God Cares about All your Problems

God cares about everything in your life. He is thinking about you all the time. 

I have seen amazing answers to prayer. When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I cried out to God. Years later, my medical specialist said the tumours had not grown and he thought I would probably never need treatment. That is wonderful. Cancer treatment can have very unpleasant side effects.

But what about little things?

I have a weakness in my lower back. I am 76. When I get up in the morning, my back often feels stiff and uncomfortable, even occasionally painful. I often do easy stretching exercises and that helps a lot. 

One night, I was restless all night. My sleep was not peaceful and I woke up with a sore back. When I went to bed the following night, I remembered God’s promises to heal my infirmities. I laid my hand on the sore place and quoted the Bible promise.

“… they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mk 16:18 NRSV

I slept peacefully and next morning my back was much better. After simple stretching exercises, I felt quite comfortable.

If you belong to Jesus, he is interested in everything in your life. He cares about the big problems and also the little problems.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Rom 8:31–32 NKJV

God Helps in your Deep Need

 If we have no need, we do not need a miracle from God. If we can manage it humanly on our own, we often try to do just that.

• Barak Obama became president and tried to win the support of the world with the well-known words, ‘Yes, we can!’ But despite these words, he has failed in many ways.

•  Angela Merkel has taken the same line: ‘We can do it!’ She still says so, but has it worked?

• Politicians claim that Islam is a religion of peace, but where do we find peace in the Middle East?

   After 1990, a new era began, where the Russians were supposed to be our democratic partners in a new world order, but now we see a not-so-friendly leader in Moscow.

  Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will protect you with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10
   
  God does not deceive us with false assurance and hollow promises. Where there is no threat, we do not need encouragement to overcome fear.
   
  The prophet David, king of Israel, had to confront real threats. He left us many psalms that testify to his struggle against fear.
  
  Be merciful to me, my God, for my enemies are in hot pursuit; all day long they press their attack.
  My adversaries pursue me all day long; in their pride many are attacking me.
  When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Ps 56:1–3 NIV
   
  These are our invincible weapons against fear, the testimonies of those who have overcome danger and fear.
   
  God's word is not just made up of dogmas and commandments, but also of totally reliable promises. They are reliable for two reasons.
  
  Firstly, they come from God, who will never let us down because he is completely truthful and also almighty.
  We can also rely on God's promises because they have been proven in hard times of affliction.
  
  God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Ps 46:1 NASB95
   
  The words in the Bible are not just words. God has kept his promises again and again in the Bible stories.
  
  I have seen time and again how God has saved me and others from death, illness, poverty and unemployment.
   
  So often we expect our parents, partners, friends, doctors, communities, employers or politicians to provide the help we urgently need. Sometimes we get help from people and sometimes they let us down.
  
  But God has never let me down. I have often seen God intervene in humanly impossible circumstances.
   
  It is often precisely in impossible situations that we have to make a decision. Should we panic or just seek human help? Panic doesn't work at all and passive resignation is like death itself.
  
  But we have a God who gave his son to death but then raised him from the dead. Jesus died so that we can always find a way out of any situation.
   
  Jesus said before his death:
  
  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
  and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” Jn 11:25–26 NASB95
  
  God has work for the unemployed, healing for the sick, joy for the depressed, a future for the hopeless.
   
  When Christian children in Syria or Iraq are beheaded by terrorists because they refuse to become Muslims, they are immediately caught up and their souls appear in God's heaven, where they immediately receive God's comfort and love.
   
  Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.
  For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit.
  You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Ps 16:9–11 NRSV

Escape from Prostitution

 A woman from a poor country flies to Germany, where she expects to earn money for her family in a decent job.
 
Then she is shocked. She is a prisoner, drugged, raped again and again, enslaved as a prostitute.

The ancient Greeks wrote tragic dramas in which we see that there are such hopeless situations in life where no happy ending seems possible.
 
But this woman was saved by a miracle.

God spoke to a German preacher and told him to visit a brothel. There he found this enslaved woman. With God's help, she was saved and freed. God answered her desperate prayers.

How many prostitutes are crying out to God for deliverance?

I know wonderful Christian women in Germany who visit brothels to help the women. In one year, they helped four women to escape from forced prostitution.

There are situations where people have no hope even in this life, but Jesus can totally transform such lives and turn hopeless destinies around completely.

I can also say that from my own experience.

In my own family, I have seen how my mother and grandmother found peace with God through Jesus on their deathbeds.

I once knew a little boy who was totally deaf and was completely healed through prayer within a few weeks.

I have seen so many miracles.

• Maybe someone has betrayed you.

• Maybe you have been betrayed in your family life or in the church.

• Maybe you've heard the false teaching that you can't expect miracles these days.

If we want to receive God's miraculous help, we must dare to hope again.
 
From this hope, miracle-working faith can arise in your heart, the faith that we can only receive from God as a gift.

God can transform dark situations with his light.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jn 8:12 NIV

It is possible to be imprisoned, but not by iron bars, but by darkness through which you cannot see to find the only open door.

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Jer 33:3 NIV

Are you in the Middle of a Miracle?

 The disciples were disappointed, paralysed with confusion and fear.
 
When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, he was greeted with jubilation as the Messiah. Everyone expected the Son of David to fulfil the prophecies.

Jesus was to establish a new kingdom in Israel and cast out the Romans.
Instead, Jesus was arrested as a criminal and executed on the cross.

Not only had they lost their champion.
When Jesus was arrested, they had fled like cowards.
They had lost their support and were ashamed that they themselves had failed.

But it was even worse. They were terrified. Would the religious leaders arrest and kill them too?

They were also probably sleepless and exhausted.

How long did the disciples tremble in this fearful despair?

But they did not realise that they were in the midst of a miracle.

When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.

She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping.
When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. Mk 16:9–11 NIV

Are you disappointed? Have others let you down? Have you failed yourself?

Jesus wants to come to you, but sometimes he waits.

Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. Mk 16:14 NIV

Despite everything, God has good plans for you. He loves you.

I prayed for my parents for years. Finally, they both came to faith on their deathbeds.

Are you stressed with the wait? Please never give up.

The desperate apostles were in the midst of an amazing miracle. Are you too? Why not?

Your Time Will Come

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 can't see any fruit. You love God and you have a close friendship with Jesus.

You want to win 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 are not appearing. And you need these miracles because you are disabled by illness, because your relatives are not yet believers, because you must wrestle with financial problems.

In the Gospel of Luke, we find an elderly woman who served God with a faithful heart for decades. She had prayed for children since her marriage, but she never had a single baby. Yet she never became bitter.

Had God abandoned her? Not at all. God had a marvellous plan. She was to experience a miracle, but without the long years of disappointment, God could not bring about this miracle.

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

But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. Lk 1:13 NIV

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

Everywhere in this chaotic world there are faithful disciples of the Lord who are waiting for 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 to be unanswered.

Are you one of them? 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, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labour; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD. Is 54:1 NIV

God Still Works Miracles

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Ps 46:1 NIV

 If your life always runs smoothly and successfully, you can hardly understand this Bible text. You don't need a miracle until you need a miracle.

You don't need God's provision until you need provision.

In early 1994, I lost my job. I hadn't failed, but they no longer needed some language teachers, and I was out of a job.

Just at that time, I had met a dear woman who has now been my wonderful wife of 29 years. I was in a tight spot. I had some money in the bank and I could only find a few hours of temporary work at first. But every time my money ran out, I got enough temp work to barely survive.

It got better step by step. Almost two years later I got married, but I was by no means wealthy. On the contrary. But a year later, I got my job back. A district judge ruled that my dismissal was unjust. I got $20,000 in compensation. Then I was able to buy my first computer.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Ps 46:1 NIV

Then we were told we could apply for a promotion, but I thought I had no chance. An older colleague told me I should try.

I spent two sleepless nights writing my application, still handwritten at the time. Then I had my application typed up and sent it by fax. The last page arrived at one minute to five on a Friday afternoon, the absolute deadline.

I was amazed when I got the promotion. I got $5000 more per year.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Ps 46:1 NIV

What is your problem?

I had a cancer diagnosis almost three years ago. I prayed earnestly and I received an assurance from the Holy Spirit that God would heal me, without radiation therapy. A year ago I got the good news. In September 2020 I had an MRI scan. No trace of tumours.

I had regular blood tests in the meantime. I'm not a spiritual fool. But the findings were not alarming and finally the confirmation came. God was reliable and faithful.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Ps 46:1 NIV

It was too late to brake. She could not avoid a collision. Then she felt a terrible heat. The vehicle drove through her car without making any noise, without causing any damage. It was like something out of a fantasy film.

I know the woman very well. This really happened.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Ps 46:1 NIV

God Still Heals Today.

 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. Jn 15:7 NRSV

If you remain in close fellowship with Jesus, you can ask for wisdom, and God will make His way clear to you.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. Jas 1:5 NIV

We often have problems when we seek wisdom everywhere, but not first from God's Word and not always with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Imagine you are sick, but you are still functioning somewhat normally. You are not paralysed by pain and it is not a matter of life and death. You go to the doctor and take medication for weeks, but your symptoms remain a problem.

Some time ago I was praying. I heard a thought in my mind from the Holy Spirit.
How long are you going to put up with this problem?

God has promised in the Bible to heal all my diseases. I have experienced God's miraculous healings several times. Why shouldn't I pray and expect God's healing this time?

(He) forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, Ps 103:3 NIV

Are you a Christian? Then you believe that God forgives all your sins. If not, you would be condemned. If God only forgives some sins and not all, then we would all go to hell.

If God promises to forgive all your sins, then you must know that the same God in the same Bible has also promised to heal all your diseases, all of them.

In my dictionary, I find two very different words, ALL and MANY.

When God promises to heal all sicknesses, He doesn't mean some sicknesses.

So should we never go to the doctor, never take medicine and never need an operation? God never said that. Even good doctors are God's servants, whether they believe in God or not.

Miraculous Healing from Terminal Illness

 Emphysema is an incurable disease, but with God nothing is impossible.

My father was 70 years old and not a believer. He had smoked 40 cigarettes a day for many years, and his lungs were almost destroyed. He had emphysema, and his older brothers died at 59 and 65. I prayed that my father would live long enough to finally believe in Jesus.

My father was converted at 88 and at 91 he was still alive but quite demented and half blind. It was amazing that there was no longer any sign of emphysema. An amazing miracle.

I shared my testimony in my church about how God had answered my prayer and given my father a long life so that he could be saved.

With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Ps 91:16 NIV

I explained how God had miraculously fulfilled this promise in my father's life and how I could only understand it as a completely supernatural miracle.

Then I prayed again and asked God to give my father a quick death because life on earth had become a torment for my father.

I asked God to give me a sign to confirm His word. I asked God that my father would die in peace exactly 16 days after his 91st birthday and that is exactly what happened.

My father died a few minutes before 4pm (1600 hours) on 22 September 2014, 16 days after his birthday.

With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Ps 91:16 NIV

God is not obliged to give us such signs. I did not demand this sign from God, but God sometimes gives us a sign as a testimony, to help others come to faith or to encourage them in their faith.

Expecting the Impossible

 In the Western world, we are scientifically orientated. We have been brainwashed for generations to believe in the material world more than in the supernatural realm, where God reigns invisibly.

In this respect, humanistic theology is often almost indistinguishable from atheism. Many Reformed Christians and many conservative free churches are also strongly influenced by it.

If you talk about miracles, you are not taken seriously by atheists, humanists and theologians.

Many conservative Christians also want to believe in miracles in the Bible, and also in heaven and hell, but all that belongs only to the past and we will then wait until we die to experience something of the other world.

We have been taught to expect only what is supposed to be possible, but Jesus taught a completely different view and also proved it with miracles.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mk 10:27 NIV

Jesus commissioned his first disciples to reach out to all nations with the Gospel mission.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Mt 28:18–19 NIV

Why was Europe known as Christian in the past? Because missionaries brought whole peoples, whole regions and whole nations to Jesus.

This also happened in the Old Testament, when God made the Hebrews into a believing nation through Moses and then Joshua. Unfortunately, mass conversion is often followed by decay in subsequent generations, but Israel was still a nation that belonged to the true God.

A preacher in Asia proclaimed the bold idea that we should disciple whole nations, not just convert individuals.

A devoted woman was in the congregation, and she believed the impossible. She was a street vendor selling ice cream. She prayed that her ice cream would be especially good and delicious.
Then she prayed that she would win her city for Jesus.

One day, a rich man came and bought an ice cream. He was delighted and asked the woman why her ice cream could be so good. She explained that she was a Christian and prayed that her ice cream would be excellent.

The rich man was intrigued and wanted to know more. He then converted to Jesus.

It turned out that this man was the governor of the town. He decided to teach the police and all the officials in the city the message of Jesus.

All the officials also had to learn to apply biblical principles in their work.

We must learn to expect much more from God.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mk 10:27 NIV

Emergency Operation

In 2021 I had a dangerous operation. After the operation, my blood pressure suddenly dropped to 60/45, and my pulse to 29. Medical staff quickly gathered around my bed in ICU.

I was thankful to God for good doctors and nurses who knew what to do. They immediately gave me an injection with a heart stimulant.

I didn't even feel afraid. I trusted I was safe in God's hands.

My life with Jesus is eternal, but my mortal body is perishable.

What can I do this week that will make a difference to those around me?

How can I make God's love and truth known today?

“LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. Psalm 39:4 NKJV

What is your purpose in life? Do you know why God put you on this planet?

If not, have you asked God seriously? He loves you. He wants to answer. He is not deaf and not dumb.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. John 10:27 NKJV

God is Faithful

If you are faithful, you can always expect God's help. God never abandons his faithful children. How can you be more faithful than God?

David was God's faithful servant, but he was persecuted by King Saul. His life was in danger, and he had to find refuge in a cave. In his distress he prayed fervently.

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by. 

I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me. Ps 57:1-3

When you are in deep distress, whether through your own fault or quite innocent like David, you need to get really serious with God.

He will never fail you.

If you fail but you are still committed to Jesus, can expect God's grace and mercy.

• God saved David again and again.

• God trained David through many hard trials, so that he became the greatest of all kings.

  Do you want to fulfil your calling from God? Then you can expect hard trials. 

  God always has a plan to get you out of any trouble.
  
  Often you do not know how to pray.
  Jesus has given you his Holy Spirit to help you in your weakness.
  
  Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
  
  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26–27 NKJV
  
  Paul too was often in impossible situations, but God saved him again and again and healed him from terrible wounds, otherwise he could not have continued.
  
  Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes.
  
  Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 2 Corinthians 11:24–25 NLT
  
  Paul suffered so much. Nevertheless, he wrote:
  
  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 NKJV
  
  God's invincible weapons in your hands.
  

  • Speak God's word.

  • Prayer in the Spirit. The miraculous gift of God to pray in languages you have never learned.

  
  
  

Speak to your Problem

Jesus said that believers should ask God to help but in another text he said that believers are authorised to speak directly to a problem with divine authority.

"Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Mk 11:23 NIV

He was telling us, that we are authorised as believers to speak not only to God but to speak a decree, to speak to a mountain.

What does Jesus mean by a mountain? We can command whatever is opposing God’s people and God’s will to be removed. 

How can we know what is opposed to the will of God? Through Scripture, through listening prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus also told us we can move the hand of God by asking Him to act.

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. Jn 15:7

How are we to know what to do and how to pray?

 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.  Rom 8:26-27 NIV

When Christians apply the teaching to speak to a mountain, they often use the words, DECLARE and DECREE.
The meanings can be different but they overlap.

Both can be an announcement with legal force and effect.

A jury declares an accused person guilty or not guilty. This is not a statement of opinion or fact but a legal transaction in the form of words.

When a doctor declares a person to be dead, he or she is legally dead.

A ruler can issue a decree, which then has legal force. An official or ambassador can be authorised to issue a decree on behalf of the ruler.

When Paul wrote parts of the NT, he was authorised to write legally binding declarations or decrees on behalf of God.

There are some conservative Christians who are zealous for the Word of God, but they accuse Charismatics of neglecting Bible truth because we emphasise the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

As a Charismatic Christian, I would ask my fellow believers:

If Jesus in one text tells us to ask God to help and in another text, He tells us to speak directly to our problem, how are we to know which bible text to apply unless we are continually supernaturally guided by the Holy Spirit?

Coronavirus: Stopping the Pandemic

This epidemic does not come from God. It is not a punishment from heaven.
It is an attack from the prince of darkness who is desperate to prevent the coming worldwide revival.
 
Countless millions are isolated and intimidated. There is panic everywhere. If this continues, many will die of poverty and hunger, even if they don't die from the virus.

Our economic system will collapse and powerful people with sinister intentions will take power worldwide.

Jesus told us to go out into the world and win people over to Jesus, but now faithful Christians have to sit at home.

But when the devil attacks, God wants to call us to stand up with Jesus and win a great victory.

Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle-- Psalm 144:1 (NKJV)

We are in a terrible war against a cruel enemy. God can destroy the enemy with one finger, but God has given us humans the task of resisting the devil.

The enemy is much stronger than mortal humans, but our calling is to trust God in faith and in partnership with God to tear down the strongholds of the enemy.

We have to learn to fight, but we can only learn that in a real battle.

When a strong enemy invades, the warfare can be hard.

First, our own weaknesses are exposed. Then God can help us overcome our sins and weaknesses so that the enemy does not overwhelm us.

For example, if you live a good life, but mostly on a natural level, at cancer diagnosis can be a terrible challenge. The cancer doesn't come from God, of course, but you have to learn to fight with supernatural trust in God.

The devil's attacks are a challenge to get closer to God so that we can overcome the Devil with God’s power.

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10 (NKJV)
 
Cancer comes from the devil. This epidemic also comes from our enemy.
 
Our own sins can make us vulnerable to such attacks because sins are an invitation for the devil to extend his power.

If abortion becomes commonplace, if a lot of Christians watch porn, if sex before marriage is accepted as normal among many Christians, we become very susceptible to evil attacks.

Then when the enemy invades, we have to fight, but how can you fight on God's side if you accept sin as normal?

Sin is always against God. We have to turn from sin.
 
We must also know where the attack comes from.

If the devil attacks with illness, we cannot win the battle if we think that the illness comes from God.

As a man on earth, Jesus was the complete revelation of God's character and intentions. 

He never tolerated illness, never spoke a positive word about sickness. Those who sought healing from Jesus were never turned away.

That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick.

This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.” Matthew 8:16-17 (NLT2)

We have to repent and pray, but how can we fight with strong faith when we are passive Christians?

So many Christians rely on preachers and pastors instead of building a close personal relationship with Jesus.

When the enemy attacks, and we need God's help, our idolatry is exposed. The pastor cannot save you from an epidemic, only Jesus himself.

If your Christian life is focused on your pastor or church and not on Jesus himself, how can you win a tough battle in faith? Of course, I don’t deny that God often hears the prayers of faithful pastors for weak believers.

I believe the pandemic that is now prevailing everywhere must give way if we turn to God and pray together in faith.

A worldwide war of intercession is already underway. God is calling us all to pray.

Jesus Feels Your Pain

True compassion is an intense mixture of love and hate. Jesus had that kind of compassion. He loved people with an incomparable love, and at the same time He hated the circumstances in which they were trapped.
Hunter, Joan. Healing the Whole Person

If you truly love people, you will really hate disease. If you truly hate sickness as Jesus did, you will believe in God's healing power.

God really loves you. So how does He feel about you when you are sick?
 
People have different theories about it.

(The love of God) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Cor 13:7 (NKJV)

How are we to understand this?

``The love of God endures and tolerates illness. 
or
``The love of God believes in healing because God loves us and therefore hates our sickness.``

Jesus is our role model. What do we learn from Jesus in his ministry before the cross?

Jesus did not tell any sick person: ``I do not want to heal you because you have to learn holy patience in your illness.``

Jesus never said: ``God has chosen only some sick people to get healed and you are not one of the chosen ones.``

When we study the ministry of Jesus, we see that Jesus never rejected a sick or handicapped person seeking healing.

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.
 
This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases." Mt 8:16 (NIV)
Jesus took our weaknesses upon Himself by renouncing His eternal divine omnipotence for a while. He became a weak baby and took our human limitations upon himself.
 
He took our illnesses upon himself by feeling such painful compassion.

But Mt 8:17 is a quotation from the Old Testament.

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
 
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5 (NIV)
These verses in Isaiah prophetically point to the cross, where Jesus took our sins upon Himself and suffered our punishment in our place.

If we look closely at the text, we see that Jesus took on not only our sins but also our sicknesses on the cross.

Why did Jesus take away not only our sins but also our sicknesses on the cross?

Because sickness came into the world through sin.
 
Therefore, Jesus wanted to abolish not only sin, but everything that is connected with sin: shame, guilt, inferiority, blindness, all kinds of handicaps and all kinds of diseases.

When Peter first proclaimed the non-Jew, he summarised Jesus' ministry with these 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 (NLT2)

Here we see that God not only hates disease. Disease here is equated with oppression by the devil.

If you are depressed, mentally disturbed or ill, God himself feels your pain.

God sent his son into the world to give you a new life.

He carried your sin, your shame, your guilt, your pain and your sickness on the cross.

God Still Heals. Do You Need Healing?

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.

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) 

• 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.

 

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. Mt 11:4-5

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.

 

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. Mt 10:1 (ESV) 

 

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 in 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 have 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.

God wants to heal you, to change your life, to set you free of the painful limitations that stop you fulfilling your potential.

The God of Impossible Miracles

Are you in an impossible jam? Is there no way out?

Many years ago I was a 20-year-old student travelling alone in Europe. 

Shortly before my flight back to Australia, I was enjoying a walk about Rome. It was mid-afternoon when I put my hand in my jacket pocket. 

No passport! No plane ticket! My flight was the next day!

I must not panic. I retraced my steps. 

I enquired here and there, in a shop, at a kiosk. Then I went back to the cashier where I had changed some money that morning. 

The cashier immediately gave me my passport, my plane ticket and my vaccination certificate.

God watches over us, even when we are completely stupid. I was not even a Christian yet but if you are a believer, God knew you before you were born.  

But there are much more serious problems when we need God to do the impossible.

I know a woman who was saved from certain death in her car. 

There was no way to avoid a fatal collision but instead of crashing into her, the other car passed right through her like a scene in a science fiction movie. 

All the woman experienced was a searing heat but no impact. 

Perhaps you are reading this and grieving. It is no comfort to read of miraculous rescues when your loved one has died. It is too late for miracles.

Be assured there is another world. Heaven is real. 

I know a faithful Christian woman who prayed for her family. She had a favourite nephew who was a rebellious teenager. 

One day this believing woman was sick in bed. She had a very dark dream about a gloomy cave. She saw and felt the shadow of death. In her dream she heard a voice which urged her to pray because someone in her family was in danger of death. 

She cried out to God and prayed until she felt at peace again. Later that day she heard that her much loved nephew had died in a freak car accident.

God hears our prayers. 

So many young and old people experience supernatural encounters with God in the last moments of their life on earth. Many meet Jesus, the Son of God who died for them on the cross. 

Jesus hears the heart cry of lost ones as they die. Many turn to Him at the last.

You must never give up. Love believes all things, never stops hoping. God is at work.

It may be that your faith has been weak. Your prayers have been hindered by doubt. When we pray weak prayers from a sincere heart, God can whisper to a strong believer to pray for your loved ones. He does these things.

I once knew a nurse who told me of a very old woman who was dying in hospital. She was very lonely because she couldn’t speak English, but she knew German. Since I am fluent in German, I asked permission to visit her and I was allowed to read to her from the German bible. 

I read her bible passages about heaven, about faith in Jesus, about the free gift of forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

I was allowed to see her a few times, and she always listened intently.

The last time I visited, she seemed to be seeing things that I could not see. I thought she was just demented but perhaps she saw angels.

Then I read the words of Jesus.

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 

and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26 

“Do you believe this?” I repeated.

“Yes, I do believe!” she answered with a firm clear voice.

My next visit was to her burial.  People were weeping. They didn’t know she was in heaven but I knew.

If your situation seems hopeless, it may not be the end.

‘Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious things which you still do not know about.’ Jer 33:3 (NET1) 

God Steps In

Realize that Yahweh performs wonders for his faithful, Yahweh listens when I call to him. NJB Ps 4:3 

If we read the bible, we see God raising up Moses, freeing two million Hebrew slaves almost overnight, drowning the Pharaoh and his great army.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. Luke 1:51 

God brought down the Soviet Union. Can He do it again? Yes, He can.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. Luke 1:52 

Hitler was smashed to pieces. Stalin was assassinated. Can God bring down North Korea? Why not?

He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. Luke 1:53  

Can God feed the poor if economic disaster strikes? Why not? Moses and 2 million Jews ate manna in the desert for 40 years, bread from Heaven.

He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful. Luke 1:54 

Why is Israel still standing surrounded by angry enemies? Because God will not allow Israel to be destroyed.

Hundreds of thousands of faithful Christians are being massacred by Muslims and Communists but God is not defeated. 

The Christian martyrs are beyond happy in God’s home. They are in Heaven for ever. Meanwhile millions of Muslims and Communists are coming over to the One True God and becoming followers of Jesus the Son of God.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 

We look at the world shaking all around us. 

Politics gets stranger and stranger. New Hitlers rise up in this country and that country.  

Shadows of war loom in Korea. 

Jobs are less and less secure.  

Drugs and violence invade streets, homes and hospitals.  Perversion rocks homes and churches.

We feel overwhelmed. 

From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Ps 61:2 (NKJV) 

 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26 (NKJV)

Please don't give way to fear or resignation. God always has a way.

God will find a way, where there seems to be no way.

God gives you these promises. He will act if you will act on these promises. A check is no good until you cash it.

In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, For You will answer me. Psalm 86:7 (NKJV)

He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. Psalm 91:15 (NKJV)

'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' 

Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV)