{"id":458,"date":"2019-05-04T11:42:48","date_gmt":"2019-05-04T15:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/?p=458"},"modified":"2019-05-04T11:42:48","modified_gmt":"2019-05-04T15:42:48","slug":"the-battle-belongs-to-the-lord-part-2-faith-and-healing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/?p=458","title":{"rendered":"THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD, PART 2: FAITH AND HEALING"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FAITH:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and\ncertain of what we do not see. – Hebrews\n11:1 (NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We finally heard definitively that CJ has metastatic ovarian cancer. She had her first chemo treatment 2 days ago. As any normal person would, we pray for healing for CJ! We are asking God to guide and intervene in this entire process, and of course would like to see CJ restored to full health! But as any mature Christian understands, God rarely answers our prayers just the way we want; he often has a better plan in mind, one we cannot fully grasp with our limited understanding. As the apostle Paul reminds us, now our view of God is like looking dimly into a hazy mirror, but someday we will fully be in God\u2019s presence and see things clearly! (I Corinthians 13:12) And so before <\/em>we even begin to look at God\u2019s healing, we need to first begin by understanding what faith in God involves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) GOD\u2019S WAYS ARE BIGGER AND BETTER THAN OURS!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah 55:8-9 \u201cFor my thoughts are not your thoughts,\nnor are your ways my ways\u201d, says the Lord. \u201cFor as the heavens are higher than\nthe earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your\nthoughts\u201d.<\/em> This means God is God, and\nwe are not! And part of trust, or faith, in God is that God\u2019s<\/em> answer to our prayers is always in line with his \u201cbigger\npicture\u201d plan, not just what we think we want right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) FAITH IS BASED ON THE ASSURANCE AND CERTAINTY OF A\nFUTURE HOPE!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you already see\nsomething or know the outcome, that\u2019s not faith; it\u2019s just observation. I think\nthere are 2 basic kinds of hope. The 1st<\/sup> I would call preferred hope. <\/em>This is common\nhuman hope that says \u201cI want God to give me health, a great husband or wife,\nsmart kids, a great home with good neighbors, lots of good friends, and as a\nChristian, a good long life loving God, serving others & sharing the good\nnews of the gospel, and enjoying this beautiful world\u201d. And when crisis comes,\nwe ask God to rescue us with such things as healing, a new job, a reconciled\nmarriage, overcoming addiction, or maybe kids that finally wise up and see the\nlight!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2nd<\/sup> kind of\nhope I call promised hope!<\/em>\nThis is what true Christian faith is anchored on. This is based upon the actual\npromises that God gives us in the Bible. This includes such things as\nforgiveness for and salvation from our sins through Jesus\u2019 death &\nresurrection; strength and peace as we face various trials in life; the promise\nof God\u2019s Holy Spirit dwelling within us, Jesus\u2019 promise never to leave us nor\nforsake us as we go through the trials of life, the promise of new, abundant\nlife through Jesus, and eternal life in God\u2019s new Kingdom that will last\nforever! These, and many other promises, are unchanging, and we can \u201cbank of\nthem\u201d with certainty! All the other \u201cpreferred\u201d hopes we have may, or may not,\nbe part of God\u2019s overall, eternal plan for our specific life. Hebrews chapter\n11 is considered the ultimate \u201cfaith chapter\u201d, and highlights many people who\nsaw God answer their \u201cpreferred\u201d prayers, but many others who in faith didn\u2019t\nget what they wanted, but looked forward to the ultimate future that God\npromises us all who trust in Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To see from God\u2019s perspective,\nit helps to look at the Bible as God\u2019s divine drama for our lives, based on 4\nacts. Act 1 is Creation:<\/strong> God created a magnificent world without sin, and\nwe were the crowning achievement, made in God\u2019s image! We were created to live\nin God\u2019s presence in the Garden of Eden forever, enjoying a sinless, wonderful\nlife with him! Act 2 is the Fall:<\/strong>\nAdam & Eve chose to sin and disobey God, resulting in being banished from\nGod\u2019s presence and suffering the consequences of sin. All of creation feels the\neffects of sin: physical death, sickness, hatred, strife, wars, killing,\nmistrust, pollution, and virtually everything that makes life miserable for us\nand separates us from God. Act 3 is Redemption:<\/strong>\nJesus came to earth to rescue us from the deadly effects of sin by dying in our\nplace. And his powerful resurrection unleashed the power of God to reverse the\nhorrific effects of sin and begin to redeem and restore us and all creation to what\nwe were created to be! Act 4 is the Restoration:\n<\/strong>Jesus preached a new coming Kingdom of God, and anyone who trusts and\nbelieves in Him as the Son of God will be able to inherit that Kingdom! There\nwill be no more sin here, and we will live forever in God\u2019s presence again with\nnew bodies that never get sick or die. We will ultimately live on a restored,\nnew earth that in many ways may be similar to this one, but will have none of\nthe effects of sin that plague us now, and God will dwell with us! Here we will\nlive in what the Bible calls Shalom, which means complete wholeness, harmony,\nand peace with God, with each other, and with the created world itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HEALING:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that have God\u2019s bigger\npicture and plan in mind, we can understand God\u2019s healing from that\nperspective. Remember two things about God\u2019s physical healing: 1) it is\ntemporary. All of us will die at some point in the future. 2) It\u2019s always for\nGod\u2019s glory. He always heals in the Bible to point to his coming Kingdom, and\nhealing reminds us that God has power over sickness & death, and in the\nfuture Kingdom, we will never be sick or die again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is spring, and\nbaseball fans are always optimistic, at least for a few weeks (even the Detroit Tiger fans!). Let\u2019s use a baseball\ndiamond to explain how God heals us. Consider the 4 bases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home plate: <\/strong>This\nis \u201chome\u201d, the Kingdom of God that Jesus preached about, that amazing, eternal\nsinless abundant life that God promises to all who put their trust in Jesus as\nLord and Savior! Imagine God as the umpire, and only he decides who will safely\nbe allowed to cross this plate into eternity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First base: <\/strong>This\nis the first kind of healing, what many consider to be miracles or\ninstantaneous healing. The Bible has many example of this, and this is\nprimarily how Jesus healed people. This happens in every generation, including\ntoday, but not as frequently as in the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second base: <\/strong>This\nis a more gradual, slow-process type healing that includes rest and use of\nmedical knowledge, and is the most common type of temporary healing. God has\ncreated an awesome, magnificent natural world, and he has given many people\nwisdom and knowledge to understand how to use chemicals and natural plants to create\nwonderful medicines and treatments. Together with our wonderfully created\nbodies that have their own healing mechanisms, God uses all of this to bring\nhealing to our bodies and souls. We are praying for CJ\u2019s chemo treatments to\nhave this God-inspired effect!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third base: <\/strong>This\nis healing through physical death, and none of us who love our family and life\nhere would \u201cprefer\u201d this option, at least right now! (But we will all reach 3rd<\/sup>\nbase sometime, whether we want to or not!) When I was in seminary a lifetime\nago, the President of the seminary had a life-long healing ministry and told us\nthat death is the ultimate form of God\u2019s healing. Back then, I thought that was\njust a cop-out. But if we can step back and remember God\u2019s \u201cbig picture\u201d\nviewpoint, death for believers is a step into his Kingdom, an amazing new life,\nwithout sin and with a new body, more wonderful than we can ever imagine! And\nto carry out the baseball analogy, if you are dead on 3rd<\/sup> base, you\ncan\u2019t go home. But God provided Jesus to be our \u201cpinch runner\u201d, and through his\nresurrection overcame the power of death and can now easily carry us \u201chome\u201d if\nwe will trust him and allow him to save us and help us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many Christians in our\nworld who face extreme persecution and hardship, and for others who are\nphysically worn down due to severe physical disease or just old age, death can\nbecome a welcome relief and a portal of faith into the new life with God we all\nlong for, deep down in our souls. The apostle Paul faced great hardship and\npersecution, but also loved his mission work. He felt this struggle and said \u201cFor to me, to live is Christ, and to die is\ngain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet\nwhat I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two,\nhaving a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.\u201d \u2013\nPhilippians 1:21-24<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be brutally honest, I\nlove Paul\u2019s writings and I know the future Kingdom will be amazing; but Paul\nwas a single man facing great persecution. I have shared a wonderful 41 years\nwith an amazing wife named Claudia! And I\u2019m praying and asking the Lord for a\nfirst or second base type of healing, at least for many more years! But\nwhatever happens, I will always trust God to \u201chave our back\u201d, and I know that\nHis thoughts and ways are marvelous and beyond what we can imagine!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please pray for<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– God\u2019s healing for CJ,\naccording to his time-table and perfect plan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– peace, strength, patience,\nand deepening faith for us, so that God might be glorified in the way we act\nand live out our lives<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– pray for yourselves (and\nwe pray with you), that you can fully trust your life to Jesus, and know with\nassurance and peace that you are his child and he holds you in the palm of his\nhand!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll end with an\nencouraging quote I read this week:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFaith raises the soul\nabove the difficulty, straight to God himself, and enables one to stand still.\nWe gain nothing by our anxious and restless efforts\u2026 It is therefore true\nwisdom, in all times of difficulty and perplexity, to stand still\u2014to wait only\nupon God, and He will assuredly open a way for us\u201d.  \u2013 C.H. Mackintosh<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God bless you all! May his\npeace and strength inhabit your life and soul!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FAITH:  Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. – Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) We finally heard definitively that CJ has metastatic ovarian cancer. She had her first chemo treatment 2 days ago. As any normal person would, we pray for healing for CJ! We are … Continue reading THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD, PART 2: FAITH AND HEALING<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":460,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions\/460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}