A Sick Woman’s Healthy Faith

How does God heal people? Does He heal them when they pray long enough, shed a certain volume of tears and go on a hunger strike till He relents and gives them what they want? Or does He heal them based on Spiritual Laws He has set in motion? How can a believer experience Divine Healing? Let us learn from the faith of an extraordinary woman from the Gospels.

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The Banquet

Many Christians have a misconception about what a 'spiritual life' is all about. They think that living like a monk with no desires and living a drab, mundane life devoid of any enjoyment is what God looks upon as being spiritual. But that is not the Gospel. A monastic lifestyle is not really good news. Let's see what the good news of the Gospel really is, through a simple but enlightening story.

A young couple, let us call them John and Ruth, committed their lives to the Lord, accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They prayed fervently that God would teach them how to live a spiritual life. The Lord answered their prayer and invited them to a banquet. They were thrilled beyond measure. When they arrived, the Lord ushered them into a huge banquet hall. There was a huge table that almost filled the entire hall, but there were only three chairs. “Lord, are we the only ones going to partake of this banquet?” Ruth enquired. The Lord said, “In fact, only you both are going to partake. I am here just to watch you both have a great time. My happiness is in seeing God’s children being happy.”

After they sat down, John looked around the hall and said, “Lord, the table is huge alright, but I notice it is empty.” Then, with a sense of realization he continued “I think I know why Lord. We asked you to teach us how to live a spiritual life. We cannot live a spiritual life if we have everything we need. So the table is empty, signifying a life of simplicity, humility, poverty, lack and want, ‘thorn in the flesh’ sicknesses and a lot of needs to keep us humble and totally dependant on You. Only then can we live a spiritual life. I am I right Lord?”

The Lord smiled, shook His head and replied, “You are totally wrong son. First of all, the table is not empty. It is packed with every good thing that you need to live a successful and victorious life on this earth. The table can hardly bear the weight of all the good things stacked up almost up to the ceiling of this huge hall. Its just that all the items are invisible to the human eye. You cannot see them, but I can see them as clearly as I can see you both.” The couple could hardly believe what the Lord was telling them. “Lord, You mean to say virtually everything that we need in this life is already provided here on this table?” they asked. The Lord nodded thoughtfully and said, “Virtually everything, and more than everything. I am El Shaddai, remember? A God who is more than enough!”

John said “Lord, it must have cost you a lot to fill a table so huge with priceless gifts!” The Lord solemnly acknowledged and said “It cost me My Life!” John and Ruth could feel their eyes filling up with tears. They stood in awe, face to face with the embodiment of love. The Lord continued “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

“By my Death, Burial and Resurrection, I have purchased all the good things that every single human being on earth, past, present and future would ever need. Righteousness, love, peace, joy, health, success in spiritual life, success in family life and the work place are all present here. Every single person is provided a table like this. The day they commit their lives to Me and accept Me as their Lord and Savior, I grant them the right to partake of it.”

John was confused. “But Lord, why do so many Christian believers go through life without enjoying any of these good things that you have so lovingly provided for them?” he asked. The Lord had a very sad look on His Face. “Some stick to their traditional beliefs and don’t accept Biblical Truth when it is taught to them. Some believe in the doctrine of poverty and reject My gift of an abundant life. Still others don’t believe in My goodness. They think all that I have provided in salvation is a ticket to Heaven and nothing else for their earthly life”, He answered.

“Now consider what I went through in order to purchase all this for mankind. I was bleeding from head to toe when I hung on the Cross, so that my children can have healing and live a perfectly healthy life, and yet so many live in sickness. My Body was broken so that their bodies may be made whole. But they reject this truth and instead believe that I give them their sickness in order to teach them something. I teach through My Word, not through sickness” the Lord continued.

“On the Cross, I became sin that my children might become the righteousness of God through Me. Yet many Christian believers think of themselves as unworthy sinners. In turn, this prevents them from leading a victorious Christian life. On the Cross, I became poor that my children might become rich and enjoy an abundant life. Yet they reject this generous gift and choose a life of poverty. They think I will be impressed by their humility. Instead, I am grieved by their ignorance” the Lord said very sadly.

“Remember, on the Cross I was your substitute, not your representative. After the full ransom was paid, I rose from the dead. In the resurrection, I became your representative. All that is mine is now yours. In Me you have all the riches of Heaven” the Lord continued, as He saw realization dawn on John and Ruth.

“Whenever you have a need, remember the banquet table. Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it (believe that it is already provided on the table), and it will be yours (it will appear in the physical realm). Don’t see the empty table. Learn to look into the spiritual realm, and see the table filled to capacity. Walk by faith, not by sight. That is the essence of living a spiritual life” the Lord taught. More on this >>

Biblical Parenting

Children in this information age seem to be so smart and clever, that parents these days find it extremely difficult to impose their opinion and standards on them. Some parents even wonder whether they should attempt to do so. Let us see what the Word of God has to say about this. Proverbs 22:6 says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Regarding the method of training, Proverbs 29:15 says "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother."

The rod and reproof can be interpreted as punishment and instruction for the modern-day parent. Both punishment and instruction are necessary for proper up-bringing. While both are necessary, their ratio would differ depending on the age of the child. Children below the age of 12 would generally respond better to punishment than instruction, while older children would respond better to instruction than punishment (if they had been receiving the former while they were younger). This is primarily because older children can understand while being instructed, whereas younger children would lack the necessary wisdom to comprehend a parent's instruction. So while a quick smack on the back would correct a younger kid, a more mature approach involving gentle instructions is required while correcting an older child.

All this is possible only if the child has reverence and respect for his parents. A child who talks back can hardly be controlled or instructed. So it is vitally important that a child is taught from a very young age to respect and implicitly obey his parents. Any sort of rebellion to authority should be very firmly handled the very first time it is noticed. Some secular parents would be amused at terms like implicit obedience and reverence & respect but I am sure most Christian parents understand what we are talking about.

Sometimes kids might look or act mature, but we must always remember that they lack experience and a sense of discernment until they become adults. Unfortunately even adults sometimes display these traits. That only goes on to show how they in turn were raised by their parents without proper discipline and control.

As we saw earlier, the Bible says that a child left to himself brings shame to his parents. But some parents feel that they should let their children alone and not interfere in their affairs. They feel that doing so would enhance their children's individuality. This is an awfully dangerous stand to take. Children need to be controlled. A child does not know what to eat, how long to play, what TV programs to watch and what is bad and what is good for him. Left to himself, he might just eat chocolates and ice cream and watch TV and play video games all day. He simply does not have the sense of discernment necessary to decide what is useful and what is harmful. So it is the parents' duty to control and protect their child so that he is exposed only to things that benefit him and is protected from things that might harm him. Control and protection are in the child's best interests. It is the parents' way of showing that they love the child.

Controlling a child and training him up requires a lot of patience. This takes an awful lot of time and effort and so parents usually fail to implement it. Parents these days rarely find time for this all-important duty. I guess most parents hardly realize what they are getting into when they decide to have a child. If they completely knew the amount of responsibility entrusted to them by God in raising a child, I am sure many would have second thoughts about having kids.

Children need to be controlled until they grow up and learn to control themselves. Once they learn how to apply control and restraint, the parents can slowly withdraw their control over their children. An example will show you how true this is. Think about babies and diapers for a moment. The parents use diapers because the baby has not learnt to control itself. So it has to be controlled from the outside with the help of diapers. Left to itself without diapers, this cute little thing can mess up the whole place in no time. So as a measure of control, the parents use diapers until the child is old enough to be toilet-trained. Once the child knows how to control itself, the diapers are no longer necessary. The very same truth applies to child training. The child needs external control from the parents until he learns to take control of his life.

Control and instruction are not merely options that parents can choose from to raise their children. They are God's mandate to every parent to raise up a Godly generation after them. The task would be made easier if the training starts very early in a child's life. The first and foremost thing that a child needs to learn is reverence and respect for his parents and implicit obedience. An obedient child is easier to control and instruct. Moreover, a child that learns to obey his parents learns to submit to authority. When the child grows up, he will respect and obey his mentors, his superiors, the law of the land and all forms of legitimate authority. Finally, he will learn to obey God. When The Lord one day knocks on the door of his heart, he will readily submit to this Ultimate Authority. All this depends on how well the parents control and instruct their child.

It should be every young parent's endeavor to reach the goal of having their children completely under their control before they attain the age of 12. Reaching that goal past that age is usually an uphill task. Clay lends itself to the potter's hands when it is wet. Once it starts to dry up, it becomes very difficult to shape.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6 More on this >>