A letter to a friend who was dying

Dear One,

I knew already that something was going wrong in your body. I have seen it the last few times I have been with you.

I am praying and will continue to do so in a more concerted way. It is very difficult to have such a blessed Spirit life while the body is slowly heading towards the grave. But dying daily does make us more aware of the very precious promise that we are looking for a city whose builder and maker is God.

Your healing is complete.

I don't say that as a "faith" teacher...... though I am definitely a faith teacher. I mean that Jesus did it all on the cross. Your healing is sure as the sun that came up this morning. I am asking God to manifest it here but whether we live or die we are the Lord's. And that means that one day this mortal (dying is the definition of mortal) body that we both bear (St. Francis called it brother donkey) will finally release its grip on us and the new one prepared for us will never again hold us back from all that God has for us. Imagine that you will never again take a pill...... never again have pain...... never again worry about what the next stage of illness will bring. No sickness, no sorrow, no sighing......

But now we dwell in these bodies of death. Regardless of what people say about them they are destined for the grave and they are the last remnant we bear of the Adamic line. Yet even here we have great hope for the Lord says to us that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will quicken (literally make alive) our mortal (dying) bodies. Your healing is sure and when you wake up resurrection morning it will be fully seen. For now though it is totally appropriate that we ask that the Lord manifest Himself in your mortal body for His glory and your good.

I have heard the person I saw more actual miracles done through, Kathryn Kulman, say, "I don't know why all are not healed."

That is a mystery that some would like to reduce to a lack of personal faith. I don't believe it. Faith is certainly required to receive God's provision but it is not faith in God's ability it is faith in God Himself. And faith in God Himself is the faith to be healed presently but also to trust Him in the continuing journey towards that final complete healing.

I went to Oral Roberts with a case that I felt he might respond to. It was a young man (21) who had recently been engaged to my girlfriend's friend. He was then diagnosed with a very fast growing stomach and bowel cancer. His whole belly was taken over by the cancer and it had spread to the whole region. When the family asked me to come and pray for him he had not been able to pass anything through his bowels for about a week. He was in terrible pain and even the high doses of morphine he was on could not mask it.

Before I went to pray I went to Oral and asked him if he would go with me. He said that it would not be necessary for him to go because God would work through me as well as him. Then he prayed that God would place upon me the same healing gift that he had recieved. He prayed that as I laid hands on people that the healing power that he had known would flow. That prayer was a powerful turning point in my life. As I look back I see that God has answered it many times over. But I had something to learn in those early moments of my infancy in the gift of healing.

I went to the hospital the next day full of faith. Those were the heady days of Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland in Tulsa. I knew the concepts of being there by "faith" well. I understood perfectly that healing was in the atonement and that it was ours by birthright. I understood that the only thing that stood between us and perfect health was our lack of faith. My life had been soaked with the teachings of "believe to receive", "positive confession" and "prospering and being in health."

I knew without a doubt that the young man would be healed. But I also knew that he was not yet saved. I laid hands on him that day and a miracle of major proportions happened. He immediately lost all sense of pain. He had a bowel movement within ten minutes which was unheard of. The tumors began immediately to shrink and almost disappeared in 24 hours. He was healed!

Over the next few visits I was able to lead him to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

I was convinced beyond anything I knew that the things I believed were true. Here was the proof.

Then to my amazement six weeks later the young man died of something else than the cancer. He had not had a minute of pain. He was removed from all medications for it. The tumors were continuing to shrink on a daily basis. He was eating normally and passing it perfectly. He died of a lung problem which no doubt had its origins in the cancer but was not cancer itself.

I was devastated.

Where was God in this?

I knew it was not my lack of faith since I had complete confidence and had seen the miracle. So had everyone else. The family had proclaimed it as a wonderful miracle. Even the doctors agreed that something very remarkable had happened. Now, they were totally stunned and angry with God and me.

And I was in a wilderness.

I spent hours seeking God as to what I had done wrong. The heavens became brass as guilt began to plague me. It must have been my lack of faith..... or prayer..... or some sin.......

Yet I could not understand how it was that I could have been the vessel of healing in such a miraculous way. No one denied that a real healing had occurred. It just seemed like such a defeat and made no sense to me at all.

Several weeks went by in which I felt the condemnation of hell itself for failing. I began to take full responsibility for his death..... If only I had enough faith it would not have happened. I should have not been so confident and continued to pray more and more....... In fact I did continue to pray but with such joy that it was only a "finish what you have already begun Lord" kind of prayer. I seemed to see every failing in my life all speaking condemnation at once.

I learned an important lesson in those weeks. One that I pray I will never forget. The encouragement of faith is so important. And it, as well, is a part of the healing process. But in spite of what others may say God is bigger than our faith and He does not let us drown when we get out of the boat and lose it part way to Him.

In the depth of prayer one night I was weeping before the Lord and again asking Him, "Why was he not healed?" "What did I do wrong?"

The Lord gently whispered into my heart, "I did what you asked"

"What do you mean Lord?"

"He is healed"

Suddenly I understood. He was given healing to a degree here and now. And that is true for all of us. We all live somewhere in between health and sickness. The aging process itself is simply the prolongated illness that ends in death for all of us. That God gives special grace to some that they might finish a course that is longer than others does not negate the fact that we all die as a result of some form of disease or failure in the body to sustain its life force (accidents). None of us ever escape the bonds of death even though Jesus paid for their total defeat........

As much as healing is in the atonement so is the end of death. But the problem is our view of life.

I thought of this young man's death as a defeat. You would have had a hard time convincing him of that ten minutes after he went through that final passage. A defeat? God sent His only begotten son in the world to give him the very victory he now enjoys forever. Was it by His stripes he was healed? Absolutely! Was it by faith that the healing was effected? Certainly. Is it total without symptoms? Fully healed forever. Yet he had to die first to receive it all.

The greatest healing we will ever know is the resurrection. In fact it is the full inheritance of that which we are only partially given today. Does the lack of getting better right now take away from what God is doing? Never.

I believe before the resurrection that we should always seek health for ourselves and each other except in two cases...... the first is that God himself tells us no longer to pray and second that the person we are asking for dies.

I have had only one time that God told me not to pray for healing for someone. That was my grandfather.

It was 1973 and I was going to go to Israel for the summer. I had come to Tulsa to care for him as he was in a nursing home. Out of that call of love grew my education I finished high school there at 21 and was given a scholarship to Oral Roberts University. I also had a ministry with the other residents of the nursing home in which several came to Jesus and many felt his touch.

As I went for my last time to visit Grandpa before I went he ws in a particularly good mood. We were sharing about how wonderful it was that we had each other.

In my heart the Lord whispered, "Give him to me." I really did not want to hear it.

He then said, "I have given you these years with him and now he needs to come home."

I knew that God had done just that for He had healed him several times over the years at my request. I knew that those years had been a gift from God for both of us. Even now I weep in thinking about the preciousness of them. Yet in my heart I knew that God was asking the most difficult thing I could imagine....... to give my precious grandpa to Him?

I knew exactly what that meant. It meant that until I crossed that veil I would never see him again. I knew it was best for grandpa but I knew the cost for me.......

I cried as I prayed with him. Dear Jesus you know that I love grandpa. Giving him to you is probably the hardest thing I have ever done but he is yours. Please take him home to you in your own time.

I was so sure of what God was going to do that I called my father that week to say to him that he must come soon to see his father or he would be at his funeral.

As if God were saying to me how careful He was with my treasure, grandpa died the day I arrived in the Old City of Jerusalem.

I know that I was not to have prayed for his healing those last few weeks of his life. I know in fact that the sickness that did kill him was a result of sin in the human race and not God's design or will. Yet I know that in the reality of all He did for my grandpa that the last day of his life was ordained by God and his death was not a cosmic accident or the result of victory by satan, nor the result of my unbelief.

Some would say I was deceived. Some would say that it was my very act of thinking that I was giving him to God that I was really confessing doubt and thus satan had the right to take him.

Would I have kept him forever? Probably if it were my choice. But there is a will that is outside of ours in God. The prayer, if it be thy will is not appropriate when it is clearly against God's will for something to happen or not happen. I have not become one who believes that God delights in our sicknesses..... nor do I feel that in all sickness there is some lesson. I don't believe any particular sickness is the result of personal sin...... It can be STD's from promiscuity, liver disease from alcoholism, lung cancer from cigarettes........ etc. But the line of cancer spreading out from Sarnia (chemical valley) and spreading in a funnel shape to the southeast is not the result of greater sin in the people that live in that funnel. Still I am convinced it is the result of sin. The sin of people who for greed refuse to contain chemicals that cause cancer in a safe manner. The sin of those who knowingly dumped tons of deadly poison into the St. Clair river simply to save the money to dispose of it properly. The sin of those who under the veil of night release tons of pollutants into the air.

There really is innocent suffering.

And yet I am as convinced that God is bigger than all of this. Just like He took the most cruel act ever done in the universe - the killing of His own son - so too does he take every other thing that results from the sin of man and, for all, but especially to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, redeems them so that their power can lead to a deeper relationship with Him. What can separate us from the love of God?

Do I pray against sickness in your body? Always.

Do I believe that God wants you sick? No. Why would you even go to the doctor?

Do I believe it takes faith to see the sickness go? Yes and I have it and so do you.

Do I believe that sin has brought your condition? Yes. The sin of Adam passed down through countless generations, your and my sin which identified us as sons of Adam but not neccessarily a particular sin you or I committed...... The sin of those who have sinned against you, the sin of everyone in your life...... We all add to the stripes that fell upon his back. And we all add to the suffering of all humanity.

Do I believe that you will be healed? Completely.

Do I pray that it will be manifested today? Of course!

Do I falter in faith if it does not happen in this life? No.

If it does not happen now need we blame you, me, someone else or even God for it? Absolutely not.

This is the problem with the teaching that says that anyone who is not healed today is not walking in faith. When you really believe it at the time you most need faith it is stolen away from you. Hope, which is seeking, longing and patiently waiting for something that has not yet occurred. It fails when we are condemned by our own hearts for not yet having what we hope for. Those weeks of condemnation in my life were only a result of my wrong thinking about healing.

God will use every circumstance of our life no matter what it is if we give it to Him. Including sickness. God has a plan for it and so does the devil. God wants us to press on in faith toward Him in spite of whatever may come against us. The devil wants us to believe that our sickness indicates that we or God have failed.

I know you have given this all to Him. I only write all this to encourage you in your battle. The end of all of this is your perfect healing. It will come in His time. The worsening of the illness is our call to pray for you. Not only to pray for your physical healing here and now but to pray continually that all the days the Lord has ordained for you will be fully lived. That not one of them will be missing. And even further that as you live in perhaps a greater reality than I do of the frailty of your mortal body that none the less you remember your final destiny.

Our death will come if Jesus does not come first. Let us together constantly affirm that our lives are not here anyway. I can almost feel the anticipation of heaven in preparing for our arrival. We can go to New York and no one may come out to greet us on the streets. But when we walk through the veil God Himself will stand to greet us! Our real destiny is far beyond this world that has been so twisted by sin. When our sights are there I believe we are walking in the greatest kind of faith.

The three Hebrew children said to Nebuchanezzar..... our God will deliver us but if not be it known unto you that we will not bow. Let us not bow to the fear of death, illness or any other thing. Let us remember that we have an inheritance laid up for us that no thief can steal.

In Jesus' Love,

Leonard

All Creation Longs for His Return

Romans 8:16-23 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

We are saved, We are being saved and we will be saved.

This is the fullness of salvation. Error always creeps in when we do not remember this.

We were saved spiritually when we surrendered to Jesus and let him take his place as the only one who could save us and the ruler of our hearts.
 

John 3:13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

We are being saved in our soul (mind, will and emotions) as we follow him through his word written in scripture and breathed from heaven by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:13
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
 

We will be saved physically when he returns to change our mortal bodies into immortal ones.

1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Though we have a part to play by believing, Jesus is the one who does all these things in us. He is the life giver:
 

1 Corinthians 15:45
So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being" ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

This morning as I was meditating one these things I could almost hear the groaning inside myself that Romans 8:22-23 spoke of earlier.

For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Every year about this time my beloved returns to her homeland. She loves Holland and would most likely live there if she was not hindered by all the relationships she has here..... 7 kids, a husband, a mother (who goes with her every year), an extended family and friends beyond counting.)

She is very happy here but something of her is always looking forward to going to her real home. The closer she gets to the day she leaves the more excited she is. She tells me that she will miss me but I always tell her. "Not like I will miss you."

You see I am happy here too but mostly because she is with me. The closer the day of her departure comes the less excited I am.

This is much like our experience of heaven. Part of us is always thinking about the day it will come. Part of us lives in the joys and sorrows of our present life. The divide between the two leaves us longing in two directions. Paul understood this:

Philippians 1:20 according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.

This morning as I was longing to see my beloved's smile I thought about the longing in my soul to see Jesus. At times it is something I think about wistfully and remember that one day I will but not yet. Other times I long for it more than any other desire I have.

The Bible tells us that we who are believers are not the only ones that long for his return. The whole of creation is groaning in longing.....

That longing may be there because of the difficulty of our lives. My longing is most acute not because I am looking for an escape but because my heart is filled with a desire simply to see him.

As the years have gone by since I first gave my life to him the longing has increased. And I have seen that the more I have grown to love him the greater is has become.

Like lovers separated for a long time when we feel an ache thinking about our being separated. There comes a moment though as the day of reunion grows closer when we no longer think about the day we were parted but our focus is on the day of our being reunited. Our emotions turn from sadness to Joy. Amazingly the longer we have been apart the more Joy we feel in considering our coming together again. This is the way it is with the return of the Lord.

As the creation gets closer to the moment he returns our groaning turns from a desire to be delivered to a joyful expectancy in which we can hardly wait for the day of his appearing. And it is not just us that feels that way, all of creation is in anticipation of the arrival of their beloved creator.

2 Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Faith in God - The Creator

Psalm 19

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

    ¹The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
         And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
    ²Day to day pours forth speech,
         And night to night reveals knowledge.
    ³There is no speech, nor are there words;
         Their voice is not heard.
    ⁴Their line has gone out through all the earth,
         And their utterances to the end of the world
         In them He has placed a tent for the sun,
    ⁵Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
         It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
    ⁶Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
         And its circuit to the other end of them;
         And there is nothing hidden from its heat. 

As the sun came up this morning I celebrated with David and all those who know why it rose - To demonstrate - the glory of the One who created it.   

The very first words of the scripture tell us a most important reason we are to have faith in God.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Genesis 1:1

God is the Creator of everything. He created it from nothing. He did not create it from Himself. The creation is the work of His hands. The crowning glory of that creation was humanity. We are the reflection of his image.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

When we place our faith in God as Creator we understand that nothing that is made is to be worshiped. The creation is not to be worshiped but it's Creator is. And as David reminds us the creation is to evoke worship awe and wonder.

Psalm 8

For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David.

    O LORD, our Lord,
         How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
         Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!
    ² From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength
         Because of Your adversaries,
         To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.
    ³When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
         The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
    ⁴ What is man that You take thought of him,
         And the son of man that You care for him?
    ⁵ Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
         And You crown him with glory and majesty!
    ⁶ You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
         You have put all things under his feet,
    ⁷All sheep and oxen,
         And also the beasts of the field,
    ⁸ The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
         Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
    ⁹ O LORD, our Lord,
         How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

  

When we place our faith in God as Creator we understand that all that has been created has no ability to give life except as it comes from God through it. God alone is the Life Giver. The reason Jesus alone could be the Savior is he was God visiting this planet. But before he was the Life Giving savior he was the Life Giving Creator. Because he was Creator first he was able to be Savior later.

John 1

 ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 ² The same was in the beginning with God.

 ³ All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

 ⁴ In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

 ⁵ And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Jesus was God before he was human. He was there in the beginning as the Logos of God (Word of God) He was the way God created the earth:

Genesis 1:3
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Genesis 1:6
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

Genesis 1:9
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

Genesis 1:11
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

Genesis 1:14
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Genesis 1:20
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Genesis 1:24
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

Genesis 1:26
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.


We understand that the power of creation in Jesus' word merits our full faith in it today.


When we place faith in God as Creator we understand that not even death can harm us. Life Giving Word from God was demonstrated when Jesus spoke to a dead man and he came back to life. 


John 11:⁴³And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. ⁴⁴And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.


So today as the Sun came up I remembered that Jesus, as the Word (Logos) of the Living God, created me. He created everyone I love. He created the world and everything in it. He created the vast expanse of the universe. As Creator He is beyond all I see and over all I see. He is not only worthy of my trust but the only one who can fulfill what I am trusting him for.

Link to Teaching on Prayer at Open Door

If you would like to have the teaching for the Altar Team preparation it is here:

http://word-of-grace.blogspot.com/2010/04/prayer-ministry-at-altar.html?spref=fb

Thanks,

Leonard

Faith in God!

2 Corinthians 1:8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us,


What confidence Paul had in God! This is where faith is to be placed. This is what faith is.


Notice he did not live a life of "blessing" in the current definition of that word:


2 Corinthians 11:23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? 30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.


He went through such a severe trial in Asia that he was thinking he would die. In fact I think he may have died but was raised to life by prayer.


Acts 14:18-20 (Amplified Bible) Even in [the light of] these words they with difficulty prevented the people from offering sacrifice to them. 19 But some Jews arrived there from Antioch and Iconium; and having persuaded the people and won them over, they stoned Paul and [afterward] dragged him out of the town, thinking that he was dead. 20 But the disciples formed a circle about him, and he got up and went back into the town; and on the morrow he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.


The clear thing we see from Paul's life was it was very difficult. He was continually persecuted. Yet he was a man who responded in faith toward God in all these trials. I believe he did so because he knew God.


Faith is based on knowing the truth about someone. It is knowing their character, thier abilities and their role in the world. These three things are what we build faith in other humans by. they are to be what we build faith in Him by/ So when we think of Faith in God it has at least three components that we are to put our complete trust in God in.

Today I was meditating on the first component - Faith in His Character:

Above all else faith in God's character is faith that His Wod is given in integrity and that He will keep what He says. His Word given in Jesus is His full revelation. He is completely worthy of our trust. Further, As we read His Word expressed in scripture we can place the full weight of our faith that it is trustworthy and will lead us in the right direction even when everything in the world screams it won't.  God honors His Word even above the second component we can trust in His Name.

Psalm 138:2 (Amplified Bible)

I will worship toward Your holy temple and praise Your name for Your loving-kindness and for Your truth and faithfulness; for You have exalted above all else Your name and Your word and You have magnified Your word above all Your name!



God is perfect in His Character. There is nothing hidden or perverse in Him.

James 1:17 (New American Standard Bible)
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

He cannot lie.

Titus 1:2

In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

When we place our trust in God and his word we trust in one who is completely trustworthy. He is more trustworthy than our selves.



This is what Paul understood to be the redemption of his perils - "Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead," he writes. And he meant it. When we trust in ourselves we trust in one who cannot give life. When we trust in God we trust in the only lifegiver.

Leadership and Truth - web address

I have posted a teaching about leadership and truth on my other blog:

http://word-of-grace.blogspot.com/2010/04/truth-and-leadership.html

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters yes, even his own life he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14 : 25 33

The modern version of the gospel does not recognize the revolutionary aspect of these words of Jesus. If I were to ask the normal Christian on the street if he thought Jesus had said these words (given that we left out the fact that they were from the Bible) he would probably say that Jesus would never say such things. The idea of a gospel that costs anything, much less "everything" does not suit the modern believer. He/she has been steeped in a philosophy that has taken the ethical demands of the Lord and in effect thrown them out the window. We are sold a free gospel that gives free grace and all we need do is accept it.

In my few short years I have learned a few things. In observing people I have seen that the surface value they ascribe to something is not always the real value they hold it in.

Thinking that the gospel is free can lead us to value Jesus as nothing. Thinking that it places no demands on us can lead us to never invest ourselves in Jesus.

The gospel is not today nor has it ever been "free".

First of all it cost God His only son.

It cost Jesus his life.

It will cost us ours to follow him.

He directly said it would six times in the Bible.

Matthew 10:39
He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Matthew 16:25
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Mark 8:35
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

Luke 9:24
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
Luke 17:33
Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

John 12:25
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

What Jesus said would be ours if we did lay our lives down in love for him is more wonderful than anything we could know. It was what we were created for.

But the Bible does say it is a free gift.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

To say that we can obtain what Jesus bought on the cross by any work we do is completely unbiblical.

The Bible is not contradictory. But when it seems to be so we have to look deeper to understand what is actually being said to find the truth.

So let's start with the word free. No gift is free. Anything that is given to someone else costs the giver. It is free to the one it is given.  It is not bought by the one who gets it.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Some gifts are free yet cost us to receive them.

When we receive Jesus we are not getting a present we are entering into a convenant relationship with him. This is why it costs us everything.

I could never have entered into the relationship I have with my sweetheart if I had not been willing to lay down my life for her. I did not pay for her. She gave herself to me as a gift. But it was a gift that required that I do the same with her. That is because it is a covenant we share.

In the same way, Jesus laid his life down for me first as the most costly gift ever given. But the only way I can obtain that gift is to give my life as a gift back to him. This is because we are called into a covenant relationship with him.

Jesus agapes (Unmerited love) us to bring us to phileo (An intimate covenant relationship as friends) 1. Nothing could buy his love but nothing short of our full surrender is demanded as the way we enter into what he offers us.

We can see plainly how someone values something by the way they treat it.  You can always tell how valuable something is perceived to be by their care for it. Do they protect it? Do they invest themselves for it? Almost always things that we get for nothing are valued by us as worthless - even if they are a treasure of great value. If we think something is worthless we don't bother to protect it. If we feel it is worthless we don't put it away in a safe place. Simple principle, yet profound when it is applied.

1 For a more indepth look at Agape and Phileo go to: http://word-of-grace.blogspot.com/2010/04/agape-and-phileo.html