In some religions, the infinite God is so remote, that He becomes an abstraction, or a frightening judge.
Human nature longs for a personal spiritual experience. We long for relationships, not only at a physical and emotional level but also spiritually, so religion leads us to venerate angels, saints, gods, goddesses or to submit unconditionally to spirit guides, gurus, rabbis, priests or pastors.
But the God of the Bible is infinitely great but also intensely personal. He makes Himself small, so we can know Him and love Him personally.
Perhaps you are not sure if you believe in God, or you are confused about what God might be like.
Try talking to God personally. You have nothing to lose.
You can say, as some atheists or agnostics have done. “God, if you are real, please let me find you.”
In the bible, many Jews were confused about religion. Many prayed to the gods of other nations. The results were terrible.
But God spoke to the Prophet Jeremiah.
Call to me, and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. Jer 33:3 NRSVue
You can talk to God and if you seek him with all your heart, you will find him.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jer 29:11–13 NKJV
Thursday, February 5, 2026
Seeking and Finding God
Thursday, March 20, 2025
Faith and Unbelief in the End Times
Not only Jesus raised the dead to life again, but also some prophets in the Old Testament and apostles in the New Testament.
Some today want to believe in Jesus somehow, but they also want to deny the amazing miracles in the Bible as alleged superstition. This is nothing but unbelief mixed with religion and philosophy.
Others want to believe in all the miracles in the Bible, but when they hear reports of totally extraordinary miracles in our time, they react negatively, as if God was only allowed to work dramatic miracles in Bible times, but not today.
This makes no sense at all.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Heb 13:8 NIV
It is part of his nature to far exceed our limited natural expectations. The Scriptures are infallible, but our theology is always imperfect and limited.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, Eph 3:20 NIV
A pastor died in a car accident in Africa. He visited hell because he harboured bitterness against his wife, but his wife did not give up and prayed hard for his recovery. Faithful Christians took the body to a meeting where Reinhard Bonnke preached. There was intense prayer, and the dead pastor came back to life.
“But that can't be real! It's not biblical!“
Yes it is! You can find amazing stories like this in the Bible, too.
”But it can't happen today!"
Why not! Because of the unbelief of conservative Christians who believe in Bible stories but don't want to believe in miracles in our time.
“But Bonnke was a false teacher.“ Why? Because he worked miracles like the apostles in the Bible?
”But you can't work miracles in our time like in the Bible!"
Who made up this rule? Certainly not God!
I know a woman who visited India in a dream and helped Christians with problems by giving them wise advice.
An English missionary in Thailand was caught in an ambush by Islamists. How did she escape? She became invisible.
Many Christians understand that we are living in the end times. They recognise the prophecies that are being fulfilled through natural disasters and the restoration of Israel.
They attend prophetic conferences where they learn a lot about the alarming signs of the end times, but they don't want to believe that God wants to and is actually working amazing signs and wonders in our time.
This is completely illogical. It also contradicts God's wonderful nature.
Many pray for revival, but when God performs wonderful works that do not conform to their theological thinking, they reject God's answers to their own prayers.
Jesus warned of the unbelief in the last days.
And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?
I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Lk 18:7–8 NRSV
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Gratitude Activates Faith
In the Bible, Jesus healed countless sick, suffering and disabled people. This is one of the most prominent themes in the New Testament.
In the Gospel of Matthew, we read how Jesus healed all those who sought healing from him.
When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. Mt 8:16 NIV
When Peter first proclaimed the good news to non-Jews, he summarised Jesus' ministry in the following words.
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
We read the same words in both Bible texts. Jesus healed everyone.
Was this a special offer when Jesus was on earth in the flesh before the cross?
Clearly not.
Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.
The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Jas 5:14–15 NRSV
Here we see the word SAVE. This is a translation of the Greek word SOZO:
This word in the Greek NT sometimes means SAVE and sometimes HEAL
It has always been God's will that the eternal salvation of the soul and salvation from illness should belong together.
We already see both together in the Psalms.
... who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, Ps 103:3 NIV
What is the basis for this confident faith in God’s healing?
Firstly, holding on to God's promises and testimonies, no matter what other Christians or even theologians say.
The second is found in the same psalm.
Gratitude.
Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, Ps 103:2–3 NIV
Today, countless Muslims are experiencing miraculous healings in the name of Jesus. Millions of Muslims are converting to Jesus. Gratitude for miraculous healings is very often decisive.
In Europe we often see a completely different attitude. So many Christians do not react to miracles with gratitude, but with doubt.
The humanistic culture in Europe has taught us to question everything. Tragically, this way of thinking is not only found in traditional churches, but also in some free churches.
One of the most important concepts in the Bible is PEACE:
Paul repeatedly greeted the churches in the New Testament with GRACE and PEACE:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Eph 1:2 NRSV
Paul wants to explain to Christians that they have peace through God's grace, that they are reconciled with God and should no longer fear God's judgement and punishment.
But Paul was also Jewish. The Hebrew word for peace is SHALOM:
Peace: shalo̱m also means (external as well as internal) well-being; welfare; well-being;
God wants to restore us holistically, to reconcile us to himself.
God wants to heal our wounded souls and broken hearts.
God wants to free us from illness and all kinds of disabilities.
Not only in heaven, but here and now.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Mt 6:10 NRSV
If you have problems with this teaching, you cannot eliminate your doubts with your logical mind alone.
Try a new approach. Start with gratitude.
Reflect on all the help you have received in life.
There is nothing good in this world that does not come from God.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
GOD STILL HEALS. HE WANTS TO HEAL YOU.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell how the Son of God lived on this earth for 33 years.
In his last three years on earth, Jesus preached and taught the people of Israel.
One of the most prominent features of His teaching was the way He consistently performed miraculous healings.
Acts 10:38 (NLT) 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.
This is how the Apostle Peter summarised the healing ministry of Jesus.
He makes no distinction between exorcisms and healing physical sickness.
Jesus saw demon possession, deafness, blindness and physical sickness as manifestations of evil.
When John the Baptist was in prison, he was tempted to despair of his faith. He sent his disciples to Jesus, seeking reassurance.
Matthew 11:4-5 (ESV) And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
Clearly Jesus also saw Healing as a central feature of His ministry.
When Jesus appointed His Apostles, the first thing He did was to give them authority to heal.
Matthew 10:1 (ESV) And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
If we look at church history and examine the practices of many churches in the Western World, we see only some churches emphasise healings and miracles.
- Many other churches consider this unbalanced and yet they read the same Bible that shows Jesus was a healing evangelist.
For Jesus and the early church, healing the sick was an essential part of the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
Where did the Western church go wrong?
Why have we strayed from the ways of Jesus so clearly presented in the New Testament?
After the fall of the Roman Empire in the Europe, most people were poor and illiterate.
Faith the Word of God was replaced with faith in religious traditions including prayers to saints and bathing with holy water. Healing and miracles became associated with very unbiblical practices.
When Luther and Calvin restored the Bible as the only source of spiritual authority, they rejected the papacy. They also condemned faith in miracles obtained by prayers to saints or touching sacred objects. This was idolatry.
However they made the mistake of rejecting all healing miracles.
Calvin taught that the miraculous ministry of Jesus and the Apostles were not a model to imitate.
He taught they did miracles to prove that Jesus was the Son of God and to confirm the truth of the Gospel of salvation.
Once the church and the gospel were established, they considered miracles were no longer necessary but were counterfeit miracles associated with Roman Catholic idolatry.
Once the miraculous element was banished from much of Western Christianity, faith in scientific materialism was blended with biblical belief.
Faith in human reason began to supplement and then replace faith in the Word of God.
This is why many Christians in Britain, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand find it difficult to receive divine healing or to exercise faith for miracles.
Our whole culture has been corrupted by systematic unbelief in God’s supernatural power.
Faith is a personal matter but it is also corporate. Faith is contagious but unbelief is also contagious.
Conservative Protestant tradition and academic theology have made unbelief respectable in in Europe and North America.
The result has been a catastrophic decline of faith amongst professing Christians and the abandonment of Christianity by the majority of Europeans.
But God has not changed and the Bible has not changed.
God loves you.
He knows you are broken and wounded in many ways. We all are.
We all emotional issues that cause us pain and prevent us from being all we could be.
We all get sick from time to time and many of us have bodily functions that don’t operate as they should.