What did God ever do for me?

When we ask the question of what Jesus’ sacrifice accomplished for us, I think this is like trying to contain an elephant with a butterfly net. For the last 2000 years the scope of what the greatest man to ever grace the face of this earth accomplished has been pondered, praised, and ridiculed. Endless songs have been sung and so many books written that the grandest of libraries could not contain them. When Jesus hung on the cross it was the single greatest moment of all human history and I will never forget what He has done for me.

The original intent of God was to have deep relationship with those that He created in His image. Love always gives a choice, because true love is not mechanical. Man was deceived and bought the lie of the enemy and this introduced the disease of sin into this world. Sin was like a virus that was loaded onto a supercomputer that slowly started to infect every sector of the genius machine. With that virus of lies the perfect father and child relationship was severed. The very ones that were created in the Fathers image had settled for less than their potential. Sin took over and gave way to the enemy and spread like a cancer in all the earth. God was so grieved that several hundred years later after the fall, He judged the earth and flooded it to cleanse it from the rampant wickedness that had spread like a virus. But God had a wonderful plan and His name was Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus came to live and die to bring us back to our original intent.

Jesus came to make all things right again. The first step of this journey was to deal with the issue of sin that separates us from a Perfect Father. Blood is the both the literal and symbolic representation of life for without it we cannot live. Jesus gave his body and blood as a great act of Justice to make us right with the Father again. The Father’s righteous judgment against mankind’s sin was transferred upon the perfect one, Jesus Christ. Listen to this promise in the book of Romans “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” (Romans 5:9 ESV). Bill Johnson states that because of the blood of Jesus “Nothing now separates us from the Father”. He said the only work we have to do is to believe that his perfect life of obedience, fulfillment, and sacrifice was enough to cleanse us of sin and make us righteous, justified, and holy. When He declares us righteous it means that we are in right relationship and right standing with God. This gives us access back into the original relationship and favored position that God had intended for mankind all along. When we come to Jesus and truly know Him, He changes the way we think, act, and live. Repentance means changing the way we think. When we change the way we think we change the way we act. Repentance is the natural outflow when we truly meet our Savior! When we fully repent and our thinking comes into alignment with the finished work of Christ we are positioned to walk in our inheritance. 

As if that wasn’t enough, God goes one step further and says that He adopts us as children when we accept Jesus. The scripture declares: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (1John 1:12 NIV). Jesus’ sacrifice allows us to be children of God and we get to share in His inheritance. Listen to what the scriptures say, “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father! So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 4:6-7 ESV). I think the most precious part of our inheritance as children of God is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Think about it, God places His Spirit inside of us and gives us supernatural gifts that enable us to demonstrate his love. How much more deeper could this divine communion be?

Because we have been made sons and daughters the Holy Spirit can come and dwell within in us. We become a habitation of God. Bill Johnson states that Jesus “performed miracles, signs, and wonders as a man in right relationship with God…not as God”. When talking about the humanity of Jesus the scripture states, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:6-7ESV).The implications of this statement are huge. Bill says that Jesus “chose to live with the same limitations that man would face once He was redeemed” and goes on to say that “He was completely dependent of the power of the Holy Spirit working through him”. This is a magnificent statement when seen in the context of how right we are now with God by faith in Jesus. We can live a life that is dependent on the Holy Spirit and live the same supernatural lifestyle that Jesus did. We have the third person of the Trinity dwelling inside of us and empowering us to be the representatives of Jesus here on earth.

When Jesus died for us stripped away the old virus sin-filled flesh and gave us a new godly nature that is full of the DNA of Christ. The apostle Paul writes to the church and says “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,” (2 Corinthians 2:14-15ESV). We should enjoy union with God that enables us to actually spread the aroma of His nature and love to a world that is dying for it. He has made us a new creation and we are brought back and reconciled into a powerful relationship with Father God. Scripture declares, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18NIV). 

When Jesus died he opened the way for a lost race of people to come back home to their original purpose of being in the union of relationship to the Perfect One. Jesus is a hero to all who come to him for he brings us home to the Fathers house. We find that the Fathers heart is our home. He deserves so much honor and praise for His selfless love and His desire to reclaim His people. I am not the same after seeing His face and holding the hand of one who is pure love. What has Jesus’ sacrifice accomplished for me? Everything.

Is It the Will of God to Heal?

We live in a day in which God is moving through His church and equipping everyday believers to pray for the sick in Jesus’ name and see them healed. Can we really believe that it is the will of God for them to heal? I firmly believe the answer is yes. 

Sometimes I think that it can seem that the Bible talks about two different Gods. It can seem that the God of the Old Testament was angry and judgmental and the God in the New Testament is full of mercy and grace. The truth is that God does not have a dual nature. Regarding healing, the Old Testament is full of scriptures that show it was always God’s desire to heal. In Genesis 18 we see the Lord healed the bodies of Abraham and Sarah so they could conceive a son even though she was barren and they were well past the years of child bearing. Sarah had been barren all her life when God appears to this great patriarch, and through a supernatural miracle of healing Isaac is born. Isaac and Rebecca also had a son born because of a supernatural intervention. From Abraham and Isaac’s lineage we trace the ancestry of Jesus’ family line. 

When God spoke to the Israelites after he delivered them out of Egypt and He showed His desire and nature to heal when giving the law. Listen to the promise of God in scripture: “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.” (Exodus 15:26). Randy Clark says regarding this scripture in Exodus that it is “God’s heart to heal” and that “This is evident from His self-revelation to Moses”. The great king and psalmist David described the benefits of God by stating “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases”. The God we read about in the Old Testament is a God who desires to heal. 

To understand the nature and will of God we need to look at Jesus and his life here on earth. I think the most convincing evidence that God is a God of healing is found in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ. His ministry was marked by supernatural healing. In the gospel of John, Jesus makes an incredible statement to one of his disciples when he says “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father”. (John14:9 ESV) The book of Hebrews says that Jesus is “exact representation of His nature”. (Hebrews 1:3 NASB) One of the names attributed to Jesus is Emmanuel, which means God with us. The assignment of Jesus was “not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” (John 6:38) The Father, Holy Spirit, and Jesus are equal with each other and they will not do something that contradicts the other. So if we examine the ministry of Jesus here on earth we can clearly see how God desires to minister to humankind. Bill Johnson states that “Jesus came to reveal the will of the Father”. If we need an answer to the question “Is it God’s will to heal?”, then we need to look at the life and ministry of Jesus. 

Randy Clark states that “Jesus healed because he always did what his Father commanded him to do”.  At the onset of Jesus’ public ministry he stands up in the synagogue and declares his personal mission statement while reading from the prophet Isaiah. Jesus declares of himself “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.” He then immediately begins his public ministry by casting out demons and healing those who are sick. Jesus said that this was a sign of the Kingdom of God has come to earth. 

We can see Jesus furthering his ministry when he commissions the seventy two in the Gospel of Luke and says “Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you,’” (Luke 10:9 ESV). This ministry commission to heal was not just for those believers in the New Testament but it is also for Christians today. Randy Clark states that “Healing is part of the great commission assigned now to all believers”. In the Great Commission Jesus states that those who believe “will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well” (Mark 16:18 NIV) Church history also testifies to this truth of God healing because for the last two thousand years many men and woman have seen God heal. The Catholic Church even has a sacrament of that involves anointing the sick and praying for healing. 

I think that the desire of God to heal is also revealed when we look at the Greek word SOZO. This word is translated “save” in the New Testament. When looking at the context in which this word is used in scriptures it includes the forgiveness of sins, healing, and deliverance.  In our western culture we have a tendency to think the word “saved” means only the forgiveness of sins. But if we look at the ministry of Jesus and see that He touched the whole person, and brought restoration and healing, it helps us fully understand that salvation is much more comprehensive. Jesus died for us to be restored to our original relationship with God and walk in our original purpose. Part of this original purpose means wholeness of life in our earthly bodies. God’s love is clearly displayed when he brings physical healing. This act of kindness is a great aid when telling people the truth of a loving God and it also brings glory to the Father. 

It is the desire God is to heal and restore. When he does these things he is revealing His very nature to a world that desperately needs it. Healing is a practical expression of the Love of God. I am very thankful that it is the will of God to heal and it is my prayer that we understand and live this truth in its entirety. 

The Dawn of a new Day

I grew up in the church….man…I could have been born in a pew. I am a child of the 80’s and 90’s (born in 74) and I had a good first hand look at church culture. I always marveled at the handful of mighty Men of Woman of God that had a platform to lead, speak, and influence others from. We seem to love to identify ourselves with a dynamic leader whom we respect and is having an influence. Heck, in 1 Corinthians Paul had to address this issue with the church because they were saying ‘“I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ”’. It seems to be human nature to want to belong to a certain camp. Actually, the real issue is we really want to belong to someone and something that matters.

So this brings me to my main point here. Typically, in Christian western culture we have a tendency to exalt Christian celebrities and to identify ourselves with them. This is not all bad, because we need strong leaders and reformers in the Church. The main issue here is that Christ is not divided. He is whole. I think a contributing reason that we act like this is because we all want to have a voice. We all want to be identified with what is true and we want our lives to make a difference. These are healthy things. The problem is we have and “us and them” mentality. Do you realize that we have this vocabulary of “laypeople” and “clergy”? I understand this language is not as common as it used to be… but I think the mentality it created is still common. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:11-13 - So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Jesus is raising up an Army of lovers in these last days. He is not raising up an Army of Clergy in these last days….His body is starting to wake, stretch, and arise from the shadows. It is the job of Christian leaders to equip you to minister to the world around you. You are to heal the sick, feed the poor, love the dying, displace hate, and re-present Christ. You are the only Jesus that some folks will ever see. The Kingdom of God (His domain) resides within you. If you know Jesus and the Spirit of God lives in you….you are called into ministry. Your primary identity is to be a son or daughter of the Father. Your default role is that you get to minister of His goodness to those around you. The Gospel is called the Good News…..is your news good?

(Practical) I am so busy right now I can’t see straight. I feel like time is not on my side… but at the same time I don’t want to be just be that neat church guy…I want to take my walk to the street. We can listen to His voice. Last week after church we were in a busy restaurant and it was packed. There was this bus boy and he was working his tail off. One of the folks at our table said “Man, look at that guy, he hates his job”. It was a statement said with sympathy. I started watching this young man and he was working very hard. He actually had too much work for just one dude. This is not the type of restaurant that you normally tip at. You pay at the counter, eat, and leave. I could not stop thinking about him as we all were enjoying ourselves and visiting. The kid looked beat down and I don’t think he had much self esteem. So, it came time for us to go and we walked outside and the Holy Spirit was poking my heart. I was thinking what can I do for this guy? But, in my heart I knew. So I took most of the cash in my wallet (that I was saving my tattoo!) and walked back in. It was perfect…he was in an area by himself. I walked over and gave him the cash and told him that I had been watching him and that he was such a hard worker.  I said that his strong work ethic will take him places in life (I actually felt this was a prophetic statement) and we sure appreciate the service you gave us. I told him I was a minister (just like you are…feel free to steal that line!) and gave him my card with my cell phone# on it. I said if you ever need to talk to someone feel free to call me. I put my arm around him and squeezed His shoulder like a father would. He was stunned…and just said "thank you sir"…and kept staring at the card I gave him.

I didn't cure aids that day. I didn't see someone get out of a wheelchair. I just listened to the heartbeat of heaven and did my best to love. The Father loves that young man enough to tell him that He sees his hard work. Actually, the Father loves that young man so much to show him the HE sees him. That was good news to that young man that day. I planted a seed and God will water it and cause His Sun (Son) to shine on it. 

Don’t look to a platform or a leader to identify with. Look to the hurting, lost, addicted, and selfish to identify yourself with. You don’t need to identify with a certain camp or party. You are the body of Christ….Now Rise…and walk on.