No. So what if you don't act in love, which is who God is? That brings us to 1 John 4:8: "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love".

Oops! So, how do we know we are born again and are like God? We look at our behaviour, interests, priorities, how we deal with people, our desires, etc., and we test them against and compare them to who God is as described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. 

We will continue next time.

I am Healed!

More than a blog article, this is a testimony that hopefully creates faith in you to remain healthy or be healed. 

I had some training in effectively and briefly praying for healing. I have seen several healings and have concluded that the fewer words you use in prayer for healing, the more power you experience. I'd love to testify about this one result.

I was working in a pharmacy, and after I had served this lady, I asked her if I could pray for her for her illness. She agreed, and I took her aside and prayed the brief, powerful prayer I had prayed so many times before. She was healed, and I felt prompted to ask her if she knew Jesus.  She said no. So, I asked her whether she'd like to know Him. She said no. Her abruptness took me aback a little, but I heard the Holy Spirit tell me the church had hurt her. Then a wonderful thing happened. 

"Do you pray for everyone you serve here?" she asked,  meaning in the pharmacy with medicine.

"No," I said. 

"So, do you only pray for those God tells you to?"

"Yes," I said.

"So God told you to pray for me?"

"Yes."

"So God cares about me."

"Yes, He does."

"Then I'd better make things right with Him."

That was it. The Holy Spirit took over, and she preached the gospel to herself. I was blessed by the joys one can experience when you allow the Holy Spirit to lead.

This, however, is not my story and the purpose of this testimony, but is meant to show how alive and present the Lord is for those who believe. 

The time came that I needed prayer for healing, and I realised that if others get healed when I pray for them, why not me? Laying hands on myself would, however, be silly. 

Jesus said in Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. He also said in Mark 16:18 ...they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” The latter, He said as part of the Great Commandment.

Note that Jesus used two important terms. In Mark 11, He said "have received" and in Mark 16 ", they will be healed". There are no ifs and buts.

So, I decided that if I call healing of my illness, I have received it and I shall be healed.

From then on, every time I get symptoms of any illness, I simply declare "I am healed by the blood of Jesus" or "this pain has gone away by the power of Jesus". Without fail, I get healed. Some healings take longer than others, but I get healed.

The condition, however, is faith in God's words as recorded in the Bible. There are no "what ifs", "buts", or "is it the will of God?" He stated His will clearly in Mark 16:18 and various other places in the Bible. He wants people to be healed. I simply don't accept illness. Many patients I serve in the pharmacies seem proud of their illnesses. I often hear people say, 'I suffer from this' and 'I suffer from that'. In my mind, I then say, 'If you want to suffer, then suffer, but I'm not going to suffer. Jesus died for my illnesses and promised to heal me, so I seek healing until I find it.'  Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7). God said it, I believe it, that settles it.

Then again, I tell everyone about it, giving the Lord the glory. He loves glory, and every time you do it, He looks for the opportunity to help you so you can give Him the glory publicly again.

We read at the end of the account where Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda in John 5:14: Later, Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you."  From what Jesus told the man, I have learnt that if illness doesn't leave, I look into my life for sin to repent of and let go, so healing is not kept from me due to sin.

How about you? Are you going to take the Lord by His Word? Do it, and be healed of all your illnesses as you call your healing.

Silencing the Barking Dogs - a Testimony

When the Lord said in Proverbs 3:5 & 6, "[5] Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. [6] In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths,"  He meant it. Here is how I know it.

On two occasions in my life, my neighbours' dogs have barked endlessly in the middle of the night. Eventually, I got fed up and phoned them in the middle of the night to ask them to silence their dogs. That was the end of both of the relationships. The last neighbour refused to speak to me for 7 years and found all kinds of silly things to complain about.

I then decided a barking dog is not worth a broken relationship, and the Holy Spirit gave me this brilliant plan. Every time the latter dog barked, I simply asked the Lord to give it peace and to remove the trigger. Within seconds, it stopped barking. This happened without fail.

We then moved home, and guess what? My neighbour has three barking dogs among the hundreds of others across our little town. Guess what else. God gives them peace instantly every time I pray, causing them to stop barking.

Wouldn't you say that the above counts as making my path straight, as Proverbs 3 puts it?

Another thing I love to do is to tell everyone about it, giving the Lord the glory. He loves glory, and every time you do it, He looks for the opportunity to help you again so you can give Him the glory publicly.

If we examine human nature and honestly reflect on ourselves, we can understand why verse 5 above was added. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 'All your heart' means with your entire heart, but it also means with everything your heart is concerned with. 'Leaning on your own understanding' often tells us we think it's petty. "Why would God concern Himself with irritating, barking dogs. He has much greater worries than those."

The Lord loves us so much that our concerns are His concerns. If barking dogs irritate me, they do Him as well, for He feels for me. To Him, empathy with His loved ones is part of His love for us. That is why He sent Jesus to empathise with our state.

The other thing is that good relationships between neighbours are important to Him. His Word refers to it all the time. So, if He could resolve my problem with barking dogs before I mess up the relationship with my neighbour in my attempt to solve it, He redeemed a relationship.

The barking dogs issue is only one practical example. There are many petty things in your life that the Lord wants to help you with if you just call on Him. Like the hijack attempt on my car. Men smashed my car windows, and in my fear, I only managed to cry, "Help Jesus!" The next moment, they ran away.

Faith is not something you say, it's something you do. What's the point in serving the Lord and reading the Bible if you don't apply it practically in your life? God said it, I believe and apply it, that settles it..

Take the Lord at His Word and believe Him.