Are your in no man's land?

 Are you in no man's land?

Do you need healing? You have prayed and believed. You are making progress, but you are not well yet.

Hold on to God's promises!

Before the last world war, penicillin had not been invented. An English preacher had tuberculosis and prayed for healing.

He didn't get an instant cure, but he asked God for guidance. God gave him to understand that he should pray two hours every day, and he would recover.
 
He was obedient and he made a complete recovery.

Many sick Christians pray for healing, but they are disappointed. When Jesus healed before the cross, he never failed. He healed everyone who prayed for healing without exception.

What can we learn from Jesus? He had different methods. For example, he often healed by laying his hand on someone.

Jesus also gave instructions to his disciples.

These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages.

They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.” Mark 16:17–18 NLT

It is curious that Jesus first emphasises deliverance from demons. When Jesus healed the sick before the cross, he often cast out demons, because sickness is often associated with demonic activity.

And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Acts 10:38 NLT

Jesus was the Anointed One par excellence. He was always full of the Holy Spirit and ministered with unlimited power, but we need more help from the Holy Spirit.

One important and very powerful resource is the gift of tongues.

Some think this gift was only for the first Christians, but in Mark 16:17-18 Jesus speaks of the signs that are to follow those who believe. There is no indication in the text, that this promise is only for a limited time. 

To release God's miraculous power, we need to cultivate a deep relationship with God through the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. Romans 8:26 NLT 

How can we enter into this deep realm? Paul gives us an important clue as to how he cultivated his close relationship with God.

I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you. 1 Corinthians 14:18 NLT

Paul explained that he did not want to speak in languages in meetings because he rather wanted to help people through prophecy or Bible teaching.

So when did Paul speak so much in languages? In his personal prayers.

As we cultivate our relationship with God through the Holy Spirit, we learn to perceive the leading of the Holy Spirit.

We can learn to follow God's specific instructions, like this English preacher who was to pray two hours every day to receive God's healing.

God’s leading is different for each person. Please don’t think you have to pray for two hours a day. That was God’s will for that pastor. You need to ask God to show you what to do yourself.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans 8:14 ESV

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5 ESV

Endtime Revival. Small beginnings.

What works did Jesus do before the cross?

• He worked miracles.

• He healed all kinds of diseases.

• He healed the blind and the deaf.

• He brought corpses back to life.

• He fed great crowds with a little bread.

• He walked on water.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.

You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. John 14:12–13 NLT

You read the Bible and you believe Jesus did all that. But where do you find greater works?

Moses struck a rock with his staff. Fresh water flowed from the rock, and two million Hebrews and their cattle had enough fresh water.

As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by.

Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed. Acts 5:15–16 NLT

Jesus said whoever believes in Him should continue his ministry in this way, and the apostles did, but not only the apostles. I am 72 and in my lifetime there are faithful Christians who have brought corpses back to life.

About 55 years ago, there was a great revival in West Timor in Indonesia. Local missionaries without theological training were raising dead bodies.

One day, two of these itinerant preachers were standing by a river that was in flood due to tropical rainstorms. They had to cross the river to preach in the village opposite, but they saw no way to get to the other side.

God gave them the spiritual gifts of faith so that they could perform a miracle that surpassed their own faith.

They put their feet in the river and walked on the water.

Like many other Christians, I am expecting the end-time revival where such miracles will happen all over the world, but I don't want to be just a spectator.

If Jesus has called us to follow in his footsteps, how can we start, right here and now?

First, we must recognise that Jesus did not use his own divine omnipotence to perform miracles.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 

but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:5–7 NIV84

Jesus renounced his divine omnipotence and omniscience so that he could be our example as a human being.

Moses and Elijah were also human. Moses released God's great power through his faith, and so did Elijah.

Jesus acted in the same way as the great prophets who were ordinary human beings who, with the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, released God's miraculous power through faith.

So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. John 5:19 NLT

So how can we begin to function in this supernatural realm?

If you want to climb a huge mountain, you should start with a hill.

If you have a headache, you can put your hand on your forehead and release God's peace and healing.

Jesus himself taught that we can start small.

Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field.

It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.” Matthew 13:31–32 NLT

 

Jesus loves me, this I know ...

 A child lay on his deathbed in hospital. His mother was holding his hand, trying to hold back her tears.

The little boy believed in Jesus. He knew that he would soon be in heaven and that his pain would be over, but he also felt insecure.

He felt compassion for his mother, who was already grieving deeply. He could not imagine life without his beloved mother, but he knew that after his death his mother would suffer grief that would be hard to bear.

"Mummy, please don't cry too much. I'm going to heaven, aren't I? And then you will go there too when my sister grows up."

"I know, dear child, but I will miss you."

"Mummy, I know I will be in heaven soon, but what will it be like there?"

"Dear child, I have never died myself, but I am sure you will be quite safe and at home there."

"Imagine going to sleep and waking up in the morning in your own bed at home. I won't be there, but I will come to you later. When you wake up, Grandma and Grandpa will be standing there with Jesus. They love you so much."

This is a story, but we must never despise childlike faith.

And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them
and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:2–3 ESV

But the Jewish scribes had no time for such simple ideas. Jesus was humble, but they were too arrogant to understand Jesus.

Unfortunately, even today there are not only Jewish rabbis, but also humanistically oriented theologians and pastors who are so busy with academic theories that they do not understand Jesus.

When Jesus spoke of faith, he meant that we should have childlike trust in God. When Jesus or Father God speaks plainly, we simply have to believe.

Shortly before his death on the cross, Jesus spoke to his disciples at the Last Supper.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. am, there ye may be also. John 14:1–3 NKJV 

Many educated people think this is too childish, too simple, or too good to be true, but Jesus explained the truth.

Someone asked Karl Barth, the famous Swiss theologian how he could sum up his theology.

He answered briefly with a line from a children's song.

"Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

God can transform your Past.

 Not only Jesus himself, but also John the Baptist lived holy lives from infancy.

When Zechariah the priest was serving in the temple, he was visited by an angel who announced the birth of John the Baptist.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. Luke 1:15–16 NKJV

If you have lived close to God from an early age, you can praise and thank God for that, but that is not my story.

But God planned my life. He has also woven the aberrations and missteps of my childhood and youth into his plan for my Christian life. That is what God does. That is his way of doing things.

Milly Bennitt's parents were deeply devoted Christians, but she was a rebellious party girl.

When she was about twenty years old, her father was dying. She came home to say goodbye. Then God miraculously answered her parents' prayers.

As her father was passing over to the next life, he raised his arms and his face shone with the glory of God. Milly was deeply touched and became a believer.

She fell in love with Jesus, but Milly still had no time for rigid religious conformism.

She often sat in the garden smoking a cigarette and having loving conversations with Jesus. One day Jesus said to her, "You don't need those cigarettes any more," and she was able to give up smoking without great difficulty.

She loved Jesus with all her heart, but she was not a conventional young Christian woman. She drove her sports car with a passion, but she was much more excited for heavenly visitations and miracles.

God had a plan for this party girl. He sent her as a missionary to a tourist island in Thailand, where there was no church and no mission.

She didn't start a church. She was simply friendly. As a former party girl, it was not difficult for her to make friends with all kinds of people, whether Muslims, Buddhists or secular tourists.

Her mission was so successful that Muslims became Christians. Then she was savagely persecuted by fundamentalist Muslims, who wanted to kill her. One day, she was caught in an ambush. She stared  death in the face, but she became invisible on the spot.

Is that biblical? Yes, it is.

When Jesus preached in his hometown, he was cruelly rejected.

When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious.

Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff,

but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way. Luke 4:28–30 NLT

Was Jesus invisible? We don’t know, but with God all things are possible.

God's Transforming Love

What did Jesus say when he began to preach?

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14–15 ESV

This is how Jesus began his ministry as a preacher. What does repentance mean? We immediately think of sin, repentance, confession, turning away from sins.

Jesus came to suffer the punishment for our sins on the cross. Jesus took our guilt on the cross. Without taking this understanding to heart, you can not be a Christian. 

"Jesus died in my place." This is the confession of a true Christian.

Repentance is a translation of the Greek word METANOIA. It means, "to change your way of thinking." We need to invite God's Spirit to transform our whole way of thinking.

Be having a change of mind regarding your former life, and be putting your faith in the good news. Wuest Expanded NT

Of course, it's not just about your thoughts. God wants to transform your whole life, and we have to be willing to go along with it from the heart.

METANOIA means repentance and transformation, but we can never do it ourselves without God's power and love. We must entrust our lives to the loving care and transforming power of God.

It is not about improving yourself and living virtuously. God's loving purpose for you goes much deeper.

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” John 3:3 NLT

Those who allow themselves to be transformed by God are transferred from the natural realm to the heavenly realm by God's Spirit. This is like a new birth.

For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, Colossians 1:13 NLT

In a natural birth, the fetus does not become a better fetus, but a baby that needs to breathe. That is a transformation. So it is with the new birth. A new Christian must live in the realm of the Holy Spirit.
 
The new birth is the beginning of a whole new life.

The goal of a natural baby is not to become a stronger and better baby. The baby is on a journey.

A baby becomes a toddler, a toddler becomes a child. Then comes the transformation of puberty. The child is in a process of transformation. The goal is to become a man or a woman.

What does METANOIA mean? Not just turning away from sin, but an attitude of opening your whole life to God's transforming love.

Jesus had no sin from the womb, and he never sinned. He never needed to repent, but his way of thinking developed and changed at every stage of his life, just like ours.

Jesus did not live with the omniscience that belonged to his eternal being. He depended on God's wisdom at every stage of his life.

So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. John 5:19 NLT

The wisdom he needed as a preacher was different from the wisdom he needed as a carpenter. The wisdom he needed as a teenager was different from the wisdom he needed as a child.

The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him. Luke 2:40 NRSV

Jesus never spoke of Christians. He talked about disciples. A disciple is one who is always learning something new. The learning process that God wants to give you includes study, but much more a process of transformation.

My way of thinking today is different from my way of thinking a year ago.
My way of thinking today is significantly different from understanding six months ago.

I don’t think I was necessarily wrong two months ago, but I am constantly receiving fresh insights from the Holy Spirit.

Your Time is Coming!

Have you been a believer for a long time? Do you read the wonderful promises of fruitfulness in the Bible? Are you fulfilled and satisfied, or is your Christian life just a religious routine?

Maybe you have already broken out of the religious routine, but you cannot see any fruit. You love God and you have a close friendship with Jesus.

You want to make disciples for Jesus. You want to lay hands on the sick and see miraculous healings. Maybe you love Jesus, but you haven't received a miracle healing yet, even though you desperately need healing.

You love God and your trust in God is real and strong, but your hoped-for miracles haven't appeared. And you need these miracles because you are afflicted with illness, because your loved ones are not yet believers, because you are struggling with financial problems.

In the Gospel of Luke we find an elderly woman who served God for decades with a faithful heart. She had been praying for children since her marriage, but she did not have a single baby. Yet she never became bitter.

Had God abandoned her? Not at all. God had a wonderful plan. She was to experience a miracle, but without the long years of disappointment, the answer to her prayer would not have been the earth-shattering miracle that it was.

Her husband Zechariah was a priest serving in the temple when an angel of the Lord appeared, sharing an amazing message.

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. Luke 1:13 NRSV

Elizabeth was to be the mother of John the Baptist, the great prophet who would announce the coming of God's Son.

All over this chaotic world, there are faithful disciples of the Lord who await the second coming of Jesus. Some are well-known prophets, good pastors, or well-known evangelists, but there are also many unknown saints who are frustrated because their prayers seem not to have been answered yet.

Are you one of these? Take courage. God has not forgotten you. God has prepared a spiritual army that He will release in the great end-time revival. Hold on to your hope. Your time is coming.

I prayed for years and God healed my depression.
I prayed for years and God saved my parents on their deathbed.
I prayed for years and .... I am not disappointed.

Sing, O barren one who did not bear; burst into song and shout, you who have not been in labour! For the children of the desolate woman will be more than the children of her that is married, says the LORD. Isaiah 54:1 NRSV

God's Way out for our Ruined Planet

God loves music. He invented music. God loves you too. He planned you before the creation of the world.

God wants everything in creation to shine like beautiful art and sound like exquisite music.

We see this glorious beauty in nature. The poets and artists of the Romantic period celebrated this beauty.

We can still see this beauty, but we also see how we humans are spoiling nature. There is a huge pile of rubbish in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Dolphins eat plastic bags and choke on them.

God has given us beautiful poppies and we have made effective painkillers from them. The best painkiller for dying cancer patients is heroin, but tragically this very good medicine is horribly abused.

God created us as sexual beings, not just to produce children, but so that we should have love, companionship, pleasure and joy, but what do we see in the world? Pornography addiction, human trafficking, rape and forced prostitution.

God has made us different. Who can run or dance like the black Africans? But we have so misunderstood our differences that cruel hatred and racism is ruining humanity.

God created us as spiritual beings to live eternally with Him as His own image, but we have corrupted our spirituality. We see cruel religion and witchcraft everywhere. 

God's is watching all this and He is suffering.

Creation itself is in agony because we humans have failed as stewards of nature.

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” Genesis 1:27–28 NRSV

This was in the beginning, but many years later the apostle Paul wrote.

for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope

that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; Romans 8:20–22 NRSV

Many today see how our planet is corrupted. Our very existence is threatened. They want to save our planet through political action. Without God, that would be the only way.

They understand that the fate of the planet is inseparable from humanity, but they do not understand that without God our humanity and our existence has no future.

Nature is corrupt because we humans are corrupt. God did not make us this way. We have corrupted God's creation. Only with God can we find the way out.

Don't Limit God!

 A woman had lost her sight. Her eyes were badly injured, and no doctor could help her. She went to a church service where the preacher prayed for healing.

She began to see again and was thrilled, but when she shared her miraculous news with her family, they would not believe, even though they clearly observed how she could see.

Then she began to doubt herself and after a short time she was blind again.

God wants to bless us incredibly, but often we don't want to believe it. A negative thought is firmly rooted in our mindset.

"It's too good to be true." With this thought, we often block the wonderful gifts God wants to give us.

After Jesus died on the cross, the disciples were traumatised. They had believed that Jesus as Messiah would free Israel from Roman occupation, and then he had died.

It was apparently too good to be true. The time for Israel had not yet come, but God had even better plans for his disciples.

So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. 

And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:6–8 NLT

Thank God the disciples believed. We read in Acts how the disciples ministered with the same miracle-working power as Jesus himself before his death on the cross.

Then we see in Mark's Gospel how Jesus empowered his disciples to continue his miracle-working ministry. Was this only for the apostles? No. It was for all who believed.

These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages.

They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.” Mk 16:17–18 NLT

But some Christians do not want to believe that this promise still applies to our time.

Some doubt whether this passage really belongs to the Gospel of Mark, because it may not have been written by Mark himself.

It is possible that Mark did not write this last passage. So what!
The first five books of the Bible are attributed to the authorship of Moses himself, but the last chapter of Deuteronomy was obviously not written by Moses.

So Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, just as the LORD had said. Deuteronomy 34:5 NLT

When I read this verse, I burst into tears. This is not normal for me. The Holy Spirit communicated to me in this way how God Himself felt when Moses had to die. He wanted to bless Moses much more.

Then I heard the voice of God as a clear but inaudible thought.

"Please don't limit God."

Please open your heart to many more blessings and miracles from God.

Difficulties Receiving Love

God wants to comfort you, and he also wants you to be a comforter.
Unfortunately, we often fail.

There are people who comfort others for years, but they never learn to receive comfort.
There are many pastors who suffer burnout or lose their own faith.

There are some therapists who save people from despair, but they commit suicide.

My father was a very good psychiatrist. I met Christians who were very grateful for his help, but at home my father was moody and often tense. He could help Christians even though he was not a Christian himself, and he had his own problems. Thank God, my father made peace with God not long before he died.

There are Christians who want nothing to do with psychiatry or psychology, but as a young man I was bullied in a narrow-minded church, and I am very grateful for the psychiatric care I needed afterwards. I know I am not an isolated case.

Unfortunately, there are also many Christians who help others but neglect their own emotional needs.

There is a prophetic preacher in Germany who, like many other Christians, is praying for a great revival. Many Christians are encouraged because we have been waiting so long for this great revival.

This preacher asked God why this revival has not come yet. God's answer was amazing.

The long-awaited revival has not yet come because so many Christians have never learned to love themselves.

We pray for God's abundant comfort, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but we have never learned to receive God's comfort.

There are so many Christians who are serious about the duty to love God and to love their fellow human beings. They worship God and serve their fellow human beings, but they remain dry inside.
 
What is your starting point, your duty to love God and serve others, or to receive God's grace and love for yourself?

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4:10 NLT

So often Christians are converted, and they understand that their salvation is the free gift of God. We cannot earn our salvation, but only receive God's grace.

The basis of our relationship with God is to receive God's love, not only in our conversion, but for as long as we are on this earth and then for all eternity.

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.

He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 NLT