When will it wake up?  This last year of 2008, I researched healing in the Scriptures and found that everyone who meets the following list of qualifications are promised every time, healing from sickness and disease:

• Must be a Born Again Christian (there is still healing available to some extent for non-believers but not promised)
• Must not have any unrepentant sin, must be walking the walk
• Must not have unforgiveness in your heart
• Must believe that the Christ can and will heal you without doubts

If you meet those qualifications, then there is nothing to hinder you from being 100% healed.   That said, it can still be hard for people to have the faith without doubts unless they are walking very close to God.  This is where the elders come in though, as they should be in that close walk and be able to pray a prayer of faith over you, but elders are hard to find.

Okay, so, everyone should be healed and not only healed but be blessed under the new covenant. But what is the reality we see in the churches today?  There are probably more people at church on medications and receiving medical treatments than there are healthy people.  This should not be!  It is a sad thermometer of the Church as a whole and shows we are not taking the work seriously.   Don’t believe that?  Here is a list of names I received in a prayer request email for December 25th, 2008:

JESSIE 11, TUMOR ON BRAIN STEM  
GRACIE ANN,6, PREMATURE, LUNG PROBLEMS
BAILEY,14, LEUKEMIA   
MICHAEL,19, HEAD INJURY, HOLE IN BRAIN
NICHOLAS,12, LUNG TRANSPLANT
SHERIDA,10, DOWNS SYNDROME
HUNTER,14, PRENATAL STROKE
MITCHELL,15, CANCER
LISA,14, NEEDS KIDNEY
SHILOH,9,PARKINSONS
BRANDON,7, TOXIC SHOCK
MATTHEW,18, SPINAL MENENGITUS
AUDREY ANN,11, NEEDS LIVER TRANSPLANT
CANDY,16, CANCER SINCE AGE OF 2
KEVIN,16, CEREBRAL PALSY
ANNA,17, MUSCULAR DISEASE
ASHLEY,11, BLOOD DISEASE
BO,9, POMPES DISORDER
LEAH,12, HEPITITUS
BECKY,RACHEL,14, 12, CYSTIC FIBROSIS
JESSE 17, CANCER
JARED,9, FLUID ON BRAIN
JOHN, BEATRICE,DIEF,15, 14, 12, RICKETS
BELLE,16, HAD HEART TRANSPLANT
MEGAN,11, HEART DEFECT
BRANDON, KYLIE,10, TWINS, HEART DEFECTS, ASTHMA
STEPHANIE,18, INTESTINAL BLOOD DISORDER
GABRIEL,10, CEREBRAL PALSY
SHEY,12, LEUKEMIA
SADIE,12, DOWNS SYNDROME, NEEDS VERTABRAE FUSION
CRYSTAL,10, CANCER
BETHANY,8, SERIOUS ANKLE PROBLEMS
HANNAH,7, CEREBRAL PALSY
EB,6, SKIN DISEASE
JUSTIN,12,HYPOGLYCEMIA
TAYLOR,7, SEVERE BURNS
TAMERA,12, CANCER
ASHLYNN,4, HYPOTHYROIDISM
AUSTIN,12, CEREBRAL PALSY
JOEL 13, HEART TRANSPLANT, OTHER ORGANS REJECTING IT
SAGE,8, BORN WITH INTESTINES ON OUTSIDE OF BODY,DIABETIC
DOMINIC, 8, MELANOMA
SULLY, 16, CANCER
JOHN MARK, 19,  HEAD GREW FASTER THAN OTHER, WASN'T SUPPOSED TO SEE 2ND BD, CAN�T SPEAK, SIMILAR TO QUADRIPLEGIA
JARED 8 MONTHS SKULL SURGERY
AVA, 5, LEUKEMIA
SARAH,10, UNDERDEVELOPED BLADDER
ZACH,6, RARE SKIN DISEASE
Ric  12, disease  similar to lupus
CALEB  2  HEART SURGERY
JOSHUA 4 HEART MURMUR, REFLUX
ZACH 14 MALIGNANT BRAIN TUMOR
HEATHER 14 KIDNEY PROBLEMS
JACKSON 6 LEUKEMIA
JARON 6 RARE BLOOD DISEASE
NICHOLAS  10 NEEDS LUNG TRANSPLANT
AIDEN 8 MONTHS, GOING THRU CHEMO
JAKE 7, TUMOR ON BRAIN
AMY 8, LUNG CANCER AND BRAIN TUMOR
MADDIE 6, CANCER
SARAH 5, CANCER
DANIEL 6, NEUROBLASTOMA
CHRISTIAN 2, NOSE OPERATION
CHRISTAL 19, BIPOLAR
LIZZIE  18  NEEDS HEART TRANSPLANT
MASON 9, LEUKEMIA
GRAYSON 11 LYMPHOMA
MEGAN 9 BRAIN TUMOR, SIGHT PROBLEMS FROM CHEMO
EMMA JOY- NEW BORN NEEDS OPEN HEART SURGERY
KATIE 4 LIVER CANCER
KATIE 4 HEPATOBLASTOMA
REANNA 3 HAS HAD HEART SURGERY AND TUMORS REMOVED FROM HER LUNGS
CHANDLER 16 ONLY PARTIAL USAGE OF ONE KIDNEY
IVY 5 LUNG DISEASE

These are primarily children, they should not be sick, the Church should be there with healing in their hands so that this horrible suffering is never seen.  Again, the reality of it, is lists like this pop up often with many children going through things that bring horror to your heart.

What will it take for us to spend time building a relationship with God, cutting out the cares of this world and actually taking our faith seriously?  There should be healing centers in every town where elders can lay hands on people and make sure there are all are healed every time and the sad truth is, I do not know of a single center anywhere in the the USA.

The Scriptures are clear, healing is provide and is for today, but we only have our life of complacency to blame for all this sickness and disease that is upon us.  As see clearly in:

Rev 3:14-22 ~  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

We need to wake up and get out of our lukewarm state of mind.  What will it take to bring us to our responsibilities? It is time to wake up and hear the call!

More on this topic coming soon!

I recently was in prayer and had a thought, “If you depend on anything or anyone other than the Christ for your happiness, then you are open for the enemy to spiritually cripple or destroy you.”.  This might sound strange when you first hear it, but after more thought, it is the truth.

In what do you place your trust?  Not just a reasonable level depending on the person or thing, but the kind of trust that would shake you to your core if violated.  Do you place trust in your job or business?  Maybe you trust your close friends or family, or perhaps you have trust in your spouse. 

If you place your full, unshakable trust in anyone or any thing other than the Christ, you have set yourself up to be spiritually and emotionally crippled or destroyed.  Given the right circumstance, in the right environment, with the right conditions, everyone and every thing, other than the Christ will fail you.  Jesus is the only one that will not fail you.  At times it may appear that He has, but He knows the beginning from the end, He knows what will happen in the future and He will never fail you.  We should have our full trust in Him.

Proverbs mentions how words can hurt, how people can fail you and how your emotions can override good sense.  If you place your trust in and/or receive your primary source of happiness from anyone or any thing other than the Christ, then He is second place in your life.  Scripture clearly tells us that He is to be first place in our life and everything else a far distant second place, and for good reasons.

Many Christians know sin is wrong and that you should not intentionally sin.  They would not consider committing adultery or to steal something from someone, nor is telling a lie is not acceptable.  Now, you take that same person who happens to be happily married who was placed their full trust in their spouse which is the focus of their happiness, and let the person find their spouse in an act of adultery.  At that time, their mind and emotions are consumed with hurt, anger, shame and bitterness.  All of the sudden, things of God no longer seem all that important, sin does not seem that important.  Their hurt and anger overrides their common sense because God is not first place in their life.  Their source of happiness, their spouse, is no longer there and all that remains is a vacuum of hurt and betrayal.  Sin does not seem that important to a person in such a situation.  Some people who are emotionally consumed turn to cutting themselves as a source of release.  The pain they feel in their flesh is less than the anguish they feel inside. 

Now, the same story as above, but this time, the primary person has placed God as then center of their happiness, and the person spends quality time with God on a daily basis.  The same incident occurs and they find their spouse in such a situation.  While they may be hurt and still feel some betrayal, the pain is not overwhelming, they are still centered, but this time the turn to God for strength and to obtain His help to forgive the person’s spouse.  This is the way we should handle any offense by others and with God as our source we can do just that.

The point is, if our source of happiness is something other than God, we not only set ourselves up to harm, but give the enemy a target to attack in order to cause us to stumble.

Mat 10:37 ~ He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

We need to keep God as our source for happiness by our love and trust in Him and everyone and everything else a distance second place.