I Am Healed Monday

In John 14:12,13 Jesus says: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." The Bible gives us some unbelievable promises and that is just our problem. Many of the things that Jesus has spoken are in our minds too good to be true and so we just adjust our faith down and act like they are not true. The works that Jesus did were healing the sick, delivering the oppressed, miraculously feeding the poor and even raising the dead. In the book of Acts the Apostles did these same things in Jesus name. We just cannot allow ourselves to be satisfied with what many of our modern churches have degenerated into. We don't ask for much. We don't declare our victory over much. We don't command things to align with God's word and it's all because we really don't believe this promise and others. Since Jesus Christ, who cannot lie, says those that believe will do the works that he did; the only logical conclusion is if we are not seeing the works is that we don't really believe.  I don't know any other way to say this, right on the verge of what most people would call crazy is where this miracle power gets released. Have a great day adjusting your faith up and not allowing it to be adjusted down.

Real Authority

There is a myth that is quickly exposed as untrue by anyone who has truly lived with responsibility. The myth is title or position comes with a commensurate amount of authority. Anyone who has tried to use authority before they actually have it has run into that wall. Real authority has to be in some measure earned. I found out early in my place of leadership that for a while pastoral authority meant the right to get blamed for something when it went wrong. People will not follow you until they trust you. True leadership simply means you have followers. A boss that is hated or feared isn't really leading anyone anywhere. That type of leadership may work when the hated leader is standing right there in front of those he threatens. On the other hand, if a boss is respected and trusted then an organization has a leader with real authority. I can't roll with everything Rev. Jessie Jackson says, but he hit the nail on the head with this one. "Don't use authority until you have it. Don't abuse it when you use it; and don't try to use it when you lose it." The truth is humility is the key to real authority. Just look at Jesus the greatest leader who ever walked the earth. He had all authority, but He never abused it. He was humble and multitudes followed Him everywhere. Have a great day walking in true authority which is balanced by humility!

The Main Thing

It's not easy to keep the main thing as the main thing when there are so many options in our contemporary world. A business exists to fill a need of it's customers. A hospital exists to bring health and recovery to it's patients. A church exists to see salvation and Christian development come to it's constituents. The challenge is for a group to refuse to abandon it's primary mission by adopting too many side causes. The biggest threat to the thing that is most important is something else that is important too. A cause can be picked out of the air these days and it is likely to be something that will be rallied around. We must be very careful however, that the causes we adopt do not take us away from the main thing we should be about. Jesus came as a shepherd to seek and to save the lost. If we are going to effectively represent Him than we must have that continually as our main agenda item. Seeing unsaved people find the precious salvation that Jesus purchased with His blood and then grow strong in Him is the main thing. Let's not get lost in so many side issues that we forget what we are here for. Have a great day lifting up the light in a dark world!

I Am Healed Monday

A persistent pursuit is an important element in seeing the healing power of God manifest. The woman that had the issue of blood spent a bunch of money on doctors, but she didn't stop there. She believed that Jesus could do something about her illness, but she didn't stop there. She determined to touch the hem of his garment, but she didn't stop with a mental determination. She had to press through crowds of people, in her sick condition, but still she pursued Him. She finally gets to where He was and touched His clothes. Upon her touch of the border of His robe she was instantly made well. It's hard to recount this lady's story without seeing the persistence she demonstrated. This was a woman that made up her mind that she was going to do everything necessary to get well. I submit that it is easier for us to access the healing favor of God than it was for this woman. We have the written word of God with multiplied promises. We have the Holy Spirit living right inside of us. We have a resurrected savior who has a track record of healing the sick. The question is do we have the constitution to persistently pursue what we need from God? We don't have to pry things out of the hand of God. God is a giver. We do have our own doubts to overcome. We do have a world of skepticism to press past. We do have other things that battle us for prioritized supremacy. God works through our faith. I'm discovering that a true place of faith is a much more difficult thing to arrive at then we sometimes think. When we really believe there is something that clicks inside of us, like it did for this woman, that refuses to be denied. Have a great day determining to pray on until the answer comes.

Whatever It Is, You Can Do It!

We can become so prone to focussing our attention on the negative. We can point out every flaw in others. We can become obsessed with our own weaknesses. It can be so easy to look at what can't be done instead of the many strengths that we and our associates do have. If we could only aspire toward something better and look harder at our strengths things would improve by leaps and bounds. Everyone of us can do something well. There is not time to be jealous of someone else. We don't have the luxury anymore of wasting time doing things we cannot do. We are not in a contest, but a concert. The Bible says "to one is given..." "To another is given..." We each have a God given ability that we can operate in effectively. You can do your thing well enough not to worry about somebody else's thing. If we could only learn to do what we do well and then compliment that with what others do well we could set the world on fire. Have a great day running well in your own lane!

I Am Healed Monday

According to 1st Peter 1:23 the word of God is incorruptible seed. This spring I planted grass in several bald areas of the yard. Some of those spots grew in very well. Some of them didn't grow in at all. The seed is corruptible. There is no guarantee for positive results. God's word is incorruptible seed. It will produce. The word of God will not return void. We have to come to a place in our faith that could be described as a crisis point. We need to decide if we are going to truly believe what God says or not. If the word of God is reliable, and it is, we need to take it over and above what our bodies currently show us. We need to value the report of God's word above the report of doctors. We need to believe God more than the doubters and skeptics that surround us. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." What is more essential to daily life than bread? We are told right there the word of God is more essential than bread. We can stake our lives, our health, our difficulties of every kind on God's word. It is incorruptible seed and when we mix the fertilizer of faith with it, God's word must produce. Have a great day grabbing ahold of a promise from God and clinging to it until the fruit comes!

Unpleasant Realities

We would all prefer to operate in life on a high plane. Skipping from mountain peak to mountain peak would be a wonderful thing. In truth however, we have some unpleasant places we want to avoid where things need to be addressed. Pretending that unpleasant situations are not there will not make them go away. Trying to ignore things that may be temporarily painful only tends to make those matters grow worse. It's sometimes a good practice to put the very things we want to do the least at the top of our to do list. There is always time and energy for whatever is first. If your weight is out of line ignoring it won't bring it in line. Address it! If a relationship is fractured because of an offense you caused, sweeping the offense under the rug won't fix it. Address it! If your spending is out of control trying to maintain an image that these economic times can't support, continuing to spend won't help. Address it! When we stuff enough things in our closets eventually the stuff will spill out. Don't wait until your closet overflows embarrassing you and those around you. Have a great day addressing an issue!

Enlarging Territory

I was watching Bishop Jakes and Oprah on her "Life Class" series the other night. I was somewhat captivated by one particular concept. At one point they were talking about being an inmate to our cubicles. That's just an illustration of course of settling for less than we are capable of producing. There was a phrase made popular by the prayer of Jabez "enlarge my territory." Many of us do have a sense that there is much more inside of us than we are able to currently express. There could be a wide variety of things that hinder us from reaching our highest potential. The question on the floor is what do we need to do in order to become all we were meant by our Creator to be? If we believe we can increase our influence, impact and contribution to this world, we should be compelled to do so. The answer to the how we accomplish that may be different for each of us. I'm not exactly sure how to stretch myself to bust out of some of limitations I've set, but I'm working on it. I do believe that there are things, specific things, you and I can do to grow. May you have a great day thinking about areas where you can stretch yourself!