In A Moment

Isaiah 43
1 But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel…

13 Indeed before the day was, I am He;And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;
I work, and who will reverse it?”
18 “ Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Would you like a chance to start all over? Would you like to leave behind everything that has happened up until now and see God do “a new thing” in your life? I know I would.

I don’t pay much attention to Jewish Holidays, but I was in a ministry training class on Monday, October 3, where I learned it was the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. This is the time that Jews contemplate their mistakes and sins of the past year and plan changes for the new year. Jews believe their lives are written in God’s books—who will have a good life or a bad life, who will live or die. The only thing that can change those decrees is their actions during the 10 days following Rosh Hashanah, ending with Yom Kippur (a day of atonement, repentance, and fasting). What does that mean for us?

There was a court hearing a week ago concerning three of my children who are in foster care. I didn’t even show up because I didn’t expect anything good to happen. My attorney had asked me to provide evidence that I’m making enough money to support my children, but I’m not. Imagine my surprise when she told me the next day that the court was sending my 9-year-old son Jerry home for a 60-day “trial release.” If that goes well, I will get custody of him. There will be another hearing October 11 to determine if my two little girls (5 and 7) should be sent home as well.

Bear in mind that all three of these children live in homes worth well over $1 million, with two adults to share the responsibility of caring for them. I live in a one-bedroom transitional apartment in a Latino ghetto with 3 teenagers (and soon my son Jerry). There is no logical reason the court should send my children home… just God.

On Sunday, the Lord told me to start fasting the next day. I had no idea it was Rosh Hashanah, or why I should care. But for the past couple of weeks, Isaiah 43:18-19 has been on my heart:
“Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

Consider this. In a moment, David was transformed from a criminal and a fugitive to ruler over God’s people. In a moment, Joseph was transformed from a prisoner to the second most powerful leader of a foreign nation. In a moment, Esther was transformed from a forgotten, lonely queen to a heroine and protector of her people. In a moment, a bunch of stinky, dirty, ignorant fishermen were transformed into powerful evangelists who turned their world upside down for Jesus.

Are you ready for a new start? Forget what happened in the past. Ask God to do a new thing, because when God works, NO ONE can reverse it! PRAISE GOD!, Now THAT is something to get excited about!

Yours in Christ,
Cathleen

Grafted In

Romans 11:17-18
But if some of the branches were broken off, while you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them to share the richness [of the root and sap] of the olive tree….

John 15:5
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

One of my first jobs after college was at the California Avocado Commission, where I responded to consumer letters. One of the most frequent questions was, “Can I grow an avocado tree from an avocado pit?” The answer is yes… and no. You can grow a tree, but it’s very unlikely it will bear any fruit. The reason for this is that fruit-bearing avocado trees require the union of two different types of trees. The grower starts with a hardy root stock that will endure changes in weather. When the tree reaches a certain size, the grower cuts off the branches and replaces them with branches from a tree that bears good fruit. The new branches are bound (taped) to the old branch. Before long, the two branches are completely joined, with no sign that they were ever separate. The sap from the roots runs all the way through the original tree and out into the branches, giving them life and allowing them to bear fruit.

My pastor recently used the analogy of a skin graft. When you have a severe injury, surgeons will take a healthy piece of skin from another part of your body and place it over the damaged area. Before long, the skin graft joins with the skin around it, giving it life.

That’s how Christians are supposed to be. When we’re “grafted in” to Christ, His will and desires become our will. His thoughts become our thoughts. We begin doing what He would do if He were still here in the flesh. It doesn’t happen overnight, and for some of us it never quite happens.

I’ll be the first one to admit that there’s a price to pay for this kind of unity. The closer I get to Jesus, the more He changes my desires. It starts with a slight feeling of discomfort about something I’m reading or watching or doing. At that moment, I have to make a decision: either I ignore the discomfort, or I let go of the thing that’s causing it.

If I ignore the discomfort and keep doing what I’ve done in the past, I sacrifice spiritual growth and closeness to God. Sometimes I don’t even notice the change for a few days, but eventually I realize I’m missing something. Some of the spiritual power I long for has slipped away, or I’m not being used as much by the Lord. On the other hand, if I’m sensitive to the Spirit and move away from what caused the discomfort, I realize after a few days that I don’t even miss that thing, and there is always a spiritual reward.

I guess in the end it comes down to this: How much Jesus do we want? How much spiritual power do we want? What are we willing to give up to obtain that power?

Your fellow servant in Christ,
Cathleen

Why Healing?

Acts 4:13-14
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

Acts 14:3
Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

Mark 16:17
And these signs WILL follow those who believe: In My name they WILL… lay hands on the sick, and they WILL recover.”
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I’ve never been especially interested in using healing as an evangelism tool. It just seems too risky. And obviously, people can get saved without healing. Look at Billy Graham’s ministry.

But I have a deep hunger to be used by God. And I don’t want to be used in an ordinary, once-in-a-while, accidental way; I want God to use me every single day in a powerful way that changes lives—not for my sake, but for His. I’m nowhere near that yet, but that’s my goal. When I see Him face to face, all I want to hear is, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

So, I’ve spent the last year studying people who have had a tremendous impact on the kingdom of God, both in the Bible and in modern times. What I see are people like Peter and John, who were “uneducated and untrained”—but they spoke with boldness because they had been with Jesus. People who hated them and Jesus couldn’t say anything against their teaching because JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF confirmed it with healing, signs and wonders—just like Jesus did when He was physically here on the earth.

Many people--Muslims, Buddhists, agnostics, and people of other faiths--believe Jesus was a great teacher. They just don’t see what makes Him any better than the teachers they believe in. Their teachers also claim to be the only way to God or the perfect life. The ONE THING that sets my Jesus apart is that He can perform healing, signs, and wonders to confirm who He is. Buddha can’t. Mohammed can’t. Maybe you’re such a powerful evangelist or teacher that you don’t “need” healing, signs or wonders. I just know that I’m not.

Cathleen

Can God Use Me to Heal?

Mark 16:17-18
17 And these signs WILL follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they WILL lay hands on the sick, and they WILL recover.”

John 14:12
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he WILL do also; and greater works than these he WILL do, because I go to My Father.

James 5
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

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So why is healing so rare in our lives and churches?

Unbelief is the obvious answer. The Bible says the prayer of faith will save the sick. Christians WANT to believe God will heal, so we pray a lot of “hopeful” prayers. But HOPING God will heal someone is a lot different (and a lot easier) than EXPECTING God to heal them. We can throw up as many “if it’s Your will, Lord” prayers as we want. They just won’t go anywhere, because there isn’t any faith in them (James 5:15). I should know, I’ve prayed plenty of those prayers myself, with the hopeless feeling that I was wasting my time. And sadly, I was.

The other reason healing is so rare, is that we don’t mind if God uses someone ELSE to pray for the sick, as long as it isn’t us. What if I pray for someone and they don’t get healed? Doesn’t that make God look bad? Doesn’t it make ME look bad? And besides, healing is controversial. Every well-known evangelist who boldly prays for people to be healed is a target for skepticism and ridicule. It’s easier to assume miraculous healings are fake. That way, we don’t have to feel ashamed for not praying like they do.

Jesus told us we would do the works that He did, and even greater works than that. He also said that believers WILL lay hands on the sick and they WILL recover. We should at LEAST be healing and casting out demons, at the same time that we’re evangelizing. The fact that we aren’t doing these things means something is wrong with our Christianity. Satan will do almost anything to keep Christians from boldly and successfully being used by God to heal people, because it is the most powerful evangelistic tool available to us. I’d say he is doing a pretty good job, wouldn’t you?

Yours in Christ,
Cathleen

Is it God’s will to heal?

Psalm 103
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases.

John 5:19
19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

Luke 11:2
So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

1 Peter 2:24
24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

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For the past couple of months, I’ve been taking a class on healing. It’s a tough subject for me, because most of my Christian walk (over 25 years), I’ve been taught by respected Bible teachers that sometimes it’s God’s will to heal and sometimes it isn’t, and that we shouldn’t expect too much when we pray for someone to be healed.

I was comfortable with that belief. It relieves the burden of guilt when I pray for myself or someone else to be healed. It also matches my experience—lots of people being prayed for, very few being miraculously healed. The problem is, it doesn’t match what I see in the Bible. You may not agree with what I write this week, but at least be willing to let the Holy Spirit show you the truth, even if it goes against your long-held, comfortable beliefs, just as it went against mine.

Jesus Christ is God’s will in action. John 5:19 tells us that Jesus could ONLY do what He saw the Father doing. So, what did Jesus do? He healed people, cast out demons, preached, taught, and won people to Christ. He also rebuked the self-righteous religious leaders who were also comfortable with their beliefs and didn’t like Him healing people. But He did not make people sick or blind. He didn’t give them cancer or arthritis or heart attacks. In Luke 11:2 Jesus taught His disciples to pray that God’s will would be done on earth as it was in heaven.

The bottom line for me is that it MUST be God’s will to heal people, just as it is His will to save them. That creates a new problem, at least for me. Where do I fit into the picture? What is my responsibility as a Christian regarding healing? More on that tomorrow.

Your fellow servant in Christ,
Cathleen