Tag: Healing

Write It On My Heart

”CANCER”

CRYING, “WHY? WHY?” Carole, my wonderful wife, was weeping and sobbing as she fell across me with deep convulsive shaking and tears. She cried out, “I just don’t understand.  I want to do so much, but why?“  Her CANCER is trying to crush her spirit. 

All I could do was to hug her with pathos & love.  Words were not adequate.  After prayer, and as she left the room it was my turn to bawl, sob & cry asking God, “Why?” Yes, there are more questions than we have answers.

I read a poster at the Kaiser Hospital, a wonderful medical facility, and here were some of the thoughts about CANCER.  IT:

  • cannot cripple love
  • cannot shatter hope
  • cannot corrode faith
  • cannot destroy peace
  • cannot kill friendships 
  • cannot suppress memories
  • cannot silence courage
  • cannot invade the soul
  • cannot conquer the spirit
  • AND CANCER CANNOT STEAL ETERNAL LIFE!!!

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;”

John 14:16 

“Peace I leave with you, … Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

John 14:27

Write It On My Heart

Save Me From Sniffles

HEALING! OH, YES.  WE WANT IT NOW.  NO SUFFERING, NO PROBLEMS, NO HURT.  Everything from the sniffles to devastating illnesses – “heal me Jesus!”

When Jesus walked the shores of Galilee, were his disciples ever sick or tempted?  Did they ask Jesus to protect them?  If so, there is no record of him saying to Bartholomew, “No more sniffles.” Or to James the Less, “You won’t have an ear ache any more.”  Zap!  Bingo!  Yes, they were scared from time to time. They got angry.  They were uncertain in certain situations.   I can’t find where Jesus protected them from temptation either. The key was – they left everything to follow Jesus. Talk about total commitment!

“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:6 (niv)

🎼🎶🎹

“Does Jesus care when I’ve tried and failed

To resist some temptation strong;

When for my deep grief there is no relief,

Though my tears flow all the night long?

“Does Jesus care when my way is dark

With a nameless dread and fear?

As the daylight fades into deep night shades,

Does He care enough to be near?

“Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares,

His heart is touched with my grief;

When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,

I know my Savior cares.”

(Frank E. Graeff)

 

Write It On My Heart

When Jesus Comes

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN I WAS SUFFERING UNEXPLAINABLE PAIN AND DESOLATION. No one to turn to. No one seemed to care. Alone. Isolated. Catatonic. Annihilated. Eliminated from my safe place – the church.

Thoughts came to me:
• I thought God was supposed to help me!
• Why am I fearful?
• Did I deserve this?
• I was a pastor – I’m not supposed to hurt.
• It was as though I was locked away.

I looked in the mirror and my eyes were swollen from weeping. Many times I had quoted the words of Jesus quoted by Paul in II Corinthians 12:9:
“‘My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

When you are totally bereft of self esteem, hurt beyond the point when words could come out of your throat, gasping for air, thinking that you would be better off dead, God speaks!

🎼🎶 “One sat alone beside the highway begging,
His eyes were blind, the light he could not see.
He clutched his rags and shivered in the shadows
Then Jesus came and bade his darkness flee.

“When Jesus comes, the tempter’s power is broken;
When Jesus comes, the tears are wiped away,
He takes the gloom and fills the life with glory,
For all is changed when Jesus comes to stay.”
(Oswald J. Smith)

Write It On My Heart

God Permits – Doesn’t Force

GOD MAY PERMIT HIS CHILD TO FALL DOWN AND SKIN HIS KNEE, BUT HE DOES NOT CAUSE THE ACCIDENT. So am I to believe that God is emotionally remote? Doesn’t care?  A thousand times NO!

A. We live in a fallen world – Satan is real and evil!

B. God designed us with a free will – we are not robots!

C. If God healed us, protected us from every sickness and pain, from evil in all circumstances, we would be spiritual invalids on earth. The Apostle wrote:
“There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.”    Hebrews 5:11-12

Do you remember that lady Jesus healed? It wasn’t God who caused her sickness.  She was “held by Satan for eighteen years.”    Luke 13:16
And Paul acknowledges,  “… a painful physical problem was given to me. This problem was a messenger from Satan, sent to beat me and keep me from being too proud.”  2 Corinthians 12:7

“This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”     Hebrews 4:15-16

🎼🎶                                                                                                                                           “There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus,
No, not one!
No, not one!
None else could heal all our soul’s diseases,
No, not one!
No, not one!
“Jesus knows all about our struggles;
He will guide till the day is done.
There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus,
No, not one!
No, not one!”
(Johnson Oatman, Jr.)

GOD DIDN’T CAUSE YOUR PAIN, BUT ARE YOU GOING TO GET BITTER, OR BETTER?