Monday, November 7, 2011

Blessing

A "blessing" is an impartation of goodness and life into someone, or a declaration of goodness and life over a situation. When someone sneezes, we often say, "God bless you!" We are imparting God's blessings upon that person! But since the phrase is so common, we often say the words without connecting the substance of the meaning behind them, and so the blessing is empty. But what difference do blessings make in someone's life, anyway? Words don't really make a difference, right? Besides, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." The opposite should also be true then. Words won't actually help me... they're just words.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Spirit of Anger

About a week or two ago, I felt myself giving into feelings of anger like I hadn't for years. Understand, I am not an angry person. I am very easy-going and usually, if something bothers me, it brings me to tears -- not rage! So, this particular explosive emotion inside of me was very peculiar to me and unexpected.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Against Flesh and Blood?

This week I was reminded once again of a phenomena that has occurred on a regular basis over the past few years of my life: just as I cozy up to fall asleep for the night, I will begin to manifest allergy symptoms, specifically, watery eyes and swollen nasal passages. I don't think it happens every night, but it doesn't seem to have been seasonal, either.

Well, this week I did a set of experiments. About 30 minutes before I intended to go to bed for the night, I laid myself down and snuggled up my face right next to the sheets and then snuggled up into my pillow. I waited awhile in each position, monitoring my nose and eyes. No allergy symptoms appeared! But, sure enough, about 30 minutes later when I was determined to go to sleep for the night, my eyes started watering and my nose became swollen to the point that I had to breathe with my mouth open. I did similar tests for the 2 following nights and had similar results.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Wii Resurrection

For our 4th anniversary (a couple weeks ago), we took a small vacation to a house on the lakeshore of Lake Michigan. We brought our Nintendo Wii along as part of our vacation experience. On the last day of our vacation, there was a thunderstorm that led to a power surge throughout the house. We had our Wii plugged directly into the wall outlet at the time of the power surge. An hour or two later, we attempted to turn on our Wii so that our son could play for the remaining time while we packed up our stuff. But the Wii would not turn on. In fact, the LED indicator was completely black. (The LED is usually red when the Wii is plugged in.)

Friday, August 12, 2011

In the Face of Uncertainty

Josh and I prayed for healing for a childhood friend of Josh's a couple days ago who has been told by doctors that he has 1 year to live. As we prayed, we felt "electricity" flowing through our hands and forearms (with various intensities throughout the session), and Josh's friend experienced shaking on the left side of his body for a portion of the time. We commanded evil spirits and sickness to go in the name of Jesus after taking Josh's friend through some prayers to release negative emotions (unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, fear/anxiety, etc.). There are several visible abnormalities due to Josh's friend's condition, but we have not yet seen any visible improvements of these.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Healing Close to Home

This past weekend, my family came to visit us. On the Friday night they arrived, my sister expressed much physical discomfort, including a stomach ache, hurting back, and many other things. Now, you must realize that my sister ALWAYS tells me that something is hurting her whenever I see her. I must admit, it can be taxing to carry the emotional burden of her being sick all the time. Thus, when she expressed her discomfort on Friday night, I was tempted to become disheartened. But, realizing this, I took my thoughts captive to Christ and gave my heart over to His desires for my sister instead.

I felt "electricity" concentrated in my forearms and palms, which from past experience indicated to me a special presence (or, "readiness") of the Holy Spirit, so I decided to do an experiment. I went over to my sister Sarah, who was sprawled out on the floor on her belly, and said, "Sarah, put out your hand palm-up."

Monday, July 11, 2011

Beam Me Up, Jesus!

Tonight while I was gathering together with my prayer partners, one of them mentioned that she was struggling with a question: Why doesn't God just beam us up to heaven after we become Christians? She expressed that she was having a hard time figuring out what her role is for God's Kingdom, but even more, what God's purposes are for the world in general.

Her question made me reflect on how I might answer that question based upon what I know from the Scriptures. She suggested that I post my thoughts on my blog, and so that is what I will do now. :-)

Friday, July 8, 2011

Instantaneous Transformation?

Many Christians (mainly, Protestants) believe that when Jesus comes back, we will experience an instantaneous transformation that will make us immortal, incorruptible, morally perfect, and spiritually mature--qualities that make us fit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven into God's presence. I think that this idea is based upon the following three passages, primarily:
"51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet." (1 Corinthians 15:51-52a, NIV)

Friday, February 25, 2011

Learning How to Speak in Tongues

Does it make sense to learn how to speak in tongues? How can we know for sure that tongues are really from the Spirit of God and not simply from random movements of our own mouths? Although I've been pondering and praying about this for several months now, my mind is not completely settled on what to think. But, I can tell you that at the present moment, I believe that speaking in tongues is something that Christians should pursue. It's such a foreign concept to so many Christians that perhaps it could be helpful if I share my experiences so far. Feel free to share your own experiences or to ask questions below by posting a comment!

How I "Learned" to Speak in Tongues

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Love Conquers All

Our highest calling as people on this Earth is to love. To love means to treat others the way you want to be treated. To love means to give up what you want or need for someone else's benefit.

We are called to love each other the way that our Creator loves us, for we are created in His image. He loved us so much that He became a human--lived among us--and suffered injustly (unto death!) so that the chains of evil could be ultimately defeated and so that we could be reconciled to our perfect, holy God.

While Jesus lived on Earth, he set many people free from the chains of sin and physical suffering. And his mission never ended. Those who choose to follow Jesus's example are called to share God's love and POWER to the whole world so that we may ALL may live in the way that God originally intended--in pure love and blessing. This is something that we should all strive to make a REALITY: "For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago" -- Ephesians 2:10, NLT.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Inspiration for 2011

I came across a collection of prophetic words for 2011 that were both inspirational and motivational to me. I felt a connection to the words in my spirit. Many of the prophecies concerning God's preparation for His bride are becoming (and have been becoming) manifest in my life, and they depict the feelings I have been sensing from God's Spirit over the last several months. I am looking forward to how God can use me for the greatest move of His Kingdom on Earth, and I am so thankful that God has chosen to train me to be a better warrior for His heavenly army. I am motivated to draw near to God this year, and I anticipate that He will do marvelous works this year. I hope you will find these words equally encouraging and inspiring.

Friday, February 11, 2011

A New Thought about Sin

As I was reading the first couple chapters of 1 John, I had a new thought about this very familiar passage. Before sharing my new thought, let me share the key verses that caught my attention:
God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
(1 John 1:5b-7, NIV)

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Was Jesus an Amillennialist?

In Matthew 12, we see an account of an encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees accuse Jesus of being possessed by Satan, and they claim that Jesus could cast out demons because of the Satanic power within Him. Jesus replies by telling them that Satan could not drive out demons because a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. He then comes at the issue again: "...how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house" (Matthew 12:29, NIV).

From the context, we understand that the "strong man" Jesus is referring to is Satan. Jesus says that the strong man's house can only be plundered after first tying up the strong man. Thus, it appears that Jesus is implying that Satan is (or will be) tied up so that His "house" (Earth) can be plundered. Jesus had just healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, so we may infer that the "possessions" that Jesus wants to "carry off" are human beings. We know from other passages that the people of the world are slaves to Satan until they are redeemed through Christ, so the fact that Jesus would refer to people as Satan's possessions shouldn't be too surprising to us. But what about this part about Satan being tied up? Isn't Satan "a roaring lion," roaming about to find someone to devour (see 1 Peter 5:8)?

Healing Training with God

I got sick last week with a nasty bug. I had a headache, stuffy nose, sore throat, and a cough that rattled my lungs. I had recently been reading several ex-Pentecostal articles that were highly condemning of binding demons and casting out sickness, so I felt like my faith for speaking healing into myself was too low to have effect. So, I prayed a simple prayer to God, "God, will you please take away my headache?"

At the very same moment I finished speaking my request, my headache was completely gone. I thanked God for healing my headache. I then perceived God urging me in my spirit, "Ok, now it's your turn."

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Depart From Me, I Never Knew You - Part 2

Let's look again at the Judgement Day passage in Matthew 7 and see if we can gain some more insights about who is being rejected from heaven. Here are the verses again, and I'll add some emphasis on words I want to pay extra attention to this time around:
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’" (Matthew 7, NIV)

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Depart From Me, I Never Knew You - Part 1

Consider the following words of Jesus:
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’" (Matthew 7:21-23, NIV)
When I was growing up, I read these verses under the impression that the people Jesus was talking about included "charismatics" and modern-day "faith healers." The Christian leadership I was under at that time painted a dim picture of the motives of modern-day miracle workers, pointing to this verse as just one evidence that "miracles" are usually associated with false teachers. But when I was reflecting on these verses yesterday, I had a much more chilling thought that hit a lot closer to home.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Dream About Deception of the Church

Let me share with you a dream I had the other night:
A powerful group of leaders announced that 5 Christians needed to be sacrificed in order for God's favor to remain on the world. 3 older gentlemen and 2 young ladies volunteered. Disturbed by the situation, I went to talk with the 2 ladies. I asked them, "Why are you doing this?"

One of the ladies replied, "It is my responsibility to serve God. I also organize a sports team and take care of my pet canary [she used examples of a similar nature, but I can't remember them], but those responsibilities don't compare to my responsibility to serve God."

The other lady replied in tears, "I thought that this would be for the best. Isn't this what God would want me to do?"

"God's Will"

As I've delved more into the topic of divine healing, it has become apparent to me that different camps of people have different things in mind when they talk about "God's Will." It is essential to clarify this term if the Christian community is to make any progress in understanding one another on the issue of divine healing (and many other essential doctrines). I will do my best to make relevant distinctions in this article in order to help us avoid future misunderstandings.

What is "God's Will"?
First off, let me point out two ways in which we can collect data about how God set up creation:
  1. We observe past and present circumstances, note the outcome of each circumstance, and extrapolate to find general principles by which God operates.
  2. We read God's Word, note the principles taught in each passage, and extrapolate to find general principles by which God operates.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

More Thoughts on Healing

So... is it God's will to heal the sick, or not?

This question stirs up a lot of unnecessary controversy simply because people have different ideas of what the question actually means. [I'll leave that discussion for another post.] But for now, I think we can focus on another question in the neighborhood that has profound implications for our daily lives: Is it God's will for us (born-again followers of Jesus) to heal the sick?