Jesus never stops

It is clear from happenings in my life that God has a time for everything. Since my hospitalization contrary to expectations I have not gone to be with the Lord. Instead I have gained in some areas and gone back in others.  A few weeks ago one of my Methodist preacher friends came by to visit. I had not seen him for several years. I had been scheduled to speak in his church when I got sick. He showed up when he said he would, and brought with him a little black box. I knew what it was, for one of my students at the seminary had brought one to show me after I taught about the healing power of the Eucharist. I commented when he took it out that I knew what it was. He then told me that he wanted to celebrate communion (The Eucharist) with me anoint me with oil and pray for my healing. I have had many prayers, and probably survived my pneumonia and heart failure because of them, but this time more happened.

My illness had been stable with little improvement, but after his visit I imperceptibly began to improve. My shortness of breath decreased, my swollen legs were less swollen, the depression I felt lifted and I was able to function much better. My diabetes that had been out of control for months suddenly stabilized at a much lower level. Elizabeth commented that I was better, but I could not believe it for several days because the degenerative diseases I have do not usually remit, yet here I was improving mightily. That is not to say that my leg strength improved, nor did my arthritis, but I have been much much better.

My wife and I pray each morning for one another and that has been enormously comforting, but not healing. As a physician I always want to know cause and effect in disease, but there was no medical reason for my improvement, unless it was the prayers. In my years of studying prayer I have always been impressed with the repetitions of certain principles. One is to pray unceasingly. Another is to pray fervently, and another is to listen carefully. One can always find formulas for praying, but the best definition I have read is that prayer is a conversation between to person who love one another. Thus we do not have to use King Jame English for him to hear. We do not have to rattle on with meaningless babble. We do not have to pray to impress others with our ability to pray. Jesus said that persons who did so received there reward from those who said, "My, My Doesn't he pray beautiful prayers. Pastoral prayers don't do much for me, for they do not express what is on my heart. Paul could, however, say in a few words prayers that were about things that are, or ought to be on our heart (Colossians 1:9-12).

My father was a real Christian. Every night he would read a chapter or so in his bible. Then go kneel beside his bed, and pray for fifteen minutes. When I became a Christian I asked him what he prayed about. He said, "I was praying for you, your brother, and your mother. We all came to Christ, I at 44 my brother at age 42 and mother at age 69. God does answer prayer. We had a prayer meeting made up of students and residents. that met weekly. We kept a record of our prayers,  and by periodically finding out whether the prayer was answered. We found that 65% of the prayers were answered positively,  for 20% there was no answer, an for 15% there was a negative answer. The most amazing thing was that we prayed up 5 babies. Five wives had been barren for 4 to 8 years. After we started praying for them they were all pregnant within a few months

As prayer has changed me it changes others, and changes things too.

Cursed

In the book of Deuteronomy God told the Israelis that if they did not obey his laws they would be cursed. He then listed all of the consequences that would accrue for disobedience as well as the blessings for obedience.. The rest of the story is that they did. The Old Testament is the story of their times of obedience and disobedience and the promised consequences. These have not been rescinded.

When we become Christians we promised to be obedient, but we live in a morally polluted environment that is infectious. The Bible says that bad company ruins good character. We do, therefore, set ourselves apart from the world, for it today is profoundly polluted. And we see signs of of its infectiousness all around us. Still we cannot avoid the infection. Pornography infects our sexual lives, abortion and abortifaicents infect our attitudes toward sex, drugs and alcohol gain control of our brains and lead us to disintegration of our lives in our families, in our work, and in all of our relationships. Greed leads to fraud, embezzling and thievery. Since the consequences of these sinful behaviors are painful and cause great suffering they provide us with opportunities to offer the suffering healing

 For two thousand years there has accumulated empirical evidence to support the correctness of God's laws. Their purpose is to protect us from ourselves, and not to punish us. he created us and being the omniscient God that he is we should respect his love for us. He does not want to see us suffer and as he did in Deuteronomy he told us to choose life and righteousness.

We, therefore, knowing that a righteous life is filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, humility and, self control should want our fellow man to escape the suffering that he is undergoing or will undergo. it is incumbent upon us to share the only surefire method of escape. In all of my travels I have learned that people who suffer want to share it with someone. All one has to do to get them to tell us about what is bothering them is to ask them to tell us about themselves, their work , or their family. If they have problems they will often unload on us. This will be especially true if  we let the love of God radiate from us. This is always manifested in the tone of voice and the compassion of God who uses our emotions to signal his love for them. If we believe that their problem is amenable to spiritual interventions you can use them. your choice will be determined by their degree of spiritual maturity or by the absence of  a relationship with the Lord. .

PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS

I have written before about Jesus selection of his disciples, and how they Christianized the Roman empire in 300 years. Then politics got involved and a hierarchy of people changed the leadership of the church from one that was empowered and guided by the Holy Spirit to one that was guided and directed by men, and whose leaders were selected by men and not by God.  As I have watched the extravaganza that surrounds the selection of the new Pope I was reminded of many of Jesus sayings. There was on picture of the cardinals preparing for their daily conclave, in which they were dressed in their red robes, and were putting on their mitres. I immediately thought of Jesus description of the dress of the pharisees who had fancy robes with all kinds of tassels on them. He also commented on their long loud prayers. He said that they have already received their reward, and that reward was the admiration of other men.

As the Cardinals assemble each day they go about selecting their future leader by voting. Is the kingdom of God a democracy or is it a theocracy? God chooses who he will use to lead his kingdom. When he chose a successor to Saul he looked at all of Jesse's sons and finally chose David because his heart was right. They are choosing the new Pope because he reputedly has to clean up the mess that plagues the Catholic church. The problem of pedophilia throughout the church, the shortage of priests, the declining membership, the finances of the church, are all seen as secular problems, with a secular solution. 

God does  not choose people because of what they are, but for they can become. Just look at Saul of Tarsus who was doing all he could to destroy the church. God took the zeal he had for destroying the church, and used that zeal to build the church. He took the ordinary men who were to become the apostles, and made them extraordinary theologians and preachers. It was interesting that he did not have to give them a sales talk, nor did have have an election, he just said follow me. If their heart was right, and could give up everything to follow him, they went. He then educated them and showed them how to win souls, and finally empowered them to take the Good News to the world, but those who were not willing to give up everything faded into oblivion. 

The papal elections brought to mind my experiences teaching in a seminary. We are still educating men and women as Pharisees. to guide the church. They no longer see their parishioners as equals, but they set themselves apart by wearing robes clerical collars, and having themselves called reverend, pastor or priest. They seek higher degrees such as MDivs, DMins, and PhDs. I do not know of any minister who wins more souls to Christ because of his higher degrees. If any of the priesthood of believers is called to win souls then he does so in spite of his degree or lack of a degree. 

We have it all wrong! Jesus did not intend for us to live in the church like we live in the world. The only place where we are equal is before God. We are all accepted by him, but if we are authentic Christians we have different gifts and talents. We are to  use them for  him, but we are all to proclaim the Gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons.

DISCIPLESHIP

In my conversation today with a Christian leader I found the he shared my dismay at how few so called  Christians lacked any kind of discipleship training. The subject of our conversation had been stimulated by a book I just finished reading that stressed the lack of knowledge of most Christians. We both agreed that this has come about because of TV and cell phones. People are not taught how to grow in their faith. When we are children it is very important to our parents that we learn to walk, talk, to control our bladder and bowels, to use eating utensils, to tie our shoes, to read, to write, to  control our emotions, and to relate to parents and others. No one, however, teaches, us how to develop a relationship with God and how to foster that relationship. We assume that The church will do it, but Satan has convinced church educators that it is not necessary.

My friend and I agreed that one cannot integrate their faith if they are baby Christians. Salvation is not enough! We cannot integrate a faith we do not have, for we have to have command of spiritual interventions to use them. For instance 69 % of patients would like to have their doctors pray with them. But doctors rarely do. If the average Christian prays only one minute a day, how can they pray for a patient. One has to pray in the Spirit for prayer to be effective, and how can they pray in the Spirit if they do not know how to pray for the sick or the Spirit does not guide them. How can they encourage people if they do not know how to convey the hope that they have in Christ? How can their minds be transformed their if we cannot present the truth given to us by God? You have to understand that when a person is sick the entire being is sick! they may be sick in the body, but the rest of their body is involved. Having  reached the end of my life at age 90, and having just had a very serious illness that was so severe that  all thought I would die I can tell you that what I just wrote is true.

The other tragedy is that the church no longer prays. When I was young we had prayer meetings every Wednesday night The room would be full of people who prayed about a wide array of subjects. Then with time they prayed less and less, and let the pastor do all the praying. Then they quite having prayer meetings Today they have a little devotional when they are going to be about God's work with just a few words of prayer. Very few persons in business or in human services ever pray for God's guidance. For 40+ years I prayed each morning for God to give me wisdom in handling my patients that day. He did.

I wrote a book on discipleship that contained the essential knowledge that a person had to have to be a true disciple, but it has not been popular. Even though I tried to market it I had little success,  but recently a small church on Eastern North Carolina did women's  study of the book, then men then insisted that they have one too, and they were very glad they did. If you want one you can go to our website at InstChristiangrowth.org and order one. It is titled The Nuts and Bolts of Discipleship.

IT IS NOT TOO LATE

I have not posted a new blog of late since I, being 90 yrs old, had a flu like syndrome and developed pneumonia. I got so short of breath that I almost died and was transferred to Hospice. Everyone thought I would, but God was not ready for me so I am back. My faith stood me in good stead during my ordeal. On two nights I became delirious and hallucinated strange geometric patterns that looked like electronic circuits. I thought it was a harbinger of the end of the world. Then I thought well it is going to come sooner or later so why not now? I had perfect peace about my illness. I had lived a good life and I had something to look forward to. You see we Christians have a futurology. It is part of our worldview that is not possessed by the world. They look forward to extinction, but since they are infinitely interested in existing they have conflict. It is interesting that 90% of people think they going to heaven,or hope they are going, while only 30% of them are born again, and are assured of their future. Think of the alternatives when we die. There are only two of them. We either go to heaven or hell. there is no real choice here, but 70% of people believe Satan's lies and assure themselves of a future that is horrible to contemplate.

I tell you this because it is incumbent on us to offer them the chance to escape. That is why we need to become once again a priesthood of believers. We have to carry the gospel into the world, and witness to them. We all have people who we have as friends or family who are unsaved. All of them have spiritual disease. Since we are along side them we have a chance to ask them how are things these days. They are going to tell us that everything is OK, but if they get stressed they will tell us that they are not OK. There are so many things that can go wrong that sooner or later they will tell us about them. For example a friend of mine for 54 years retired, became handicapped, and we saw little of each other. One day he called me and wanted to come see me. When he arrived he was obviously extremely anxious. He had discovered that he had macular degeneration and was going blind. Treatment was started, but after several treatments there were complications, and he became quite depressed. His primary care physician started him on an antidepressant that helped his depression but he still had panic attacks that were very upsetting. I knew what to do so I called his primary care physician, and asked him to put him on a medication that was specific for panic attacks. I told my friend, though, that Jesus could help too, but he told me he was not ready for that . He did  though call me everyday to let me know how he was doing. A couple of weeks later I offered him Christ again, and again he refused. Several phone calls later he grated me with "I'm ready to accept Christ". I was surprised, but not shocked, and explained to him what he was about to do. He accepted this explanation so I told him that two things were necessary, He had to sincerely make Jesus Lord of his life, and believe he was resurrected from the dead (Romans 10;9,10). He wanted to do that so we prayed and he accepted Christ as Lord and Master and acknowledged that he believed he was resurrected. He had, as expected, a radical transformation and was healed. When he calls now he always tells me that he loves me, and asks me spiritual questions. He also tells me about thingS he is reading in the large print Bible I gave him. He was healed of unbelief, which was his primary spiritual disease, and became a new person. You can do the same thing if you are an authentic Christian.




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GET A CALL

Hello! last time I posted I said that a person has to have faith to be able to integrate their faith. I presume that  you do.  To begin you must have been discipled. I learned early in my walk with the Lord that I did not know how to communicate with him. I found this out when our church had a prayer vigil in preparation for a Lay Witness Mission. We were urged to sign up and it felt that I must take part so I went out to sign up. The only times left were at 2 AM and 2:15 AM. I thought they had to be out of their mind to expect anyone to sign up for those times, but I felt I had to sign up, but I did for the 2 AM spot. I went to  bed that night and set my alarm for 1:30. When it beeped I got up brushed my teeth, dressed, and went to the church. When I got there the lady who was praying left, and I knelt at the communion rail. It was then that I did not know what to pray for. So I said out loud, "Lord I don't know what they want, but whatever it is let them have it! I then spent the next 14 minutes and 30 seconds realizing that I did not know how to pray.

I am a person who believes in good communication so I read a number of books on prayer, and developed a prayer life. I was not going to be like most church members who only pray 1 minute a day. It took me a while to find out how God communicated with me, but I did learn when I got a copy of Good News For Modern Man. God illuminated the scriptures for me and I found that I needed to read the scriptures each day. Most church goers do not read it but one a week. In time I found that the Means of Grace were necessary for me to grow as a Christian. There are other things a person has to learn to do in this relationship, so I have summarized them all in a book entitled The Nuts and Bolts of Discipleship. I would suggest you get a copy and read it if you want to facilitate your growth. (www.InstChristiangrowth.org)

After you have been discipled you need a call from God to know what you are going to do to serve him.  What you need to do to get your call is to tell God you are available and ready to go. "Here am I, send me". Then keep your eyes and heart open to see what attracts you. It will be biblical, and you will find that there will be opportunities for you to indulge your interests. You certainly ought to look at your occupation  to see what opportunities exist there for you to be a Christian worker, boss or whatever you are. The best way to start is to love your fellow workers.

I once read a book by Keith Miller entitled  Setting Men Free.  In it he said that if you wanted to change peoples lives you should affirm (love) them. At the time I  had a secretary who was not the most pleasant person in the world, so I thought I would find out if his technique worked. One of my patients told me that I should knock her in the head. "She is one of the nastiest people I have run into lately". I realized I had to do something so when smy secretary came in with a new hairdo I complimented on it and told her how much I liked it. She smiled and thanked me. Then a week or so later she came in with a new pantsuit on and when I saw it I told her that it was  very attractive, and how with her new hairdo she was really attractive. Then when she typed a manuscript for me that I was going to present at a meeting the next week, I told her. "Thank you for the job you did for me. That is a said anything wrong. It's just that no one ever says anything nice to me. My dad used to tell me I was ugly and no man would ever want me. Sonny my husband never says anything nice to me. I'm just not used to it". After that she was a changed woman, and everyone commented on the change including the patient who thought I ought to knock her in the head

Many times you will see ministries that appeal to you, or they will be a new use for your talents. I have always been a person who loved to teach. So it was only natural that I should want to teach others about God. I have been teaching 64 years, 46 of them as Christian. I love to share God with people and even more to help Christians grow. This was the reason I took a job in a seminary after I retired from Duke. I had the knowledge and I passed it on. One good example of integrating ones faith is the president to Chick-Fil-A. His faith is reflected in the treatment of his employees and customers.

Finally determine if you have a call, If you don't ask God to tell you what he wants you to do. Then whatever he says unto you--do it.

IT ALL BEGINS WITH YOU

No one can integrate their faith unless they have a faith. To have faith one must be sure of the things they hope for, and to be certain of the things they cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1) What we hope for as Christians is that we will have eternal life in the Kingdom of God, and we are certain that there is a Heaven and Hell. We know that God has made it possible so the assurance will come if we have obeyed Christs commandments. These are to love God with all of our being, to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to love one another as Christ has loved us. We are to show our love by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving water to the thirsty, taking strangers in our home and visiting the sick and prisoners. We can do these things, though, only if we are born again and filled with the Spirit. Since we have free will we can choose to be obedient and invite Jesus into our life and when we have been empowered we can can begin to do these things. Without him we can only do what the human nature leads us to do. Our human nature only wants to please itself.

Once you have faith you have to grow in it. Paul called newborn Christians babies that only could drink milk, but once they have grown a little bit they have to be nurtured and learn to communicate with God. Christianity is a relational religion and for us to grow in it we have to learn to talk the talk. We need a thorough knowledge of the Bible, we need to know how to pray, and have to learn that we have access to God by conversing with him and we have to be still and know that he will reply.  It is imperative for us to regularly be in conversation with him. This is the greatest failure of Christians in the church today. They pray on the average about 1 minute a day and read their Bible only once or twice a week. Supposed you only conversed with your wife or parents that much. You would not have a relationship. Relationships only develop when we are attracted to other and come along side them and learn all about them. as you do you make them supernaturally part of you because you have installed them in your mind. If you love them you will   put their best interests and welfare above your own. An you will live your life for them. To maintain that love and devotion you will have to spend a lot of time with them and communicate with them all that is on your mind. You will never grow or maintain your relationship if you don't. This is what your hove to do to maintain your relationship with God.

When I first became a Christian I did not know how to communicate with the God who had told me he loved me. I had heard preachers pray in King James English, Calling him Gawd, and going on an on with flowery language. Jesus spoke to that when he excoriate the Pharisees for standing on the street corners dressed in fancy robes, and going on and on in their prayer. He said that they had already received their reward. That reward was the admiration of people who saw them there. To learn ho to communicate I had to learn to pray. I realized this when our church had a prayer vigil. We were encouraged to sign up. I went out into the foyer of the church where the sign up sheet was located and found that only two times were available--2 AM and 2:15 AM. I thought they had to be crazy to have someone come to the church and pray at those times., But I felt I had to sign up so I signed up for 2 AM. I went to bed that night set my alarm for 2 AM. When ti went off, I got up brushed my teeth, put on my close and went  to the church. When I arrived the woman who was there got up an left. I want to the communion rail and knelt. It was then that I realized that I did not know what to pray for, so I said Lord I don't know what it is that they want, but whatever it is let them have it Then for the next 14 minutes and 30 seconds I knelt realizing not only that I did not know what to pray for that night, but I did not know how to pray.

For the next months I read everything I could find on prayer. When I finished I knew how to pray.I also knew what to pray for too. Now I had to learn about other ways of communicating with God. More about that next time.