How My New Puppy Healed My Heart

This past Thursday my wife, grandkids and I drove about 3 hours north to get a puppy—a nine-week-old German Shepherd/Great Pyrenees mix. We have been looking at dogs for a while and have been discussing it for years, but held off for various reasons. My wife had dogs much of her adult life and my family had a few different dogs when I was growing up. My wife and I have wanted a dog for a while but have held off for a variety of reasons. We have had rabbits and chickens, but this would be our first dog as a couple. All of us were excited.

The event itself took all day. Between six hours of driving to this farm, helping the wife of the couple deliver a baby goat, and meeting the litter and picking a puppy, the hours flew by. The ride home was stressful as well, as the dog got carsick early on and we still had a long drive ahead of us. It all worked out, the puppy arrived at our home safe and sound, and we have been having a both enjoyable-yet-stressful first week with the puppy. What surprised me the most about this entire process was the inner healing I have received during this past week—all from getting a new dog.

To back the story up a bit, when I was younger, all of our dogs were SPCA rescues. The first was Mosby, a golden lab who we ended up having to give away years later. I was probably eight or nine at the time. We had Jeb for a few months, a pitbull puppy who we took back because he was a biter, and at some point we found Ginger. She is the only dog my parents have had in the past thirty years who was not given some sort of South-related Civil War name—and I named her. 🙂

Ginger was a total sweetheart, and I loved that dog. I think our family pretty unanimously agrees that she was the best dog we have ever had, and I remember the day we had her put to sleep. She was old, and I forget all the details, but I was in my teens and I was very sad—we all were. I remember her laying on the table on the right-hand side of our vet’s office as he injected a blue-colored substance into her, and she closed her eyes and passed away. I will never forget that moment; I loved that dog.

Fast forward again to this past week, and this new dog (whom we named Rowan Bronx Delta the I) has helped bring me inner healing I didn’t know I needed–grieving over Ginger’s death. I have found myself thinking of my favorite childhood dog multiple times this past week—when I haven’t thought of her in years. It’s amazing how something so simple—and what would usually be thought of as a good thing, can bring about such painful memories. And while this might not sound like a good thing, it’s actually quite wonderful.

You see, grief, and all other painful emotions are stored in the body, and over time they contribute to physical disease. Even when they don’t cause disease, they remain behind the scenes and negatively impact our ability to make good decisions. When situations arise that feel similar to the one that caused our pain, we naturally and unconsciously react to protect ourselves from further pain. This means that we aren’t actually free to make good decisions because we tend to choose whatever will keep us from the pain we don’t realize we are carrying.

I am thrilled to have added Rowan to our family. I am blessed that I had the opportunity to have Ginger as a pet. And I am very thankful that God has used this encounter to help set me free. How has God been bringing about healing in your life?

For those who need or want help with inner healing, check out the following:

Flower Essences — these are designed to help release the negative emotions stored in our bodies and make it easier to receive inner healing. Freedom Flowers is the company I recommend to everyone, and if you are new to essences there is a free introductory course you can sign up for on the main page .
Emotional Healing Prayer — there are a number of great books out there, but two in particular come to mind: Praying Medic’s book Emotional Healing in 3 Easy Steps and Karol Truman’s book Feelings Buried Alive Never Die. The first is a quick and easy method to receive simple healing and is very effective; I use it regularly. The latter delves a good bit deeper, and can help identify hidden emotions as well as help heal them.
Prayer Counseling: There are a number of prayer counselors out there who can help you, but a few I recommend are Emotional And Spiritual Healing and Debalm Ministries.
I have written a few other blog posts on this subject including The Weight of Sorrows, Five Steps To Emotional Healing, and Divine Healing That Works
Check out my new coauthored book Broken to Whole: Inner Healing for the Fragmented Soul. In this book you will learn not only how to identify fragmented parts of your soul and spirit that need healing and integration, but you will uncover why and how they got broken to begin with, as well as what problems they have been causing in your life. You can use the “Fragment Finder” flower essence from Freedom flowers alongside the book to help move your fragment-healing journey forward even faster.
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Prophecy Games: Misusing the Word of Knowledge

About two months ago I was standing on a church platform with another minister delivering words of knowledge related to healing during a conference. After the session a number of different people approached me to let me know the words that I and the minister in charge of the event had given were accurate, and some of them received healing when we spoke without ever calling them up or laying hands on them. One gentleman came to me after the session as well, but with a different request—he wanted more words of knowledge.

I had already given him one during the session, and that word instructed him to stop seeking physical healing because his physical maladies were from unhealed emotions. (For more on the emotional roots of physical disease, read 5 Steps to Emotional Healing and The Weight of Sorrows) In and of itself it was fine that he wanted more, but the problem wasn’t just that he wanted a prophetic word—he specifically wanted more words of knowledge.

For those who are unfamiliar with it, the word of knowledge is one of the gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12, and this particular gift involves receiving divine revelation of factual information about a person, place, or thing. The more spectacular examples are calling out people’s phone or social security numbers, license plates, or other factual data that connected to a specific individual whom you didn’t know to begin with. Certainly there are some fakers who gather information in advance and/or use a planted audience member, but if the gift is used it involves receiving knowledge by divine revelation. It is commonly used in healing ministry because getting words of knowledge about physical conditions the audience members have raises their faith and allows you to join in with what God is doing at the time. There are other applications for this gift. For example, we use this gift a lot in our house when we lose things.

The problem is when the word of knowledge becomes something used for show or external validation when in reality it serves no real purpose whatsoever. This individual who approached me after the meeting wanted more words of knowledge, and at first I let him know he had a problem with his right shoulder (which he did), but he then asked for me to tell him the other 13 places in his body where he was having problems. That’s where I stopped him and challenged him on something. He knew where his problems were, and God knew as well. The only difference is that I didn’t know, but he could have listed them for me then and there instead of playing some strange prophecy-game with me, trying to see if I could ferret them out. At the end of the day this would have been utterly pointless because again, I was using the word of knowledge to tell him things he already knew.

We had a lengthy discussion afterward, but what struck me was how silly this aspect of this encounter was, and it made me realize that we still need to learn and grow in maturity in this area. I love spiritual gifts, and greatly enjoy using them, but there is a time and place for everything, and sometimes it’s just not necessary. We all like to know that God is thinking of us, and sometimes giving someone a word of knowledge gives a divine reminder that God is watching over them, but we can also take it to an unhealthy extreme, such as in the above situation.

The word of knowledge is a wonderful gift, but it needs to be used wisely and appropriately. Finding lost belongings, getting revelation on a forgotten password, or even receiving downloads about prayer needs, injuries to be healed, and more are all helpful ways we can make use of this gift. It can help us to see into the hearts of others, and if we use it wisely then we can take those opportunities to minister God’s love to one another. I encourage you to look at ways you can make use of this gift in your own life, then work on practicing with it until it becomes comfortable and useful on a regular basis. This gift is a valuable tool in the spiritual arsenal of life, which is why God provided it for us. Blessings!

Cussing Versus Cursing

I was riding in a vehicle with a friend last week when a driver cut her off and she said something like “I hope you get stuck in the mud.” I was surprised to hear her say this and said “You literally just cursed that man.” She disagreed, which led to a conversation about the difference between cussing versus cursing.

The Bible is very clear about the fact that curses are powerful and do actually work. They are not made-up and imaginary things that don’t actually work. Anyone who practices any form of sorcery or black magic is well accustomed with curses, as they are a key component in the arsenal. Bless those who pay you, curse those you do you wrong. Curses are basically a pronouncement of some kind with an expected end-result that is stated in the curse. It could be something like “You will never birth a child” resulting in being unable to carry any children to term and/or as has happened in some places in Africa, women who have been cursed remain pregnant for even years at a time with a single child, unable to actually birth it. It could be much more immediate than that, such as “May you fall and hurt yourself today”, and sure enough you take a spill during your afternoon bike ride. These are good examples of curses, albeit rather basic ones. Some have entire rituals surrounding them to enhance the power of the curse while others are as simple as something spoken, something done.

Cussing, on the other hand, is mentioned elsewhere in the Bible where it speaks of not using vulgar language. The interesting thing about cussing is that in many ways this is highly subjective. What might be a cuss word to one person is simply a term to someone else. Some people prefer to use certain cuss words and other “dirty” language during sex, and I suggest the level of appropriateness in those circumstances entirely depends on the parties involved. What one person might find acceptable is cussing to someone else. This can cause some embarrassing situations when one person believes something is a bad word and another person does not—I have been accused of cussing on more than one occasion for words that I simply don’t see as cussing. Hell is a perfect example. I see it as a location; some people see it is a cuss word. Opinions vary, which is what makes this confusing at times. Most cultures have at least some generally-accepted words that most people recognize which simplifies this only a little.

While cussing is rude, it is not spiritually damaging to other people who hear it. Some might disagree with me on this, but that is really an issue of being offended at hearing cuss words, but simply hearing bad words does not cause psychic damage. The confusing thing about cussing is that we often refer to cuss words as curse words which confuses the conversation. Even I tend to refer to cuss words as such, but for the sake of clarity in this article I am using separate terms to delineate the two. Cuss words are something we try not to teach to children, and may slip out of our mouths when we stub a toe, get stung by a bee, or have some other kind of painful mishap. For some it may be normal and meaningful while for others that might be considered profanity. Curses, on the other hand are usually intentional, have a designated outcome associated with them, and are damaging to the person on the receiving end. If we had to rank the two from a “badness” perspective on a zero to ten scale, cursing is a ten and cussing is somewhere far below it.

Generally try to steer away from cussing, but never NEVER curse anyone. When we curse, we have to remember that we reap what we sow. While we might not receive a curse for every one that we speak, what goes around eventually comes around, and no one wants to reap that kind of harvest. In the same way that Matthew 26:52 basically says “Those who live by the sword die by the sword”, those who live their lives cursing others will eventually receive many curses themselves. When we curse others we partner with the demonic realms to draw death, loss, and destruction to the lives of others.

It is an evil practice.

The problem is that we sometimes curse people without realizing it. If in conversation I talk about a coworker who is struggling with the job, saying, “He is never going to get good at this job. He really should try a different career,” I have just cursed him. This sort of casual curse is actually moderately common, which is why we might not even notice we are doing it. The words themselves are a declaration of failure over that individual, and if we thought he was having trouble before, it isn’t likely to get better after the fact.

Cussing is largely a cut-and-dry issue. Many people find it rude while other people pepper almost every single sentence with cuss words of some kind. Often this is a product of one’s socialization environment, as people who use coarse speech regularly will find those around them mirroring that speech and likewise they will continue their speech patterns. Cursing is another animal altogether.

I know from past conversations that many seem to not distinguish between the two, so I hope this article has helped you grasp the differences. Furthermore I encourage you to find new methods of conversation that remove all cursing, and find alternatives to cussing if this is something that speaks to you.

Stone The False Prophet Among You

Okay, so the title isn’t part of an actual Bible verse, but it very well could be. In Deuteronomy 13 it says that if a prophet or dreamer among the people attempts to lead people away from the God of Israel, that he or she must be purged from the people. A bit later, Deuteronomy 18:17-22 says it in a bit more detail, saying:

The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.” You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.”

God calls some people to be prophets, and if someone says something is from God and doesn’t happen, then clearly it isn’t from God. If they tell people things God didn’t command them to say, or if they are a prophet for a different god, then they need to be killed. And how do we know if a prophet says something God didn’t command? Obviously, if it didn’t happen, God didn’t command it.

Here’s the problem: What about all those times that God tells a prophet to say something and then people repent and/or pray against it because the prophet sent a warning from heaven, and then it doesn’t happen? Does that make him a false prophet? I mean, what we are saying here is that Jonah, who is clearly understood by the Scriptures to be a prophet sent from God, is actually a false prophet according to Deuteronomy 18 because the destruction he prophesied over Nineveh never came to pass. While we don’t know exactly what God told him to say, we do know that all of Nineveh repented in fasting and prayer when they heard the message Jonah gave them, and God was pleased with their change of heart. So how can Jonah be both a prophet and a false prophet all at once?

He can’t.

Which means that the Bible broke the Bible’s false-prophet detector test.

Now what??

First, I suggest we need to differentiate between a few similar-appearing people: the false prophet, the young prophet, and the effective prophet.

The false prophet’s motive is deception. The goal is to lead astray. If one prophesies with an intent to lead astray and/or with wrong motives, this is a good sign one is a false prophet. These prophecies are likely to be false, but it is equally possible some of the prophecies could come true—just enough to lead people successfully astray.

The young prophet’s motive is typically at least mostly-pure, and he or she wants to encourage people in the Lord. Mind you, we call this individual a “young prophet” irrespective of linear age because this isn’t based on age, but experience—this prophet simply isn’t very good at it. Well, at the very least his or her accuracy has something to be desired. I suggest he isn’t a false prophet because his motives are pure and he has not intent to lead people astray, but he does have some growing to do. Thus, his prophecies might come to pass and might not—it’s entirely hit or miss depending on how accurate that particular word was when he received it, which makes things tough because how on earth is someone else to know if he received it accurately? That’s the tricky part, and why we each have to discern prophetic words.

The effective prophet is a different breed entirely. His words might come to pass and they might not—but when they don’t come to pass, it is for an entirely different reason than because he is false or young. No, if the effective prophet’s word doesn’t come to pass, it’s because he was, well, effective. Think about it. Many prophecies are encouraging, directive for the future, comforting, and more. Some words are warning words though, giving us insight on a need to turn away from a current course of action. If people turn away from a current course of action and the negative consequence in the warning does not occur, the prophet wasn’t false—he or she effectively incited the people to pray and act, and a crisis was averted!

I recall years ago I was at a church and each member of our intercessory group received a similar prophetic warning about a building project. We shared these words with one of the board members who was the head of the intercessory group at the time, and she told the senior pastor about it. The multiple prophetic warnings were disregarded, and years later the words did indeed come to pass. An effective prophet’s goal, at least when it comes to warning words, is to appear wrong each and every time! After all, while his reputation might be put into question by some, those with wisdom and insight will realize that instead of the prophecy being false, a calamity was averted.

This sort of thing often happens when prophetic warnings have dates attached. If a date comes and goes it can be one of a few different things: It can be that the word was false to begin with, or the date was wrong. Or it could be that prayer was effectively mobilized through the release of the word and the outcome changed. The difficult part is that we in the Church are often so quick to judge one another based on appearances that we have to take a step back and discern from the Lord what actually took place. After all, it would be silly to tell someone he was wrong if in fact he was not only spot-on, but the reason he appears to be wrong is because of how incredibly accurate he was AND how effective he was at it!

Some people believe we need to start holding false prophets accountable in the church, and while it sounds really good on paper, it really makes no sense. Look, a false prophet isn’t interested in accountability. He doesn’t really care if you tell him he is wrong or deceived or whatever other potentially accurate label you might give him. His motives are impure and his heart is in the wrong place to begin with. Do you really think telling him as much is going to positively influence the situation? Not likely. On the other hand, if mature prophets decide to take a more active and discipling role with young prophets, it is quite probable they can pass some of their wisdom and maturity on.

After all, how do false prophets become false prophets anyway? I suggest part of it is through rejection by the church. After a while, the inner wounding leaves just the right opening for the enemy, and through pride, envy, and other negative emotions the demonic are able to begin a long process of twisting and perverting the prophetic gift, turning a young prophet into a false one.

Maybe the problem isn’t so much that we don’t hold false prophets accountable, but that we don’t encourage young prophets to be disciple-able. Or worse yet, maybe we don’t expect or encourage effective prophets to do any discipling. After all, one can want discipleship all day long, but you can only follow when someone else is leading. Maybe the problem isn’t even false prophets, but a system that values the prophetic gift more than it values the person who carries that gift. Most likely it is a combination of all of these, together with the schemes of the enemy and the wounded hearts of men. However, I believe if we aim to do things a little better on our end we won’t have to worry so much about stoning the false prophets among us—I imagine that deep down they don’t really want to be that way either, but need help finding their way back home.

Is Death a Form of Healing?

I have heard numerous times where people have stated that someone received “the final healing” after they died. It’s a nice idea, but it’s not scriptural. I’m not aware of a single place in the Bible where God said anything close to “I shalt kill thee, and thou shalt reap the harvest of healing blessings as my holy smiting smiteth thee. Yea, verily shalt it be so.” In the Old Testament death carried a lot of despair, pain, and grief with it. While that same despair is not expressed much in the New Testament, that is not because of a heaven-when-you-die reality, but due to the fact that through Jesus’ death and resurrection we have access to that same healing, saving, resurrection power. In other words, death as a form of healing is possibly one of the highest heresies out there, an anti-Christ doctrine in direct opposition to the sacrifice Jesus made through His blood on the cross.

So what does the Bible say about death and healing?

The Bible says a lot of things, but I’ll give you my translation of a favorite verse of mine from Romans 8. “The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will also quicken and bring life to your fleshly, mortal, and perishing body.” If the Holy Spirit is bringing life to our bodies, which are perishing and temporary, then why on earth do we believe that we have to die to get healed? Or worse yet, that those who died finally got healed because they died? I don’t know why we believe it on earth, because I can tell you that no one believes it in Heaven.

I recall a conversation I had with a massage therapist at a former Chiropractor’ office a few years back, and I believe God set me up for this one. This massage therapist is a believer, and I was talking about God healing people, and said something to the effect of “God can grow someone’s amputated leg back. If he could make the whole earth, a leg isn’t hard for him.” As I continued in conversation, I repeated this general statement about an amputated leg growing back at least one more time. Yeah, so as it turned out he had a prosthetic foot. And no, when I mentioned God growing legs back, twice, I was unaware of this, not to mention that this guy didn’t need the whole leg—just the foot. I’ll be honest, I was pretty stoked at this, which was clearly a God-setup. The therapist shared with me that he was looking forward to having a new foot, and my ears perked up at this, thinking that he’d already received a prophecy about God restoring his foot.

My response: “Really? That’s great! When do you think it’s going to happen?”

Therapist: “Oh, well in Heaven, of course!!

I’m not sure what my face looked like at the time, but I might have been just short of a visible facepalm.

Death is not a healing. It’s an entirely new spiritual body, which is not the same thing. I didn’t tell him that, but I did suggest to him that he didn’t need to wait until he got to heaven to have a new foot. After all, Jesus pretty much stated that God’s will was to be done on earth as it is now in heaven. If the therapist already knew he’ll have a new foot in heaven, then the next logical step should be to have one on earth, now, in the same way it is in heaven, now. Well, that’s what my bible says anyway. Furthermore, even if we die, eventually God is going to resurrect us all as it shows us in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 so we won’t be permitted to stay dead anyway.

The idea that death is a form of healing is a false belief that has lived quite comfortably in the church for centuries. There’s another teaching that goes along with it, the common belief that God kills people that he wants to be in heaven. “God must have needed them more than we did” is the common adage. I think we really need to get a new grip on who God is. Honestly. God created all of us out of His immense love. If we read just the first 5 chapters of the bible (chapters, not books), we see that the first man and woman walked with God. And another man, Enoch, did so even after the fall. God didn’t need to kill any of them to be with them. And even when God took Enoch to heaven, He didn’t kill the man—God simply translocated him straight into the heavens. One moment Enoch was on earth, the next he wasn’t, but there was no death involved.

If we want to be scriptural, the only way God is going to take people is if He does it without them dying. Interestingly enough, the last five chapters of the Bible are pretty similar to the first ones, in that man walks with God once more. Furthermore, there is no death there either. When God does things His way, no one dies—He just brings a new heaven and new earth to the present reality and we share it with him. Paul himself stated that “After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Note how Paul said still alive, not dead.

Let me share a quote from a friend of mine, Praying Medic, that explains the concept quite clearly. “The centuries old teaching that God kills people that he dearly loves and redeems needs to die a quick death. The church has failed to demonstrate the power and authority Jesus gave to it and developed the teaching that God might have a reason for us to die young or suffer sickness.”

Because the Body of Christ, his Church, has failed on many many many many many many occasions to manifest the Kingdom on earth in the same way it currently is and always has existed in Heaven, we have developed finely crafted beliefs about death and healing to help us explain why people die sick. What we really need to be doing is pressing into a place in God’s heart, a place of faith, and a place of understanding who we are and what we have in Him that sickness, disease, and death no longer have the capacity to exist around us. We have heard stories of men and women of the faith such as John G. Lake, Kathryn Kuhlman, Smith Wigglesworth, and even older saints such as St. Joseph of Cupertino, St. Francis of Assisi, and others, all of whom did great miracles, but they were no different from us. In fact, St. Joseph was known to have some form of mental retardation. The man was a total fool, but he did crazy miracles that have been done by few since.

Jesus said in John 14 that ‘He who believes in me will do what I am doing. He will do even greater because I am going to the Father.” He was pretty clear here. “I’m leaving, you’re staying. The stuff that I did, ALL of it, it is now your turn to do.” He didn’t make some special delineation of those special people with the special anointing, special gift, special faith, or special anything else. He just said “If you believe in me, then here is the list of what you will do: Everything I did and then some.”

Jesus was very consistent with what he said and did. He said that Lazarus would not remain dead and He raised him. Jesus was a problem solver, consistently defeating sickness, infirmity, and death wherever He went—so why do we as His followers think it is our job to give in easily when death comes our way? If we’re not going to heal people, and if we’re not going to raise the dead, the least we can do is recognize our shortcomings and not explain them away with spiritual-sounding words that have no basis in truth. Let’s call a spade a spade and just say that we failed instead of pretending as though the God of Light and Life is doing some special healing by killing people.

I choose a different option. I vote for pursuing the abundant life Jesus promised us in John 10:10 such that if someone is sick he can’t stay sick even if he wants to. I vote for living in such a way that death cannot have a hold on those around me, and even if they die, they can’t stay dead because I’m there. I vote that we change the way we think and speak to encourage the truth that death is an enemy to God and that because we are God’s heirs, it is our enemy as well. This isn’t because I am more special than anyone else, but because Christ in me doesn’t like death any more than I do, and He has promised to give us the power to do something about it. I haven’t arrived yet, but I’m on the journey. Care to come with me?

Oh, and Heresy, you can’t come.

If you want to learn more about the truth behind life and death and the provisions Jesus has made for us to destroy sickness and disease and raise the dead, pick up a copy of my book Faith to Raise the Dead.

Word of the Week – May 22, 2017 – Wild!

I stumbled upon a band this weekend: WorshipMob. Blew me away. I listened for an hour. I do not know much about them except that a couple out of Denver, Colorado wanted to gather worshipers together to create jams where the entire focus is to Worship God, but even more, to let God love on them. The recorded sessions are with varying musicians, dancers, artists, believers. The particular one I heard was labeled Venture Worship 3—LionHearted, Build My Life, Spontaneous. You can find it on YouTube along with others.

Here are the lyrics that grabbed me….

“How astonishing
How bewildering
The Ruler of the Universe wants me
and He loves me
He’s wild about me
Oh,
He’s wild about me.”

Is there anyone you can say in your life that feels that way about you? I can say it about my hubby. Maybe there are some people who are fond of me…but Wild about me?

Really….how many of us actually think, let alone believe, that GOD…the Ruler of the Universe, cares about us? Of even considers us?

But Wild About?

That HE loves and wants US…

So that is the Word for today and for this week: Stop right now. Let yourself feel this. God is Wild about YOU! You do not need to perform. You do not need to accomplish your To Do list. You do not have to do anything. God, the Ruler of the Universe, is Wild about you.

Let yourself feel it. Sit with it. Dance with it (at least try tapping your toes to it!).

“Don’t give up
Just keep going
Heaven is dancing over you and cheering you forward…
Keep the faith.”

If this reality permeated our existence, our lives could change. Even in the hardship, our realities could harness hope. We would find strength and maybe even joy for putting one foot in front of the other in the journey. We would have a purpose that is not there when we live in doubt of just how much God really wants us. He wants US, something different but born out of love. He WANTS us.

Remind yourself today: The Ruler of the Universe is WILD about you! XOXO

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Code”]https://app.getresponse.com/view_webform_v2.js?u=B40ZB&webforms_id=6653905[/et_pb_code][et_pb_comments admin_label=”Comments” show_avatar=”on” show_reply=”on” show_count=”on” background_layout=”light” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” custom_button=”off” button_letter_spacing=”0″ button_use_icon=”default” button_icon_placement=”right” button_on_hover=”on” button_letter_spacing_hover=”0″] [/et_pb_comments][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

When Spiritual Beliefs Work

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” text_font_size=”16″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] I had a fairly challenging night the other night at work. When I got home, I found myself wondering if I had done the right things—not because I had said or done anything wrong, but because the situation itself was so incredibly bizarre that there was a lot of room for reflection, introspection, and generally being conflicted about the entire matter. I struggled with societal beliefs and ideas about judgment versus the immeasurable and boundless nature of God’s love in the face of really unpleasant circumstances. I wrestled with the various roles and responsibilities I have, along with moral, ethical, and spiritual values that I hold, and looked at how to best mesh them in the situation. And while I cannot go into details on the subject itself, I had a very meaningful conversation with one of the chaplains where I realized that times like this are when spiritual beliefs work. After all, if they don’t work when the going gets rough, what good are they? In the conversation with this chaplain she asked me how I dealt with stress, and how I felt my beliefs helped me to deal with this situation the way I had. I shared how I had grown up in the Episcopal Church but now loosely define as a Nondenominational Charismatic Christian, and that as my beliefs have drastically changed over the course of my adult life, my views about God, love, judgment, heaven, and hell have changed as well. I explained how the core foundation of my spiritual beliefs now begins with the premise that we have a God whose nature and essence is, above all else, pure love. I spoke of how this God of immeasurable love does not send us to hell or whatever one believes is a negative afterlife, but that we in our own limited thinking choose our own inner darkness over the surpassing love He constantly extends toward us, but that even our own ability to choose darkness in the face of God’s love is like pitting an ice cube against a forest fire. The ice might last for a few brief moments, but ultimately it doesn’t stand a chance. I heard myself saying that in this situation I had a choice to make, whether to choose to sit in judgement in a situation where that wasn’t my job to begin with, or to choose to walk forward in love and compassion regardless of the outward circumstances, and that it is this undergirding belief in the immeasurable goodness of God that provided the encouragement for me to do so. As I replied, I found my own words to be somehow very therapeutic, and they seemed to touch the chaplain as well. She literally thanked me for being the person to deal with the problem, and for being someone who could share love in that way in a scenario that needed it. I realized that while the situation itself was taxing in a hard-to-describe way, I felt blessed that I had the opportunity to manifest the love of God there. I began to gain a broader perspective on how God had orchestrated things, positioning me in a unique way to become the solution to the problem.

I was reminded that THIS is when spiritual beliefs work.

Jesus instructed the people in Matthew 5:14 saying that we are the light of this world. When darkness threatens to close in and doubts, fears, and uncertainty seek to steal the life from a circumstance, the love of Jesus Christ that has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit IS the means by which we light up this world with the ever-burning flame within us. In any situation, God has prepared us to become the solution to the problem. He has positioned us to carry His love into dark circumstances, and even as we do this, like a holy virus that love spreads out in ever-widening circles, transforming those we come in contact with. I don’t know that I will ever know the true extent of the impact I had on this situation. I know that I am blessed to have been a part of it, and my wife pointed out it was almost as if I passed a test. I believe that my words, much less my actions, touched this chaplain in a profound way—and not because I even meant to. She was helping me, and in doing so, I believe I ended up encouraging her in turn. It is humbling to know that this hope we have in Jesus Christ works even in those times we aren’t meaning for it to. That His transformative power works in us whether we work on ourselves or not. That in the same way that water wears down a rock over time, the river of God’s love flows through us whether we are paying attention or not. In the end, this is the true test of whether spiritual beliefs work or not—when in our weakness, God is strong through us. Go be the light of the world, but don’t try so hard. Just go and be, and watch the God of Wonders do His thing. [/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Code”]<script type=”text/javascript” src=”https://app.getresponse.com/view_webform_v2.js?u=B40ZB&webforms_id=6653905″></script>[/et_pb_code][et_pb_comments admin_label=”Comments” show_avatar=”on” show_reply=”on” show_count=”on” background_layout=”light” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” custom_button=”off” button_letter_spacing=”0″ button_use_icon=”default” button_icon_placement=”right” button_on_hover=”on” button_letter_spacing_hover=”0″] [/et_pb_comments][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

Engaging the Stars of Orion’s Belt

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As someone who lives in the Northern Hemisphere, Orion is one of my favorite constellations—quite probably because it is super-easy to find and is visible much of the year from my location. I never expected what happened to me late one night, however. It was either in fall or winter, when Orion is visible in the sky south of my driveway. I was taking out the trash when I became aware of a demonic presence on the property seeking to attack me.

I saw in a vision that it was not more than five meters from me, and I started praying in tongues. Right as this was happening, three celestial beings appeared, lined up in a row between me and the demonic assailant. While it may not seem deeply significant that three angels came to protect me, what struck me was that they weren’t angels—at least not as we typically view them. These three celestial beings were the Stars in Orion’s Belt. An experience such as this has the potential to open up entirely new realms of understanding, but the first thing it does is open up more questions? Is it possible that other spirits exist out there in the universe that aren’t angels or demons? Do spirits govern the stars and planets? Can stars and the spirits of the stars interact with and influence us in the earth? All of these things are both possible and do occur. Scattered throughout the Old Testament there are references to groups of people making sacrifices to stars and the spirits of stars—one verse in particular speaks of sacrificing to the starry host as a whole. What this says to me is that stars, or rather the spirits of the stars (whom I call stellar spirits), were coming down to Earth and interacting with mankind, leading them to their horrible practices of child sacrifice.

Furthermore, the scriptures say some strange things that only make sense if this was happening. Exodus 20:4 says, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” This command only makes sense if there indeed ARE forms in the heavens to make images of. After all, how does one make a graven image of a series of blinking dots high in the sky? I can only make the intelligent inference that these peoples were having encounters, like the one I had, with stellar spirits.

Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” This means that if something has happened in the past with the Israelites, we shouldn’t be surprised that we encounter stellar spirits as well. Ephesians 3:10 states “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.” If God expects us to reveal His wisdom to rulers and authorities in the heavens, we might actually have to interact with the rulers and authorities of the heavenly realms.

Madeline L’Engle, author and mystic, spoke somewhere in her book A Wrinkle In Time about how stars are made of flaming gas, but that’s only their physical makeup, not what they are. After all, our bodies are primarily made up of atoms of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen, but I think we all agree that we are far more than what we are made of. If stars can be made of flaming gas but actually have or be a spirit being, then what is to keep the planet Earth from being the same way? Is it possible that the term Mother Earth is derived from something that indigenous cultures know about a governing spirit over our planet that science simply cannot prove? While I’m not saying this is conclusively so, I find it interesting that C.S. Lewis in his Space Trilogy covers this very same subject, weaving it into the fabric of the story. His writing, too, clearly evidences that he has gleaned a deeper understanding in some way about the spiritual forces that influence our world.

Ultimately, whether one believes in stellar spirits or not isn’t going to influence whether you go to heaven or not, but it is still important. God is revealing the mysteries of His creation and unveiling revelation after revelation to us, His children and heirs of His promise, so that we can walk in them to the fullest level possible. The stars, planets, and other celestial bodies are not going anywhere anytime soon, so we had best get on board with the program—where we rule and reign as sons and daughters of the Most High. After all, the entire cosmos is waiting for us to get a revelation of who we are in Him—even the stellar spirits.

State Your Position

In our Microwave-Ready Instant-Information society, it seems common for ministries to put up a Core Beliefs Statement. While it might be titled differently, this is essentially a list of beliefs and ideas that the ministry or group in question believes and/or attempts to hold themselves to. Additionally, this functions as a sort of statement of expectation for anyone who wants to join the organization. On the one hand, this can be a useful way to figure out a little bit about a group before needing to waste one’s time on a group that believes something in gross opposition to one’s personal beliefs, but it has its downsides. Because this is a common practice there is an expectation that you will state your position on any and all potential religious matters that someone else might want to know about, and I think we have room for growth in this area.

I have a friend in ministry who once got an email where someone requested to know their “position on Israel.”

Its sort of an ongoing joke now, since the email was so strange and out of left field, but the truth is that my friend doesn’t have a specific position on Israel. And what exactly do they want to know anyway? Does he think Israel has a right to exist? Does he think the Jewish people are “God’s Chosen?” Does he think Israel has some sort of end-times purpose in God’s plan? There are so many different things one could think about such a vague question that it reminds me of when my patients’ families call the hospital and ask for a “status update.”

I always answer that question with a question: What specifically do you want to know? This isn’t a question meant to evade, but its just that there are just SO MANY things one could want to know about their family member, from how they slept and whether they were able to go to the bathroom to complex medical questions that I probably can’t answer without combing through the patient’s chart or asking the medical provider. In the same way that asking a vague question about a hospital patient is both annoying and needs to stop, asking those kinds of questions of a ministry is equally problematic. Why? Because we don’t have to have a position on everything.

Our culture has gone overboard in accountability to the masses, when the truth is the masses don’t really need to know everything. Jesus had a group of three close friend-disciples, twelve in the inner circle, seventy-two in his ministry organization that he sent out to minister, then his followers as a whole, then the general public. In other words, He didn’t share everything with everybody, and shared some things with only a handful or two. Likewise, if someone isn’t personally involved with me and/or generally involved in what I am doing, then my position on some things really just doesn’t matter. Do I have a position on Israel? Sure. Is it deeply involved and well-thought-out? No—because Israel as a subject isn’t that important to me personally so I haven’t spent a lot of time to figure out what I think about it. My wife, on the other hand, has very clear and specific beliefs on the topic.

Now, having said that Israel isn’t that important to me, I have just opened myself up for a massive debate on the subject of “Israel As God’s Chosen People”—one I refuse to engage. Why?

Because that’s the point—I don’t have a position, and I don’t have to.

It is perfectly reasonable to not know everything, and in reality, it is not only the most honest position but the most freeing one as well. Always having to feel like we know enough to measure up only puts us on a never-ending treadmill of theological need-to-knows that we simply cannot meet up with. So why bother trying? I’m not against studying the scriptures to learn new things, enrich ourselves and our lives, and to grow as people. What I do object to is this ever-rising bar we set up, like a buoy on the water that will continue to rise higher no matter how much the water level increases.

The next time someone asks your opinion on something and you haven’t given it much thought, just give that as your answer. Free yourself from the social need to put people in neat, tidy boxes. Be liberated from this bar of expectation that requires you to have and state your position on everything, and from the underlying and subtle messages that if you don’t do this that you aren’t smart enough, studied enough, or good enough. Step into the reality of the goodness of the Son of God who gave us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation and who reminds us of all things. When it is time for you to learn something on a topic, Holy Spirit will be sure to let you know, but until then, you don’t have to think a thing about it.

And best of all, you don’t have to state your position.

Sin Limits, Without Limits

As I was driving into work last night, I passed a bus with a sign on the side which said “Sin Limites”. For those of you who don’t speak Spanish it means “Without Limits”, but the first thing that struck me wasn’t the interpretation, but what it appears to actually say: Sin Limits.

The version of the Gospel I grew up with as a child was that we shouldn’t sin because it hurts God’s feelings and makes it so He can’t be with us. What I have discovered as an adult is that sin does limit, but not God—it limits us. In the Garden of Eden, Adam had no limitations save one—to not eat of the fruit of the tree that would bring death. After consuming that fruit, Adam had nothing BUT limitations—limits on where he could live, what he could do with his time, and even how LONG he would live. Sin is the ultimate limiting factor, preventing us from receiving the fullness and goodness that God has for us.

Jesus came as a man and modeled what it was like to live WITHOUT limits, then died on the cross and rose again so that we all could share in that experience. Roman 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” God foreknew everyone—and His version of predestination is that you and I have been predestined to become like Jesus, able to live without the limits that sin places on us.

God is far more interested in living with us than He is in policing us to make sure we are sin-free.

In fact, He isn’t worried about our sin at all, nor is he threatened by it. Jesus already solved the sin problem from God’s perspective, so we simply have to continue to walk out our lives filled with the Holy Spirit, and we will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. We don’t need to work really hard not to sin, we simply have to walk alongside God and He will remove the limitations that sin places upon us.

If you are struggling today with any thought, action, desire, or anything else that is sin or a temptation leading to it, be reminded that in this moment you can walk by the Spirit and cease to worry about how to stay away from those other things that will place limitations and controls on your life.

It is for freedom that Jesus has set us free— go and live without limits!